THE SAILOR AND THE STUDENT. A FEW years since I was travelling in the eastward, with a daughter; the stage stopped, when an additional traveller took his passage with us. He was a seafaring man about thirty years of age, and neatly dressed in the sailor's habit. In a short time we became social, and engaged in conversation with each other. He had been on board the admiral's ship in the last great naval battle with the French fleet, and was near Lord Nelson when he received his mortal wound, having beeen pressed into the service. It was not long before he began to use very profane language; and I thought it my duty to show him the wickedness and impropriety of such language, and resolved on the utterance of the next oath to begin with him. Accordingly, as he was using an improper expression, I looked him in the face, and kindly chided him for his language. He immediately replied, "Oh, we sailors are accustomed to it, and don't mind swearing.' I replied, it increased their criminality, by proceeding in that course until it became a habit. then appeared very angry at the reproof, which was as tenderly given as I could possibly make it. I then told him I saw he was displeased, and he and I would cease conversing with each other, unless he promised me he would keep his temper, and be friendly. He immediately consented, and I then took an opportunity of introducing the subject of religion. I heard not a word of profane language from him after this; he was very friendly, and I took the

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liberty to recommend to him several religious authors, which I wished him to read, and as one of the best, next to the Bible, Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.

We reached Boston, (in America), where I was to leave him, to proceed on his journey to his father's in Maine, and as we parted, he put his hand on my knee, and' with tears, said he was sorry I was not going further with him. He had five hundred dollars with him, which he received as prize money, and said he should be able to give some assistance to his father and family, and get into some business that he need not leave him again, by going to sea. The writer, from the evident good effect produced on the mind of the sailor, would say to his Christian brethren, Be kind, and tender-hearted, and God may bless your design in bringing others to "taste and see that the Lord is good."

During the conversation with the sailor, a young gentleman, a student at one of the colleges, on a visit to Boston to his father, sat before me with his head in a position that I did not see his face, and appeared totally indifferent to the subject of our con. versation. I then had not the most distant idea that we should ever meet again, but God in his provideuce brought him once more into my company, and afforded me much pleasure in a religious intercourse with him, in the following manner. A few years after our journey to Boston, a gentleman came into my store, and introduced himself to me; and as I had no recollection of him, he reminded me of the incident of

the sailor, and stated that he was the young man who was our fellow passsenger at the time, and that he had now come to Philadelphia to study divinity. I asked him when he became seriously impressed with the subject of religion: he replied that it was in the stage, during my conversation with the sailor. He had reached home on Saturday evening, and the next day being sabbath, he thought he would not go out to church, as he was fatigued or for some other excuse. During his stay at home he saw on the shelf a book, which, on taking down proved to be Doddridge's Rise and Progress, the book he had heard me recommend to the sailor; he read it, and was deeply impressed and benefited by it. Doubtless God made this work, in the hand of the Spirit, a great help to this young gentleman in his inquiry after divine truth. When I last heard from him he was preaching the gospel somewhere in Massachusetts, and I trust he is an able teacher of the doctrines of Christ. It would afford the writer great pleasure to hear from him or his other fellow traveller.

Thus the Lord blessed a casual observation in a stage to an individual to whom it was not directed, and an encouragement is thus held out to Christians to be always ready to speak a word for God.-American Publication.

RIGHT AND WRONG.

It is common for people to say, "I know what is right and what is wrong." It is to be feared many a one is mistaken who makes this remark: let the reader, when he has finished this paper, ask "Is it I?"

It is right to know that our hearts are by nature deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, that they need to be changed. It is right to come to Jesus Christ as poor sinners, and believe in him, and be saved. Right to repent of our sins, and forsake them. Right to love God with all our heart and mind, and show our love by walking humbly before God Right to glorify God in all we do; to walk in a right way, which is the way of holiness; to do works from a right motive, which is from love to Christ; to spend the sabbath in a right manner, by rising early, employing the day in reading, praying, meditating, and hearing the word of God. Right to train up our children well, by giving them education, as far as in our power, pointing them to Jesus, and telling them of man's ruin by sin, man's redempton by Christ, and the necessity of regeneration.

But let me tell you what is wrong. It is wrong to put off religion to another period, for ye know not what a day may bring forth; wrong to neglect salvation, wrong to trust in your good works to take you to heaven, as salvation is alone through Jesus Christ and all of free grace; wrong to speak vain words, lie, swear, break the sabbath, get angry and sin, speaking ill of your neighbour behind his back, and not forgiving him when he has offended you. Wrong to spend the sabbath-day in carnal pleasure, thinking your own thoughts, and speaking your own words; wrong to live without God in the world. "That servant, which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes."

VEHEMENT SORROW.

VEHEMENT Sorrow is like raging fire, that turns every thing into its own nature. It is thy work, Christian, therefore, to study consolation, as well as to pore upon thy losses; to ballast thy soul with Divine comforts: Christ says, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come." Many times the best of our earthly enjoyments stand between us and our heavenly consolations: "But if I depart, I will send him unto you.' It is good to resolve with ourselves, Be my loss in this world ever so great, it is capable of a reparation. For certainly, if the loss of Christ in his bodily presence were to be repaired, there is nothing under the whole heaven, the loss whereof we can sustain, but may much more easily be made up with advantage; to be sure the presence of the Comforter is able to do it with an infinite overplus.

It is thy wisdom, therefore, thou desponding Christian, to balance thy soul with Divine comforts; even as afflictions abound, run to thy cordial, these words, that thy consolations may abound also. If the affiiction scale be heavier than the consolation scale, thou wilt certainly sink in thy spirit, and then thy burden wilt break thy back. The spirit of a man is able to sustain his infirmity. Thou mayest mourn, but that is not all thou hast to do; it concerns thee to get a cordial to keep thy heart from fainting: For this cause we faint not." Mark, the apostle had always his cordial about him; so do thou; be equally just to thyself, as to thy deceased friends. Thou owest them a debt of tears; hast thou paid it? Now be just to thyself; thou owest a care to thy soul, that thou sin not; to thy spirit that it sink not: must thou needs die, because thy husband, thy child, thy friend,

BIBLE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.

Is not the whole subject of training our children agreeably to the principles of the Bible, and the divine government, far less difficult and mysterious than is often supposed? Our heavenly Father, in his perfect plan, adopts two very simple principles, viz.: Unbending firmness and uniform love. From these he never turns aside. His laws are immutably fixed, but his love is equally strong and unchanging. Of this, no one who studies the revelation of his laws and his love, or who notices his firm, yet affectionate discipline, will for a moment doubt. Now, why not imitate this perfect plan, and adopt these two principles? That many Christian fathers and mothers in our land are thus imitating the wise government of their Father in heaven, we do not doubt, and they are reaping a golden harvest of the rich fruits of obedience and filial love in return. But let us walk through the length and breadth of our happy country, and enter the houses of such only as profess to imitate their father in heaven, and have promised to comply with the rules he has given in the Bible, and how often do we see the fatal mistake of indulgence substituted for love, and passion, caprice, or peevishness, for a wise, energetic, and inflexible government? Why should it be thus? Have we any right to depart from the example he has given in every developement of his administration? Or have we, his children, a right to disobey his express commands on this point? Do Christian parents reflect that every act of disobedience in a child is virtually trampling on the laws and authority of God, and treating with contempt his own example? Is it left optional with us to see that they obey or disobey at convenience? Let us examine our Bibles and see.

I once passed some months in a Christian family, in which the morning and evening sacrifice were duly offered on the domestic altar-the Bible daily read, and the house of God visited "in season and out of season. Nor was this all. The closet, too, bore witness to the tears and prayers of these parents in behalf of two lovely children, who were the only "olive plants" around their table. They had leisure and intelligence sufficient to learn their duty, and they probably thought they performed it to a very good degree; and was there wanting in that Christian family, affection and kindness? On the contrary, you might discover the most doating fondness and excessive indulgence Every desired amusement, or toy, or article of dress, or book, was freely given nor were frequent caresses and flattering expressions of delight spared. And what was the government? Occasionally calm and dispassionate, but too often angry words and hasty blows decided the contest between parent and child, what the example? Discontent and ill humour often sat on the mother's face; silence and reserve not unfrequently found a place at the cheerless meal, and fretful words and mutual recriminations were sometimes exchanged between those parents on whose faces should have been engraven "the laws of kindness and love." As the tender saplings grew, did they wind around the parent stem? No; coldness and reserve increased also, and between parents and children was thrust a barrier which sealed up every avenue of the heart's best affections towards each other, but not so for others.

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Children must have friends in whose bosoms they can repose their young sorrows and joys; and the love of their Creator has provided for this necessity, and given to them a home for their warm affections in a

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mother's bosom, and a father's heart. Thanks for the precious gift! But should these be locked against them, who will wonder that they go abroad to find a friend who will listen and love? So it was with these children, who were consecrated to their God and Saviour, wept over and prayed for by their distressed and misguided parents. They found companions who could listen to their grievances, and they learned to mingle with the profane, and the liar, and the thief, and share their guilty pleasures, and become as wicked and hardened as they!

Turn not away from this picture, because it is painful, or trite, or common place. It is a true one, and would to God that it were not, in many of its features so often seen. Permit me to ask you to look into your own dwelling, and see if any of its unsightly lineaments are sketched there. That you love your children, I doubt not, but are the manifestations of this love the same as exhibited toward a tenderly loved friend? Is their company agreeable to you? Are you anxious to impart to them every subject of interest adapted to their years? As you sit around your fire-side or table, are the hours enlivened by affectionate useful intercourse, or do they pass heavily in silence or gloom, or are they rendered tedious with the noise and distraction of undisciplined children? Do you invite them to your bosom of tenderness, with all their young secrets and sorrows? Do you encourage them to come to you alone with their curious questions, which must be solved by some one? Or, is the common mistake yours, on turning them over to some reckless companion for explanation of subjects in reference to which the mother should be the only organ of communication? Are you the confidant, the most dearly loved friend of your children, from the nursery to the drawing-room?

Deal faithfully, and if you have fallen into such errors, hasten to retrieve them. As a mother, your children have a right to your warmest earthly affections, and your best intellectual gifts and highest social powers. Your heart is made for them. The infinitely wise Creator intended it when he directed you to teach them his will as you "sat with them, walked with them, went out and came in with them," implying the most free, constant, and affectionate intercourse. There should be more mingling of souls between parent and child; the best powers of thought and conversation should be reserved for them,

not for the morning visitor, or evenin circle abroad. Be the most intimate friend of the happy group of loving faces around your fireside, and I will tell you some of the sweet fruits you will gather. Their mother will be to them a guardian angel while she lives, and her memory their polar star when she is in the grave. In sickness and suffering, they will be to her as ministering spirits. Their amusement and occupations will be forgotten in their tender assiduities and anxious cares. They will smooth her passage and strew flowers in her way, as she decends to the tomb, and the savour of her blessed memory shall go down to succeeding generations.

And in reference to the government of our children, let us remember that God has not only given the right to require implict obedience, but has laid on us the command to require it, and that we have promised "to command our houses, so that they shall keep the way of the Lord," and also that in vain do we offer fervent supplication for them, if we are disobedient to our Father in heaven.

THE MOTHER OF PHILIP HENRY.

A WOMAN may be great without the pomp and pageantry which often are the attendants of honour. Her deeds may help to purify the age in which she lives, and may make an indelible impress upon the future without being heralded by the commendations of the great or the applause of the multitude. In some lone spot of the earth, secluded from the gaze of men, she may be, and often has been, sowing seeds whose harvests are rich, and the fruits of which are stored in the garner-house of heaven; for virtue needs not, for its propagation, the shallow streams of popular applause, when it is nourished in its infancy and directed in its maturity by the care and wisdom of him who is its Author.

It is in a spot, and by a person, retired from the busy haunts of men, that a character was moulded and matured which, in its full development, was one of the moral lights of the 17th century. Magdalen Rochdale was the one to whom was assigned, in obscurity though it was, the task of giving the first impressions to a mind whose features, in after years, were those which are alone brought out by the severe schooling of the moral conflict-features which distinguish, among the dense crowd of men, the TRUE man, the moral hero. It was to this obscure individual that God gave the distinguished honour of