MY SUBSTITUTE. BY THE LATE SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON, BART., M.D. HEN I was a boy at school, I saw a sight I never can forget a man tied to a cart and dragged, before the people's eyes, through the streets of my native town, his back torn and bleeding from the lash. It was a shameful punishment. For many offences? No; for one offence. Did any of the townsmen offer to divide the lashes with him? No; he who committed the offence bore the penalty all alone. It was the penalty of a changing human law, for it was the last instance of its infliction. When I was a student at the university, I saw another sight I never can forget a man brought out to die. His arms were pinioned, his face was already pale as death-thousands of eager eyes were on him as he came up from the jail in sight. Did any man ask to die in his room? Did any friend come and loose the rope, and say, "Put it round my neck, I'll die instead"? No; he underwent the sentence of the law. For many offences? No; for one offence. He had stolen a money parcel from a stage-coach. He broke the law at one point, and died for it. It was the penalty of a changing human law in this case also; it was the last instance of capital punishment being inflicted for that offence. I saw another sight-it matters not when-myself a sinner standing on the brink of ruin, deserving nought but hell. For one sin? No; for many, many sins God 66 Soon after he died, rejoicing in Christ's righteousness. When I heard the story, I remembered Archimedes running through the streets of Syracuse straight from the bath where he had found out, in bathing, the secret of testing whether the king's crown had or had not been alloyed by the goldsmith in making it. And as he ran, he cried, "I have found it! I have found it!" Poor philosopher, you had only found out a new principle in science! Happy groom, you had found in Jesus Christ a crown for your immortal soul ! The minister who visited the dying groom was thus led to seek and find salvation. BE HAPPY WHILE YOUNG. I KNOW that youth is the time for pleasure; the foot is more elastic then-the eye more full of life-the heart more full of gladness. But that is the very reason why I say youth is the time to fly to Christ. It is far happier to be in Christ than to be out of Christ.-R. M. M'Cheyne. LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION. A GENTLEMAN advertised for à boy to assist him in his office, and nearly fifty applicants presented themselves to him. Out of the whole number he in a short time selected one and dismissed the rest. "I should like to know," said a friend, on what ground you selected that boy, who had not a single recommendation." "You are mistaken," said the gentleman; "he had a great many :-He wiped his feet when he came in, and closed the door after him, showing that he was careful. He gave up his seat instantly to that lame old man, showing that he was kind and thought ful. He took off his cap when he came in, and answered my questions promptly and respectfully, showing that he was polite and gentlemanly. He picked up the book which I had purposely laid on the floor, and replaced it on the table, while all the rest stepped over it, or shoved it aside; and he waited quietly for his turn, instead of pushing and crowding, showing that he was honest and orderly. When I talked with him, I noticed that his clothes were carefully brushed, his hair in nice order, and his teeth as white as milk; and when he wrote his name, I noticed that his finger-nails were clean, instead of being tipped with jet, like that handsome little fellow's in the blue jacket.-Don't you call those letters of recommendation? I do; and I would give more for what I can tell about a boy by using my eyes ten minutes, than for all the fine letters he can bring me." Tyne, in England. It was, if I remember right, in the year 1789 that the ship Adventure was stranded on the Hard Sands on the south side of Tynemouth Haven. It was a shocking sight; for in the midst of the most terrible breakers, the poor crew dropped from the rigging one by one, in the presence of thousands of spectators. Rewards were offered to any who would go to their rescue, but none were bold enough to brave the waves; for a common boat could not have lived a minute in such a sea." "It must have been a dreadful sight indeed." "It often pleases God to bring good out of seeming evil," said the old sailor. "The wreck of the Adventure was the cause of the first life-boat being built; for some kind-hearted inhabitants of South Shields met together, and offered rewards for the best life-boat that could be built. A boat of capital construction soon made its appearance. The life-boat, the life-boat! how fearless and free She wins her bold course o'er the wide-rolling sea! She bounds o'er the surges with gallant disdain; She has stemmed them before, and she'll stem them again.' Now, good-bye, boys," said the good old captain; "the promises of God are an eternal life-boat. Let us keep our eyes on them, and we shall safely weather time and eternity." (2 Cor. i. 20; vii. 1.) earnestness, It answered well, ploughing its way through the breakers like a living thing. In about twenty years it saved three hundred lives at the entrance of the river Tyne only." 'Capital!" cried the boys. "Three hundred lives in one place!" "More than that, in some places on our coast, life-boats have saved. There are now life-boats, life-cars, life-rafts, and lifepreservers of all kinds. I had rather hear of one improvement in life-preservers than a hundred in guns, mortars, and bombshells. Better be clever in preserving life than in destroying it, boys. Did you ever hear a livelier bit of poetry than this?— The life-boat, the life-boat! the whirlwind and rain And white-crested breakers oppose her in vain ; Her crew are resolved, and her timbers are stanch: She's the vessel of mercy; good speed to her launch. me neber give it up till me die." And pointing with his finger to the beautiful words he had just spelled out in John iii. 16, "God so loved the world," &c., he said, with tears in his eyes, "It's worth all the trouble, massa, to read dat one verse. That one verse contained the joyful news which had filled his soul with gladness, and had made him try to work for the Saviour. دو "THAT WAS WEEL FOR ME." "I was fairly in the devil's grip," said a working-man, in his homely, graphic way, to Duncan Matheson; "but Christ came to me when I was little expecting him, an' took a haud o' me. Syne the devil pulled me ae way, an' Christ he pulled the ither way, an' I had a sair time o't. But I cam' to ken that Christ is far stronger than Satan; an' that was weel for me.' THE GRAND POINT. Mr grand point in preaching is to break a hard heart, and to heal a broken heart.John Newton. |