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THE BROKEN FINGER-POST.

be tempted to turn aside from the path of duty, God does often so mercifully hedge up some of our ways with thorns, and so instruct us by the directions of his holy word, that if we will but give heed to it, there is a plain warning given of the road we are not to go. This is an unspeakable mercy; let us in all cases turn promptly from the forbidden path, and leave the rest to Him. If we sincerely look to Him, in a child-like spirit, we are sure to obtain the direction he has promised to bestow. He will bring even "the blind by a way that they knew not,” and "lead them in paths that they have not known.” He will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight." "Trust," then, "in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths," Isa. xlii. 16; Prov. iii. 5, 6.

THE TIMES.

THE times! the times! We are always talking about them; but though we moralize much, I fear we mend but little. It seems to be a kind of privilege, charter, and birthright among aged people to

praise the past times, and deplore the present; the shadowy future is not so frequently the subject of

conversation.

But truly the changes are great that take place from the season of youth to that of grey hairs. In my day, the pulling down of old houses, and the 'building up of new ones; the deaths of old men, and the coming into notice of young men; the, alterations in the customs and fashions that once prevailed, and the changes in the opinions of mankind, have so altered the world, that it is indeed other than it was.

We used to take matters quietly, and move about more at our ease; but now, bustle is the order of the day in all things: whatever we do must be done by steam. Wherever we go, we must go by railroad, and there never was half the ballooning going forward as there is at the present time. Every one once thought that Chimborazo was the highest mountain in South America, and Dhawaligira the loftiest in the world; but now it is found out that Sarato lifts up his head above Chimborazo, and that Chamoulari looks down on Dhawaligira.

But while times, and manners, and customs, and opinions are thus changing, we aged people should be aware that we are changing too. My limbs used to be more active than they are; and my brow was once free from wrinkles. Whether I regard it or not, these grey hairs tell a tale to which I ought to listen. Have the years through which I have

passed been many? the fewer, then, are those that remain to me, and the stronger the reason for my thinking less of seasons gone by, and more of those that are to come. Let me then, amid the alterations of the times, and the sundry and manifold changes of the world, look to Him who changes not, and fix my heart where true joys are alone to be found.

EDMUND HAWKER.

I HARDLY thought, at one time, that Edmund Hawker would outrun Old Humphrey; but it is even so, and he has got clear of the wilderness before me. I know that Edmund was a man of sorrows; but I know too, that every sorrow was weighed out to him, even to the scruple, and that the hand of Him whose name is Love held up the balances.

People say that he was poor, and so he was in this world's wealth, and thank God for it; for if poverty heaped upon him many cares, it kept him back from many snares: but, after all, Edmund was a rich man; and I will tell you in what his riches consisted-in his gains and his losses; ay! in his losses, as well as his gains.

Time was, when Edmund was hale and strong, when he had worldly friends, and money in the bank; but his riches made themselves wings, and fled away; his worldly friends forsook him, and sickness pulled down his strength, and made him weak as childhood.

It was a sad loss, you will say, to lose his money! Ay! but it was a gain to Edmund; for it taught him, or rather God taught him by it, not to "trust in uncertain riches," but to lay up for himself"treasure in heaven." Edmund was taught to believe that "Godliness with contentment is great gain ;" and that "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith," 1 Tim. vi. 6; Prov. xv. 16.

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man, He found that

Many pitied him when his worldly friends fell away, and said, "This is worse than ever;" but it was the means of teaching him to cease from whose breath is in his nostrils." "confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint;" and his heart was turned to that Friend "that sticketh closer than a brother."

cried

When sickness came upon Edmund, many out, "It's all over with him now;" but instead of that, it was the best thing that ever befell him. Before he was afflicted, he went astray, but afterwards he took heed to the word of the Lord; so that his poverty made him really rich, and his weakness made him truly strong.

Can he be called a poor man who has a friend in Him to whom belong the silver and the gold, and the cattle upon a thousand hills? Can he be poor who has God's presence and God's grace here, and the promise of beholding God's glory hereafter? No! no! Edmund was a rich man; he lived rich, he died rich rich in contentment, rich in thankfulness, rich in hope, rich in faith, rich in peace, and rich in rejoicing in Christ Jesus.

Edmund Hawker had his troubles, but they were all sanctified; he was purified in the furnace of affliction; he was tried in the fire, but he came forth as gold. His last days were his best days; for he was taught so to number them as to apply his heart unto wisdom.

Turn over the leaves of Edmund Hawker's Bible, and you will see that it has been read by a Godfearing man: the marks left there will tell you that he heeded God's reproofs, and highly valued God's precious promises in Christ Jesus: these were, indeed, as oil to his joints, and marrow to his bones.

And will you still tell me that Edmund Hawker was poor? Who then is rich? Life is " a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." The world is fading, and the goodliness thereof, with all its riches, will be known no more: then will it be found that heavenly treasure is the only treasure worth possessing.

"That true riches are they which will not pass away, And true wisdom the fear of the Lord."