HOW FAR IS IT TO CANAAN. "HOW FAR IS IT TO CANAAN ?" asks the persecuted christian, "for I am an outcast from my family, a stranger upon earth; like my Lord, I am despised and rejected of men.' Many are they that rise up against me, and they hate me with a cruel hatred."Hold on thy way, persecuted christian: it is a safe one, and a blessed one, yea, the one thy Redeemer trod before thee. Dost thou want a word of consolation? I will give it; lay it upon thy bosom :-"Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for behold, your reward is great in heaven." 66 "How FAR IS IT TO CANAAN?" sighs the bereaved christian, "for I am a lonely and desolate pilgrim. All that were dear to me on earth are taken away. My tears have been my meat day and night, and my soul yearns for the land where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying." Pass on bereaved christian: the more lonely thy pilgrimage, the sweeter thy reception at the end. The Lord, whom thou seekest, hath a special care and pity for his desolate ones. Take these words with thee, and they may refresh thy spirit; even though thou be desolate :-" The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away." "HOW FAR IS IT TO CANAAN? asks the dying christian, "for the swellings of Jordan are risen about my soul. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Alas! I sink in deep waters, I shall not see the land that flows with milk and honey."-Look up, poor dying christian: see! yonder is the bright and morning Star; thy night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Is thine arm too feeble to be put forth for the book of God? then I must even hold it up before thine eyes. Look on these words, and let neither flood nor flame affright thee; be of good courage, for they are the words of Him who has promised, when flesh and heart fail, to be the strength of thy heart and thy portion for ever:-" When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." O! could we make our doubts remove, Those gloomy doubts that rise, And see the Canaan that we love, With unbeclouded eyes! Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o'er, Nor Jordan's streams, nor death's cold flood, Could fright us from the shore. POETRY. Poetry. TO BE HERE IS GOOD-TO BE WITH CHRIST IS BETTER. WHILST in this wilderness we roam, Shut in with Christ for ever blest. 'Tis good to meet with saints below, Shut in with Christ for ever blest. 'Tis good to live with Christ on earth; Shut in with Christ for ever blest. That hour was good when first we knew, Shut in with Christ for ever blest. 'Twas good to sink beneath the wave, Shut in with Christ for ever blest. 'Tis good to feel afflictions rod, "Tis better far to be at rest, Shut in with Christ for ever blest. 1 ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. 'Tis good to stand with heaven in view, 'Tis better far to be at rest, Shut in with Christ for ever blest. Now in a straight betwixt the two, A. M. E. Anecdotes, Selections, and Gems. TEMPTATIONS.-"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." James i. 14. The apostle, does not ascribe temptation to the devil; who may, and does present the object, and by his instruments may and does solicit for our compliance: his temptations have a moving and exciting power, but can have no prevailing efficacy but from our own voluntary consent; it is our own lust closing with his temptations which produces the sin; for God commanding us to resist the devil, supposes that his temptations are not irresistible. Hence learn, that man's worst enemy, and most dangerous tempter is the corruption of his own heart and nature, because it is the inmost enemy, and because it is an enemy that is least expected. A man's lust is himself, and nature teaches not to mistrust ourselves. What reason have we, then, perpetually to pray that God would not lead us into temptation, and that he would, by his good Providence, keep us out of the way of temptation, because we carry about us such lusts and temp. tat ons as will betray us to sin when powerful temptations are presented to us. There is no such way, then, to disarm temptations, and take away the power of them, as by mortifying our lusts and subduing our vicious inclinations. -Burkitt. PREPARATION FOR DEATH AND GLORY.-When you lie down at night, compose your spirit as if you were not to wake till the heavens be no more; and when you awake in the morning, consider that new day as your last, and live accordingly. Surely that night cometh, of which you will never see the morning, or that morning of which you will never see the night; but which of your mornings or nights will be such, you know not. Let the mantle of wordly enjoyments hang loose about you, that it may be easily dropped when death comes to carry you into another world. When the corn is forsaking the ground, it is ready for the sickle-when the fruit is ripe, it falls off the tree easily. So when a christian heart is truly weaned from the world, he is prepared for death, and it will be more easy for him. A heart disen ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. gaged from this world is a heavenly one; and then we are ready for heaven, when our heart is there before us.- Boston. ORIGIN OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.-A minister in Wales, grieving over the spiritual destitution of that land, was desirous to procure a supply of bibles in the Welsh language for that country. He did procure a small supply from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. That supply was exhausted in a very few months. He applied to them for a second. He was met with a refusal: they could not furnish him with one. He then suggested to a few friends the necessity of forming a society for furnishing bibles to Wales; but one friend, Mr. Hughes, baptist minister, Battersea, asked why they should limit their supply to Wales. Why not extend it to the whole kingdom; yea, why not throughout all the world? And this, in the wonderful providence of God, was the origin of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Carry them back, carry them back,' replied the justice, and let them convert all the scolds in the town." GIN. What crimes, what follies, have been perpetrated for gin! A river of alcohol runs through the land, sweeping away health, honour, and happiness, with its remorseless tide. The creaking gibbet, and the prison ward-the hulks, and the far off penal isle-the debtor's gaol, and the silent penitentiary—the tomb-like workhouse, and the loathsome hospital-the galling chain, and the spirit-breaking tread-wheel the frightful mad cell, and the public dissecting room-the deathbed of despair, and the grave of the suicide, are indebted for many, many victims to thee, most potent gin!-O gin! thou art the Juggernaut beneath whose wheels millions throw themselves in blind adoration. Yes, great is thy power, O gin-a terrible instrument of evil art thou. Thou sweepest over the world with the wings of the pestilence; thy breath is that of the plague. And where disease and death prevail in all their most hideous shapes-and where misery is most keenly felt, and poverty is most pinching-and where the wails of hapless children ascend to heaven in vain appeal against the cruelty of inhuman parents-and where crime is most diabolical,-there are thy triumphs there are thy victories. Facts and Hints. THE SCOLD CONVERTED. The late Mr. John Wesley relates the following circumstance in his journal of 1741- "Wednesday the 9th, I rode over to a neighbouring town to wait on a justice of the peace, a man of candour and understanding, before whom I was informed their angry neighbours had carried a whole waggon load of these new heretics, the methodists. But when he asked what they had done, there was a deep silence; for that was a point their conductor had forgot! At length one said, 'Why they pretend to be better than other people; and besides, they pray from morn. ing till night. Mr. S. asked, 'But have they done nothing besides?' 'Yes, sir,' said an old man, 'an't please your worship, they've convarted my wife. Till she went among them she had such a tongue! but now she is as quiet as a lamb! | 26,000 yards. THE OUTSIDE APPEARANCE.Never despise a man because he is dressed in plain clothes. Many who dress in plain clothes have a humble, wise, and virtuous mind; as a coarse bag may hold rich gold. THE PARISH CLERK of Winkleigh has one guinea a-year for winding up the parish clock every day; to earn which he travels 102 miles, ascends and descends 29,003 steps, and hauls up 18 tons weight THE FIRESIDE, OR POOR MAN'S FRIEND. THE TURKISH SULTAN is said to be a rigid teetotaller; he will not take a little wine, though his physicians say it would benefit his health. WISDOM.-Not by books alone can we become wise, nor by travelling, nor by conversation, nor by the whole world, if we do not think for ourselves. A RICH BANK.-A mind full of piety and knowledge is always rich; it is a bank that never fails; it yields a perpetual dividend of happiness. THE ELECTRIC CURRENT, it is said, travels along the wires of a railway telegraph at the speed of 258,000 miles in a second of time. Amazing! Scarcely comprehensible. CHOWBENT, with 5,000 inhabitants, has not a single lawyer residing in the town. The Fireside, or Poor Man's Friend. THE HEALTH OF THE SKIN. great is the importance of keeping it in health and vigour. By means of it the greater part of the super is carried off from the blood-vessels in insensible perspiration: this is an observation of great consequence, which, in health, is constantly going on, and when it is checked by the unhealthy state of the pores, the circulation becomes oppressed, and fever, headaches, and general lanMuch evil gour are occasioned. arises from a too relaxed state of the skin; the secretions becoming unhealthy, and the skin itself more susceptible of the changes in weather and temperature, then colds, coughs, and inflammation of the internal organs come on. Hence it is plain that attention to the state of the skin is of great importance, and this may be sufficiently given by following a few simple recommendations. WHO can estimate the blessing of health? and yet how is it trifled with, neglected, or recklessly de-fluous matter, or waste of the body, stroyed! As a gift of God to be employed for his glory, it is a clear duty to use all proper means to preserve it. The human body may be well compared to a watch, in which, if a single wheel be injured, the whole mechanism is disordered, and the watch goes wrong; thus all the parts of the body are so intimately connected by systems of nerves and vessels, that if one become hindered in its work, the others suffer, and the whole machine is deranged. Some organs sympathise with each other more than others; thus the head and stomach almost always suffer together, and between the stomach and the skin the connection is very close, not merely from a general law of sympathy, but because the skin is continuous with the membrane which lines the whole alimentary canal: so that when the skin is diseased the general health suffers, and, the stomach principally sympathising, sickness, indigestion, and many attendant maladies are brought on. The duty which the skin has to perform, and its intimate relation with the interior organs, show how On rising from bed, let the body be sponged with cold water, and rubbed dry quickly; and then let a flesh-brush be used smartly for a few minutes. The good effect of this will be immediately felt in the genial warmth, the activity and vigour of body, and the freshness and exhilaration of spirits, which succeed. No one need be afraid of this practice, for the friction in |