ing thy Master, whilst really thou art not serving Him at all. When singing hymns or uttering words of prayer take heed lest thy Master look upon thee and find that thou art only ticking like a useless clock. When thou givest a lesson which has not first been carefully studied, bethink thee of that useless clock. When thou teachest others and neglectest to lift up thy heart in prayer for a blessing on thy work, recollect that thy teaching is but as the ticking of a useless clock. While talking zealously about religion, or labouring in the cause of charity, or whatsoever thou seemest to be doing for God, reflect that though all the power of thy mind, or the energy of thy body may be engaged in the work, yet the heart is the face of the clock on which God looks, and if that be not right, thy labour is but as the ticking of a useless clock.-Church of England Sunday School Magazine. THE CHILD'S GRATITUDE. AN ILLUSTRATION FOR TEACHERS. A LITTLE girl, both lame and blind, sat beneath the pleasant shade of a tree, one bright summer morning, listening to the songs of the birds which were warbling among the branches over her head. The zephyrs whispered among the leaves and played around her, fanning her brow and bringing a delicious coolness to her languid frame; and the clover blossoms and violets lifted up their heads, and breathed an offering of sweet incense. She sat upon the velvet sod in a thoughtful attitude, and the tear-drops glistened upon her palé cheeks. She wept-but her tears were not those of sorrow and discontent; they sprang from the fount of love and gratitude which was swelling up in her heart. And clasping her little hands and raising her sightless eyes to heaven, she murmured, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast made the dear little birds to sing for me, and the sweet flowers to perfume the air, and the cool breezes to fan my cheek. O dear, good Father, how thou hast blessed me!" The words were few and simple, but they were wafted to the courts of heaven. They were heard, too, on earth, for they caught the ear of a gay young maiden who chanced to pass that way. She heard low, fervent tones, and she paused and looked, and beheld a pale child, blind and deformed, returning thanks unto the Lord for his mercies. Her heart was touched, and her conscience reproached her. Blessings rich and innumerable had ever been showered upon her, but she had never experienced one grateful emotion, nor returned one thank unto the glorious Giver. She stood rebuked before that afflicted child; repentant tears flowed down her cheeks, and kneeling down upon the sod, beneath the shade of a tree, she lifted her heart unto God, and sought forgiveness. And in her youth and beauty, she devoted her life and health and wealth, and all she possessed, to the cause of Christ. How much resulted from the simple gratitude of that. little afflicted child.-Sunday School Teacher's Magazine. Miscellaneous. Boast as The MAN'S DEPENDENCE. MAN must trust some one. he may, he cannot stand alone. man, therefore, who doubts the love and truth of God, having giving up God, must trust the creature. If, therefore, creatures ask him to sin, he will obey them; for they are now in the place of God to him. If we believe God, we are free. If we will not trust Him, we are the tools and slaves of anything or anyone who is stronger or cleverer than we are. HOLY LOVE. LOVE heightens the smallest actions, and gives a worth to them which they cannot possess without it. Under a just and merciful God, every sin is either punished or pardoned, and every good. action rewarded. The most indigent may exercise the works of mercy and charity; seeing even a cup of cold water, given in the name of Jesus, shall not lose its reward. How astonishing is God's kindness! It is not the rich merely whom he calls to be charitable: but even the poor, and the most impoverished of the poor! God gives the power and inclination to be charitable, and then rewards the work which, it may be truly said, God himself hath wrought. It is the name of Jesus that sanctifies everything, and renders services, in themselves contemptible, of high worth in the sight of God.-Quesnel. METAPHYSICAL QUESTION. WHEREFORE is the vegetating or vital principle destroyed at death, and not the intellectual? Because the vegetating or vital principle is derived from matter, and may be regarded as its simple product. Consequently it must necessarily cease to exist with the derangement and destruction of the materials which produce it. The intellectual principle, on the contrary, is not a simple form; it possesses different attributes, not derived from the materials of the body, and therefore must endure after death.-Gilbert, an English physician of the middle of the thirteenth century. REDEMPTION. THE attributes of the Deity, form the noblest subject for human or angelic contemplation. Rational intelligence rises to its proper dignity when directing its energies to its almighty origin, and contemplating the wisdom of God in redemption. Excellence of design gives importance to enterprise, stamps dignity on action, and reflects lustre on the operator. Nothing like an interested principle could have actuated the All-pure One. In a human point of view obstacles existed. Man had, as a sinner, incurred God's displeasure. Holiness abhorred his crime, and justice required punishment. Man stood condemned, but mercy interposed; a sacrifice more valuable than man could offer was found to atone for his guilt; for a righteousness more meritorious than his own must entitle him to heaven; an agent superior to himself must enlighten his mind and rectify the depraved powers of his soul, in order to prepare him for Heaven. As to our need of redemption, evidences pour in from every quarter, since we can no longer dwell amid the pleasant vales of Eden, walking with God. Man is no longer the dutiful and All affectionate child, but the daring rebel, in league with the prince of darkness, a fact that is proved by the calendar of every assize, by the news of every week, and the events of every day. In whatever age or condition of life we look at man, we find his reason clouded, his affections perverted, and his conscience stupified; but oh, the matchless mercy of God our Saviour, who remembered us in our low estate, pitied our miserable condition, and came to our relief. other sacrifices were found deficient; reason was permitted to exhaust all its resources, every hope failed, our ruin appeared inevitable, and the moment of despair was come. Then the everlasting Son of the Father presented himself:-"Lo, I come to do thy will, O God," that will being the redemption and restoration of man to the divine image. How did infinite greatness stoop. The Ancient of Days became a babe, the Almighty an helpless infant, the Immortal clothed himself with mortality, the Infinite became circumscribed, the incorruptible God assumed corruptible clay. This will tune the strings of the heavenly harpers.-"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, who hath redeemed unto God by his blood." As to the validity and completeness of this redemption, we have what amounts to demonstration. He who was put to death in the flesh, was quickened by the Spirit; He who died for our sins rose again for our justification. This is the key stone in the arch of Christian truth. By rising again, he proved himself to be the Son of God with power, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Could it be proved that this atonement was limited, then the gospel offers of mercy would be limited: but we rejoice that we have a gospel, which is declared to be good news and glad tidings to all people, Christ having tasted death for every man. The condition of this redemption is "repent and believe the gospel." It must be admitted that a man may acknowledge himself a sinner, yea a miserable sinner, every Sabbath day, and yet be destitute of those inward feelings which are characteristic of genuine repentance. We must feel ourselves sinners so as to desire deliverance at the hands of Him against whom we have sinned. Is it inquired what were the purposes of God in this redemption? The Scriptures assure us that Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. The essence of man's fall consisted in the loss of the divine image, so the essence of his redemption consists in his being created anew in Christ Jesus, and thus fitted for admission into the heavenly kingdom. Do we seek to know the moving cause of this mighty achievement? The evangelical prophet assures us that it had its origin in God. "In his love and in his pity he redeemed us." Isa. lxiii. 9. The mystery of redemption is a mystery of love, attended with a host of speaking wonders. It is here the river of life breaks forth, and flows down from beneath the throne of God and the Lamb. From a subject like this we must come to the conclusion, that if sin is our worst enemy, he who saved us from it is our best friend. Jesus is that friend, who has carried our nature with him into the heavenly sanctuary as our great representative; who provides for all our wants, sympathises with us in all our troubles, affords us protection in seasons of danger, and saves even to the uttermost. Like the father of the prodigal, he is looking after his rebellious children to see if any say that they have sinned, waiting the exercise of faith in him, to put forth his hand to wipe away the tears of godly sorrow, and seal a pardon on the believing heart. By the blood of Christ a new and living way is opened into the holiest of all. Let us fear not to enter, and it will conduct us to settled peace and holy tranquillity. Notes of the Month. ASTRONOMY. DECEMBER. THE Sun rises on the 1st (at London and Greenwich) at fourteen minutes before eight, and sets at eight minutes before four. On the 14th he rises at eight, and sets at eleven minutes before four; on the 21st (the shortest day) he rises at six minutes after eight, and sets at nine minutes before four. On the 31st he rises at nine minutes past eight, and sets at two minutes before four. The day is shorter on the 21st than on the 1st by about twenty-one minutes; it then remains nearly the same length to the end of the month. On the 21st also the Sun enters the sign Capricornus (the Goat), and the Winter quarter commences. On the 1st the Sun is nearly 600,000 miles nearer to the earth than on the 1st of November. The Moon is full on the 1st at three minutes before eleven in the morning; is new on the 16th at one minute before eleven in the morning; and is a second time full on the 30th at fifty-three minutes after nine at night. There is no moonlight on the 6th until nearly ten o'clock at night; none whatever on the 13th; she sets at a few minutes before eight on the 20th, and on the 27th she R.C. shines until nearly four o'clock in the morning. She is near to Saturn on the 4th and to Jupiter on the 26th. Mercury, towards the end of the month sets about an hour and a half after the sun, and is of course favourably situated for observation. Venus is still a morning star, and on the 16th is about six degrees north of Antares, the bright star of Scorpio. Mars, in Virgo, rises at two in the morning of the 1st, and on the last at thirty-eight minutes after midnight. Jupiter shines splendidly throughout the night, his position in Aries being about half-way between Alpha Arietis and Alpha Ceti. Saturn comes now into view in the evening, rising on the first at eighteen minutes after seven, and on the 31st at thirteen minutes after five. OBSERVATIONS ON NATURE. DECEMBER. THE flowers that bloom in December are so few that all we find are almost regarded as rarities, and prized accordingly. The Christmas rose, with its large, handsome, cup-shaped flower, white or a very pale pink, is among the most interesting, and when grown in a sheltered place, or in a mild season, (for its delicate texture is often injured by the frost,) is as ornamental as any of the summer flowers. It is not a true rose, but a species of hellebore, valuable in medicine, but poisonous when taken in excess. The fragrant coltsfoot, also, is not only ornamental but sheds a delightful perfume. Then the rosemary flowers this month, and few aromatic plants are held in higher esteem, it having anciently been the medium of the expression of sentiment on widely different occasions. At weddings it was borne before the bridal party as they went to church, and dipped in their drinking cups: at Christmas it was used to stir up the spiced beverages so much in favour: and at funerals it was strewn upon the dead. ADDRESSED TO A ZEALOUS AND God help thee still with mighty power To speak of life eternal, won For those once doom'd to die. O weary not, for blood-bought souls O faint not!-fellow mortals sink, After snow has disappeared, a fine day in December will sometimes assume the appearance of spring where the grass has sprung afresh under autumn rains; and in shady places the hardy leaves of the violet and primrose look as freshly green as if it were already spring, for winter cannot destroy them when under the protection of our English hedges and sheltering copses. Nothing, however, has a more pleasant look than the rich red berries on the prickly holly as it is tastefully arranged among the dark bright leaves of the laurel, and the hard, tough, flat leaves of the mistletoe, the unfailing supply of I which at the Christmas season shows how abundantly this parasitic curiosity vegetates in our woods and forests. LINES SUCCESSFUL PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL. No time to pause: they rush, they rush O save them from that fate, before "No room for mirth or trifling here!" O strive to rouse the slumb'ring soul And teach the humbled, troubled heart The heedless taunt, the cutting jest, May tempt thee from thy work, and friends The curling lip may speak contempt, But fear not, though with these thou hast Fear not! for he who guardeth thee, O count thy sore afflictions light, So thou may'st tell his wondrous love, Forget not thou the recompense; MARY ANNE. TELL us, ye men who are so jealous of right and of honour, who take sudden fire at every insult, and suffer the slightest imagination of another's contempt, or another's unfairness, to chase from your bosom every feeling of complacency; in whom every fancied infringement stirs up the quick, and the resentful appetite for justice, how will you stand the rigorous application of that test by which the forgiven of God are ascertained, even that the spirit of forgiveness is in them, and by which it will be pronounced, whether you are, indeed, the children of the Highest, and perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect? LET no man be deceived as if the contagions of the soul were less than those of the body. They are yet greater; they convey more direful diseases; they sink deeper, and creep on more unsuspectedly. Notices of Books. The Useful Disciple; or, a Narrative of MRS. PALMER has been already intro- The subject of the narrative was emphatically a daughter of affliction. Born in affluent circumstances, she was in a very singular manner made acquainted with experimental religion at an early age; and the pictures which follow of her trials, her lapses, her rebellions, her recoveries, her usefulness, her faith, her piety, through scenes of affliction, bereavement, hardship, and privation, make up one of the most singular and interesting books of personal experience we have read. Not the least charm is its native simplicity. New Testament Verses: By H. G. Adams, Author of "Favourite Song Birds," "Story of the Seasons," &c., with Illustrations. London: Partridge and Co. A VERY pretty book, tastefully got up, and fitted, both by its beauty and the excellent nature of the contents, to form a Christmas or New Year's gift to the young. Mr. Adams is not quite so successful with religious subjects as with those which called forth the exercise of his poetical powers in his previous publications; but there are some very sweet and aptly worded verses in this production, and the attractive form which he has given them will be sure to make them read and prized. Some, however, are not well suited for the purpose of the book, and depart widely in language and construction from the simple form best adapted to convey scripture narratives to the juvenile mind. The use of the measure of Longfellow's "Hiawatha" is far from a happy choice; but the parodial application of the dying cry of our blessed Lord to the purpose of the usual inscription at the end of a book is its greatest blot. Mr. Adams's good sense will no doubt lead him to alter this in another edition. A Summer Evening Reverie, and other THE author claims indulgence on the Mutual-Aid Association Reporter. PROGRESS OF THE ASSOCIATION. Ox the day that this sheet is prepared for press, a meeting is being held in the Spitalfields circuit, in London, in support of the Mutual-Aid Association; and on the day immediately preceding the day of publication of the present Magazine, a similar meeting has been appointed to be held in the Chelsea circuit. We expect to present accounts of both these mectings in the January number. |