The divisions into chapters and verses, the heading of chapters, and the stops, found in English Bibles, have no authority, being the work of uninspired men, and comparatively modern. The chapters first appear in the 13th century after Christ, and the verses were first distinctly numbered in the 16th; how they originated in the Old Testament is doubtful; in the New they were made by Robert Stephens, A.D. 1551. Both divisions are injurious, in many cases, by dividing the sense improperly, and in such instances need not be attended to; they are convenient, as affording a ready means of reference to particular passages. The fact that the Bible is, amongst ourselves, generally bound up in one volume, and spoken and thought of as a whole, is very apt to mislead us with regard to its true character, and to make us conceive and speak of it as if it were all the work of one author, composed at one time, written with one purpose. It is not one book, but many books, -a collection of writings, some historical, some didactic, some prophetical; part of it is prose, part of it poetry; it contains narratives, odes, proverbs, letters; there are in it sixty-six separate writings, the work of probably at least forty distinct authors, produced at various times, under diverse influences, and for different purposes. It is evident, therefore, that these books must have very different degrees of value and authority, and that the only way to study the Bible to advantage, is to take each book by itself, study its character, investigate its history, ascertain its claims to authority, decide how far it substantiates these claims, and what is the value attaching to it, and then to use it and rely upon it only so far as it seems of itself to merit. To lower our notion of the authority of one of these ancient writings need not affect our views as to the rest: by the facts we can ascertain with regard to each, must each stand or fall. Text-JOHN i. 17. THE BIBLE. Ir is the one True Light, That, when all other lamps grow dim, Nor lead astray from Him. It is Love's blessed band That reaches from the Eternal Throne It is the Golden Key To treasures of celestial wealth,— And to the sick man health! The gently proffer'd aid Of one who knows us-and can best It is the sweetest sound That infant ears delight to hear, There rests the weary head, There age and sorrow love to go; FALL OF LEAVES. WE begin gradually to perceive the ravages which the approach of winter makes in the forests and in the gardens. All plants, with the exception of a very few, lose their beautiful ornaments, the leaves. What is the cause of this change? The most natural seems to be the cold; for as soon as the first frost sets in, the leaves begin to change their verdant hues and fall. This is owing to the circulation of the sap being prevented by the cold. But this is not the only cause of the fall of leaves; for it takes place in mild winters when there is no frost; and in those trees which are preserved from the effects of the cold in greenhouses. Other causes are therefore instrumental in stripping the trees of their leaves; perhaps they wither because they are not supplied by the necessary quantity of sap from the root. For it is certain that the branches increase in thickness after they have ceased to grow in length. When, therefore, at the time that the branches still daily grow, the stalks of the leaves do not increase, their fibres must necessarily be detached from the fibres of the branches, and consequently the leaves will then fall. But we must not imagine that these fallen leaves are entirely lost, and no longer useful; both reason and experience inform us to the contrary. Nothing perishes, nothing is useless in the world; consequently the leaves that fall from trees and plants are of some use; they become decayed and manure the earth. Snow and rain separate the saline particles from them, and convey them to the roots of trees; and when the leaves are thus strewed on the ground, they preserve the roots of young plants, form a shelter to seeds, and retain round them the necessary degree of heat and moisture. This is particularly remarkable in oak leaves; they furnish an excellent manure, not only to the tree itself, but also to the tender shoots; and they are particularly useful to pastures by promoting the growth of the grass which they cover. These advan tages are so important, that fallen leaves are never collected for the purpose of throwing them away, unless they are in such abundance that the grass is rather choked up than nourished by them. Leaf mould is particularly useful in gardens, where beds are made of it that very much contribute to the growth of fruits and young plants. The fall of leaves, in a moral point of view, may be considered as an emblem of human life and the frailty of all earthly things. We hang by a thread, and may be deprived of all our beauty and strength in a moment; but if we leave behind us the well-ripened fruits of righteousness, love and holiness, we may leave this world with honour. Text-JOB xiv. 1, 2. "WE ALL DO FADE AS A LEAF." SEE the leaves around us falling, Youth, on length of days presuming, What though yet no losses grieve you, Yearly in our course returning, On the tree of life eternal, O let all our hopes be laid; This alone, for ever vernal, Bears a leaf that shall not fade! EARLY HYMNS OF THE CHURCH. THE earliest poetry of Christianity is in the words of the triumphal songs of Mary and of Zacharias (Luke i. 46-55, 68-79) and of the angels, of Simeon and Anna at the time of Jesus's birth (Luke ii. 29-32). They have been very naturally kept in the liturgies and hymn-books of the Church. Passing from them, the Hymn of the Last Supper, which the disciples sang before they went out with their Master to the Mount of Olives, is the first strictly Christian hymn spoken of in Christian history. But immediately after, the Acts and the Epistles of the infant Christian brotherhood shew how constantly music made part of their united worship. There is the record that, in the inner prison at Philippi, with their feet in the stocks, Paul and Silas sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them. The pleasant suggestion has been made, that among those midnight songs of theirs may have been the triumphant Hundredth Psalm, sung to the same air of Old Hundred which lives to this day. This is certain, that in the earliest choral books of Pope Gregory, now thirteen centuries old, that air exists. Luther adapted it from them, and there is nothing to prevent us thinking that it came down from the apostles' times. Of the words of the apostolic hymns, however, we have but few traces. The Psalms of David were used in all the early churches. In the outset of the Epistle to the Hebrews, there is a passage compiled from several Psalms, which has the aspect of a hymn, familiar in that form to those to whom the Epistle is written: "And thou, Lord, in the beginning Hast laid the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest, And they all shall wax old as doth a garment; But thou art the same, And thy years shall not fail." This is a compilation from the passages of Hebrew poetry; but the two following passages are found in the original to be in Greek verse. They are not taken from the Hebrew, and we may regard them, therefore, as our oldest Christian hymns. From Ephesians v. 14: "Awake, thou that sleepest, And rise from the dead, And Christ shall give thee life." From 1 Tim. iii. 16: "He who was manifest in the flesh, Was seen of angels, Was preached to the heathen, Was received into glory!" The following is a version of the earliest Christian hymn now preserved of a later date than these. From that time there are hymns of every century, fragments from some of which are in modern hymns in almost all the hymn-books now in use. This little hymn was written by Clement about 200 years after the birth of our Saviour. It is a Hymn of Children to Christ : "Thy children, free from guile, awake |