way. He makes a gourd to spring up suddenly, and its leaves afford a pleasant shelter to the Prophet to ward off the scorching heat. For the moment Jonah is pleased. He rejoices in the shady gourd. Next morning however, God sends a worm to destroy it; and it withers before his eyes. And now Jonah is angry again, and, like a fretful child, mourns over the lost gourd.

There was a lesson here; but how slow he was to learn it. "Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city?"

What was the gourd in comparison with the souls which would have perished, if God had destroyed the guilty city? And yet the Prophet seemed to care more for the gourd with its momentary shelter, than he did for those souls which God had in mercy spared.

How many of us, like Jonah, are afraid of being lowered in the eyes of our

fellow-men! When we find all going smoothly-none opposing us-when we are respected, valued, and looked up to by our friends and neighbours-then, how easy does it seem to be religious! But let us be scorned and despised-then comes the bitter trial. Can we bear it? If we can, then are we better than Jonah.

Again, look at Jonah and the Gourd. What the gourd was to him, such are oftentimes the trifling enjoyments of the world to us. We shelter ourselves under them. We find our pleasure in them. We forget that "this is not our rest." Then comes the worm, and withers all that we have set our hearts upon, and they perish before our

eyes.

Oh for some better and more solid enjoyment than grows on the soil of this world! Oh for something that will last, and never fade-something that will satisfy, and rejoice, the heart! May you never fancy that you have found this, dear reader, until you have found it in Christ. Here is a "Tree of Life," which no worm can wither, and which no time can decay. Here, in the

midst of a desolate world, is "a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat." Under this shelter alone is rest, and peace, and joy weary soul.

for the

HEZEKIAH;

OR, THE GOOD KING.

ALL the kings of Israel were bad men, without one exception. And so too were most of the kings of Judah. There were however a few pious sovereigns among them -a little wheat among the chaff. Hezekiah was perhaps the most remarkable. Of him it was said, "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him of all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him."

He came to the throne at a time when the nation had sunk very low. Their earthly greatness had almost passed away. And as for their religious state, the people were given up to the grossest idolworship.

It was a happy day for the land of Judah, when Ahaz died, and Hezekiah mounted the throne. He began to reign when he

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was only twenty-four years old. He had been taught no lessons of holiness by his father Ahaz; but rather the reverse. But, in spite of this, he seems to have been one who had the fear of God before his eyes, and the grace of God in his heart. Perhaps his mother, Abijah, was a godly woman; and her example and her prayers may have been blest to the young prince.

We can hardly tell what amount of blessing comes to a child from a mother's piety, and a mother's prayers. Many a son owes to them all that makes his present life a useful and a happy one, and all that brightens his path towards another world. Great indeed is the influence of a religious mother. Her words of wisdom and piety, her kind and loving counsel, and above all her consistent life, will oftentimes tell upon her child in years to come, when she herself perhaps may have passed into eternity. Just as a seed from some pine-tree by the mountain-side, may be dropped upon the surface, and lie there for years; and then after a while it springs up, and becomes one of the noblest ornaments of the forest. So