We stood on a rock, and looked down upon a valley which opened out into a wide plain. This plain stretches as far as the rocky hills which surround the Dead Sea. If Ruth stood on this point, she could see the mountains of her own land of Moab; and perhaps she liked to come there in the evening when her work was done, to see the purple light upon those mountains as the sun went down. The rich flat land down in the valley belonged to Boaz; and there she gleaned corn in the days of her poverty, before Boaz made her his wife. This was very interesting; but there was something to remember there more interesting still. The hills which enclose this valley are not an even range, but they jut out, leaving recesses between, where the soil is rich, being brought down by the brooks which come flowing down between the jutting hills. The hills on the two sides of the valley are not opposite to each other; but a hill on one side is opposite to a recess on the other, almost all the way along. There is some soil on the hill slopes, where corn is grown; but they are generally rocky. There are caverns in many places; and some blocks and peaks of rocks which are good stations for the shepherds, who sit there, and watch their flocks grazing on the hill-sides or in the valley below. Now, Ruth became the grandmother of Jesse; and Jesse lived here where his fathers had lived before him. Jesse had flocks, as we know; and his young son David kept his sheep from his childhood up. Here was the very place,-on these hills. I almost thought I could see the boy beside the brooks, picking out smooth stones for his sling; for he must have had good practice with his sling before he went out against the giant, Goliath. In those countries now, the boys who watch over the fields, or gardens, or sheep, practise slinging a great deal, to drive away the birds. Here, too, on some of these points of rock, or in the shadow of some of those caves, I fancied him singing, while the echoes sent back to his ear his divine hymns. The "sweet singer of Israel" must have early loved to try his voice when all alone in such a place as this, where the pastures were clothed with flocks; and the valleys were covered over with corn; where he thought he could hear them shout for joy and sing. Here he himself, in such moments, shouted for joy and sang. I have a picture of this valley; and I wish I could shew it to everybody who loves those Psalms of David that are still making music in all the countries of the world. THOU art alone, O Naomi ! Well may'st thou turn in weariness Ne'er yet were Zion's courts so dear, Thy springs of joy are turned to gall But who shall guide thy failing steps, Though Orpah lifts her voice and weeps, Yes, Orpah weeps-but back she turns While patient Ruth Jehovah seeks, "I will not leave thee; I will go And where thou diest, I will die; And nought but death-bear witness, Lord!- She goes: succeeding ages join To hail that favoured one, From whom God's chosen David sprang, D O thou whose young and fickle heart And, 'mid thy various conflicts, write THOMAS CLARKSON. PREVIOUSLY to the year 1785, scarcely any one had publicly questioned the propriety of keeping slaves in the West Indies, or of annually adding thousands to their number by importations of Negroes from Africa. In that year the Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, gave out amongst the students, as a subject for one of the prizes, the question, "Is it right to make Slaves of others against their will?" Thomas Clarkson, one of the students, took pains to acquire information on the subject, and his essay gained the prize. The day after reading it in public, he set out on horseback for London. His essay occupied all his thoughts. As he journeyed on, he became at times seriously affected. At length, stopping his horse, he sat down by the wayside. He tried to persuade himself that the contents of the essay were not true; but the authorities were such as to make this seem impossible. Allowing, then, that such cruelties were perpetrated by Britons upon the poor Africans, he could not help feeling that it was an imperative duty in some one to undertake the task of awakening public feeling to a just sense of the case. He reached London in a state of great agitation. Soon afterwards, he published his essay, which attracted much attention. Still he saw that something else was necessary. The publication of an essay was not sufficient of itself to put an end to the Slave-trade. He became convinced that it was necessary that some one should entirely devote himself to this object. The question then was, was he himself called upon to do it? His own peace of mind required that he should give a final answer to the question. To do this he retired frequently into solitude. The result was, that after the most mature deliberation, he resolved to devote his whole life, should it be necessary, to the cause. Mr. Clarkson originated a Society for the Abolition of the Slave-trade, and many influential men became members of it. By holding meetings, and by publishing descriptions of slavery and arguments against it, this society soon roused the indignation of a large portion of the public against the trade. Mr. Clarkson, as secretary, was the person on whom most of the trouble fell. For six years he laboured so hard at his duties, that at length his constitution seemed about to give way; his hearing, voice and memory were nearly gone; and he was obliged, for the sake of life, to relax in his exertions. Eight years after, finding his health restored, he returned to his generous labours. In the course of these, he suffered great reproach from all who had an interest in slavery, and his life was on more than one occasion exposed to danger. He nevertheless persevered till, in 1807, an Act of Parliament was passed for abolishing the Slave-trade-an event, to have foretold which twenty years before would have caused any one to be set down as a visionary. The example of Britain was followed in a few years by most other European governments; and in 1834, slavery itself was extinguished in the British dominions, at the expense of twenty millions of pounds sterling. All of these great results, by which so much human misery is spared, may be traced to the benevolence of one man, who, through mere love of his fellow-creatures and a strong sense of justice, devoted himself to a task from which all ordinary minds would have shrunk. Text-GALATIANS vi. 9, 10. THE CHANGED CROSS. It was a time of sadness—and my heart, And while I thought on these—as given to me And thus, no longer trusting to His might A moment's pause-and then a heavenly light And, "Follow me," he said; "I am the Way.” And so the little cross I quickly took; Fair flowers around its sculptur'd form entwin'd, |