children's children; and his lessons of instruction and his godly example are blessed to many after he has gone to his rest. 66 Mercy unto thousands," saith the Lord, "of them that love me, and keep my commandments." How careful then ought parents to be, that no word should escape them which their children may use to their harm! How ought they to guard their temper, that nothing may be seen in them which may lead their children to forget the mind which ought to be in a Christian! How watchful ought they to be as to their conduct, that they may be an example for the good of their children, and not for their destruction! How instant in prayer for them, that their children may be in the right way; and, by their reverence for their earthly parent, be led to reverence their Father who is in heaven. The Spirit of God speaks to parents, and commands them to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; but He speaks to children

too.

CHILDREN.

The Lord commands you to honour your father and your mother. The father toils for his children; the mother watches over them in many an anxious hour. Without this labour and this care they would die: they owe their existence, in a worldly sense, to their parents; their instruction, and their health, and their comforts are looked after by their parents; and, without this care, they must either die from want, or live in helpless misery. Children, then, never forget your parents,-never neglect them in their old age: be their comfort in their sorrows, be their support in their weakness; watch over them,―observe their wishes and their very looks, that nothing may drop from you which may give them a sorrow; but cheer them by your attention, your care, and your help. They have laboured for you. In their helplessness you should labour for them. And let them have that greatest of all comforts, the sight of children who have profited by their instruction and example, and who are walking in the way that leads to eternal blessedness, that when they depart in peace, they may look forward, in faith

and hope, to their children following them,-and that, as they have been a happy and holy family upon earth, they may meet again in God's family in heaven, never to part again. Blessed is the parent who can say, "Father, of those that thou hast given me have I lost none." V.

EXTRACT FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

MATT. xxiv. 1-9.

At the end of the last chapter we had the sorrowful lamentation of our Lord over Jerusalem. The disciples now take Him to the temple in hopes that the sight of that grand building might move Him to alter His determination respecting the city; but, my dear family, the measure of Jerusalem's sin was to be filled, and even its temple, the glorious house of God, must suffer with the evil city in which it stood. One stone was not to be left upon another; and this was literally and exactly fulfilled by the order of Titus, the Roman emperor, whose general, Terentius Rufus, tore up with a ploughshare the foundations of the temple. His disciples inquire the time at which the temple and the city will be destroyed, and what will be the signs of our Lord's coming to punish rebellious Israel, and also of the end of the world, when He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. In the verses just read an answer is given by our Saviour to the question respecting the destruction of Jerusalem; and it is notorious that every sign He mentioned did actually appear. Very soon after our Lord's death appeared Simon Magus, who "bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great one; to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God." (Acts viii. 9, 10.) We learn, too, from other writers, that he gave out that he was the son of God. Again, a person named Dositheus, about twelve years after the death of our Lord, set himself up for the Christ; and, indeed, we learn from Josephus, a great Jewish writer of that age, that impostors arose so frequently, that many of them were taken up and killed every day. In the next place, the emperor Caligula, having ordered his statue to be

placed in the temple at Jerusalem, and the Jews refusing to put it there, so grave were the reports of war, that the Jews even neglected to till their land. At Cæsarea, in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, a great quarrel took place between the Jews and Syrians of that city, in which twenty thousand Jews were killed, and the city cleared of its Jewish inhabitants. The Jews in return plundered the neighbouring cities of the Syrians. At Scythopolis, Ascalon, and Ptolemais, the Jews were put to death in great numbers, and in the first city they were made to fight against their own countrymen. At Tyre and Gadara were Jews also put to death, as also at Alexandria and Damascus. Kingdom rose against kingdom, when the Jews of Peræa rose against the people of Philadelphia; when the Jews and Galileans rose against the Samaritans for the murder of some Galileans; and when the whole nation of the Jews rose against the Romans and the nations friendly to them. All this is recorded by Josephus, who lived at the time, and who was himself a Jew. With respect to the famines and pestilences, it is recorded by Eusebius and Josephus, that at Rome and at Jerusalem, in the reign of Claudius, many died from each of these causes. The prophecy of earthquakes was fulfilled in the time of Claudius in the island of Crete, at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos, at all which places Jews lived. Tacitus, a Roman writer, mentions earthquakes at Rome, at Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse; the one at Laodicea actually destroyed the city. In Campania, according to Seneca, a Roman writer of great fame and truth, an earthquake also took place. At Rome, too, there occurred one in the reign of Galba, according to Suetonius; and also a terrible one is related by Josephus to have happened at Jerusalem. Concerning this last earthquake I will give you the words of Josephus, translated into English: "During the night there burst forth a most violent storm, and strong winds accompanied with the heaviest rains, and constant flashes of lightning, and horrible. thunderings and prodigious roarings of the shaken earth. And it was evident that the constitution of the universe was thrown into confusion for the destruction of men;

and any one might perceive that these were the forerunners of no common calamities." But all these horrors were, as our Lord had foretold, but "the beginning of sorrows." A LAYMAN.

SHORT ACCOUNT OF H. C.

I KNOW of nothing more deeply interesting to a reflecting mind than the contemplation of God's love to His own people, and the methods He takes for bringing them to a knowledge of Himself and to a love of His commandments. I am led to these considerations more particularly from having had an opportunity lately of seeing an instance of the power of Divine grace upon the heart of a poor woman, who has been brought step by step from the kingdom of Satan into the adopted family of God and His dear Son.

During a short visit to dear friends in the village where my early days were spent, I took occasion to see many of the poor long known to me, and one morning I bent my steps to the cottage of H. C. I opened the door, and just put in my head; I immediately caught the attention of poor old Hannah. "Ah! my dear missus, come in; I thought I should never see you again in this world. Well, time has used you better than it has me. You look just the same; but I, you see, am a poor old creature just between two worlds; but ". with a bright smile, which was the more touching from the large tears which accompanied it—she continued, "all is well. Blessed be God for His mercy to me a sinner! " I observed, "I hope, Hannah, you feel that, as the outward man decays, the inward man is renewed day by day, and that you are nearer to eternal life than—” Stop, stop, missus, not so fast; I am not so sure of all this. Satan is a crafty adversary, and will not let me have much peace." "It is well," I continued, "to know all this, and to feel the heart's corruption." "Yes, my dear, that is easier said than done; for the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?' But," she observed, "I see your eyes are after many things you used to see in your own home years gone by, and you are thinking of those gone be

fore; but forget them all, missus, and listen to poor old Hannah for the last time; for I shall never live through another winter." The woman was correct as regarded my eyes; for they were intent upon drawings stuck upon the wall, and painted by some of my family, as she observed, in years gone by. My heart was following my eyes too fast, when Hannah's observation arrested my attention. I assured her I was anxious to hear all she had to say; and it was, as she justly said, better to forget the past, in bright anticipations of the future. "Ah! my dear, it is very difficult to do what we know is right and good; and at times I ponder over things till I am tempted to conclude there can be no hope for me, and, like David, I exclaim, 'My wickednesses are gone over my head, and are like a sore burden, too heavy for me to bear.' Then Satan pours into my soul doubts and fears, that almost drive me to despair. I take refuge in prayer; and the Lord by His Spirit has taught me, 'Cast thy burden on the Lord.' O my dear Mrs. B.! I refused forgiveness to my husband on his death-bed, though he sought it earnestly and with tears. O how gladly now would I not only forgive, but, if he were alive, endeavour to lead him to that Saviour who I trust has pardoned me! Missus, I think through Christ I shall be saved with an everlasting salvation; for, blessed be God, He is true, and Satan is a liar, and the father of lies. God says, 'I will cast out none who come unto me and believe in me.' Satan says, 'You would not forgive, you will not be forgiven.' Then I go to my knees and prayer. Often I find comfort; and too often Satan dares even to come between me and my great Intercessor, and hides Him from my longing eyes. Mine has been a long life of sin, pride, and rebellion; shall I complain if spared to a long repentance?" I can give poor Hannah's words, but language fails to convey her manner, which was painfully earnest. She is nearly eighty years old, has two shillings and sixpence weekly from her parish, and is not able to earn a penny. I said, "Well, my old friend, you have told me much respecting your soul, now a word about your body." She smiled, and said, "It tells its own tale." She laid her hand upon my arm,