That Cross he now was fastening there, as the surest power

and best

For supplying all deficiencies, all wants of the rude nest
In which, from burning heat, or tempest driving far and wide,
The innocent Boy, else shelterless, his lonely head must hide.
That Cross belike he also raised as a standard for the true
And faithful service of his heart, in the worst that might ensue
Of hardship and distressful fear, amid the houseless waste
Where he, in his poor self so weak, by Providence was placed.

Here, Lady! might I cease; but nay, let us, before we part

With this dear holy Shepherd-boy, breathe a prayer of earnest heart,

That unto him, where'er shall lie his life's appointed way, The Cross, fixed in his soul, may prove an all-sufficing stay. Wordsworth.

I have heard of a formal old gentleman, who, finding his horse uneasy under the saddle, alighted, and called to his servant in the following manner :"Tom, take off the saddle which is upon my bay horse, and lay it upon the ground; then take the saddle from thy grey horse, and put it upon my bay horse; lastly, put the other saddle upon thy grey horse." The fellow gaped all the while at this long preachment, and at last cried out, "Lack-a-day, sir, could you not have said at once, Change the saddles?” We see how many actions are comprised under those three little words, "Change the saddles ;", and yet the master, for all his exactness, did not particularize the tenth part of them; lifting up the flap of the saddle, pulling the strap, raising the tongue, drawing out the buckle, taking up the saddle, pulling it towards him, stooping to lay it down, lifting up his body again, and so forth: but had he stayed to enumerate all the steps his man must take in executing his orders, they would not have got home by dinnertime. (Tucker's Light of Nature.)

WHAT IT IS TO REVERENCE GOD'S ORDINANCES.

There are countries, where even English Christians have hardly ever an opportunity of partaking of the rites and sacraments of the Church; and though the want of them reduces many whole districts to a state almost of heathenism, yet in some faithful hearts it excites a longing desire of them, that conquers all difficulties, when the rare opportunity does occur. Of this the Bishop of Nova Scotia once mentioned, in my hearing, a most affecting instance. He was

going to hold a confirmation in a certain town. A female, who had not been confirmed, though she was considerably past the time of life at which that ordinance is generally received, anxiously desired to avail herself of this opportunity. Her home was forty miles from the place where the confirmation was to be held; and the only means she had of reaching it was by going in a small open boat, the coast being a very exposed one. She arrived too late: her first enquiry was, where the Bishop was to hold his next confirmation: it was at a town twenty miles further off, the only road to which was a difficult path over mountains, which few in this country would think passable: without any loss of time she set out again; was travelling on that rough path all the night, and arrived in time to be confirmed the next day. I need not add, that she received the Bishop's blessing, and the laying on of his hands with faith and joy and will not God's blessing follow her through life, and increase that faith till it conquers

the world?

This was indeed to reverence God's ordinance !May the Spirit that enabled her thus to show forth her faith be our spirit. Let us reverence for Christ's sake every ordinance which is established in his Church; and especially those two blessed ordinances-the Holy Sacraments-that He appointed, and committed to the keeping of the Church as her best treasures!

C

A BABE IN CHRIST.
Alas! I am a babe in Christ,
And draw but feeble breath,
Unless I have repented of

All works of sin and death.
Alas! I am a babe in Christ,
An infant even now,
Unless I know and act upon
My first baptismal vow.
Alas! I am a babe in Christ,
Unless, with hope and dread,
I know that there will be for all
A rising from the dead.

Unless I know that God will raise

This body from the tomb,
Before its Saviour to appear

For an eternal doom!

Oh! let me not, with faithless heart,

A babe for ever be !

Assist me, Jesus, to become

A perfect man in Thee!

1. Is a man confident of his present health and strength? Why an unwholesome blast of air, a cold, or a surfeit took by chance, may shake in pieces his hardy fabric; and in spite of all his youth and vigour send him, in the very flower of his years, pining and drooping to his long home. Nay, he cannot, with any assurance, so much as step out of his doors, but, unless God commissions His protecting angel to bear him up in his hands, he may dash his foot against a stone, and fall, and in that fall breathe his last.-South.

2. People forget how little it is that they know, and how much less it is that they can do, when they grow confident upon any present state of things.— South.

SERMON ON THE SERVICES OF ALL SAINTS' DAY.

HEBREWS xii. 1, 2.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."

The last Saints' day in the year is All-Saints' day; a day in which the Church calls to remembrance all her faithful sons and daughters, who, having run their race of faith with patience, have been removed from earth to the safety and present happiness of Paradise, and to the hope-nay, certain expectation of their future unutterable glory.

Nothing can be thought of more beautiful, more animating, than the lessons for the day. The first (though from the Apocrypha) is very important, as showing that the Jews, before Christ had fully brought life and immortality to light, did yet entertain a confident persuasion that the souls of the faithful did not die. "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure is taken for misery :"—and so on; ending with the assertion (which is so like the Gospel-truth, that it must have been revealed by prophecy): "They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever." So in the afternoon lesson from the same book: "The righteous live for evermore: their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's right hand for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them."

The second lesson of the morning gives us that noble account of the faith of the Jewish believers before the coming of Christ: of those "who through

faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."

The Apostle adds: "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." These, he said, "received not the promise. What promise had they not received? The explanation is this:'The promise,' means 'the thing promised.' They did not, in their days, receive the promised blessing of the Messiah's appearance: that was reserved (he says) for our days: that better thing was reserved for us, that they might not be made perfect without

us.

The Apostle then called upon the Christians he was addressing, to be animated and stirred up by these examples of Jewish faith, which they had not yet come up to. He exhorts them, as if they were men running a race for a prize at one of the great games of those days; where, instead of earthly witnesses or spectators to look on and encourage them, were sitting the hosts, the clouds of witnesses who had run the race and won the prize themselves, in their days of trial;-those to whom, in the Revelation, white robes are given; and they are bid to rest