DON'T READ TOO FAST. MANY readers of the Bible, who stumble over doctrinal difficulties, might be relieved by adhering to the simple advice of an untaught African preacher to a troubled inquirer. A respectable man, who had become interested on the subject of religion, and who had begun with some earnestness to search the Scriptures, had read but a few chapters, when he became greatly perplexed with some of those passages which an inspired Apostle declared to be "hard to be understood." In this state of mind he repaired to a coloured preacher for instruction and help, and found him, at noon, on a sultry day in summer, laboriously engaged in hoeing his corn. As the man approached, the preacher, with patriarchal simplicity, leaned upon his hoe, and listened to his story. "Uncle Jack," said he, "I have discovered lately that I am a great sinner; and I have commenced reading the Bible that I may learn what I must do to be saved. I have met with a passage here," holding up his Bible, "which I know not what to do with. It is this,' God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.' What does this mean?" But you get to that, at the very beginning of the Gospel, it is said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!' Now, have you done that? The truth is, you have read entirely too fast. You must begin again, and take things as God has been pleased to place them. When you have done all you are told to do in Matthew, come and talk about Romans.” Having thus answered, the old preacher resumed his work, and left the man to his own reflections. Who does not admire the simplicity and good sense which characterized this reply? Could the most learned polemic more effectually have met and disposed of such a difficulty? The gentleman particularly interested in this incident gave an account of it with his own lips, and said, "It convinced me most fully of the mistake into which I had fallen. I took the old man's advice; I soon saw its propriety and wisdom, and hope to bless God for ever for sending me to him." MY SABBATHS. I must be more particular in many things if I am to enjoy the advantages for which the Sabbath was intended. 1. I must not forget that there are as many hours in a Sabbath-day as in any other day. I must begin the day at the right time as well as in the right way. A short pause intervened, and the old African replied as follows: "Master, if I have been rightly informed, it has been but a day or two since you began to read the Bible; and, if I remember rightly, that passage you have mentioned is away yonder in Romans. Long before worshipper. 2. I must be punctual in attending upon the worship of the sanctuary. It is not only a day of rest, but of devotion. And when in the sanctuary, I must try to be a true 3. I must pray for a blessing upon the Sabbath and its privileges. I must ask that my own heart may be prepared for its duties. I must pray that the blessing of heaven may rest on my pastor, and that in the public assembly God's grace may descend as the dew upon the hearts of those who meet for his worship. 4. I must more entirely dismiss secular things, worldly thoughts, conversation, and employments. Politics and business must, with the plough and the axe, rest until the Sabbath is gone. I have sadly failed here, especially in my thoughts and conversation. 5. I must try to remember that the Sabbath is an earnest of the rest remaining for the people of God; that every one as it comes may be the last, and should be spent as if to be succeeded by the eternal Sabbath in heaven. missionary spirit. How his soul yearned over the perishing heathen appears from the following extract: "There is nothing in the world that lieth so heavy upon my heart as the thought of the miserable nations of the earth. It is the most astonishing part of all God's providence to me, that he so far forsaketh almost all the world, and confineth his special favour to so few; that so small a part of the world hath the profession of Christianity, in comparison of heathens, Mahometans, and other infidels; that among the professed Christians there are so few that are saved from gross delusions, and have any competent knowledge; and that among those, there are so few that are seriously religious, and who truly set their hearts on heaven. I cannot be affected so much with the calamities of my own relations, or the land of my nativity, as with the case of the 6. I must not forget that the heathen, Mahometan, and ignorant Sabbath well spent secures a bless-nations of the earth. No part of my prayers is so deeply serious as that for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world, that God's name may be sanctified, and his kingdom come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Nor was I ever before so sensible what a plague the division of language is, which hindereth our speaking to them for their conversion; nor what a great sin tyranny is, which keepeth out the Gospel from most of the nations of the world. Could we but go among Tartars, Turks, and heathen, and speak their language, I should be but little troubled for the silencing of eighteen hundred ministers at once in England, nor for all the rest ing upon the other means of grace. It greatly increases the spirit of prayer; it is sure to secure the profitable reading of the Scriptures; it makes us realize the sweetness and profit of the fellowship of the saints; and it makes us joyful in God's house. 7. I must carefully review my failures in regard to the Sabbath, and repent, mourning over my sins, and turning from them. THE TRUE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. RICHARD BAXTER, the author of the "Saints' Rest," had the true that were cast out here, and in Scotland and Ireland; there being no employment in the world so desirable in my eyes as to labour for the winning of such miserable souls; which maketh me greatly honour Mr. John Eliot, the Apostle of the Indians in New England, and whoever else have laboured in such work." THE BIBLE. rejoiced the tribes when the Nemean games had no existence; and it reckoned by sabbaths and jubilees when neither Olympiad nor lustrum divided the calendar. It embodies the prophetic wish of the Athenian sage; for it "scatters that darkness which covers our souls, and tells us how to distinguish good from evil." The valley of the Nile has now uncovered its hieroglyphics to confirm and illustrate its claims; and Nineveh, out of the wreck and rubbish of three thousand years, has at length yielded up its ruins to prove and glorify the Hebrew oracles.-Dr. Eadie. RECIPE FOR SPIRITUAL BотH bodily and spiritual health THIS book-a multifarious collection of oracles written in various ages and countries, and at intervals of two thousand years-having in it every form of composition, familiar and profound, songs and history, ethics and biography, scenes from the hearth and episodes from national annals-numbering, too, among its authors, him who wore a crown and him who threw a net, the Persian prime minister and Cæsar's fettered captive-written, too, sections of it, under the shadow of the Pyramids, and others on the banks of the Euphrates, some in the isle of Patmos and others in the Mamertine dungeons-this book, so lofty in its tone and harmonious in its counsels, has become the more venerable from its age, and the more wonderful as its history and results are examined and understood. Whence springs its originality if its claims are disallowed? It tells us of expeditions 2. You must pay attention to your prior to Jason and the Argonauts; diet. You must be careful about it describes martial adventures long your food. Bread and water are before Achilles and Troy; its ethi- sufficient-the bread of life and the cal system preceded Thales and waters of salvation. These satisfy Pythagoras; its muse was vocal and sanctify; they make healthy, before Orpheus and Hesiod; its and keep healthy. You must take judges flourished before consuls and sufficient. A little will keep you archons; its feasts and gatherings living, but much is necessary to 1. You must take exercise. You must walk daily in the vineyard of God's church. You must work in the vineyard of God's church. You must bathe in the fountain of redeeming blood. In a word, you must exercise all the graces of the Spirit. health. This food you must take regularly, for regularity is important. You cannot prosper and be in health unless you live upon Christ, and live upon him every day. fitable. Unless taken, and taken pretty freely, you will be laid up with idleness, carelessness, anxiety, pride, or selfishness. Your heavenly Father prepares this medicine; Divine providence presents it; you must take it, and expect benefit from it. 3. A little medicine is necessary; in some cases a good deal. This is made up of the bitter herbs of disappointments, losses, crosses, temptations, bereavements, troubles, and trials of various sorts. The medicine is very unpleasant, but very pro-trust the promises. 4. You must keep your mind free from anxious trouble. In order to this, you must live in peace with God, be content with your lot, and Biography. AN OLD WATERLOO HERO. DAVID MATTHIE, the subject of appeared in one of the local newspapers to the effect, that only one of the Waterloo veterans remained in the town of Liverpool. The name, however, of this veteran was incorrectly given. To correct this error, old David took pen in hand, and, in the following interesting letter to the Liverpool Courier, showed that his gifts were not confined to wielding the sword, but that he could wield the pen as well. He says: "As I am the only man now in Liverpool belonging to the 'Greys,' I presume the writer" (of the paragraph referred to) "intended his remarks to apply to me, although he gave me another name. Permit me, therefore, to correct some of his statements. I was born at Kilmarnock, in the year 1787, and entered the 'Greys' in 1804. We were stationed at Bristol, when we received orders to proceed to the conAbout two years ago a statement tinent, and embarked at Northfleet. "It was one o'clock on the morning of the 16th of June, when we were comfortably asleep in our quarters at a farmhouse in the neighbourhood of Brussels, that the bugle sounded to arms. All was now hurry and excitement, and in a very short time General Ponsonby's brigade was on its way to the scene of action; but, owing to the crowded state of the roads, it was eight o'clock at night before we arrived on the field, when we made our bivouac for the night. "At three o'clock in the morning the French came out of the wood, and opened their fire upon us; and now began a furious firing at the cavalry, who proceeded to answer the charge, but we were not required, as the Life-Gua ds had acted so well. In reaching the second eminence, and looking round, we could see the whole plain covered with French troops, as far as the eye could reach. Here, on the back of the eminence, we took up our position for the night. It was between these two ridges that the main battle was fought. During the day the thunder and lightning were fearful, and the rain very heavy. We now made a great fire, and, as food was scarce, a great scramble now began, and everything was seized that came to hand. The poor cattle on the farms were cut up before life was extinct. Our party secured a pig, and as we were not disposed to be very nice, we trusted to the fire to do the clean ing and the cooking both! But as we had only stunned the animal, he made his escape from the fire, and we had to give chase to bring him back to his fate! But, unfortunately for myself, I was the first to be called upon duty, and so missed my share. "It was my duty to guard the door of General Ponsonby in a farmhouse during the night. As parties of Prussian soldiers, on the search for food, came up, and as we did not always understand each other, we had to assume a menacing attitude, and roar out 'General,' to prevent their breaking in upon his privacy. About three o'clock in the morning the general opened his door, and asked for water to wash. I got some clay puddle from a ditch, and on apologizing for it being so dirty, he replied, "It will do very well, my good man; you had better make a fire and dry your clothes, or you will be lost with cold and hunger.' Having procured some wood, we made a fire and dried our clothes, and made the best breakfast we could. "The general now returned from reconnoitring, and we mounted. Around on every side the ground was strewed with men, half covered with mud; but no sooner did the French open their fire, than these started to their feet, ready for action. At nine o'clock every man was supplied with a small quantity of gin. "The French now began to advance. The Highlanders opened their ranks for the' Greys' to charge, and gave a hearty shout-'Scotland for ever!' We rushed through, and broke a strong column of French infantry, leaving the dead and dying in our path. We lost a great many of our men in returning from the charge, being attacked by the French lancers, and having, in many cases, |