and above all by prayer to God, that he will vouchsafe his protection to our beloved Church, guarding it from violence without, and from treachery and supineness within!

THE FAMILY REVIVAL.

(Continued from page 24.)

L. N.

A

How altered is the family prayer! No heartless formality now. It comes from stricken hearts. father's and a mother's tenderest sympathies are touched, and an avenue is opened into their bosoms, through which the good Shepherd can communicate the richest of his spiritual blessings.

Morning and evening the word of truth is read, and regarded with far different feelings. It is seen and felt to be the bread of life to their souls, as well as to the sick sufferer's, whose days are apparently numbered. The parents think their child must die. They know, that if unrenewed, the soul must be lost! They cry to God. Faithfully now, if never before, they warn the child they love, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and in no other name can one hope for salvation. The truth reaches the heart, with an emphasis never felt before. And the reason is, it comes from the heart. A father's and a mother's bosom bleed at the withering prospect of giving back thus to its Maker, the immortal spirit, which had been entrusted to their care, with this injunction: "Take this, and train it up for me." They have not done it. Parental affection is almost agonized at the recollection of past neglect, and the dreadful anticipation of the grave, over which they must ever weep with hopeless grief.

But God in tender mercy hears the cry of his chosen. God is a Father, and he pities a parent. He averts the dreadful stroke. He spares the child. And the hearts of Christian parents are melted and subdued by gratitude. If any thing can reach them, this will.

But, what is the effect of such a visitation upon the household, who receive it? Religion resumes the place in that habitation, from which she was removed. Enter the dwelling,-you cannot fail to see her there. She is conspicuous from morning to night. If business calls it does not call away from her. Her light is in the path. Her shield protects, and her smiles cheer and bless. In that family now, she in reality presides. At the altar, her mantle falls on every sincere worshipper. The blessing invoked at the table, is not an unmeaning formality. The words that are uttered, are felt in the heart. At the fireside her presence is acknowledged; and if the stranger enters their gates, he finds that Israel's God is there. In short, the spirit of religion in that family, is revived. The sick one slowly recovers; and were it not for the uncertainty of a sick-bed repentance, there would be hope, that the sufferer had found, in the sickness of body, the life of the soul. Others in the household, brothers, sisters or domestics, have sympathized in the sorrow, have seen religion restored to her throne in the heart, have listened to the counsel which now has been given them, and have profited by the prayers offered up in their behalf.

They have repented, and embraced the Saviour; and it might be literally said of the fruits of this affliction, as of the restoration of Dorcas, "many believed in the Lord."

Now this is, strictly speaking, a family revival of religion. And such is the kind of revival that we most need.

The arrangement of Providence which divides the many millions of the human race into the various family circles, which go to make up the great aggregate of human society, furnishes the clue, to the most powerful causes, which can be brought to bear upon the moral and social improvement of man.

Here, we apprehend, is the basis, on which the universal spread of the gospel must be laid. It is to carry home to the fireside, to the social and endearing influences of domestic life, a more constant, uniform and affectionate interest in the salvation of every individual embraced in the family circle. Let us begin at home.

Suppose every Christian in the world should engage heartily in duty, with the impression that the little circle with which he is associated in daily intercourse, constitutes the appropriate part of the vineyard for his culture. As he cannot by any possible means, reach the thousands and the millions who are removed beyond the sphere of his personal influence, let him remember that God designs him more especially to labour for those whom he can reach. In this way, every portion of the soil will have its cultivators, and no part of the vineyard be neglected. But when it seems to the Christian that he can act for God, any where but at home, when his Christian neighbour feels so too, and all the church with which he is connected, sympathize in the almost universal reluctance, to act immediately for the friends among whom God has placed them, the whole ground is more or less neglected. Each looks away from his own, while it is utterly impossible that he can properly attend, and do justice, to another's.

It is probable, there is scarcely a Christian family in the land, that does not embrace some two, three, or half a dozen who are living in impenitence and sin. Were they, the especial objects of the prayers, the efforts, and the Christian counsels of those with whom their lot is cast, how would it tell upon the increase of the churches, throughout our country. Parents, children and domestics would come under the tender and constant influence of Christian intercourse, made more intimate and impressive from those endearing sensibilities with which social life invests it.

SCRIPTURE STUDIES.

No. 5.-THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE.

OUR Lord will return.

(Acts i. 11; iii. 19, 20, 21; Heb. x. 37; Rev. xxii. 12. 20; Zech. xiv. 3, 4; Phil. iii. 20; 1 Thess. ii. 19.)

Suddenly, and in glory.

(Matt. xxiv. 30. 44; (parallel passage in Mark xiii. 26; Luke xxi. 25-28;) 1 Thess. v. 2, 3; Mark viii. 38.)

Not unexpectedly to His people.

(1 Thess. v. 4; Isa. xxv. 9; 1 Thess. i. 10; 2 Pet. iii. 12; Luke xii. 36.)

While the larger propotion of the world is unconverted.

(Matt. xxiv. 37-39; Luke xvii. 28-30; Luke xviii. 8.)

To establish His kingdom on earth, and to punish His enemies.

(Ps. ii. 8; lxxii; xcviii; Isa. xxiv. 23; Zech. xiv. 9; Dan. vii. 13, 14. 27; Rev. xi. 15; Micah iv. 7; Isa. xi. 9; 2 Thess. i. 7-10; ii. 8; Jude

14, 15; Rev. xix. compared with Isa. lxiii. 1-6.) His people will reign with Him, those who have died in the Lord, rising, and the living being changed.

(1 Cor. xv. 23. 51; 1 Thess. iv. 14-17; Rev. v. 10; 2 Tim. ii. 12; Luke xxii. 29, 30; Rev. xx. 1-6.)

Waiting for Christ's second coming, the commanded attitude of the Church.

Mark xiii. 33-37; Luke xii. 35, 36. 40; xxi. 34-36; 1 Thess. i. 10; 2 Thess. iii. 5; Phil. iii. 20; 2 Peter iii. 11, 12.)

It is also the attitude of the saints in Paradise. (Rev. vi. 10, 11.)

And the chief motive set forth in Scripture for sanctification.

(Rom. xiii. 11, 12; 1 Cor. i. 7, 8 ; Phil. i. 10; Col. iii. 4, 5; 1 Thess. iii. 13; v. 23;

v. 4, 5, 6. 8; 2 Thess. ii. 1; 1 Tim. vi. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 1. 8; Titus ii. 11, 12, 13; 2 Peter iii. 10, 11. 14; 1 John ii. 28; iii. 2, 3; Matt. xxv. 13; Rev. xxii. 12.)

66

He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly;""-and teaches His church to respond-" Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. xxii. 20.)

THE VICTIM.

RUHAMAH.

From "The present state and claims of London." "SEE yonder female, pacing with slow and significant step, the public street! She was once innocent of any breach of public morality, but she yielded to the fascination and villainy of a man on whose word she' relied, but whose heart was as base as his word was false. Infatuated with his society she left her home, and begun a dishonourable career. The heart