were

EXTRACT FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

MATT. xxiv. 9-20.

(Continued from page 365.)

THE next sign, my dear family, was to be the cruel treatment of Christians at the hands both of Jews and Gentiles. Some were, in fulfilment of this declaration of our Lord, brought up for no offence but that of preaching the Gospel before "rulers and kings," as Paul before Gallio, Festus, Felix, and Agrippa. Peter and John imprisoned, Stephen and James the brother of John put to death. Again, they were to be betrayed by false disciples; and we find in St. Paul to Timothy (2nd Epistle i. 15)," Phygellus and Hermogenes, who with many others in Asia, turned away from him, and Demas who forsook him, having loved this present world:" and then also they were to betray one another, which Tacitus proves to have taken place in these words, speaking of the persecution of the Christians in the reign of the emperor Nero-" At first a few were laid hold on, who confessed, and by their evidence great multitudes were afterward convicted." Thus, in proof that because of iniquity the love of many shall wax cold, we have St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 16) declaring that "at his first answer no man stood with him, but all men forsook him!"

VOL. XXVIII.

A a

And again in Hebrews x. 25 we find him exhorting them "not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some is." Blessed indeed were they that endured to the end of all the persecutions they suffered at the hands of the heathen, and who were not turned away from Christ by the iniquity of false Christians. They trusted in the words. of Christ, and rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his sake. They now are with Him where neither persecution nor sin can reach them. The Gospel of the kingdom of God was to be preached in all the world before the destruction of Jerusalem, and we have satisfactory proof that it was so preached in all parts of the Roman empire, which extended into every known country. From the Acts of the Apostles, which gives but an imperfect account of the Apostle's travels, we find that Christ's religion had taken root in the chief parts of the empire; and Clement, who lived in St. Paul's time, says, "that he taught the whole world righteousness, and travelled as far as the utmost borders of the West;" and if, as Bishop Newton justly says, "these were the labours of one Apostle, what must have been the labours of all the Apostles united?" "It appears," says the same learned bishop, "from the writers of Church history, that before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Gospel was not only preached in Lesser Asia, Greece, and Italy, but as far north as Scythia, south as Ethiopia, east as Parthia and India, west as Spain and Britain." St. Paul himself, in his Epistle to the Colossians, speaks of the Gospel being "come into all the world, and preached to every creature under heaven." The abomination of desolation was fulfilled when the Roman army drew nigh with their ensigns, which were an abomination to the Jews. The desolating army stood, and where indeed it ought not to have stood, but for the wickedness of the people; when therefore the Jews saw this, they were to know that the prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled. Christ the Lord God here becomes the sure interpreter of his own Word, and desires those who read the prophecy of Daniel so to understand it as his heavenly wisdom declared its meaning to be. That the people

fled in multitudes we have the evidence of Josephus; and he particularly says, "that they fled to the mountainous country." The houses in Judea were flat-roofed, with stairs on the outside, so that a man could run from his own house over the other house-tops, till he arrived at the gates of the city, and this way of escape was at once the wisest and readiest. The dreadful suffering of women and children, during the siege of Jerusalem, made good the prophecy of our Lord," Woe to them that be with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" for Josephus says, "that mothers snatched the food from their infants out of their very mouths; and that the houses were full of women and children who perished by famine." One woman named Mary, the daughter of Eleazer, he mentions as having killed and devoured part of her sucking child, and hid the rest of the body; when the soldiers, smelling that something had been cooked in the house, rushed in, declaring they would kill her, if she refused them the food they knew she had laid up. The woman told them she had kept a good part for them, and brought out the half body of her son. They were both shocked and astonished, but she said, "This is my own son, and this is my work; eat, for even I have eaten: be not you more tender than a woman, nor more compassionate than a mother; but if you have a religious abhorrence of my victim, I truly have eaten half, and let the rest remain for me." Thus to the very letter, my dear family, was the Word of Christ fulfilled. May He give us grace to believe and fear, lest having, like the Jews, enjoyed the favour of God, we be tempted to trifle with Divine grace, till Divine judgment overtake us! A LAYMAN.

HISTORY OF D. C.

IN reflecting in my own mind on some of those things which have a downward tendency in the character of young females in the humbler walk of life, I am led to consider a love of dress beyond the station, one of the most fatal delusions made use of by Satan to entrap his victims. The distribution of worldly good is wisely

regulated by the providence of God, and all are placed in that station which He sees best for them. Some individuals are enriched with abundance, some have merely the things needful to subsistence, while others, equally deserving, have scarcely where to lay their heads. Let us, however, remember "the Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" The first inquiry, then, for all is, Am I walking in the station that Providence has allotted me? or am I endeavouring to make myself appear above it? Truly happy are those, who, at the end of their mortal career, can lie down in the grave and say, "I have accomplished as an hireling my day; I have finished the work that was given me to do; I have endeavoured in thankful humility to keep my station; I have not been over solicitous about what I should eat, or what I should drink, or wherewithal I should be clothed; but I have received my allotment from a Father in heaven, who, in giving me a Saviour, Christ Jesus, has given me all good things." This, alas! is far from being the feeling, or even the language of the multitude; and in the present day the poor are sadly led astray by a restless desire to outstrip each other in dress, and to imitate their superiors both in costume and manner. How lamentable it is to see young persons, of whom one hoped well during their attendance at school, so soon as they are freed from wholesome restraint, cast aside the neat stuff gown, cap, and white apron, and assume the tawdry finery of their neighbours; and the girl, who a few weeks before looked clean, neat, and modest, is transformed into a dirty, bold, untidy young

woman!

Nothing would tend more to the comfort of a poor family than frugality and prudence in the choice of clothing. If useful articles were purchased for Sunday, they would when they became unfit for that day serve well for work, without looking out of place! and if all poor persons would attend to the proverb, "A stitch in time saves nine," the eye would seldom be offended with clothes either torn or just drawn together without any regard to neatness. All this untidiness is

often seen where the love of dress is the ruling passion, and where artificial flowers, flounces, and other inconsistencies, most abound. I have often been astonished that parents, who never themselves indulge in these absurdities, should nevertheless allow their children to adopt a course ruinous alike to character and principle. The effect of this love of dress upon the character is sad in the extreme, and many young females are entirely lost by it. It is a temptation to all that is degrading, and could some of those poor victims to it speak to the young, they would tell them, as they value their immortal happiness, neither to practise or be led by it. During a brief sojourn in the house of a clergyman, I was called upon to witness a scene I shall not soon forget, and the hope that a recital of it may be useful to some who may read this paper, is a sufficient inducement to me to ask a place for it in the pages of the "Cottager's Visitor."

It was Sunday, and the clergyman in whose house I was visiting had just sat down to take a hasty cup of coffee, before a third service, when he was informed that a young person in his parish, of bad character, was not expected to live. In our walk to the cottage we met many young persons variously attired, some neat and plain in their dress, and from those we invariably received a respectful salutation; others again were very fine and tawdry,-these passed by with much boldness, and without any recognition of their pastor. When we arrived at the house of the sick person, I was asked to walk up stairs by a very respectable woman long known to me. I ascended the ladder, and in an extremely small room, the roof of which sloped on each side, leaving just sufficient height in the middle for a person to stand upright, lay, or rather sat, in apparent agony, a young woman, who seemed very near the eternal world. The bed was without hangings, and every thing in the room bespoke deep poverty; there was neither chair, table, or any other furniture save a small box. In one corner lay a few rags, and in them an infant. I walked up to the bed, and said to the poor sufferer, " You are very ill I see, and seem in great pain." "Oh, I do