dress." And, after the interval of a few minutes, he said again, in the same tone of voice,-"I want a robe!-I want a robe!" On awakening from this, the last sleep he had on earth, we saw, although he was evidently quite conscious, and continued so to the last, that his end could not be far off.

During the latter weeks of his illness, he had not cared about going outside the door, even when the day was fine, and the weather comparatively mild. But within the last few hours of his life, he repeatedly expressed an intense longing to get out to the open air. The difficulty he felt in breathing, had, no doubt, much to do with the desire, and, perhaps, originated it. On the last Sabbath, however, he had begged that the servant would carry him to church, "to hear papa preach." Even now, when so much reduced that we were afraid almost to lift him, he turned to us, and said beseechingly,-"Papa,mamma,-will you-be-so kindas-to dress me?" We could not, of course, grant his request; but there was nothing like fretfulness or murmuring, when, in order to divert his attention from the subject of his wish, we assured him that in a very short time Jesus himself would dress him in a white robe.

When very low, in a feeble voice he called "Mamma;" and when his mother inquired if he wished for anything, he replied "Jesus said,-Suffer-the-little-." The sentence remained unfinished.

The paralyzing touch of fastapproaching death was laid on the enfeebled tongue, and it refused to articulate more. Subsequently he made several efforts to speak to us, but only now and then could we catch an unconnected word. The last we heard him utter were "Lord" and "Jesus." Though the remainder of the sentence was lost, these names of precious significance sufficed to show us that, on the confines of the eternal world, the mind of our dear boy was solely occupied with thoughts of the Saviour he loved, and on whom,

LINES ON THE DEATH OF OUR
FIRST-BORN.

THY early grave is fill'd,
And thou art gone
To thy last resting-place,-
Thy last long home.

But though thy grave is fill'd,
Thou art not there;

'Tis but thy dust: thou roam'st
In regions fair.

Thy ransomed spirit has gained
Its longed-for rest;
The fetter'd soul's released,

And thou art blest.
And now, in bliss supreme,
Thy raptured eyes
Dwell on the Prince of Life,
In yonder skies,

A radiant band thou saw'st
Of angels fair;

And thou, thyself, hast join'd
Their anthems, where
No tear shall dim thy sight,

Or mar thy joy,
But praise to God shall be
Thy blest employ.
Then, darling child, adieu!

We mourn thee not;
Nor would we wish to change
Thy blessed lot.

Quickly thy bark was moor'd,
Thy voyage o'er,
And bliss attain'd by thee
Unknown before!

M. H.

BENEVOLENCE.

At a missionary meeting among the negroes in the West Indies, it is related, these three resolutions were adopted :

1. We will all give something. 2. We will all give according to our ability.

3. We will all give willingly.

At the close of the meeting a leading negro took his seat at a table, with pen and ink, to put down what each came to contribute. Many advanced to the table and handed in their contributions, some more and some less. Among the contributors was an old negro, who was very rich, almost as rich as all the rest united. He threw down a small silver coin.

"Take dat back again," said the chairman of the meeting. "Dat may be 'cording to de fust resolution, but not 'cording to de second."

The rich old man accordingly took it up, and hobbled back to his seat much enraged. One after another came forward, and all giving more than himself he was ashamed, and again threw a piece of money on the table, saying, "Dar, take dat!" It was a valuable piece of gold, but given so ill-temperedly, that the chairman answered, "No sir, dat won't do! Dat may be 'cording to de fust and second resolutions, but not 'cording to de third." He was obliged to take it up again. Still angry with himself and all the rest, he sat a long time, till nearly all were gone, and then advanced to the table, with a smile on his countenance, and laid a large sum of money on the table.

"Dar, now, berry well," said the presiding negro, "dat will do-dat am 'cording to all de resolutions."

AN ANECDOTE OF WHITE

FIELD.

Upon the death of his wife, he preached her funeral sermon. The text was, "And we know that all things work together for the good

of them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose," Rom. viii. 28. In noticing her character, he mentioned her fortitude, and suddenly exclaimed, "Do you remember my preaching in those fields, by the old stump of the tree? The multitude was great, and many were disposed to be riotous. At first I addressed them firmly, but when a desperate gang of banditti drew near, with the most horrid imprecations and menaces, my courage began to fail. My wife was then standing behind me, as I stood on the table. I think I hear her now. She pulled my gown (he

then put his hand behind him and touched his gown), and looking up said: "George, play the man for your God." My confidence returned. I then spoke to the multitude with boldness and affection; they became still,and many were deeply affected."

GIVING IN HARD TIMES.

As to religious charities and the means of religious improvement, the rule of the late John Rankin, of New York, is a good one. When hard times come, give double. After the great fire in that city in 1835, some of the citizens who had large sums invested in Insurance Companies, found themselves suddenly deprived of a great portion of their income. The pastor of one of the churches, in making his annual solicitation for the cause of Foreign Missions, passed by a venerable and worthy man who had been accustomed to give a hundred dollars a year, and did not ask him for a contribution. The gentleman soon asked the pastor if it was not time for the collection. "Yes," said he, "I have made it already, but knowing that you had been a great loser this year, I did not think it proper to call upon you for your usual donation." "My dear sir," replied the gentleman, "it is very true that I have suffered great losses, and must be prudent in my expendi

tures, but retrenchment must not begin at the house of God." That very day he sent to his pastor a cheque for two hundred dollars, and the same for every succeeding year to the time of his death.

PUNCTUALITY.

Dr. Fisk says: "I give it as my deliberate and solemn conviction that the individual who is habitually tardy in meeting an appointment, will never be respected or successful in life."

The Ladies' Repository says, "There is some severity in the remark; but we endorse it as a truth sustained and corroborated by all the observation which, in our short life, we have been able to make, and which the experience of none can invalidate."

It appears George Washington was of the same opinion, or when his private secretary pleaded as an excuse for want of punctuality a bad watch, he would not have tartly replied, "Then either you must get another watch or I must get another Secretary."

PAUL'S ESTIMATE OF HEAVEN.

In speaking of the glories of the eternal world, the rapture of the apostle does not escape him as a sally of the imagination, as a thought awakened by a sudden glance of the object; he does not express himself at random from the sudden impulse of the moment, but in the sober tone of calculation: "I reckon," he says, like a man skilled in this spiritual arithmetic; "I reckon," after a due estimate of their comparative value, "that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."

No man was ever so well qualified to make this estimate. Of the sufferings of the present world he had shared more largely than any man. He had heard the words of God, and seen the vision of the Almighty; and the result of this privileged experience was, that he desired to escape from this valley of tears, that

he was impatient to recover the celestial vision, eager to perpetuate the momentary foretaste of the glories of immortality.—Hannah More. LAST THINGS.

The last words of the Old Testament are a fearful threatening: "Lest I come and smite the earth .with a curse."

The last words of the New Testament are a benediction: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

The last words of Christ before his ascension are a glorious promise: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Often the wicked despise the last offer of mercy made them more than any preaching they ever heard. When I have seen friends wiping away the clammy sweat from the brow of a dying man who had long rejected salvation, or moistening his lips with a little water, I have often trembled lest it should be the last mercy he should ever receive.

It seldom happens that the last thing done by one who has led a wicked life is to repent and turn to God.

READING THE BIBLE.

At a late meeting of the Presbytery of Buffalo, it was stated that a pastor, feeling that amid the overwhelming mass of miscellaneous reading that was about flooding his congregation, the Bible was being sadly neglected, took this somewhat novel method to revive an acquaintance with its precious truths. He drew up a pledge, the signers to which promised that on a given day, they would each, in connexion with their pastor, commence the systematic perusal of the Holy Scriptures, reading at least three chapters each week-day, and five upon the Sabbath; thus completing the volume in one year. He procured in his congregation, going from house to house, ninetythree signatures to this pledge. Will not that people be more intelligent listeners upon the Sabbath?

How on its victim craves the boon of death,

When death or sorrow yearn to yield the breath!

Ask not the fitful flame.

Ask for a broken heart;

A grief for all the ills thy hand hath done,

A

pang for wasted life, for useless breath;

A hope that triumphs over the fear of death;

Ask, and the goal is won.

Ask for a quiet mind;

A heart at rest from all the jars of strife, A humble heart that never soars to fall, A heart to bless the Hand that gave it all,

That priceless gift of life.

Ask for a fount of tears:

The heart to sympathize in others' woe; The soul to feel for all the sorrowing here,

And power to point them to a better sphere,

Where tears can never flow.

Ask for a home in heaven;

Poor lonely wanderer on life's troubled

sea,

When wealth, and fame, and power are gone,

And all earth's blandishments for ever flown.

Ask for a home in heaven, where grief can never be.

THE CHILD AND THE ANGELS. THE Sabbath sun was setting slow Amidst the clouds of even; "Our Father," breathed a voice below, "Father, who art in heaven!" Beyond the earth, beyond the cloud, Those infant words were given; "Our Father," angels sang aloud, "Father, who art in heaven!" "Thy kingdom come," still from the ground

That child-like voice did pray: "Thy kingdom come," God's hosts resound,

66

Far on the starry way.

Thy will be done," with little tongue,
That lisping love implores:

"Thy will be done," the angelic throng Sing from seraphic shores.

"For ever," still those lips repeat
Their closing evening prayer:
"For ever," floats in music sweet
High midst the angels there!
"Thine be the glory evermore,
From Thee may man ne'er sever;
But every Christian land adore
Jehovah, God, for ever!"

CHARLES SWAIN.

MINE AND THINE.
ALL that I was-my sin, my guilt,
My death was all my own;
All that I am I owe to thee,
My gracious God alone.
The evil of my former state

Was mine, and only mine;
The good in which I now rejoice
Is thine, and only thine.
The darkness of my former state,
The bondage all was mine;
The light of life in which I walk,
The liberty is thine.

Thy grace first made me feel my sin,
It taught me to believe;
Then, in believing, peace Í found,

And now I live, I live.

All that I am, even here on earth,
All that I hope to be,
When Jesus comes and glory dawns,
I owe it, Lord, to thee!

H. BONAR.

SPRING IS COMING.

BY M. NACK,

Who was deaf and dumb from his
childhood.

SPRING is coming! spring is coming!
Birds are chirping, insects humming,
Flowers are peeping from their sleeping,
Streams escaped from winter's keeping,
In delighted freedom rushing,
Dance along in freedom gushing;
Scenes of late in deadness sadden'd,
Smile in animation gladden'd;
All is beauty, all is mirth,
All is glory upon earth.

Shout we then with nature's voice,
Welcome, Spring! rejoice! rejoice!

Spring is coming! come, my brother,
Let us rove with one another,
To our well-remember'd wild wood,
Flourishing in nature's childhood;
Where a thousand flowers are springing,
And a thousand birds are singing;
Where the golden sunbeams quiver,
On the verdure-girdled river;

Let our youth of feeling out,
To the youth of nature shout,
While the waves repeat our voice,
Welcome, Spring! rejoice! rejoice!

THE POOR MAN'S BIBLE.

["Well might Coleridge say that the
fairest flower he ever saw climbing
round a poor man's window was not
so beautiful in his eyes as the Bible
which he saw lying within."-Bayne.j
DEAR to the eye
Of the passer-by,

"Tis dearer to the heart of the poor;
A father's smile
On honest toil,

Is the flower that blooms by his door.
But sweeter far,
And dearer are

The plants of grace that bloom and thrive,

When age and youth,
By Bible truth,
Their hearts control, and daily live.

The aspect of Public Affairs has not greatly changed since our last issue. India continues to occupy the mind both of the church and of the world, and there is a strong probability that vigorous action will be taken by both in furthering the future welfare of the millions of Hindostan. The London Missionary Society is buckling on its armour afresh. At a special meeting of the Town and Country Directors, a resolution was adopted, if possible, to send out Twenty additional Missionaries. Under the circumstances of the Society this is, doubtless, a great effort; but it will come incalculably short of the necessities of the case. To carry out this high resolve will require both men and money; and it is for the churches to furnish both. Now, more than ever, it is to be desired that prayer

and supplication should be everywhere made to the Lord of the harvest, to send forth suitable labourers. Among the churches there is an abundance both of talent and of piety; what is wanted, therefore, is a thorough baptism of the needful number with the Missionary Spirit, and this will infallibly be attained by fervent prayer. When the men are found, they must be supported; but this the churches are well able to do. Nothing is required but for the people of God to give as he has prospered them. Multitudes, indeed, can do little more than they are now doing; but a very few individuals, who have been abundantly blessed in their basket and their store, are able to meet the wants of the case even by a very slender effort.