I E ॐ The Sunday-School. A SHORT ADDRESS ON NATURE AND GRACE. My wish in addressing you is to tell you a little of what we are by nature and what we are by grace; you know our first Parents before the fall were naturally good, formed after God's own image, but after the fall they had allowed the enemy of souls to take possession of their hearts; they were rendered sinful and depraved, and by that fall, they left an inheritance for all their descendants,that of a sinful and deceitful heart. It is said the heart is sinful above all things, and desperately wicked. The Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Corinthians, sixth chapter and the ninth and tenth verses, says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God." There is enough my dear readers from the pen of that inspired writer who wrote the preceding passages of Scripture, to tell us that we must shun as we would shun a viper, drinking, gambling, cursing, swearing, slandering, blasphemy, reviling, evil speaking, Sabbath desecration, and lastly what I consider to be the unpardonable sin, the rejection of Christ. In the days of Christ's ministry, there were some who said and believed that our Saviour cast out devils through Beelzebub, and that was then the sin against the Holy Ghost, spoken of as unpardonable in Matthew, 12th chapter, 31st and 32nd verses; but we do not live in the days of Christ's glorious ministry, yet there is an unpardonable sin, which we can commit, and that sin is the rejection of Christ. My dear readers, we have no hope in the world to come, if we reject Christ in this world, let this thought occupy your mind and lead you to ask, what shall I do to be saved? we are sinful and rebellious creatures, and under condemnation, and unless we are born again, we shall all perish; unless we are brought into that state of grace we shall never be happy, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Consider thy ways, come thou thirsty sinner and partake of the water of life, freely, without cost and without price. There is a wide difference betwixt the state of nature and of grace. One is the pursuit of licentious sins and demoralizing follies, the other, the pursuit of virtue, truth, and peace. The Sabbaths which were once misspent, would be used aright; in short, the pleasurable paths of sin would be utterly forsaken. Then when you were tossed upon life's billows, and trials and troubles, beset you, you would have an heavenly Father and friend to protect, keep and guide you. At his feet you could seek mercy and peace, your days would be happier and your prospect of Eternity brighter, and you could have happy and encouraging thoughts, that you would at last meet with the Spirits of the just made perfect above, and live for ever and ever in glory. May God grant his blessing unto you, and fill your hearts with good things from above. Amen. J.B. WALKER. The Fragment Basket. DAILY DUTIES. irregular feast, but up and stiring; in winter, often ere the sound of any bell awakes men to labor, or to devotion; in summer, as oft with the bird that first rises, or not much tardier, to read good authors, or cause them to be read, till the attention be weary, or memory have its full freight: then with useful and generous labors preserving the body's health and hardiness, to render lightsome, clear, and not lumpish obedience to the mind, to the cause of religion and our country's liberty. BLESSEDNESS IN SORROW. There are times when some great sorrow has torn away the mind from its familiar supports, and laid level those defences which in prosperity seemed so stable-when the most rooted convictions of the reason seem rottenness, and the blossoms of our heavenward imagination go up before that blast as dust-when our works, and joys, and hopes, with all their multitude, and pomp, and glory, seem to go down together in the pit, and the soul is left as a garden that hath no water, and as a wandering bird cast out of the nest. In that day of trouble and treading down, and of perplexity, the noise of viols, the mirth of the tabret, and the joy of the harp, are silent in the grave. Blessed is the man who, when cast into this utter wretchedness, far away from all creatures and from all comforts, can yet be willing, amidst all his tears and his anguish, there to remain as long as God shall please. CHEERFULNESS IN AGE. As oft as I hear the robin redbreast chant as cheerfully in September, the beginning of winter, as in March, the approach of the summer, why should not we (think I) give as cheerful entertainment to the hoary frosty hairs of our age's winter, as the primroses of our youth spring! Why not to the declining sun in adversity, as (like the Persians) to the rising sun in prosperity? I am sent to the ant to learn industry; to the dove to learn innocency; to the serpent to learn wisdom; and why not to this bird to learn equanimity and patience; and to keep the same tenor of my mind's quietness, as well at the approach of calamity's winter, as of the spring of happiness? CHRISTIAN LOVE. The more believers love God, the more they love one another; as the lines of a circle, the nearer they come to the centre, the nearer they come to each other. Poetry. THE DYING YEAR. CLOSE his eyes-they look so cold, Clasp his hands-so long and thin: That he scattered round like rain! Hush! he's gone! adown the wind Smooth the wrinkles on his browHe'll not feel the pressure now. Hark! the rain sobs at the door, THE CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE, AND Friend of the People. "Let the whole earth be filled with His glory." THIS PUBLICATION IS DESIGNED TO BE THE FORERUNNER OF THE CC CHRISTIAN WITNESS." PROFITS DEVOTED TO AGED MINISTERS. VOLUME XIV. LONDON: JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1859. PREFACE. VOLUME XIV. of the CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE closes one of the most eventful years that have occurred for many generations. Those events are at once multifarious and stupendous; our concern, however, is with those that are spiritual. The movements which have occurred in the North of Ireland bespeak a mysterious, and an all-subduing power wholly exceeding, and, in some respects, unlike everything known to ecclesiastical history. The wisdom of this world has been set at nought, and its philosophy turned into foolishness. These manifestations have occurred under every variety of circumstances, and among all classes of people. If a few have been deeply moved without being thoroughly converted, multitudes have obviously passed from death unto life, and are now walking as new creatures. Besides, the bulk of the converts have not been so acted on at all. Wherever men have turned from the error of their ways, let them not be worried with matters of doubtful disputation, but encouraged to "follow on to know the Lord," to improve their minds, purify their hearts, and build themselves up in their most holy faith. Our concern is not with the philosophy, but with the effects of these great movements; and thus tested, they present a spectacle which ought to gladden all hearts. Places of worship, many of them previously but ill attended, are now everywhere crowded. Ministers of the Gospel have very generally experienced a revival of religion in their own souls, and some of them have, for the first time, "tasted that the Lord is gracious." They professed to preach the Gospel, but they neither knew, nor felt it; now it is all their salvation, and all their desire to make it known to the ends of the earth! There has been a great revival among true professors of religion; and great numbers, who had "a name to live, while they were dead," are now rejoicing in the power of godliness. The effect on the domestic constitution of the country is very remarkable; strife and contention, oppression and cruelty, have given place to opposite qualities. The houses of the peasantry are as the garden of the Lord. Sinful pastimes, social wickedness, drunkenness, and debauchery, are fast disappearing: "old things are passing away, and all things are becoming new." The facts are most striking where they are most important,-among the rising generation. Converted persons are everywhere offering themselves to help on the work of instruction, and young people display such a |