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THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
VOL. XXXIII. NO. 14.
©riginal |)cefrn.
JI y Mother.
by w. p. R.
"Cherish thy Mother! brief perchance the time
May be that she may claim the care she gave.’’
Some precious words are born of eartli;
Some others by the angels given ;
But sweetest of celestial birth,
Are these — “My Mother,” “Home” and
“ Heaven
Dear Gospel of the human heart!
What music can thy praise excel ?
What Poet’s numbers e’er impart—
The inspiration and the spell—
In this— “d/i/ Mother.”
In “ Heaven” —what scenes of pure delight!
What hymns of Peace—whatsongs of joy!
To ehaim the soul for upward flight—
And call it to its high employ—
Where Jesus dwells ; but naught for me,
Os Earth, could Heaven secure,
More dear, and give Eternity—
Than one, who there would still allure
My soul- My Mother.
"My Home ” —to Heaven next enshrined,
Deep in the heart’s unfathomed mine
A voice, from all we love combined;
Exhaustless theme—a type divine !
But oh ! what gloomy shadows rise.
To spread their pall, within the walls,
Where orphan-hearts and tearful eyes,
Lament, in home’s deserted halts.
In vain —for " Mother.”
"My native land” —that “hallowed ground,”
Wtiose name incites in peace or war,
To deathless thoughts and deeds ! sweet sound
To banished hearts, on shores afar !
But exiled bosoms deeper swell,
Intenser glows the patriot’s flame,
When faithful memory wakes to tell,
The, moral power of e’en that name,
Is due to— “ Mother.”
Love'a purest name most honored where
The cross its fadeless glory bought!
From Calvary’s top, God’s angels bear
To souls redeemed, no purer thought,
Than that so stirred the Saviour’s breast,
And from his lips perfumed the air.
To Sooth a throbbing heart to rest—
Transferring all his filial care.
To bless —His “Mother.”
That Mother, all whose virtues shine—
As lights above the path of years—
Who for her child leaves Palestine—
Her home—her friends—braves toils and
fears;
A pilgrim with a bosom rife,
With anxious love, she follows up
Her son —her all—her soul—her life—
To drink with Him each bitter cup—
A faithful Mother
Let The Whole Creation Praise
God.
Ye mountains, to high heaven your voices raise,
And let your lofty summits speak God’s praise.
Ye hills, your tops with shaggy forests crowned,
Lift up your voices; let God’s praise resound.
Ye forests wave to Him ; to Him, ye vales.
Your odors breathe. Praise Him, ye summer
gales.
And chant, ye winds, in solemn harmony,
His praises, while ye sweep o’er land and sea.
Ye that have life and reason, ardent, raise
Your hearts to heaven, and joyful tune God’s
praise.
Or let your daily life and conduct show,
His praises while ye sojourn here below.
Thou ocean, with thy myriad waves, roll on,
With all thy solemn romp, and ceaseless moan ; '
With thy untiring moti n, to and fro,
Thy restless, thy mysterious ebb and flow;
Forget not Him, thou heaviug, mighty main,
Who bids ten thousaud tempests sweep in vain,
O’er thee, and on thy bosom leave no trace,
To Him thy and ateless Hallelujah’s raise.
Praise Him with solemn, dirgelike murmuring;
Or let thy stormy billow's chant a hymn,
A boisterous hymn of glory to our God,
And clap thy hands to Him, thou roaring flood.
And you, ye mighty storms, His greatness howl,
And let your loud resounding thunders roll,
The praises of our God. Let lightnings write,
Hls name upon the darkness of the night,
In characters of Are. Let ether clear,
Through all its shoreless depth, forever bear,
Throughout infinity, the glorious name,
Os the Creator, and His praise proclaim.
WII.HEI.MINA.
Contributions.
A Reminiscence.
I leaned against the sign-post at the Cross
roads one day, looking upon a very pleasant
scene. The oak-grove, just before me, was
crowded with horses, and buggies, and carts,
and wagons, and people moving about
among them. Just to the left, surrounded
by venerable trees, whose long moss waved
like shreds of old winter's robes cast oft' in
bis hurried flight from the approach of ver
nal May, roso the weather-beaten, mossy
sides of the wooden church, built a genera
tion before. The road leading over the hill,
was thronged with merry groups of older
and younger children, men and women,
moving over the knoll which concealed the
bridge from the point we occupied near the
church.
I was particularly struck by the appear
ance of one old man in the crowd. His
head was white as snow, and, bent with age,
he walked feebly by help of his staft'. I saw
his wrinkled face grow bright, and his eye
kindle with something like its youthful fire,
as he watched the scene before him. The
chatteriug tongues and merry laughter made
melancholy music for the old man’s heart.
True, in the cliurch-yard his comrades were
sleeping; he stood the lone representative of
a past age; but to-day he was young again.
He did not murmur, he had no word of re
gret for life prolonged to four-score years:
his heart was yonng, and he laughed with
the laughing maiden who paused to speak a
cheerful word to the aged sire, and felt as
happy-well-nigh as she. I said, “O, for such
an old age, old only in appearance, with a
heart forever fresh and gree. ”
The occasion of which I speak, as you
have guessed already, was a festive one—
“ Celebration Day" for the Sunday-school.
Every body for miles around was there—
the wole place teeming with happy life.
I had not tired of the scene around me,
when my attention was called to music over
the hill. It came nearer, and I caught the
tones of human voices mingling with the
swelling notes of instruments, and the words
were—
“ We’re marching to the promised land—
A land all fair and bright;
Come join our happy, youthful band,
And seek the plains of light.
O, come and join our youthful band,
Our songs and triumphs share;
We soon shall reach the promised land,
And rest forever there.”
My heart thrilled with emotion as I listen
ed—“ How sweet, how grand !” I exclaim
ed. Then a beautiful banner glanced above
the hill top—who bore it I could not see—
but at its distance I read upon its folds,
"Little soldiers of Jesus.’’ Then came
pennons whose inscriptions I could not read.
Following them, came another banner,
borne aloft by youths, and its motto was
■“Stand up for Jesus.” Lastly there came
over the hill top a band of men and women
escorting another splendid banner, and on
Christian gutwraif.
it was written, “Fight a good fight!” On
they came—banners flying, music ringing,
little feet tramping ! My heart swelled with
pent up feeling. I had myself stepped to
the martial notes of drum and fife, when
armed hosts pressed with shoutings to bloo
dy conflicts; and now, as I looked at the
moving column, and listened to their steady
tramp, and heard their martial notes, and
saw their waving banners, I felt the fires,
that used to kindle amidst the wild revels of
the angel of death on the battle field, re
enkindle in my heart, and I felt like doing
battle for “ God and the right. ” The
thoughts that had been taking form and
shape in my mind, swept up in an ungoverna
ble tide of emotion, and in vain I endeavored
to prevent it—-I wept. I remembered that
this was one company. That five hundred
thousand such soldiers were being mus
tered into service; and I longed to see them
rank after rank, on some great plain, a spec
tacle that angels might shout over. I thank
ed God that they were mustering for the
war, and fancied I could see the tremor of
hopeless hate that ran through the hosts of
darkness, as they saw this dread array.
Then, as they passed into the church and
I stood before them, I felt I was helping to
drill these “little soldiers,” that they might
bo “valiant for truth,” “putting to flight
the armies of the aliens,” in after days.
Verily, is not this our work ? We are en
gaged in a fearful war. God and satan,
heaven and hell, good and bad are in con
flict. Human souls are the spoils of battle
on either side. For these, “two worlds
are at strife.” Ministers, teachers, we are
part of God’s host.
“ We’re sokliera flghting'for onr God.”
We must fall—true, it will be to rise again
and reign. Yet we must fall. The day will
eorne, when the long-roll will no more rouse
ns to the fight, when we shall bo missed
from our places in the line of battle. Who
shall fill our places ? Can not each of us
train one, aye, scores, to take our places
when wo are fallen ? We can. Shall we
not do it ? Then, God's host will swell its
numbers, till irresistible, it will sweep
through the valley, and press over the hills
and bearing down satan’s last resistance,
plant its banners on the spires of a conquer
ed world ! Halleluia ! Amen !
Here are these little ones. We are to
gather our recruits from them. Our work
is to train “Little soldiers of Jesus.” They
arc his. Folded to his loving breast
blessed by him, claimed by him. “Os such
is the kingdom of heaven.” He has given
them to us to train. We must do it, so
that they need not fail or faint in the day of
battle. What a responsibility ! Jesus’s sol
diers given us to train. Sunday-school
teacher, honor your calling. Give it heart,
and soul, and mind, and money ! Train the
little ones—teach them. Teach them to
know their enemies, how to defeat them.
Teach them to know their leader, Jesus.
Let all centre here. Teach them to know
him as a saviour, brother, friend; and sacri
fice, and service, and love will spring from
this knowledge of Christ.
“ My precious class for Jesus,
Who did so much for me—
Who paid the price which justice claimed,
In hours of agony.
My whole dear class for Jesus!
O, let not one be lost,
When Calvary was the fearful sum,
Their wond’rous ransom cost.”
G. H. Wet.t.s.
Timmonsville, S. (?., March, 1870.
Infant Membership.
With all deference to the wisdom of our
fathers, wo think there are several weak
points in our polity yet remaining, to which
the attention of the General Conference
should be directed at the next and every
succeeding session until they are corrected.
One relates to the membership of our bap
tized children; and the other to the wide
door thrown open to a secular and irregular
ministry.
Four years ago, wo showed by actual sta
tistics, that our Church lost seriously by
our then mode of receiving members into
the Church as probationers. The present
status of our young membership proves the
wisdom of the General Conference in the
abolishment of the rule. We could now show
as readily by statistics, that not a moiety
of all the children baptized into the Church,
are saved to it, on account of a similar loose
and unmethodical mode of dealing with the
infant membership of the Church. Hut
our time, and perhaps the patience of our
readers will not warrant such details, par
ticularly as we believe that the Church is
fully convinced of the truth of our posi
tion.
It is admitted, that baptism is the door
into the Church—that no person can be re
ceived into the Church without it—that
when a person is baptized he becomes a
member of the Church—that, therefore, all
baptized infants are members. And yet our
law makers have made no provisions by
which their membership can be recognised
as valid. Their names are not recorded,
and they are consequently not in a literal
sense members of the Church of Christ.
The result is that their baptism is to a great
extent lost upon them, for good, and the
Church nnd ministry in a large and very im
portant sense lose their hold upon and their
influence over them.
And yet the argument of our ministry in
behalf .of infant baptism is predicated great
ly upon the fact, that such a dedication to
God in infancy is binding upon parents and
children, and is a potent weapon of the
Church for inducing the children in after
years to become lively members of the same.
The fact is owing to the loose manner in
which it is done, preachers and parents sel
dom referring to it again, and no note be
ing taken of it in the chronicles of the
Church. Our children grow up as they list,
and are only brought in under revival influ
ences, and many of them lost to us and to
religion simply on the ground of this culpa
ble neglect.
Now we propose to correct the evil by
having inserted in the Discipline a section
to be headed, Os Infant Membership; in
which it shall be provided, that every pas
tor shall have entered upon the church book
in its proper place tbe names of all infants
baptized in our Church. And that at each
church-meeting such names shall be regu
larly read, as having been admitted into
the infant membership of the Church. And
that their numbers shall be reported at each
Annual Conference, after abstracting the
deaths, as the adult members are. And that
when these children shall become of suffi
cient age to take upon them the vows of the
Church, and shall manifest a willingness so
to do by professing faith in Christ, they
shall beiregularly initiated as communicants
in tbe Church; while those who utterly and
wickedly prefer the paths of sin, and will
uot yield to the godly advice of their min
ister and parents to be confirmed in the
Church, shall be stricken from the member
ship of the same.
It is easily perceivable, that such a course
is perfectly consistent with our faith in of
fering baptism to infants, while our present
system is not—that it will give pastors and
children a hold upon the consciences and
lives of the children which they now have
not—that if there is any virtue in the old
Jewish rule of dedicating children to God,
and in the apostolic mode of baptising and
rearing them in the Church, this will secure
all the benefits appertaining to such a rule
much more effectually than the present sys
tem does.
The time has come, when the children of
the Church must be saved to her by the prop
er recognition of infant membership, family
government and Sabbath-school instruction,
or we fail as a Church to copo with others,
in securing the acknowledged benefits of
our form of Protestant Christianity to our
children. And we verily believe, that while
under the present system a very large per
cent, of our children, drift either into the
world or other churches, that under the one
proposed, bringing to bear proper incentives
upon pastors and parents, we will lose but
few, very few, of our loved ones to the Church,
and thus greatly enhance the chances of
their salvation in heaveD.
By your permission, Mr. Editor, we will
briefly refer to the other point hinted at, in
a future number of your paper.
E. M. Pendleton.
Sparta, Ga., March 28th, 1870,
Foreign Missions.
A Christian who prays in sincerity, as
Christ taught, “Thy kingdom come,” or
“Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he
will send forth laborers into his harvest,” is
not much in the mood to debate on the pro
priety that the laborer should go, or the duty
of the Church to send. “ Go,” and, “as ye
go preach ” is imperative to the “called,” and
woe to him that does not obey. Tbe means
to send are in the hands of the Church. God
placed than there, and woe to that member
who refuses to send. He is an unfaithful
steward and he will meet with the fate of him
who bulled his talent.
As to whom and whero the Gospel is to be
preached, there can be no debate with the
comments before us and instructing us.—
Take the following Scriptures, and ask the
conscience of the Church to answer: “Go
ye into into all the world and preach the Gos
pel to every creature”—“That repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in
His name to all nations beginning at Jerusa
lem.” . . . “ Sing and jiraire (the Lord)
from tbe ends of the earth . . . the isles
and the inhabitants thereof ... let the
inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout
from the top of the mountain ... it
shall come that I will gather all nations and
tongues and they shall see my glory . . .
I will send . . to the isles afar off that
have not heard my fame nor seen my glory.”
But I forbear further quotations. The
heathen are promised to the Son as an inher
itance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
as a possession.
How were the commands obeyed, and how
did they begin to bo fulfilled in the Apos
tolic Church? And he (Jesus) called the
twelve and began to send them forth two by
two. And they went out and preached. . .
“ The Lord appointed other seventy also
and sent them two by two, before his face
into every city and place. ” ‘ ‘Go your ways,
behold I send you forth as lambs among
wolves.” St. Paul says: “It pleased God
. . to reveal His Son unto me that I might
preach him to the heathen, and immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood, but I
went into Arabia.” Ho was afterward or
dained and sent forth exclusively to tlio
Gentiles, preaching throughout Asia Minor,
Thrace, Macedonia, Acliaia, Italy and many
isles of the sea—Barnabas, Mark, Luke,
Silas, Timothy, and others abundant in la
bors assisting.
Thus rapidly was prophecy fulfilled, and
many tongues spake forth the praises of God
that had not before heard of his fame or
glory. Preachers and congregations had
compassion for the heathen in that apostolic
day. And thanks be to God, it is not now
wholly lost, even according to the confession
of an “ Old Methodist.” It still burns in the
hearts of itinerants who give their all,nearly,
to create missions among them, and some
labor with their hands to carry the Gospel
to them, rather than be a burden to a Church,
that Corinthian-like “abound not in the
grace of liberality.”
Let us examine a few statistics. It is
proper that a holy emulation should be
awakened in us, if by no other means we
can be aroused to respond to the Macedonian
cry that unceasingly comes up from the
heathen land.
The M. E. Church, (North,) have 130 mi
ssionaries abroad. We have two. They appro
priate 8222,000 —we SB,OOO. They have
seven different mission fields abroad, in all
parts of the world. We one. This contrast
will be objected to with this Church on the
ground that while we have been impover
ished, they have grown rich. I grant it.
But does that justify the difference in these
figures? Are we able to do only one-thirtieth
as much for the heathen, while they do not
double us in membership?
But take a Church struggling as we are
under the misfortunes of the war—the South
ern Presbyterian. This Church last year re
inforced their China Mission with three
missionaries, besides two to other fields.—
We have sent none since the war—one has
come back—and an “Old Methodist” wants
the leader to surrender the whole field to
the powers of darkness and come home.
The United Presbyterian Cliurch sent out
40 new missionaries last year. Their receipts
last year for Foreign Missions were $525,-
350. They have 350 men and women, with
1,000 native helpers, proclaiming the Gospel
to tho heathen. The Protestant E. Church
sent last year two missionaries to China,one
to Africa, (one of them the son of a Bishop.)
They expended SBB,OOO last year and in
creased the assessment this.
The American Baptist Mission Association
has in Asia 100 missionaries with 80 native
ordained preachers and 422 colporters and
Bible readers.
But we forbear going further with these
statistics. The English Churches excel the
above nearly as far as they excel us, in their
work for the heathen abroad. Let it no
longer be said that the heathen are among
us. We did a glorious work in our home
missions for the Africans before the war.
But what since? Nothing, save the volun
tary labor of some of our Bishops and preach
ers among them. Other Churches are doing
as much or more than we are doing.
. Now, if our charity remains at home much
longer it will die. It is growing sickly for
the want of foreign exercise. Apply no lon
ger plasters apologetic to cover the Church’s
shame. Robe her, saddle her, and send her
forth to nations abroad, to publish glad ti
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO., FOR THE M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH.
MACON, GA., FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1870.
dings of peace to all men, to make the wil
derness glad and the solitary place to blossom
as the rose. And then it will not be long
before the gathering clouds of God’s glory,
coming back from heathen lands, will break
in blessings on ns as the gifts of Macedonia
refreshed the poor saints at Jerusalem. We
ought to reinforce China with five or six
missionaries and take in South America too.
Let the appropriation be 8100,000. Keep
Dr. Munsey in the field; hold up the cause
by faith, pray and Christ and God will rain
grace and the riches of liberality as upon the
Corinthian Churches. A Missionary.
Assessment lor Presiding Elders’
Support.
The claim upon each appointment in a
District cannot be equalized by adopting a
certain rate per cent, upon the whole amount
to be raised in the District for the support
of the preachers in. charge —say 15 per cent.
upon SIO,OOO to he raised—because, owing
so the size of some of the preacher’s families,
such an amonnt is assessed upon certain
charges for their support, as demantft from
the District stewards discrimination in their
favor; whilst other charges have to care for
small families and may be taxed heavier for
the Presiding Elder’s support. Hence, no
fixed rate per cent, can be maintained
sides, Elders are changed, and much more
may bo required for the support of one than
for another.
Each District steward should bring to the
District steward’s meeting a statement of
the size of preacher's family, amount assessed
for his support, and from the circuit or sta
tion stewards, the sum which they think
should be assessed upon their respective
works. With this data, and a reference to
the amounts raised for a term of years upon
each charge—allowing for enlargement or
dimunition of the work, increased or de
creased ability—an equitable assessment is
easily made. Os course the rate per cent.
upon the preacher's allowance will vary with
changes and the circumstances of the
preacher. B station may be assessed S3OO,
which say is three-tenths of the amount al
lowed the preacher, §1,000; hence, $1,300 is
to be raised for the support of both. The
next year B station must allow §1,200 to
the new pastor; but being able to pay §1,500
if necessity required, the assessment for the
P. Elder remains unchanged; hence the per
cent, is now one-fourth of the preacher’s al
lowance, the whole being $1,500.
D circuit is assessed SIOO, which say is
one-eighth of the preacher’s allowance,sßoo;
hence, SOOO is to be raised for support of
preacher and Elder. Next year D circuit is
assessed 8150, which is one-fourth of the
preacher’s allowance, $000; hence, $750 is to
be raised for support of both.
F circuit is a poor, weak work, and is as
sessed SSO, which is one-eighth of the preach
er’s allowance, $400; for both, $450. The
next year the preacher’s allowance, he beiug
a single man, is S3OO, and the Elder’s claim
is SIOO, or one-third of the amount, lienee
the whole amount to be raised is SIOO.
The per centum upon each charge may vary
from year to year; the amount to be raised
for the Elder’s support being greater-one
year than another, or the amount to be raised
for the preacher being greater or less. For
the same Elder the amount assessed upon
any one charge may vary from year to year,
although his allowance may be unchanged,
owing to changes in preachers in charge,
but equity may always bo secured by the at
tendance of every District steward, and ordi
nary carefulness in making the assessment.
District.
Our creed.
It is with deference to the savans of the
church, that I venture to suggest to the
General Conference (soon to be in session)
to consider the propriety of amending the
seventh and eighth articles of onr creed.
The language of the 7th article is antiquated
and not very chaste to a modem ear; and
while the doctrine it holds is very sound and
Scriptural, I see no propriety in referring
to what the “Pelagians talk,” asuine in ten
of our church do not know what Pelagius
taught. I therefore propose to alter as fol
lows :
“Every man who is born of the descend
ants of Adam is corrupt and sinful, and far
gone from original righteousness, and of
his own nature is altogether inclined to evil
and that continually.”
Now I submit, that this, or something
better, would improve the seventh article of
our creed, and render its phraseology more
acceptable to the modern ear.
And I would further suggest that the
eighth article on free will be made to read
as follows : “Btli. Free Will! All men are
free moral agents, having the power to
choose or refuse, and as the grace of God
which bringeth salvation, has appeared to
all men, and thereby given to every man
the power to believe, therefore whosoever
will let him take the water of life freely.”
Now this amendment truly represents our
doctrine on this point, and I think is clear
and clearly Scriptural. Why not substitute
it in place of the old eighth article, which is
somewhat difficult of clearness, and our
Baptist friends say, it has some Calvinism
in it.
Another objection—the word “prevent”
is used in the sense of clearing the way and
helping men to believe, while its modern
acceptation is to hinder; and there are
thousands in our church who would under
stand it in no other sense. Let us, there
fore, write it out plain, clear, and true to
doctrine, and should there be any Calvin
ism in it, let the church oust it by all means.
Hold on, and I will suggest another im
provement. It is as to our mode of taking the
sacrament. Our system is to kneel—the
disciples took it sitting. Tho Scriptural
mode is certainly right. This change would
add to the popularity of the church. Let
the seats form a circle round the altar, the
participants go to one end and counter
march to the other, and in the same order
retire. Let the minister partake at the same
time. I have been a member of the Meth
odist Church fifty years, and have seen
enough to know this change would add
much to the popularity of our beloved
church. . Senex.
The Pastor’s Visit. —Rev. Dr. John Hall,
writing on the important subject of pastoral
visitation, and how in the performance of
duty the people can help the minister, says:
When the minister comes, do not, dear
reader, look at him as if you said: “Pray,
sir, what brings you here? Wiiat have we
been doing? Are we going to be disciplined,
I wonder?” Do not keep him waiting till
you have made an elaborate toilette. He
did not come to see your dress; but to see
you. Do you suppose he is such a simple
ton as to think worse of you because you are
not in full dress every day? Do not set him
down in state in the best room to be enter
tained by one member of the household. He
came to see the family. Do not, when he
does reach the family, put any difficulties in
his way of speaking of divine things, or pray
ing with you—if he should see occasion. Do
not retain him with the minute recital of
any ills you have noticed in your fellow
worshippers. He loves the people, and is
grieved to hear evil of them. Let him un
derstand that you prize his calling with you,
and will anticipate his return with pleasure.
Try to get some good from his visit, as yon
would from his sermon; and so it will be
pleasant and profitable to both you and him.
gjactrine anb (Brpruncc.
God’s Delay in Answering Prayer.
As near as I can judge it pleases God not
only to give us the things which it is proper
for us to ask for, but He gives them to us in
such a way, in the first place, that they
shall not hurt us; and in the second place,
that they shall be ten times as much as we
ask for. For example, when Paul asked
the Lord to take away the thorn in his flesh,
“No,” said the Saviour; “I will do a great
deal better than that—l will give you
strength to bear it. ” When you are bestead
by an infirmity, and you beseech the Lord
to take it away from you, He says: “I will
do a great deal better—l will keep the infir
mity, but I will make you so strong that you
shall carry it off as though it was a joy;”
and you shall say afterward, “I count it all
joy that I fell into that trial.” To multiply
strength against an annoyance is better
than to take away the annoyance itself.
Suppose a man is sick, and prays to God for
health; that is not a wrong prayer, and God
may answer it in this way: He may say,
Let the sickness abide, but it shall be with
such consolations, with such a sense of My
supporting you in it, that your whole soul
shall be filled with joy and trust, and that
it shall be better for you to be sick than if
yon were well. There is such a thing as
shaking down more fruit in sickness than
men gather in health.
I remember a case. A woman came to
me, in one of my earliest pastorates, with
exceeding anxiety about her husband. She
had herself become a Christian, and was
sincere and trustful. In the course of some
weeks the husband was converted, although
he had been not only a worldly man, but
an unbelieving man. And he gave this his
tory about himself: “When my wife first
began to go to these revival meetings I was
angry; but I had always let Mary do about
as she chose, and I thought I would not say
anything. She continued, and'l could not
help myself. I did fret, and noticed that
she never answered. I think that the more
I fretted, the kinder she grew. I noticed
that there was a great deal more spirit in
the houso than there ever had been. Nobo
dy lost anything by reason of her religious
zeal. My meals were regularly prepared,
my children were well taken care of, and yet
she had a great deal of time for Christian
duties. She never spoke to mo on the sub
ject of religion, and I knew it was a great
cross to her. I heard her pray for me; I
saw her do everything in her power to avoid
offence, and to make herself and religion
agreeable to me. It. made me angry, and I
resisted for some time, till I could not stand
it any longer; and at last I said to myself :
‘She has something that I have not, and if
it is religion, I want it.’ ”
Now, suppose that the next minute after
she prayed, saying: “Lord, give me my
husband,” that husband had been convert
ed, the gift would not have been much,
compared with what he did give her. For
the more he held back, the more she thought
of and longed lor the salvation of his soul,
and she plead earnestly, and said : “Now,
everything in me must work for this result,
and if I obtain it, it must be by the use of
means.” It blessed her temper, it enhanc
ed her disinterestedness, it deepened her
lovo, it enriched every part of her nature;
so that when God gave her husband to her
iu conversion, he was not any more anew
man than sho was anew wife. She was
richer, truer, deeper, purer, more spiritual,
better worth any man’s having. And the
delay was a very fortunate circumstance, so
far as her character and life were concerned.
Now, in the morning, you go to God, and
say, “Lord, I am as fiery as John”—he, you
know, was so fiery that he called fire down
on the villagers because they could not take
Christ—“give me patience. ” And you do
uot get out of the house before you find
that the servant has left the slop-pail at the
foot of the stairs, and you step right into
it. Your mouth is hardly wiped from that
prayer, and here is a chance for you to exer
cise the patience that you asked for. But,
no, you give the pail a kick, and would like
to give the servant one too; and you go
away, scolding her. It never occurs to you
that your prayer was answered almost before
you got down stairs. How is a man going
to be patient unless there is something to
try him ? “But Ido not want that kind of
trial,” you say. You must take that kind
which God chooses to give you. He is not
going to take away from you trouble. He
is going to work out in you to will and to
do of His good pleasure. If you are desi
rous of being patient, and you ask the Lord
to make you patient, to some of you He
will say, “If you quit drinking stimulants
yon will be more patient.” To others He
will say, “I will make you more patient, but
you must drill for it;” and He will drill you,
and you may be sure that He will know just
where you are sensitive; just where, touch
ing you, you will be likely to fall; just where
you will be obliged to summon resolution,
conscience and grace to your aid if you are
successful. But it is in vain for you to go
to God and ask Him to make you humble,
and then, when you are put in circumstan
ces that are trying to your pride, straighten
up and say : “I will not yield to this thing.”
You hare just been asking God to teach you
how to be humble, and the first thing He
sends to you, you refuse to take. It is like
a man going to the dentist to have taken out
a tooth that aches so that he cannot stand
it, and then, when he gets there, saying that
it does not ache any more, and refusing to
have it taken out. You go two or three
times to a dentist, frequently, before you
can make up your mind to have your aching
tooth out. Men go to God to have him ex
tract this trouble or that, and then, when
He offers to do it, refuse to have it done.
You ask Him to make you humble, and He
persecutes your pride,' and you are angry,
and prouder than before. You ask Him to
make you patient, and you become more
impatient. You ask Him to make you gen
tle, and you manifest a spirit which shows
that you are not willing to be made gentle.
In short, what you want is, that God
should do the work for you. You want He
should take these qualities and put them
into von, as a man would put the works of
a clock into a marble stand, all ready made,
and set them running and striking without
any thought or care on your part. You do
not want the Lord to work out in you to will
and to do of His good pleasure.
If you will work, I think you will find
that all prayers for things right, God will
answer; and that, wherever it is practicable,
He will answer them—not instantaneously,
but by working in you the things that you
ask for.
Something About Wheels.
The Vermont Chronicle relates the following
incident about a sermon which might prob
ably be repeated with profit: “A brother in
the ministry took occasion to preach on the
passage in Luke xvi. 10—‘ He that is unjust
in the least is unjust also in much. ’ The
theme was, that men who take advantage of
others in small things, have the very element
of character to wrong the community and
Individuals in great things, where the pros
pect of escaping detention or censure is as
little to be dreaded. The preacher exposed
the various ways by which people wroug
others; such as borrowing.; by mistakes in
making change; by errors in accounts; by
escaping taxi's and custom-house duties; by
managing to escape postage; by finding ar
ticles and never seeking owners; and by in
juring u tides borrowed, and never making
tlia fact known to the owner w T hen
“ One lady the next day met her pastor,
and said, ‘I have been up to Mr. ’s, to
rectify an error he made in giving me change
a few weeks ago, for I felt bitterly your re
proof yesterday.’ Another individual went
to Boston to pay for an article not in her
bill, which she noticed was not charged when
she paid it.
“A man, going home from meeting, said
to his companion, ‘ I do not believe there
was a man in the meeting-house to-day, who
did not feel condemned.’
“After applying the sermon to a score or
more of his acquaintances, ho continued:
‘ Did not the pastor utter something about
finding a pair of wheels?'
“‘I believe not, neighbor A. He spoke
of keeping little thiugs which hail been
found. ’
“ * Well, I thought he said something
about finding a pair of wheels, and supposed
he meant me. 1 found a pair down in my
lot a while ago.’
“‘Do you,’ said his companion, ‘know
whom they belong to? Mr. B. lost them a
short time ago,’ The owner was soon in
possession of his wheels.”
Solomon's Model Woman.
BY MRS. M. E. WILLARD.
“ Times have changed,” says one in glancing
over “ The New Testament Woman,'' iu the
Observer ,of January 20th. They were the
ante-macliinery women who were forced to
weave their wool and flax, grind their corn
in a hand-mill, and “work willingly with
their hands,” to assist in sustaining their
families. If Solomon's model woman, de
scribed in Proverbs 31, were now living, slie
would be obliged to change lier ways in or
der to win the esteem which lias always been
awarded her. If she should rise “ while it
is yet night—to give meat to her household,
and a portion to her maidens,” she would
find her daughters perhaps sleeping soundly
after a late party, and none of her household
inclined to “ rise up and call her blessed,”
for disturbing them at such an early hour.
Her spindle and distaff have passed away,
and with them the need for that extreme in
dustry that made it necessary that “ her can
dle go not out by night ” Steam brings her
goods from afar, instead of the slow ‘ ‘mer
chant ships.” Machinery weaves the fabric
and performs the sewing. Her clothes con
tinue to be “silk and purple,” and her
“coverings of tapestry.” She is “not afraid
of the snow, for her household are clothed
in scarlet,” but alas! her “loins are not girded
with strength,” or “her arms strengthened,”
or her morning sleep disturbed by “ looking
to the ways of hor household,” and “the
bread of idleness” lias ceased to be a disgrace.
No wonder the Bible wemen were bid to be
“ keepers at home, ” when each hour was
filled with homely duties. The modern
woman cannot be guided by this antique
model. This is anew dispensation. The
former things have passed away, and women
must sit with folded hands, or find now priv
ileges, new spheres of labor.
So says one who would excuse our turning
to the platform, the polls or journalism, to
find spheres for onr unused energies.
No one can deny that ‘'times have, changed,”
and God has given to the Christian woman
of 1870 a degree of leisure and freedom from
care and toil that seems almost miraoulous.
No woman truly professing godliness, con
sumes this leisure in adorning her person
anil displaying her adornings in senseless
visits and idle promenades, late parties and
otlior follies. Or, if she be of another turn,
in attending “ woman's rights” assemblages,
where too often it may be said “ they fear
not God, or regard man” man out of whoso
side she was taken to be his “help-meet,”
“bone of bis bone, flesh of his fiesli.”
To the Christian woman this subject is full
of solemn interest. Sho knows that she will
be called to account, for the use made of this
great leisure, freedom from toil and care,
that the invention of man lias given her.
Solomon’s model woman would be as busy
as ever were she here. There arc duties
from which machinery and modern improve
ments can never relieve us. We have a
“ hell to slum and a heaven to obtain.”
The modern husband lias a heart which
must “ safely trust in his wife.,” so that he
hath no need of the spoil of ruthless specu
lation, gambling or overwork, to meet the
expenses of an idle, extravagant household.
She must “do him good and not evil, all the
days of her life,” so that his domestic peace
bn safe from invasion of any kind. The poor
and needy yet need her “hands stretched
forth,” for our Saviour said, “Tlio poor ye
have always with you. ’ ’ ‘ ‘Strength and honor”
should still be “her clothing,” and “wis
dom ” and the “law of kindness’’govern her
speech.
There never was more work for the* heart
and brain of the Christian woman than now.
The machinery that has imparted her ease
and leisure, has also put obscene publica
tions and debasing illustrated papers in the
hands of her boys. It has made books plenty
and cheap, so that there never was such
need of a faithful supervision on the part of
an intelligent, pious mother, over the reading
of her boys nnd girls. Popular education
has quickened the intelligence of the young
so that a youth undertakes enterprises at
twenty-one, from which his grandfather
would liavo shrank at thirty. Tho means of
fatal dissipation grow attractive, cheap and
easy; so that to guide a son through the
mazes of temptation and danger, to a noble,
Christian manhood, is a life-work of which
any mother may be proud, and which leaves
no energy unused.
The mother’s planting time grows short.
Instead of clamoring for the vote, the plat
form and public oilice, lot her train and fas
ten each tender tendril of the young vines
that look to her for support, so that her
daughters may bless their generation when
she has passed to her reward. Let her be
como familiar with the events of the day,
and fit herself to influence her husband and
sons to make such laws as purify society, and
fit the earth for the reign of Christ.— N. Y.
Observer.
The Ss>irit’s Work in the Saints.
Rev. E. H. Bickersteth, in his work, “The
Spirit of Life,” thus speaks of the work of
the Holy Spirit in renewing the body, mind
and spirit of the saiut :
Now seeing tlio way is opened by the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, be
assured he will quicken your mortal bodies
in the last day by the same indwelling Spirit.
And then will tlio body no longer be, as it
now too often proves, a weight, a weary
weight on the elastic soul within, but rather
as eagle-wings, to bear us upward into the
everlasting sunlight of the love of God.
And as with the body, so with the mind;
onr mental and intellectual powers will then
be perfect.
And as with the body and the mind, so
likewise with the then perfectly sanctified
spirit. We shall be holy for lie is holy.
God hath chosen us iu Christ before the
foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love ;
that good pleasure of his goodness will then
be fulfilled. He “is able to present us fault
less before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy;” and lie will accomplish that
which bis love designs. Os the hundred
and forty and four thousand on Mount
Zion, we read : “They are without fault
before the throne of God.” “Beloved,”
writes St. John, “now are we the sons of
God, and it hath not yet appeared what
wo shall be ; but we know that when he
shall appear (our manifestation being syn
chronous with his, c. f. Col. Hi; 4) we shall
be like him, because we shall see him as he
is.” Not only will our body be fashioned
like unto the body of his glory, and our
mind as clear as light, but then will onr
spirit shrink in, to the utmost limit of the
capacity of each, the beams of his eternal
love. For then will the prayer of our great
High Priest be fulfilled: “Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be
with me where I am, and that they may be
hold my glory;” and his promise (of which
we may safely say, heaven has nothing
higher,) be {accomplished: “I will
unto them thy name, that the love where
with thou hast loved me may be in them.”
We shall see his fnce, and his name shall be
in our foreheads.
Now all this personal perfection of the
glorified saints will be the triumphant issue
of the Holy Spirit’s work upon them and
with them. Whatever spiritual faculties
and graces they now possess, are “tho first
fruits of the Spirit,” and the first-fruits are
only the pledge of the golden harvest and
of the overflowing vintage. The seal where
with now they are sealed is “the earnest
(something given in pledge) of the Spirit in
their hearts:” the fruition of tho inheri
tance of which it is an earnest, is yet to
come. They are here sowing to tlio Spirit
—often weeping as they go forth, and bear
the precious seed—and they shall hereafter,
not independently of, or apart from the
Spirit, but they snail of the Spirit, reap life
everlasting. Every precious graco which
he has planted, and cultivated, and cher
ished, in this wintry world, shall bud, and
blossom, and bring forth fruit in that better
land of everlasting summer. Thero the
flesh will never lust against the Spirit; nor
will the Spirit there need to make interces
sion for ns with groanings which cannot be
uttered. For there man’s complex being
will bo one melodious harmony again, and
every saint will boa perfectly purified tem
ple of the Holy Ghost.
Sage Counsel.
A minister, somewhat in years, a while
ago sent the following quaint epistlo to a
younger brother in the ministry. It may
be good for othe,rs :
Dear Brother I sometimes write to
young men because they are strong. Re
member—
1. That human happiness, like Hebrew
verbs, have no present tense.
2. That human friendship, like glass, is
easily broken; not easily mended.
3. When you know wlmt to do, never do
you know not wlmt.
4. Never covet high places, where ’tis dif
ficult to stand and dangerous to fall. We
never find the Saviour on the pinnacle of
the temple but once. What company had
he there ?
5. Be no respecter of great personages ns
such. Remember the figure 9, though the
highest number, owes its consequence not
to its head, hut to its curved appendage.
Without that it would be 0.
6'. Desire no rapid growth. When the
clock has struck 12, it does not strike 13
next. The full moon grows no larger.
7. Be not over hasty to combat public
opinion without pressing reason. He that
spits against the wind, spits in his own face.
8. Never scare off ally with a club when
a feather will do as well, and remember that
you can take more flies with a gill of mo
lasses than with a gallon of vinegar.
9. Avoid debt He that pays down, will
not be called to pay up.
10. Ministers must not only cat their
bread by the sweat of their brow, but by the
sweat of their brains.
11. Let not your sermons be like a ser
pent, smallest at the last end, hut rather
like a scorpion, whose sting is in its tail.
12. Have special cave of those members
who were born in a storm, as they are prone
to want, a storm to live in.
13. Never forget that a minister’s work is
to break hard hearts, and to mend broken
ones.
14. I began with a verb; I will conclude
with a case. May you never bo found in
the accusative and never come out in the
vocative.
Good Deeds Have no SaHHath.
Not long since, says a Breslau paper, an
elderly man, with bare head, stood in an
eating house, surrounded by a crowd of
people. The landlord held the man’s hat
and cane, and an impudent waiter stood
between the guest and the door. The confu
sion of the old man was indescribable. He
seemed to be for the first time in his life iu
such a scrape—said nothing, looked down
on the ground, and with difficulty restrained
his tears, while all around mocked and joerod
him. Just then a poorly-dressed Israelite,
with a long white beard, entered, and in
quired what it all meant, and with an ex
pression of almost feminine curiosity. He
was told that the man had eaten and drank,
and now that he must pay, he searched his
pockets in vain for money. “Well,” ex
claimed the Israelite, “I see tho old man
for the first time, but I’ll be bound that he
did not come here to cheat. And, landlord,
suppose he had no money to forget, couldn’t
you for once give a poor man something to
eat, for God’s sake ? How much does he
owe any how ?’’
The ‘debt was eight silver grosclien, and
the Israelite, paying this, took the poor old
man by the band and led him to tne door.
Those present did not seem to enjoy the re
proof which their brutality had reoeived,
and one insclent fellow cried out:
“Hoy, Jew, what have you done ? This
is the Sabbath, and you have touched
money !” (This is forbidden to the Israel
ites ;) “Just now I forgot that I was a Jew,
just as you forgot that you were a Christian.
But you may rest easy ou my account, I
understand my eommundment, which says:
‘Kemembcr the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ’
Just got some school-master to explain it to
yon, and if he is a reasonable man ho will
agree with me, “Good deeds liavo no Sab
bath.” And with these words the good
man left the room.
The Buried Grain.
We are too often discouraged if ripened
fruit does not follow immediately upon our
seed sowing, and wo are tempted to think
that our labor has all been lost. But not
so does the husbandman work. “He wait
eth for the precious fruit, and hath long pa
tience, until ho receive the early and latter
rain.”
I have seen a little plot of waving wheat,
which grew originally from seed taken from
the cerements of a mummy, where it had
been buried some thousands of years. If
God so cared for these little grain germs as
to keep them alive through all these centu
ries, will he suffer his still more precious
word to be lost ? “It shall not return unto
me void. It shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it.”
An old man, not a Christian, sat down in
his field one day to rest; and, as is the cus
tom with the aged, his mind wandered back
to earlier days. Among the many scenes
which passed' in review before him, was one
in which he sat as a worshipper in the par
ish church of his old home across the sea.
He was but a lad then, but he could never
forget the solemn discourse which the good
Flavel had preached that day, from the
text: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha.”
As he raised his hands in conclusion, to pro
nounce the benediction, he said, with much
feeling: “How can I bless this whole as
sembly, when every one that loveth not the
Lord Jesus Christ is anathema, maranatha!”
So solemn and affecting was the appeal, that
a gentlemnn of rank was overpov.ereil by
his emotions, and fell senseless to the floor.
It was eighty-five years since those words
were spoken, and here was an old man of a
hundred years meditating upon them,
thousands of miles away from tlio scene.
“I have never loved tiie Lord Jesus,” he
mused; “and what must be my futuro lot ?”
In the deepest distress, he cried unto tho
Lord, whose willing ear was open even to
one who had sinned against him for a hun
dred years. The seed sown so long before,
sprang up at last, and bore rich fruit for
sixteen years, when it was gathered in tho
heavenly garner.— Sunday School Times.
Ttic East Prayer Meeting.
“And said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth upon the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb.” Rev. vi. 16.
Some prayer-meetings are dull, others are
animated. This one requires a stronger
term; it will be dreadful.
1. Consider tbe occasion.
It will be held on the judgment-day.
When the Judge is descending—the trumpet
sounding—when the righteous are being
separated from the wicked—when tho Judge
is saying to those on the left hand, “de
part,” and they are filled with indescribable
terror; just at this time the pray er-rneeting
will be held.
2. This prayer-meeting will be well at
tended.
Some prayer-meetings nro not well at
tended. Many persons are careless iu refer
ence to these social exercises of religion.
But a great multitude that no man can num
ber will attend the last prayer-meeting.
Sinners of all ages, nations, nnd classes, will
be there. The moral and amiable, as well
as the openly vicious, and also Church mem
bers will bo in that accursed throng.
3. There will be no want of emotion in
that prayer-meeting.
Some people are very much annoyed with
religious emotion here, but all will be excit
ed there.
Some prayer-meetings are cold and for
mal, but there will be no formality there.
Think of the circumstances—their future
prospects. Think of their prayers. It is a
shriek of
E. H. MYERS, D. D., EDITOR
WHOLE NUMBER 1797.
God. This shows that they have no hope
of mercy. It is the death-knell of hope.
The agony is the realization of tho fact,
that “the harvest is past, nnd the Summer
is ended, nnd they are not saved.” They
pray to be crushed out of existenec. O !
what emotions !
4. The prayer is not answered. The high
mountains afirl rugged rocks stand motion
less and sullen in their silence. There can
be no annihilation there. Tho heavens roll
tegether as a scroll—the earth is wrapped in
a winding-sheet of flame—tho mountains
and rocks are melting in the fervent heat of
that awful day. Hell opens its month. Tho
praying multitudes must, descend into tho
land of darkness. O ! what a scene !
“ Depart, lost soul, thy tears to weep,
Thy never-dying tears;
To sigh the never dying sigh.
To send up the nnneedeu cry
Into the unresponding sky,
Whose silence mocks tliy fears.”
Such is the conclusion of the prayer-meet
ing. No hymns of praise—no thanksgiv
ing—no benediction. Just one shriek shall
ring out to the mountains and rocks, and
the despairing multitude shall sink into
eternity’s night.
Sinner, thou liailst better do thy praying
now than to join that wretched praying band
on that dreadful day.— M. 11. Journal.
Jesus is Kiug.
The exaltation of Christ is a source of joy
to the believer, just as the humiliation of the
Son of God is the foundation of his hope.
What a wondrous transition is that which
Paul traces from the height of excellent glo
ry which pertains to our Lord as the Eter
nal Word, who was God, down to the sorrows
of that mysterious agony on Calvary. When
the victory has been achieved, and tho sal
vation ot his people is secured, and Christ,
who was slain is risen from the dead, tho
apostle bids us look again to tho right hand
of God, to which Jesus is exalted as tho
Goil-man, wearing our nature, united indis
solubly to his divino person, and faith rejoi
ces in tho assurance that Jesus is King.
That regal power which belongs to him, he
exercises as the Saviour of his peoplo. Ho
is exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give
repentance and remission of sins, and he
who thus reigns is oar kinsman, bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh—our Redeemer.
What a joy to be sure that there is not a
sorrow which we know, nor a pnng we feel,
that fails to touch his heart! Though he is
the King of kings, exalted far above all
principalities and powers in heavenly plaoes,
ho is none the less full of pity for his suffer
ing people, and gives them succor and
strength aocording to their day. To ask
him to counsel and to help is better far than
to lean upon the wisdom of the wisest of
the sons of men. Wondrous are the deal
ings of his grace. That which his servants
do for him, he uses as the discipline of his
cross. When they are most active, he chas
tens them; but then the very sickness or
sorrow which he sends is simply the draw
ing of his love. He sees that in their earn
est working in his vineyard, they are forget
ting him, or that, in their constant ones and
toils they are thinking more of self than of
his honor, and suddenly their strength is
weakened in the way, and they are brought
down to the bars of the grave, or tho heart
is broken by bereavement, and they are loft
desolate—all that they may remember, is that
Jesus is King.
That which is true in the history of every
believer, is true of the Church collectively.
Tho enomies of Christ's kingdom are ever
seeking to lay waste the Church of God,
but he says: “I the Lord do keep it.” And
tlio preservation of his people, even to this
hour, is proof that hls promise abides for
ever true. The darkest days are the period
when ho appears to help his people; so that
Matthew Henry’s saying, “Man’s extremity
is God's opportunity,” has passed into a
proverb. How much wo lose of the pence
and joy of faith by forgetting that the first
lesson of Christian duty is to lay every caro
at the foot of the cross, and to look for
every blessing, and for all needed deliver
ance and strength to the throne of our glo
rious King, we shall never know until the
day dawn3 upon us iu that other world,
where all sorrow and pain and crying are
unknown, because sin cannot trouble, and
“Death, who keeps the door, can never en
ter there.”— Christian Intelligencer.
Beautiful Wobls.—Florence Nightin
gale, who is a groat invalid, writes a letter
to Lemuel Moss, in this country, who sent,
to her for her likeness and some account, of
her life. In tho conrse of her letter she
says: “Nothing, with tho approval of my
own judgment, has boen made public, or I
would send it. I have a strong objection to
sending my own likeness,for the same reason.
Some of tho most valuable works tho world
has ever seen wo know not who is the author
of ; wo only know that God is the author of
all. Ido not urge this example upon others,
but it is a deep-seated religious scruple in
myself. Ido not wish my name to remain,
nor my likeness. That God alone should bo
remembered. I wish. If I could really give
the lessons of my life to my country-women
and yours, (indeed, I fain look upon us as
all one nation) —tho lessons of my mistakes
as well as of the rest—l would; but for this
there is no time. I would only say, work—
work iu silence at first, in silenoe for years—
it will not be time wasted. Perhaps in all
your life it will be the time you will after
ward find to have been best spent; nnd it is
very certain that without it you will be no
worker. You will not produce one ‘ perfect
work,' but only a botoli in the service of
God.”
Sweet Answer.—A little boy and girl,each
probably five years old, were by tlio road
side. As we came up, the boy became angry
at something and struck his playmate a sharp
blow on the cheek, whereupon she sat down
and began to cry most piteously. The boy
stood looking on sullenly for a minute, and
then said: “Ididn’tmeautohurtyou, Kat.y;
lam sorry.” The little rosy face brightened
instantly. The sobs were hushed, and she
said; “Well, if you are sorry, it don't hurt
me.”
Once when Father Taylor, preaching to
his audience of seamen, found himself en
tangled suddenly in a thicket of accumulated
causes, he extricated himself by the excla
mation, “I have lost the traok of the nom
inative case; but my brethren, one thing I
know— -lam bound for the kingdom of heaven. ”
The chief secret of comfort lies in not suf
fering trifles to vex one, and in prudently
cultivating an undergrowth of small pleas
ures, since very few great ones are let on
long leases.
Our trying to love an object is like onr
trying to laugh when we are not pleased:
the more we try, the less shall wo succeed.
The trying part of the process implies it is
a thing we do not prefer.
Salvation is a well—a deep well of living
waters. It is inexhaustible, and its stream
ever flows on. Come, ye dying millions,
and drink, that you may never thirst again.
Keep paco with the march of time in tho
improvement of thy heart. To fall behind
is to fall into perdition.
He that overcometh shall inheritall things,
and I will be his God and he shall be my
son.
Bless the Lord, Omy soul! and all that
is within me bless his holy name ! Glory
be to God!
God sits upon his mercy-seat, nnd will
pardon and save all who approach him
aright.
To have a good opinion of yourself,think,
if you were rich, how much you would givo
away.
Whatever is of nature’s spinning must be
all unravelled before Christ’s righteousness
can be put on.
The Christian’s privilege is the prayer of
the apostle: “That ye might be filled with
all the fulness of God.”
Take heed of every sin ; count no sin
small; and obey every command with j our
might.
Those who would go to heaven when
they die must begin their lioaven while they
live. 4
Said I not unto thee, that if thou would’st
believe thou should’st see.tlie glory of God ?
Religion is not an ait, a matter of dex
terity and skill, but anew nature.