32 s. d. ! A Friend, Plymouth. 5 o lassie 2 0 50 Mr. Melville, 2 6 2 6 60 о Coatbridge Mr. F. Senter, Der. J. Pearson, Esq., Port singham. 70 land, Victoria. A Friend, Brackley. 52 4 W. Todhunter, Esq., I Douglas. 26 D. Louttit, Esq., Mr. R. Slocombe, N. Lybster 60 Evans, Petherton 2 6 10 O J. Dykes, Esq., Coat A Friend . 27 6 bridge 50 A Friend I 3 Rotherhamn 2 6 J. M'Aulay, Esq., Mrs. L. Crawford, P. Lainont, Esq. Ballater 50 J. Somerville, Esq., Mrs. Barrett, Edin burgh Edinburgh Mrs. Tucker, Paven ham - 10 7 Graham, G. Meakin, 5 0 Esq.. Rev. Dr. Hutcheson, 2 6 John Broad, Esq., Stone - 20 Mrs. Pentland, . 2 6 Mrs. Smith, J. A. Henry, Esq., 2 6 A. Curle, Esq.,. Mrs. A. Paterson, 26 R. Gardener, Esq., W. D. Fane, Esq., Derby Mrs. Buckley, Craw ley Down H. Flockhart, Esq., . 2 6 W. Slater, Esq.,. De G.. - 10 M. Douglas, Esq., 2 6 Mrs. Smith, senr., Mr. B. Brindley, Miss Sprot, 2 6 Miss Smith, Major Wyld, 2 6 Miss E. M. Smith, 2 6 Derby Miss Balfour, Mrs. C. Smith, . 2 6 Mrs. Thomson,. John Freer, Esq., 2 6 Mrs. Wright, 26 Ralph Dunn, Esq., 2 6 2 6 Rev. 2 6 Rev. Dr. Herdman, . 2 6 2 6 Miss Webster, Brechin 5 o Brewin, Esq., R. Cirencester G. Ilfracombe Miss Smyth, London 20 Chute, - 21 2 1 6 Mrs. Walker, 2 6 Miss Mackenzie Steuart, London 2 0 SELKIRK Miss Robertson, 8 2 6 о 20 0 9 5 J. Paterson, Esq.. 10 6 R. Lees, Esq., Castle Douglas 2 6 5 0 A. Herbertson, Esq., 50 J. G. Strachan, Esq., Stroud 8 6 7 6 9006 Miss Haldane, 2 6 S. Maxwell, Esq., 2 6 G. II. Christie, Esq., J. Cochrane, jr., Esq., 2 6 Framingham - 40 0 Mrs. Aimers, 26 Mrs. G. Harris, Wes W. Carruthers, Esq... 2 6 ton-Super-Mare 60 Mrs. Combat, 2 6 Mr. D. Sillars, Smith Rev. J. Pollok, 2 6 stonriggs 26 Mrs. Roberts, 26 A Friend, Alnwick Miss Fector, Ewell INNERLEITHEN. & Rev. C. D. Kay, 2 6 Mrs. F. Clerk, Bath 5555 Mrs. Brown, 2 6 J. Andrews, Esq., Blackheath 60 50 W. Temple, Esq., PEEBLES. 20 Mrs. M'Master, Port William 60 5 0 R. Stevenson, Esq., Miss Alexander, Mrs. Masson, Inverness zo o Miss Lindsay, · 2 6 Mrs. Leith, Tunbridge Wells -17 6 Miss M. Cross, Myerscough 36 0 Miss M. Watson, Win chester . 60 Miss Hastie, Dun fermline 5 0 E. Brady, Esq.,. Messrs. M'Lintock & Sons, 5 0 Miss Fraser, Gourock 2 5 0 H. C. Wells, Esq., Chelmsford - 20 o 6 Mr. J. Kelly, Castlepollard 6 0 Smith, Ardrossan 2 0 Esq., 6 2 5 o 5 0 • 5 0 SHEFFIELD. Misses Marples, Messrs. Thomas Firth & Sons, Messrs. Tennant Bros., 40 Thomas Wilson, Esq., 21 Henry Russell, Esq., 21 Ebenezer Hall, Esq., fer o Joseph Wilson, Esq., 20 C. Johnson, Esq., 40 о Mrs. Peachey, Fettleworth 40 - 10 O Mrs. Ellis, Old Meldrum 0 o J. Malcolm, Esq., J. Ingoldby, Esq., 5 0 50 • 50 • 5 0 G. F. Bristow, Esq.,. 5 o 2 6 26 Sam. Musgrave, Esq., 2 6 DRIFFIELD (2d List). Rev. Horace Newton, 42 0 DONCASTER. Mrs. Wade, Mrs. E. Baxter,. R. E. Clark, Esq., Mrs. Isaac Marsden,. 5 o J. F. Clark, Esq., C. Halmshaw, Esq.,. J. F. Spencer, Esq.,. . 10 O J. B. Pigott, Esq., W. Longbottom, Esq., 5 o 50 C. Brady, Esq., • O O .20 Mrs. G. Wostenholm, 10 Jas. Crossland, Esq., 10 D. Doncaster, Esq., • 5 0 5 0 D. K. Doncaster, Esq., 5 0 C. Doncaster, Esq., . J. Woodhouse, Esq., J. Wilkinson, Esq., G. Gentles, Esq., Airdrie Mrs. Nicholl, Bath Mr. J. Leah, Tintwistle Birmingham Beckett, Friends to the Cause Rev. J. Mather, Lang16 0 bank Mrs. Sabine, London 10 Nairn A Widow's Mite 5 0 A. Jackson, 2 6 MissLoch,Cheltenham 12 o Biggar 2 6 Miss Jones, Southamp 26 J. P. ton . 20 Drummond's Tract Depot, Stirling, N.B. T. Beeston, Esq., Gympie, Queensland 60 Mrs. How, Aspley Market Drayton o 60 - 20 O Miss Tanner, Painswick 2 6 5 0 2 6 A Friend to the Cause 20 A Friend, Campbel town - 20 O I о Mr. T. 6 Mrs. Hunter, Edin- C. L. Methven, Esq., 26 о - 10 60 6 Mrs. Pierce, Kingston 1 o St. Heliers Miss Stripling, Lich- J. Arres Mather, Esq., Mr. H. Balfron THE GRATUITOUS TION of the British Messenger, Trumpet, Good News, and Tracts of the Stirling Tract Enterprise, since its commencement, amounts to more than 39 The number in 1879 was millions. The Trustees are anxious to continue and greatly extend this gratuitous circulation, and they invite and would gladly welcome the contributions of Christian friends to enable them to do so. Many applications could be more adequately responded to did funds allow. The following quantities were given gratuitously during November, 1879:13,522 British Messenger,... £40 9 7 10,545 Gospel Trumpet,..... 14 13 4 6,222 Good News, and 151,032 Tracts,. 59 18 6 During December, 1879:43,577 British Messenger,.. 14,985 Gospel Trumpet,. 11,040 Good News, and 117,789 Tracts, Amount of previous Grants as reported in December Messenger, A larger quantity of the British Messenger was given gratuitously in December than in any month previously. Their distribution was entrusted to Ministers, Mission26 aries, Colporteurs, and others in different parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, from whom grateful acknowledgments We hope to be have been received. 6 The enabled to continue an enlarged circulation The necessity is great. 15 8 monthly. field is wide, and the opportunities for "sowing the good seed" are abundant. о II Ο ΙΟ All applications for Grants, and remittances of money for this object, to be made to JOHN MACFARLANE, Manager, Drummond's Tract Depot, Stirling, N.B. Published and sold by the Trustees acting under a Trust W. E. Malcolm, Esq., Burnfoot - 20 Mrs. G. Giles, Bon- E. Sheffield Mrs. Ludlam, Cleve- 26 0 Milner, 86 J. H. Love, Esq., 60 Mrs. Clifford, Staines Alderley Edge Mrs. J. Streatfield, London Mrs. Cuthbert, Edin- 7 0 Mrs. Cumming, Dal- Mr. J. Kelly, Tarbert 10 I 7 0 A. Whitlie, Esq., BRITISH MESSENGER Published by the Trustees of the late Peter Drummond, at Drummond's Tract Depot, Stirling, N.B. Rev. William Taylor, M.A., Editor. 34 difficult indeed, in which they were afraid to trust moun- The only person near them was their little brother Pierre, a child of six. Who can describe his terror as he witnessed his brothers' danger, and felt himself utterly unable to help them! Could he do nothing? Yes, one thing; he could run and tell their father. With a And he lost not a moment in doing so. presence of mind, energy, and promptitude wonderful in a child of his years, he climbed the steep ascent and ran homewards. What if his father should not be at In a moment apprehending home? But he was. the imminent peril in which his boys were placed, he hurried to the spot, and, skilled as he was in all the resources of Alpine life, soon found means of saving them. In reading this story it awakens the thought, What a merciful providence it was that the father was within call when the child came to summon him to the rescue! And this other thought, What a blessed thing it is to have a Heavenly Father always within call; so that if we keep up constant communication with Him, the greatest difficulties of life will become smooth to us! Things always seem to go smoothly with you," said a complaining disciple to Mr. F-, "I never hear you make any complaints." "I have found out an effectual way of guarding "One day in against that fault," said Mr. F reading the Bible I came across the passage in Mark vi. 30, And the Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught.' It occurred to me that when had any trouble, before I told any one, I should first for deliverance "That is true; and He knew all that His disciples And what blessed had done and taught; yet he listened with interest and sympathy to all they told Him. relief must they have felt, in pouring out the whole story of their first efforts and difficulties into His loving and responsive heart! A tender father delights in listening to his child: and to this full and filial confidence our gracious God invites us, attaching peculiar In everyblessing to such out-pouring of the heart. thing,' is the boundless invitation; and the promised reward is 'The peace of God which passeth all understanding.' "But when we think of what God is the great Creator of the universe-He to whom the nations are counted as the small dust of the balance, and 'who taketh up the isles as a very little thing,' it seems like irreverence to think of narrating all my services and little daily trials to Him. Can I kneel down in prayer to God, the great Jehovah, and begin a history of illnatured village gossip, or low mischief-making, or spiteful remarks which may have vexed me? These things sting, and yet we despise and loathe them so much that we scorn even to speak of them to a niceminded friend. How, then, can we speak of such miserable trifles to God?" "My dear friend, that which vexes and unhinges your mind is not a trifle; and God is not only the great Jehovah, but your tender and loving Father. What comfort there is in the words, 'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him!' We must not only look through the telescope at God's greatness in the sublimity of creation, but And the same through the microscope to learn something of the The same exquisite finish of his minutest works. principle pervades the spiritual world. heart of love that called the universe into existence beats responsive to the faintest sigh of His loving and suffering children." But "A trifle, do you say? What is a trifle? The smallest particle of some irritant, lodging in the eye, may cause intense agony, perhaps loss of sight. And just so, the poisonous word that rankles in the soul, the tiniest drop of the venom of the old serpent, may do deadly injury to a Christian's heart. then, what comfort to think of the assurance, 'He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.' We do well indeed to seal our lips to earthly friends in such trials as these. They are powerless to help, and their sympathy may only inflame the wound. Jesus; and then you will find 'there is balm in Gilead, there is a physician there.' But come to "And let us not forget that an affectionate, confiding, tender faith, habitually exercised, would save us half the annoyances of life; for it would lift us above the reach of them. If an eagle were to fly low along the ground, every man might aim a dart at it; but when it soars into the clouds, it is above every arrow's reach. And they that 'wait upon the Lord,' absorbed in devoted service to Him, these 'shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint."" "Is any afflicted, let him pray," that is the Divine prescription. "In everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all under standing, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." "Lord, what a change within us one short hour, NO SUCH THING AS CHANCE. RS. E. Garnett writes:-A man I knew had all day long been wheeling a barrow across an 8-inch plank, over a cutting more than 150 feet deep, which was timbered up with cross beams. He went home to dinner, and returned afterwards to his work; the very next load he wheeled, suddenly the plank snapped in two like a match, he let go the barrow, which crashed down like lead, and he himself fell through the air after it. As he fell, he threw out his left arm, and caught on a cross beam, and hung, thus suspended. He grasped his wrist instantly with his other hand, and hung there until he was rescued. "No one but God saved me," he said, afterwards. Yes! God knew the accident was coming, and God made him fall in just the right place to catch the beam. There are no such things as Chance and Luck. God is over all. This must be true, or His knowledge and power would not be infinite; He would not be God at all. But if we believe this truth, as we must if we quietly consider it, see what peace it will give us. God is directing our affairs; and He can, and, if we trust Him, will bring them right in the end. QUESTIONS ABOUT HEAVEN. CHRISTIAN lady was dying. She had been trying to imagine what heaven was, and could not. Tired of every effort, she gave it up to the Saviour; and found perfect rest in His promise, "I go to prepare a place for you." "Why!" she thought; "how foolish I have been in straining my eyes to see what God has not yet placed within sight. Enough that Christ is fitting up my mansion. He knows what I shall require. I have no fear but that I shall be blessed for ever in the home which He has gone to prepare, and where He will be." There is no grander thought to answer all such questions than the utterance of the Nineteenth Psalm, that God is our dwelling-place. He is Himself our home. He who has made us, and who knows us altogether, has taken on Himself the responsibility of His peoples' happiness. Where they shall be, God is, in all the measureless resources of power, grace, and joy; and this is enough. HE WHO BUILT ALL THINGS. TAND and observe how a lofty building is raised. Watch the work thoroughly, and from the beginning. Here the clay is dug and prepared. There the stones are carried, first by ordinary carts, then by rail, then by carts again to the building site. In another place the lime is hewn, then burnt, and, after being brought to the place, slaked. Elsewhere, again, trees are felled, prepared in the saw-mill, and at last conveyed, in the shape of beams, to the place where the rest of the material is collected. Observe still, and you see journeymen and labourers, masons and carpenters; you note with your own eyes that it is these, and these only, who, from the materials gathered together, construct the building. But the builder, the architect, who conceived and drew out the plan, who guides the diverse forces to one and the same end, of him you see nothing. So writes a Danish author. And he proceeds to reason, with great force, that nobody would put forth the assertion, "there is no architect at all; for I have observed the whole process, and have never seen any such person; his existence is a mere superstition, and we must be done with it." Nobody would venture to explain the wonderful co-operation of many diverse forces, by saying, "chance, nothing but chance!" Yet such would be the folly, no matter by whom committed, of trying to explain the origin of this whole world by chance; or, for that matter, by a countless series of self-adapting chances, without the plan and creative action of God. Our childhood doctrine of God the Father, almighty maker of heaven and earth, is precisely what we need. High as in its simplicity it towers above the glory of exact science, it yet contains infinitely more and profounder truth than all the wisdom of the ages. And the happiness of the Christian is to be able to say, "This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death." PRAYING AND THIEVING.-A West Indian planter, walking on the estate of a friend where the slaves were instructed by the missionaries, saw some peas growing among the sugar canes. Knowing that the slaves were short of provisions, he called to one of them who was near, and asked why he did not take these peas, as they were ripe. "They are not mine," answered the black. "How is this?" said the gentleman; "you negroes are always ready to take everything you can lay your hands on." "No, massa," replied the slave, "negro who pray never thieve." "Thou art near, O Lord." (Psalm cxix. 151). PITY the man who can walk this beautiful earth and not feel a Presence everywhere. It is in those grandnesses of nature which tower over our heads, so sublimely still-the sanctuaries of creation. And no less it is in the delicate tracery of the rose leaf; or in the fine and accurate anatomy of the smallest insect whose life is but for a day. We have all felt it, with an awe and consciousness too deep for words, in the stillness of night, and in the purity of the silent stars. But nearer the presence comes, in those deep A Brand Plucked Out of the Fire. passages where the soul of a man meets his God; where the sense of sin lies heavy on the heart, and the whispers of the voice of conscience ring louder than the singing of the waves which beat upon our shore. God is beginning now to draw very nigh to that man's soul, though he knows it not and believes it not. But presently there is a trust and a peace, a calm, quiet joy which comes over that soul--the voice of the Spirit," Thy sins be forgiven thee." And very near art Thou, O Lord to that man; and he knows it now. But Thou wilt come nearer still; for there are seasons beyond the first sense of pardon the con 66 sciousness of such close communion, that it is as if a man was talking with his friend." Times, they may be, of some outward sorrow; times when all else you care for has gone far off; times of bitter solitude of heart; but, oh! what intimacies, what interchange of thoughts and affections are there! what realizations! what closeness! How does God speak into the ear of faith; and the heart cry, "Thou art near, O Lord." And on and on that nearness comes till nearness is union. The soul and Christ are at one. Is He not there? Is He not the life? And beyond both again, a little further, and faith is sight; and expectation is rest. There is no need of nearness now; for nearness, however near, leaves space; but there is no space. He is here. But understand and remember this-for it is very important to your peace-that nearness and the sense of nearness are two different things. The nearness is often the greatest when it is felt to be the least; the very jealousy of the fear lest we should accept it too credulously, is a proof of its reality. Christ makes. the nearness; but the Holy Ghost must make the happy feeling of the confidence of the nearness. By His grace, may He keep us near to Him, as He is sure to keep near us. TRUE belief and true repentance are twins; it would be idle to attempt to say which is born first. All the spokes of a wheel move at once, when the wheel moves; and so, all the graces commence action when regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost. A DRUNKEN man came up to Rowland Hill one day and said, "I am one of your converts, Mr. Hill." "I dare say you are," replied that shrewd and sensible preacher; "but you are none of the Lord's converts, or you would not be drunk." * Extract from a Sermon of the Rev. JAMES VAUCHAN, M.A., Brighton. BY A MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL BOUT ten years ago, D. N. first came under my notice. He was at that time a careless man, never entering the House of God, a great drunkard, and very unkind to his wife and family. He was often spoken to earnestly and affectionately, and warned of his sin and danger; his ways, but still there was no lasting betterness, nor sometimes he seemed softened, and promised to mend any gracious change. He returned to his evil ways; to lose hope of any abiding reformation, or of any and this continued so long, that we were really beginning saving impression being made upon him. It was a path of fearful danger he was walking in; for God hath said, "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed." dant grace, He had better things in store for D. N. In God's long-suffering mercy, however, and abunSome months before his death, he was taken ill with a severe hemorrhage from the lung, and on that occasion was nearly dead. If he had died then, he would have died in his sins, and been for ever lost; and he often spoke afterwards of the horror with which he eternity, unsaved and ready to sink into the pit. His found himself, as he then thought, hanging over fears and horror, as he told us afterwards, were so agonizing and overwhelming, that he could not collect salvation that there is in Christ for sinners; and often his thoughts, even for one moment, to think of the since then has he been heard blessing God for not cutting him off then in his unprepared state. What a dreadful risk do unconverted sinners run, while every day liable to the awful chance of death! They are only borne with from day to day, moment to moment, but any day and every day they may be cut down in their sins. "Prepare to meet thy God," and how unfit a time for doing this, as this case and all experience show, are the closing hours of one's life, when severe illness seizes us, and death alarmingly stares us in the face. Now is the accepted time-now, and not tomorrow; now, and not on a dying bed. In God's long suffering, D. N. had some time longer given him to prepare; and as his illness continued his convictions of sin seemed to deepen, and he became earnestly desirous of peace with God. A deepening tenderness of spirit was noticed in him, and he was often found weeping at the remembrance of his sin. |