ment due to our sins; but the sorrow, the intense suffering of our blessed Saviour, when the iniquity of us all was laid upon him, was too heavy to have been supported by any other than God. When St. Paul addressed the elders of the Ephesian church, he charged them to "feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood:" (Acts xx. 28:) From which we learn that our blessed Redeemer who was a man, and therefore had blood to shed, was also God. No wonder then that St. Peter, when speaking of the blood which was shed to redeem us, should call it, "The precious blood of Christ." (1 Pet. i. 19.) How precious that blood was no tongue can declare. Besides, as Jesus Christ has died to make an atonement for our sins, we are directed to trust in him for pardon and salvation; whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do all to his glory; we are to pray to God in his name; and through all eternity the souls that he has redeemed and saved will sing his praises with gratitude and rapturous joy, saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive glory, and honour, and wisdom, and blessing, and power, for he hath redeemed us to God by his blood." Now

if an angel had redeemed the world, as Milton intimates he might have done, then we should have had to trust in an angel, and to serve and worship him for ever; which would have been gross idolatry, and infinitely dishonourable to God. Wise men sometimes say foolish things; and Milton did this, when he supposed that an angel might have redeemed and saved a lost world; and that Jesus Christ only undertook our cause, because no one else was willing to come to our relief.

The Son of God thus continues:

On me let thine anger fall;

Account me man; I for his sake will leave
Thy bosom, and this glory next to thee
Freely put off, and for him, lastly, die

Well pleas'd: On me let Death wreak all his rage.

Eliza.-Forgive my interrupting you, Mamma, but I do not think this entirely agrees with the verse, "God so loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son" to die. If it were not for this text Milton would make me love our Saviour much more than God the Father.

Mamma.-I fear, my dear, many people do not view this subject in a proper light; hence the absurd pictures in which God the

Father is represented as an austere old man, and God the Son as a lovely youth, endeavouring to pacify his anger. Justice is one of his attributes, which rendered it necessary that man's sin should be punished; but we must ever remember "God is love," and that he delighteth in mercy.

You will think better of our poet after hearing the following passage: It is part of the Almighty's answer to our Redeemer.

Well thou know'st how dear

To me are all my works; nor man the least,
Though last created, that for him I spare
Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
By losing thee awhile, the whole race lost.

Emily, I dare say the pious angels, who had never done any thing wrong, wondered that God could have such mercy upon wick

ed creatures.

William.-If they wondered, I suppose they thought it was exceedingly kind, and loved God more for such goodness.

Mamma.—I am sure you will be charmed with the manner in which they expressed their feelings on the occasion:

The multitude of angels with a shout,

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, uttering joy, heav'n rung

With jubilee; and loud hosannas fill'd
Th' eternal regions: Lowly reverent

Towards either throne they bow, and to the ground. With solemn adoration, down they cast

Their crowns.

Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tun'd, that, glittering by their side,
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony, they introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
No voice exempt,- -no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in heav'n.

When you are a few years older, you will greatly admire the whole of the song or hymn which the heavenly host sung. At the conclusion the poet exclaims in rapture,

O unexampled love,

Love no where to be found less than divine!
Hail Son of God! Saviour of men! Thy name
Shall be the copious matter of my song
Henceforth, and never shall my harp thy praise
Forget, nor from thy Father's praise disjoin.

William.-Is not that thought to be beautiful poetry even by grown up, sensible people? Mamma.-Indeed it is, my boy; and I am highly gratified to observe you are all interested by the poem which, from childhood, has delighted me.

Emily. I feel rather impatient to hear

what Satan did when he came to our earth: I hope, dear Mamma, you can spare time to tell us a little more.

Mamma.-He first alighted on the sun, which he found beyond expression bright, compared with aught on earth. He soon saw a glorious angel, the same who, we read in the Revelation, St. John saw in the sun. The evil spirit was glad, hoping he should be directed to the happy seat of man, for he did not know in what part of the world Paradise was situated. He changed his proper shape for that of a stripling cherub, and approached the angel, whom he perceived to be Uriel, one of the seven spirits that stood nearest to the throne of God. The devil said, an unspeakable desire to know the wondrous works of God, especially man, had brought him alone from the choirs of cherubim. He entreated the archangel to inform him where man was to be found, pretending he desired to behold him with secret gaze or open admiration :

That both in him and all things, as is meet,
The universal Maker we may praise;
Who justly hath driven out his rebel foes
To deepest hell, and to repair that loss,
Created this new happy race of men

To serve him better: Wise are all his ways.