deserted dwellings, which, at first sight, hold out no great promise of plunder. But the ambuscade is not complete. The spider seems to be well aware that its grim visage, if not concealed, would scare away the game for which it lies in wait; it therefore constructs a small silken apartment under the net, where it takes its station, unseen and unsuspected." Reader! how do you think I am about to illustrate the spider and his web? The spider I liken to one of the greatest enemies of man; I say one of the greatest, because our own heart, the Bible informs us, "is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;" and then asks the question, "Who can know it?" The devil is the enemy of man, as the spider is to the fly. This arch-deceiver has several names given him in Scripture, and the first is the father of lies. It was by a lie and a fraud that he got our first parents, Adam and Eve, into his net. He entraps men, is always lying in ambush for the unwary, and do you ask how? He has many ways; his nets are in the highways and byways of our streets and lanes, of our cities and villages, in all shops, and in every dwelling of others, too numerous to name here, Satan's net is spread. Do you ask again, How is it laid? I will try and show. You have occasion to go to the public-house if you want a little beer; these places are most expensively fitted up, especially the gin palaces, to attract you, and different kinds of amusements to entice you to drink, such as concert and dancing-rooms. You sit down, perhaps, with the intention of only taking just a pint of beer or a glass of spirits and water, but you are carried away by what you see or hear, you call for another glass, and glass succeeds glass. You remain until a late hour; when you get into the fresh air you find yourself very unsteady, perhaps unable to take care of yourself. You are now in Satan's net; the police find you lying in the gutter, perhaps, or quarrelling with the passers by, and lock you up. In the morning you are brought before the magistrate; he sends you for a month to the house of correction, but instead of being a corrective, you are very likely, upon your dismissal, to be a much worse member of society than before, for the associates you meet with in prisons are not likely to benefit you in any way. You return to your old employer, and seek I wish to show some of the to be taken on again; may be, he has leading temptations of the present been obliged to fill your place, as his day, whereby men, women, and work could not stand still, or he children fall into his snares every may not be disposed to give another day and hour, namely, all places of trial, having warned you many times public resort, gin-shops, public- before to no purpose. You cannot houses, penny concert-rooms, gam- find work, although you may seek it bling-houses, billiard-rooms, horse diligently. Time will now hang races; and in our dealings one very heavily on your hands; Satan with another, in all these, and many will soon pursue you; you will man. begin to grow listless and careless, and lose the little self-respect you had. You will begin to spend much more time at the beer-shop. Satan will be most active now; very probably you will become a confirmed drunkard, and drunkenness leads to every other vice. You will soon commit some act of violence, or other depredations, against the law, for which you may be sent to the hulks, to work in chains, or be transported for your life, should it not prove worse, by having the heaviest penalty of the law passed upon you. By this time you will have lost all care for yourself; your family is not only ruined, but disgraced, and what will become of them? Satan, like the spider in his lurking den, has kept his eye on you, and so fixed you, that you cannot extricate your self. What will you do? You are dead while you live in trespasses and sins against your God. You can no more relieve yourself out of the power of your enemy than the fly. If you feel your lost state, you will call lustily for help; but man cannot aid you. One fly cannot help another out of the spider's web, it would get entangled itself. Satan is stronger than men ; he leads all captive at his will. What can you do? Repent! that cannot save alone. Will you add many prayers? that is very needful, but will not atone. Oh! where can you look for help? you are in a desperate state, for you are lost for ever except you can find a deliverer. Dear reader! should you be leading an irregular life, careless about your soul, stop and consider. There is One, and only one, who can save you. Are you really anxious for deliverance from sin, and know not how to get pardon and peace? Are you seeking salvation? Then there is One willing and mighty to save; his name is Jesus, which means, Saviour. He is looking upon you in love; yes, he loves you, but hates your sins. He is waiting for you to call upon him for help. He says to you, "Look unto me, and be ye saved." He came 66 to seek and to save them that are lost." He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." "By me, if any man enter in, he shall find rest for his soul." "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." These are the words and promises of Jesus, God's dear Son; go to him, then, by faith, in prayer, and you may be sure to get much more than you deserve or can conceive. His promise is rest, pardon, and peace now, and grace to help in every time of need. Come to Jesus, and he will teach you by his Holy Spirit, that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son eleanseth from all sin." J. TURNER. The Counsel Chamber. AIM HIGH. A very superficial survey of the men who have best succeeded in every department of commerce will show us that they are those who set out with a well-defined object, and a clear, intelligible plan for accomplishing it. An objectless man is an idle man. Every step he takes in life is the result of a force independent of himself. He knows not nor does he care anything about the dynamics of commerce. Trade may improve or decay, it is nothing to him. His life like the life of a horse at a mill, one constant round. The slightest change in his movements is an era in his life not to be forgotten. Not so is the well-informed mind, who sees the connection between industry and prosperity; who makes himself acquainted with the habits of men, that he may meet their tastes, and thus secure his own prosperity. It is well known, that while he is thus labouring, he may, yea does, make mistakes, and that some are disastrous; but his fertile mind and untiring industry soon raises him above those contingencies which affright less enterprising minds. The same holds true in the spiritual world. He who takes a clear, broad, Scriptural view of the condition of man by nature, his prospects by grace, and the means to be used by the sinner, that the benefits of redemption may be enjoyed by himself, is the man that will secure spiritual opulence. He sees his oppor tunity, the time of his visitation, and he improves it. In all his movements it is plain that he has an object. The closet, social visits, attendance at the ordinances, manifest it. Nothing less than being elevated to the honour of a seat at God's right hand will satisfy him. He clearly perceives that his exaltation will by no means prevent others participating the same glory; he therefore earnestly seeks the destruction of his natural selfishness, that he may have increasing pleasure in the augmentation of the number who are going with him to take the kingdom, that they may possess it for ever. From the condition of some churches, it is not harsh to say that they are composed of aimless persons. Year after year finds and leaves them in the same condition. To be absent from the means of grace would be an offence, and to use any expression that has not received the sanction of their earthtied spirits would be unpardonable. The round of duties must be performed, but the end proposed is not considered. The millions of Israel will not be gathered by these, nor will they greatly assist in bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles. The state of the church demands a high aim to be taken by the pastors of our churches, that all our hearers may realize the importance of time, the necessity of activity, the abso luteness of having an object in every visit to the closet or the sanctuary, do no good, and so I am hurrying down, running where I can, and leaping where I must, but hastening down to water the sweet valley, where the thirsty cattle may drink, where the lark may sing on my margin, where I may drive the mill for the accommodation of man, and then widen into the great river, and bear up his steamboats, and finally plunge into the ocean to rise again as vapour, and perhaps come back again, in the clouds, to my own native mountain, and live my short life over again. Not a drop of water comes down my channel in whose bright face you may not read, 'None liveth to himself." " in reading the Bible or any other book. Deacons must aim high to assist in bringing the church into a healthy condition. The church is called upon to look at the great purposes of God in making it what it is in the world. A church growing in grace will grow in numbers, in influence, and in importance. How many of us must mourn that the means of grace have proved so barren to us. The fact is, we went to them without an object, and we returned without a blessing. Had God met us in them, we should not have recognized him. His goings would have been considered as the scatterings of wild-fire, or the illusions of deranged imaginations. No wonder, then, that churches languish, missionary funds decline, prosperous mission stations are given up, sin grows bold, and that the teachers are hid in a corner. Our aim has been too low. Let us open our eyes and our hearts to learn the lessons that such men as Cobden and Mechi, Wilberforce and Clarkson, Wesley and Whitfield, Williams and Livingston, have to teach us. Their success rebukes our dwarfishness, and exhorts us to aim high. Mevagissey, Dec., 1856. S. T. LIVE NOT TO YOURSELF. ON yonder mountain-side comes down the silver brook, in the distance resembling a ribbon of silver, running and leaping as it dashes joyously and fearlessly down. Go, ask the leaper what it is doing. "I was born," says the brook, "high up on the mountain; but there I could Speak now to the solitary star that hangs in the far verge of heaven, and ask the bright sparkler what it is doing there? Its voice comes down the path of light, and cries, "I am a mighty world. I was stationed here at the creation. I was among the morning stars that sang together, and among the sons of God that shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. Here among the morning stars I hold my place, and to keep other worlds balanced and in their places. I have oceans and mountains, and I support myriads of immortal beings on my bosom, and when I have done, I send my bright beams down to earth, and the sailor takes hold of the helm and fixes his eye on me, and finds his home across the ocean. Of all the countless hosts of my sister stars which walk forth in the great space of creation, not one lives or shines for herself.” And thus God has written upon the flower that sweetens the air, upon the breeze that rocks that flower on its stem, upon the raindrops that swell the mighty river, upon the dew-drop that refreshes the smallest sprig of moss that rears his head in the desert, upon the ocean that rocks every swimmer in its chambers, upon every pencilled shell that sleeps in the caverns of the deep, as well as upon the mighty sun, which warms and cheers the millions of creatures that live in its light, upon all he hath written, "None of us liveth to himself." And if you will read this lesson in characters still more distant and striking, you will go to the garden of Gethsemane, and hear the Redeemer in prayer, while the angel of God strengthens him. You will read it on the hill of Calvary, where a voice, that might be the concentrated voice of the whole universe of God, proclaims that the highest, noblest deed which the Infinite can do is to do good to others to live not to himself! The Fragment Basket. CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES IN TURKEY. Mr. Dunmore gives the following account of one of the members of the little church recently formed at Divrik. "We were particularly interested in a man from a village, six hours from Divrik, on the road to Sivas. He was preparing for the priestly office, when the light of the Gospel found its way to his dark mind; and a year ago, as he hopes, he became a true disciple of Jesus. I have not met with a more interesting case in this land, he is so meek, so sincere, and so rich in the knowledge of Christ's love. He is a plain fariner, about thirty years of age, with a clear mind, and a heart full of the spirit of the blessed Gospel. It is rare that in America we hear more clear, correct, definite, intelligent answers to questions, than this simple and illiterate Armenian, but just emerging from more than Egyptian darkness, gave during his examination. It was manifest that he had had a Divine Teacher. In relating his experience, he spoke of his 'heavy load of sin,' of the 'fulness of a vicarious atone ment,' of 'being bought by the blood of Christ,' and of the 'sweetness of Christ's love.' I felt more like sitting at his feet than appearing as his teacher; and more than once I was obliged to pause, that I might control the swelling emotions of my own heart. Would that every American Christian could have been present to witness the fruit of their prayers, and the wonderful power of the simple Gospel, accompanied by the Spirit, in moulding a soul into the Divine image, so far out of the reach of the living preacher's voice!" THE BIBLE IN THE HANDS OF A TURK. Mr. Ladd, of Smyrna, relates the following incident: "Some Greeks in Thyatira, zealous opposers of the Gospel, conceived the idea, that if they should put a copy of the Protestant Bible, in the Turkish language, into the hands of an influential Turk, he would undoubtedly soon find enough in it contrary to his own religion to make him an enemy of the Protestants, being quite ignorant themselves of the real contents of the sacred volume. They accordingly contributed a suf |