He had long laboured to destroy, Near 16 years at Olney, in Bucks,

And 28 years in this Church, (St. Mary Woolnoth, London.)

John Newton had a pious mother. Before her death, which occurred while he was yet but a child, he had been taught much important religious truth. When but four years old, he had learned to read, and had committed to memory the Assembly's Shorter Catechism, Watts's Smaller Catechism and his Children's Hymns.

His mother's death left him with

out religious restraint. For two years only did he attend schoolfrom his eighth to his tenth year. The sternness of his father and the severity of his teacher broke and overawed his spirit. He made slow progress in learning, and at eleven years of age commenced his career as a sailor in his father's ship. In the course of five voyages to the Mediterranean, this child of a pious mother had become an adept in sin. Yet there were times, during this period, and subsequently, when his mind was disturbed by religious convictions. Repeatedly he would make the attempt to reform. Sometimes he would read the Bible with great diligence; sometimes he would for a little while "live a Pharisee." But all this, though one of his reformations continued for two years, was in his after judgments "a poor religion." At length he shipped for Venice, as a common sailor. In the company of his vicious comrades, all sense of religion and morality seemed utterly lost. It was at this time that his

anxiety was excited anew by his remarkable dream, which reads like an allegory, and which made upon his mind a powerful impression. He. dreamed that a ring was presented him, with an express charge to keep it carefully, and with the assurance that while it was preserved he would be happy and successful, but if lost it would bring him trouble and misery. Another person came to him and saw the ring on his finger, and by ridicule and persuasion induced him to drop it into the sea. In a moment the distant

mountains began to pour forth flames. He was thoroughly alarmed, when his tempter mockingly told him that his last hope of mercy had perished with the ring. He must go to dwell in the midst of volcanic fire. Agonised and trembling, all this failed to wake him. He dreamed on, and at this juncture a third person appeared who inquired his anxiety. He confessed his rashness and folly, and in penitence assured this friend, in reply to his questioning, that he would not thus act the fool again if his ring were restored. The friend descended into the sea, rose with the ring, presented it to him again, and instantly the flames were extinguished, and his seducer left him.

The impression of the dream was deep and vivid, but it soon wore off. Young Newton became as profligate as before. His sailor-life was a school of iniquity, and an infidel companion shook his faith in the Bible. He went from bad to worse. At length he shipped for Sierra Leone. He was, indeed, a ripe hand for the atrocities of the slave

trade. But he was on ill terms with the officers of the ship. To escape from them, he secretly resolved to remain on the African coast. Here, for two or three years, his life was one of bitter hardship. He was, as he expresses it, "the servant of slaves." At length, after four years' residence in Africa, the opportunity occurred for returning to England. But as yet there was no change. On board the ship he was the reckless sailor still-the hardened outcast. The weary monotony of the ship led him to look at the few books on board. One of them was Kempis's "Imitation of Christ." It was carelessly taken up, but it arrested his attention. The thought occurred: "What if these things should be true?" It was an arrow in his soul which he could not extract. Strange providences riveted his convictions. A storm overtook the ship. One who went on deck in his place was swept overboard and lost. The vessel was in danger of sinking under the tempest. It was while working hour after hour at the pumps, that Newton began to see his life in its true colours. He prayed. He was thoroughly humbled. He read the New Testament.

He ceased to mock at sin, and became a serious man.

But the change was as yet partial. He shipped again for the coast of Africa, to engage in the slave-trade. Strange business for a religious man But he followed it up, voyage after voyage. He does not seem to have had a scruple as to the lawfulness of the slave-trade. He regarded it as the appointment of Providence.

He thought it a respectable and profitable employment. Yet occasionally he felt himself a kind of jailor, and was sometimes shocked at a business that had so much to do with chains, bolts, and shackles. Yet it seems to have been domestic comfort rather than principle that induced him to abandon it. We need scarcely say that his views subsequently underwent a material change.

For several years he resided in England, engaged in secular pursuits. But his time on shipboard during his last voyage had been diligently improved. The deficiencies of his early education had been supplied. He studied the Latin classics and the Scriptures in the original Unconsciously he was preparing himself for his future work. Some Christian friends in England recommended him to enter the ministry. He was startled at the suggestion, but the more he reflected upon it, the more he was disposed to acquiesce. He applied for an appointment to the ministry in the Church of England, but was at first refused. A second application was not more successful. He received a title to a curacy, but was refused ordination. At length, in 1764, he found a field for effort open to him in the curacy of Olney. Here his whole soul flowed forth in pastoral ministrations. Here he became the friend and intimate of the poet Cowper, and here was originated and executed the project of the "Olney Hymns." These are so well known that we need not dwell upon them. The poetry as a whole is not remarkable, but there are some gems

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which will last for centuries, ard carry the author's name down to distant generations. Indeed we are inclined to regard these as Newton's best and most enduring memorial. His sermons have many of them much merit. They have about them a directness, pungency, and lovely simplicity, which must have made them often powerfully effective. They glow throughout with evangelical spirit. To the higher graces of rhetoric they lay no claim. The utterance is plain and unstudied, but there is not a little of pithy expression sometimes bordering on quaintness. The Christian will find these discourses eminently practical, and will read them with profit, nor will he love the truth the less, presented as it here is in unadorned simplicity.

But yet in our judgment there is more vitality in one of his Olney hymns, which we could readily select, than in all his discourses. Those which commence with the lines,

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds." "He who on earth as man was known." "One there is above all others." "Safely through another week."

And many others have long been regarded as classic among our sacred lyrics, and will live after the last edition of the sermons has been published.

Newton's labours in the great metropolis were not the least important of his life. Here he prepared the way for the evangelical movement

in the Established church, which commenced at the opening of the present century. What Simeon was at Cambridge, Newton was in London. He was the patron and friend of piety in the Establishment. He was a friend of all. He was bound to make himself useful to all. Hence his series of religious correspondence, which occupies a considerable portion of his works. It is the correspondence of a devoted, patient, sympathising, pains-taking minister of the Gospel, who, with some oddities, had not a little good sense, and an inexhaustible fund of good advice. He was never more at home than in solving a religious difficulty, removing some doubt, confirming a weak faith, or consoling an afflicted spirit. This was his recreation. He asked nothing more.

Thus, in a ministry of nearly half a century, yet a ministry only commenced at the ripe age of 38, he accomplished much. He was not a scholar. He never had even a common school education. His overlate diligence must have left him deficient in classical attainments, yet he preached with acceptance and even admiration for nearly thirty years in the great Metropolis, and exerted an influence which has been felt around the globe. The grace of God made him what he was. His heart indited his sweetest lines, and the Christian church, in making account of her lyric treasures, can never afford to speak, save in terms of respect and affection, the name of JOHN NEWTON.

DUTY TO PARENTS. HONOUR thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land.-Exodus xx. 12. Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths.-Leviticus xix. 3. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord.-Colossians iii. 20. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.-Ephesians vi. 1. Let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents.-1 Timothy v. 4. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out.-Proverbs xxx. 17. Jesus was subject unto them.-Luke ii. 51.

The commandment to honour and obey our parents is very solemnly given in the Old Testament, and as solemnly in the New. Our blessed Lord shows us a perfect example in this, as in every other duty. We are told very little about His childhood; but we are told this, that "He was subject" to Joseph and Mary. He, the holy God, was, as man, subject to His mortal, sinful parents. O what a reproof to us, when at any time we are tempted to disrespect or disobedience! Some are, no doubt, more favoured than others in this relation; but duty is the same in every case, to honour and obey in all things, as far as can be done without disobeying God, and to requite to our parents in their declining years the care and pains we have cost them in our years of helpless

ness.

ADVICE TO BOYS AND GIRLS.

WILL the boys and girls try to remember a few brief sentences?

Give your hearts to Jesus Christ. Attend punctually the church and Sabbath school.

Respect and love your pastor and teachers.

Be attentive, orderly and serious. Have your recitation at command. Be ambitious to repeat many verses of Scriptures, many questions and many Psalms.

Try to understand what you read and hear.

Ask your parents, pastor and teachers to explain what is difficult.

Receive thankfully and kindly their words of advice.

Treat all children with courtesy and kindness; the aged with respect. Pray to God for a blessing on your religious instruction.

Encourage other boys and girls to go to church and Sabbath school.

JUPITER AND THE SHEEP.

THE sheep was doomed to suffer much from all the animals. She came to Jupiter, and prayed him to lighten her misery. Jupiter appeared willing, and said to the sheep, "I see, indeed, my good creature, I have made thee too defenceless. Now choose in what way I may best remedy this defect. Shall I furnish thy mouth with terrible teeth, and thy feet with claws?"

"Ah, no," said the sheep, "I do not wish to have anything in common with the beast of prey.'

“Or,” continued Jupiter, "shall I infuse poison into thy spittle?"

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Ah, no," replied the sheep," the poisonous serpents are so hated." "What, then, shall I do? I will plant horns in thy forehead, and give strength to thy neck."

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"Not so, kind father. I might be disposed to butt like the he-goat." And yet," said Jupiter, "thon must thyself be able to injure others, if others are to be aware of injuring thee."

"Must I!" sighed the sheep. “Oh, then, kind father, let me be as I am, for the ability to injure, I fear, will excite the desire; and it is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong. I pray thee, let me be as I am."

Smooth out the ringlets,
Close the blue eye-
No wonder such beauty
Was claimed in the sky;
Cross the hands gently
O'er the white breast,
So like a wild spirit
Strayed from the biest:
Bear her out softly,
This idol of ours,
Let her grave-slumber

Be 'mid the sweet flowers.

PRAYER.

LET little children learn to pray,
When first they learn to talk;
And let them learn to love the Lord,
And in His statutes walk.

Think not you are too young to pray,
You are not too young to die;
Then in the cold and silent grave
Your little form shall lie.

Oh! do not think He will not hear,
Because you are young and small;
Without His knowledge, you have read,
A sparrow cannot fall.

Then learn to call upon that God
Whose power beyond the grave
Can cast the soul in darkest night,
Or in bright glory save.

Then, little children, won't you pray,
And learn to love the Lord?
And do not fail, from day to day,
To read His holy Word.
Juvenile Instructor.

LONGING FOR OTHERS. It is recorded of the devoted John Welsh, that he used to keep a plaid upon his bed, that he might wrap himself in it when he rose at night for prayer. Sometimes his wife found him on the ground weeping. When she complained, he would say, "O woman! I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of them." Possessed with such a responsibility to God, and to the people of his charge, how can any true minister of the cross withhold himself from an earnest devotion to his work of arousing souls, and pointing them to Christ? He feels his momentous responsibility during the

week, while preparing the beaten oil for the sanctuary. It covers him like a garment. It haunts him in the silent watches of the night. It absorbs his thoughts, and breathes out in every fervid utterance of his closet.

SCEPTICAL SAILOR CONVINCED.

A careless sailor, on going to sea, replied to his religious brother in words like these; "Tom, you talk a great deal about religion and Providence; and if I should be wrecked, and a ship were to heave in sight, and take me off, I suppose you would call it a merciful Providence. It's all very well; but I believe no such