THE COTTAGER'S SABBATH. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, The cottage leaves the palace far behind: O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! For whom my warmest wish to heaven is sent! Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! THE COTTAGER'S SABBATH. AH! why should the thought of a world that is flying, Now let us repose from our care and our sorrow, Let us say to the world should it tempt us to wander, There's the mountain of prayer, I am going up yonder, To-day on that mount we would seek for thy blessing, Our hearts then will feel, thine high influence possessing, ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. Anecdotes, Selections, and Gems. THE TWO DEATH SCENES.-The Neglecter.-The eternal God has taught us in his word that the way of transgressors is hard. Though the entrance to the path that leads to eternal ruin may seem strewed with flowers, yet all the hapless travellers in it must, sooner or later, discover that it is crowded with sorrows, and ends in destruction. None more fully realize the truth of this assertion than those who have trodden this delusive path after having been once apparently inclined to walk in the ways of peace. The sad account that follows respects a young woman who acted this ruinous part. She was born of poor but honest parents, and was taught the first principles of religion in a sabbath-school. At the age of sixteen she engaged in service in her native village. At her first place she continued three years. In her nineteenth year she removed to a situation much superior to her first; but, alas! the master of the house was a lover of pleasure, and she met with no little persecution from her fellow servants. This induced her to neglect private prayer, and other means of grace. At length, she was seldom seen at public worship. A christian friend perceived her declension by her backwardness to dicourse on religious subjects. She had previously been very forward to converse on the best things, but at this time was quite the reverse. Yet she did not return back to the world without considerable checks of conscience. She knew that she was doing wrong, but became hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. About the twentieth year of her age, she broke a blood-vessel. On the day after the circumstance took place, I visited her, and on asking her how she was, she said, "Very bad." I then particularly inquired of her how she felt as regarded her eternal welfare, she replied, "That is what I want. My life I care not for, if my sins were pardoned." I spoke of Christ's willingness to save sinners, but she said, "There is no pardon for me. I have been a great sinner." I then enlarged on the promises of the gospel, and its invitations to sinners, but all seemed to aggravate the feelings of her guilty conscience, and she cried out, "O that I had repented when the Spirit of God was striving with me! but now I am undone!" I then offered up a prayer for her; and finding that talking to her was only sharpening the stings of a wounded conscience, I left her. She was much weaker from the loss of blood, and her countenance bespoke the sad state of her mind, which no doubt hastened her speedy dissolution. I again visited her, and on asking her how she felt, she answered, "Miserable! Miserable!" I then repeated some passages of scripture; but, alas! all in vain: her soul laboured under the greatest agonies, and she exclaimed, "O, how I have been deceived! O, that I had obeyed the gospel!" I reminded her that Jesus Christ would in no wise cast out those who came unto God by him, and that his ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. blood cleanseth us from all sin, but all without any apparent effect. I then left her. She died next morning, at six o'clock. I inquired of the woman who attended her if she continued in the same state to the last, she said she was much worse after I left her, and was heard to exclaim, "Eternity! O, Eternity!" Thus died, at the age of twenty, this unhappy young woman. On her final state we are not called to decide, and we would fain hope that as she was convinced of sin, the mercy of God in Christ would reach her case. But how much happier for herself and all around her had she died in peace and hope. Take care, my reader, that you do not neglect the great salvation. For how will you escape it if you do? "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." The Believer.-Mr. Wolfe, a clergyman of great zeal, talent, and piety, had been curate of Castle Caulfield, in the diocese of Armagh, about three years, when typhus fever, then raging in the north of Ireland, visited his parish and neighbourhood. The unremitting attention which he paid to the sick, and his recklessness of personal comfort, with continual exposure to cold, laid the foundation of an illness from which he never recovered. Habitual cough testified that all was not right; and next spring consumption appeared to be confirmed. The situation in which he was placed was little suitable for a clergyman, still less for an invalid. He seldom thought of providing for a regular meal, and his humble cottage exhibited every appearance of the neglect of the ordinary comforts of life. A few straggling rush-bottomed chairs, piled up with his books; with a small ricketty table before the fire-place, covered with parish memoranda, and two trunks containing all his papers, serving at the same time to cover the broken parts of the floor, constituted all the furniture of his sitting room. The mouldy walls of the closet in which he slept were hanging with loose folds of damp paper. The state of his health requiring a change, he visited Edinburgh, Dublin, Exeter, Bordeaux, and the Cove of Cork; but the progress of consumption abundantly testified that he was on the verge of the grave. The Bible was now his chief delight; and he seemed to meditate on the near approach of his earthly dissolution. His soul was supported and cheered, not by any expectation of restoration to health, but by meditation on the glories of that better land, where the destroyer cannot enter. The day previous to his decease, his medical attendant, feeling it right to state the near approach of his departure, said, “Your mind, sir, seems to be so raised above this world, that I need not fear to communicate to you my candid opinion of your state." "Yes, sir," replied he, "I trust I have been learning to live above the world;" and he then made some impressive observations on the ground of his own hopes; and having afterwards heard that they had a favourable effect, he entered more fully into the subject with him on his next visit, and continued speaking for an hour in such a convincing, affecting, and solemn strain (and this at a time when ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. he seemed incapable of uttering a single sentence), that the physician, on retiring to the adjoining room, threw himself on the sofa, in tears, exclaiming, "There is something superhuman about that man; it is astonishing to see such a mind in a body so wasted; such mental vigour in a poor frame dropping into the grave." During the last few days of his life, when his sufferings became more distressing, his constant expression was, "This light affliction! this light affliction!" On going to bed, on the evening of the 20th of February, 1823, he felt very drowsy, and soon after the stupor of death began to creep over him. He began to pray for all his dearest friends individually; bu his voice faltering, he could only say, "God bless them all! The peace of God and of Jesus Christ overshadow them, dwell in them, reign in them!" "My peace," said he, addressing his sister, "the peace I now feel be with you. Thou, O God, wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." His speech again began to fail, and he fell into a slumber; but whenever his senses were recalled, he returned to prayer. He repeated part of the Lord's Prayer, but was unable to proceed; and at last, with a composure scarcely credible at such a moment, he whispered to the dear relatives who hung over his deathbed, "Close this eyethe other is closed already; and now farewell!" Then, having again uttered part of the Lord's Prayer, he fell asleep. Clissold's Christian Deathbeds. INFLUENCE OF OUR ACTIONS.-We see not in life the end of human actions. The influence never dies. In every widening circle it reaches beyond the grave. Death removes us from this to an eternal world; time determines what shall be our condition in that world. Every morning, when we go forth, we lay the moulding hand on our destiny; and every evening, when we have done, we have left a deathless impression upon our character. We touch not a wire, but vibrates in eternity,-a voice, but reports at the throne of God. Let youth especially think of these things; and let every one remember, that in this world, character is in its formation state-it is a serious thing to think, to speak, to act. Do GOOD TO YOUR OWN NEIGHBOUR.-Have special regard to those persons over whom you have special influence. In the most limited connexions there are many such. Over some you have influence by relationship; over others, by esteem for your character. You have power with them; power, perhaps, which none other has. God has given it to you. Consider it as a precious talent entrusted to your care. Use it faithfully for their good and for his glory, and God shall give you their life for a prey. KNOWLEDGE is not a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud man to raise himself upon; or a fort of commanding ground for strife and contention; or a shop for profit or sale; but a rich store-house for the glory of the Creator and relief of man's estate. ANECDOTES, SELECTIONS, AND GEMS. SINCERE RECONCILIATION." If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Matt. v. 23, 24. Neither may we do as those two emulous commanders of Greece dia, who resolved to leave their spite behind them at Mount Athos, and to take it up again in their return; here must be an absolute and free acquitting of all the back-reckonings of our unkindness, that we may receive the God of peace into a clear bosom. LIVING WELL.-There appears to exist a greater desire to live long than to live well. Measure by man's desires, he cannot live long enough; measure by his good deeds, and he has not lived long enough; measure by his evil deeds, and he has lived too long. Facts and Hints. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.-Within ten minutes after Prince Albert had arrived at York in order to attend the late meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Queen received information in London, by means of the electric telegraph, that her consort had safely accomplished his journey. CANALS IN AMERICA.-There are employed on the canals in the State of New York, more than 30,000 men, 7,000 boys, and 4,000 women, in all more than 41,000 persons. LIGHTNING.-Persons apparently killed by lightning have been restored by promptly immersing them in cold water, or by dashing water upon the body. JOHN WESLEY.-A marble statue of the Rev. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, has been presented to the Wesleyan Connexion by Mr. Thomas Farmer. JEWS. The proportion of Jews to Christians in the United Kingdom is as 1 to 2,076. DEAF AND DUMB.-It is stated that there are 14,328 deaf and dumb persons in Great Britain. OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS is the first lesson a child should be taught, for it lays the foundation of obedience to all lawful authority whether of God or man. TO BE HAPPY AT HOME should be the end a man seeks .by his labours so far as regards this life. To tell whether a man be virtuous and happy you must follow him home. "ASK MY WIFE whether I am a christian or not," said an American; and it was a good remark. ON PREACHING. The specious sermons of a learned man But he who preaches with a christian grace, |