the singing birds were as lovely as ever; but this young man could enjoy none of these-no, never again could he go out, for he was condemned to death! Yes, he had killed a man, and now he himself must. die.-Think of it, only twenty years old, and yet a murderer! I sat down beside him and talked with him. Oh," said he, as the tears rolled down his cheeks, "I did not mean to do it, but I was drunk; then I got angry, and before I knew what was about, I killed him. Oh, if I had minded what my Sabbath-school teacher said, if I had minded my mother, I should never have come to this!-I should never have been here!" It would have made your heart sore, as it did mine, to see and talk with him. Once he was a happy, playful child like you; now he is a condemned young man. He did not mind his mother, did not govern his temper, and as he grew older he went with bad boys, who taught him bad habits; and he became worse and worse, until, as he said, when drunk, he killed a man; and now, after a few weeks, he must die, he must suffer the dreadful penalty. As I left him, he said : "Will you not pray for me?" and he added, "Oh! tell boys everywhere to mind their mothers, and keep away from bad companions." AGE OF ANIMALS. 66 A BEAR rarely exceeds twenty years; a dog lives twenty years; a wolf, twenty; a fox, fourteen to fifteen; lions are long-lived Pompey lived to the age of seventy. The average of cats is fifteen years; a squirrel and hare, seven or eight years; rabbits, seven. Elephants have been known to live to the great age of four hundred years. When Alexander the Great had conquered one Porus, king of India, he took a great elephant which had fought very valiantly for the king, named him Ajax, and dedicated him to the sun, and let him go, with this inscription:" Alexander, the son of Jupiter, hath dedicated Ajax to the sun. ." This elephant was found with this inscription three hundred and fifty years after. Pigs have been known to live to the age of thirty years; the rhinoceros to twenty. horse has been known to live to the age of sixty-two, but averages twenty-five or thirty. Camels sometimes live to the age of one hundred. Stags are long-lived; sheep seldom exceed the age of ten; cows live about fifteen years. Cuvier considers it probable that whales sometimes live to the age of one thousand. The dolphin and porpoise attain the age of thirty. An eagle died at Vienna at the age of one hundred and four years. Ravens frequently reach the age of one hundred. Swans have been known to live three hundred and sixty years. Mr. Mallerton has the skeleton of a swan that attained the age of two hundred years. Pelicans are long-lived. A tortoise has been known to live to the age of one hundred and seven. PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN. O GOD, my Father in heaven, I thank thee for the sleep of last night, and for the light of a new day. Lord Jesus, may I be a washed lamb of thy fold, loving thee, and living for thee. Holy Spirit, make me thy little temple full of grace. Help me to obey my father and my mother. Make me ready to go to heaven, to be happy there with thee for ever. For my Saviour's sake. Amen. EVENING. O Lord, I bless thee for all thy goodness to-day. Thou hast kept me from harm; thou hast fed me; thou hast clothed me; thou hast given me many kind friends. Be thou my Father and the guide of my youth. May angels watch over me to-night. Blot out the sins which I have done to-day. Teach me to love thee, O blessed Jesus, for thou hast died for me. Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. For Christ's sake. Amen. The Fragment Basket. LENDING TO THE LORD. A POOR man, some of whose family were sick, lived near Deacon Murray, referred to in the tract, "Worth of a Dollar," and occasionally called at his house for a supply of milk. One morning he came when the family were at breakfast. Mrs. Murray rose to wait upon him; but the deacon said to her, "Wait till after breakfast." She did so, and meanwhile the deacon made some inquiries of the man about his family and circumstances. After family worship, the deacon invited him to go out to the barn with him. When they got into the yard, the deacon, pointing to one of the cows, exclaimed, "There, take that cow, and drive her home." The man thanked him heartily for the cow, and started for home; but the deacon was observed to stand in an attitude of deep thought until the man had gone some rods. He then looked up, and called out, 66 Hey, bring that cow back." The man looked around, and the deacon added, "Let that cow come back, and you come back too." He did so; and when he came back into the yard again, the deacon said, "There, now, take your pick out of the cows; I am not going to lend to the Lord the poorest cow I've got." [In the early part of our ministry we well remember Deacon Murray, and we have heard several amusing anecdotes of him, showing his wit and good sense, and his piety also.Cyrus Prindle.] THE TWO STONES. I have before me two stones, which are an imitation of precious stones. They are both perfectly alike in colour; they are of the same water, clear, pure, and clean; yet there is a marked difference between them as to their lustre and brilliancy. One has a dazzling brightness, while the other is dull, so that the eye passes over it and derives no pleasure from the sight. What can be the reason of this difference? It is this: the one is cut in but a few facets; the other has ten times as many. These facets are produced by a very violent operation. It is requisite to cut, to smooth, and polish. Had these stones been endued with life, so as to have been capable of feeling what they underwent, the one which has received eighty facets would have thought itself very unhappy, and would have envied the fate of the other, which, having received but eight, had undergone but a tenth part of its sufferings. Nevertheless, the operation being over, it is done for ever; the difference between the two stones always remains strongly manifest-the labour bestowed upon the one having rendered it ten times more attractive and valuable than the other. DEATH. What woes are caused by death in this world! They are seen everywhere. The earth is " arched with graves." In almost every dwelling death has been doing his work of misery. The palace cannot exclude him; and unbidden he comes into the cottage. He finds his way to the dwelling of ice in which the Greenlander and Esquimaux live; to the tent of the Bedouin Arab, and the wandering Tartar; to the wigwam of the Indian, and to the harem of the Turk; to the splendid mansions of the rich, as well as to the abodes of the poor. That reign of death has now extended near six thousand years, and will travel on to future years, meeting each generation, and consigning the young, the vigorous, the lovely, and the pure, to dust. Shall that gloomy reign continue for ever? Is there no place where death can be excluded? Yes, HEAVEN; and the object of the Redeemer is to bring us there. THE LITTLE IRISH SWEEP. Some years ago an effort was made to collect all the chimney-sweepers in the city of Dublin, for the purpose of education. Among others came a little fellow, who was asked if he knew his letters. "O yes," was the reply. "Do you spell?" "'"O yes," was again the answer. read?" "O yes." "And what book did you learn from?" "O, I never had a book in my life, Sir." "And who was your schoolmaster ?" "Do you [MIGHT MAKES RIGHT. ་ "O, I never was at school."-Here was a singular case; a boy could read and spell without a book or a master. But what was the fact? Why another little sweep, a little older than himself, had taught him to read by showing him the letters over the shop doors which they passed as they went through the city. His teacher, then, was a little sweep like himself, and his book the signboards on the houses. What may be done by trying? Poetry. The Reaper said, and smiled: "Dear tokens of the earth are they, Where He was once a child. "They shall all bloom in fields of light, Transplanted by my care, And saints upon their garments white These sacred blossoms wear." And the mother gave, in tears and pain, The flowers she most did love; But she knew she would find them all again, In the fields of light above. Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, Personal Religion. THE HUMBLE PENITENT. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted."-LUKE xviii. 14. THIS precious promise was made by the Saviour to encourage us to cultivate penitence for our sins. This duty was neglected by the proud Pharisee, but it was attended to by the penitent Publican. He was humbled for his many and great sins in the conscious presence of a holy God. "And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Heaven is the glorious dwelling-place of the Holy One, the scene of His special manifestation to His friends. The Psalmist says, and says truly for our comfort, "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there." This is a cheering thought to the godly man in the prospect of his removal from this world. He then ascends from earth to heaven, and lives for ever in the presence, favour, and service of his God. The Gospel encourages us to lift up our eyes to heaven, and contemplate the eternal glory which awaits us. But the Publican was so sensible of his sinfulness in the sight of God, that he did not look up into heaven as if he were worthy to enter there, or to look into the face of that glorious Being against whom he had sinned, but he prayed for mercy in the most humble manner, as one unworthy of the least favour. His conscious guilt led him to approach the throne of grace in the deepest prostration of spirit, and to cast himself as a guilty culprit at the footstool of his injured Sovereign. He felt himself such a great sinner that he could not look God full in the face like an innocent being. He saw his sins, he was troubled on their account, and freely confessed them to God. Yet he encourages hope in the Divine mercy. The Great Teacher shows that his hope was well founded. He trusted in the mercy of God, and His mercy, through Christ, forgave his sins, restored him to favour, exalted him to heaven. "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." The Saviour speaks with authority, and His words show the excellence of His character and teaching, and they ought to confirm our faith in His Divine mission. He taught the sinfulness and misery of pride; and the duty and importance of humility. His words ought to be seriously pondered, and they ought to lead us to cultivate that state of mind which we know from the Scriptures is pleasing to God. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." These memorable words teach us that the truly penitent humble themselves before God on account of sin. They think of their sins, their number, their aggravations, and the evils they inflict upon themselves and others. They think of their sinful thoughts, sinful motives, sinful affections, words, and actions, and are humbled under a sense of their guilt. They think of their sins in the sanctuary, in the family, in the world, in the closet, and even at the table of their Lord, and they cry, "Unclean, unclean!" They think of their sins with a serious mind, they think of them often, and with great searchings of heart; the result is, contrition, humility, cries for mercy. The humble think of God, His glorious perfections, His just laws, and His claims to supreme regard, and the sight of God, and of themselves, humbles them in the Divine presence. They see their sins in the light of God's Word, in the wounds of Jesus, in the fears of a guilty conscience. The penitent are humble before God. This is seen in their self-renunciation, dependence upon Christ, patience in affliction, charity towards others, supplications for mercy, and in their pleas at the throne of grace. What was the plea of the Publican? His good works ? No, but God's mercy. He felt he deserved punishment, but he hoped in the mercy of his Sovereign. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." This precious promise shows that God will exalt all who cherish godly sorrow for sin. He is the true source of exaltation. He is able to exalt the humble, for He knows them all; He has infinite resources, and His Son has satisfied the claims of His justice. And His mercy disposes Him to exalt the humble. Now in what way are the humble exalted? They are exalted by the reformation of their character. When they truly repent of sin, they hate the accursed thing, and hating it, they forsake it. When the Sabbath-breaker is humbled for his sin, he reforms, and keeps holy the Lord's day. When the liar is humbled for his sin, he reforms, and henceforth speaks the truth. When the swearer is humbled for his sin, he reforms, and lives in the fear of God. Repentance is a change of mind, and this inward moral change leads to a change |
