fall into bad habits, but not so easy to leave them off, for to do so requires the exercise of a firm and vigorous mind, which all are not possessed of, and which intemperance impairs. A man's habits influence his actions, and consequently his lot and position in life; and bad ones cling like the "Old Man of the Sea," and happy is he who can shake them off when they have once taken hold. There is no occasion to live like a hermit, but be temperate in all your pleasures. There is a certain limit where enjoyment ceases; your own sense will point this line out. Nature, sooner or later, severely retaliates on all those who break her laws. It is not necessary to dwell on the importance of attending a place of worship on the Sabbath; if you have "received the truth as it is in Christ," you will unite with his people, and seek to promote his glory. His love will regulate your conduct and select your company. But if you have not yet exercised repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ," your attendance at a place of worship will be a weariness to you. Without Divine life you will neither be safe nor happy. Without God you can have no hope. 66 unfit you for the proper business of life. The injury you will sustain will reach you through acquaintance with those of a loose way of thinking and acting, whose habits you will insensibly imbibe. 66 "I trust everything, under God," says Lord Brougham, to habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver as well as the schoolmaster has mainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes everything easy, and casts all difficulties upon a deviation from a wonted course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful. Make prudence a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to the child, grown or adult, as the most atrocious crimes are to virtuous men. Give a child the habit of sacredly regarding truth, of carefully respecting the property of others, of scrupulously abstaining from all sorts of improvidence which involve him in distress, and he will be just as likely to think of rushing into an element in which he cannot breathe, as of lying, or cheating, or stealing." 66 These are the notions of a very great man-most wise in this world's wisdom-but they are very defective. Not a word have we of a new heart," of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, of the Spirit of grace, and his strengthening power; education, mere education, is to do it all! This is a great and fatal mistake. Avoid it, else you will be undone! "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to depart from evil, that is understanding." This is the foundation of character; habits based on that are of the utmost importance; but any other habits are only of secondary worth. A heart right fore, the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and all that is good will be " added to you." with God will lead to a holy walk and conversation. "Seek ye, there LIFE. The Fragment Basket. "Life," says the late John Foster "is expenditure. We have it, but are as continually losing it; we have the use of it, but are as continually wasting it. Suppose a man confined in some fortress, under the doom to stay there till death; and suppose there is there for his use a dark reservoir of water, to which it is certain none can ever be added. He knows, suppose, that the quantity is not very great; he cannot penetrate to ascertain how much, but it may be very little. He has drawn from it, by means of a fountain, a good while already, and draws from it every day. But how would he feel each time of drawing, and each time of thinking of it? Not as if he had a perennial spring to go to. Not I have a reservoir, I may be at ease.' No; but I had water yesterday, I have water to-day, but having had it, and my having it to-day, is the very cause that I shall not have it on some day that is approaching. And, at the same time, I am compelled to this fatal expenditure!' So of our mortal, transient life! And yet men are very indisposed to admit the plain truth, that life is a thing which they are in no other way possessing than as necessarily consuming; and that even in this imperfect sense of possession, it becomes every day a less possession!" DIVERSITY OF SENTIMENT. Many of our differences consist less in the articles of our faith and the rules of our discipline than in the position we assign them. Twenty persons may believe as many truths in common, but if each is exclusively constant, and fervent, and copious on any one of them, he will be as much distinguished by it as if he had abandoned all the rest. Yet there is no specific law which determines the exact proportionate prominence and importance of each particular Gospel doctrine. There is doubtless a proportion observed in the representations of evangelical truth contained in the New Testament, but it is difficult to ascertain it, and, perhaps, neither possible nor desirable to follow it. HOPE. all the ranges of your creation whose You will scarcely find a man in bosom bounds not at the mention of hope. What is hope but the solace and stay of those whom it most cheats and deludes-whispering of health to the sick man, and of better days to the dejected the fairy name at which young imaginations pour forth all the poetry of their souls, and whose syllables float like aerial music into the ear of frozen and paralyzed old age? In the long catalogue of human griefs, there is scarce one of so crushing a pressure that hope loses its elasticity, becomfresh and fair leaves from some far ing unable to soar and bring down off domain which itself creates. STATED SEASONS FOR PRAYER. Stated seasons, returning at regular periods, are peculiarly necessary to preserve this duty in its full vigour. He who prays at such seasons will always remember the duty; will form his schemes of life, so as to provide the proper place for performing it; will be reproached by his conscience for neglecting it; will keep alive the spirit of prayer from one season to another, so as to render the practice delightful; and BROTHER, is life's morning clouded? Brother, has life's hope receded? Foes rejoicing at thy pain? Cheer up, brother! there's a blessing Brother, all things round are calling Yes, my brother, though life's troubles He, from his high throne in heaven, And though darkest tempests lower, Brother, there's a quiet slumber Wait thou till life's quiet even Closes round thee, calm and clear, And till call'd from earth to heaven, "Trust in God, and persevere." THE MOONLESS NIGHT. ONE moonless night The stars shone bright, I ask'd for what intent: To fancy's ear Three voices clear Startle the firmament. The first began, "We counsel man, When he of aught would boast, To lift his eyes, And view the skies, Their extent, and their host." The second said, Might hush all strife, Be spent in peace and love." The last replied, "To cheer and guide Is ours, as well as teach; Let mortals go And likewise do The good within their reach." The voices ceased; And I, at least, Was thankful for their light, Whate'er be thought Of lessons taught By stars that moonless night. Cannock. D. G. The Children's Gallery. I GOT A-GOING AND COULDN'T STOP. A little boy, named Frank, was "Sir," said Frank, and started full speed and ran into the street. His father called him back, and asked him if he did not hear his first call. "Yes, sir," answered Frank. "Well, then," said his father, "what made you run out into the street?" "Oh," said Frank, "I got a-going and couldn't stop." This is the way that a great many boys get into difficulty; they get agoing and can't stop. The boy that tells lies began first to stretch the truth a little-to tell a large story, or to relate an anecdote with a very little variation, till he got a-going and couldn't stop; till he came out a full-grown liar. The boy that was brought before the police, and sent to the House of Correction for stealing, began by taking little things from his mother, by stealing sweetmeats and other nice things that were put away. Next he began to take things from his companions at school. He got a-going and could not stop till he got into gaol. Those two boys that you see fighting out on the green began by ban tering each other in fun. At length they began to get angry, and dispute, and call each other hard names, till they got a-going and couldn't stop. They will separate with black eyes and bloody noses. There is a young man sitting late with his companions at the gamingtable. He has flushed cheeks, an anxious look, a despairing countenance. He has lost his last shilling. He began playing marbles in the street, but he got a-going and couldn't stop. See that young man with a dark lantern, stealing from his master's drawer. He is a merchant's clerk. He came from the country a pro mising boy; but the rest of the clerks went to the theatre, and he thought he must go too. He began, thinking he would go only once, just to have it to say that he had been to the theatre. But he got a-going and could not stop. He has used up all his wages, and wants more money. He cannot resist the temptation when he knows there is money in the drawer. He has got a-going; he will stop in the prison. Hark! do you hear that horrid oath? It comes from the foul mouth of a little boy in the street. He began by saying bye-words, but he got a-going and couldn't stop. Fifty young men were, some years ago, in the habit of meeting together in a room at a public house, to enjoy themselves in social hilarity, where the wine-cup passed freely round. One of them, as he was going there one evening, began to think there might be danger in the way. He stopped and considered a moment, and then said to himself, "Right about face!" He turned on his heel, and went back to his room, and was never seen at the public house again. He has become rich; and the first block of buildings which he erected was built directly in front of the place where he stood when he made that exclamation. Six of the young men followed his example. The remaining forty-three got agoing and couldn't stop, till they landed in the ditch, and most of them in the drunkard's grave. Beware, then, boys, how you get a-going. Be sure, before you start, that you are in the right way; for when you are sliding down hill it is hard to stop. TIME MISSPENT. Every hour comes to us charged with some duty, and the moment it is past, returns to heaven to register itself how spent. My hours, how trifled, sauntered, sinned away!Adam. The Cabinet. THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST A MOTIVE TO HOLINESS OF LIFE. In order to understand the important subject before us, we must endeavour to form a clear, scriptural view of the great doctrine of atonement itself. The atonement by the death of Christ is an essential article in the plan of redemption revealed in the word of God. This doctrine forms at once the foundation and corner-stone of the noble temple of Christianity, and the grand peculiarity of the Christian system. Do away with this doctrine, and the New Testament is a jumble of unmeaning sentencesyou cannot understand anything regarding the ways and moral character of God, nor of the condition and duties of man as a sinner. To comprehend the nature of the atonement of Christ, it is necessary that we should have distinct views of the nature of sin, and the character in which Jehovah demands and accepts of substitution. Sin is the transgression of a law, which, in order to be supported and rendered efficient, must be strictly regarded in its penalties; and Jehovah, in demanding an atonement, acts not as an absolute sovereign, but as a just governor, directed not by sovereign will, but by the laws of the constitution. Had sin been no other than an insult to God as the absolute Lord of the universe, as far as we can judge, he might pardon sin without an atonement. But sin, being a transgression of law, its penalties must be inflicted, or the law itself destroyed. The law which man transgressed is the moral law; to pardon sin, therefore, would destroy the law, and nothing but confusion and ruin would reign triumphant all over the universe. But, that God might be just and the Justifier of the guilty at the same time, Christ gave himself voluntarily an atoning sacrifice for sin. "He suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust," and thus "redeemed us from the curse of the law," and "the righteousness of the law was fulfilled in us." Therefor, it is our duty, as well as our privilege, to "live henceforth, not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us, and rose again," and "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." VOL. XI. |