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A CLERICAL VISITATION.

the witness in himself." And Paul, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

C. Then I suppose you would not call those christians who keep to their church and are born in the Spirit as you say. P. Certainly I would, sir, if they bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, for this is the only proof we can give to our fellowcreatures that we have the truth and have been with Jesus. C. To be sure that is what I say. "By their works ye shall know them."

P. But, sir, those who bring forth the fruits of the Spirit are not under the law, but under grace; for by the works of the law shall no flesh living be justified.

C. But how can you feel justified in differing from our opinions? You should take heed to what we say, because in searching the Bible for yourself you may be led into error.

P. Error, sir! Do you not pray every Sunday to be delivered from heresy?

C. What do you call doctrine of error?

P. Baptismal regeneration, sir, which you put in the room and stead of Christ.

C. I think you mistake my meaning. I do not wish to put baptism in the room of Jesus Christ; but as this is the right doctrine, woe is me if I depart from that which I have been brought up to.

P. O, sir, this would avail me nothing in the last day to say, "Lord, I was brought up to trust in error, therefore I cannot help it." I trust I can say it is my earnest prayer, day by day, that the Lord will open my dark understanding, that I may know the truth from error, and not only me, but all those whom I fear are trusting in it.

C. You will have no one to minister to your wants in your sickness unless you go to church.

says

P. Oh, sir, that will never trouble me. God who feedeth the little sparrows will never suffer his children to want. And he in his word, "There shall be no want to them that fear him." C. Well: I see you have good intentions, but I hope when I see you again I shall find your opinions accord with mine.

P. No, sir, never, if you sit here for a fortnight. I am very sorry for you, and I hope the Lord will be pleased to open the eyes of your mind, to see the error of trusting in baptismal regeneration.

C. Good morning to you.

P. Good morning, sir, and thank you for calling.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

Anecdotes and Selections.

THE DAY OF JUDGMENT.-The scenery which is now actually preparing will not only surpass everything that has yet been seen, but will infinitely exceed the utmost stretch of human conception. There will be a just representation of all the inhabitants of the world in their various and proper colours, and their customs and manners will be so exact and so minutely delineated that the most secret thought will then be discovered, for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. For the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel, but to be glorified in his saints. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, and "Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

Then, O tell,

Some raised on high and others doomed to hell;
These praise the Lamb and sing redeeming love,
Lodg'd in his bosom all his goodness prove;

While those who trampled under foot his grace
Are banished now for ever from his face;
Divided thus a gulf is fixed between,

And EVERLASTING closes up the scene.

A DOCTOR IN DIVINITY When on his death bed was complimented on the extent of his knowledge, his ready wit, and the power of his eloquence. His reply is memorable- "Oh!" said he, "I shall not stand before God as a doctor, but as a man. I shall be on a level with the most illiterate in the day of judgment. What will it avail me then to have learning or wit at command ? Will my Judge be charmed with rhetoric, or pleased with profound erudition! No! No! things will not be carried on by the same rule in the next world as in this. My head has often ached from hard study, but, alas, my heart has not been contrite for sin!" He was not far from the kingdom of God. Let us hope that he found it.

"THY WILL BE DONE."-Dr. Payson, when racked with pain, exclaimed, “O, what a blessed thing it is to lose one's will: since I have lost my will, I have found happiness. There can be no such thing as disappointments to me, for I have no desires but that God's will may be accomplished." To live thus obedient to divine Providence, is to have the spirit of the prayer, "Thy will be done on earth," and it is the practice of those who do that will "in heaven."

THE FIRESIDE.

The Fireside.

WHAT WOULD MAKE HOME HAPPY.-What? I will tell you what a better use of what a man earns. But just have patience a moment, and you shall see what I mean. A report of the condition of the labouring population of Great Britain, states that about FIFTY MILLIONS of money are expended every year in using spirits and other strong mixtures for drink, half of which at least, is paid by working men. Only look at that! TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS a year. Why according to the growing conviction of those who have studied the subject, and to the increasing experience of large numbers of working men themselves, this enormous sum is expended to produce pure evil. There is evidence on every hand that the nutritious food, warm clothing, fuel, better houses, which could all be secured by a tithe of this outlay, would give strength, comfort, and a sound mind; while those so called luxuries which swallow up all the means of all other luxuries, produce, it is true, a temporary excitement wearing the semblance of strength, but undermine the constitution, predispose to disease, shorten life, darken the intellect, and overturn the moral being. The report quoted above contains statements from all parts of England and Scotland, to the effect that comfort does not depend on the wages of the labourer in anything approaching the degree in which it depends on his habits. Whole bodies of men having wages from thirty shillings up to three pounds a week, may be found living in wretchedness, bare of every decency of life, and without a shilling laid by; while others, having less than half of the least of these sums, bring up their families respectably, and have comfortable homes. Indeed it appears that so prevalent is the habit of spending all beyond the sum wanted for the bare necessaries of existence on drink, that high wages too often tend solely to demoralise. We all know the efforts now made by the friends of temperance to conquer this dreadful evil. Sanitary reform and improved dwellings will powerfully second the good cause; and it is not too much to hope that the rising generation will, by all these aids, and by the increasing means of education, rise above it, or even that the present one may shake it off in a great degree. Yes: many a wife would look more cheerful, and many a child more rosy and happy if this custom of spending so much in drink were given up. The way to upset it entirely is for you mothers to give your children water, and water only, to drink at dinner. Dont accustom them to drink beer of any kind, neither small nor strong, and they will never then feel the want of it. And depend upon it when they grow up they will thank you more for your good management in this matter than if you had given them a hundred pounds.

THE PENNY POST.

The Penny Post.

TO ENGLISH MEN AND WOMEN.-Let me say a word to these on behalf of One whom I fear many of them have forgotten :

ENGLAND is a land of bibles; a land in which Jesus Christ is set forth crucified amongst us; a land in which Gethsemane and Calvary are familiar scenes; a land in which the ambassadors of mercy, and the heralds of peace, are hourly inviting and beseeching sinners to be reconciled to God. Under circumstances so auspicious it would only be reasonable to expect that every city, town, and village, would welcome the glorious tidings; and that in every heart Jesus would live and reign. But, is it so? Alas, for England! "Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward." Multitudes on multitudes go down to perdition with the bible, the lamp of eternal life, in their hands. Salvation is within reach, and yet they die in their sins. The ark floats over the shoreless sea, and yet they stretch not out their hand-they sink within reach! Jesus Christ hangs bleeding on his cross before them with love and pity in his eyes; his heart is big, swelling, bursting with tenderness, and as crowd after crowd moves on he exclaims, in affecting tones, "Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." A few stop and listen, and look, and live! But more pass by on the other side unconcerned by his sufferings, deaf to his calls, unaffected by his love. Onward they move, the way to death. For the road they take terminates in a frightful precipice; fogs hang over it; clouds and darkness envelope it. Blinded by the "god of this world," they press, unconscious of danger, to the verge one more fatal step and they fall into the deep and bottomless gulph! When I think of this I am ready to exclaim with an ancient prophet, "My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart," that my fellow-men should thus walk blindfold to endless ruin, and that the vast plans which the Saviour contemplated and accomplished for their rescue should all be to them as if they had never been, and they perish without hope, without God, and without salvation. As for me, I will ever cling to Christ and his cross.

"Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,

Which before the Cross I spend ;

Life, and health, and peace possessing,
Through my loving, dying Friend."

R. O.

FACTS, HINTS, AND GEMS.

Facts, Hints, and Gems.

Facts.

A SMALL NEWSPAPER has been got up and printed on board one of her Majesty's vessels-a sixty-four gun ship at Portsmouth.

A LARGE FAMILY made it a rule that one in turn should read every morning at breakfast. By this they not only acquired much knowledge, but kept down all idle talk.

RICH AND POOR.-Some say these are getting wider and wider apart, and that, as all the blood is drawing towards the head, apoplexy will be the result. We hope not. We think there are now some better symptoms in the body politic. The rich seem to be thinking more about the poor than they did.

THE GREAT TUBULAR BRIDGE over the Menai Straits in Wales is the greatest production of science and art in the world. The first railway train went through it on Tuesday, March 5, 1850.

A GRAND EXHIBITION of all kinds of works of art is getting up for next year (1851) in London. It will be the greatest ever known in the world. Prince Albert, to his honour, proposed it. It is a good sign when princes cultivate the peaceful arts.

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Hints.

CONTENTMENT.-If men knew what felicity dwells in the cottage of virtuous man, how sound he sleeps, how quiet his rest, how composed his mind, how free from care, how easy his position, how moist his mouth, how joyful his heart, they would never admire the noises, the diseases, the throngs of passions, and the violence of unnatural appetites, that fill the house of the luxurious, and the heart of the ambitious. Bishop Taylor.

TEN RULES OF LIFE.-1. Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day. 2. Never trouble others to do what you can do yourself. 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. 5. Pride costs as much as hunger, thirst, and cold. 6. We never repent of eating too little. 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 8. How much pain those evils cost us which never happen! 9. Take things by their smooth handle. 10. When angry, always count ten before you speak..

AN EXCELLENT RULE.-In the Memoir of the late Dr. Milnor, one of his resolutions, as stated, is, "To adhere religiously to a determination which I formed at the moment of commencing business, never to ineur a debt which I have the re

FIFTY YEARS AGO.-There were only four millions of bibles in the world, now there are above thirty millions; then they were only found in fifty languages, now in above two hundred languages and dialects-motest apprehension of being unthen 200,000,000 might read them, now 500,000,000, or half the world! WITHIN THE PAST FIFTY YEARS 2000 missionaries have gone forth to the heathen, 7000 native preachers have been raised up, 4000 churches formed consisting of 250,000 members, with 3000 schools, and 250,000 children. And all this has been done, where in 1800 not one of these could be found.

able or even finding it inconvenient to discharge; and, in order constantly to possess the means of keeping this resolution, whatever my income may be, always to live within it."

GOSSIPPING.-The idle levy a very heavy tax upon the industrious when, by frivolous visitations, they rob them of their time. Such persons beg their daily happiness from

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