and to bear with the I believed, and therefore will I speak; but I was sore troubled I said in my haste, All men are liars. weak confessing their frailty. Be not rash with thy mouth, In due course St. Mat- and in the East makes : Help me now, O Lord : O Lord, send us now prosperity. O praise the Lord, all ye many converts, rejoic-heathen: praise Him, all ye ing with them :They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.-Daniel xii. 3. where also he is cruelly used by the barbarous people, nations. For His merciful kindness is ever more and more to wards us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise the Lord.— Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord : we have wished you good luck, ye that are of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord Who hath shewed us light bind the sacrifice with cords, yea, even unto the horns of the altar. I called upon the Lord in trouble and the Lord heard me at large. : They are cruel, and will| The Lord is on my side : not shew mercy.-Jeremiah I will not fear what man 1. 42. and dies for the faith.A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.-Ecclesiastes vii. I. doeth unto me. Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall but the Lord was my help. My soul melteth away for very heaviness : comfort Thou me according unto Thy word. The snares of death compassed me round about: and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. I will pay my vows now in the presence of all His people right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. The Lord is my strength, and my song and is become my salvation. THE FOURTH FOUNDATION. An Emerald. HOU shalt make the breastplate of judgment. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. -Exodus xxviii. 15, &c. And he made the breastplate of cunning work. And they set in it four rows of stones. And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.-Exodus xxxix. 8, &c. O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds. -Ezekiel xxvii. 3, 16. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.-Ezekiel xxviii. 13. Behold, a throne was set in heaven. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.-Revelation iv. 2, 3. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The fourth, an emerald.-Revelation xxi. 14, 19. The oriental Emerald is a gem akin to the sapphire, and of exceeding costliness. Even as the sapphire displaying the hue of heaven reminds us of faith, so the emerald arrayed in the grass-green of earth symbolizes hope; by its verdure that fadeth not, recalling our hope of an enduring harvest. Hard it is, though not the very hardest of stones, rare and shining; specially liable to flaws, and these bubble-like; yet withal of a delightful beauty. The Emerald (or at any rate the jewel so designated by the ancients, however wide a range of stones may have been included by them under the name), this refreshing green Emerald, has not only been judged recruiting to overstrained eyes, but has been employed as a medium for assisting short sight: specimens which exhibit a plane surface have been accredited with a mirror-like power of reflection; whilst we are informed that a large Emerald, exposed at a given angle to a ray of light, appears divested of its proper tint, and becomes as it were a fragment of looking-glass. It seems no wonder that to the Emerald's alleged visual influence has been added a fancied power of conferring foreknowledge; besides which, eloquence and wealth have been supposed within the gift of this gem. And what saith our Blessed Lord to us? Behold, I have foretold you all things.-St. Mark xiii. 23. I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.-S. Luke xxi. 15. Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.-St. Matthew vi. 31, &c. HEPATICAS. Acquiescence in change. HEERING the late winter or early spring Hepaticas put forth single blossoms, white, or blue, or red, these last doubling under cultivation. Attractive little plants they are, rearing lowly heads in our bleak garden plats; the flower small yet conspicuous, the prettily outlined leaves grouped in clumps and of a green more dark than bright. Hepaticas favour a light soil, and love to meet the morning sun rather than to endure a more continuously sunny exposure. They do not well bear moving, or at the least they bear it not always with indifference: an instance is quoted of one changing from blue to white when transplanted, whilst on returning to its former soil the enduring plant resumed its original tint. Humble in height, the Hepatica may be termed patient in habit; for during one whole year the blossom, perfect in all its parts, lurks hidden within the bud. This plant belongs to the family of Anemones or Wind-flowers; and, as a wind-flower, seems all the more congruous with St. Matthias; for our saint was no |