Mendelssohn, celebrates His grand
redemption. The most gifted poets, from Dante, pealing his threefold
anthem from the topmost peak of Parnassus, to Shakespeare, with "his
woodnotes wild"; from Milton, with his "sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs
and harping symphonies," to Tennyson, with his "happy bells," which

"Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand,"

but chief of all which

"Ring in the Christ that is to be,"

are resonant with loyalty and devotion to Him. Thus, all voices and all
gifts, as they come from Christ, and are claimed by Christ, should be
used for Him and Him alone. The lofty reach of genius is called to
glorify Him, and the humblest gift of the peasant in the cottage, or the
workman in the mill, or the little child at the mother's knee, are all
due to Christ, to be devoted to Him, and also to be appreciated and
rewarded by Him.

[1]Gustav Schwab, quoted by Ullmann, in _The Worship of Genius_.

JEROBOAM

BY REV. ALFRED ROWLAND, D.D., LL.B.

"Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin."--1 KINGS xiv. 16.

Jeroboam's character is worthy of serious study, not only because it
influenced the destiny of God's ancient people, but because it suggests
lessons of the utmost value to His people still. He may be fairly
regarded as a type of those who are successful men of the world. He was
not an example of piety, for he had none--nor of lofty principle, for he
was an opportunist who made expediency the law of his life throughout.
Yet he was permitted to win all that he could have hoped for, and reached
the very zenith of his ambition, though he went down to the grave at
last, defeated and dishonoured, with this as his record--he was the man
"_who made Israel to sin_."

Such a life as his throws a flood of light on our possibilities and
perils, showing unscrupulous men both what they may possibly win, and
what they will certainly lose.

Jeroboam appears to have been a man of lowly origin. Of his father
Nebat, whose name is so often linked with his own, we know nothing,
although an old Jewish tradition, preserved by Jerome, identifies him
with Shimei, who was the first to insult David in his flight, and the
first of all the house of Joseph to congratulate him on his return. All
we know with certainty is that he belonged to the powerful tribe of
Ephraim, which was always jealous of the supremacy of Judah, and
therefore hated David, Solomon, an