ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. Compiled by Rev. Daniel Smith. With an Introduction, by Rev. D. W. Clark, A. M. New York; Lane & Scott, 200 Mulberry street.

Anecdotes have always been found useful in making truth plain to the understanding. The volume before us is a good collection, gathered from various sources, and arranged under appropriate heads. We commend the work to ministers, teachers, and heads of families, as a book worthy of their attention.

THE ILLUSTRATED DOMESTIC BIBLE. By Ingram Cobden, A. M. New York; Samuel Hueston, 139 Nassau street.

This excellent Bible, which is being published in numbers, is rich in illustrations, with a beautiful, clear type. The neat, compact manner in which it is published, will tend to increase a love for reading the Sacred Scriptures. THE CHRISTIAN ALMANAC. The American Tract Society have issued the Christian Almanac for 1851.

Like its predecessors, it is filled with the choicest reading matter, and brought out in a style of unparalleled beauty and richness. We hope it may have a sale commensurate with its worth and excellence.

New Music.-MARK H. NEWMAN, of this city, has just published in sheet form, arranged for the piano-forte, "THE FLAG OF OUR UNION." Poetry by Geo. P. Morris; music by W. B. Bradbury The music was composed for our friend F. H. Nash, Esq., and first sung by him at the Broadway Tabernacle. Both the poetry and the music are of the highest order.

Sunday-School Books.-We have received from J. C. MEEKS, Agent of the Am. S. S. Union, 147 Nassau street, the following Books, recently published by the Union:

GRACE DERMOTT; or, How to Lighten Heavy Burdens.-198 pages.
STORIES FOR SCHOOL BOYS.-150 pages.

ROSA'S CHILDHOOD; or, the Influence of Principle.-107 pages.

KMNYO; being an account of the life, conversion, and peaceful death of a native African of the Bassa tribe.-90 pages.

These books are equal in interest to any of those issued by the Union; which, to most minds, will be considered a sufficient recommendation. We are partial to the books published by the S. S. Union, for two reasons: 1. They are always written in a lively, interesting vein, and convey to the mind of the reader important truths. 2. They are purely and thoroughly evangelical, and yet so free from any sectarian bias as to be acceptable to all real Christians. The Am. S. S. Union is accomplishing much for the cause of Christ, through its missionaries and Sunday-school books; and most heartily do we bid them God speed in their great and glorious work.

WHAT blessed results may flow from an early and judicious sowing of the seeds of virtue, and truth, and holiness, in the young mind! I say early, for the soil becomes more unfavorable for the germination the longer it is neglected. I say judicious, for it is with the human mind as it is with the field of the farmer-it is VOL. XVIII.NO. X.-19

not always in a condition to receive the seed, and to impart to it the necessary nourishment.

A striking illustration, both of this faithfulness and judgment, in the case of one providentially called to perform the part of a mother to her younger sisters, now occurs to me.

Four children were left without a parent, when the oldest, Laura E, was only fifteen years of age. The father of these children was not professedly pious, though he was a moral man, and exemplary in all his habits. The mother, whom God called from her family after her partner had been dead only two years, was a warm-hearted disciple of Christ, whose religion shone brightly in all her walk and conversation. On her death-bed, although she was calm and tranquil, she did not give up her children without a severe and protracted struggle. I have often heard her oldest daughter describe the scene. The dying one, when she knew her end was near, embraced them all, again and again. "How can I leave you, my darling ones?" she said. "What will become of my children?" She surrendered them, however, at last-gave them up, with many prayers and tears, into the hands of him to whose embrace her spirit soon flew away.

Laura devoted herself, after the exit of her mother, entirely to the care and education of her younger sisters. Then it was that the garden of her soul exhibited, fair, blooming, fruitful, the plants which had sprung from the seeds early sown there. It was several years after the event which placed her in this responsible position that I first became acquainted with the family; and, at that time, from one of the younger sisters, I learned many interesting particulars respecting the manner in which Laura discharged her duties as a mother. This girl's communications were spontaneous. There was no art about them. What she said welled up from her heart, as waters from an overflowing spring.

One day I met her alone. There was a tear in her eye. "What is the matter, Anna ?" I asked. "Why do you feel so sad? What has happened?"

"I am not sad," she replied.

"Then why have you been weeping? What is the meaning of those tears?"

It

She did not know. She was sure she was not unhappy. was true. There are other tears than those of sadness and grief. "Dear Laura has been talking so good to us!" she said. And then she wept afresh.

It seemed that the three sisters and their foster-mother were sitting under a tree in the front yard. The oldest had been conversing, in a cheerful strain, with her sisters, while they, with hearts full of affection, were crowning her with flowers, and calling her their May Queen.

66 Dear sisters," said the oldest, let me tell you a story about one who was crowned a great many years ago."

They were prepared to listen to the story. Even Caroline, the youngest, was eager to hear it. It is always thus with children. Why do not all parents, and others who are intimately connected with their education, see this, and act accordingly?

Then the eldest told the tale of the sufferings of Christ-how he was crowned with thorns-how the sharp points of the thorns were thrust into his head, so that the blood flowed down his face; and how he continued to suffer insult and pain, until he was nailed to the cross. After she had finished this tale, and while her sisters were bathed in tears, she told them that Christ suffered and died for us, so that we might believe in him, and have our sins pardoned, and be saved.

"But, my dear, said I, "is not all this in the catechism? You have heard it before; how came you to be so much touched by what your sister said ?""

"Oh," exclaimed the little girl, "sister Laura did not tell the story as it is in the catechism. She never talks to us in that way. Jesus Christ never seemed so dear to me before. He is my Saviour. I never thought of that till to-day."

Thus was the seed sown in these young minds. It sprung up. In after years the plants that grew from it budded and blossomed. Those three sisters are now all rejoicing, with the oldest, in the hope of eternal life.

By faith we enjoy God; by love we enjoy our neighbors; and by patience we enjoy ourselves.

Original.

MATERNAL CONCERTS.

BY REV. E. D. KINNEY.

ALL Christians profess to believe in the efficacy of prayer; and all Christian parents are in the almost daily practice of praying for their children. The more sensible parents feel the worth of souls, the greater is their anxiety for the salvation of their own offspring, and the more abundant and more ardent will be their prayers in their behalf. But the great difficulty with most Christians is, that the things which are seen and temporal, crowd out from the mind eternal realities and the soul's value, to such an extent that they but seldom catch a glimpse of the danger of the impenitent, and the importance of salvation. It is very desirable, therefore, that the worth of the soul should often be impressed on the Christian mind generally, and especially on the mind of Christian parents. One important means of accomplishing this object is concerts of prayer, for the conversion of individuals, or classes. I propose here to make some remarks on MATERNAL CONCERTS.

What I mean by maternal concerts, is, for the Christian mothers in one neighborhood, or, if the church is small, in the same church, to agree upon an hour, daily, when they will, in ordinary circumstances, leave all worldly matters, and spend some fifteen or thirty minutes in their closets, praying for each and all the children whose mothers enter into this agreement. Where this concert embraces a half dozen or more families, the best way is to make a list of the children, to spread out before the mothers, when they are thus praying.

The object of the concert is the conversion, sanctification, and salvation of these particular children. The mothers will see, at once, that this object is of vast importance, embracing the immortal interests of never-dying souls.

USE OF MATERNAL CONCERTS.

1. It will bring to the mind of these mothers, for some minutes, at least once every day, the truth that they have immortal souls.