CHRISTMAS SINGING.

CHRISTMAS SINGING.

WHAT noise and wild uproar is this which I hear?
The singers, my friend, for lo! Christmas is here;
They're come to inform you that early this morn,
In Bethlehem city a Saviour is born.

Though pious you may be, yet if you are poor,
Unworthy their notice they'll pass by your door;
For if neither money nor drink is in view,

Alas! my good friend, there's no Saviour for you.

Like Judas the traitor, for money and ale,
They go about offering the Saviour for sale;
The drunkard, the swearer, and scum of the earth,
Are roaring aloud of Immanuel's birth.

Their anthems and carols they rattle along,
Glad tidings, glad tidings of joy is their song;
While its import or meaning as little they know,
As the viol they scrape, or the pipe which they blow.

They bid you rejoice, and wish you good cheer,
A Christmas so merry, and a happy new year;
They'll talk like a parrot of Christ and salvation,
While they are fast posting to sad condemnation.

Now singing is over, let's ask them to pray-
Ah; see, they're confused, and have nothing to say;
But come, let's be jogging, for 'tis time to go,
We do not like praying-we'll leave that to you.

So off they go sneering, or laughing aloud-
A proof of their blindness and deadness to God;
Ye singers attend, what I tell you is true-
The birth of the Saviour is nothing to you,

Unless you repent and are born from above,
Receive and experience a sense of his love;
And when of these blessings you're made to partake
Such empty proceedings you'll quickly forsake.
Her Majesty's Ship Agincourt.

From T. D.

ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS.

Anecdotes, Selections, and Gems.

FREENESS OF SALVATION.-When by our believing in Christ, we have obtained power and grace to repent of our sins, then we may, and ought to trust in him also for the pardon of those sins, which we have thus repented of, steadfastly believing that how many or great soever our former sins have been, yet that now, upon our hearty and sincere repentance of them, God has absolved us from them all for Christ's sake, and hath accepted of that death and punishment which his own Son underwent in our nature as if it had been undergone by us in our own persons; so as to be now as perfectly reconciled to us as if he had never been offended at all with us: yea that he doth not only pardon and forgive us what is past, but he reckons us in the number of righteous persons, and accepts of us as such, in his beloved Son, who knowing no sin in himself, "was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." And not only our persons, but that our actions also, even our sincere though imperfect duties and good works, are all acceptable to God through Jesus Christ our Lord; and that being thus justified by him in time, we shall be glorified with him for evermore. Consider this, and tell me what you think of the Saviour. One who can save you from your sins, and from the wrath of God that is due unto you for them? One that can reconcile you to Almighty God, your heavenly father? One who can alter your estate and disposition too, so as to make you equal to the holy angels themselves both in grace and glory? How happy would the fiends of hell account themselves if they had such a Saviour! How earnestly would they flock after him, and strive which should embrace and love him most; which should serve and please him best, that so they might be restored by him to their former estate again. Yet this is a happiness which they can never hope for, it being designed only for mankind. But all may not only hope for it, but may have it, if they will; nay, it is God's pleasure and command you should, for he would have all men to be saved, and by consequence you among the rest. And therefore, if any of you be not, the only reason is, because "ye will not" as Christ said, "come to me, that ye might have life;" and no wonder then, if you be not saved, if ye will not come to him, who alone can save you. Christ was weary, that we might rest; he hungered, that we might eat the bread of life, and thirsted, that we might drink the water of life. He grieved, that we might rejoice, and became miserable, to make us happy. He was apprehended, that we might escape; accused, that we might be acquitted; and condemned, that we might be absolved. He died, that we might live; and was crucified by men, that we might be justified before God. In brief, "he was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS.

THE DYING HOUR.-David Dixon, an eminent Scotch minister, being on his death-bed, a friend who stood by asked what were his views of eternity, saying, "by your faithfulness in the cause of Christ, we trust you have laid a foundation for great comfort in a dying hour." The good man replied in these memorable words: "I have gathered up all my works, good and bad, and thrown them together in a heap before the Lord, and have run away from them all to Christ. In Him I find sweet rest and peace."

"CUT IT DOWN!"-If thou be a professor, read and tremble; if thou be profane, do likewise. For if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinners appear? Cumberground, take heed of the axe!—Barren fig-tree, beware of the fire! BUNYAN. NOMINAL CHRISTIANS.-The greatest honour some men could do the Christian name, would be to disclaim it.

Facts and Hints.

TESTIMONY TO THE POOR.-I have read books enough, and ob. served and conversed with enough of eminent and splendidly-cultivated minds, too, in my time; but I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of poor uneducated men and women, when exerting the spirit of severe, yet gentle heroism, under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking their simple thoughts, than I ever yet met with except in the pages of the Bible. SIR W. SCOTT.

AMERICAN FOOD.-It is intimated that the harvest of the United States this season is sufficient to feed half the people on the globe abundantly. With scarcely any exception, every species of grain, fruit, and vegetable, has yielded an extraordinary crop.

MOTHERS, much devolves on you. Both among the rational and irrational tribes, the first training of the infant race belongs to her that gave them being, and supports them.

APPETITE.-Always to indulge our appetites is to extinguish them. Abstain that you may enjoy.

CHOLERA AND Drunkenness.-During the prevalence of that awful disease, cholera, in the United States, of 336 persons who died of that complaint, the following is reported as a detailed account: Intemperate

Free Drinkers

Habitual Moderate Drinkers

Strictly Temperate

.....

Members of Temperance Societies

Idiots

Unknown

140

55

131

5

2

1

2

THE FIRESIDE.

The Fireside.

THE LABOURER'S SATURDAY NIGHT.

THE labourer who toils amid bustle and dust,
To earn from the hard world his coat and his crust;
Imprisoned in mines, or in fields, or in shops,

He loveth the hour when the turmoil stops;

When the hammer and file, and the pick and the spade, Are into the dusty corner laid;

He breathes the free air, and his heart is as light

As the wing of a swallow on Saturday night.

Then the sun goeth down with a lovelier glow,
And the stars smile in peace on the broad earth below,
And the moon cometh up with a smile on her cheek,
On the night of all nights in the wearisome week.
Then the great world of labour stands resting as still
As the wheel when the stream is shut off from the mill,
And the water that toiled flows as calmly and bright
As the river of sleep on a Saturday night.

They may tell of the joy that a conqueror feels

The moment his foeman surrendering kneels;

Or the pleasure that thrills through a young maiden's breast,
When she heareth the voice which she loveth the best;
Or the joy of the sailor when climbing the shroud,
To see his own land looming up like a cloud;
But the labourer feels sure as deep a delight,

When his home smiles him welcome on Saturday night.

There kind looks await him, and voices of glee,
And little ones eager to climb on his knee;-

Or if he's no hearth where these dear ones are seen,
There are bright eyes awaiting him somewhere I ween.
Then blest be the hour which bringeth release,

And heralds the Sabbath whose sunshine is peace;
And, oh! may the labourer's heart be as light,

When the world shall bring round his last Saturday night.

THE PENNY POST.

The Penny Post.

A CONVERT TO SOBRIETY.

I THINK Our newspapers in general are far a-head of our religious periodicals in the notice they take of temperance reformation. Our temperance agent called one day during the past week on a person holding an official situation under government, who confessed that till within the last two months he had not gone to bed sober for many years. A fortnight before he adopted our principles he was attacked with a fit of delirium tremens, under the effects of which he did a great amount of mischief in the destruction of his household furniture, &c.-his watch and other valuable articles were pawned for the purpose of satisfying his insatiable cravings-a heavy score stood against him at the alehouse, whilst misery and utter ruin stared him in the face. The contrast in this short time is striking and delightful-his pawnbrokers duplicates are returned, and the articles they represented are restored-the public-house score is expunged-and that habitation so lately the abode of misery and disorder, now begins to assume an air of comfort and happiness. So great was the contrast in this short time that the contemplation of what had been effected brought forth tears of joy both from him who had been so happily rescued, and also from the agent who had been the honoured means of bringing about so desirable a result. Many hundred such cases exist-but do christians in general look upon them with that interest and deep concern that they ought to inspire? I fear not. I hope they will soon awake to a sense of their duty towards poor perishing drunkards. G. R. G. [We hope our esteemed correspondent is under a mistaken impression about christians not feeling an interest in the promotion of temperance. There may be discreditable exceptions, but we believe they are few. We can only say that we have never met with a consistent christian who did not rejoice in the promotion of temperance. It may be that some christians are not total abstainers, and that some who are, cannot bring themselves to approve of all the proceedings of certain advocates of temperance; but they are, nevertheless, always much pleased to hear of real good being done, as in the case mentioned above, and are using what influence they can in their own way to reclaim such wretched wanderers from the path that leads to irretrievable ruin.]

A PARISH PRIEST IN ENGLAND IN 1848! A FEW years ago a little Independent chapel was built, and a small church formed, in the village of G, the pulpit being supplied by itinerant preachers from the town of S- The little church

also formed a sabbath school, which they taught themselves. In process of time a beautiful "church" of the established sect also sprang up in the same village, in connection with which a sabbath