50 THE PREACHER'S EMBLEMATORY HELPS after His own likeness; in the future state we shall see Him as He is and this sight will change us to His own image. CONCLUSION.-The important knowledge of to-day is to know, without the shadow of a doubt, that we are the sons of God: the consciousness that we have been carried over, by the Spirit, from the power of Satan to the kingdom of Christ Jesus. London. CYMRO. The Preacher's Emblematory Helps. SCIENTIFIC FACTS AS ILLUSTRATIONS OF ETERNAL TRUTHS. The Eagle, Emblem of a Divinely Loyal Soul. As the lion is the king of the beasts of the forest, the eagle is the prince of all birds. From the most ancient times, the Eagle has been universally regarded as the emblem of might and courage, and, like the lion, it has been fancifully invested with other attributes of greatness, such as men thought to harmonise with these. Its extraordinary powers of vision, the vast height to which it soars in the sky, the wild grandeur of the scenery amidst which it chiefly loves to make its abode, and perhaps also its longevity, have concurred to recommend it to poetic regard. It was associated with Jupiter, in the Roman mythology; its figure on the standards of the Roman legions expressed and animated their confidence of victory. Amongst the various species of Eagles what is called the GOLDEN Eagle stands pre-eminent. This Eagle is about three feet or three feet and a half in length, and eight feet in spread of wing. This is the largest of European Eagles, and is found not only throughout Europe, but throughout almost the whole Northern hemisphere: it is amongst the birds of India, of the North of Africa, and of North America; and the savage warrior of the Rocky Mountains, as well as the Highland Chieftain glories in his Eagle plume. Al though occasionally seen in all parts of Britain, it builds its nest only in mountainous districts, carrying a few sticks and brambles to the inaccessible shelf of a rocky precipice, where the eggs are deposited almost on the bare rock. In the Bible the Eagle is referred to in order to illustrate a variety of subjects, sometimes the rapacity and bloodthirstiness of the warrior. "Where the carcase is, there shall the Eagles be gathered," an undoubted reference to the Roman soldiers who were about to invade Jerusalem. Soldiers, like Eagles, have the devouring instinct and mission. David said of Saul and Jonathan, speaking of them as soldiers, that they were "swifter than Eagles." And referring to the Chaldean army, it is said that "their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as the Eagle that hasteneth to eat." It is used to illustrate the transitoriness of worldly wealth. "Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an Eagle towards heaven." It is used to illustrate the haughtiness of the wicked. "Though thou exalt thyself as the Eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." Sometimes it is employed to illustrate God's pa rental guardianship of the good. "As an Eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord did lead him." But whilst it is employed in the Bible to illustrate such subjects as these, one subject especially, it illustrates with great propriety and force; that is the soaring instinct and faculty of the divinely loyal soul. 66 They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as Eagles," etc. How strong is the instinct of the Eagle for ascending. The imperial bird is restless with its feet on the earth. When driven down by the tempest, it still keeps its wings. expanded, watches the first gleams of sunshine and then towers heavenward again. So it is with all souls that loyally wait on the Lord. They yearn for ascension, they struggle upward. "My soul cleaveth to the dust, quicken thou me according to Thy word." "Oh, that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away and be at rest." "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?" etc. They hunger for the sunshine of eternal purity and love. Not only has the Eagle the strong instinct for ascending, but the mighty faculty for upwardness. The Rev. J. G. Wood, the celebrated naturalist, says, concerning the lofty and aspiring flight of the Eagle, "This bird soars, but can hardly be said to fly upwards. Its wings are outstretched, but not flapped. It holds them, to all appearance, motionless, but yet, as if impelled by some invisible force, winds its way spirally skywards until it is all but lost to human vision, and quite out of human reach." The faculty for flight is equal to the instinct and does its work most easily. It is so in the moral ascension of a godly soul. No great effort is required, the work is easy. The soul that moves towards the "things that are above" moves according to the original laws and impulses of its own nature, flows with the moral tendency of the universe. By a mere volition it mounts upwards like the Eagle. The Preacher's Scrap-Book. Views of Life from Latin Authors. MARTIALIS. (Born A.D. 43. Died 104 A.D.) ABOUR expended on Trifles..-It is disgraceful to a poet to make one's amusement difficult; and labour expended on trifles is childish. (Epig. ii. 86.) MANILIUS. (Uncertain Date.) Labour even is pleasant. (Astron. iv. 155.) OVIDIUS. (Born B.C. 43. Died A.D. 18.) Music Lightens Labour.-Even the miner, while clanking his chains, sings as he lightens his labour with untaught music: he too sings, who bending low on the oozy sand, drags the slow barge against the stream. (Trist iv. 1, 5.) Unceasing Labour.-Thou, Sisyphus either pursuest or pushest forward the stone, that is destined to fall back again. (Met. iv. 459.) Necessity of Industry.-Vessels of bronze become bright by use; magnificent dresses are made to be worn: houses abandoned to long neglect grow hoary with age. (Amor. i. 851.) CICERO. (Born B.C. 106. Died B.C. 43.) "The recollection of Past Labours.-It is generally said, "Past labours are pleasant." Euripides says, for all know the Greek verse, you past labours is pleasant." (Fin. ii. 32.) HORATIUS. (Born B.C. 65. Died B.C. 8.) All must Labour.—Life is accustomed to give nothing to man without a world of toil. (Sat. i. 9, 60.) LUCRETIUS. (Born B.C. 95. Died B.C. 52.) Vain Labours.—A Sisyphus is seen by us every day; he it is who strives with mighty pains to get some high office, and always returns sad and disappointed. For to aim at high power, which is never reached, and to endure endless labour, what is this but to roll a vast stone up a hill, which straightway tumbles down again and swiftly reaches the level plain? (De Re Nat iii. 1008.) VIRGILIUS. (Born B.C. 70. Died B.C. 19.) Industry. The father of the gods himself did not desire that the art of cultivating the ground should be easily acquired; he was the first to turn up the soil by skill, whetting human industry by care, nor did he allow his reign to grow torpid by sluggishness. (G. i. 121.) Industry.—Then various arts succeeded each other; persevering labour overcomes everything and pressing want in the midst of hard penury. (G. i. 145.) TERENTIUS. (Born B.C. 195. Died B.C. 159.) The achievements of Labour.-Nothing so difficult but may be won by industry. (Heant iv. 2-8.) CATULLUS. (Born B.C. 87. Died B.C. 47.) The Pleasures of Rest after Labour.—Oh, what is more sweet than when the mind, set free from care, lays its burden down; and when spent with distant travel, we come back to our home, and rest our limbs on the wished for bed? This, this alone, repays such toils as these? xxxi. 7.) (V. The Atonement. It For the great development of the idea of atonement, understood nakedly, as vicarious punishment we have to go to the new world. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico they found a gigantic and elaborate system of human sacrifices which exceeded all that had appeared in history. The annual ceremonies of sacrifice consumed several days, and the immolations of victims counted not by thousands but by tens of thousands. was the function of the Mexican Government, and devolved upon what may be called the Home Office, to expiate the sins of the whole population of Mexico; and so radically was the sacrificial system made a state object that it affected even the foreign policy of the empire; and Montezuma, when he was asked by the Spanish General why he had omitted to conquer a certain independent republic, which was close at hand, replied that if this State were part of his empire he could not go to war with it ; but that he must have captives of war for victims to his gods. The blood of human victims thus flowed in such torrents that not a single sin could escape expiation in the whole empire of Mexico, and the monarch as representative of the interests of his subjects, could point to most conspicuous success. But it was not only the quantity of the victims, but the refinement of the suffering, which showed the fructification of the original idea of atonement by the simple substitution. The Aztec ritual prescribed upon solemn festivals with horrible exactness, the most exquisite preliminary tortures. But the pains of imagination were also brought into requisition, the agonies of a long anticipation and of a |