current, just as humility and love, very properly, as a Christian virtue. Indeed, the noble twin-sisters of humility and of meekness are but two buds on one stalk-love. "Love," says the Apostle," is longsuffering and kind," consequently it is also humble and meek. Meekness has been preached so often, not only through the word of the Lord and His apostles, but much more still by His actions and passion. Is there not a mildness, a sweetness, a condescension in His whole being, so that even if He had not said it, we should directly infer what He declares: "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." And one who will save the world can of course come to it in no other garb than that of meekness and kindness.

VALUE OF FIVE MINUTES. THE true worth of a few minutes, which careless people count of no importance, is well shown in an anecdote of Mr. Hubbard.

A number of years ago, it was a custom of the Orthodox churches in Boston (at the request of the chaplain of the State Prison) to furnish about a dozen teachers, who would voluntarily go to the Prison on Sabbath forenoon, to instruct classes of the convicts in a Sabbath school in the chapel.

Hon. Samuel Hubbard was one of those who went. Near the close of the time devoted to instruction, the chaplain said,

"We have five minutes to spare. Mr. Hubbard, will you please to make a few remarks ?"

He arose in a calm, dignified manner, and looking at the prisoners said,

"I am told that we have five

minutes to spare. Much may be

done in five minutes. In five minutes Judas betrayed his Master, and went to his own place. In five minutes the thief on the cross repented, and went with the Saviour to paradise. No doubt, many of those before me did that act in five minutes which

brought them to this place. In five minutes you may repent, and go to paradise- or will you imitate Judas, and go to that place where he is? My five minutes have expired."

THE BOOK.

Ir I walk a grave-yard or a cemetery, I ask not who they were, or whence they came, whose bodies lie mouldering beneath the ground on which I tread; but, as a key to where they are, I mentally inquire, Had they "read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested" ONE BOOK? Had its Great Author condescended to teach them out of that Book? Had He brought them to care for its counsels, to yield to its authority, to regard its exhortations, and to treasure up its promises? Then whosoever they were, or whencesoever they came, or whatever their lot herewhether old or young, rich or poorI am left in no manner of doubt or uncertainty as to where they are. I know that all who thus loved the Book on earth are with its Author in heaven! Reader, need I say, that that one book is the Book of booksTHE BIBLE!

BE IN EARNEST.

THE following earnest exhortation was penned by John Janeway, a Puritan divine, who flourished about the middle of the seventeenth century. It is as applicable to the reader as it was to those to whom it was originally addressed.

"There is such a thing as being almost a Christian; as looking back unto perdition; as being not far from the kingdom of heaven, and falling short at last. Beware, lest thou lose the reward. The promise is made to him that holdeth fast, holdeth out to the end and overcometh. Labour to forget the things which are behind, and reach unto the things which are before. He who is contented with just enough grace to escape hell and to get to heaven, and desires no more, may be sure he hath none at all, and is far

from the kingdom of God. Labour to enjoy converse with God. Strive to do everything as in His presence, and for His glory. Act as in the sight of the grave and eternity. Let us awake and fall to work in good earnest. Heaven and hell are before us. Why do we sleep? Dulness in the service of God is very uncomfortable, and at best will cost us dear; but to be contented in such a frame is the certain sign of a hypocrite. Oh! how will such tremble when God shall call them to give an account of their stewardship, and tell them they may be no longer stewards! Oh, live more upon the invisible realities of heaven, and let a sense of their excellencies put a life into your performances ! For your preciseness and singularity you must be content to be laughed at. A Christian's walk is not with men, but with God. He hath great cause to suspect his love to God, who does not delight more in conversing with God and being conformed to Him, than in conversing with men and being conformed to the world. How can the love of God dwell in

that man who liveth without God in the world?"

MAXIMS OF BISHOP MIDDLETON.

THIS child died on the 1st of January, 1861, at the early age of eleven years and five months. She was the youngest daughter of the Rev. Herbert Daniel, Independent Minister at Pontypool and Cefnycrib, Monmouthshire. From a child she was lovely and amiable, free, open, and cheerful, and of a most kind and affectionate disposition. All that knew her could not help loving her. Since very young she was religiously inclined, and greatly attached to spiritual things; reading, singing and praying was her chief delight; she was always faithful, active, and diligent with the means of grace, and she seemed happy in attending the house of God. The Sabbathschool, the prayer-meeting, and the

PERSEVERE against discouragements. Keep your temper. Employ leisure in study, and always have some work in hand. Be punctual and methodical in business, and never procrastinate. Never be in a hurry. Preserve self-possession, and do not be talked out of a conviction. Rise early, and be an economist of time. Maintain dignity without the appearance of pride. Manner is something with everybody, and everything with some. Be guarded in discourse: attentive, and slow to speak. Never acquiesce in immoral or pernicious opinions. Be not forward to assign reasons to those who have no right to ask. Think nothing in conduct unimportant or indifferent. Rather set than follow examples. Practice strict temperance, and in all your transactions remember the final account. "Walk circumspectly, redeeming the time."

Society were near to her heart; she liked to be there. She was very fond of reading her Bible, and other good books; and the book she liked best, with the exception of the Bible, was the Christian's Penny Magazine. She was reading it constantly and attentively, and bore testimony that the reading of it was good to her soul. She was in the habit of saying that all the children of the Sabbath school should have it, and read it; and its circulation was greatly extended in the neighbourhood through her instrumentality. The state of the heathen world seriously affected her mind; she felt much for the little boys and girls that have never heard anything of Jesus Christ; consequently she devoted herself to col

lect for the Missionary Society, and she did so for years with the greatest faithfulness.

When seven years of age she was bereaved of her pious mother, whose great aim it had been to bring up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and whose fervent prayers had been unceasingly offered for the salvation of their souls. Nor were these instructions and prayers offered in vain; for the good seed of the Word began early to spring up in the hearts of her children.

her, so that at last we may all meet in heaven, and meet to part no more -meet, and be clothed in beautiful white robes, and receive a crown of glory; and sing with those that are gone before, "Glory, glory to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.

A FRIEND.

After the death of her mother, she used to speak often of heaven, and that she should like to be there with her, and with Jesus Christ, her beloved Saviour. In February, 1859, she was taken ill with the scarlet-fever, after which she never recovered, but was weak and delicate. At the latter end of the year 1860 she became worse, and rapidly faded away. She had to suffer great pains; but retained her full consciousness to the very last. Tuesday morning, the first day of the year, 1861, she died very happy, and her soul fled into the mansions of eternal rest, where sickness, pain, and sorrow are felt and feared no more. Her funeral took place on the following Friday, at two o'clock in the afternoon, when a large company assembled at her father's house to testify their respect for her memory, where the Rev. J. Hopkins, of Elim, read a portion of God's Word, and engaged in prayer; then her body was taken to Ebenezer Chapel, Pontypool, where the Rev. G. Lewis, of Blackwood, introduced the service, and the Rev. M. Ellis, of Mynyddyslwyn, preached from Eccles. viii. 8, "And there is no discharge in that war." By the grave, the Rev. J. M. Thomas, of Abersychan, delivered an appropriate address, and engaged in prayer; and her mortal remains were deposited in the grave, "the house appointed for all living," in the sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection.

May her dear relatives, and all the readers of the Christian's Penny Magazine, be prepared to go after

NEVER TELL A LIE.

How simply and beautifully has Abdel Kader, of Ghilon, impressed us with the love of truth in a story of his childhood. After stating the vision which made him entreat of his mother to go to Bagdad, and devote himself to God, he thus proceeds:

I informed her of what I had seen, and she wept; then, taking out eighty dinars, she told me, as I had a brother, half of that was all my inheritance; she made me swear, when she gave it to me, never to tell a lie, and afterward bade me farewell, exclaiming, "Go, my son, I consign you to God; we shall not meet until the day of judgment."

I went on well, till I came near Hamandai, when our Kafilah was plundered by sixty horsemen. One fellow asked me what I had got?

"Forty dinars," said I, "are sewed under my garments."

The fellow laughed, thinking, no doubt, I was joking with him. "What have you got?" said another.

thou such a sense of duty to thy mother, at thy years, and I am insensible, at my age, of the duty I owe to my God? Give me thy hand, innocent boy," he continued, "that I may swear repentance upon it." He did so. His followers were alike struck with the scene.

"You have been our leader in guilt," said they, to their chief, "be the same in the path to virtue."

And they instantly, at his order, made restitution of the spoil, and vowed repentance, on his hand.

SOME THINGS ABOUT AFRICA. ONE of the French Protestant missionaries, who had laboured many years among the Bassutos in South Africa, in an address to Sabbathschool children in France, spoke of many things in his missionary field which, we think, would interest our readers. Here are a few of the things he said :

"We find there are many very cruel practices among the Bassutos. They treat the women as slaves, and often drive them away most shamefully from their homes. Another wicked practice with them is, that they murder all children who are born with any natural defect of body, and that, when there are twins, only one is allowed to live. If they are a boy and a girl, the girl is killed; if both are of the same sex, the weaker one is put to death. Sometimes it happens that a mother dies at the birth of a child. Among us, in such a case, the poor little orphan is treated with the greatest care and tenderness; but these cruel people bury it alive with its mother.

"In South Africa there have been many cannibals. I have sought them out, and passed a night among them; but this was after they had given up their horrible manner of life. Still I was constantly seeing holes filled with the remains of such dreadful feasts. During the time that they used to devour men, a poor woman who had been preserved alive

in a war, together with her little child, was taken prisoner by them. They were brought to a village, and there she was received into one of their houses and kindly treated. She thought she had found friends; but one day, when she was in the garden, a cannibal came into the house of her host, and said to him, 'I will buy your prisoners; my oxen have been taken away, and I feel a strong desire for some flesh to eat.' Two or three hundred weight of maize was asked as the price, and the bargain was concluded. The unhappy woman, not knowing what had happened, came cheerfully into the house, and then the barbarian who had bought her, seized and bound her, and led her away. On reaching the next village, she was tied to a post, and her child was snatched out of her arms and murdered before her eyes, for the man's horrible meal. The wretched creature, more dead than alive, expected to be killed herself next. But God did not permit that. She had heard that, at some distance off, powerful people were living, and in the night she managed to escape and reach the mission station at Morija, where she was converted, and is still living.

"At our stations the Lord has already done great things. Many have been converted, and have given up their frightful practices. Now, too, among the heathen natives, the little children are no longer thrown away in a time of war; those who have bodily defects are allowed to live, and new-born children are no longer buried with their dead mothers. For all this we have to thank the Gospel. Through its influence schools have been built, and the children delight in them. They are anxious to learn to read, and they know very well that it is God who has saved them, and preserved them in life."

How true it is that "the dark portions of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty;" and how happy are we who have the Gospel of peace and love to soften our hearts and lead us to Ged.