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rable from peace and happiness. In such a world as ours, home should be the refuge from every danger; the spot where freedom is found from every care; the haven where tranquil waters are met with after the fiercest storm.

X. Sympathy under domestic trials must be expressed.

There must be no cold, no unfeeling heart displayed. Family difficulties will occur; family changes will be experienced; family sorrows will be endured; family bereavements will be undergone; and in these situations there must be sympathetic and tender emotions cherished. The parents must feel for the children, and the children for the parents; brothers must be kind and compassionate towards their sisters in affliction; and sisters must endeavor to alleviate the sorrows and burdens of their brothers. Thus will support be administered under the heaviest pressure; consolation be afforded during painful illnesses, and protracted calamities, and the benediction of Heaven be graciously imparted.

XI. Sincere prayer must be presented for each other.

Parents, in this way especially, must remember their children, and children their parents. It is the best kind of remembrance; the most beautiful expression of love. There should be in the family circle the elevation of the heart to God, for

Victory!

Peace

SOUND the loud trump-the field is won!
The haughty foemen fly!
Strew'd o'er the plain, all red with gore,
The dead and dying lie:

Let coursers speed, swift as the wind,

To councils of the great; Proclaim the valorous deeds we've wrought In vengeance for the State. Lo! dead men's bones, and widow's groans And fetters for the free, 'Mid ruins crash, and fire's flash

Proclaim our victory!

Our flag floats proudly o'er the spoil;

Ten thousand bosoms bleed,
No tarnish rests upon our sword,
But speaks a noble deed;
Our backs the foemen never saw,
Save where our corses fell;

his continual guidance, preservation and blessing. Mutual prayer will cement mutual love,—will alleviate mutual sorrows,

will sweeten mutual mercies,-will heighten and purify mutual joys. Where these elevated feelings are not cultivated, there is no happmess, no security.

XII. The family must look forward to a purer, brighter, nobler world than this:-a world where there shall be no ignorance to darken, no error to mislead, no infirmities to lament, no enemies to assail, no cares to harass, no sickness to endure, no changes to experience; but where all will be perfect bliss, unclouded light, unspotted purity, immortal tranquillity and joy.

Members of families, in passing through life, should make it apparent by their principles, by their habits, by their conversation, by their spirit, by their aims, that they rise above the present transitory scene; and that they are intensely anxious to unite again in that world of peace, harmony and love, where there will be nothing to defile or annoy, and where the thought of separation will be unknown.

Families! make the above maxims your governing principles, and we promise you domestic bliss. Wherever you may find discomfort abroad, you will be sure to realize happiness at home. Mother's Magazine.

Column.

And every mark our bodies bear,

Of daring deeds shall tell.

The raven and the carrion

Have scented from afar,

And spread their wings, like fiendish things, Exulting in the war.

When o'er the grave the widow bends,

When hungry orphans cry,
And maidens weeping for their loves,
Look upward to the sky:
When labour pines beneath the chains

Imposed by pomp of war,
And the wild grass waves mournfully
Where flowers grew before;
When passion dies and reason strives
Some happier things to see-

The trump shall hush, and Briton's blush
To speak of victory.

P.

Printed by JOHN KENNEDY, at his Printing Office, 35, Portman Place, Maida Hill, in the County of Middlesex, London.-September, 1850.

Theology.

Some Classes of dangerous character to be Avoided by the Young. BEWARE OF THE IDLE. Both reason and Scripture warn us against idleness. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, learn wisdom and be wise." The idle man is a burden to himself, and a nuisance to society. Idleness exposes to all forms of temptation. A man unemployed is like a city without gates and walls, open to every incursion of the enemy. Though less abhorred than drunkenness, or blasphemy, or theft, idleness is frequently the forerunner of all. Few habitual idlers have been brought into the way of life everlasting. We may attend to our business, and at the same time perform our duty to God: and we apprehend that it is especially from the ranks of those who have nothing to do, and who do nothing, that Satan numbers his votaries, and the corrupters of our youth.

BEWARE OF THE SELFISH AND COVETOUS. There is danger that young men, at the outset of life, become worldly and selfish. Respect is paid to riches. False principles of character are proposed, adopted, and acted upon. As men possess wealth, they are courted, distinguished and honorable. Now there is great danger that you be affected with this spirit,—that while you associate with others in business you make their chief end also yours,—that your sole determination will be, by all means to get wealth. Hence the soul is engrossed, the time is entirely occupied; and hence the hopelessness of such a state in reference to God and eternity. The love of the world increases, becomes all-absorbing, and the claims of the Saviour for time, or devotedness, or worldly substance, is gradually, and then totally, disregarded. The world is worshipped instead of God, the heart is shrivelled up to utter insignificance, the mind keeps no object before it but the money which may be realised; while the ordinances of God, the claims of the needy and destitute, are either wholly disregarded, or put off with the smallest coin of the basest metal, and were there a smaller or a baser still, even that would be deemed sufficient. Such men expend their abundance and generosity upon self, but to humanity and religion they can afford only one of the two mites which make a farthing. His selfish and covetous spirit is the more dangerous also, because it is not found exclusively among the abandoned and irreligious, but it is the course of many who have named the name of the Lord Jesus. It is a deceitful sin. The covetous man scarcely ever suspects his real character. The robber must know that he is dishonest, the drunkard that he is intemperate: but covetousness is deceitful above all sins. It leads to innumerable evils. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." "Covetousness," says the eloquent Harris, "appears to have been the principal element in the first transgression. Eve saw, she coveted, she partook. Covetousness, in the person of Lot, appears to have been the great sin of the patriarchal dispensation. Covetousness, in the person of Achan, was the first sin of the Israelites in Canaan. Covetousness, in the persons of Ananias and Sapphira, was the first sin of the Christian church. Covetousness interrupted its joy and stained its virgin glory. Covetousness pervades all classes of mankind. It generates fraud, falsehood and injustice, and shakes off every honorable and religious obligation. Covetousness, in the person of Judas, betrayed the Son of God the Saviour of the world, for thirty pieces of silver." "Take heed and beware of covetousness. 'Covetousness is idolatry.' Do not think that the sin against which these statements are directed is merely that excessive avarice which has rendered a few noted misers eminently infamous. Selfishness assumes various forms, so as to seduce men the

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SOME CLASSES OF DANGEROUS CHARACTERS

more effectually. It takes, for example, the name of industry; but the pretended industry of many a professor is the destruction of his piety, and will form the ground of his condemnation. His time, strength, solicitude, are all drained off in the service of Mammon, in the devout adoration of self. We are the more anxious, then, to guard you in youth against covetous, selfish professors, because Scripture mentions no instance of a child of God being a covetous man, and because the instances of the conversion of the covetous are few indeed. A covetous professor is in extreme danger. This sin so blinds, so hardens, so deludes, so flatters, that the heart of man becomes as impervious and inaccessible as the dull, cold ear of death." Let the tradesman, the merchant, the enterprizing youth, then, beware of confining his attention to selfgratification, self-indulgence. Be not deceived-nor thieves nor covetous shall inherit the kingdom of God.

BEWARE OF THE LOOSE AND TRIFLING. It is not the avowed infidel, the openly profligate, the decidedly profane, of whom we are in the most danger; but those who are living loosely in the visible, partial neglect of religion. These may be respectable, and, in certain circles, respected; they may be cultivated and insinuating: but if their habits be irreligious, they are on all these accounts the more dangerous. You are in least danger from the low, the vulgar, the dissipated and the profane. But there are other tempters who make light of sacred things. To this class belongs the Sabbath-breaker. Beware of him. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy! It is a bad symptom with a young person when he trifles with any part of this holy day. No habitual Sabbath-breaker can permanently prosper. The Sabbath is a wise, glorious, beneficent institution, even in reference to this world; and the man who violates this command, has cast down one of the strongest barriers against temptation, and knows not what shall be the end. Now the Lord's day is profaned in a great variety of ways. It is profaned by attending to matters which may be as well done on the day before, or the day after,-by attending to worldly business in the shop, the counting-house and the field. "There is in this respect that withholdeth more than is enough, and it tendeth to poverty." It is profaned in an awful degree, by conversation unsuitable to its design, by reading the newspapers, talking on politics or kindred subjects; and it is alarmingly profaned by improper, needless and thoughtless walking. It is appalling to witness in the outskirts of our towns the dense crowds of young persons acting in violation of an express command of their Creator and Judge. Are these, gay, frivolous, tattling, thoughtless beings, creatures of a day,— creatures who have only a few precious Sabbaths to improve,-creatures who have but a step between them and death? The chief end of these is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever; and yet, alas! they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God! Remember the command, ye that forget God, lest he tear you pieces, and there be none to deliver. As you would not plant with thorns your dying pillow, beware of the Sabbath-despiser.

BEWARE OF THE ERRONEOUS IN PRINCIPLE. These companions are the more dangerous, both because error is seductive-commencing with litttle deviations and because the young are naturally disposed to error. There is, in consequence of the pride of men, an intellectual and moral prejudice against religion, and in favour of infidelity. Atheism has its source either in self-conceit, or native depravity-pride, or aversion to the checks of religion. It was either or both of these which made Voltaire and Rousseau, Hume and Paine,

infidels.

TO BE AVOIDED BY THE YOUNG.

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These make infidels still. Men do not like to retain God in their knowledge. Because erroneous opinions, once entertained, are not easily removed, it is our duty to take care of those who propagate them, to avoid their company. The Pharisees entertained wrong views about various matters; and though Christ appeared as the light of the world, they loved their own darkness rather than the light. The Sadducees denied the resurrection; and though our Lord silenced them, and admonished others, yet their opinions remained unchanged. The Apostles had supposed that Christ would restore the kingdom to Israel, and even at the Saviour's ascension they had not abandoned their temporal ideas. Take heed, then, what opinions you receive. There is need of caution, need of admonition; because the world abounds with false spirits, and men are become so artful, "that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect." Prove all things. Take nothing upon trust. Be not biassed by the standing of any one. Call no man master upon earth; but form your own views from the decision of an enlightened conscience, and a prayerful intelligent studying of the Bible. It would be easy to show that much has been written against scepticism and infidelity; and that so far as regards arguments founded on the history or internal character of Christianity, the controversy is exhausted. Some other excuse must now be discovered for rejection of the Bible than want of evidence. Scope has been allowed for discussion; and the result has proved how little Christianity has to fear from its bitterest adversaries, how trivial the amount of all that their learning, ingenuity and subtlety have found to oppose, to the authority and claims of our most holy faith. Its truth has acquired fresh lustre, as gold seven times purified, and is proved the more glorious by the most rigid scrutiny. The weakness of its adversaries has been exposed; whilst men of talent, learning and piety, have been roused to defend the truth, and, upon patient investigation, luminously and gloriously to establish its principles, and to repel the encroachments of scepticism, error and infidelity. Read the productions of Leslie, Watson, Clarke, Butler, Doddridge, Newton, Leland, Lardner, Campbell, and a host of others, in those beautiful and convincing, those overwhelming and immortal defences of our faith, which show how its enemies have contributed to perpetuate the cause they intended to destroy. If it be said there are many great minds on the opposite side too, we would ask you to consider the numbers who, from being despisers of the Christian religion, have been compelled to throw down the weapons of rebellion, and produce elaborate defences which baffle the ablest of their antagonists to answer or gainsay. The competency of these testimonies cannot be doubted. Among them are men of very high intellectual vigour, men versed in philosophy, skilled in science, and who, had the evidences of revelation been weak, were well qualified, from previous opinion and prejudice, to detect and expose the imposture. In the confessions of such infidels as Rochester, West, Lyttleton, Boyle, Wilson and others, we see the fountains of infidelity, the real cause of libertine opinions and erroneous systems; we see on what hollow ground these fabrics of delusion have been reared; and in the deep penitence of these men at last, and their dissolute, ruinous, pestilential conduct at first, we learn to avoid in time that fatal rock on which multitudes have been shipwrecked; and we learn to prize our Bible the more, as the day-star from on high, the spring of our best consolation here, the precursor and guide to the glories of a better day.

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BEWARE OF THOSE WHO FREQUENT SUSPICIOUS PLACES-THE TAVERN, THE THEATRE. We cannot speak in terms of too strong reprobation against drunkenness against all tendency, all temptation, to intemperance. The danger of intemperate characters is recorded in the word of God-so is their doom. It is easy to render reasons for our opposition to the theatre-the vast number of exceptionable stage-plays, popular pieces of corrupt and questionable cha. racter; the comparative disregard of what is moral, pure, lovely, and of good report; the low buffonery and folly, the blasphemy and impiety, which abound among all companies; the pandering to the baser affections and passions; the admission, we had almost said the invitation, of the frail and abandoned of one sex; the associations formed by the young; the corrupt and corrupting indulgences, within and without, between pieces, and at the conclusion; the stimulus applied to the passions by the nature of the performances; the language, gestures, dress, of the performers themselves;-these, apart altogether from Scripture, impresses us with the deep aud solemn conviction, that theatres deserve nothing from the thoughtful and pure but unmitigated, immeasured, unequivocal condemnation. And if the precepts of the New Testament are relished, if the love of Christ dwell in any heart, it will be as impossible for that individual to find pleasure in such places, as to sacrifice in the temple of a heathen idol. Can the love of a theatre and such precepts as the following ever coincide?" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." "Swear not at all." "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth." "Keep thyself pure." Avoid the theatre, then, as that which tends to immorality, licentiousness and profligacy. Avoid it as one of the broadest avenues which lead to destruction; as an enemy to purity, piety, devotion; as a tainted, polluted atmosphere. For all the evils which waste the property, corrupt the morals, blast the reputation, impair the health, and destroy the soul, live and move and have their being there. In fine, be not too anxious for society. Have few friends-no companions, rather than improper ones. Choose for your intimates persons of moral worth, those who love the habitation of God's house, and the place where his honour dwelleth, the fearers of the Lord. Remember the perils of evil associates. "A companion of fools shall be destroyed." His path is the way to Hell, going down to the chambers of death. Will it sooth the agony of a condemned spirit to remember the company of the gayest on earth. Oh! what songs will cheer the darkness of eternal night! what reflection of sociality, or mirth, or glee, will for a moment dispel the gloom of everlasting despair! Son, remember that thou in thy life-time didst receive thy good things." There shall be the awakened conscience, the worm that never dies, the fire that is never quenched. "They that sow to the` flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption."

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A Moral Sketch.

THE CONTRAST.

In the family of a respectable and prosperous man, his daughter, M. was, some years since, the gayest of the gay. Her father would have felt it an insult to be called irreligious. He did, it is true, indulge at times, in an oath, and was overtaken occasionally by the bottle; and, though his day of pleasure, and

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