lessly clothed, but countless multitudes | hard to be learned by a people which are but whitewashed sepulchres. Too have always been accustomed to have many "don't care so long as it will not whatever it wanted, and to treat costly be seen." Washington Allston, the things as if they were common, for fear great artist, the accomplished gentle- lest it should not be supposed to be man, suddenly left his friend standing familiar with them. One thing has at the door of a splendid Boston man- much contributed to this-the absence sion as they were about entering for a of anything like class styles of expendiparty, because he had just remembered ture. Abroad, a man will not allow that he had a hole in his stocking. It his wife and daughters certain modes could not be seen or known, but the of dress, unless he can have other things very knowledge of its existence made in keeping. A camel's hair shawl and him feel that he was less a man than diamonds require a carriage and serhe ought to be; gave him a feeling of vants in proportion. The habits of life inferiority. which fit a particular income are well known. No one goes beyond them. without censure. In America, there is no such rule. People live at hotels where waste is the order of the day, and where children are educated in the want of care, and the habit of unlimited ordering.-Churchman.

When you see a neat, tidy, cleanly, cheerful dwelling, there you will find a joyous, loving, happy family. But if filth and squalor, and a disregard for the refining delicacies of life prevail in any household, there will be found in the moral character of the inmates much that is low, degrading, unprincipled, vicious and disgusting. Therefore, as we grow in years, we ought to watch eagerly against neglect of cleanliness in person and tidiness in dress.-Hall's Journal of Health.

KEEP HOME BRIGHT.-Keep home bright, mothers! A lady was at the sea-shore last summer, whose four boys, aged from eight to sixteen years, were the theme of even the busiest tongues. Such manly boys, so obedient, so thoughtful of mother and sister, such perfect gentlemen without a tinge of mannishness. Boys who could act like men in the parlor, but were full of fun and play in the field; who seemed innocent of late hours, rich dishes, and champagne, and yet could be thoroughly at ease while they walked and talked with the girls of their age, or conversed with their elders. The secret leaked out one day. Mrs. S spent many of her evenings at home with her boys. She did not tell us so, but we do not doubt for an instant that sweet lessons of politeness, purity, and that highest gentlemanliness, religion, were interspersed with the "little nothings" talked during those "hours."-S. S. Times.

EXTRAVAGANCE.-The first lesson in economy is to learn to "do without." The second is to use what one has without waste. These two lessons are very

Throwing Kisses to God,

She is a sunny-haired little creature, the pet of the whole household, and she bears the name of the mother of Jesus.

Recently, for a number of mornings, while she evidently supposed that father and mother were still sleeping, she has been observed to sit up in bed, assume an air of strange, mature gravity, kiss her chubby little hand again and again, and then reverently wave it upward.

At length mother thinks she must know what the child means by all this. So she asks, "What is Mary doing?" And the tone in which she is answered is, if possible, sweeter than the words"Why, mamma, trowing tisses to God."

She is continually telling us how much she loves God-this is one of the ways she chooses to interpret her love.

Can there be a holier altar than the heart of a little child? And we know that our darlings can be priests, else why did God call Samuel? All reverence of the soul is worship. I am sure that God accounts as real homage these loving morning salutations of His little girl and ours.-Rev. Anson G. Chester, in Church Union.

AUGUST 1.

GOSPEL LESSONS.

LESSON XXXI.

1875.

Tenth Sunday after Trinity. St. Luke xix. 41-47.

41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

42. Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

43. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

44. And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall

not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

45. And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

46. Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

47. And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him.

QUESTIONS.

41. What city? Why did He weep over it? 42. To what does thou refer? What is meant by thy day? What kind of peace? Who causes the things of peace to be hid?

43-44. Who were the enemies? When was Jerusalem destroyed? What is its present condition? To which Jerusalem do you belong? Heb. xii. 22; Gal. iv. 26.

45. What things were sold and bought in the temple? Mark xi. 15. Why were these things done in the temple! Who sold and who bought

these things? Will you name the different courts in the temple? In which of the courts was this traffic carried on?

46. Whose house was the temple? In what sense had it become a den of thieves? Are our churches houses of God? Is it right to hold fairs, suppers, &c., in them?

47. Who were the chief priests? Who the scribes? Who the chief of the people? Why did they seek to destroy Jesus?

CATECHISM.
XXXI. Lord's Day.

83. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?

The preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or the excommunication out of the Christian Church; by these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers.

84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel? Thus: when, according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits; and, on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God and eternal condemnation, so long as they are

unconverted; according to which testimony of the gospel God will judge them, both in this and the life to come.

85. How is the kingdom of heaven shut and opened by Christian discipline?

Thus when, according to the command of Christ, those who, under the name of Christians, maintain doctrines or practices inconsistent therewith, will not, after having been often brotherly admonished, renounce their errors and wicked course of life, are complained of to the Church, or to those who are thereunto appointed by the Church; and if they despise their admonition, are, by them, forbid the use of the sacraments; whereby they are excluded from the Christian Church, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ; and when they promise and show real amendment, are again received as members of Christ and His Church.

When scorn'd by Zion, David's Son
Looked down from Ólivet,
The countenance of Christ was sad,
Those eyes with tears were wet.

O precious tears, most precious blood,
More costly than the dew

That falls on Hermon's hill, and rains
That Carmel's flowers renew.

For from those tears and precious blood,
As from prolific showers,

A blessed garden soon will bloom
Of heavenly passion-flowers.

Thou, Lord, wilt rise from Calvary ;
And through Gethsemane
From Zion pass to Olivet,
For glorious victory.

COMMENTS.-41. Jerusalem filled the cup of her iniquity in rejecting Jesus, the long-promised Messiah. Often in her history did she rebel against the Lord, her king, and often cruelly_entreat His servants, the prophets. The last and greatest of them, John the Baptist, told her children, however, that the time of decision had come; the axe was laid unto the root of the trees. The Lord of that Heaven-blest vineyard sends the Gift of all gifts, His only Son. Will they receive Him and live? His own received Him not. Jesus foresees the awful curses of the broken covenant about to fall upon that devoted city and people. Deut. xxviii. 15-68. No wonder He weeps.

42. The city is addressed as represen ting the whole Jewish people. Thy day it seems best to refer to the whole period of the crisis, embracing the mission of John the Baptist, the manifestation of Christ in His person and works, and the early days of the Apostolic church. Thy peace, not simply a negative escape from the impending doom, but that positive peace which is the result of faith in Him who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. God now causes the things of peace to be hid from their eyes, but not independent of their guilt through unbelief.

the first of these, the traffic was done, ostensibly for convenience' sake, for unholy gain in fact. It is questionable whether our modern church fairs are one whit less culpable. If our churches are built unto the Lord, they ought to be paid for and used in the same spirit. Who, however, thinks of holding a fair unto the Lord?

46. This part of the temple having been set apart to the Gentiles was as holy for that purpose as any other part was for its designated use. The whole of it was the House of the Lord, and therefore holy. It was made a den of thieves by the persons selling and buying, not simply because they robbed the Gentiles of their rights in occupying the space devoted to their use, rather because the sellers were guilty of unjust practices and boisterous competition; but, above all, in that both parties profanely occupied space that was holy unto the Lord. If the withholding of tithes is robbery of God (Mal. iii. 8), so was this.

47. Sought to destroy Him. A blind, unprincipled and confirmed hatred of Jesus possessed these chiefs in Israel, whom nothing could pacify and who, with demoniacal spirit, restlessly sought some pretext to put the object of their hatred out of the way.

Poor, but Rich in Faith.

43-44. The enemies are the Romans who under Titus besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, A. D. 70. Over 1,000,000 of the Jews perished at this time, and nearly the same number were sold into The Rev. H. Venn once told his chilslavery. It is still "trodden down of dren that he would take them to see one the Gentiles," a constant and powerful of the most interesting sights in the testimony of the truth of Christianity. world. He took them to an humble The condition of the Jews throughout the world has been gradually becoming better during the last few centuries, and still brighter days await them in the future. Zech. xii. As Gentile Christians we must not forget the solemn lesson taught us by St. Paul, Rom. xi.

45. Probably not doves only were sold in the temple, but other things used in connection with the services, especially during the great festivals, and which could not conveniently be bought by those worshipers who came from a distance. There were four courts in the temple, viz: The court of the Gentiles, the court of the Women, the court of Israel and the court of the Priests. In

dwelling. On entering it they saw a young man, nineteen years of age, consuming with fever, afflicted with sores, and dying in consumption. "How wretched is he !" exclaimed the children. Mr. Venn then addressed the young :--

"Abraham Milwood," he said, "I have brought my children to show them that it is possible to be happy in a state of destitution and disease like yours."

"Oh, sir!" said the young man, with a sweet smile, "I would not change my state with that of the richest, who have not the views I have. Blessed be God, sir, I have a good hope, through Christ, and am happy."

QUESTIONS.
|

CATECHISM.

XXXII. Lord's Day.

OF THANKFULNESS.

COMMENTS.-In this parable Christ teaches: The danger of over-estimating one's own righteousness. The virtue in the sight of God of genuine humility of heart over against outward works.

9. Certain. These were evidently among His disciples or followers in the wider sense. Their very advantages, resulting from being about Him, laid them open to the danger of looking down upon others.

10. Two men. Made to stand here as types of two classes of men, always, to be found. The Pharisee is the natural type of the one class, the Publican well represents the other. The Pharisee sought to do more than the law required, and prided himself on it. The Publican, by his position as tax-gatherer for a hated government, was held to have no merit of his own to bring and, in the present case, was himself fully conscious of that.

11. With himself. Seems to refer to the position he took in the court of the temple while praying-alone. God I thank thee. The common form of a prayer, and apparently here uttered in only a formal manner. Am not as other men. Here the spirit of judging by the outward, and often deceptive, at once shows itself.

12. Fast twice in the week. These extra fastings were added to the law by this sect of the Pharisees, just as the monastic orders in the Roman Church now add obligations of their own making to the duties enjoined by the Gospel. So with giving tithes of all they had. See Deuteronomy, 14: 22, where the objects of tithing are mentioned. The Pharisee's prayer is not so much an expression of thankfulness to God, as a statement to God of what he had done beyond his duty.

13. The publican. Note his position afar off; his downcast eye; his feeling of sorrow for his short-comings, as shown in his smiting his breast. And then his simple comprehensive prayer; the natural expression of the contrite heart, the world over.

14. I tell you. The Savour himself emphasizes the lesson of the parable. Justified. Made righteous, by God in answer to the

Anecdote of Two Arabs.

Lamartine, the French poet, relates the following anecdote:-"There was a horse the name of which was spread far and near in the tribe of Negdeh; and a Bedouin of another, by name Daher, desired extremely to possess it. In vain having offered for it his camels and his whole wealth, he hit at length upon the following device, by which he hoped to gain the object of his desire. He resolved to stain his face with the juice of an herb, to clothe himself in rags, and to tie his legs and neck together, so as to appear like a lame beggar. So equipped, he went to wait for Naber, the owner of the horse, who he knew was to pass that way.

When he saw Naber approaching on his beautiful steed, he cried out in a weak voice, 'I am a poor stranger: for three days I have been unable to move from this spot to seek for food. I am dying; help me, and Heaven will reward you!" The Bedouin kindly of fered to take him upon his horse and carry him home; but the rogue replied, 'I cannot rise: I have no strength left.' Naber touched with his distress, dismounted, led his horse to the spot, and with great difficulty set the seeming beggar on its back. No sooner did Daher feel himself in the saddle, than he set spurs to the horse and galloped off, calling out as he did so 'It is I, Daher! I have got the horse, and am off with him!"

"Naber called after him to stop and listen. Certain of not being pursued, he turned, and halted at a short distance from Naber, who was armed with a spear. 'You have taken my horse,' said the latter. 'Since heaven has willed it, I wish you joy of it; but I do conjure you never to tell any man how you obtained it.' And why not!' said Daher. 'Because,' said the noble Arab,

another man might be really ill, and men would fear to help him. You would be the cause of many refusing to perform an act of charity for fear of being duped as I have been.'

Daher, struck with shame at these words, was silent for a moment, then springing from the horse, returned it to its owner, and embraced him. Naber made him accompany him to his tent, "Go not in the way of evil men, for where they spent a few days together, it is as darkness."

prayer.

and became fast friends for life.'