four years been entirely deprived of the sequent visits, (for I am not ashamed to say, that often, for my own benefit, have I been to the cottage of this afflicted man,) I generally found him with his Bible on his knees, and uniformly witnessed like resignation flowing from the blessing of God upon the constant perusal of his holy word. He died with a hope full of immortality,' and is now gone to the rest which remaineth for the people of God.' And gladly would I sink into the obscurity of the same cottage; gladly even would I languish in the same chair, could I but enjoy the same uninterrupted communion with God, be always filled with the same 'strong consolation,' and always behold, with equally vivid perception, sparkling before me the same celestial crown." A FULL CUP STEADILY BORNE.-— Piety of Queen Esther.- A very trivial elevation is fatal to the piety of many; but the piety of Esther can bear to be raised from captivity to a throne, and is still as ardent as before. O, piety! what art thou? I see thee sweetening the toils and soothing the sorrows of yonder cottager. I see thee throwing an unearthly radiance around the palace of Shushan. Was ever the voice of supplication and prayer heard within its walls till Esther was there? Does Ahasuerus know that his lovely queen prays to God, and prays for him; and that though denied his company, she moves a Power that moves his inmost soul? Exclude her from his society he may; walls of adamant may intervene but Esther can still reach him, for she has power with God. How interesting the scene! Queen Esther and her maids fast and pray; they enjoy fellowship with faithful, everlasting love. I wonder not, Esther, that you secure a favourable reception; a prayer, less fervent, moved the foundation of a prison, and threw open its doors; yea, arrested the sun in his course, to help the people, the chosen of God. "If I perish, I perish!" says the patriotic queen. No! Were you to perish, a thrill of joy would pass through the caverns of death; were you to perish, the songs of heaven would cease, and a "This and much more did I hear happy universe would be clothed in during my first visit; and in my sub-sackcloth.-Smith's Sac. Biog. (2d edit.) BETTER MOMENTS. Poetry. My mother's voice! how even creeps Her gentle tone comes stealing by- Of beauty on the whispering sea, Give aye to me some lineament Of what I have been taught to be. My manliness hath drunk up tears; Beneath a moonlight sky of spring, And waters leaping to the light, When all was beauty, then have I, Like myrrh on wings of Araby, In the gray east; when birds were waking With a low murmur in the trees, Upon the whisper of the breeze, And when the sun sprang gloriously Were catching upon wave and tree The arrows from his subtle quiver I say a voice has thrill'd me then, Heard on the still and rushing light, Or, creeping from the silent glen, Hath stricken me, and I have press'd Have felt my mother's spirit rush And, yielding to the blessed gush Have risen up-the gay, the wild- N. P. WILLIS. EVENING-TIME. AT evening-time let there be light; Gazed up where evening's lamp is At evening-time let there be light! hung; And when the beauteous spirit there I have been on the dewy hills At evening-time let there be light; Oh, for one sweet, one parting ray, At evening-time there shall be light; When night was stealing from the His glory now is risen on me! dawn, And mist was on the waking rills, And teints were delicately drawn Mine eyes shall his salvation see; 66 The Children's Gallery. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PERIOD OF YOUTH. THERE is one thing in regard to the influence of the young upon the church of God which demands special attention. We live in no common times. Coming events," it is said, "cast their shadows before them ;" and he is blind, indeed, who does not see that thick shadows are at present stealing over us. The events will come by and by. Great changes are obviously approaching. There is hardly one religious body which is not more or less in a state of agitation. I refer not to one, or to two, or to three of these bodies, but to the general church of Christ. It seems as if there were sifting times coming as if Christ had taken his fan into his hand, and was about to purge his floor. All the churches may expect to be sifted, and in all there will be found something wrong. Alas! for the religious body which pretends to plume itself upon its spotless purity. For in every religious body, when tried by the unerring standard of the word of God, there will be found, doubtless, something wanting. Changes of different kinds are approaching. The old are about to retire, the young are starting forward, and upon them a weighty responsibility is devolved. You, we doubt not, will have a battle to fight. We live in troublous times; the conflict between what is truly Christian and what is Antichristian, between light and darkness, truth and error, is rapidly thickening, and if you are spared many years, you will need strong faith and zeal. You will need to add to your faith, fortitude-you will need to be not merely plants, but vigorous trees. Your zeal for the truth will need to be ardent and persevering, like that of a Timothy and Paul. And what an honour would it be if, when your youthful locks shall have become gray with age, it could, at least in some measure, be said of some of you, that, when set for the defence of the gospel, you were "such an one as Paul the aged." Let not this discourage you. Be pre pared for whatever may come. Recollect that it is not those who shall live in the period of the millennial glory, when "the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea," who shall have the highest places in the kingdom of heaven. Those who shall be on the right hand-nearest to the throne-will be those who have drunk most deeply of the Saviour's cup of sorrow and affliction, and have been baptized with his baptism of tribulation, Matt. xx. 20, 23. Ah, we almost envy those who will live when “the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth!" But why do we envy them? I repeat that the highest places in the kingdom are not theirs. The highest places are reserved for those who have come out of great tribulation, borne for the sake of the truth of God. Theirs are to be the brightest palms, the most brilliant crowns. Much is said, and may well be said, of the blessedness of those who shall live in the latter days of the church, when the gospel shall be long and successfully preached throughout the whole world. But a sublime distinction is conferred on those who are honoured to endure hardness as good soldiers in that glorious war with the empire of darkness and of error which is to usher in the reign of light and righteousness. On them will come the blessing of the "many generations" of that period during which the kingdoms of this world shall be "the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” The veterans in the army of the living God are falling, be it yours to catch the standard which they have borne. The final triumph is certain. Shrink not from the perils of the conflict which must precede it. And may you receive the plaudits of your final Judge, and the crown which he hath promised to the conqueror ! How different this crown from the corruptible crown of the earthly warrior! "His glory shall not descend after him." DR. DAVID RUSSELL. AN EXAMPLE FOR YOUNG MEN. rather to sleep with his fathers, who JACOB AND JOSEPH MEETING IN EGYPT. On the approach of Jacob, Joseph makes ready his chariot and hastens to meet him; and what a meeting! Years have not dried up nor abated the affections of a father; nor the sufferings of a dungeon, nor the honours of a palace, the fections of the son. "Joseph fell on his father's neck, and wept on his neck a good while." And Israel said, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face." Witness this touching scene, ye sons and daughters who despise a father or mother because you happen to move in a higher sphere than they. Joseph, the lord of Egypt, who binds the princes at his pleasure, and who teaches senators wisdom, thinks it no disparagement to acknowledge the shepherd from Canaan as his father and his friend. Though lord of Egypt, Joseph would rather be the son of Jacob, the shepherd, than the son of Phuraoh the king. As son of the latter, he would have been born to title, and rank, and honour; but, as son of the former, he is heir with him of the blessings of the everlasting covenantblessings, in comparison with which all the glory of Egypt dwindles into insignificance. Joseph settles his father in the fattest of the land, and cherishes him with the richest dainties that Egypt can afford. Time would fail to speak of his conduct at his father's death; of his kindness to his brethren after that event; and of the varied changes he passed through during the eighty years he lived after he was made lord of Egypt. That lengthened period of prosperity never withdrew his affections from his father's house and people. He seeks not a resting-place for his bones in the magnificent mausoleums of the kings of Egypt; he seeks a grave among his father's people and in his father's land, Gen. 1. 24, 25. Anticipating the morning of the resurrection, he has no wish to be with kings, and rich men, and chief captains: knowing that many of them would have to seek a shelter from rocks and mountains at that event. He wishes would then arise and sing.-Smith's Sac. Biog. (2nd edit.) BOYS! HAVE YOUR EYES WALKING one day alone on the pier of the Royal Harbour, Ramsgate, my at tention was arrested by some masonry works of great strength, very complicated, and beautifully finished, so far as they were complete. At a distance were many blocks of granite stones of various dimensions and shapes, rough from the quarry of nature, and intended for the building: with great judgment some were selected, naturally possessing, either in size, form, or other peculiarities, an adaptation for more prominent parts; while all the stones required preparation, by the instrumentality of mallet and chisel, for their particular place in the fabric, being unfit in their original rude state. On the rough stones thus chosen for use the appropriate tools were employed by the skilful hand of the workmen to form them to a model supplied by the architect, whose intelligence enabled him to foresee the precise figure and dimensions which were necessary for their ultimate station. At length, after the lapse of much time, varied positions, and a cutting process, the stones (almost imperceptibly) assumed the likeness of the pattern, and were removed when required, one by one, and each occupied the precise niche in the structure which the master-builder designed it to fill; and so the building advanced. And there is an edifice fitly framed together now growing unto an holy temple, the foundation of which is Christ the Lord of glory. Believers were rude stones, low in the quarry of nature, devoid of moral beauty, uncomely, altogether unfit for the spìritual building eternal in the heavens; but the Divine Architect has raised them from their grovelling condition, appointed them an appropriate place in the noble structure above, prepared them for it by adapting the discipline of his providence to their temperament and character, and thus, by skill divine, the Spirit marvellously produces the great result, likeness to Him who is the perfection of every excellence, and at the appointed time the soul is borne away as a polished stone, to raise and beautify that spiritual living temple above, the topstone of which shall be brought forth with shoutings of "Grace, T. T. S. grace unto it. LESSONS OF THE STARS. BY JOSEPH ALDEN, D.D. ANNETTA FRANKLIN had a fine perception of the beauties of nature. She was a great lover of flowers, and took great pains in their cultivation. The forest and mountain scenery which surrounded the place of her nativity delighted her. A thousand sources of enjoyment were open to her which are closed to those who have not an eye for the beautiful in God's handywork. She was a Christian, and always turned from a contemplation of the beauties and sublimity of nature to their great Author, and, in view of their glories, could exclaim with Milton, Thyself how glorious !" and in view of an humble consciousness of the love of holiness in her heart, she could exclaim with Cowper, "My Father made them all!" Alas that so few of the young should follow her example! Of all the works of her Father, she thought the stars were the most beautiful. It might be said with some degree of truth, that she admired all the other works of God, while she loved the stars. They were to her the gems of the material universe. Often at eventide in summer she would sit in the midst of the garden and watch them as they came out, one by one, counting them till the increasing darkness of the sky caused them to appear so rapidly as to put all attempts at counting at defiance. Sometimes in mid-winter she would wrap herself up warmly, and go out and gaze for a long time on those bright stars. It was not the mere gratification of the sight that she sought: this will appear in the sequel. One evening-it was a calm summer evening-there was no moon-the sky was cloudless, and the stars shone with unusual brilliancy-there was now and then a little breath of air stirring, just enough to show that nature was alive. Annetta had stolen unobserved from the parlour, and had seated herself in the garden, and was watching her old friends, as she used sportively to call them. A cousin who was visiting in the family came in search of her, as she said, though she very well knew where to find her. "Annetta," said her cousin Elizabeth, "what do you see in the stars that makes you look at them so much? I have heard of persons being moon-struck-you must be star-struck, I think." is there?" said Annetta, making room for Elizabeth to sit by her side. "There is no harm in looking at them, "No, if we don't waste too much time upon them." Elizabeth had been taught that all time was wasted that did not in some way contribute to pecuniary profit. She had been taught this, but she did not fully receive the doctrine, though it had its influence on her mind. "I do not think," replied Annetta, "that the time is wasted which is spent in admiring and reflecting on the works of What more beauour heavenly Father. tiful objects than the stars has he given us to admire ?" "They are beautiful to be sure, but one has seen them hundreds of times." "You have seen your mother and sister hundreds of times, yet you love to see them, don't you?" "There is some difference between my mother and sister and a star." "I know there is; and yet there is, or should be, a likeness too. The most pure and glorious created beings are compared in the Bible to stars. The righteous shall shine as the stars in the firmament.' The glorious Redeemer is called bright and morning star.' We ought to be like the stars, and I think that contemplating them is a means of becoming so." the "We ought to be like the stars!-what an idea! How can we be like the stars?" "Well, perhaps the language I used is not very accurate; I will express myself differently. The stars teach us many lessons which it will be wise for us to learn." "I should like to know what. Let me hear one of the stars' lessons." "Their steady, constant radiance reminds me that I should always be cheerful-that I should always meet my fellowcreatures with a pleasant countenance. Sometimes I feel gloomy and depressed; then when I look up and see the stars shining brightly, cheerful, as it were, I feel that to be in harmony with God's universe I must be cheerful too. You say I am always cheerful. It is owing in part to the stars, or rather to the Maker of the stars," added she in a lower and reverential voice. "You mentioned only a part of the lesson," said Elizabeth; "The stars don't shine all the time-the clouds often obscure them; so we ought not to be cheerful all the time-there now." |