mise yourselves successive years of uninterrupted enjoy!ment? Yet reflect! B. L. was young, and in the full vigour of health and usefulness, when he was called by sickness to give an account to God for those talents committed to him; and well it was that he had not hid them. Many, I fear, are at "ease in Zion," going down to the grave, leaving but a dark and dubious hope to their surviving friends. But let our aim be higher than this. Henceforward may we be stirred up to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure. Let us endeavour after somewhat of an immediate readiness for death and eternity, "that so an abundant entrance may be ministered unto us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ," who is our great example. Whatever you find lovely and of good report in the character of B. L., copy into your own lives, and pray that a double portion of that Spirit which rested upon him may rest upon yourselves: in a word, follow him as he followed Christ.

EXTRACT FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

MATT. xxiii. 1-13.

M. B.

OUR Lord, my dear family, had just silenced the Pharisees. He now turns to the people, and desires them to respect their authority, and that of the Scribes, in their public services, because they were the successors of Moses, and commands them to do as they told them to do, but by no means to copy their lives. These Scribes and Pharisees taught in the synagogues the law of God, but they had private traditions of their own, which, like the pope's priests of this day, they enforced upon men as more important than the law of God. They put forward all manner of troublesome services which God had not commanded, but did not themselves help the people to perform them; and they did all their works that men might see them, and think them very holy. The Jews of our Saviour's time were in the habit of wearing pieces of parchment, with sentences of the law written on them, both upon their foreheads and

upon their dresses, in strict and literal fulfilment, as they thought, of God's command in Deut. vi. 8: "And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." But these Pharisees and Scribes must make their parchments much broader than others, that more of the law might be written upon them, and they appear the holier. They loved to put themselves at the head of every assembly, whether for prayer or fasting; and they delighted in being called masters or leaders of sects.

All this was directly contrary to the lowly spirit that God, in his holy word, had declared to be the spirit that he loved; and so our Lord, consistent always with his word, reproves the hypocrites, and desires his followers not to fall into their ways, but to have Him alone for their master; and not to exalt themselves, but rather to content themselves with the equality of brethren, under His mild and gentle rule; to call no frail and selfglorious man father upon earth, but to take Himself for their God and Saviour.

Then follows, from the lips of Jesus, a declaration which belongs alone to his beautiful religion, "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant; and whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

Jesus, my dear family, humbled Himself more than any other ever could, because no one could descend from so great a height to so low a state, from the throne of Heaven to the service of poor vile men. Jesus was a servant of servants; may you and I therefore pray that we may desire no greater honour than the service of our fellow-creatures, for whom He was content to leave Heaven for a servitude of misery and death. Certain it is that there is no height of honour so glorious as that which belongs to those offices of love to our fellowsinners, that are so abundantly pointed out in the Gospel of Christ. All other offices bring care, trouble, and at best no more than earthly renown with them. These bring peace, joy, and glory, that as the world cannot give, so it cannot take away. May we, therefore, by

God's mercy, have the grace of God the Holy Ghost, to humble ourselves with Christ, that we may in the end be exalted with Him. A LAYMAN.

HYMN.

Good Shepherd, guide our wandering feet
Within thy kingdom's blest retreat;
Guard us in danger's threatening hour
By thy prevailing grace and power.
Far distant from thy bright abode,
Strangers to Thee, our Father God,
We would our lost condition mourn,
And, fall'n from Thee, to Thee return.
Incline the heart, renew the will,
Thy gracious pleasure to fulfil;
To live devoted to thy fear,
And all thy precepts to revere.

Thus, when this mortal life shall cease,
Let us, O Lord, depart in peace;

In peace, the purchase of his blood,
Who died to make our peace with God.

PROTESTANT DEACONESSES IN PARIS.

S. B.

AMIDST all the evil and misery which abounds in Paris at this time, it is very refreshing to be able to write of that which is excellent and holy also existing there, and labouring in the faithful attempt to leaven the mass of iniquity everywhere surrounding it. There is an institution in the midst of that great city, as admirable as any in our own Christian England; holding forth, at the same time, both the light of Protestant truth, and the helping hand of self-denying charity to the depraved and ignorant. It is a revival of an ancient order in the primitive Church, called deaconesses, or female deacons, whose duty it was to be servants of the Church, like Phoebe, the "servant of the Church at Cenchrea,” and to devote themselves to offices of kindness and usefulness. The institute at Paris is a hospital for the sick, and a school for the young, and a penitentiary for the criminal; and the duties of all these three useful establishments are performed by women, who nobly devote themselves to the work, for the sake of a simple desire to be useful to their fellow-creatures. The difference between this

and other hospitals and schools, with regard to those who serve it, is principally this, that instead of being paid for their labours, as nurses and teachers, they themselves actually pay something the first year and a half (400 francs' a year), for the privilege of being admitted to serve God in the establishment; and afterwards, when they become deaconesses, they receive only very plain clothing and food for their remuneration. They belong to various ranks of life; some of them are ladies by birth, others have been teachers and servants. But when they first come, they begin to serve in the kitchen, and through all the departments in turn; and when settled in the institute, they take whatever part they appear most suited to. All are free to leave at any time, to marry, if they choose it: no vows are taken, and no compulsion used, of any kind, to bind them to the place. They come by their own will, and go away when they like.

As regards the spiritual character of the institute, it is thoroughly Protestant. It is superintended by a Protestant clergyman, and there is no resemblance in it to a Roman Catholic nunnery, where, as you know, the unfortunate women make a vow to lead a single life, which it is thought a most dreadful sin to wish to break; and where they are shut up for the rest of their lives, however much they may desire to go away; and where a tyranny is exercised over their consciences, which is completely opposite to the liberty of the Gospel.

Now, let us give a short account of the labours of the deaconesses, and the numbers whom they relieve and teach. They have a very extensive establishment, covering nearly two acres of ground. It is divided into a hospital, school, and penitentiary. The infant school numbers 200 children. Next comes the upper school, containing 90 girls, where even Roman Catholic mothers are glad to send their children, notwithstanding that the Protestant doctrine is taught them, because they are so struck with the advantages which the school possesses. No child is admitted to either of these schools, without the written consent of its parents; and, if they are Roman Catholics, testifying that they are aware of the Pro

1 A franc is equal to ten pence of our money.

testant character of the institute. And yet, of the infant pupils, upwards of three-fourths belong to Roman Catholic families. Beyond the upper school is the training establishment, where girls are trained up from the age of thirteen to that of eighteen, either as servants or as workwomen; their religious and general education going on at the same time. A link between the school and the hospital is an infirmary for scrofulous children. The effects produced here by pure air, wholesome and abundant food, and kind attention, are perfectly wonderful, in restoring their health, and improving their constitutions. Next comes a hospital, with separate wards for men, women, and children. 115 patients were admitted into it last year, besides the dispensing medical advice to outdoor patients.

Passing through a pleasant little chapel, where service is performed every Sunday, and a Sunday-school is held, you enter the Penitentiary, where penitent persons, who have come out of the prisons, or have lived vicious lives, are admitted and taken care of, and taught Christian truth; and where young persons of vicious and stubborn dispositions are laboriously disciplined and instructed, in the hope of reforming and improving them. This, it may be well supposed, is the most difficult and self-denying part of the "labour of love" undertaken by these excellent deaconesses.

It is almost beyond belief, but the whole of the various duties of these three large institutions are performed by eighteen sisters, of whom six are only candidates. It is supported by the Protestants resident in France, and the expenses are, of course, very considerable, when we learn that there are 127 rooms, 148 beds, and 300 persons daily received within the building for instruction or relief. At the same time, the expense must be very much less than in institutions where all have to be paid who work in them, and demand considerable wages for their trouble. Here much is done for pure charity, out of a desire to "spend and be spent" in God's service; no wages being asked for, but only the privilege of labouring in these works of love and usefulness, and having the most ordinary wants of food and clothing supplied.