to a line, but the line would not catch, and away went the stone into the chasm below. At last a shift of wind occurred, and Lloyd flung a stone, with the assistance of olus, and away it went over the rock, and safely carried the line with it.

The rope being caught by Lloyd's companions on their side of the rock, was then made the medium for drawing up a ladder, the foot of which was securely lashed against the base on which they were standing. Away went Lloyd, followed by his three faithful satellites, all hallooing and scrambling, and the top of the Peter Botte was reached. The union-jack was unfurled, and recognised by the shipping in the harbour, and greeted with a grand salute, which the adventurers returned with their gun. A bottle of wine was then hauled up, and the rock christened King William's Peak, while the health of the king was drunk with all the honours.

Determined not to do things by halves, arrangements were made for sleeping on the top. Blankets, pea-jackets, and the necessary refreshments were hauled up, and in the meantime dinner was prepared by the negros on the shoulder below. After dinner, as darkness came on, they re-ascended to take their repose. "It was a glorious sight," says Lieutenant Taylor, "to look down from that giddy pinnacle over the whole island, lying so calm and beautiful in the moonlight, except where the broad, black shadow of the other mountains intercepted the light. Here and there, we could see a light twinkling in the plains, or the fire of some sugar manufactory. But no sound of any sort reached us, except an occasional shout from the party down on the shoulder. At length, in the direction of Port Louis, a bright flash was seen, and after a long interval, the sullen boom of the evening gun. We then prepared our pre-arranged signal, and whiz went a rocket from our nest, lighting up for an instant the peaks of the hills below us, and then leaving us in darkness. We next burned a blue light, and nothing can be conceived more beautiful than the broad glare against the over-hanging rock. The wild-looking group we made in

our uncouth habiliments, and the narrow ledge on which we stood, were all distinctly shown; while many of the tropical birds, frightened at our vagaries, came glancing by in the light, and then swooped away, screeching, into the gloom below; for the gorge on our left was dark as Erebus."

Next morning, our adventurers found themselves, stiff, cold, and hungry; and after fixing a twelve-foot ladder on the summit, and crowning it with a water barrel; and above all, a long staff bearing the union-jack, they bid adieu to this uncomfortable, but romantic resting-place, and effected a safe descent to the bottom. Regarding the expedition as an amusing, though daring experiment, it must be pronounced one of the most brilliant ever achieved.

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN'S QUESTION.

"IS NOT THIS THE CHRIST?" JOHN IV. 29.

My dear young Friends,

I dare say you have lived long enough to learn, that first impressions are not always correct, and that hasty conclusions are frequently wrong. For it often happens, that under an unpromising exterior, there is a cultivated mind, a warm, kind, and noble heart. But you are not the first to be agreeably surprised. The woman of Samaria did not at first see any thing in the Jewish stranger, whom she met at Jacob's well, to abate the prejudice of her people towards his nation. Therefore she replied to his request, as she would have done to that of an ordinary Jew.

"How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria ? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." But a little conversation with the kind stranger, led the woman to change her opinion of him, and her conduct towards him. What the stranger told her, brought back, like a faithful mirror, the chief incidents of her past life, which filled her with surprise and reverence, in spite of his being a Jew. Her

conclusion was a very natural one. Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." But ere she left him, the dim twilight which now flashed across her mind, grew into clear, bright, full day-light. And the conviction on her mind now was that He was the Christ. And the feeling of reverence induced by the thought of His being a prophet, ripened into extasy, at the soul-inspiring thought of his being the Messiah. By this time the disciples had returned from the city, and in her newly inkindled joy, the woman of Samaria left her water-pot at the well, and went into the city, and told the inhabitants what she had seen and heard, and requested them to come with her, to see and hear for themselves, saying, "Is not this the Christ?" Let us meditate on this earnest and important question, as it brings up before us some of the most important events connected with our Lord's person, character, and work.

Apply this question to His Descent. The first promise of a Saviour, although sufficiently explicit with regard to the work He had to do, the struggle it would cost, and the triumphant issue to which it would be brought, was inexplicit with regard to the time of His coming, and the honoured offshoot of the parent stock from which he should spring. But as time rolled on, the promise was renewed, and made more definite. If we come down two thousand one hundred years, we find Abraham is called, and being the most distinguished man of his age, for faith in God, and obedience to His commands, he was honoured with a renewal of the promise made to our first parents. "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Genesis xii. 3.

But the promise would have been indefinite still, if Isaac had not been mentioned, as the son in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. God said, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Genesis xxi. 12.

Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, and if God's choice had not fallen upon and been made known to Jacob, the twin brothers might have disputed, which had the best right to the promise made to Abraham their grandfather,

and repeated to Iaaac their father. But God said to Jacob, at Bethel, "In thee and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Genesis xxviii. 14.

And it might have been the same with Jacob's twelve sons, each might have urged his claim, one on this, another on that, and a third on some other plea, if Judah's tribe had not been mentioned, as that from which the Saviour should descend. Genesis xlxix. 10.

Upwards of one thousand years passed away and the voice of prophecy was again heard, announcing the descent of the long expected Messiah. Isaiah xi. 1. Great honour was conferred on the house of Jesse, two hundred years before, when it furnished the throne of Judah with a king, in the person of David, that throne being vacant by the death of Saul and his sons, who were defeated and slain on the fatal mountains of Gilboa by the Philistines. But it was still more honoured when the rod came forth in the person of Christ. "The root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." The agreement between those predictions and the descent of Him who sat weary and thirsty on the mouth of Jacob's well, is so perfect, that we cannot resist the force of the question, "Is not this the Christ?"

Apply this question to His Birth. First as to time. The time of Messiah's coming was clearly foretold in Jacob's prophetic blessing to his son Judah, chap. 49th verse 10th. From the time that David ascended the throne, until Herod the Great became king of Judea, Judah's line never once failed to supply Judah with a king or a governor. But now the sceptre had entirely departed. During the last year of Herod's reign, it being a time of taxing, Joseph and Mary went up to Bethlehem, the city of David, to whose lineage Joseph belonged, to be taxed; but Bethlehem was so crowded, that the humble pair from Nazareth could find no better shelter than a stable. And here Mary was delivered of her first-born. Don't despise the parents, or their innocent child, because of the unseemliness of the place. First look at that bright and beautiful star which is shining

over the humble place, and then enter the stable. You will find several persons there, but you will soon see which two are the parents, because they are looking with deep and tender affection into a manger, which holds the infant stranger. But who are those persons bent in lowly prostration around the manger cradle?—worshipping the young child, and opening their treasuries, to present gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. They are wise men from "the East," who were told by an angel, in their own country, of the birth of the child before them, and guided by the star shining over the stable, they came all the way to Bethlehem, to see Him and worship Him. But why do they worship Him? The answer is, "Is not this the Christ? Secondly, as to time. It had been predicted, that He should be born in Bethlehem Ephratah. Micah v. 2.

The claims of Christ could not have been regarded as valid, settled beyond dispute, if His birthplace did not agree with that of the promised Deliverer. Such a discrepancy would have been laid hold of by His enemies, and urged as a demonstrative proof of the falsity of His pretentions and the groundlessness of His claims. But since His birthplace was Bethlehem Ephratah, if His claims are disputed at all, it must not be on the ground of His birthplace. "Is not this the Christ?"

Apply this question to His Life. How poor, despised, and persecuted, was the son of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth. And yet how high, and some have said, proud and blasphemous were His claims, calling Himself the Son of God, and Israel's long expected king. But His very | poverty, rejection, and persecution, instead of disproving His claims, iterate the question, "Is not this the Christ." And they are, at the same time, the best affirmative to their own interrogative. This is the Christ, for of Him it was predicted, "He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Isaiah

liii. 3.

Apply this question to His Baptism. Many, believing John to be a prophet, heard His doctrines, and came to