40 PARENTAL LOVE. BEHOLD, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine.Ezek. xviii. 4. WHAT are they that thou lovest so dearly, and who lie in thy bosom mortally wounded; and wilt thou not be troubled for them? What! not one sigh or tear come from thee for them? Beastonished, O heavens! what a hard heart hast thou? • * If a child be dangerously sick, or wounded externally, how ready are you to inquire for some skilful physician, or chirurgeon, and what speed And will you not be as tender and careful of his make! will you Jemima, the only surviving child of four born to Charles Taurua and his wife Sarah, was about twelve years of age, and had long been in attendance on Miss Davis's school; she had made progress, not merely in the general instruction afforded to her, but in the knowledge that maketh "wise unto salvation." Symptoms of the same disease which had been so fatal to her brothers and sisters manifested themselves in her constitution; and it became evident that Charles and Sarah would soon be childless. Mr. Davis visited them just about the time when the case assumed a hopeless aspect. On communicating to the child her near approach to eternity, her answer was-" I had rather die than live in the midst of a sinful world." Turning to the mother, Mr. Davis inquired of her, "Sarah, how are you prepared for this?" Her answer was, "I am prepared." "Yes!" added the father, "I shall be thankful to know my children have gone before me. I shall have no further care for them on account of sin. They will be safe. I know my child must die. I do not wish to keep her in this sinful world. Let her go to be with her Saviour. But do not think I shall not feel her loss. For the last week my grief for her body has disjointed my frame; but when she is gone, I shall think of others. I have them in my heart."-Kaikohi, N.Z. PREACHING THE CROSS. 41 FOR Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect.-1 Cor. i. 17. WE hold this to be essential to all Gospel preaching, that we keep exceedingly distinct the message of Christ, as calling the sinner to the nearest, and the most direct, most personal coming to His feet; as calling us to the enjoyment of that privilege always and everywhere-as much in the closet as in the Church; as much in our ordinary exercises of heart, as when we kneel at the communiontable; and always in perfect independence of human ministrations to open the door or facilitate our acceptance. We must preach the riches of Christ as John saw them represented in "the river of water of life.”—Bishop M'Ilvaine (Ohio, U.S.). Far be from us all rejoicing, save only in the Cross of Jesus Christ! Far be from us all confidence in our own works and merits; for all our health consisteth in the Cross of Jesus Christ, wherein we may, undoubtedly, well set all our hope.-Bishop Coverdale. Bound upon th' accursed tree, Millman. The missionaries of the United Brethren among the Greenlanders began their labours by endeavouring to convince them by many philosophic arguments of the existence of God, and to give them some notions of the Divine perfection; but no good followed. The missionaries changed their ground, and represented Christ dying, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to God;" they pointed to the crucified Redeemer, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!" they preached God the Saviour, and succeeded; they preached mercy through the Atonement, and seized upon the hearts of the Greenlanders; they exalted Jesus on His atoning Cross, and then they drew these savages unto Him.— Rev. B. W. Mathias, Church Missionary Sermon, 1820. 42 RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT. GROW in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.-2 Pet. iii. 18. EVERY man, without exception, has, in every station, a twofold calling--the one for heaven, everlasting! the other for earth, social! Considered as a reasonable and immortal being, there can be no limit to his moral culture; the career opened to him is without end, and without halt. He must endeavour more and more to improve; that is, to become more and more pleasing to his Maker, and more and more like to his Saviour in purity of mind and life. Man is never so good that he may not become better; his strivings, therefore, must not relax. The greater his moral improvement and growth in goodness, so much the richer does he become in usefulness and general worth as a member of society. The capability of human nature for unlimited improvement is to me its noblest feature, and the clearest proof of its Divine origin; yes, and the most manifest evidence, that, if it be spiritualized of God, it will, as a necessary consequence, be again united to Him.-Frederic William III., King of Prussia. Oh! not alone my body feed; Oh, Bread of Life! from day to day, I profess to be a Christian, and, through the free grace of God, have the happy assurance that I am a Christian. It is, then, my unspeakable privilege to be endlessly advancing in the Divine life. It is also my sovereign obligation so to do. The measure of my Christian devotion yesterday will not suffice for to-day, nor its measure to-day, for to-morrow. My body might be sustained in health by a regimen of no constant augmentation: it is material and decaying. But my spirit, if I live as becomes a Christian, craves more and more of God with every additional day of my life. * I need more love to God, more brokenness of heart, and more of the Spirit of Christ now, than ever before; and my necessities will be greater the next hour than they are now; and greater in the succeeding hours than in the next; and thus onward through every succession of the infinite future. This element of eternal progress is the sublimest principle of my religion. It lives on God. Truth and holiness are its life.-American Missionary. THE word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day.―John xii. 48. THE word which the Lord hath spoken, in that day when the Lord shall come, it shall judge; the Word, I say, of God shall in that day judge. It were good for men to agree with their adversary, the Word of God, now whiles they are in the way with it; lest, if they linger, it should deliver them to the judge, Christ, who will commit them to the jailer, and so they shall be cast into prison, never to come out thence till they have paid the uttermost farthing; that is, Never!-Bradford. Pour out upon me, O Lord, Thy holy Spirit of wisdom and grace. Govern and lead me by Thy holy Word, that it may be a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my steps. Show Thy mercy upon me, and so lighten the natural blindness and darkness of my heart through Thy grace, that I may daily be renewed by the same Spirit and grace; by the which, O Lord, purge the grossness of my hearing and understanding, that I may profitably read, hear, and understand Thy Word and heavenly will, believe and practise the same in my life and conversation, and evermore hold fast that blessed hope of everlasting life. Amen.-Book of Common Prayer, 1559. With thousand thanks I praise Thee, Lord, For giving me Thy holy Word, To teach me here Thy Son to love, And be, through Him, a saint above. From a hymn by Thomas, a converted Indian.* "You must look to God," said Sarah Taureca to her husband, before he went out to teach. "Yes," he answered, " before I open the Testament I will go to the secret place, and seek direction from God." He went, and doubtless found what he sought after.—Rev. R. Davis, Kaikohi, N.Z. A Mussulman judge came to the converted Brahmin, Anuad, and asked him to read to him, which he did, eight or ten chapters of St. Luke. The man went away, exclaiming, in the spirit of the officers sent to apprehend Jesus, “Never was there one to compare to the Lord Jesus Christ! He must be God."-Rev. J. Fisher. *See Leutpolt's "Recollections of an Indian Missionary." 44 ACCESS TO JESUS. HIM that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.— John vi. 37. CHRIST walked this earth in humble guise, but full of grace and truth, purposely to show how willing He was to be approached of men. And He will resent the coldness of the heart which cannot confide in Him. Christ has taken on Himself the whole burden of our salvation, and will resent the unbelief of the heart which would bring in other mediators to stand between God and us, or Him and us. Mary, the mother, had no freer access to Him than Mary the Magdalen; and the Apostle who leant on His bosom was not more near to Him than may be the humblest of ourselves. Christ is in heaven before God for each of you, and easy of access by each of you-ready to hear each of you speaking separately unto Him-ready to receive each of you-desiring to be the friend of each of you severally—giving Himself to each, as though there were none other to share His love-desiring to be the counsellor of each, the guide, the strengthener, the comforter of each, that for himself comes unto Him.-Dean Eliot. I draw near, as Thou wert by me; Whitehead. Late this evening I was called to a sick man, who had been ill for a considerable time. It was gratifying to see how he threw himself into the arms of Jesus. Nothing," said he, " can attract my mind again in this world. My time is come. Jesus calls me!" 66 I was informed that a sick communicant (whom I had visited two days before) had exchanged time for eternity. A few hours before he died, when asked by a Christian brother how he felt about his soul, he answered, "Fear not, my brother; my cause is settled with the Lord. He is my salvation !"-Rev. D. H. Schmid. Freetown, S.L. |