THE YOUTHS' MAGAZINE; OR Evangelical Miscellany. JUNE, 1833. POWERSCOURT WATER-FALL, COUNTY THE glen of the Water-fall is a deep mountain recess, environed on every side, except the entrance, by steep and lofty hills, adorned with wood and rock, and broken ground, and sweeping down from every side with the greatest boldness and variety. The head of the recess is crossed by a mural precipice of denuded rock, down the front of which the river Glenisloreane falls perpendicularly a depth of 300 feet. A velvet turf is spread over the undulating surface of the bottom of this glen, and majestic oaks of picturesque forms clothe the mountain sides, and climb the rocky precipice in front. At a distance, the fall is seen partly gliding in frothy streams down the sloping surface of the mossclad rocks, and partly dashing, in angry mood, against some projecting cliff, whence being rejected, it seems to vanish like the floating mists of morn. In the broken and varied foreground a sloping bank protrudes, worn by the mountain torrent, which has bared the tenacious roots of the great monarch of the wood: confident in strength, he seems to VOL VI. 3rd. SERIES. disregard the persevering efforts of the stream that rolls so rapidly at his feet, to undermine his throne so long enjoyed: more in the distance still, less venerable oaks, candidates for that pre-eminence yielded by the leafy tribe to the royal inhabitant of the grove, fling their shady branches over the verdure-clad lawn, and afford cool shelter to the "deer that desire the water-brooks."-Fisher's Views in Ireland. THE BEAUTIFUL GATE. ACTS-CHAP. III. 1-16. ""HAGIOPOLIS!' exclaimed a Greek, as we drew near the Holy City,Hagiopolis!' Suddenly the sight burst upon us all: the effect produced was that of total silence; many of the party, by an immediate impulse, took off their hats, the Greeks and Catholics shed torrents of tears. I had not been prepared for the grandeur of the spectacle: a magnificent assemblage of domes, towers, palaces, and churches glittering in the sun's rays, which shone with inconceivable splendour.” * If the sight of Jerusalem, in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, excited such emotions as these, what must its splendour have been at the period referred to in that passage of Holy Writ now open before us? The apparent spectacle which surprised the traveller, and awakened the superstitious feelings of his companions, was nothing more than an assemblage of Mohammedan mosques, minarets, and caravansaries-of Catholic monasteries and oratoires. But in the days when the Lame man lay at the Beautiful Gate, the holy city was yet entire; the towers of Hippicus, Psephinus, Phæsælus, Antonia, and Miriamme, were then visible on the blue horizon, with all their palaces, porticoes, and galleries; the bulwarks of Zion were all unscathed by fire, and the temple itself, with all its sacred appurtenances, was yet undefiled, uncontaminated by the touch or entrance of Gentile soldiery. That court of the temple which was called the sanctuary, had many gates, nine of which were covered over with silver and gold; * Clarke's Travels in the Holy Land. but there was one without the inner court of the holy house, composed entirely of Corinthian brass, which excelled all the others, this was the Beautiful Gate. The front of the temple itself was covered with plates of gold of great weight, and possessed, says Josephus, every thing capable of exciting the astonishment and admiration both of the mind and senses. At the first rising of the sun, it reflected back such a flood of splendour, that those who attempted to look at it had to veil their eyes and turn from it, as from the intolerable brightness of the sun itself. Yet of all this magnificence, no intimation is found in the New Testament, except in two passages, where it is written, "Master, behold what manner of buildings and stones are here!" and again, where it is said, ❝he sat at the Beautiful Gate." Such is the insignificance of mortal grandeur, it is not even worthy of notice, while the healing wonder, or rather divine miracle, of a poor lame man being made to leap as an hart, has employed the pencil of the Holy Spirit more than all the superb magnificence of the" beauty of earth's cities." After the resurrection of our blessed Lord, and just before his ascension, the disciples being come together, asked him if he would at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. They wanted Jesus to take unto him his great power, and upon the throne of David, and in the city of Jerusalem, sway the sceptre of universal empire, that they might be invested with authority as the ministers and officers of the great king. Our blessed Lord did not reply in a direct manner to their question, yet to comfort them, he told them of a certain kind of power which they were to receive, far mightier and more invincible than that possessed by all the kingdoms of the world. He said, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." The Jews were jealous of the power of the Romans, not only as it was arbitrary, and intolerant, and oppressive towards the conquered; but as it invested its own subjects with a character of dignity and majesty, which was not to be insulted with impunity; a sort of sacredness not to be violated, without the greatest hazard, even by Roman authority itself-as is evident in the case of Paul simply saying, "I am a Roman, or, Is it lawful to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?" On which occasion the Centurion starts back, alarmed at his own audacity, and the Tribune, trembling for the consequences of having bound Paul, rushes in, exclaiming, "Tell me, art thou a Roman?' But however enviable such a dignity, or such a franchise from oppression and insult might be, the power which our Lord conferred upon his Apostles was totally different in its nature; for while it enabled them to benefit others, yea, consecrated the life of each to labors of pure philanthropy, so far from conferring an immunity from suffering and degradation upon themselves, it tended rather to expose them to the fiery ordeal of persecution and imprisonment-bonds and death.* The first evidence of their possession of this miraculous gift, was on the day of Pentecost; the next occasion in which they bore testimony to the divinity of their risen Lord, and to their being the depositaries of his delegated authority, was at the Beautiful Gate, at the hour of the evening sacrifice, when Peter and John went up to the temple to pray. And here I might ask my young readers, who were Peter and John? but seeing you are too far distant, and too widely scattered, for me to hear your response, I shall proceed upon the belief, that none of you are ignorant of both, as well as of the whole circumstances of the miracle related in this chapter. Neither need I ask any Christian reader, if it be sweet to go to the house of God in company with his people, and with those we love. David did this, as well as Peter and John. They had stated hours of prayer, certain seasons in which they sought and found communion with their God; after the slumbers of the night, or at the calm of sultry noontide, or amid the setting splendours of the sun, the dews and fragrance of the evening-under the innumerous glories of the starry host of heaven-the placid beams of the cool and silent moon; or at midnight, when the Omniscient eye burns bright as in the solar ray. This privilege is ours, my beloved readers, for the hour is now come, when not only at Jerusalem, but every where, we may lift up holy hands without fear or doubting, * "He, who took our sorrows and bore our griefs, left for the instruction of his servants, a perfect model of what should ordinarily be a life of beneficence. Every circumstance of privation, of discouragement, of insult, of deadly hostility, was endured by him as submissively as if no extraordinary powers of relief or defence had been at his disposal, Natural History of Enthusiasm. |