RAGGED SCHOOL ADDRESSES. 35 read, I answer, that thousands of copies were made from the martyrs' books at different times and by different people, and carried far away into different countries, and kept for many years by men who hated the martyrs, and the Bible, and God, and who tried all they could to find out mistakes in the copies, but yet, when the copies were read together, they were all found to have exactly the same words. [3. Internal Evidences of Authenticity.]-Now we are a step further on. We know that we have the book which the apostles and martyrs were quite sure was written by God. Dr. Abernethy understood a great deal about fevers and all kinds of diseases; so if I found that the book given to me by Johnson was very cleverly written, and told me how to cure sickness and to take away pain, and about other things which I knew that nobody but Dr. Abernethy could write of without making some mistakes-and if it was printed over and over again in its pages that the book was written by Dr. Abernethy-and if nobody living in his time could think of any man able to write such a book-I should have very little doubt indeed that what Johnson had said about it was correct. You will find the Bible just the sort of book which you would think God would write for man. It tells of the disease of sin, and how to cure it completely. It tells how the world was made, which nobody but God could know. There has not been one single mistake found in all that is written there; and it tells of a wonderful plan for saving sinners, which no man could ever have invented. Let us try some of the things it says, and see if they be true. The Bible tells us that to believe Jesus and to love him will make us happy. You can try this yourself, and you will soon find how true it is. Again, it says that if men pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit he will come to them. Is not this quite true also? The Bible told us what would happen to Jerusalem and many other cities, and everybody who visits these places will assure you that all has come to pass. Nobody but God could write down these things so many years before they were to happen; and besides this, it is written very often in its pages that God himself was the author of the whole book. [4. Contrary Supposition.]-Can you think it possible that bad men could. write such a book? Paul says that God told men exactly what to write in the Bible. Paul worked miracles. Nobody can do that unless God gives him the power. Would God allow a man to work miracles if he was a bad man, and told what was false about God writing this book? Would a bad man live as Paul lived, and die at last for the cause of God? A bad man would not publish all his sins as Paul did. If he wrote the book himself he would be proud of the wisdom in it, and call it his own, and praise himself, and try to get riches and honour by writing the book; but Paul did none of these, and he was content to suffer all his life for saying what he did about the Bible. [Conclusion.] Most likely then they were good men who were persecuted because they said that God wrote the Bible, and so I think they would speak the truth. [5. Concurrent Testimony.]—But if you cannot see the paper and parchment on which all these good men wrote, and if you cannot read Latin and Greek, how are you to know that what your teacher tells you about them is correct ? Well, ask learned men who can understand these languages, and they will all give you the same account; and the wisest and best of men, who have spent all their lives in examining the subject, surely would not try to deceive little children. Then perhaps you will say, "There are many clever people who do not believe the Bible." Yes, the Bible tells you that very thing; and it is because their hearts are hard, and their minds proud, and they will not ask God to teach them heavenly wisdom. [6. Convictions independent of Human Testimony.]-After all, the boy or girl who simply trusts in Jesus will be more sure that God has written the Bible than the wisest philosopher who does not take its truths into his heart. There is a something which says in that child's heart, "The Scriptures are true; I feel them to be true; I love them because of their good tidings; no good man would ever take them away from me, and I feel in my heart that God himself has told me that they were written by Him." [III. APPLICATION.]-Why don't you believe the Bible? Yes, indeed, if you are still an unbeliever I think that this is the question which you ought to answer. Temple. Literary Notices. Shoe-Blacks and Broomers. In a Letter to Boys. By JOHN MACGREGOR, Esq., M.A., author of "Three Days in the East," "Eastern Music," etc., etc. Second Edition. Sold at Seeleys, Fleet Street; Haselden, Wigmore Street; and at the Office of the Ragged School Union, 1, Exeter Hall. THIS pamphlet, like the other productions by the same able writer, and zealous and indefatigable friend of Ragged Schools, is exceedingly interesting. It contains a graphical sketch of the Shoe-blacks and Broomers, another recent offshoot of the Ragged School movement. We hail its publication, because it is calculated not only to amuse, but to interest and awaken the sympathies of the young, and to show how great an amount of good may be accomplished by a comparatively small outlay, enabling the destitute and helpless to help themselves, and become respectable and respected. The fact that the profits arising from the sale of this well-written paper are to be devoted to the Shoe-blacks' Dormitory will, we trust, secure to it a place on every drawing-room table. The Band of Hope Review and Sunday Scholars' Friend. Partridge & Oakey, Paternoster Row. A halfpenny can hardly purchase a more valuable monthly sheet than this; and the yearly volume, just published, forms an excellent prize for those who are fond of pictures, and stories, and poetry. The periodical advocates the principle of temperance, and the practice of total abstinence; but this doctrine, which is open to great discussion, is rightly made subordinate to the larger and more certain principles of Christian truth and love, and no one can read the pages now before us, embellished as they are with lively, wellchosen illustrations, without understanding at once how the paper has become so great a favourite with its young readers. J. M. The Westminster Juvenile Refuge, painted by A. BLAIKLEY, Esq., and dedicated to the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury. THE studies for this picture were drawn in the "Refuge," in Old Pye Street. The centre group represents the boys making shoes; to the right a lad watches the operations of the master shoemaker, behind whom the boys seated on the board make clothes for themselves and others. Beyond the master tailor some unruly urchins disturb the public peace, near whom the head master admonishes the new scholars. At the door stands a boy, (lately sent to Australia,) speaking to an applicant for admission. A poor woman comforts a little orphan, afraid of bein, left in so strange a place. A boy, CORRESPONDENCE. nearly blind, (a portrait,) sits near the 37 pictures, this tells its own tale, and carries with it its own recommendation. The grouping of the figures is pleasing and characteristic; and exhibits the correct taste and good judgment of the artist. He has been particularly happy in the delineation of the countenances of many of the scholars. We are glad to find that arrangements are being made with the Messrs. Leighton to produce prints of it by the new chromatic fac-simile process. These are expected to be ready in a few months. Correspondence. To the Editor of the Ragged School Union Magazine. MY DEAR SIR,-A Ragged School Union Magazine has been forwarded to me for the last two months,-I know not by whose order, but it has served as a flapper. [The writer encloses a cheque for £5, as a donation, and £1 as Annual Subscriber, and proceeds as follows:-] My opinion is, that benevolent objects are carried out by two species of contributors-the contributors of time and the contributors of cash; but that the former are the real golden contributors; or, to take a metaphor from a science in which I am supposed to possess some knowledge, that the former are the units, the latter the cyphers, which added to units produce large results, though quite inefficient without them. I once, I trust, belonged to the former class, but "non sum qualis eram,” I am content to fall into the ranks, and let the battle be led on by younger and abler spirits. You are well applying Rowland Hill's celebrated hymn : "Come hungry, come thirsty, Come ragged, come bare, Come just as you are." I believe you may be properly called "mental washing establishments for the poor." The Wood Lodge, Shooters Hill, Yours faithfully, JOHN ADAMS. To the Editor of the Ragged School Union Magazine. 12th Jan., 1852. SIR,-I was delighted to see in your Magazine for this month a letter from a "Ragged School Teacher," recommending that every subscriber who now receives the Magazine gratis should pay for it. I believe that such has been the feeling of several of the subscribers, and I was, for one, on the point of writing to suggest the same thing, when I saw this letter. I heartily concur in the writer's feelings, that we ought all cheerfully to assist in keeping up this most valuable record of the good arising to our poor unfortunate brethren from institutions of which many would be entirely ignorant were the Magazine discontinued; very many in the higher, and even middling classes, know nothing whatever about the Ragged Schools, or their unhappy inmates. I have seen much good produc by a casual visitor taking up the Magazine E from a drawing-room table, where I always place it in hopes of making the cause known; I have by this means greatly interested several friends, who expressed the most entire ignorance that such dreadful destitution and crime prevailed, even at their very doors, and knew little or nothing beyond the name of those blessed institutions. Let us make a vigorous effort to preserve our little Magazine, like the ark, above the waves, that it may send forth its touching appeals, like the dove of peace, and return to its refuge with the olive branch of love and true charity, as a proof of our faith in the endeavour to turn many to righteousness. Shall not such shine as the stars for ever? I remain, Sir, your obedient Servant, THE POOR MAN'S FRIEND. Che Children's Gallery. MY FIRST VISIT. THE little story I am about to tell is quite true; it is written for the benefit of children who are visited by kind Christian friends, and for the encouragement of those who give their time and talents to the work of visiting the poor and ignorant, the sick and the dying. In the summer of the year 1847, I was staying with a dear friend for a few weeks at a pretty farm-house in the Isle of Wight, near to the sea-shore. Soon after our arrival, it pleased God to lay my friend on a bed of severe sickness, so severe that for some days he was thought to be at the point of death. "Leave me," said my friend, "for I can think of Jesus, and can pray to him, and he is present with me; and go to some of the poor and ignorant people in the village, who perhaps may be dying, without knowing that Jesus is waiting to be gracious." "I have never visited the poor," I replied, "and hardly know how to set about it-I have the will to do it, but fear very much that I cannot say anything to the purpose." You see, dear children, I felt something like Moses, who, when God told him to deliver his people the Israelites, said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent . . . but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue," Exod. iv. 10. Or, like young Jeremiah, when God told him to go and prophecy, and he said, "Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak for I am a child," Jer. : i. 6. Like Moses and Jeremiah I had yet to learn that it is God's Spirit which performs all the work, and that the best and cleverest of men are but his instruments, and he can make use of even the very humblest. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord," Zech. iv. 6. This is the text which I had to learn and to understand. friend To return to my story. As my very much pressed me to go and visit the poor, and as I saw it would make him happy, I complied; but I went out with a sad unbelieving heart-but God was about to teach me a lesson, which I trust I shall never forget. Α In the course of my walk, I came in sight of a pretty cottage, and I thought it would make a nice sketch, if I were to sit down and draw it; but my promise to my friend came to mind, so I went up to the door with a timid hand, and lifted the latch-and I felt so unequal to the task, that I lifted up my heart in a short prayer to God, that he would help me. woman came forward, and I asked her of her family-the tears came to her eyes, and she told me that she had lost a son lately by his falling over the lofty cliff while getting the eggs of the sea-birds, and that she had now one little girl, who was lying in bed very ill. I asked permission to see her, which was readily granted, and mounted the narrow stairs to the bedside of the little sufferer. She was much wasted by disease, her little face very pale, and her arms, which rested on the coverlet, were thin as arms could be. I saw at a glance that death had set his seal upon her, and that her little soul must very soon leave the frail house it inhabited. Making further inquiry, I learned that she had been ill more than four months, and that no one had visited the cottage, either as a doctor or as a Christian friend-that the father and mother pursued the unlawful trade of smuggling, and as they knew they were living in sin, they had failed to send their daughter either to church, or chapel, or school, lest their evil deeds should be reproved. Here then, thought I, God expects me, with all my mercies and all my advantages, to do something for him; so I sat down on the INTELLIGENCE. bed, and talked very softly and quietly to the little girl; for it is cruel to talk too fast to sick people, as it makes their heart beat, and causes them to cough. I cannot tell you all I said to her, but I told her one thing, and that was, that she was a sinner, and needed a Saviour. This was quite new to her, so I read to her out of the Bible and explained it, and then I knelt down by her bedside, and asked her mother to do the same, and asked God to save her little daughter for whom Christ had died. I wrote a little prayer for her on paper, that her mother might read to her until she knew it by heart, that she might pray to the Saviour of whom I had spoken. I visited her again and again, day by day, and always took some little trifle with me, such as a rose, or a sprig of sweet-scented verbena, for which she always gave me a pleasant smile, for these little things are very welcome to those who are confined to their beds, and cannot see the pleasant fields or the flowers. And I took her some jelly or other nice food, which made a change, as she had been living upon barley water made very sweet with sugar, and could not drink it any more. But I did not forget that her little soul was more precious than her body, and of more value than all the flowers and food and even than the whole world-so I read out of God's book every day. At one time, about Jesus calling little children to him -then about the poor woman who came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment-then about the parable of the two debtors, who had all their debts forgiven them--and then about those in white garments, who were seen in heaven, who "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," Rev. vii. 14. The morning after this last visit, I was at the farm house, when I was told that a poor woman wanted to see me. I went out to her, and it was our little girl's mother. She said, "Do pray, sir, come and see my little daughter, for she has been dreaming of what you said yesterday, and cannot rest until you read it to her again, and I am so ignorant I cannot find it in the Bible 39 you gave me. I was not long in going, and found that God had impressed the truth upon the heart and conscience of the child, and that her only delight was to hear of the love of the Saviour to poor sinners. On leaving, I turned down the pages of the Bible for her, where I had read, and she frequently called her mother to her bedside to hear them again and again. It pleased God to call me back to London at this time, and I took leave of my little patient and disciple, commending her to God, and to the power of his grace; but before so doing, I felt it my duty to speak to a Christian lady, to look after this lamb of Christ's fold. This she did for the short time she lived, and after I had returned to London about a fortnight, I received a letter to inform me that my little charge had exchanged a bed of sickness and pain for a heavenly crown, rejoicing in her Saviour, and that before dying she sent me the following message: "Tell that kind gentleman, I shall never see him any more here, but I shall meet him in heaven." If a messenger had arrived from our gracious Queen, conferring on me all the titles of honour at her disposal, and adding all the wealth which would be required to support them, he could not have brought a message more grateful to my feelings. Such was the result of my first visit. It was a boon from God. I have tried to remember it, and to profit by it. Many years have passed away, and I have visited ever since, amidst many imperfections, sins, and infirmities—I have pursued the work with much mistrust of God, much unbelief in his promises, and much omission of prayer; I have gone from house to house, and hope to do so while I have life and strength, but I have learned more and more, by all I have seen and experienced, the lesson which God begun by teaching me, and which, I trust, these few words will impress upon all who read them that all can and ought to do something for God; and that it is not by might and strength, but by God's Spirit, that the work of salvation is accomplished. B. S. Intelligence. NORTH STREET SCHOOLS, WHITECHAPEL. THE Annual Meeting of these schools was held on Monday evening, December 29th, in Crosby Hall, Bishopsgate Street. The Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor, in taking the chair, expressed the great pleasure with which he had undertaken the duty of presiding over a meeting, assembled to promote the interests of an institution which |