LINES WRITTEN IMPROMPTU ON READING IN THE "RECORD," AN ARTICLE ENTITLED, "PRINCE ALFRED AT JERUSALEM.” (N. B.-Prince Alfred-now Duke of Edinburgh-visited the Holy City on the eve of the season endeared to the Christian as commemorative of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our LORD and Saviour, Jesus Christ.) "Hours before the expected arrival (of the Prince), the gate, walls, and road-side were thronged with motley crowds interspersed with military, of assembled spectators "from every nation under heaven," attired in the costumes of their country. The crowd had patiently waited until long after The sun had set, and the shades of evening the expected hour of arrival. were closing on the twilight." "At Mar Elias the Greeks of the Convent had laid down carpets, and placed an arm-chair for the Prince under the olive trees, where there is a view, on the right hand of Bethlehem, and on the left of Jerusalem. The whole population turned out to see and welcome His Royal Highness,—and his numerous cavalcade rode through a crowd of eager people, while many a prayer of God preserve him to his mother!' 'God lengthen his days!' was heard in an audible voice by the bystanders. One man even ran forward and spread his garments in the way. At the Garden of Gethsemane, the heads of the Armenian and Greek churches, were waiting to take leave of the Prince, who proceeded thence to the Dead Sea," &c. &c. "HE," Christ,-Prince of the Kings of the earth,-King of kings,—and LORD of lords-" came unto His own, and His own received Him not! (John'i. 11.) "He was despised, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; — He was despised, and we esteemed Him not!" (Isa. liii. 3.) "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid,-be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. For my people have committed two evils ;-they have forsaken Me, -the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!" (Jer. ii. 13.) JERUSALEM! Jerusalem! a martial band appears Before thy walls, and at its head, a Prince of fifteen years; And welcomes ring from every tongue and nation under heaven! The sun is setting gloriously in gold and purple skies, No other city such a scene of brilliancy could show, For thither only, Christians, Jews, Greeks, Turks, Armenians flow:A motley band whose mingled tones, blend, as in one glad song,"Preserve him to his mother, Lord!-and let his days be long !" A more imposing spectacle,-a more heart-thrilling scene, But Christian hearts look backwards, through the gathered mists of years, And wherefore,-mournfully they ask,-this glad reception given A few sad, loveful greetings, well nigh drown'd amid the shout O bitter, painful contrast! what a deep and foul disgrace! But yet, more strongly than that scene revives our guilt and shame Because that Sinless One for us became a cursed thing,- Because "the Life" on our behalf, His mortal life laid down,- He yielded to the officers of Justice;—He was led To prison, and to suffering,-and number'd with the dead! Oh cloudless Resurrection morn! thou hast proclaimed Him King, Vain was thy guarded sepulchre to keep among the dead “THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE,"-our Great Sponsorial Head; In regal power and majesty He will return again, Not as "an offering for sin," but as a KING to reign! Forgiven much, O love Thou much! and hide thy deep disgrace To earthly kings and Princes be all due allegiance given. But yield each faithful heart its throne to CHRIST,-the King of Heaven! J. E. J. A JEWISH LAMENT, AND A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE. "0 "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." "What shall the receiving of them be, but Life from the dead?" "Oh! pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee." UR beautiful and holy House a desolated heap ; Our children scorned by Nazarenes,—our hearts must break-or weep ;— Our harps upon the willows hang;-our vineyards are laid waste Oh! cruelly, and bitterly, our Nation is disgraced! "When will our own Messiah come, and our salvation bring?* When? weeping ones!-Whenever ye accept the gracious call “Ye will not come "-Messiah said,—“ Ye will not come to Me, Ye will not come to find the rest your troubled bosoms crave;"- Yet is He gracious,-loving still; and promises to be And with His own life-giving breath to breathe upon thy slain,- Oh! hear Him knocking at thy door, and let the Stranger in, The Father's well beloved Son,-" David," your " Prince," your "King!" The Sun that shall illume for aye the new Jerusalem! LORD Jesus! while with God Most High we plead on bended knee, And that, united in "one faith," we Gentiles may be given, Ps. liii. 6, marginal reading. J. E. J. + Hosea xiv. 5, 7. David," i.e., "The Beloved "-spoken long after the time of the literal David, of HIM who was at once" the root, and the offspring of David." See also Ezek. xxxvii. 24. מכתם למרים, בת יחידה להמלך הגדול אלעקסאנדער חשני לברך בואה לארץ הזאת :* • The above is a literal, almost verbatim, metrical translation, line for line, of the fol. lowing sonnet of "Welcome "-from the pen of the Laureate-to the Duchess of Edinburgh. I took the liberty of rendering "Alexandrowna" into Hebrew according to its signification, namely, "The help of man." The suitableness will especially commend itself to such readers as can consult the original of Genesis ii. 18, where they will find MOSES MARGOLIOUTH. both the words employed above for Alexandrowna. THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH. THE WELCOME TO THE BRIDE.-(BY THE POET LAUREATE.) Notes. THOUGHTS ON REALITIES OF THE FUTURE LIFE. BY REV. W. STONE, M.A. CHAPTER II. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. "Mors janna vitæ." THE first step onward, in the understanding of our future existence, is obviously the knowledge of the state beyond the grave, after the dissolution of soul and body. "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time, will I wait, until my change come." The question was not asked by the faithful and tried patriarch in any sceptical or doubtful spirit, but with the admiring conviction, firm in his mind, of the reality that man would live again in a new state; and, though the body became dust and returned to the earth, as it was taken out of it, yet" the spirit should return to God who gave it." Job knew very well, like every believing Jew, that both body and soul would live again in another future condition. So the psalmist: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God;" but "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." The Redeemer of soul and body (the true was then living, before Job died, and he felt assured, through the Spirit of God, that He would stand at the latter day upon the earth, release the body from its bondage of corruption, and reunite it to the ransomed soul preserved in paradise for that purpose. The state of the departed soul, between death and the resurrection is what we mean by the intermediate state. That there must be such a state of life is necessarily implied by |