ARE YOU IN THE WAY TO HEAVEN? the grave and into eternity; and then how wretched are you, if, when you have done with worldly enjoyments, it may be said that you have received your consolation!" Care-worn and deluded mortal, let the spell of your infatuation be broken. Relax your hold on these transient vanities, and grasp the enduring riches. Have respect to the crown of life! and drop your muck-rake. Oh! fly to Jesus; quickly fly! You have no time to lose! Life is almost gone! Death is pressing on your heel, and the judgment throne well-nigh bursting forth to your view. Suffer not a moment's delay. Seek the Lord while he is yet to be found. This night thy soul may be required of thee. WHEN we see our fellow-men around us so intensely occupied in the pursuit of earthly objects, that there is neither time nor disposition left to seek the friendship of Jesus Christ, there is something that whispers to the mind, "Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" In their insensibility and hardness of heart, they are groping their way like blind men through the darkness, and must inevitably fail of securing their highest interest. However wise their course may be for the attainment of temporal advantages, they are the veriest fools in the sight of God. You who have no better portion than the possessions of this earth, are to be of all men the most miserable. Your treasures must PRESS ON, CHRISTIAN! soon be exchanged for everlasting des- PRESS on, Christian, to your crown; titution, and your present merriment let not Satan throw his delusive veil for the wailings of despair. "How over you; let every temptation of his poor you are," says President Edwards, prove a fresh impetus to draw you "if you have no heaven but this world. near the Saviour, and consider your You have nothing but a little part of eternal rest. Fain would he rob you of this clod of earth; what is it all worth? your God, your Saviour, your Heaven, If you have a little more land than and your all. Let watchfulness and some of your neighbours, or if you are prayer be your mighty weapons, for by in the way to make more money than them, through faith in the Lord Jesus others, and you have more worldly con- Christ, can you come off more than veniences and pleasures than others, conquerors through him that loves or, if you are promoted a little higher you. The road to Heaven may be among men than some others are, what difficult, but the end thereof is peace. a poor portion is this, and how miser- There is no danger of fainting on the able are you who have no better hap-way, relying upon the proper source. piness that you call your own! How The malice of the evil one can do you happy do these things make you? What satisfaction do they yield you? Are such things as these the rivers of pleasure' that you choose for your portion? Oh, how miserable! When a few days are passed, you must go to no harm, resting upon this stay. Perishable as this world is, and doomed to the fires of the last day, you are safe in the bright one to which you go. Its burning conflagration can never reach you: its dissolving wreck can DEAR YOUTHFUL READERS,—We have something very important to say to you concerning an awful place, of which you have sometimes read, and which has, for many ages, been terrible in the history of crime. Many poor, bewildered, deluded, wicked boys, who have despised their parents, their teachers, their masters, and committed great crimes, have been taken to Newgate, where they have spent many a weary day and many a mournful night, till the awful hour came when they were taken out and tried, and, being found guilty, were condemned, and were then, some of them, sentenced to periods of imprisonment, some to the hulks, some to the penal Colonies, and some to be executed upon the gibbet! Notwithstanding the many good books and the Sunday-schools that young people are now so richly privileged with, there are still great numbers of boys in Newgate, some of them respectably connected; but not so many as were wont to be, and at the present time it is considerably decreased. There is no doubt that this is mainly owing to better teaching, to boys attending to domestic instruction, to Sunday-school, and the house of God. It is found that all those who have gone in there are either bad boys, who had bad parents, or no parents; who had neglected their schools, or never been sent to school at all, so that they contracted habits of idleness and stealing, till at last they were apprehended and imprisoned. Now, one main object of our addressing you is, to press upon you all to become canvassers among your young | neighbours, to bring them to chapel and to school with you. If you were industrious in this way, you would very soon do much good. You have more influence than old people have, and multitudes of these poor boys would come with you, when they would run away from any old person who might seek to bring them to the classes. The Report recently given of Newgate contains the following facts, which intelligent boys will be able to understand. After stating that the number of boys under instruction in Newgate in the last year was only 73 less than in the year preceding, when there were 284, the Report proceeds: With this considerable decrease in the number of boys committed, a great change has taken place in the character | the stumps are left. It would make you sad to see one of these poor lepers. But oh, how very sad it must have been to see ten lepers standing together. I will tell you why they all kept together. It was because they were not allowed to be with people who were well-not even to touch them; so what could the poor creatures do? They did not like always to be alone, and they were glad to keep company with each other. They were not allowed to walk in the streets of a town, lest they should touch the people who were passing by; they were obliged to be in the country, amongst the trees and the fields. It is pleasant to be in the country-yes, very pleasant for people who are well, but it was not pleasant for the poor lepers; no place was pleasant for them. of those committed. It will be found on dealing with boys who have addicted themselves to habits of dishonesty, that great carelessness has been exhibited in their training by their parents, or sad misfortune in the loss of one or both of them has happened to these children. Inveterate propensities to dishonesty in persons so young that the pressure of debts, or the impulses of inferiority, can have had no share in destroying their reputation, must be traced either to inherent depravity or to evil examples in their domestic circle. Measures should be taken, therefore, to provide a remedy for the cause, rather than for the crime itself. All that the necessity of the case admits is limited to good industrial occupation, the influence of proper example, and sound religious instruction. Beyond the appliance of these corrections they must be left to a higher power: man's further efforts are futile and visionary. You see, then, that the great cure for these bad boys is, religious instruction, to which you can help them, by bringing them to school. If you were to give any one of these a. shilling or a sovereign, you would do him no good; he would spend it in wickedness, and then proceed to steal more. But by bringing him to school, you may heal the disease of his heart, and thus first make him a good boy, and afterwards a useful and happy man. Do, then, try what you can effect in this way; for be assured you can do a great deal, and it will be so kind! THE TEN SICK MEN. It is very common to meet sick people in the streets, but did you ever see ten sick people all standing together? I think not. Yet once ten very sick people were seen together. They were called lepers. What is a leper? It is a man whose skin is covered with a white breaking-out, and whose flesh is beginning to crumble away. Some times the ends of his fingers drop off, and then his hands or his feet, till only One day, as the ten lepers were all together, they saw a man coming along the way, and going towards a village. They knew who this man was; they must have seen him before. But do Jesus. you know who that man was? He was the greatest man who ever lived in this world. Was he a king? He was greater than all the kings-he was the King of kings, and yet he was a poor man. How could this be? I will tell you how it was. The Son of God had come down to be a man, and to live in this world. God, his Father, had sent him down here that he might die upon the cross for our sins. We are sinners, and the Son of God died that our sins might be forgiven. The Son of God was called Oh, he was so kind and good, but he chose to be very poor. He could do wonderful things, and make sick people well only by speaking a word. The ten lepers had heard of this, and when they saw Jesus passing by, they called out very loud, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." They did not dare to come near Jesus, but they hoped he would hear their voices. And he did hear them, and said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." Now, the priests were ministers. God had said, that when lepers were made well, they should go first to the priests, to be looked at by them before they walked again about the streets. So when these lepers heard Jesus tell them to go to the priests, they knew that they have been very kind to him." should soon be quite well. As they were walking along towards the place where the priests lived, they grew well. Those hands that were covered with white sores, were now the same brown colour they had been before. If the lepers looked at each other, they saw faces that were of a sickly white become rosy and healthy. And when the lepers saw this, did they go on, or did they turn back? One of them turned back, and only one; all the rest made haste to go to the priests. Why did that one turn back? It was that he might go to Jesus and thank him. As he went along, he praised God for his goodness with a loud voice. When he was sick, he had asked to be cured with a loud voice; and now he was well, he thanked God with a loud voice. This was right. When he came to Jesus, he fell down at his feet with his face to the ground, and thanked him. Then Jesus said, "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." Now Jesus knew that this man who had come back was not of his own country. He was a stranger, or a foreigner, and he came from a land where the people knew very little about God, yet he loved God better than the other lepers did. There are many people who pray to God wen they are unhappy, and who forget to thank him when they are happy again. Is there a boy reading this book who was once in great distress? Had you once no food in the house? Did you pray to God for food? Did you get food? Did you thank God for it? Whenever God has given you any thing, or made you well, or got you out of trouble, he expects you to thank him. He knows how many men and women and children he has helped. Perhaps there were one hundred people very ill last night, and God has made them all better this morning, and perhaps only one thanks him. Then God says, Where are the ninety and nine ?" Do you know the greatest kindness God has ever shown you? He has given his Son to die for your sins. Did you ever ONCE thank God for sending Jesus Christ to die upon the cross, that you might not go to hell? If you have never thanked him yet, begin this day, and say, " O Father. I thank thee for sending the Lord Jesus Christ to die upon the cross to save sinners." You may read this history in Luke xvii. 11-19. LITTLE LEONARD'S LAST GOOD "GOOD night! good night! I go to sleep," And, oh! the ray of heaven that broke That soft "good night," and smiled! An awful shadow lies. The gloom of evening-of the boughs The twilight of the grave! The twilight of the grave-for still Fast comes the fluttering breath- "Good night." And this is death! Oh! who hath call'd thee "terrible?" Mild angel! most benign! 66 Let little children come to me," *These were the dying words of a little child related to the author, uttered at the moment of its departure. The Cabinet. HOW TO HELP THE TRUTH. "That we might be fellow-helpers to the truth."-3 JouN 8. CHRISTIANS in this world are thrown together for mutual edification and comfort. Churches are gathered for effort. Combined energies are found more advantageous than individual labours. Hence the church is furnished with officers, and her work is marked out-the conversion of the world. The topic of this discourse is, The reasonableness of co-operation between the church and the pastor; and I shall point out some of the principal methods of this co-operation. 1. By extending their sympathies toward the pastor. His is an arduous and momentous work; his labours refer to eternity in their grand results, and the objects of his solicitude are immortal souls; his sermons, and prayers, and visits are directed to the spiritually dead-the enemies of God: and in this labour, if he knows and feels that he has the tender sympathies of his brethren, he is encouraged to go on in his duty. The surgeon has to touch a wounded and mangled limb with great care and gentleness; life depends upon his skill. How much more delicate and important the duties of him who deals with the sin-sick soul! The pastor needs sympathy, and to know that he shares it from his entire flock. 2. By their prayers.-This is a branch and part of the former proposition; but it demands a separate consideration. A people who pray for their pastor may expect to see their pious desires reflected back in the public and private ministry of their teacher. This is the great secret of ministerial success. In vain does Paul plant, or Apollos water, unless God gives the increase; and it is by prayer that the hand of Omnipotence is moved to give effect to the foolishness of preaching by which men are saved. Paul the Apostle, who was specially ordained by God to preach Christ before kings and among the nations, felt that he needed the prayers of all the saints, that he might preach successfully the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In all his epistles he entreats them to pray for him, and for a blessing on his public ministry. And if people love their pastor, they will pray for him. 3. By enforcing discipline in the church. The object of discipline is to preserve the unity and purity of the church, and this cannot be done by the pastor alone, or even by the officers, without the influence and action of the body of believers. To tolerate immoral, heretical, or lawless members, is to nullify the orders of the great Head of the church, who commands his people to withdraw fron every one that walketh disorderly. We must plant, and then prune. Every branch that beareth not fruit must be cut off. And as we have no hierarchy in our church, no privileged orders, therefore when the church is assembled they are then to receive the penitent, VOL. V. |