Adversity is like the period of the former and of the latter rain-cold, comfortless, and unfriendly to man and animals; yet from that season have their birth, the flower and the fruit, the date, the rose, and the pomegranate.-Sir W. Scott. The great secret of doing much is doing one thing at a time.-Locke. The rubbing of the eyes doth not fetch out the mote, but makes them more red and angry; no more doth the distraction and fretting of the mind discharge it of any ill humours, but rather makes them more abound to vex us.-Bishop Patrick. which does not govern and direct the affections. It is not meant to assert that all is vain which does not immediately elevate the Christian to the perfect standard of Christian piety, but that all is so which does not exert a ruling, an increasing influence over the conduct, the heart, and the temper. Where the heart is not humbled, where sin is not hated, Christ is professed in vain. Where, instead of humility, pride maintains its sway; where, instead of gentleness and meekness being followed, passion and rage still mark the temper as unchanged; where a misplaced word, or a slighting expression or look, is sufficient to occasion a storm of anger-religion is vain. Practical piety is described as connected with "the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father."-(1 Thess. i. 3.) But faith, without The desire to justify ourselves is the spring of all its works-love, without its labours-hope, without distress of heart, but he who receives Christ has patience-all are vain, and mark a vain religion.-peace, and not only peace but purity of heart-D'AuReligion and Eternal Life, by J. G. Pike. bigné. MISCELLANEA. How many habits and opinions do we begin with from impulse, and persevere in from indolence! As idleness is the root of all evil, so indolence is the bar to all improvement.-Danby. Habits of seriousness of thought and action are necessary to the duties, to the importance, and to the dignity, of human nature.-Sir J. Mackintosh. If there were no other sign of the perverseness of the mind of man, this would be a sufficient one, that about spiritual things almost every one is satisfied with himself, and thinks himself as wise and holy as need is; whereas about temporal things, nobody is contented with his state and condition, but would fain be greater and richer every day. If we were really wise we should not be so greedy of temporal things, considering we have as much as nature requires. What is beyond the need of nature is a clog But in spiritual things, the greatest share we have is the least of what an infinite being is able and willing to give.-Ludolf. to grace. Be sure to mend that in thyself which thou observest doth exceedingly displease thee in others. Bishop Patrick. A wise Christian will think on rain when the sun shines, and remember sunshine when dark and rainy clouds gather over him.-Saturday Magazine. Where there is most love of God, there will there be the truest and most enlarged philanthropy. No other foundation is secure. There is no other means whereby nations can be reformed, than that by which alone individuals can be regenerated. In the laws of God conscience is made the basis of policy, and in proportion as human laws depart from the groundwork, error and evil are the sure result. -Southey. Unless Christianity be viewed and felt in a high and comprehensive way, how large a portion of our intellectual and moral nature does it leave without object and action!-Coleridge. We cannot attain to the understanding of Scripture either by study or by strength of intellect; therefore your first duty must be to begin with prayer.—Luther. THE DRUIDS AND THE CHURCH OF ROME. I was always struck with the surprising resemblance between the very ancient pagan hierarchy of the Druids and that of the Church of Rome, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Look into Caesar's Commentaries, lib. vi., and see how exactly they agree in the most material instances: a Papal supremacy in the chief Druid, not only over the people among whom he resided, but over all of the same religion in other countries and states; a judicature in him and his dependent priests in all causes, public and private; a power of enforcing their sentences and decrees of excommunication, attended with the heaviest penalties and temporal punishments; an exemption to the priests from taxes, war, and all public burthens; a careful concealment of their doctrines and discipline from the laity; and a prin cipal share in the government wherever their religion prevailed. How strongly, I say, do these two ecclesiastical polities resemble each other! The hierarchy of Rome bears a greater resemblance to the ancient Church of Britain and Gaul, which I suppose was derived from Egyptian original. It shows a similar spirit acting in both to the same purposes-the purposes of ecclesiastical ambition and power-favoured by the state of the clergy and people, in those ages and countries in which they prevailed The sending our thoughts too much abroad to dis--Lord Lyttleton. cern the faults of others, hath the same effect as when a family never stayeth at home; neglect and disorder naturally followeth, as it must do within ourselves if we do not frequently turn our eyes inwards to see what is amiss with us; where it is a sign we have an unwelcome prospect, when we do not care to look upon it, but rather seek consolation in the faults of those we converse with. Time murdered, stains not the ground with blood; but years spent unimproved, will dye the soul with guilt.-Saturday Magazine. The duty of the Christian consists not only in forgiving, but even in a desire of benefiting his destroyer, as the sandal-tree sheds perfume on the axe which destroys it.-Ibid. BE PLEASED. It was a maxim of a celebrated minister, "that if a child but lisped to give you pleasure, you ought to be pleased." When occasionally preaching in the villages, he used to be delighted in visiting the poor, and, when solicited, would regale himself with their brown bread and black tea; but took care, at the same time, that they should lose nothing by their attention. "When a poor person shows anxiety to administer to your comfort," he would say, "do not interrupt him. Why deprive him of the pleasure of expressing his friendship?" A CONTRAST-QUINCTILIAN AND JOB. THE WATER OF LIFE. "IF thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to The gift that God has given, "If thou knewest," little child, That, sinful as thou art, Compassion fills His soul to thee, And tenderness his heart! "If thou knewest," little child, The pleasures of his love, Thy little heart would love to think Of Him who is above. Would think of Him who's seated there- How once, to show the way of life, And now His tenderness the same, DISRESPECT. WHEN a stranger treats me with want of respect, said a poor philosopher, I comfort myself with the reflection that it is not myself that he slights, but my old and shabby coat and hat, which, to say the truth, have no particular claim to adoration. So if my hat and coat chooses to fret about it, let them; but it is nothing to me. A CONTRAST-QUINCTILIAN AND JOB. MARCUS FABIUS QUINCTILIAN was a great advocate, orator, and critic. He was the friend of Pliny, and received the patronage of the emperors. He died at Rome, A.D. 60. His great work is his " Institutes of the Orator." The introduction to the sixth book of this work, relates the loss of his wife and children, and especially the recent death of a very promising son. Let us hear his views on such a subject. He complains of the "bitterness of fortune," and says, "This was the second wound that was struck deep to afflict me, now a childless father! What then shall I do? or on what shall I any more employ the unhappy talents which the gods seem to reprove? It was my misfortune to be borne down by a like stroke when I set about writing the book which I gave to the public, On the causes of the corruption of Eloquence.' Why then did I not cast into the fire that accursed work? Why did not I commit it, with that little unhappy learning I might have, to the flames of that funeral pile kindled so untimely to consume my bowels? What good parent would pardon me if I again engaged in study? Who 527 would not detest my insensibility, if I made any other use of my voice than to vent complaints against the injustice of the gods, who have made me survive all that was dearest to me in the world; if I did not proclaim aloud, that there is no providence in the regulation of human affairs?" Afterwards, he says, "There reigns a secret envy, jealous of our happiness, which pleases itself in nipping the bud of our hopes. If my life be my crime, it shall also be my punishment. I can brave fortune; it has brought my vexations to their height, and in this I find a doleful but just security." Who can read such effusions of impiety, rage, sullenness, and despair, without pain and regret? A human soul thus stung, maddened, and rebellious, is one of the saddest spectacles ever witnessed on earth. Is not heathenism worthless in the day of calamity? Does it bring any solace? Is not even a little light from revelation a blessing? The man of Uz was a great orator too. Unto him "men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at his counsel." After his words, "they spake not again, and they waited for him as for the rain." He was held in the very highest veneration. "When the young men saw him, they hid themselves." In his presence, "the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hands on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their jaws." He was also the greatest captain of his age. "He dwelt as king in the army." "He broke the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth." He was also a great philanthropist. "When the ear heard him, then it blessed him; and when the eye saw him, it gave witness to him. Because he delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him." "He caused the widow's heart to sing for joy; he was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. He was a father to the poor." He was also the richest man in the East. "He washed his steps in butter, and the rock poured him out rivers of oil." He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, aud a great number of servants. He had also ten children. ..... This man lost all his property, and all his sons and daughters in one day. Yet he reverently said, "The Lord gave, and the lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ?" It is commonly believed that Job lived before any of God's Word was written, though not before some important truths had been revealed. He had some light, though not the full light of the gospel. What a difference the Word of God, heartily received, makes in men! What a contrast between Quinctilian and Job! The former lived in the days of the Apostles, and might have known the truth as it is in Jesus. In one sentence of his work, he is supposed to have made a scornful allusion to the Christians. Strange that a man should blaspheme his own gods, and yet see no need of a better religion. Let those who lightly esteem the gospel remember, that, deprived of it, life is a burden and death is without hope. A false religion, because it is false, an instrument of torture. Strange that any man should oppose the spread of the gospel! How can one defend himself from the charge of malignancy, when he would withhold from the wretched the cup of divine consolations? Let those who tell of the happiness of the heathen without the Word of God, henceforth be silent. "Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god." There is but one only, the living and true God. Jesus Christ is his Son. His mediation alone can bring salvation. His word is truth. Blessed are they, and only they, who have made Jehovah their refuge, and hope, and portion. But this must be done with the heart. I once knew a man, who, upon the death of a son, said, "If I could, I would dethrone the Almighty." He was a heathen in a Christian land. Like the bat and the owl, some men see nothing in the brightest light. They are blind. How kind is the Almighty in revealing to us by his Spirit, the beauty and excellency of Christ and his salvation! Praise him in the highest. THE CHAMPLAIN BIBLE-BURNING. THE people of this country, a few years ago, were shocked by a scene which occurred at Champlain, a town in that state, on the borders, of Canada. Gathered there was a population of Canadian French, and among them came some Jesuits, lately arrived from France, who took measures for extirpating, at once, such seeds of Protestantism as they imagined might endanger the fidelity of these people to the Romish Church. Protestant benevolence had distributed among these Canadians a large number of copies of the Holy Scripture, and these Scriptures became the special objects of Jesuitical dread and hostility. The people were not only required to confess the possession of the Scriptures, but to bring the volumes to the Jesuits, who proceeded to make a public bonfire of them in spite of the protestations of the Protestants, who desired that, if the Canadians were not to be permitted to read them, they might at least be returned to the donors. No-these professed ministers of religion would do no such thing-the Bibles must be burned, and were burnt. A chief agent in this Bible-burning was a tall Canadian, a man who had possessed, and had now surrendered at the command of the Jesuits, a copy of the sacred volume. He aided in kindling the fire, and stirred the burning heap with a pole, to make it burn more freely. But mark the power and the grace of God! Dr Cote discovered, among the congregation at the Grand Ligne mission chapel last winter, a new but not unfamiliar face. Believing that he recognised the person, he advanced toward him and said, "Have I not seen you before?" "Yes," replied the man; "it was I who aided in the burning of the Bibles, and my heart has never ceased to reproach me. If I had known the valne of that book, I should never have participated in the horrible act. I have found another copy of the Holy Scriptures, and I have prayed God for Christ's sake to forgive me my sin." God had overruled his share in that nefarious work to his awakening and conversion, and he now solicited baptism at the hands of the missionaries. In due time his wish was complied with, and himself and his wife are members of the mission church at Grand Ligne.-New York Recorder. PRAYER-MEETING IN WEST AFRICA. ONE night, some time after we had retired to rest, we heard a noise in the children's room, which was some distance from our own. We felt anxious to know what our little people could be doing up so late. We approached the door and listened; and, lo! it was the voice of prayer. We continued to listen, and we soon found that these dear little African children were holding their own prayer-meeting. The eldest girl was named Matty; she seemed to be conducting the exercises. She first prayed herself in broker English. She then called upon John. But John said, "Matty, me no sabby pray English.” “Then pray in Jolliff," said Matty; "God knows every language." He prayed in Jolliff. Matty then called upon Petty, who also prayed in Jolliff. The next boy called upon was Gabriel. But Gabriel said, "Matty, me no sabby pray English; me no sabby pray Jolliff." "Then," said Matty, say • Our Father." The poor boy repeated the Lord's Prayer in a solemn tone; and the little prayer-meeting concluded. We returned to our room unobserved, and thanked God in our hearts that he was beginning to work upon the minds of our dear negro children.Rev. W. Moister. SELFISH PIETY. In the olden time of sloop navigation on the Hudson, a close-handed countryman was returning to his home from an excursion to the city, accompanied by his sister, a damsel named Consider. Somewhere in the Highlands they encountered a tremendous storm: the wind blew fearfully, and the passengers were exceedingly alarmed. Consider maintained a considerable degree of composure, but her brother's agitation was extreme. 'He exclaimed: "Ah, if 'Sider and I were only ashore, I shouldn't care how hard the wind blowed." Are there any professing Christians whose benevolence resembles that of Considers's brother?-who are not unwilling that the wretched should be ministered to, if they are not called upon? And if they are themselves saved (as they hope to be), what is it to them though whole nations of heathen perish? HapPy the church in which this type of piety is unknown. Fragments. "Love is the law of Christ's kingdom, the lesson of his school, and the livery of his household.” As an heir must have something else to live on than the mere expectation of his inheritance, so a believer must have an actual foretaste of heaven to sustain him, until the time comes when he shall be put in full possession. Woe is me that man should think there is any thing in me! He is my witness, before whom I am as crystal, that the secret house-devils that bear me too often company, that the corruption which I find within, makes me go with low sails.--Rutherford. Nature can no more cast out nature, than Satan can cast out Satan.- Thomas Watson. Then do we begin to live, when we begin to have union with Christ, the fountain of life, by His Spirit communicated to us; from this time we are to reckon our life.-Flavel. Christ is an universal spring of all life.-Sibbe, 1635. It is only in the path of holiness that we can realize our acceptance.-(1 John i. 7.)-Bridges. mandments, proves that we have yet to learn the Willingly to dispense with the least of the comspirit of acceptable obedience.-(Matt. v. 19.) — Bridges. THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 529 THE LITTLE CHILD. BY THE AUTHOR OF "SCRIPTURE EMBLEMS." THE little child is gentle and affectionate. At no Such a feeling is twice blessed to him that cultivates it, and to him that is its object; and while it rests particularly upon the family of God, it is wide enough to embrace all the human race. Purified from the selfishness that mingles with the common feelings of humanity, it makes a godlike effort "to do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith." In this it not only proves its exalted origin, but reaps a rich and appropriate reward. I say unto you, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you; so that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the just and on the unjust." It is detached from the world. A little child is comparatively a stranger in the world. It has, no doubt, its own little cares, but these are soon dissipated, and, like the cloud that passes over a summer sky, they leave no trace of them behind. To all that so much concerns grown men, the child is totally indifferent. The interest which these awaken, the anxiety and toil that they occasion, he cannot comprehend. Children are found in the market-place, but they are prosecuting their own sports, altogether regardless of the bustle going on around them. Infants are carried thither, but they look round with amazement at what all the busy hands and plodding heads are engaged in. To them the world is all a vain shew. Its pleasures cannot delight them, its wealth cannot enrich them, its honours cannot tempt them. All, all, to the babe is as nothing, compared with a smile from its mother's eye, and a sleep in her bosom. Such a stranger in the world is the child of God, or rather he is a greater. The child is indifferent to it, because he knows it not; the other has weighed it in the balances and found it wanting. "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." "Be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." It would be indeed a strange sight to see a little child on the exchange or the market-place of this world, transacting its business like a grown man. At first it might strike us as a very interesting sight, but in the issue it would be more likely to shock us as an unnatural one. "Every thing is beautiful in its season." And the literal verification of the proverb, “a gray head upon green shoulders," would not appear more anomalous; but not more unsightly would be such an object, than a worldly-minded Christian is. A true child of God is in the world, but he feels and shows that he does not belong to it. # Its joys and its sorrows have given place in his bosom, to a joy and sorrow with which the world cannot intermeddle; its possessions are postponed to the unsearchable riches of Christ; its honours to that “honour which cometh from above;" its empty pleasures to those that are "at God's right hand." One thing the child of God feels to be needful, and all others are to him indifferent. One pursuit engrosses his energies, and all others occupy a secondary place. He seeks first, he seeks last, he seeks diligently till he find it—the kingdom of God— | and all other things, he trusts," shall be added thereto. 'Brethren, the time is short," is his motto. "It remaineth therefore, that they that have wives be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use the world as not abusing it, for the fashion of the world passeth away." In fine, a child is particularly attached to its father's house. All a child's happiness centres in home. There are the objects of his chief reliance and warmest attachment; there are the sources of his most delightful entertainment; there are the scenes with which his thoughts and heart are familiar. A short absence may occasionally be relished, but it is not long before the excitement of novelty wears off; and, like the bird that has wandered or been frightened from its nest, the heart of a child returns again to its old haunts with increased pleasure. So strong, indeed, are these feelings, that time and distance seldom obliterate them; and, after passing through the varied scenes of life, and forming many a new and interesting connection, the man of hoary hairs often goes back in his musings to the scenes of his youth, "the greenest spot in memory's waste." "Jacob, though domesticated in Padan-aram, longed sore for his father's house;" and what a gush of feeling rushed through the soul of Joseph, in the midst of all his glory in Egypt, when the entrance of his brethren brought back to him his father's tent, and the joys and sorrows of his early days! A similar longing distinguishes all the children of God. All their best affections gather round the house of God. as "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts!" There is the place of their second birth; there is the abode of their dearest and most affectionate friends; and there is the scene of their highest enjoyment. A child of God indifferent to God's sanctuary, would be as unnatural as a child that cared not for its own home. A disciple that would knowingly take a part in injuring its interests, or impairing its privileges, is as great a monster as a child who would set fire to his father's house. "I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth." He may be often separated from it, and duty as well as necessity may require him to be so; but "as the heart panteth after the water brook," so pants his soul for a speedy return. His daily prayer ascends to God for its prosperity, and an earnest desire for its enlargement and full establishment, is the last wish connected with earth that dies in his bosom. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the root of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy." And if this be true of God's earthly habitation, much more of his heavenly home. That is the true family mansion, from which is derived their spiritual descent, and where all will ultimately be collected. The family of God are all " born from above." "Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us all.". It is a home suited to the glory, and enriched with the wealth of their heavenly Father, and where nothing is awanting to the personal comfort and eternal joy of all his children. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Never was there a child of God but looked and journeyed towards that "happy home;" and just in proportion to the longing desire which they cherish for it, and the earnest and decided manner in which they express it, do they manifest to themselves and to others that they are indeed the children of the Most High. "We who are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality may be swallowed up of life." "I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." “And truly, had they been mindful of that country from which they set out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country-that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.” Is this, then, the character of God's children? How obvious the assertion of our Lord: “ Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." How uneasy upon a grown man would sit the habits of a little child! To copy it naturally, he must himself grow young again. As unnatural sits the form of godliness upon him who is a stranger to its power. To be and to act the spiritual man, requires the birth "of water and of the Spirit." "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Little children, "come, and welcome to Jesus |