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the fourth of a mile, crying for mercy. He called his family together, and warned them, in the most pathetic language, as they valued eternal life, to shun his sentiments and example. His mind became more tranquil before the closing scene; but whether it arose from pardon of sin,

or the decay of nature, I will not decide. We leave him with a just God, but earnestly entreat the impenitent, whether trusting to God's universal benevolence, or to future repentance, to prepare without delay to meet their God.

J. H, B.

Lessons by the Way; or, Things to Think On.

DROPPINGS OF THE HONEYCOMB. EVERY child knows what is meant by this title, and no sooner is it announced than methinks I see a lively little company gathering round me to obtain a share of the sweets about to be dispensed blue eyes and black eyes, the sunny and the raven locks, are all impatient to taste the contents of my hive.

Not drops which flow from waxen cells-not the sweet food which industrious bees manufacture from the essences of flowers-not that which trickles from a hollow tree, or is taken in delicate layers from a wooden chest, my eager little friends, is the honey to which my title refers.

Do you know what the psalmist of Israel says is "sweeter than honey and (the droppings of) the honeycomb?" Psa. xix. 10. It is the sacred law of God; Divine truth as contained in the Holy Scriptures. In the Song of Solomon it is also said of him whose conversation is seasoned with the sweetness of Divine grace and wisdom, "Thy lips drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue."

And now I doubt not but the cluster of happy beings around me begin to understand what those drops of honey are which I would have them gather. It is the short and sweet texts of Holy Writ; the glorious truths which men are commanded to lay up in their own hearts and to teach their children; it is, in short, all pure and profitable instruction which may be drawn from Scripture, or which coincides with its principles. Who does not see the beauty of the emblem? What can be sweeter than instruction, and to a correct taste what more acceptable? "Take fast hold of instruction," says the wise man; "let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life." It is a stream which blesses him that gives and him that takes. Both teacher and taught sit under the droppings of the honeycomb.

And now let me tell my little friends one of the pleasant ways in which these drops of honey may be gathered. They will understand it better by an example. I have a little boy in my mind's eye by the name of Arthur. He loves the words of wisdom, and sits down quietly at the feet of his elders to hear the voice of instruction. But above all other words he loves those of inspiration, and endeavours by daily study to perfect himself in the knowledge of Scripture.

PRAYER.

THE Solemn periods during which a man retires from the intrusion of external things, and thus places himself alone with God, must be considered as a special and most important part of that discipline of the soul from which it is to

derive strength for its combat "with principalities and powers, with the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places." Such seasons will be sought for by every one who feels at all his moral necessities; and they will be sought for, not as duties to be performed, but as privileges to be desired and cherished as a great means of spiritual life-a chief source of the growth, the defence, the nourishment of the soul.

But independently of those more special and solemn seasons, in which a man of prayer retires from external things, and seeks to find himself in the more immediate presence of God, where there is the habitual sense of the Divine presence, there will be the tendency to raise the thoughts to him, even amid the ordinary engagements with objects of sense. Amid the cares, the anxieties, the distractions of life, indeed, this must often be felt to be, as it were, a restingplace, a refuge to the soul. And a consideration at once the most solemn and encouraging it certainly is, that, amid any circumstances as to external things, the aspiration of the heart directed to God may have all the power and all the efficacy of prayer. It is an exercise adapted to every situation in which the feeble being can be placed; for, whether distracted with anxieties respecting earthly things, or awed under more solemn apprehensions of things eternal; whether viewing complicated duties in regard to which he perceives his own weakness, or combating with spiritual enemies which are too strong for him; the man feels that he is not alone, who thus seeks to "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."---Abercrombie.

"WE ARE ALL CHRISTIANS." THE following beautiful story is told by a correspondent of the Boston Courier, to illustrate the unconquerable power of peace principles. The little town mentioned gets along very well without a military department.

"I have read of a certain regiment ordered to march into a small town, (in Tyrol, I think,) and take it. It chanced that the place was settled by a colony who believed the gospel of Christ, and proved their faith by their works. A courier from a neighbouring village informed them that troops were advancing to take the town. They quietly replied, "If they will take it, they must.' Soldiers soon came riding in with colours flying, and fifes piping shrill defiance. They looked around for an enemy, and saw the farmer at his plough, the blacksmith at

his anvil, and the women at their churns and spinning-wheels. Babies crowded to hear the music, and boys ran out to see the pretty trainers with feathers and bright buttons, the harlequins of the nineteenth century. Of course they were not in a proper position to be shot at. 'Where are your soldiers?' they asked. We have none,' was the brief reply. But we have come to take the town.' 'Well, friends, it lies before you.' But is there nobody here to fight?' 'No; we are all Christians.' Here was an emergency altogether unprovided for by the military schools. This was a sort of resistance no bullet could hit; a fortress perfectly bomb-proof. The commander was perplexed. If there is nobody to fight with, of course we cannot fight,' said he. It is impossible to take 'such a town as this.' So he ordered the horses' heads to be turned about, and they carried the human animals out of the village as guiltless as they had entered, and perchance somewhat wiser."

THE LAST MOMENT.

EVERY man's life is made up of a precise number of moments. That number is registered in the book of God's providence, between whose folded leaves no eye of man or angel can penetrate.

That last moment will come. It rapidly approaches. Its coming is hid behind impenetrable clouds. The winged hours hasten the flight of the last moment allotted to each man's stay on earth. When that moment approaches near at hand, the wheels of nature begin to move slowly and sluggishly, till they come to a solemn pause.

The vital current ceases to flow.

The pulse is faint and few. The eye becomes dim and glassy. The curtain of mortality drops, and shuts out from mortal vision all earthly scenes and objects, and the full blaze of eternity, with all its tremendous realities, bursts upon the astonished sight. That last moment will come to each and every individual, and yet how few realize it or prepare for it!

"All men think all men mortal but themselves." But the solemn and affecting lesson must be sooner or later learned in the dread experience of every man. Across that mysterious boundary line he must pass when the appointed last moment arrives. How wisely and mercifully concealed from the eye of mortals is that eventful point of time!

Many a hero has the courage to march boldly up to the cannon's mouth, amid the heat and rage of battle, whose eye will yet quail, and whose cheek blanch, and whose lips will quiver with fear, as he sees the slow approach of the last messenger on the pale horse. But it is not the last moment, as such, solemn as it is to change worlds, which marks it with such fearful importance. It is that man's last moment on earth is the last of his probation-the last moment of trial and hope-the last moment of mercy and of pardon-the awful moment that stamps and seals his destiny or his doom unchangeably through interminable ages. And yet how marvellous it is to see the multitudes of gay and thoughtless mortals moving onward to that dread period of their existence with utter unconcern! Ere long, what keen and bitter anguish will wring the hearts of these prodigal wasters of the precious moments of human life!

SUPERINTENDING PROVIDENCE. THE following illustration of the watchful care and providence of the Most High is extracted from a letter written by William Cowper to his friend, William Unwin.

"We are glad that you are safe at home again. Could we see at one glance of the eye what is passing every day upon all the roads; how many are terrified and hurt, how many plundered and abused, we should indeed find reason enough to be thankful for journeys performed in safety, and for deliverance from dangers we When are not perhaps even permitted to see. in some of the high southern latitudes, and in a dark tempestuous night, a flash of lightning discovered to Captain Cook a vessel which glanced along close by his side, and which, but for the lightning, he must have run foul of. Both the danger and the transient light that showed it were undoubtedly designed to convey to him this wholesome instruction, 'That a particular Providence attended him, and that he was not only preserved from evils of which he had notice, but from many more of which he had no information, or even the least suspicion.' What unlikely contingencies may nevertheless take place! How improbable that two ships should dash against each other in the midst of the vast Pacific Ocean, and that, steering contrary courses, from parts of the world so immensely distant from each other, they should yet move so exactly in a line as to clash, fill, and go to the bottom, in a sea where all the ships in the world might be so dispersed as that none should see another! Yet this must have happened but for the remarkable interference which he has recorded. The same Providence, indeed, might as easily have conducted them so wide of each other that they should never have met at all: but then this lesson would have been lost; at least the heroic voyager would have encompassed the globe without having had occasion to relate an incident that so naturally suggests it."

AGAINST IDLENESS.

SINCE even angels, which are all spirit, be yet ministering spirits, and execute the commissions and ambassages of God, and communicate with men, should man, who is not made all soul, but a creature composed of body and soul, exempt himself from doing the offices of mutual society, and upholding that frame in which God is pleased to be glorified? Since God himself, who for so many millions of ages contented himself in heaven, yet at last made this world for his glory, shall any man live so in it as to contribute nothing towards it? Hath God made this world his theatre, that man may represent God in his conversation; and wilt thou play no part, but think that thou only wast made to pass thy time merrily, and be the only spectator upon this theatre? Is the world a great and harmonious organ, where all parts are played, and all play parts; and must thou only sit idle and hear it? Is everybody else made to be a member, and to do some real office for the sustentation of this great body, this world; and wilt thou only be no member of this body? Thinkest thou that thou only wast made to be a mole in the face for ornament, a man of delight in the world? Bccause thy wit, thy fashion, and some such nothing as that, hath made thee a delightful and accept

able companion, wilt thou therefore pass in jest, and be nothing? If thou wilt be no link of God's chain, thou must have no part in the influence and providence derived by that successively to us. Since it is for thy fault that God hath cursed the earth, and that therefore it must bring forth thorns and thistles, wilt not thon stoop down, nor endanger the pricking of thy hand, to weed them up? Thinkest thou to eat bread and not sweat? Hast thou a prerogative above the common law of nature? Or must God insert a particular clause of exemption for thy sake?-Dr. Donne.

ANECDOTE OF OWEN.

THE origin of Dr. Owen's great practical work on "The Forgiveness of Sin, or Psalm cxxx.," was related by the doctor in the following circumstances:

A young man, who afterwards became a minister, being under serious impressions, came to him for counsel. In the course of conversation the doctor asked, "Pray, in what manner do you think to go to God?" "Through the Mediator, sir," said the young man. To which Dr. Owen replied, "That is easily said; but it is another thing to go to God through the Mediator than what many who use the expression are aware of. I myself preached some years when I had but very little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to God through Christ, until the Lord was pleased to visit me with sore affliction, by which I was brought to the mouth of the grave, and under which my soul was oppressed with horror and darkness. But God graciously relieved my spirit by a powerful application of Psalm cxxx. 4, 'There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared;' from whence I received special instruction, peace, and comfort in drawing near to God through the Mediator, and I preached thereupon immediately after my recovery."

None who seriously and prayerfully read this treatise will fail to discover the grounds and the appropriateness of the above appeal to an inquiring youth, the rich sources from which the author has drawn Divine instruction, and its adaptation to the wants of every perishing soul.

THE BIBLE.

WE are so accustomed to the sight of a Bible that it ceases to be a miracle to us. It is printed just like other books, and so we forget that it is not just like other books. But there is nothing in the world like it or comparable to it. The sun in the firmament is nothing to it, if it be really (what it assumes to be) an actual, direct communication from God to man. Take up your Bible with this idea, and look at it and wonder at it. It is a treasure of unspeakable value to you, for it contains a special message of love and tender mercy from God to your soul. Do you wish to converse with God? Open it and read. And at the same time look to him who speaks to you in it, and ask him to give you an understanding heart, that you may not read in vain, but that the word may be in you, as good seed in good ground, bringing forth fruit unto eternal life. Only take care not to separate God from the Bible. Read in the secret of God's presence, and receive it from his lips, and feed upon it, and it will be to you as it was to Jeremiah, the joy and rejoicing of your heart. The best advice

which any one friend can give to another is to advise him to consult God; and the best turn that any book can do its reader is to refer him to the Bible.-Thomas Erskine.

APOSTROPHE TO GOLD.

GOD of the craven heart! idol of millions, how splendid are thy temples, how zealous are thy worshippers! They gather around thy smile in the morning; they leave not thy devotions at midnight. Thou smilest upon them, and they grow mad in the midnight of their palaces. They make themselves monarchs in fancy and conquerors in dreams. Who can withstand thee? Thou leadest the feet of beauty, thou directest the arm of the brave. Thou silenced the voice of eloquence when the Macedonian held thee up glittering before the eye of the orator; and the mistress of the world rose before thee in the balance. Disposer of empires! thou spreadest over the world. Thy spell nerved the assassin, and urged on the betrayer. Thy yellow visage incited the spoiler when he sought thee on the crimson field, and made himself red in the carnage. In all ages thou hast triumphed. Whether in the thirty pieces rewarding a Judas, or the sparkling crown on the brow of a tyrant; always alike invincible. The man of business bows obsequiously to thee. The man of fashion falls before thee, and the miser adores thy garment as though it were the curtain of heaven. Thou hast a retinue of coaches and an army of slaves. Thou hast a goal of splendid misery, where guilt makes her alliance with death. The virgin at the sanctuary fears not thy footsteps, and the shorn priest flies not the power of thy magic.

A PRAYER-BOOK.

A MINISTER who had been characterized by the fervour of his preaching and praying, was observed to decline in the spirit with which his public duties had been performed; whereupon some of his flock ventured to hint the change to him. His simple reply was, "I have lost my prayer-book." "Your prayer-book!" said the astonished visiters; "we never knew you used one." "You are mistaken," said the minister: "I relied much on my prayer-book; I mean, the prayers of my people; but since they have ceased earnestly to pray for me, I have been disqualified for labouring diligently for them."

Alas! how many ministers are left to labour up-hill from the same cause. The people wonder that they are not more animated and successful in their public duties, never adverting to the fact that the fault is in themselves, as they suffer weeks, and even months and years, to pass without offering one fervent and heartfelt prayer for their success. Paul felt the necessity of this kind of co-operation, and earnestly besought his Christian brethren to pray for his ministerial success; and nothing, we should suppose, has since occurred to diminish this necessity in regard to God's ambassadors. Of one thing we are very certain, that there would be better preaching if there was more praying.

BURNET'S DESCRIPTION OF LEIGHTON. LEIGHTON was a bishop that had the greatest elevation of soul, the largest compass of knowledge, the most mortified and most heavenly disposition that I ever yet saw in mortal; that had

the greatest parts, as well as virtues, with the most perfect humility, that I ever saw in man; that had so sublime a strain in preaching, with so grave a gesture, and such a majesty of thought, of language, and of pronunciation, that I never once saw a wandering eye where he preached, and have seen whole assemblies often melt in tears before him; and of whom I can say, with great truth, that in a free and frequent conversation with him for above two and twenty years, I never knew him to say an idle word, or that had not a direct tendency to edification; and I never once saw him in any other temper but that which I wished to be in, in the last minutes of my life.

THE POWER OF TRUTH.

A LEARNED Dominican, and most fanatical champion of the Catholic faith, had presented himself at the general council assembled by Gustavus Vasa, at Oerebro, as one of the deputies from Calmar. Incited by the continual references to Luther, he resolved to proceed to Germany, and undertake the conversion of that reformer. Confident of success, the zealous Dominican set forward. But what befell? He returned from Wittemburg an earnest Protestant, became one of the most powerful advocates of Lutheranism that Sweden could boast, and united himself in marriage with a nun. He afterwards rose to the bishopric of Linksping, and never relaxed his efforts: he became in many ways a highly influential agent in the firm establishment of Protestantism, and remained a most zealous defender of the doctrines he had vowed himself to subvert.-J. Von Archenholz.

CROMWELL AND THE INQUISITION. THE following anecdote would be interesting at any time, but the case of Dr. Kalley gives it an additional interest at this moment :

"Thomas Maynard, English consul at Lisbon, was thrown into the prison of the Inquisition at Lisbon, under pretence that he had said or done something against the Roman religion. Mr. Meadows, who was then resident, advised Cromwell of the affair; and, being directed by him, demanded of the King of Portugal, in Cromwell's name, the liberation of Maynard. The king told him it was not in his power, as he had no authority over the Inquisition. The resident sent the answer to Cromwell, from whom he received fresh instructions, and went to the king, and told him that since his majesty had declared that he had no power over the Inquisition, he was commanded by Cromwell to declare war against the Inquisition itself. This unexpected declaration so terrified the king and the Inquisition, that they opened the prison doors, and gave the. consul liberty to go out. He, however, refused to go out privately, and required that he should be honourably brought forth by the Inquisition." -Limborch's History of the Inquisition, vol. i., page 214.

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF MISSIONS. By an expose just made by this Board, we learn that for the last three years the average receipts have been but D59,298,80 per year, or only thirtyfour cents for each communicant in the church! Such a statement should rouse the whole church. The condition of the treasury, present and pro

spective, here presented, compels us to urge every Christian to ask himself, Have I delivered my soul, if the heathen are left to perish?

PLAGUE OF EGYPT.

SEVERAL travellers to the East Indies have complained of the insufficient means employed for carrying them over the Isthmus of Suez. Mr. Waghorn states in answer, that in September, 1842, that fearful mortality, the murrain, visited Egypt, as it occasionally has done ever since the time of the departure of the Israelites from it. It was one of the standing plagues inflicted by the Almighty upon Pharaoh, for "refusing to let the children of Israel go." This fearful mortality has taken away ten-twelfths of the whole of the cattle of Egypt since that time. In October, 1842, out of the number of horses in the desert for the transit of passengers, upwards of one hundred died by murrain in that month; and its ravages not only continue in various parts of Egypt, but deprive the cattle that remain of their usual stamina and strength.

CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY.

THE patriarch Abraham gave one-tenth of all his possessions to religious uses; and so did Jacob, and many other Old Testament worthies. And it is worthy of notice that the Jews, who, as a nation, gave more to religious purposes than any other people, were, as a nation, more prosperous and wealthy than any other that ever existed. Even the heathen-the Arabians, according to Pliny, and the Grecians, according to Xenophon and Herodotus-gave no less than a tenth part of everything to sacred uses. And shall the Christian do less for his God than did the Jews under the old dispensation, or the heathen for their idols?

THE GOSPEL SALVATION. WHAT does salvation imply? It implies the whole redemption purchased by Christ, and the whole of the application of it by the Holy Spirit. It is salvation from a state of estrangement to a state of acquaintance with God; from enmity to peace and reconciliation; from darkness to light; from bondage to liberty. It includes pardon and justification; adoption and filiation; sanctification of nature, heart, and way; communion with God; afterwards a glorious resurrection of the body, and eternal life and glory in being for ever with the Lord.-Ebenezer Erskine.

UP IN THE MORNING EARLY! THERE is a freshness and a purity in early morning which, to the physical and moral state of man, is vigour and delight. It is seldom that the sensualist, the idle, or the vain, taste its ethereal joys. A mystical spirit lurks in the perfumed breath of awakened creation, which is undoubtedly gifted with supernatural power. Those who would live long and live good days, must habitually become early risers. The loss of the morning hour is never retrieved.

THE DAY STAR.

THE feeblest desire and attempt to seek the Lord is the Spirit's rising beam in the heart, "a day of small things, not to be despised."Bridges.

The May Meetings.

We now give, as on former occasions, not only the elements of the Reports of the Societies included, but also the chief facts and gems of the speeches delivered on the principal occasions, and a number of them entire, well assured that we shall thus contribute very materially to the gratification of our readers and to the advancement of the greatest and most pressing of earthly enterprises.

BAPTIST HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

THE Annual Meeting of this Institution was held at Finsbury Chapel, and was extremely well attended,

The Rev. Dr. Cox, who occupied the chair, said, I confess that, I have a deep, and, I may say, a growing interest in Home Missionary Societies. I believe that it is right to support them on the grounds of Christian patriotism. Patriotism is understood in the world, in a very different manner from what we ought to understand it in the church. The most ambitiousthose whose interest it is to promote the temporal welfare or distinction of mankind, or to engage in acts for the aggrandisement of nations -are called patriots, when they profess that love of country which induces them to throw in their talent and their efforts to contribute to the advancement of the nation's glory, as it is termed. But when the inspired writer in ancient times said, "Surely glory shall dwell in our land," his eye was not fixed on ambitious projects,annexation of territory to the country which he represented, but he distinctly contemplated the coming of the great Messiah, and the introduction of Christianity into the wide world, for the benefit and salvation of mankind. Now we are called upon in this Society to act on this principle of Christian patriotism, that love of country which is not restricted merely to a view of its temporal interests, but which contemplates its spiritual and eternal welfare in the improvement of its population, and their preparation for that eternity to which we are all advancing. There is another reason why I feel a growing interest in this Society. When I look at the accounts from the various missionaries, I see that they are right-hearted agents, that they are individuals prepared to persevere amidst the difficulties that present themselves on every hand, amidst even calumny and oppression; and the Society that employs right-hearted agents in this respect is one that ought to be supported. Besides, there is another view of the case, namely, the spiritual strength accruing to foreign missionary efforts by the progress of home missionary exertions. In proportion as the Home Missionary Societies prosper by the diffusion of knowledge, by the conversion of souls to God, by the establishment or enlargement of churches in our land, and by gathering the people to God, in that proportion moral and spiritual strength is brought to bear on the foreign missionary cause. By your love for foreign missions, then, I ask you to promote the interests of the Home Missionary Society, for that will sustain and give moral impulse and strength to that noble enterprise by which we send our missionaries abroad to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

The Rev. S. J. DAVIS then read the Report. The present number of Sunday-schools was 100, containing nearly 8000 children, who were in

structed by 1000 teachers. Besides the teachers, there were in connection with the Society's stations about 250 local assistants, a fourth part of whom were local preachers. The distribution of religious tracts had been attended with much benefit. The class system had been tried at several stations, but in few had it worked successfully, owing principally to the difficulty of obtaining suitable leaders. The labours of Mr. Pulsford, the evangelist, continued to be followed by extraordinary tokens of Divine favour. There had been added to the missionary churches nearly 650 members, and some hundreds more had been added to other churches visited by Mr. Pulsford. Under the head of " Appropriate Agency," the Report stated that the Committee were frequently prevented from adopting stations of importance and promise by the inadequacy of their resources. A much more serious difficulty, however, was occasioned by the limited supply of appropriate agency. Men of sound understanding, general information, popular address, and laborious habits, as well as decided piety, were heard of much less frequently than the necessities of home missionary institutions required. The Society commenced the year with a debt of about £1000, the larger portion of which had been reduced by the payment of the valuable bequest of the late Dr. Newman. The balance against the Society was at present £200. The Report concluded by an appeal to the friends of the Society to sustain it by increased funds.

The TREASURER then presented his accounts, from which it appeared that at the last audit there was a balance in his hands of £109 4s. 2d., which, added to the receipts of the last year, presented a total of £5,902 3s. 9d. The expenditure, including the payment of the banker's loan and interest, amounting to £823, was £5,902 28. 9d., leaving a balance at the banker's of 1s. The sum of £200, however, was still owing for money which had been borrowed.

Dr. GODWIN said, The Baptist Home Missionary Society forms a part of that apparatus by which our own section of the great Christian family is and has been attempting for some time past to diffuse the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have our colleges for our students, schools for our children; one institution which takes the charge of our foreign mission; another specifically designed to aid in the translation of the word of God; we have a mission for Ireland specifically; and the spheres of this Society are the towns and villages and cities of our own native country. And without making any improper comparisons, we may safely say that it would be inconsistent, nay, it would even afford reason to look with jealousy upon our benevolence in all our foreign operations, were we to neglect our home. For some time the labours of the Society were principally directed to village preaching. I would not have the meanest or smallest hamlet in the kingdom neglected; but

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