THE SABBATH-BREAKERS. he said, "of old times, when we used to go arm in arm to church in Union-street." Next day, in company with my friend, I attended morning service at the Wesleyan chapel. At the conclusion of worship, a gentleman seated behind me, asked to look at my bible. In a few minutes he returned it, and I walked into the street. We had arranged to dine at the George,' and I was mounting the steps in front of that hotel, when the gentleman who had examined my bible laid his hand on my shoulder, and begged to have a few minutes conversation. We were shown into a private apartment. As soon as we were seated he examined my countenance with great attention, and then began to sob; tears rolled down his cheeks; he was evidently labouring under intense emotion. He appeared to be about thirty-five years of age, was tall and slender, and neatly dressed, but apparently in bad health. He asked me several questionsmy name, my age, occupation, birthplace, &c. He then inquired if I had not when a boy, many years ago, invited a drunken sabbath-breaker to a seat in Dr. Beatty's church. I was astonished-the subject of my mother's anxiety and prayers was before me! Mutual explanations and congratulations followed, after which Mr. C. gave me a short history of his life, from the time he left Scotland to the day on which we met so unexpectedly in a foreign land. He was born in the town of Leeds, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, of highly respectable and religious parents, who gave him a good education, and trained him up in the way of righteousness. When about fifteen years of age his father died, and his mother's straitened circumstances obliged her to take him from school, and put him to learn a trade. In his new situation he imbibed all manner of evil, became incorrigibly vicious, and broke his mother's heart. Freed now from all parental restraint, he left his employers and travelled to Scotland. In the city of Glasgow he had lived and sinned for two years, when he was arrested in his career through my mother's instrumentality. On the first sabbath of our strange interview in Union-street, he confessed that after he left church he was seized with pangs of unutterable remorse. The sight of a mother and her son worshipping God together, recalled the happy days of his own boyhood, when he went to church and Sunday-school, and when he also had a mother- -a mother whose latter days he had imbittered, and whose gray hairs he had brought with sorrow to the grave. His mental sufferings POETRY. threw him on a bed of sickness from which he arose a changed man. He returned to England, cast himself at the feet of his maternal uncle, and asked and obtained forgiveness. His conviction of sin-his battling with temptation-his repentance-his victory over the world-the growth of his faith in the atonement of Jesus-and, finally, his peace in believing, formed a deeply interesting and instructive narrative. With his uncle's consent he studied for the ministry; and on being ordained, he entered the missionary field, and had been labourfor several years in Southern Africa. "The moment I saw your Bible this morning," he said, “I recognized it, and the examination of the writing, which is still legible on the blank leaf, assured me that I was not mistaken. And now, do you know who was my companion on the memorable sabbath you invited me to church? He was the notorious Jack Hill, who was hanged about a year afterwards for highway robbery. You can now see and appreciate the terrible fate from which I was rescued by the unfathomable love and boundless grace of God, through your own and your mother's instrumentality. I was dragged from the very brink of infamy and destruction, and plucked as a brand from the burning. You remember Dr. Beatty's text on the day of my salvation:"Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days." The proud, hardened, scoffing sinner, is found, after thirteen years, an humble minister of salvation to the benighted heathen; and your sainted mother is doubtless enjoying the reward of those who turn many to righteousness-shining as the stars for ever and ever.” Poetry. ON OBSERVING THE WORDS "REQUIESCAT IN PACE" INSCRIBED ON A TOMB-STONE. "HE rests in peace!" whence doth this hope arise? Or are these words but vanity and lies, Which falsely deck memorials of the dead? For what was he who sleeps beneath this stone, To endless bliss, or down to black despair? POETRY. Perhaps some one whose only god was pelf, Perhaps some proud one here beneath me lies, And flattery the place of truth supplies; 66 He rests in peace "-How false are all things here! Perhaps an unbeliever lies beneath, Whose conduct enmity to Christ displayed; "He rests in peace," is now his tombstone wreath, Which thus a monument of lies is made. Or here some worthless hypocrite may lie, That e'en the good suppose him goue to rest. True, here the body doth in quiet rest; Silent and senseless lies the mouldering clay; But where's the soul? Say, does it rest in peace? Is that of true felicity possessed, Or does it sink where hell's dark surges roll? In vain I ask-the letter'd stone no more But this we know if he a sinner lived, But if to Jesus he for refuge fled, From every trouble he has full release; Great God, implant thy grace within my breast; ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. Anecdotes, Selections, and Gems. 6 Anecdotes. 66 THE WHOLE BIBLE WANTED.-A Roman Catholic priest in Ireland sympathizing with the moral condition of his parish, contrived what could be done consistently with his own religious creed to overtake the population with some remedial measures, and it struck him that it would be well to print and circulate the Epistles of St. Peter, by themselves, in a separate tract; he did this, but they did not sell. He then thought he would add to the title "The Epistle of St. Peter, Head of the Church." Still, however, nobody bought them. At last it was suggested to his mind that if he placed between the title page and the epistles themselves a representation of St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, they would sell; he did this, and the whole edition was soon sold. One of the copies fell into the hands of a man, who having read it, went to the priest who had put them in circulation, and said, "I have not got all; are there not the epistles of some other fellows ?" "What makes you think there are," said the priest. "Because," replied the man, "I find it is written, as our beloved Paul hath said,' now where are the epistles of Paul ?" "It is even as you have said, "replied the priest. The man never rested until he had procured a copy of the New Testament. Having read it he went again to the priest: "Ah, I have not got it all yet," said he. Why not?" said the priest. "Because I read," says the man, as it is written in the book of Psalms —as it is written in the book of Hosea-as saith the prophet Jeremiah-as saith the prophet Isaiah"-and then, with all the characteristic ardour of an Irishman, pointed out to the priest the noble array of finger posts and landmarks in the New Testament pointing to the existence of the old books. Well," " said the priest, "you are right, there is another book, much larger than that which you have." Oh, let me have it," said the man, and he never rested till he possessed a perfect copy of the scriptures. Having then obtained light of both, the man went to his own priest and applied for absolution, which was refused him, because, among other reasons, he was a bible reader; however, he so urged his suit that the priest agreed to let him have absolution upon payment of a certain sum of money. The man then pulled out from under his coat the bible, and said to the priest, "I come to you for absolution; you say I must not have it because I am a bible reader; at last you agree to give me absolution if I pay you half-a-crown. I do not want your absolution," and opening the bible in the middle, as a person in his condition would naturally do, he read, (and it was fit that such a blessed passage should be found in the centre of the bible,) "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and 66 66 ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." And so "The men who keep thy word, Grow wiser than their teachers are, PRAYER ANSWERED.-A poor but pious man, being much reduced in circumstances, was wont to shut himself in his bed-room, and there in secret spread all his wants before his Heavenly Father. Many and gracious were the answers he received. On one occasion his little daughters were very much in want of clothing. He retired to his room, and there again, before his Heavenly Father who seeth in secret, he made known his wants and the necessities of his family. Scarcely had he closed his petitions, when a young friend called upon him, and stated, that she had brought him a trifling present of some yards of calico print, which she thought would make two frocks for his little girls. Thus was his prayer answered, and his anxiety removed. This circumstance may tend to encourage the hearts of the pious poor to "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." The unbelieving world may sneer, but this is a fact which occurred to the certain knowledge of the writer; in short the young friend who made the present is now the wife of the writer. Putney. D. J. A DYING CHRISTIAN.-David Brainerd, the American Missionary to the Indians, when near to death, said in reply, "I am almost in eternity; I long to be there. My work is done; I have done with all my friends; all the world is nothing to me; I long to be in heaven, praising and glorifying God with the holy angels: all my desire is to glorify God. Oh, my dear God, I am speedily coming to thee I hope! Hasten the day, Oh Lord, if it be thy blessed will: Oh come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." So may we die ! Selections. SIN AN EVIL AND A BITTER THING-ITS REMEDY.-Sin is a dreadful evil, it is in our nature, we are all the subjects of it: it has brought us into a wretched, ruined, lost condition. Rom. v. 12-21. It is the cause of all the afflictions, miseries, and woes, that the sons of men are called to pass through. Psalms xxxviii. 8-9. It brings us under the curse of God, and exposes us to condemnation. Isaiah ii. 11. The Lord prohibits, threatens, and will punish sin he is just and will vindicate his right, condemn the guilty, and punish the condemned sinner. Isaiah xxiv. 21. Jer. xxi. 14. The law requires obedience, justice condemns us for our disobedience, and death will usher us into the awful presence of our God. Gal. iii. 10. Heb. ix. 27. My fellow-sinner, have you ever seriously considered that You ARE a sinner? Rom. iii. 10. The consequences of living and dying in such a state? Rom. vi. 23. The |