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This "good thing" is to be found where all other good is-at the throne of God; there we should present our resolution, "Thou shalt choose mine inheritance for me." We should labour, think, and pray that a companion for life may come as a "favour from the Lord," and then shall we find such an associate a truly "good thing." "A good WIFE," says Cobden, "is the gift of a good God."

UNITED PRAYER OF FOUR

YOUTHS.

A VENERABLE father in the ministry gives the following narrative of events, in which he doubtless bore a part. He refers to the promise, that if two shall agree in prayer, it shall be done for them; and to the union of four young men, of whom Daniel was one, who prayed that he might not perish, and were heard; and records one of many such answers to united prayer, which the last day will doubtless reveal.

On the 20th of October, 1799, twentyfour persons joined a church in New England, of whom four youths were intimate friends. One of them married a worthy young man, and another a virtuous young woman, and the other two had each a father, none of whom were pious; and they agreed on a concert of prayer for each other, and for their relatives.

They knew what they wanted; it was the life of the soul for which their united and earnest cries continued to ascend. But it was not in a day, or a week, or a month, or a year, that they obtained what they greatly longed for. To cheer them when almost ready to faint, a letter from one of the four announced to two at a distance that his wife was rejoicing in hope of the glory

of God. This news called forth joyful thanksgivings. Some few years passed on, and the young man that had been the subject of these united intercessions gave signs of spiritual life, which again thrilled their hearts with holy gratitude and joy.

But the case of the two aged fathers was more trying. Increasing hardness made faith stagger; and often did the fear arise that their day was past. About twelve years thus rolled on; one was more than fifty, and the other more than sixty years of age. Suddenly, at length, a friend wrote to the son at a distance, that his aged father had apparently awaked from the long slumber of a state of sin, and given evidence of conversion. This was as "life from the dead;" this was a rebuke to unbelief. More earnestly did the friends ply the throne of grace; and what was their joy, when about twenty years from the time that the concert commenced, the other aged father, more than threescore and ten, was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Five of the eight are now gone, as we trust, to their heavenly home. The youngest of the four is more than seventy. The two survivors of the secret concert feel abashed in view of their own imperfect faith, and prayer, and hope; but so much the more do they admire the grace of God, which so abundantly granted the things which we asked of him. The writer wishes to offer this tribute of thanksgiving to our heavenly Father, and to encourage others to confide in the same promise, and improve it better than he has done.

Will not young Christians go and do likewise? with only this word of exhortation, Have more faith in God;

pray more in the Spirit, and hope more confidently in the promise that it shall be done for you, if you ask anything according to his will.

REDEEM THE TIME! BEGIN at home. Purify your own heart by renewed penitence and faith. By fasting and prayer draw near to God. Pause not until you feel your soul fully alive to the great import of probation, until you cannot rest unless God bless you. Arouse the companion of your daily joys and griefs, the affectionate sharer of your domestic counsels and labours. Stir up each other's pure minds by way of remembrance. Let a new fervour glow around your family altar. Let every look, and tone, and gesture be more guardedly Christlike. Speak to your little ones. Take your beloved Benjamin upon your knee, and try hard to simplify Christ and his work to his tender mind. Lead him to love to think of God. Cultivate a conscience in all your flock. Read to them about Christiana and her children, and how they walked towards heaven together. Create a fire-side sentiment that shall make selfishness, and sourness, and peevishness, and idleness unpopular there. Keep your little solar system all well orbited by the attraction of love, as the sun keeps his by gravitation. Let your own presence be as sunshine there.

Speak to your church, not so much in exhortation as confession. Do not say, "Brethren, we ought to do so and 80; every child of God must do so and so:" but say, "Brethren, I have been trying to do so and so, and I find that as I try, God helps me. I look back with surprise upon my past. I hope, I pray, I strive for a better future." Do

not talk about the great importance of the Church's being fired with a higher and holier zeal for the conversion of sinners, but BE yourself a live coal, kindling a fire, instead of metaphysically expounding one.

Go to sinners, and infect them with your own solemnity. Let them see in the artless eloquence of throbbing heart, and quivering lip, and moistened eye, and pathetic voice, that you are possessed by a spirit of which they know nothing. Speak kindly to them. Deal not in generalities. Say not in accredited formula that all men are sinners, and deserve punishment, and therefore they are in danger, logically lashing them toward the kingdom of God; but speak of some act yet fresh in memory, and lay open to them its defect and moral deadliness. Ask them to mention one act of the day, one act of this year, one act of life, in which they did not sin; and kindly, patiently, tearfully, lay open to themselves their own character, and then, having unlocked from within the fortress-gate, file in, in serried ranks, your forces of Scripture proofs. Above all, let them know that you are alarmed about them, that you pray for them, that you are watching the issues of their spiritual movements with solemn and even trembling anxiety.

REDEEM THE TIME! Be prayerful, be kindly affectioned; be instant in season and out of season. "In due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not.”

THE JOY OF FORSAKING ALL

FOR CHRIST.

IN one of the Missionary institutions a young man of high Brahminical birth, connections, and standing, was led by the Spirit of God to renounce idolatry,

was entailed upon the families offering opposition. Said they, "You cannot prevent her from embracing Christianity, except by taking her life, or by imprisonment for life; better far, let her take the responsibility; let her be brought out in the presence of all, and then and there allow her to make choice of what she will do."

and to become a follower of the despised Nazarene. He was united in marriage to a high Brahminical family of Serampore. After his conversion, he felt a strong desire that his wife should become a partaker with him in the joys of salvation. To attain this, he often, by letter or otherwise, related to her what the Lord had done for his soul, and urged her to cast in her lot with the people of God. She saw his happiness, and designed to share it with him. This could not be done ex-guished Brahmins were assembled, and cept by forsaking all for Christ. Even this she was willing to do, for she longed to know more of that Gospel which had brought such love and joy to the heart of her husband.

Months passed away, and this longing kindled into resolves to give up all for Christ. The parents were asked to allow her to join her husband, that she might live the life of a Christian among his Christian friends. The parents could not, and would not if they could, consent to bring disgrace upon themselves and upon their Brahminical relatives and friends, by permitting their daughter to become a Christian. They chose rather to imprison her, and thus quench the fire of Christian love. Love for Jesus and her partner, his disciple, crept through the bars and leaped over the walls of her prison, and heart was still joined to heart by various tokens and epistles.

At length a plan was laid for an escape to, and union with, her husband. The plan was scented by some of the leading Brahmins. They went to the parents, and talked the whole case over, and others too which had occurred in Calcutta, and stated that although violently opposed, the cause of Christ had triumphed, and greater disgrace

This most unexpected and unusual advice was in due time followed. The family, relatives, friends, and distin

among them one whose eye was clear and whose face shone, for hope was the light thereof. He knew from the past that there would be no faltering in the hour of trial. The assembly stood in silence, breathless, yet moved with deep emotion. The question was put, 'Will you go with this man ?" and she said, "I will go." Amazement and confusion veiled every face, save two that never shone brighter or appeared more lovely. Whatever might have been the feelings of the multitude, the happy pair felt as none can describe: a burden that none can estimate had been suddenly removed. Joys that few can realize were theirs for ever, if they were the children of God. Toge. ther they journeyed to his home among the people of God. There they live in happy union, witnessing a good profession, and living epistles, read of all men. This event gladdened many hearts that have borne the burden and heat of the day. Christians at home cannot realize the change which has been wrought by truth, when an assembly of Brahmins can willingly assent that one of their own number shall be allowed to embrace Christianity, and that freely, openly, and publicly. The moral effect, too, of such

an act will reach far down the stream of time. "It is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes."

BIBLE-READING SLAVE. SOME time since, while travelling in North Carolina, in consequence of my buggy breaking down in a lonely place, I was obliged to return for some miles with a rail, in place of a wheel, to the establishment of a large planter, the owner of several hundred slaves. When I arrived, the planter and family being from home, I was obliged to take up my abode with the overseer, a kind and obliging man. It was soon rumoured among the negroes that a preacher was at the overseer's, which excited no little interest. At an early hour in the evening a large number of slaves came around the house to see the preacher, shake hands with him, and ask if he would pray with and for them at the house of the overseer. Among the crowd was an old man, about eighty years old, who made a profession of religion in the year 1791. He is looked upon as a kind of patriarch among the negroes. When introduced to me, he remarked, "I understand you are a Bible agent, and I am a Bible reading slave. I wish you great success; the Bible has been a great blessing to me. When I was brought to see my condition as a lost sinner, I did not know one letter of the alphabet; but, by exertion and perseverance, I learned to read. The Bible has been my daily companion for about fifty

years."

His knowledge of the Bible appeared to be general and accurate. He delighted much in the character and work of the Redeemer. His views of the plan of redemption were clear and

scriptural. His hope was bright and animating. When asked if he could do anything to procure his own salvation, he replied promptly, "No; man cannot convert himself to God, or persevere in the ways of righteousness, without the aid of Divine grace." He supported his views of doctrines and experience by bringing forward numerous and appropriate passages of God's holy word. He rejoiced much that his salvation was not in his own hands, and depended not upon his own righteousness, but that believers are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."

After a long and interesting conversation with this Bible-reading slave, as many of the negroes as could get into the house, and many who stood around it, joined in prayer to God, and rendered thanks for the blessings of the day. In the morning we had prayers again, and all the negroes who desired were permitted to attend.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATION. "As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth

of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear."-AMOs iii. 12.

An explanation of this may be derived from a comparison of Gen. xxxi. 39, with Ex. xxii. 13; from which we learn that when a flock of sheep was en. trusted to a shepherd or other person, he was expected to make good the loss of any sheep "torn of beasts," unless he produced the torn carcass, or part of it, in evidence of the circumstance; and hence, of course, when the flock was attacked by a wild beast, the shepherd was anxious to secure so much of the torn remains as might furnish sufficient proof to the owner that his property had not been improperly disposed of by the shepherd.

There is something of a similar test required in Persia of those who have in their hands any of the king's horses. These animals are marked on the near

thigh, and when one of them dies, the holder cuts out the piece of skin bearing the mark, with a portion of the flesh adhering to it, and takes it to the proper officer, who then blots the horse from the royal register, after the person who had it has sworn that the animal died a natural death, and not from any

want of care. He then stands exonerated, and another horse is given to him. It is said that the officers of the stable are able to discover, by steeping the piece in water for a few hours, whether the animal died from hunger, hard work, or violence.

Biography.

MR. THOMAS HANDLEY.

MR. THOMAS HANDLEY was born in | vealed truth. This is the instrument the month of July, 1777. He had not the advantages of a pious parental example, which has often been so great a blessing to young persons. His parents did not obey the command of God, given to the Apostle Paul, "And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The word nurture means to train, educate, instruct. Children require education, instruction, discipline. They are ignorant, weak, and prone to err. They are dependent on the help of others. They should be trained by their parents to habits of integrity, industry, kindness, self-denial, economy, generosity, and prayer. They should be trained to think, feel, and act. Admonition is putting a person in mind. God requires parents to put their children in mind of his existence, perfections, government, and revealed will; and his claims to their adoration, confidence, love, obedience, and devotedness to his service. Children are the subjects of a depraved nature: " They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies." They have within them the seeds of evil. These will increase in strength, unless checked and overcome by the internal force of truth. God works upon the human soul by means of re

of his moral government; hence, it is of vast importance that the young should be taught the great and precious truths of God's word. This is sowing good seed in the memory, which the Holy Spirit may cause to vegetate in the heart, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness. The sowing of this precious seed in the domestic circle, is the solemn and imperative duty of parents. God is deeply interested in the welfare of children. This is seen in the Divine appointment of marriage, the constitution of the family compact, the natural instincts of parents, and in the commands, promises, and examples of his word. Hearken to the command which he gave to Jewish parents: "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes; and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Such was the solemn duty of Jewish parents. Christianity does not release us from this obligation, but

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