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The Sunday School.

WHAT A DYING TEACHER WANTED.

A SUNDAY-SCHOOL teacher was dying. The light of heaven was in his eye, seraphic smiles played upon his thin lips, and precious thoughts of Jesus and His mighty love filled his heart with a joy I cannot describe. Just before he sunk away, he turned to his daughter, who was bending most lovingly over his bed, and said,

"Bring-"

More he could not say, for no strength had he to speak more. His child looked with earnest gaze into his face, and said:

"What shall I bring, my father ?'' "Bring-"

More he could not say. His child was in an agony of desire to know that dying father's last request, and she said,

"Dear, precious father, do try to tell me what you want. I will do anything you wish me to do."

The dying teacher rallied all his strength, and finally murmured: "Bring-forth-the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all."

And as these words died away upon his lips, his soul flew up to join the grand company in heaven, which is ever casting crowns at the feet of their Saviour, and singing hallelujahs to God and the Lamb.

Was'nt that a happy death, my children? Would you like to die thus when your hour comes? If so, learn to live loving, honouring, and praising Jesus. Learn to love Him now, so that your heart will ever sing:

"Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all."

THOUGHTS FOR THE YOUNG. MIND what you run after. Never be content with a bubble that will burst; or a firewood that will end in smoke and darkness; but that

which you can keep, and which is worth keeping.

"Something sterling, that will stay When gold and silver fly away.'

Fight against a hasty temper. Anger will come, but resist it strongly. A spark may set a house on fire. A fit of passion may give you cause to mourn all the days of your life. Never revenge an injury.

"He that revengeth knoweth no rest; The meek possess a peaceful breast,'

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A CHILD'S PRAYER. A GENTLEMAN who had a large property was led into evil courses. He drank hard, and gambled much. Soon his property began to waste away; and at last it was all gone.

One night he came to his unfurnished home. He entered his empty hall, sick at heart; and pass ing on to his wife's chamber, there saw her sitting sobbing and brokenhearted, and his little child by her side. Sullen and wretched he seated himself, without saying a word.

Presently the mother said, "Come, my child, it is time for you to go to bed." And the little one, as was her usual way, came up to her mother's side, and knelt down on her knees to say her evening prayers.

When she had finished, she looked up to her weeping mother, and said, "Dear Ma, may I say one more prayer ?" "Oh yes, my sweet pet," said the mother.

So she put her tiny hands once more together, and prayed, " God, spare; oh, do spare my dear father!"

That little prayer, so simple and earnest, was wafted to heaven, and heard there. It went also to the father's heart. He melted, and wept. He rushed to his wife and child, fell on his knees, confessed his bad life, and resolved in God's

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A GOOD REPLY. SABBATH-school children have clear conceptions of duty, and one is often surprised at their penetration, and their promptness in answering knotty questions. Piety might take root in their tender hearts at an earlier age than is customary, if parents and teachers had faith to expect it. A minister could not answer the following questions better than the little ones.

A Sabbath-school teacher instructing his class on that portion of the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done on earth as in heaven," said to them, "You have told me, my dear children, what is to be done- the will of God; and where it is to be done -on earth; and how it is to be done as it is done in heaven. How do you think the angels and the happy spirits do the will of God in heaven, as they are to be our pattern?"

The first child replied, "They do it immediately;" the second, "They do it diligently;" the third, They do it always;" the fourth, "They do

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TRUST IN GOD.

Long ago, when people in our own country had to suffer much for the sake of Jesus, a pious, poor woman was taken prisoner for attending a prayer meeting, and brought before a wicked judge, who had long hated her on account of her religion. She had been used to say that she was never afraid of want, because her God could supply all her needs. (Phil. iv. 19.)

"Well," said the judge, "I have caught you at last, and now I shall send you to prison, and how will you be fed there?"

She replied, "If my heavenly Father pleases, He can send me food even from your own table."

And so it was; for the judge's wife, a kind-hearted lady, pitied the

poor woman, and took care that she got food from their table every day, as long as she remained in prison. And God rewarded the kind lady; for it is said that He opened her heart to receive the truth, and she became a real Christian.

Day by day the manna fell,-
O to learn this lesson well!
Still by constant mercy fed,
"Give me, Lord, my daily bread."

LAW AND GOSPEL.

The law makes known to us our sin.-Rom. iii.

The Gospel reveals a remedy for it.-John i.

The law declares our bondage.Rom. vii.

The Gospel shows us our redemption.-Col. i.

The law is the word of wrath.Rom. iv.

The Gospel is the word of grace. -Acts xiv. 20.

The law is the sentence of despair.-Deut. xxvii.

The Gospel is the communication of comfort.-Luke ii.

The law is the word of tribulation. -Rom. vii.

The Gospel is the tidings of peace. —Eph. vii.

The law says: Thou shalt be damned.

The Gospel says: Thou mayest be saved.

The law says: Thou art a sinner. The Gospel says: Thy sins are forgiven thee.

The law asks: Where is thy righteousness?

The Gospel answers: Christ is thy Righteousness.

The law says: Thou art doomed to death and hell.

The Gospel replies: There is no condemnation of any kind, or from any quarter, to them which are in Christ Jesus.

JESUS ONLY.

Poetry.

"And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only."-MATT. Xvii. 8.

JESUS only-blessed Lord,

All my hopes hang on this word;
Here my soul reposes still,
Here is safe from every ill.

Jesus only-dark the cloud Hanging o'er Mount Tabor proud; Light from heaven filled the place, Jesus only showed His face.

Jesus only-this my cry When I lay me down to die; Jesus only, when I stand Justified at His right hand.

Jesus only-when above
I His full salvation prove-
Evermore my blissful song
Jesus only shall prolong.

THE PICKAXE AND THE SPADE.
I WANDERED to the churchyard trees,
And sat beneath the shade;
No sign of living mortal there,
But a pickaxe and a spade.
The heralds of victorious death,
A triumph to proclaim;
The pioneers of humbled man,
Called out to hide his shame.
Come hither, ye that blaze along
The promenades of life;

Ye crowds, to whom each passing day
A struggle is, and strife:
Society's extremes meet here;

The sunshine and the shade;
And time will quickly bring us all
To the pickaxe and the spade.
Happy the souls whose bodies safe
In Jesus sleep around,
Waiting the signal to arise,

The final trumpet's sound.
Go, sinner, trust in His great name
On whom our sins were laid;
And learn to think without dismay
Of the pickaxe and the spade.

D. GRIFFITHS, Carnock.

Personal Religion.

TRUTH AND GRACE.

Now that the wonder excited by the great spiritual movement in the North of Ireland has subsided, it may be calmly surveyed on all sides, and minutely examined in all its aspects, by the lights of inspiration. The work may be tested by the Book, and the Book illustrated by the work. If the work be found, in all its parts, and in every view, substantially to correspond with the Book, we require no further proof of its Divine origin, and happy issues. It is undoubtedly of God.

First, then, we have to examine the Book, and in doing so, we meet with statements concerning human nature, every one of which is easy to be understood, and compared with what we feel in our own bosoms, and see in the world around us. According to the Book, man, by nature, is dead in trespasses and in sin. To be thus dead, implies insensibility alike to the evil of sin, and to its consequences; so that the sinner goes on adding iniquity unto iniquity, and heaping up wrath against the final day. God, the law-giver, is not in all his thoughts; and the idea of the law enters not into his mind. He is, in all respects, a creature to whom there is neither God, nor law! Such is the testimony of the Bible as to men in general, and such was the state of multitudes in the North of Ireland prior to the movement, notwithstanding the Gospel light which had been shining around them.

The character which springs from such a nature precisely corresponds with its source; it bears throughout the stamp of wickedness. The people, accordingly, in the North of Ireland, were precisely such as the Book describes; they were "earthly, sensual, devilish;" "hateful, and hating one another." Their character is set forth in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, where he exhibits a portrait frightful to behold: he declares them to be “filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant - breakers, without natural affection,

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implacable, unmerciful." How horrible the picture! yet it is that of the species. No portion of humankind furnishes us an exception.

The condition of our race corresponds with their character. It involves misery of every kind, and in every degree. It is everywhere seen that "the way of transgressors is hard." In all, according to circumstances, sin reigns, more or less, through iniquity. The heart impels only to evil, and that continually! Moral motives have no power, or rather, indeed, no existence. Such men are guided neither by the love, nor the fear of God. They have completely lost the knowledge of their Creator! Whether to impel, or to check, there is no power of a spiritual nature; all is "of the earth, earthy;" nothing but corruption; nothing but passion; the life is one of atheism! They are "without God, and have no hope in the world."

Such is their condition; and the disaster is unspeakably aggravated by bearing the stamp of an ever-during perpetuity. There is in man no power of self-recovery. The race must remain as it is from age to age, and for ever, unless approached from without by a divine Deliverer. Such, then, is the material that grace has to work on in preparing the elect for glory.

The Book asserts that in every conversion there is, first, a quickening of the soul from a state of spiritual death; and the Irish converts everywhere exemplified the doctrine. They awoke as from the grave, filled with distress frequently amounting to anguish, accompanied by horror, at the condition in which they found themselves. They became, for the first time, the subjects of conscious spiritual, immortal existence. The Book asserts of all such, that forthwith they become convinced of sin, and realise their exposure to the Divine displeasure on that account. The Irish converts were so pricked in heart, that in many cases their distress seemed to threaten their very existence! Their physical nature sank beneath the load of their conscious guilt,-the soul fairly lost its command over the body: the power of speech and motion forsook them, and they lay in helpless agony till relieved of God.

The Book asserts that, so circumstanced, souls are brought by a sense of their danger to cry for mercy, and to call on Christ the Lord to deliver them. This was one of the chief peculiarities of the Irish movement. Everywhere the people cried on the Lord Jesus for the pardon of their sins. This seemed as if instinctive;

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