"Mary, can you pray?" "O yes, father, I can pray." "Will you kneel down and pray for your poor father ?” "Yes, I will pray for you." So she kneeled, put up her little hands, and said, "Our Father, who art in heaven," going through with the Lord's Prayer. Then she prayed for her father in her own language, asking God to love him and have mercy upon him, and to pardon all his sins for Jesus' sake. When she had finished her prayer, her father said to her, " Mary, can you read your Bible?""' "O yes, father, I can read. Shall I read to you in my Bible?" "Yes, read to me." So she began at the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. She read along until she came to that verse: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "O Mary," said he, "is that there?" "Yes, father, it is here. Jesus said so." 66 Well, that is just what I needwhat your poor father needs." "Yes, father; and hear the rest ofit-'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.' 777 "O, that is for me-for just such as me; whosoever believeth in Him;' I can believe in Him; I do believe in Him." And from that hour the father went on his way, rejoicing in Christ Jesus with great joy. So gather in the children-all children-into the Sabbath school, of all classes, from all conditions. AT JESUS' FEET. THE Rev. W. Jay one day attended the dying bed of a young female, who thus addressed him :-"I have little," said she, "to relate as to my experience. I have been much tried and tempted, but this is my sheet anchor: He has said, 'He that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out!' I know I come to Him, and I expect that He will be as good as His word. Poor and unworthy as I am, He will not trifle with me; it would be beneath His greatness; I am at His feet. As you have often said "Tis joy enough, my All in all, 999 OLD ENOUGH TO BE CON VERTED. "MOTHER," said Annie Hall, "how old must a person be to be converted ?" "Some are converted very young," said Mrs. Hall. "Am I old enough to be converted?" "Are you old enough to love your father and mother?" 66 Yes, mother, I do love you." "Then you are old enough to love Jesus." "I can't convert myself, can I?" "No; but you can ask Jesus to convert you.' "Will He convert me if I pray to Him?" "If you really desire to be converted, and ask Him to give you a new heart, He will do so.' best;" but his lip quivered, and a little tear stole down his cheek. "Yes, my child, you have a kind heavenly Father, who loves you and feels for you more even than your mother does." "I know it, Sir," said the little boy, "and it comforts me." I wish Jesus was here to cure Frank," said his little sister; "Jesus cured a good many blind men when He was on earth, and I am most sure He would cure Frank." "Well," said I, "He will open little Frank's eyes to see what a good Saviour He is. He will show him that a blinded heart is worse than a blind eye, and He will wash his heart in His own blood, and cure it, and make him see and enjoy beautiful heavenly things, so that he may sit here, and be a thousand times happier than many children who are running about." "I can't help wishing he could see," said Lizzie. "I dare say," said I; "but I hope you don't try to make Frank discontented." "Frank isn't discontented," said Lizzie earnestly; "he loves God!" "And love sets everything right, and makes its own sunshine; does it not, Frank?" "I don't feel cross now," said the little blind boy, meekly; "when I'm alone I pray, and sing my Sabbath-school hymns, and sing, and sing, and God's in the room, and it feels light, and-and-I forget I'm blind at all!" and a sweet smile stole over his pale features as he spoke; it was heavenly light I was sure. I went to pity and comfort him, but I found God had gone before me. The great God, who has a thousand worlds to take care of, did not overlook him, but with His heart of love came and turned his mourning into joy, his darkness into light, and made him in his misfortunes as happy as a child can be. Oh, God can do more and better for us than we can ask or think. A TEACHER Christian Instruction. IDLE WORDS. "Bur I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."-(Matt. xii. 36.) So spake the Ruler of the Nations. We cannot remove the guilt of a single sin; the precious blood of Christ alone can do this. There is no satisfaction to the divine justice, but by the offering once made on Calvary. At what a price are we redeemed! So infinite in its value, so costly, that it exceeds the entire worth of the universe. We cannot fathom the nature of sin-its heinousness-its depravity-its enormity. Its height, its depth, its length, its breadth, can only be known when we look to the wonderful sacrifice made to meet the demands of God's violated law. We perceive in the atonement how great our distance is from God; how wide our alienation and separation from Him; how great the enmity of the human heart! Oh, wondrous mercy, to provide such a scheme for our deliverance from eternal punishment! How deep our obligation! What language can describe-what mind can fathom-the rich treasures of divine grace, or comprehend a love so vast, so infinite, to rebellious men? "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. xi. 33.) And yet how inconsiderate, how indisposed, how slow to believe that our very words are noted down by Him who affirms, that for every idle word spoken we shall give an account. We often act as if we were not responsible for the uttered language of the lip; as if there was no divine inspection going on; as if our words passed without attracting His notice, and all in reference to a future judgment. The truth, however, stands on record; and, whether we believe it or not, we shall awake up hereafter to the consciousness that nothing has escaped the divine investigation. Were this fact plainly and vividly kept in remembrance, would it not have a powerful influence on our social conversation? Would it not check the tendency to a vain, trifling, unedifying intercourse with others with whom we come in contact? Speech is a talent, which for its use or abuse we are VOL. XVI. M held responsible. Let us constantly recollect that all we do has its influence on our eternal condition. We are warned to let our speech be always with grace, to the use of edification. This is the divine rule, the divine precept, and is given to regulate our mutual intercourse for the improvement of those powers entrusted to us. The Psalmist says, "There is not a word on my tongue, but what thou knowest altogether.”—(Psalm cxxxix.) The knowledge that wherever we are, we are in the immediate presence of Him who is the Searcher of hearts, should meet with our most profound consideration. We are so apt to forget the important results which follow the actions of every hour, that unbelief blinds the judgment, deadens the conscience, and throws its dark shade on the pathway of life. We need that living and practical faith which brings truth before us in all its power and sublimity, which leads us to act as seeing Him who is invisible, which constrains us so to take heed to the words of our lips as not to offend, not to speak unadvisedly, or indulge in conversation frivolous or prejudicial to the higher interests of others. As Christians, we must not prove a stumbling-block to such as are impenitent, and worldly-minded, lest we lower the high standard of Christian faith and principle, and thereby exert a dangerous and pernicious influence on their minds. We are to walk in wisdom to them that are without, ever keeping in view the glory of God, and the great end of life. Let our daily prayer be, "Let the words of my lips, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." How precious is time! How impressive the thought that we have it in our power to confer a lasting benefit on mankind by the language of the lip, by careful attention to our words, by seeking to commend and enforce the great business of life, the preparation for an eternal world. We may speak a word to a friend, a neighbour, which, blessed by the Holy Spirit, may prove the power of God to salvation. We may commend the truth to the careless and unthinking by the spirit we manifest; by a holy example; by the purity of our conversation. We carry with us a power which, if rightly exercised, may bring glory to God, and lay the foundation of a mighty and spiritual change, by directing many to the only source of permanent happiness. Our conversation is in heaven," writes the apostle.-(Phil. iii. 20.) And the more we seek to carry out the spirit of the Gospel, and to cultivate a profitable intercourse as we mingle in society, we shall not fail to convey a salutary impression of the reality and 66 truth of the principles we profess. As Christians, when we meet, let it not be forgotten that "they who feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name."-(Mal. iii. 16.) "Unto him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God.”—(Psalm 1. 23.) How evident it appear sthat God is not only the keeper of His people, but the observer of all; and that when we commune with each other on the glorious truths of the Gospel, it meets with His approval, and we distinctly recognize the fact that He is always with us as a witness, as a friend, as one who delights in watching our growth in grace. The more we talk of Jesus, the more will our hearts burn with love to Him, even as the disciples whom He met on the way to Emmaus. In proportion as the tone of our conversation becomes spiritual, it will become profitable, produce a salutary and beneficial effect for good, bring about a hallowed change, and lead to an improvement in character, which may constitute the first step in the progress heavenward, and thus ensure a blessed result. Steady aim to impart good, to tell to others of truth and love, of faith and obedience, of the hopes of the Gospel, to speak to edification, to communicate sound, useful, practical knowledge, with a supreme desire that it may profit our hearers, will assuredly be attended with the divine blessing. Idle words grieve the Holy Spirit, dishonour His cause, injure the profession we make, indicate a low vitality of religion, produce an unfavourable effect on the minds of the impenitent, and hinder the progress of real godliness. We must so let our light shine that others, seeing us, may be led to glorify God. Shine before the world by the lustre of a holy example-speak as becometh the children of God-and thus constrain the unthinking and careless to know that we are Christ's, belong to His kingdom, reflect His image, are living to His glory, and, .as epistles of Christ, to be seen and read of all. The good we accomplish in the world will be according to our measure of holy walking and living. As we die to self we shall live to God. As we study to benefit others will be our success in well-doing. F. S. G. Tiverton, 1861. |