Sunday-school times

              ,   ... „  ..    ,
.
I
E SUNDAY-SCHOOI
k
TIME
VOLUME V.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT ONE DOLLAR A YEAR-PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY 3, 1863.
NUMBER 1.
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o
THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL TIMES,
A WEEKLY RELIGIOUS PAPER,
FRICE ONE DOLLAR A TEAR,
(Delivered at the residence of CUy Subscribers for 11.25.)
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for Sunday-schools, worth $10.
For the Sunday-School Times.
The Unconyerted' Teacher*
MY FRIEND:—I will not write about
you, but to you. Your position is a
strange combination of privilege, responsi¬
bility, and danger. You need a message
spoken in your ear. Give prayerful atten¬
tion.
What are you doing? You are teaching
young people the way of everlasting life.
You are telling them that there is a heaven,
and that there is a hell; that they must spend
eternity in the one or the other. You are
showing them how to gain heaven, and how
to escape hell. Your instructions are based
on the Bible, which you thus accept as the
inspired revelation of God's will. Whether
your teaching is thorough or not, the fact
that you teach at al), is evidence that you
know of the existence of an omnipotent God,
of his revealed word, of the future reward of
the righteous, and punishment of the guilty.
You know that only by faith in Jesus Christ
you can be saved, for you have often told
your scholars so.
Strange inconsistency! You tell them of
the way on wbicn you have never set out.
You speak to them of heaven and hell, when
you seem not to care in which your eternal
abiding place shall be. You teach them the
Bible, but its promises have never yet been
found precious to your soul, and its warnings
to flee from the wrath to come have never
had your attention. You tremble, perhaps,
as you reflect, (if you ever reflect,) that the
God, of whose omnipotence you tell them, is
powerful to destroy yon in an instant. You
reject the only Saviour, the acceptance of
whose free mercy you are urging on your
children.
What is the effect of this on your scholars?
They do not believe what you tell them.
They have sense enough to know that there
is something wrong. Perhaps they do not
Buspect your sincerity, but they cannot under¬
stand why, if you warn them to flee from
coming wrath, you should not yourself lay
hold on eternal life. If you were skating
with them, and should point out to them a
certain portion of ice as too weak to bear
them, and should then go over the very por¬
tion yourself, they would not believe there
was danger there. You cannot persuade
them that a certain. article of food is un¬
wholesome or poisonous, so long as you eat
of it. They will be apt to follow you, and
to do the things which you do, especially the
bad and foolish things. And so long as you
pursue the road to hell, it will be difficult for
you to make them believe that the road to
heaven is better for them to walk in.
Are you not in a strange and contradictory
position? It will not mend the matter to say
that you are teaching only for form's sake.
That would be inexcusable trifling.
You are living as the men lived who work¬
ed for Noah. As every stroke of their work
on the ark or<ly added to their knowledge of
the coming deluge, and of the necessity of
speedy repentance, so each lesson you give
adds to your responsibility, your knowledge
of the truth, and your sin in rejecting Christ.
They did their work well, on the vessel which
saved Noah's household, and yet were lost.
You may be, outwardly, a good teacher, and
yet if you will not accept Christ, you will
lose your souL It must have added to the
misery which these men felt, drowning, while
Noah floated off in safety, to know that they
had worked on the ark which saved him, and
yet had no interest in it, or benefit from it.
So, if at the last day you stand on the left
side of the Judge, your wretchedness will
only be the greater, as you remember that
you helped to build up Christ's kingdom,
having no part nor lot in the matter yourself.
Oh, I entreat you, be not " Noah's carpen¬
ters 1"
But do not be discouraged. Do not, in
vain despair, give up your class, and stop
your efforts to do good. You may have done
some good already. God may have taken the
. pointless arrows of truth, which you have
Sent out in ignorant unbelief, and made them
sharp and quick to the conversion of some
soul. The lessons you are teaching, will, if
you but apply them to yourself, do you some
good. Stop and ask yourself, M What am I
doing?" Trying to show these children how
to be Christians.   "Had I not better be a
Christian myself?" When yon get that far,
stop again, and ask God, for Christ's sake, to
make you a Christian. Then go to your class,
and see with what earnest zeal, with what
living energy, you can tell them how to be
Christians. "Whereas I was blind, now I
see," will be your glad testimony to them, as
yon point them to the mighty Saviour who
can remove the scales of error and ignorance
from the eyes of the sightless sinner.
Unconverted teacher I What are you going
to do? Do you mean to keep on in your
dangerous and deceptive position? I can
hardly believe you are a wilful hypocrite. If
you were, you probably would not have begun
to teach. But you are thoughtless. You
don't care whether you are saved or not. Of
course your concern for the salvation of your
scholars cannot be very deep. If you have
positively resolved that you will always be
thoughtless and careless and impenitent, out
of the school with you, as soon as possible;
for you are increasing your own condemna¬
tion, and dragging souls with you down to
hell. But if you intend, in God's strength,
to live a new life, keep on, and God bless you
in the good work, and strengthen you, that
you may win many souls to a knowledge of
the truth.
Unconverted teacher I You have lived un¬
converted long enough. Let the New Year's
dawn of 1863 witness your dedication of
yourself to God's service. Not merely a com¬
mon New Year's resolution, made in your own
strength, and soon broken in your own weak¬
ness ; but a covenant, a consecration, a sur¬
render, a giving away of your whole powers,
time and talents to God. That only will make
you happy and useful. Only with such a
consecration can you hope to be saved, and
to save others.
"Lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a
castaway.". 1 Cor. 9: 27.
Bristol, Pa. A. T.
For the Sunday-School limes.
TRUST   IN   JESUS.
In the hour of deepest sadness,
When the heart is bowed with grief,
Oh ! 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to seek from bim relief j
He is ever near to hear us,
When we make our humble cry,
And to every faint petition,
He will send a quiok reply.
When on earth, the Friend of sinners,
None e'er came to him in vain,
None who ever sought his favor,
Failed a blessing to obtain;
Now exalted in the heavens,
Still his love remains the same,
And he bears with all our weakness,
For he knows our feeble frame.
Then though clouds and storms surround us,
Though our path be dark and drear,
Safely in his love confiding,
We shall feel no anxious fear;
He will be our great deliverer,
And will guide us on our way,
Through this world of sin and sorrow,
To the realms of endless day. £■ A.
WELL SPEAKING.
A PASTOR was making a call upon a
parishioner, an old lady, who had made
it an habitual rule never to speak ill of an¬
other, and had observed it so closely, that
she always justified those whom she heard
evil spoken of. Before the old lady made
her appearance in the parlor, her several
children were speaking of this peculiarity of
their mother, and one of them playfully
added:
" Mother has such a habit of speaking well
of everybody, that I believe if Satan himself
were the subject of conversation, mother
would find out some virtue or good quality
even in him."
Of course, this remark elicited some smi¬
ling and merriment at the originality of the
idea, in the midst of which the old lady enter¬
ed the room, and on being told what had
just been said, she immediately and involun¬
tarily replied:
" Weil, my dear children, I wish we all had
Satan's industry and perseverance."
CHRIST-LIKE.
A GENTLEMAN once sent his servant to
• John Bruen, Esq., of Stapleton, in the
county of Chester, England, forbidding him
ever to set a foot upon his ground; to whom
he sent this truly Christian reply:
" If it please your master to walk upon my
grounds, he shall be very welcome ; but if it
will please him to come to my house, he shall
be still more welcome."
By this meek reply the gentleman was soft¬
ened into kindness, and became his friend
ever after.
TEMPERANCE.
IT is stated in a foreign journal that out of
a caravan of eighty-two persons who
crossed the great desert from Algeria to Tim-
buctoo last summer, all but fifteen used wine
and other spirituous liquors, as a preventive
against African diseases. Soon after reaching
Timbuctoo, all who used spirituous liquors
died save one. Of the fifteen who abstained,
all survived.
TO-DAY.
Time past is gone, thou can'st not it recall;
Time is, thou hast, improve the portion small,
Time future is not, and may never be,
Time present is the only time for thee.
God is always opening his hand to us.
perly when you are writing. If you look in
any book," she added, addressing herself now
to the whole class, "you will see that there is
a period at the end of every sentence, and
njiHonor "jttooand oiobcim," "TOUNaoHBisTiAN,"40. pthat the next sentence begins with a capital
letter."
For the Sunday-School Time*.
MARY OSBORNE/
BY   JACOB   ABBOTT,
16,—Mary Osporne and the Compositions.
"I don't know what a capital letter is," said
AS Mary Osborne's scholars went home >Johnny, "nor a period, nor a sentence. What
the day when the exercise in composi-lis a sentence?"
tion was assigned, they every one resolved l    How unreasonable it would be to find fault
that they would write.    Since the teacher
had admitted that it was a difficult thing to
do,, while at the same time she told them ex-'f'periods, and capitals, when he did not even
actly how to go to work to do it, and said
that she did not expect all of them would
succeed, and that those who should succeed
would show a great deal of resolution and.
with the composition of such a boy as Johnny,
on account of errors in respect to commas, and
know what any of these things were.   And
boys of his age never know about such things
as these unless they are explained to them,
rand when they are explained to them the ex-
perseverance, and would deserve a great deal   planations should never come to them asso-
of credit, and, moreover, held out the ideafciated with criticisms and fault-finding in
that the younger ones would, on the whole,
be quite as likely to succeed as the older ones,
if not more likely, they all resolved to try.
Even Johnny himself resolved to try. He told
his mother that he never had written a com- •
position in all his life, but that he did not
believe but that he could write one, since Miss
Osborne had told him exactly how to do it.
And true enough, at the next meeting of the
class, Johnny was seen coming 'into the pew
with his paper in his hand.   Four ofthe other
scholars also had papers.    The rest, though   one .would have  formed
they had resolved to write, hadJnot kept their
resolutions. ..;
" Five compositions 1" said Mary Osborop.l you are coming to the end of your sentence.
with an expression'of great satisfaction on and so you must put a period there. A pe-
her face. " I did not expect nearly so many. , riod is a little dot."
And now I will read them. I will read] "I did not know about that," said Jchnny.
Johnny's first." " Then perhaps, you did not put any .period
So she opened Johnny's paper and found i at the end of your composition," replied Mary
within two lines, which, as nearly as types can'j Osborne.   " You did not need but one period,
I will
respect to previous efforts, when in making
•the efforts they did as well as they knew how.
"A sentence," Baid Mary Osborne, in answer
to Johnny, " is any one particular thing that
you say. In writing a long composition you
say a good many different things. You re¬
member you said yourself that you could think
of a good many more things to say, besides
that they threw the goods overboard, only
you were too tired to write them. Now if you
had written all those different things, each
sentence. And
always when you come to the end of any one
thing you are saying, you must remember that
represent Johnny's chirography, were as fol¬
lows :
tHeij,    picHeD    2TlIe     TIlLn^L
bore©   to   sAve   the  SHip
oVer
From/  sincin
Mary Osborne read the lines aloud, pre¬
serving, however, a very grave and seriou3,
face. Jenny Dart began to laugh, and Johnnyj
looked up at her quite indignantly. Jenny,-
however, perceiving that the teacher did not
smile, sobered herself again very suddenly.
" She is laughing because it is so short, I
I could not write asy more, my hand was so
tired. I could think" of ever so much more
to say,' but I could not write it very well."
" It is long enough," said Mary Osborne.
" It would not be best for you to try to write
any more than that for the first time."
" I suppose there are a great many mistakes
in it," said Johnny.
"Are there?" said Mary Osborne, opening
the paper again and looking at the writing.
" I did not take particular notice of any mis¬
takes. Let me see if you have spelled the
words right. Ship. S-h-i-p. Yes, that is
right. Things. T-h-i-n-g-s. Yes, that is
right too. I think you have spelled almost
all the words right, and that is very hard to
do when you first write composition. I see
you have printed some of the letters, when
you did not know how to write them. That
was right. When you are writing composi¬
tion, always print the letters when you come
to any that you don't know how to write.
" It is written very plain, too, so that any
body could read it. I think you might write
a letter. If you wanted anything from the
city, such as a sled, for example, and you saw
an advertisement in a newspaper, telling you
who had sleds to sell, I think you could write
a letter to the man and ask him to send you
one by express, so that he would understand
it perfectly well.    And that is a great thing."
Johnny was very much pleased to hear
Mary Osborne speak thus of his composition.
He determined that as soon as he got home
he would sit down and write another.
It was in the same spirit, though not in the
same terms, that Mary Osborne commented
upon the other compositions, as she read
them in succession. That is to say, in read¬
ing the several compositions her attention
was turned not to searchiug.for faults in them,
to criticise, but for excellencies to commend.
When she came to a good sentence she said,
" That is very well expressed." When she
came to good hand-writing, she said, " How
well you have written this, Mary. Here is a
line that is excellent. Every letter in it is
well formed.    See 1"
And so saying, she would hold up the com¬
position and point out the line in question,
that all the scholars might see the hand¬
writing.
It might at first be imagined that by thus
pointing out what was right in each compo¬
sition, and saying nothing about what was
wrong, the scholars would not know what
their faults were, and so would not be able
to correct them. But it was not so, for Mary
Osborne gave her scholars continual instruc¬
tions to guide them in the future, though she
did not base these instructions on fault-find¬
ing in respect to the past.
For example, the compositions of the young
scholars in her class were all very faulty in
regard to punctuation. Mary Osborne took
no notice of this in reading them, but when
at length she came to one which was correct,
Bhe said, " I see you have made your periods
all right, at the ends of the sentences. It is
a very excellent thing to put in the stops pro-
because you only had one sentence
see."
So saying, Mary Osborne opened Johnny's
paper and said,
"No. There is no period, but you can
make it now, just as well."
As she said this she opened a book and
showed Johnny several periods, at the ends
of sentences, and read the sentences, so as to
show that each one formed a complete state¬
ment by itself. She then shut the book and
placed Johnny's paper on the back of it, and
gave him a pencil to make the period with,
at the end of the last word.
Johnny took a great deal of satisfaction
in making the period, and he resolved that
£npposa,"said Jvhnr-^,JfbzU^^Li2JiSQ3S}si^^^,-a£^\ii^J?-  he  w^te ^eQ-rnpcRHion he
♦Enteredaccording to Act. of Congress, in the year 1882,
by Jacob Abbott, in the Clerk's Office of the District
Court of the United States for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.
would watch for the ends of the sentences,
and put periods at every one of them. Of
course, in attempting to do this, he would at
first make a great many mistakes and failure?.
and it would be a long time before he would
be able to punctuate his writing correctly.
But Mary Osborne had put him upon the right
track, and inspired him with a strong desire
to press forward in it.
" There is one thing more I must tell you,"
added Mary Osborne, "and that is about ca¬
pital letters. Capital means head, and capital
letters are head letters. They are used for
beginnings. They are larger than the other
letters, and they are made differently. You
must make capital letters, if you know how
to make them, at the beginning of all sen¬
tences, and of all name3 of person s and pie ces.
If you look at any page in the Bible, you will
find that every verse begins with a capital
letter."
Here the younger scholars in the class
looked into their Testaments to see the capi¬
tal letters at the beginning of the verses.
Mary Osborne went on in this manner, ex¬
plaining to her pupils various things con¬
nected with composition writing, but not con¬
necting her explanations at all with any faults
she had observed in their work. She noticed
and remembered the faults she had observed,
but avoided speaking of them or making any
allusion to them, even indirect allusions, but
treasured them up in her mind, intending
when the next subject of composition should
be assigned, to give her class particular in¬
structions in regard to all those points. It
would be much better, she thought, for her to
remember the points in which her scholars
were deficient, and give them the necessary
teaching in respect to them when the time
should come for them to write again, and
when of course they could immediately put
her teachings into practice, than to do it
then, and trust to their treasuring up what
she should tell them, so as to have it ready
when the timo should come for making an¬
other trial. Besides, as has already been 3aid,
her instructions, if given when the time
should come for a new exercise, would come
in the form, not of fault-finding with an exer¬
cise performed, but of aid and assistance in
respect to one to be performed; and so would
be likely to be listened to by her scholars
with attention, and received with pleasure.
After reading all the compositions, Mary
Osborne gave the papers back to the several
writers, and recommended to them to carry
them home and keep them safely.
"And then," said she, "when you write
your next composition you can compare it
with this one and see how much you have
improved. When the next composition is
given out, I will tell you some things about
writing, which will help you to improve. I
can tell you some things that will make it
easier for you to write, and help you to write
even better compositions than these."
We do not live up to our own theories ;
then how unreasonable to expect others to
come up to our imaginary standard.
For the Sunday-SchoolTimei.
A NEW YEAR EVE'S REVERIE.
'Tis cozy to-night,
The fire burns bright,
The watch at my side ticks its unvaried measure.
The wind sighs without,
It has ceased its mad rout,
And snow-flakes and quiet have settled together.
I make a request,
Come, Heart! be my guest;
And, Memory! open your store-house of treasures.
Good Deeds! bring your fruits,
Impulses! your roots,
Let us make a #rand feast on the year's gathered
pleasures.
Nay! bo not perturbed,
We can sit undisturbed;
No footBteps but Time's will to-night pass this way.
He's counting the hours,
Wb'il give him some flowers;
I've played with him thus for many a day.
* * * * * #
You are welcome, dear Heart!
Ah ! why did I start ?
With wonder.   You looked not thus twelve months
ago.
I see a dark gloom
Where was once sunny bloom;
Pray tell me, What power disfigures you so ?
Have ycu not learned the lesson
That honest confession
Is good for the soul which with sin is diseased ?
Youwritho!   Have you pain?
I entreat you again
To keep nothiDg hidden and then you'll feel eased.
"I watched through tho morning the last New
Year's dawning,
And hailed its arrival with eager delight;
Too strong te bo thwarted, the future I courttd,
And ba&ished the past far out of my sight.
Joy danced so near, the world looked st fair, •
I trusted  in   those who I thought  loved me
truly.
I smiled on Deceit, Common Sense scorned to greet,
And tripped over pitfalls awhile, quite securely.
God's poor I passed by, with a glance of my eye,
A vnsh for their comfort and sigh for their grief;
BuFhever made trial if real self-denial
Might rob me of trifles, but bring them relief.
A talent was mine—ambitious to shine—
The applause of the crowd  was my want's
highest goal.
I kindled a fire, I deemed Truth a liary
And poured without flinching a stain on my
soul."
Oh, wretched Heart! cease!
I grant thee release.
Keep hidden, I pray thee, what's yet unrovaaled.
^ Ho! Mem'ry, my queen.
In thy robes of rich green,
Whero hide you the life gems thy coffers concealed?
" These garments so fair
I in mockery wear;
To doff them forever I restlessly yearn,
And all the  gay pleasures   the  world
counts as treasures,
Are here, in this small funereal urn."
Impulses ! Good Deeds!
Do yo heed not my call ?
These hideous gaunt shadows, are they of thee all ?
But listen ! who spoaks ?   Ayo! that deep solemn
tone
Is the tocsin of Time.   Hide, I'll brave him alone.
" Too late, silly mortal, thy guests I have scanned,
And naked and trsmbling they wait my command.
My ship still lias moored in Hope's sunny lea ;
What freight wilt thou send o'er Eternity's sea?
These baubles ? these trifles ? these foul things of
sin?
These  plague-spots   which  tell   of corruption
within ?
Quick ! hasten ! 'tis Jesus who knocks at thy door
In pitying mercy.    He's knocked there before.
Admit the blest stranger; fall down at his feet;
For full pardon beg; compassion you'll meet.
His blood shed for you will erase every stain,
And Guardian and Saviour alike you will gain.
The sins ofthe past will all be forgiven,
And years as they speed bear thee nearer to
heaven." N. A. M. E.
Harrisburg, Dec. 30th.
A PLAN FOR READING THE BIBLE THROUGH
EVERY YEAR.
During January, read Genesis and Exodus.
"      February, read to the 10th Deuteronomy.
"      March, read to the 15th of 1st Samuel.
"      April, read to the 15th of 2nd Kings.
"       May, read to the 5th of Nehemiah.
'<      Jane, read to the 100th Psalm.
"      July, read to the 59th of Isaiah;
"      August, read to the 20th of Ezekiel.
"      September, road to the end of Old Testament.
"      October, read to the end of Luke.
" -    November, read to the end of 1st Corinthians.
"       December, read to the end of Xew Testament.
About sixty-five to seventy-five pages per month, or
about two pages for every week clay, and four pages for
every Sunday.
The above plan is offered by one who has
regularly adhered to it for thirty-one succes¬
sive years as a daily devotional exercise, and feel¬
ing that it i3 the " Bread of Life," he is afraid
now to discontinue it. Reader, if you have
no better plan, paste a copy of this one on
the inner cover of your Bible, and try it.
Thb two best books for a child are a good
mother's face and life.
MAKE  THEM   HAPPY.
A PASTOR in Connecticut, in a recent ser¬
mon, gave this as an all-important ele¬
ment in good government and training. He
says: "The great art in child-culture is to
keep the little ones happy, having all things
as pleasant and bright about them as possible.
Children will have trials enough in spite of
you. God will try them; and you yourself
will be compelled to try them now and then.
It cannot be helped. That is life; but the
less the better. The worst men began early,
and had tumults, and angers, and abuses
when they were little, and ought to have been
just laughing the days away. Homes of dis¬
content, sour homes, cloudy homes, irri table,
scolding, undivine homes, make rebellious,
and restless, and unsuccessful lives."
For the Sunday-School Times.
FINISHING.
Sl X^THAT is that?" said Mrs- HaiQes to
" V her daughter Edith, as they came to)
some earth thrown up in one corner of the
garden, where nothing but grass had pre¬
viously been seen.
" Oh, it iB one of Peter's beginnings," said
Edith. He wae going to have flower beds, to
make bouquets for the market: he worked
here a part of one afternoon, and then quit it,
as usual, for something else. I do wish he
would stick to something."
Mrs. Haines said nothing. She was sorry
to see another indication of the unfortunate
habit of her son, of beginning things and then
abandoning them. There were a great many
material illustrations of this habit about the
place. There were boxes, and wagons, and
wooden guns begun and left in that state. It
was said that Peter was never known to finish
anything.
His beginnings were not confined to mate¬
rial objects. He was desirous of mental im¬
provement, and formed a great many plans of
mental improvement and entered upon them,
but never finished them. Now he marked out
a plan of reading, and entered upon it with
great zeal; but in a day or two his zeal would
flag and he would leave the plan for another.
Then perhaps he would form a plan-for im¬
provement in composition. He would write
a composition every week. Among his pa¬
pers there could be found a composition be¬
gun: it was never finished, nor would he
proceed, any further in the execution of his
plan.
Eirf prospectJ for success in life were very
poor. Men succeed by energy and persever¬
ance. If habits of energy and perseverance
are not formed in youth, they will never be
formed.
Young persons shonld not hastily form
plans of any kind. TLiink about a thing
before you resolve to do. Having resolved to
do a thing, do it, unless you discover that it
is wrong. Form the habit of finishing what¬
ever you begin. The habit cannot be formed
unless you always finish what you begin. Do
not say, I will finish ail important things that
I begin; finish everything. Don't leave a
thing because you get tired of it. Finish it
for sake of the habit.
By this means you will establish a reputa¬
tion for reliability. When yon undertake a
thing, men will have confidence that it will
be du;ia. TLV* gifetj (w.'e g?~i.t weight of
character and influence. Think well before
you undertake a thing, but having undertaken
it, persevere till it is done. A. B.
THE CHRISTIAN'S BUSINESS.
S Christ came to seek and to save that
which was lost, his servants must do
likewise. Their work, like their Master'?, is
to save lost souls. They cannot save, like
him, by their own power or merit. But as
instruments in his hands they may be the
means of saving. Not the preacher only, but
the humblt;3t Christian, in his little sphere, is
bound, in some way, and in some degree, to
seek and to save that winch ig lost. With
this commission we are all sent forth. We
are not sent to a world which is merely in
danger of being lost. It is lost. It is con¬
demned already. The Gospel is not merely a
method of prevention, but of cure. Christ
came to save that which- was lost already,
aud to seek it, in order that it might be
saved ; and we, a3 hi3 instruments, are bound
to seek the lo3t that we may save them. We
are not to keep back the salvation of the gos¬
pel till men seek it for themselves. We must
offer it to them. We must press it upon
them. We must not only spread the feast,
but bid men to it. It is our business to in¬
vite men to the Saviour. We must therefore
learn the art of invitation.—J. Addison
Alexander.
For the Sunday-School Tiices.
BE IN EARNEST.
F a wise man is convinced that he has not
given the requisite attention to his busi¬
ness, he enters upon the work of reform with¬
out delay. If the earnest student is conscious
he is not making che progress which he ought
to make, and which it is in his power to make,
he rouses himself to the necessary exertion
without delay.
Shall the men of this world continue to be
wiser in their generation than the children of
light? Shall those who would secure the
transient rewards of earth, pursue their object
more wisely and steadily than those who
would secure the lasting rewards of eternity?
NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
6£/"vH, sir I" said a poor boy in the reform
\J school,  to his  minister, "I  am not
good enough to go to Christ."
" My boy, Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. He receives the bad, not the
good, else none would be saved. It is your
badness, not your goodness, that you are to
bring to him."
"OhI" cried the boy, "that is news, that is
good news; there is hope for me."
"Just as I am, without one plea,
Brt that thy blosd was shed for me,
And that thou bid'st me come to thee,
Oh, Lamb of God ! I come."
—Child's Paper.
Every day in thy life is a leaf in thy his¬
tory ; a leaf that hereafter will be opened
again by bim wbo will read in the hearing
of all, the thoughts as well as the words and,
deeds recorded there.