you do, shall descend around him in rich profusion, long after you have slumbered in the dust. In a word, you may now fix in his heart, a poisoned barb, to fester and rankle there forever, or you may apply the balm of the gospel to heal existing wounds and secure his perpetual peace and happiness.

The master of a family is thus a monarch, whose power and responsibility are immense. He not only has the peace and happiness of those committed to him, almost entirely at his disposal for the time being, but the effects of his influence over them run on through all the years of this life and often through the ages of the life to come. It is too much power and responsibility for any man to bear alone. If we could really see its extent, we should all feel that it is too much. God does not intend, that we should exercise it alone. We ought to be in our families vicegerents, not sovereigns. God is the sovereign. We ought to rule under him.

This idea then, that the master of a family is God's vicegerent, and that in his household, he has to administer the government of God, and not his own, lies at the foundation of his duty. If he feels this, and acts on this principle, he is safe.

He will be humble. Feeling under a law himself, he will set an example of submission, which will be readily followed. The captain, who obeys his general best, will in turn be best obeyed by his soldiers. If, however, you the master, rebel against your own sovereign, how can you expect your own children will be submissive to you.

Weak, frail and ignorant

His authority will be sustained. as man is, if he rules his house in the name of God, and not

But he must do it really that he acts as the repre

in his own, he will have authority. in the name of God. He must feel, sentative, the lieutenant of his master in heaven, and if he feels this, really, he will be clothed in the eyes of those under him, with power from above.

He will have a guide. Should he act for himself alone, in his own name, and guided by his own wisdom, he will be almost continually in difficulty, if he feels any sense of responsibility at all. Emergencies will often arise, when he will be beset with difficulties, and scarcely know what to do. If however, he will undertake to administer God's government in his family, instead of his own, there is One above him to give him full direction, and to take all the responsibility of consequences.

But if the master of a family concludes to come and surrender himself and his family to God's care, making himself the vicegerent, not the sovereign, he must do it in earnest, and while he performs his duties in the name and under the author

ity of God, he must feel, that his children and friends, and all his possessions, and all his hopes, are really in the hands of God, to be disposed of according to his good pleasure. If such a surrender is really and honestly made, and the master after it, exercises his power over his household, not as principal, but as the steward of God, he may feel safe and happy, whatever may be the circumstances in which he is placed. And yet some fathers and mothers strangely prefer to live in open irreligion, to commence their union without committing themselves to God; to receive their children,-trusts so invaluable— without recognizing the hand, which bestows them; to bring them up in impiety; to give up their families to discord and sorrow, knowing too that the time is approaching, when they must part forever. And how miserable must these partings be. A father bending over the dying bed of a child, whom he has never even attempted to prepare for eternity, and now he sees that he is going before his Judge, and his wretched parent dares not even inform him of his danger;-a child, bidding adieu, a final adieu to a parental roof, where no prayer has been offered; the blessing of heaven never invoked, and God never acknowledged; parents going down to the grave in old age, with children scattered over the earth, confirmed in sin; and some perhaps, already gone to their final home of sorrow, where the miserable father and mother must soon join them—these are bitter cups. But they must be drunk by those, who incur such responsibilities as come upon parents, and yet do not acknowledge God, and seek his guidance and care.

"I must, I will acknowludge God in my house; I must commit my family to his care, and act under him in the management of it. I must have his guidance, his protection; I must have him to fly to, as a shelter, when trials and afflictions come upon me in future." Who can refrain from saying this, and acting accordingly?

In efforts to promote the Saviour's kingdom, Christians should look with special interest at measures calculated to promote the religious welfare of family circles. For as we have said above, it is God who has grouped the human race into families. The other institutions and relations of life, man has formed for himself, but the ties by which husband and wife, parents and children are bound together, are formed directly by the hand of God.

It is curious to observe, that the Creator, in all his plans, looks at valuable results, not at magnificence in the means of accomplishing them. In a summer's evening, the earth is dry

and parched, and plants are ready to droop and wither, from the heat of the day, and some plan must be devised to refresh and revive them. A human mechanist would have gratified his pride, by exhibiting some magnificent machinery to accomplish effects so extensive. God does it, silently and unseen, by the evening dew. Few know how or why it falls, but in the morning millions perceive its refreshing and invigorating effects. So in the production of moral effects. God secures the simple principle, which when secured, will operate every where, and the immensity of whose results depends upon the universality of its application. Man on the other hand, is prone to look with too much interest at what is magnificent and grand as a means, and to forget what should be the real object, the widest possible extension of useful result. In a word, man turns his attention to more splendid organizations than that, which surrounds the fireside, but God finds nothing so worthy of his attention and care. Man founds empires, organizes armies, erects cities. Jehovah establishes the family; links the husband to the wife, and the parent to the child; and protects the institution by laws, whose observance will secure the highest earthly happiness, and whose violation will be followed by the most acute of human woes.

In taking this course, our Maker has shown, that the promotion of human happiness is his great design; for happiness, if it exist at all, must exist in the family. A bad government makes misery enough it is true, but the woes it brings are nothing, compared with those of bad families. Let piety and peace, and mutual confidence and love reign in all the dwellings of a nation, and after all, how little can a tyrant do, to mar the immense amount of enjoyment, which will gladden the land. He may draw off, by taxation, a portion of their substance; he may condemn a few individuals unjustly to death; but despotism on the throne, will bear no comparison, in regard to its efficiency in working evil, with irreligion and vice at the fireside. To avert these evils, nothing will suffice but genuine piety; and the first step, in bringing a household under the government of God, is to establish in it the open worship of God.

*10

SAILING ON THE GANGES.

From the Asiatic Journal.

[We cannot do any thing more effectually to promote an interest in the details of Missionary information, than to give from time to time, such vivid pictures of the scenery or the customs of heathen countries, as may come within our reach. We are indebted for the following article, to the suggestion of a highly respected friend and efficient promoter of the plans of Christian benevolence.]

There is scarcely any season of the year in which our Anglo-Indians do not avail themselves of the grand water privileges, as our American friends would term it, offered by the Ganges; but at the dangerous period, that of the rains,--when the river is full, and its mighty current comes rushing down with the most fearful velocity, its voyagers are multiplied, party in consequence of the difficulty of traversing the country by land, and partly on account of the hope that may be entertained of a quick passage; the navigation being more speedy than when the river is low, and its waters comparatively sluggish. In proceeding up the Ganges, at the commencement of the rains, the general steadiness of the wind, usually blowing from a favorable point, enables the ascending vessels to stem the current by means of their sails; but should the breeze fail, which is frequently the case, or prove adverse-a not unlikely contingency-the boatmen are compelled to undergo the tedious process of tracking, in some instances not being able to drag the vessel beyond a couple of miles in the course of a long and fatiguing days work. The progress down the river is much more rapid, the swiftness of the descent being sometimes perfectly frightful: boats are absolutely whirled along, and if, while forced at an almost inconceivable rate by the impetuosity of the current, they should strike against the keel of a former wreck, or come in contact with some of the numerous trees aud other huge fragments, victims of the devouring wave, destruction is inevitable. The boat sinks at once, and the crew and passengers have little chance of escaping with their lives, unless at the moment of the concussion, they jump into the river and are able to swim to the shore. The crazy state of most of the vessels which navigate the Ganges, renders it surprising that so little loss of life should be sustained from the vast multitude who entrust themselves to such fragile conveyances upon a river which, when swelled by mountain floods, and vexed by ruffling gales, comes raging and roaring like a sea. It is seldom that small boats are attached to the larger craft, to put out in case of danger, many persons may drown in the sight of a large fleet, without the possibility of being picked up.

Notwithstanding these and other draw backs nearly as formidable, families proceeding to and from the upper provinces, generally prefer the river to any other mode of travelling, since, during the rain, though not the safest, it is by far the most practicable. Fresh arrivals, from Europe especially, find it easier to visit the places of their destination in the interior by water than by land; the necessary preparations are less extensive, and the fatigue and trouble of the journey greatly diminished. The safest, and most commodious kind of vessel, with respect to its interior arrangements, is a pinnace, but it is not so well calculated to pass the shallows and sand-banks of an ever-shifting stream, as the more clumsy and less secure budgerow. This boat, whose name is a native corruption of the word barge, is, therefore, usually chosen by European travellers, to whom time and expense are objects of importonce. Though, to a certain extent, the term clumsy may fairly be applied to a budgerow, its construction and appearance are far from being inelegant; with a little more painting and gilding, and a few silken sails and streamers, and divested of the four-footed outside passengers and other incumbrances on the roof, it would make a very beautiful object in a picture, and in its present state it has the advantage of being exceedingly picturesque. The greater part of the lower deck is occupied by a range of apartments, fitted up for the party engaging the boat; these are generally divided into a sleeping and setting room, with an enclosed verandah in front which serves to keep off the sun, and to store away various articles of domestic furniture. The apartments are surrounded on all sides with venetians, which exclude the sun in the day time and let in the air at night. In front of the cabin the deck is of circumscribed dimensions, affording only space for the boatmen, who on descending the river, facilitate the progress of the vessel by means of long sweeps; the upper deck therefore, or roof, is the chief resort of the crew and servants. At the stern, the helmsman stands, perched aloft, guiding a huge rudder; the goleer stationed at the prow, ascertains the depth of the water by means of a long oar; and when the wind will permit, two large square sails are hoisted, with the assistance of which the lumbering vessel goes rapidly through the water. In addition to the furniture for the cabins, sea, (or rather river) stock must be procured, consisting of groceries of all kinds, wine, beer, salt provisions, tongues, hams, flour, biscuit and charcoal, a dozen or two of live fowls or ducks, and a couple of milch goats. As the budgerow is not calculated for a heavy or cumbrous freight, a baggage boat is necessary for the conveyance of the goods and chattels of the party, and for the accommodation of the ser