SELL IT NOT for love or money, SELL IT NOT to fame or friendship, SELL IT NOT to boisterous talking, SELL IT NOT when storms are raging, SELL IT NOT to ignorant bluster, SELL IT NOT when from thy dwelling SELL IT NOT to learned dreamers, SELL IT NOT to priests or laymen— SELL IT NOT: Christ will befriend thee, SELL IT NOT: the Judge approaches, Truth alone can chase death's darkness, ON THE SUDDEN DEPARTURE OF A SWIFT as the forked lightning flies, In life-on earth-no more to rise, And shall I at dark Hades' gate, No! thinking of thy happy state, No waving tumult stay'd thy flight, At once, she rose a glorious light, Nature will cleave to nature's own,- Pour out its sighs; Forgetting that the seed thus sown, An object of thy tender care, It is a pleasure everywhere I mourned thee with affection true, 'Till then was sterner work to do- This is no pleasurable dream: Strive to attain to joys supreme, How could I, ever mourning, stay, "To Christ the Lord;-Oh watch and pray "Live while you live!" Walking the strait and narrow road, Prepared for them; The City of the Living God, Jerusalem! Chelmsford, Jan. 11. T. R. HOOPER. "ONE THING IS NEEDFUL." "Ach! das Herz verlassend Alles." "But one thing is neeeful: and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her."-LUKE X. 42. АH! the heart that has forsaken All things to secure the one, Finds a peace before unknown. Ah! the heart that lives dissevered By a peaceful path is treading In our hearts we here enjoyed! Life its load, and death its sting! Oh! thou Fount of every blessing, Draw us by the cross, till we, Heart and soul, and will and spirit, Are for ever one with thee! UNBEKANNTES. The Children's Page. FINGER-MARKS. SOME time ago a gentleman employed a mason to do some work for him, and, among other things, to whiten the walls of one of his chambers. The thin whitening was almost colourless till dried. The gentleman was much surprised, on the morning after the room was finished, to find on the drawer of his bureau in the room, white finger-marks. Opening the drawer, he found the same marks on the articles in it, and also on a pocket-book, as well as on the contents of the wallet, which proved that the mason, with his wet hands, had opened the drawer, searched the wallet-which contained no money and then closed the drawers, without once thinking that any one would ever know it. The thin whitening which chanced to be on his hand did not show at first, and he probably had no idea that twelve hours' drying would reveal his attempt at theft. As the job was ended on the afternoon the drawer was opened, the man did not come again, and to this day is not aware that his acts are known to his employer. Children, beware of evil thoughts and deeds. They are all finger-marks, which will be revealed at some future time. If you disobey your parents, or tell a falsehood, or take what is not your own, you make sad finger-marks on your character. And so it is with any and all sin. It defiles the character; it betrays those who engage in it by the marks it makes and leaves on them. These marks may be almost, if not quite, invisible at first; but if they should not be seen during any of your days on earth-which is not at all likely yet there is a day coming in which all finger-marks, or sin-stains on the character" will be made manifest." Never suppose that you can do what is wrong without leaving a stain on your character. It is impossible. If you injure another, you, by that very deed, injure yourself. If you break a law of God, the injury is sadly your own. Think of it; ever bear it in mind, children, that every sin you commit leaves a sure mark on yourselves. Your character should be a coating of pure truth. Let truth even be manifest. Beware of sin, "and be sure your sin will find you out," for it makes finger-marks, which, even should they not be seen by those around you on earth, will yet be seen, to your condemnation, at the bar of God, unless washed out through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. It will be dreadful, in the judgment, to see stains of our past ill-deeds brought out like the mason's whiting on the bureau and pocket-book. WHAT THE LITTLE ONES CAN DO. The drops of rain and the rays of light Then do not say, "Of what use am I?" We can lend to the poor a helping hand; We can cheer the sick as we by them stand; We can send God's word to a heathen land. We can speak to others in tones of love; We can dwell in peace like the gentle dove; We can point the weary to rest above. Oh, how sweet to think that in life's young days We may live to show forth the Saviour's praise, And may guide some feet into wisdom's ways. The Portfolio. GOD does not mean us to rest on earth. There is not a seat by the way-side around which temptations do not lurk; where the call of duty does not arise, commanding us to arise and work. none THE difference between the moralist and the Christian is this,-that the moralist seeks to love God by doing right; the Christian, to do right by loving God. The first makes the works of the watch move by pushing round the hands from outside; the second makes the hands move by winding up the works. PRAYER. WHO would not love him whose ear bends down to listen to our requests, saying to us, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it?" O, let us draw largely upon this pleasure-house of blessing. The oftener we come the more welcome. Why does the Lord try us, but that we may try him, and prove that he is able and willing to do all that he has promised? We often ask with so much unbelief in our hearts, the wonder is, that he condescends to hear or answer us at all. SEEING GOD. TRY and never give way to "self pity," but rather seek to see God in whatever befals you, or may now be your lot. The pure in heart-that is, the purified-those to whom has been given a clean heart and a right spirit shall see God wherever he is to be seen; and where is he not to be seen by the believer? God is in his own gifts to us, and to see him there is to enjoy them indeed. God is in all the privations and poverty he permits to be our lot, and to see God therein is to feel rich. God is in our pain, and to see him there at the time is to make it light as a feather and overcome it. God is in his wORD, and to see God in the ministry of that word, or in reading or meditating thereon, is to "find his word and eat it." God is in all his ordinances, and to see God there is to worship him in them acceptably. Oh, what would baptism be with no God in it? What would be the Lord's Supper, if not in remembrance of him? THE CHURCH. No true Bible church is schismatic, but every false church is so. Notice now three things connected with the constitutions of a true church. First-It is spiritual in opposition to political; its Head is spiritual, its members are spiritual persons, their strength, food, service, enjoyments, are spiritual; therefore, to be a member of this church, each one must be born again of the Spirit, and this excludes all infants and ungodly men or women: Christ stands at the very door, and cries, "Ye must be born again." Second-Each member must own his sinnership, and become a baptised believer in the Lord Jesus: for baptism is the ritual door-not the vital door; and when he has followed the Lord in baptism, he must voluntarily become a member, and the church must voluntarily receive him, and then he has a right to the Lord's table and all the privileges of the church. If we attend to these things, we shall hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. The churches of God are neither natural, nor diocesan, nor parochial; but each church, independent in its government, has a right to elect its officers, to choose its pastors, to receive its own members, to withdraw from the ungodly, and to pray for each other. J. HAZLETON. Reviews and Criticisms. Things New and Old; or, a Storehouse of Similes, etc. By JOHN SPENCER, a Lover of Learning and Learned Men. (In two volumes.) London: William Tegg. 1868. IN these handsome volumes we have 2287 choice illustrations and extracts collected from the writings and sayings of the learned and godly in all ages. A more valuable work for ministers we have never met with of the kind. It is an equally interesting book for all readers, and one which we could read through with both pleasure and profit from beginning to end. If all our members could posess a copy, they would have a storehouse of spiritual illustrations of immense value. We counsel all our churches to lose no time in presenting their pastors with a copy. It will enrich their libraries and help to store their minds with solid matter of a thoroughly edifying kind. Take these two illustrations as a whet to your appetite: 1993. “ The True Comfort of Election." "A man may have his name set down in the chronicles, yet lost; wrought in durable marble, yet perish; set up on a monument equal to Colossus, yet be ignominious; inscribed on the hospital gates, yet go to hell; written in the front of his own house, yet another come to possess it. All these are but writings in the dust, or upon the waters, where the characters perish so soon as they are made: they no more prove a man happy than the fool could prove Pontius Pilate, because his name was written in the creed. But the true comfort is this, when a man by assurance can conclude with his own soul, that his name is written in those eternal leaves of heaven, in the book of God's election (Luke x. 20), which shall never be wrapped up in the cloudy sheets of darkness, but remain legible to all eternity." 2172. "Men not to be Ashamed of their Godly Profession though the Wicked speak Evil of them." "Suppose a geometrician should be drawing of lines and figures, and there should come in some silly ignorant fellow, who, seeing his employment, should laugh at him; would the artist, think you, leave off his employment because of his derision? Surely no; for he knows that he laughs at him out of his ignorance, as not knowing his art and the grounds thereof. Thus let no man be ashamed of his godly profession because wicked men speak evil of it (1 Peter iv. 4); and why do they so? but because they understand it not, it is strange to them; they see the actions of godly men, but the rules and principles that they go by, they know not; and hence is it that they throw dirt in the face of a religious profession, but a wise man will soon wipe it off again." We may add that these two goodly volumes are of a handy size, well printed on good paper, tastefully bound, and remarkably cheap. We fear, unless Christians are wise in their generation, the respected publisher will be at a loss. But if lovers of good old Puritan literature confer a boon upon themselves by procuring the work without delay, such a catastrophe will be prevented. Succcess to Teggs' excellent reprint of John Spencer's Things New and Old." May its circulation be equal to its merits. We can wish it no greater success. 66 The Philosophy of Revivals; or, the Nature, Necessity, and Instrumentality of Conversion, and the Conditions on which it depends. London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row. Devon: J. Thorn, Shibbear. Truro: W. Lake. WHILE there is a great amount of sterling truth in this volume to which all christians will heartily subscribe, many will not entirely agree with some things the author says on the work of the Holy Spirit. We do not think that he clearly and fairly states the question. There is, however, much that is truly good. The questions discussed are of the last importance, and cannot be too frequently investigated; and without subscribing to all his statements, we thank the author for his able little volume, and trust that it will awaken in the ministry and the churches a sense of the obligations and responsibilities resting on them to labour more earnestly for the salvation of sinners; for when Zion travails she brings forth children. Sermon Thoughts; Analysing and Illus trating Bible Texts in Sketches and Brief Discourses. London: Elliot Stock. THERE are many sweet and precious thoughts in this little volume. Of course, no theme is exhausted-we should hardly say thoroughly analysed; but there is a vast amount of suggestive thought, enough to set a reflecting mind thinking on some of the best themes on which a sentient and intelligent being can be exercised. The author has woven into his illustrations some beautiful anecdotes, as— "When Francis Lyte saw the Destroyer in the distance, he sat down and wrote that hymn commencing— 'Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,' and ending Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain, shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.' "And when, at Nice, the hour struck for all that was mortal of him to pass away, he whispered, Peace, joy.' "When Toplady heard the approaching footfall of the Tyrant, he said, 'O, I enjoy heaven already in my soul; to me sickness is no affliction, pain no curse, death no dissolution: if there were no abatement of these ecstatic joys, I could not bear the weight.' As he fell beneath the stroke by which his body returned to the dust as it was, and his spirit to God who gave it, he sang that hymn of his— 'Deathless principle arise Soar thou native of the skies.'" (p. 141-2.) As the power of illustration is shown by the learned Dr. Dowling to be an important element of success in preaching, we accept with thanks this addition to that important branch of homilects. Monthly Notes on Passing Events. CHURCH RATES.-The Bill for the abolition of Compulsory Church-rates reached the House of Lords on April 23rd, where we regret to find that the old spirit of resistance to all concession is still manifest in the Conservative Peers, notably so in Lord Derby and the Episcopal Bench. The Government proposes to refer the Bill to a Select Committee, which is tantamount to its rejection or to such alterations as will render it worthless. So much the worse for the Peers in the new Parliament. THE IRISH CHURCH.-Few anticipated at the commencement of the present year that so decisive a step on so vital a question as the abolition of the Irish Church Establishment as that which took place on the 3rd of April would have marked the present Parliament. The growth of public opinion, and the views and utterances of leading men, have never been so rapid and striking. Mr. Coleridge, for instance, whose very name gives hereditary pledge of adhesion to State Church principles, contended, in eloquent and glowing terms, that establishments were essentially of the nature of temporal accidents or political expedients, and, being created by the State, the State had a right to deal with them as with any other institution of the country, the Church, as such, being altogether independent of political arrangements of any kind. It was, in fact, not so much the Irish Church that was debated as the principle underlying all Establishments. Public interest now centres in the next stage of the struggle, which, when this meets the eye of our readers, will have been entered upon. The art of the Premier will doubtless have been fully exercised during the Easter recess in devising some scheme for puzzling or confusing the question. It is not expected by any that a Bill for settling it altogether will be introduced this year, or in the present Parliament; but supposing the principle of dis-establishment in Ireland to be conceded, it follows that no fresh exercise of Ecclesiastical patronage should be allowed, pending the passing of a measure on the subject. THE RITUALISTIC JUDGMENT.-The decision in the Arches Court in the case of St. Alban's, Holborn, is not to pass unchallenged. While the Ritualists are content with a judgment which allows them to do nearly everything they desire, and leave the question of their Popish teaching untouched, the Church Association, on the part of the Evangelicals, has decided to appeal to the House of Lords, in the hope of having greater restraint put upon their opponents. We have little doubt that it will end, as in the great Gorham case, in a final judgment on this ceremonial question, of the nature of a compromise to allow both parties room for remaining in the church, and to avoid the much-dreaded crisis of disruption. But a much more important case is likely before long to |