HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. be fortunate. Nearly all the way was a wilderness, and gloomy tales had been told of the treacherous Indian. More than one boat's crew had gone on that journey and came back no more. Who, then, would endure the toil and brave the danger? None volunteered. The young shrunk back, and the middle-aged had their excuse. Their Last scheme seemed likely to fail. At length a hoarybeaded man, an elder in the Church, sixty-four years of age, arose, and to the astonishment of the assembly, offered his services. The deepest feeling at once pervaded the whole assembly. To see their venerated elder thus devote himself for their good, melted them all to tears. They gathered around old Father Smiley to learn that his resolution was indeed taken that rather than lose their pastor, he would brave danger, toil, and even death. After some delay and trouble, two young men were induced, by hope of a reward, to go as his assistants. A day was appointed for starting. The young and old from far and near, from love to Father Smiley, and their deep interest in the object of his mission, gathered together, and with their pastor at their head, came down from the church, fifteen miles away, to the bank of the river, to bid the old man farewell. Then a prayer was offered by their pastor. A parting hymn was sung. "There," said the old Scotchman," untie the cable, and let us see what the Lord will do for us." This was done, and the boat floated slowly away. More than nine months passed, and no word came back from Father Smiley. Many a prayer had been breathed for him, but what had been his fate was unknown. Another Sabbath came. The people came together for worship, and there on his seat, before the preacher, composed and devout, sat Father Smiley. After the services, the people were requested to meet early in the week to hear the report. All ¡came again. After thanks had been rendered to God for his safe return, Father Smiley arose and told his story: that the Lord had prospered his mission; that he had sold his flour for twenty-seven dollars per barrel, and then got safely back. He then drew a large purse, and poured upon the table a larger pile of gold than most of the spectators had ever seen before. The young men were paid each a hundred dollars. Father Smiley was asked his charges. He quietly replied, that he thought he ought to have the same as one of the young men, though he had not done quite as much work. It was immediately proposed to pay him three hundred dollars. This he refused to receive till the pastor was paid. Upon counting the money, there was found enough to pay what was due Mr. Smith; to advance his salary for the year to come; to reward Father Smiley with three hundred dollars, and then to leave a large dividend for each contributor. Thus their debts were paid, their pastor relieved, and while life lasted he broke for them the bread of life. The bones of both pastor and elder, I believe, have long reposed in the Same church-yard, but a grateful posterity still tell this pleasing story of the past.-Presbyterian Advo HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. 323 O earth! earth! earth! hear the voice of the Almighty! Could He forget thee who has given thee life? Could He who called thee into existence, fail to show thee the path of happiness? Must not He who formed thee understand thee perfectly, and know certainly what is best for thee? O mån! where wilt thou find a protector more powerful, a friend more tender than thy Creator and thy God? To whom oughtest thou to listen, if not to him? It was early spring time; all was calm. The silver moonlight streamed into a spacious hall, lately" resounding with the voice of song and laughter; graceful forms had glided through the dance there, and sounds of deep melody had floated on the evening of night had succeeded to the confused murmur of air. But the gay groups had separated; the silence the festival; and thought awoke. The hearts of some amongst them said: "This is not happiness; we need something beyond this. The period of our life is as nothing in God's sight. There is a higher, an eternal happiness. Who will give it to us? who will show us heaven, answering: "THE WORDS OF YOUR GOD! the way to it?" And I seemed to hear a voice from O sons and daughters of men! behold the guide to that better land-READ THEM." It was summer; all was activity in city and field. The merchant was busy at his counting-house, the workman in his shop, the mother in her household, the soldier at his post, the labourer in his field. There was a murmur, like the humming of insects in the heat of the day, but vast and deep: for it was the busy hum of men. And numbers among them Alas! said, with hollow eyes and mournful voice: true happiness is not found in the whirl of business. Who will tell us where to seek it ?" And again I seemed to hear a voice from heaven, answering "THE WORDS OF YOUR GOD, O children of men, will show you the path of happiness—READ THEM." It was a day in autumn. The wind had stripped the trees, their dry leaves carpeted the earth; old men and women were reposing in the faint sunshine before their houses, while their children were at work; and each one thought to himself: Soon my last sun will rise; soon will the sharp blasts of death detach me from the tree of life, and lay me low, like these leaves, on the earth. Who will give me the assurance of immortality? who will give me eternal life? And again I seemed to hear a voice from heaven, answering-" Aged men, THE WORDS OF YOUR GOD can give it to you-READ THEM." It was winter. Every thing was dry, frozen, dead. It was the time when men, assembling, incite each other to crime; but it was the time also when God speaks powerfully to the soul. Conscience, that in visible witness, which each of us bears within, seemed awakened in many. Men and women, young and old, in the country and in town, mourned over their faults. One voice in a tone of terror exclaimed, "I have dwells also in my soul! I do nothing but what is sinned! The death which now reigns over all nature wrong! Who can endure the day of the Lord's coming? Who shall stand when He appeareth? My sins, my sins, who will deliver me from them? who will save me?" And I seemed to hear a voice from heaven, saying, "JESUS CHRIST! JESUS CHRIST Will deliver thee! He has come to seek and save that which was lost. READ THE WORD OF GOD, and thou wilt know thy Saviour, thou wilt possess salvation!" -Tract by D'Aubigné in “ Nelson's British Library of Tracts for the People." THE PINNACLES OF THE TEMPLE. THERE were several pinnacles belonging to the temple. These pinnacles stood on the top aloft in the air, and were sharp, and so difficult to stand upon: what men say of their number and length I waive, and come directly to their signification. I therefore take those pinnacles to be types of those lofty, airy notions with which some delight themselves while they hover fike birds above the solid and godly truths of Christ. Satan attempted to entertain Christ Jesus with this type and antitype at once, when he set him on one of the pinnacles of the temple, and offered to thrust him upon a false confidence in God, by a false and unsound interpretation of a text.-Matt. iv. 5, 6; Luke iv. 9-11. You have some men who cannot be content to worship in the temple, but must be aloft; no place will serve them but pinnacles, pinnacles-that they may be speaking in and to the air-that they may be promoting their heady notions, instead of solid truth. Not considering that now they are where the devil would have them to be, they strut upon their points, their pinnacles; but let them look to it, there is difficult standing upon pinnacles; their neck, their soul, is in danger. We read God is in his temple, not upon these pinnacles.-Ps. xi. 4; Hab. ii. 20. It is true Christ was once upon one of these; but the devil set him there with intent to dash him in pieces by a fall, and yet even then told him, if he would venture to tumble down, he would be kept from dashing his foot against a stone. To be there, therefore, was one of Christ's temptations, consequently one of Satan's stratagems: nor went he thither of his own accord, for he knew that there was danger. He loved not to clamber pinnacles. This should teach Christians to be low and little in their own eyes, and to forbear to intrude into airy and vain speculations, and to take heed of being puffed up with a foul and empty mind.—Bunyan. LOVE YOUR CHILDREN, BUT WISELY. GIVE them your hearts into their bosoms, but not the reins on their necks. When you do so, at the same time mount them on your fiercest beast, furnish them with switch and spur, but without bit or bridle; and then do but pause and think soberly of the period of their full career. Love them, I say; but still be careful to maintain that just authority and pre-eminence that God hath given you over them. A parent that hath lost his authority, is as salt that hath lost its savour: like the log sent from Jupiter, every frog in the family is apt to leap upon him. And remember it, fond parents, there is nothing in the world that renders you more vile, cheap, contemptible in the eyes even of your children themselves, when they begin to put forth the first buds of reason-nothing that lays your authority more in the dust, and exposes you to the foot and spurn of your child-than sinful indulgence. "A foolish man despiseth his mother."—Prov. xv. 20. His mother's folly made him a fool; of a foolish child he at length grows up into a man, but a foolish man;" and this "foolish man despises his mother." If you are fathers, then, take care of your honour; if mothers, be sure to carry it so as to preserve in your children that awful respect and reverence which they owe you.-Mal. i. 6; Heb. xii. 9.-Lye. THE DEVIL'S CURE FOR SADNESS. THE devil hath a cure for the sad and melancholy, which is, to cast away all belief of the immortality of the soul and the life to come, or at least not to think of it; and for to take religion to be a superstitious, needless fancy; and for to laugh at the threatenings of the Scripture, and go to play-houses, and cards, and dice, and to drink and play away melancholy. Honest recreations are very good for melancholy persons, if we could get them to use them; but, alas! this satanical cure is but like the witches' bargain with the devil, who promiseth them much, but payeth them with shame and utter misery. The end of that mirth is incurable sorrow, if timely repentance cure not the cause. The garrison of Satan in the hearts of sinners is strongly kept when they are in peace; but, when they have fooled away time, and mercy, and hope, die they must-there is no remedy; and to go merrily and unbelievingly to hell, after all God's calls and warnings, will be no abatement of their torment. To go out of the world in the guilt of sin, and to end life before they would know the use of it, and to undergo God's justice for the mad contempt of Christ and grace, will put a sad end to all their mirth. For, "There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God."-Baxter. Fragments. Men are like children of a larger growth. They must have the bowl by all means, but they are not aware what is in it till they feel it. As to daily occurrences, it is best to believe that a daily portion of comforts and crosses, each one the most suitable to our case, is appointed us, and adjusted by the hand that was nailed to the cross. Wherever the path of duty leads we are safe; and it often does lead and place us in such circumstances as no other consideration would make us choose. If we can answer to this question, What doest thou here? by saying, I believe it to be the voice of God, then we need not burden ourselves about what we cannot avoid or alter. A frozen snake cannot sting till warmed; nor can the snake of mortified sin hurt us till we again warm it in our bosom, by indulging the thought with delight. As many locks, whose wards differ, are opened with equal ease by one master-key; so there is a cer tain comprehensive view of scriptural truth which opens hard places, solves objections, and happily reconciles, illustrates, and harmonizes many texts, quently styled the analogy of faith), appear little less which, to those who have not this master-key (fre than contradictory to each other. When we obtain this key, we shall be sure to have the right sense. We should be as frugal of our time as a miser of his money. Indolence and ease are the rust of the mind. The bed; formal visits; reading useless books: wrong method of studying, and an unnatural bent of the mind to a study to which it is not disposed; these are thieves of time. Give the best time to the best things. Whatever must be done, and may be done now as well as hereafter, had better be done A traveller, who must reach his home by a foitering at the beginning of his journey, he is forced given time, would not be thought discreet, if, now. to run himself out of breath at the end. Enter upon nothing but what you are destined to pursue and find. THE CHRISTIAN TREASURY. 325 SCIENCE AND CHRISTIANITY COMPARED. III. The pre-eminent character of the know- only, but each of these in rare and unrivalled ledge of Christ appears from the consideration, combination, yet if the salvation of the soul that while science is important both to the occu- were not obtained, the acquisition would be as pation and the improvement of the intellectual nothing—an impalpable shadow and a viewless powers, and to the advancement of the social breath; and this, too, would still be the just comas well as personal welfare of man in his putation were we even to cast out of sight the present condition of existence, this is essential depreciating circumstances which of necessity to the salvation of the soul. It is not disparag-attach to all sublunary delights and possessions; ing to general science, and contains no denial of its pretensions, to affirm that it is inadequate to salvation; for it never professes that this is its aim. It has a mental, not a moral design; its relations are temporal, not eternal; it converses with things that are seen, and cannot unfold the hidden things of God, or bring to view the realities of the invisible universe. The comparison thus instituted between the two branches of knowledge, involves the facts that the salvation of the soul is supremely important, and that the knowledge of Christ secures it; and they are facts which demand a distinct and very serious consideration. such as their intrinsic impotency to afford real satisfaction-the uncertainty of their continuance, and, at the best, the brevity of their duration. Unite them in thought with all that even in the indulgence of the fondest vagaries of a dreaming fancy and an ardent enthusiasm you would conceive might be imputed to them, and then suppose the loss of the soul (that is, suppose the gift of immortality, to become a curse); suppose an utter alienation and banishment from God-the darkness of a destiny from which should be for ever excluded a single ray of the divine favour; and suppose this as contrasted with the smile of his love, the bliss of The salvation of the soul, it is maintained, is his presence, the fulness of joy (to which all important above all other conceivable objects; other joy is emptiness) at his right hand for so that in reality nothing can be worthy of evermore;-think of the short-lived enjoyments Icomparison with it. Our great Instructor has of the present state, which must surely be rerepresented this in the most impressive manner: garded in comparison with eternal death on the "What shall it profit a man if he gain the one hand, and everlasting life on the other, as whole world and lose his own soul? or what only like bubbles and sparkles on the stream shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" of being, that break and vanish at every breath; Thus it is intimated, that whatever may be on then, think of the unfolding grandeurs of eterother grounds deemed most profitable or advan-nity, that open, as in endless perspective, to tageous, is in the comparison, unprofitable—is no the view of the sanctified spirit; and then put gain-is nothing. And this is truly the case, the momentous question of Him who, in first though we should comprehend in our imagina- propounding it, was balancing time and eternity. tion of what is valuable the entire world. Undoubtedly this may be regarded as a hyperbolical expression, and must be understood to mean, that although a person should become | possessed of every thing which is supposed to render life desirable or splendid although we might conceive of his attaining the very summit of the most outstretching ambitionhaving accumulated unmeasured stores, secured the greatest fame, and being blessed with that very flower and bloom of existence, continual health; and although he enjoyed not one No. 28. * If the soul be lost, then all is lost. Its destruction is not like a passing thunder storm, terrific, but of brief duration; it is rather like, and is, to that soul, the wreck of the universe. Separation from God is hopelessness-helplessness -woe-a deathless death! But another consideration involved in the general statement of the pre-eminent value of the knowledge of Christ is, that it secures the salvation in question, and consequently averts the awful loss which ignorance and unbelief must incur. The knowledge of Christ implies of Christianity to form; it lay beyond the conceptions of their philosophy, and is an order" of morals, constituting in fact the only sound morality, which springs from principles too pure and divine for the wisdom of this world, or the detection of human reason. 2. The knowledge of Christ secures morality! a just appreciation of his character, and a relying faith; and the express declaration is, "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life." "Without faith it is impossible to please God" | and secure salvation; for "he that believeth not the Son, shall not sce life." By ascertaining the natural phenomena and laws of the universe, we may scale the heights of our intellectual by purifying the heart, which is the fountain of being, and become instrumental in extending the boundaries of discovery, or aid the accumulations of possession; but we cannot by these pursuits "see life," or attain to the heavenly blessedness; for amidst the utmost eagerness of mental enthusiasm, and the finest acquisitions of natural genius, it is but too common to "neglect the great salvation," and thus be the proper subjects of the pertinent inquiry, "How shall we escape?" it. The motives suggested by the Gospel to form human character and regulate the actions of mankind, are deduced from the example and the cross of the Redeemer. It is perpetually inculcated upon us that we cannot be his dis ciples without self-annihilation and a spiritual conformity. The love which ensues upon the knowledge of him, and is cherished by the perpetual approximations of devotion, attracts the soul into resemblance, producing the moral and permanent image of Christ upon the man. It is true there are many who "name the name of Christ," but who do not depart from iniquity;" this is only, however, to say that many who profess religion act contrary to its tendercies, oppose its real spirit, and falsify their vows. We must, therefore, ever distinguish between The attainment of salvation through the knowledge of Christ is a question of fact, and not of metaphysics; for it belongs not to reason to determine-it is not a problem given it to solve, or submitted to it for investigation. It is a question of pure revelation, determining not what might be, but what is; what, in consequence of divine appointment, cannot be other-intellectual speculation with an outward com wise, but is a fixed, unalterable law of the moral universe. If, therefore, "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures," nothing can be so essential to our happiness as to "know him;" it must be knowledge of infinite worth and necessity. IV. A further observation we have to make in our instituted comparison, respects the moral influence of Christianity. Although science and religion, as we have remarked, are unhappily but too often dissociated, yet general knowledge must be admitted to have many beneficial tendencies. It detaches from inferior pursuits, enlarges the mind, and imparts views of a lofty character respecting the greatness, wisdom, and goodness of the Deity. It is not, however, comparable to the science of salvation -the knowledge of Christ, which having a more direct bearing on man as a moral being, sanctifies as well as elevates his nature. There are three points of great interest here, which, without attempting to expatiate upon them, we would suggest as topics of thought for the medi tative mind. 1. The knowledge of Christ may be said to reveal morality—to show what it really is, by representing the peculiarities of that "conduct and conversation" which "becometh the Gospel." The sages of antiquity never imagined such a character as that which is the special purpose pliance, and a deep-seated, genuine, and soulrenovating Christianity. 3. The knowledge of Christ perfects moral conduct. The same volume which supplies the facts of the Christian religion is replete with precepts arising out of them and its doctrines to promote universal holiness; and the Spirit of God producing experience, which is the know. ledge of Christ in the heart transferred from the Bible, tends to the advancement of spirituality to the highest degree. Some have mistaken the New Testament idea of detachment from the world, by supposing it consisted in an actual separation from the duties of life, and that the most perfect religion was to be found in the seclusion of the desert, and the solitude of the hermitage; whereas, it is obvious that the separation inculcated by Christianity is a separation of the passions, a withdrawal of the mind from its carnal associations, and a purification of the activities of life from base and earthly motives; and hence the perfection t Christian morality does not consist in repudia! ting the claims of social and domestic life, but in the minutest fulfilment of their various chi gations under the influence of a zeal for ticủ kindled by a live coal from the altar. V. Lastly, we remark the superiority of the knowledge of Christ, as preparing the mind for affliction, death, and eternity. In these great A CHAPTER ON PRAYER. crises of our being, nothing else can avail. The man of a refined mind, indeed, who has devoted his days to intellectual cultivation, is susceptible of pleasures far surpassing those which the proudest exploits of ambition can produce; and from the researches of literature or the accumulations of science, especially if he has a consciousness of having used them for the benefit of mankind, he may enjoy the highest degree of retrospective satisfaction; but these will not conduce to real peace of conscience, by promoting reconciliation with God, or filling the mind with the hope of eternal life. To depreciate science would argue a Gothic taste and a perverted judgment, nor is it in the least degree needful in order to adjudicate the claims of religion. The argument is not that the one is valuable, and the other nugatory; but that both, being in their respective relations and degrees excellent, the one surpasses the other, by how much "godliness," which has "the promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come," exceeds attainments whose purposes, however exalted, terminate with the present world, and contain in them no elements of salvation. The beam of science irradiates a lower sphere, or man in his inferior condition; but the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ shines through the darksome valley of death, and pours its everlasting splendours upon the region that lies beyond. It is precisely at that moment when all other sources of mental or physical enjoyment fail, when the lamp of philosophy expires, when the discoveries of reason fail, and when the applauses of a world that bestows all the fame it can, die upon the ear— it is precisely then that religion, consisting in the knowledge of Christ, exhibits its noblest triumphs, secures its amplest rewards, and springs to immortality. A CHAPTER ON PRAYER. FOR YOUNG PERSONS. BY THE REV. J. FAIRBAIRN, ALLANTON. YOUR parents tell you that it is your duty to pray. Your ministers also tell you the same. This chapter is intended for your use. It shall be taken up about some of the things that have respect to the duty of prayer, which your parents and ministers are so anxious to impress upon you. You ask what prayer is. It is a proper question. You must understand what prayer is before you can pray. A short description will be best, and most easily remembered. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God." "Our desires;" that is, what we 327 deeply feel, and earnestly wish for. "An offering up of our desires;" that is, a making mention of thema speaking of them out-a telling of them. Prayer, then, you will see, is an asking. It is an asking for something we want-asking earnestly, that we may receive. Suppose a man has for a long time been out of work, and has no money to purchase clothes and food for his children. His children are in misery. They are half-dead with cold and hunger. Every time he comes home he sees them sickly and pining, and hears them cry for bread. He has none to give them. What does this man want? He wishes to procure some employment, by which he might win some money, by which he might buy food and clothing for his poor dying children. And what will he do to get this money? He will go to all his neighbours and friends, and ask them to assist him to get employment. He will go about from farm to farm, from ask employment, and never cease to ask till he find shop to shop, from manufactory to manufactory, and something to do, by which he may earn bread for his family. From this example you may learn what prayer is. It is an asking for the pardon of sin, and peace with God, and many other blessings that shall be named afterwards, with the same desire and anxiety to get them that the poor man, whose employment and help from this person and that, family is starving, feels when he goes about asking until he obtains them. You will say, Now we understand what prayer is, it is an asking for those things we stand in need of. But if it be an asking, there must be some one we are to ask from, and who is it we are to pray to? from whom is it we are to ask the thing we desire and seek the answer to it is: We are to pray to God, and to for in prayer? This is also a proper question. And God only. There are many reasons for this. Only two of them shall be told you at present; the other reasons you will have opportunity of learning afterwards. ers. The first reason why we are to pray to God, and to God only, is, because God only can hear our prayThis will perhaps seem strange to you. You will say, If one prays aloud when another person, or many other persons, are present, can they not hear what the one that prays is praying for? Yes, they can hear. How, then, do you say that God only can hear prayer? You will see how this is, if you think upon what follows. Suppose a person is praying in secret, where there is no other near him-it may be in his closet, it may be in the field, or some other place where no other person is within sight. None of his companions can hear him then. But God can hear him. And if he is really praying, God does hear him; for God is everywhere present-in the house, in the field, on the sea, everywhere. You cannot go to any place where God is not. No one can shut himself out for a moment from the presence of God. Take another case. Many people have been at prayer this morning. Many in this land, many in other lands-in England, America, India, and many other places at great distances from each other. No man has heard all the prayers that have been offered this |