character of the party; or if they be

The subject of this article merits

would not minister to the blood of

The thing has no foundation

unless among Episcopalians, it is wholly unknown. The custom is Popish in its origin, and pecuniary in its object. Popery stood, as it still stands, prepared to ransack heaven, earth, and hell for money! For proclamation of banns-money! For celebration of marriage-money! For "churching" after child-birth-money! baptism — money!

For

For confession

money! For extreme unction-money! For interment of the body-money! For ministering to the estate-money! For bringing the soul out of purgatory -money! Money !-money!-money!

AN ASTONISHING FACT.-All that mankind acknowledge the greatest, they care about the least;-as, first, on the summit of all greatness, the Deity! It is acknowledged he reigns over all; is present always here; prevails in each atom and each star; observes us as an awful Judge; claims infinite regard; is supremely good. What, then? Why, think nothing at all about him! There is eternity; you, at the utmost, will very soon, very soon, die! What follows? Eternity!-a boundless region; inextinguishable life; myriads of mighty and strange spirits; vision of God; glories, horrors. Well, what then? Why, think nothing at all about it! There is the great affair-moral and religious improvement. What is the true business of life? To grow wiser, more pious, more benevolent, more ardent, more elevated in every noble purpose and action, to resemble the Divinity! It is acknowledged, who denies or doubts it? What, then? Why, care

Sacrifice to

nothing at all about it! trifles the energies of the heart, and the short and fleeting time allotted for Divine attainments! SUCH is the actual course of the world. What a thing is mankind!!-John Foster.

PRICE OF PLEASURE.-All pleasure must be bought at the price of pain. The difference between false pleasure and true is just this: for the true, the price is paid before you enjoy it; for the false, after you enjoy it.—Ibid.

MISSPENT YOUTH.- How much I regret to see so generally abandoned to the weeds of vanity, that fertile and vigorous space of life, in which might be planted the oaks and fruit-trees of enlightened principle and virtuous habit, which, growing up, would yield to old age an enjoyment, a glory, and a shade! -Ibid.

YOUTHFUL ENERGY.-How precious a thing is youthful energy; if only it could be preserved entirely englobed, as it were, within the bosom of the young

adventurer, till he can come and offer it forth a sacred emanation in yonder temple of truth and virtue ;—but, alas! all along, as he goes towards it, he advances through an avenue, formed by a long line of tempters and demons on each side, all prompt to touch him with their conductors, and draw this Divine electric element, with which he is charged, away.-John Foster.

THE SUDDEN GLORY OF THE DEPARTING SAINT.-There lies my friend; he hastens to depart; death is upon him; the change has well nigh come. How little intervenes between his present humiliations and his awaiting glories! I tremble to think what, in an instant, he must be! how unlike all he was! how extreme to all he is! I bend over thee, and mark thy wasted, pallid frame; I look up, and there is ascending above me an angel's form! I stoop to thee, and just can catch thy feeble gasping whisper; I listen, and there floats around me a seraph's song! I take thine hand, tremulous and cold, -it is waving to me from yonder skies! I wipe thy brow, deep and furrowed, it is enwreathed with the garland of victory! I slake thy lip, bloodless and parched, it is drinking the living fountains, the overflowing springs of heaven!-Dr. Hamilton.

HARDIHOOD OF SINNERS.-A solemn appeal to the hardened sinner,— "the devils believe and tremble." This reflection may move you yet. Devils trembling, and you not trembling! They have not trifled with a Saviour; they are not guilty of his blood; they do not despise so great salvation ;this guilt is not on them, but they tremble! They have not refused the reconciliation of the Gospel; still they tremble! They have not withstood the beseechings of mercy; notwithstanding, they tremble! Oh! greater cause is there that horror should seize on you! For them never was sacrifice for sin,-for you there was; but there is no more! To them the door of mercy was never open,-it was for you; but (except ye repent) it is henceforth shut.-Ibid.

THE TWO BLESSINGS.-Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New,

which carrieth the greater benediction and the clearer evidence of God's favour. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you will hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground. Judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly, virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are crushed; for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.-Lord Bacon.

A RICH FATHER.-A poor member of the flock of Christ was reduced to circumstances of the greatest poverty in his old age, and yet he never murmured. "You must be badly off," said a kind-hearted neighbour to him one day as they met upon the road: "you must be badly off; and I don't know how an old man like you can maintain yourself and your wife; yet you are always cheerful!" "Oh, no!" he replied, "we are not badly off: I have a rich Father, and he does not suffer me to want." "What! your father not dead yet? he must be very old, indeed!" "Oh!" said he, " my Father never dies, and he always takes care of me!" This aged Christian was a daily pensioner on the providence of God. His struggles and his poverty were known to all; but his own declaration was, that he never wanted what was absolutely necessary. The days of his greatest straits were the days of his most signal and timely deliverance. When old age benumbed the hand of his industry, the Lord extended to him the hand of charity. Often has he gone forth from his scanty breakfast, not knowing from what earthly source his next meal was to be obtained; but as certainly as he trusted in God, so surely, in some unexpected manner, was his necessity supplied.

MEMOIRS OF MARTHA PARKER. IN giving accounts of the lives and deaths of those who, having slept in Jesus, are gone to a better world, one should of course have specially in view the instruction of the living. The following brief narrative of a pious young person may do good to those who read it:

Martha Parker, late of Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, born of parents in humble circumstances of life, and deprived of her father at a very early age, was for some years a diligent attendant at the Dissenting sabbathschool in this place. Whilst well, she was never absent from her class; and when present at it she was never trifling or inattentive, but ever serious, anxious to learn what was good, and solicitous to please her teacher. He who looks with a tender eye on the lambs of his flock, was preparing this interesting young person for a long and painful illness, which she was to endure before she could reach "the happy shore." For nearly four years she had to bear a heavy affliction. Under it she was patient and meek as a lamb. Whilst bodily pain wrung groans of anguish from her heart, a murmuring word was never once known to have escaped her lips.

It was in the Sabbath-school her mind was first impressed with a sense of religion. The affectionate prayers of the superintendent,-a pious and good man, fond of children, and who delighted to teach them the way to heaven, who went to glory before the subject of this memoir,-were the means of leading Martha's thoughts to God, to Christ, and to the world to come.

This good man often visited the young subject of his charge in her illness. His prayers and counsels in the sick chamber were greatly blessed to her. She was gradually brought to a clear perception of the only way by which a sinner can possibly be saved. She found peace with God through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Her piety was very serene, and mild, and simple, and cheerful. Her heart overflowed with gratitude and affection both toward God and man. The Bible was the book in which she delighted, from which she drank the pure waters of life, and whence she drew her comfort, her solace, and her hope. The sacred volume, "Sherman's Guide to Acquaintance with God," "Baxter's Saint's Everlasting Rest," some hymnbooks, tracts, and "The Christian's Penny Magazine," comprised her library, which, though only of a few shillings' cost, she valued above the wealth of worlds, and above the price of rubies. She was much in prayer. In this hallowed exercise she was as "a child at home," opening her heartall her heart to an affectionate Father, sympathizing, with a tearful eye, in the sorrows and cares of an obedient child tenderly beloved. Her sleepless nights, when all in the house but a listening mother were locked in the arms of sleep, she spent and employed in praying for her widowed parent, and for the conversion of her unconverted sisters. When sabbath came, she was one in spirit with the people of God assembled "in the great congre gation." She prayed for all the ministers of the gospel, for the triumphs of the cross, and for the restoration of

the whole world to the love and obedience of God its Creator, its King, and its Saviour! Death approached, not 28 a monster clad in terror, but as an angel of light, with a smile of benignity on his lips, and peace and love beaming in his eye-as her soul ripened for the mansions of bliss, and for the

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fulness of joy" in heaven above. In the light of the favour of God, richly enjoyed in the heart, Martha Parker, in the nineteenth year of her age, finished her earthly course-short in

its duration, but eventful in its issues,

and glorious in its end-and passed through “the portals of the grave" without a groan, without a sigh, to the realms of endless day. The sweetness that shone through all her features in life, departed not in death; but remained in the countenance when the

spirit was gone, in token of its perfect happiness and joy in the "land of pure delight,” whither, in joyful haste, it had fled; and, as if to say to those standing by, in expressive meaning, the ways of youthful piety" are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." “ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." "How blest the righteous when he dies!

When sinks a weary soul to rest; How mildly beam the closing eyes! How gently heaves the expiring

breast!

"So fades a summer cloud away;

"Farewell, conflicting hopes and fears! Where lights and shades alternate dwell,

How bright the unchanging morn appears!

Farewell! inconstant world, farewell! "Life's labour done, as sinks the clay,

Light from the load the spirit flies;

While heaven and earth combine to say, How blest the righteous when he dies!"

The lessons of the subject are1st. Encouragement to sabbathschool superintendents and teachers. Martha and her superintendent have now met in heaven;—and Martha there, through the prayers of the superintendent as the means of her conversion!

The joy of such a meeting in that happy world no tongue can tell.

2ndly. The exposure of the young to sickness and death. Youth is no guarantee either of health or of life: "Man cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.”

3rdly. The value of piety in youth. It is a treasure of "wealth unknown." Seek an interest in the love of Christ,

dear young friends, and you will be happy in life, and joyful in death.

LITTLE BEN.

J. Y.

So gently shuts the eye of day;

So dies a wave along the shore.

A holy quiet reigns around,

A calm which life nor death destroys; Nothing disturbs that peace profound, Which his unfetter'd soul enjoys.

rally of a lively, cheerful disposition; and this, accompanied with great innocence and simplicity, rendered him a general favourite. Being the child of pious parents, from his earliest years he had his mind directed to the only source of true pleasure, "the gospel of

the grace of God;" and the instruction thus imparted to him, and the example set before him, were richly blessed of heaven.

When very young his attachment to the house of God, his love to religious books, and especially to the Bible, was very remarkable; and this continued undiminished to the close of his life. During his last illness, which continued for five months, the New Testament was his constant companion, and the numerous pencil marks found in it showed how he could appreciate it; he was frequently seen meditating, with evidently the deepest interest, upon some of the most important and striking passages of holy writ.

Some months previous to his death, being asked by a Christian friend if he loved the Saviour ?-he answered, very modestly, "I hope I do." If he loved prayer? he said, "Yes." "What," said the friend, "do you pray most for ?-is it to be relieved from pain, and that you may recover?" He answered, "For a new heart; I want holiness."

He knew he was a sinner, and was sometimes afraid that Christ would not receive him; but, at other times, he could feel he was safe iu the hand of Christ, his Saviour! When too weak to read himself, he wished to have fre

He looked up, and, with a sweet smile, said, "Yes, yes!"

The day before his death, he said to his mother," Mother, do you think it likely I shall be better?" To which she answered, "No, my dear: do you regret it?" No, no," said he; "not at all: I am willing to depart, if it is the will of Jesus." On another occasion, when suffering greatly from difficulty of breathing, the lines,""Tis religion that can give

Sweetest pleasure while we live," were repeated to him; he said, "I have thought much of these lines lately;" and added, with much feeling,""Tis religion can supply Solid comfort when we die!"

And adding the remark, I find Christ precious to me," he alluded to that beautiful hymn,—

"Jesus, lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly," &c.

He was much in prayer, and greatly loved secret prayer; and even during quently heard fervently pouring out his the silent hours of night was he freheart unto the Lord.

last verses of the 17th Psalm:
"What sinners value I resign,

Lord, 'tis enough that thou art mine!
I shall behold thy blissful face,
And stand complete in righteousness,"

&c.

Of these verses Ben spoke with much delight, as descriptive of his own feelings and hopes.

On being asked by a friend, if he knew that he was a sinner ?-he answered, "Yes." How, then, do you expect to go to heaven-heaven is a holy place?" His answer was, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin; I am looking to Christ!"

Two days prior to his death, when suffering from extreme pain, he said to his father, “Oh! father, the thought of parting with you is very dismal." To which his mother replied, "Yes, dear; but you are going to your heavenly Father, and your elder brother, Jesus!"

Lord was with him; and thus he fell asleep in Jesus. When now, as it were, in imagination, standing by his dying bed, who can forbear exclaiming,

"Happy soul! thy days are ended,
All thy mourning days below;
Go, by angel gu rds attended,
To the throne of Jesus go!
Waiting to receive thy spirit,
Lo! the Saviour stands above;
Claims the purchase of his merit-
Reaches out the crown of love!"

One very lovely feature in the character of little Ben, was his patience and submission under his severe and protracted sufferings. There was nothing like murmuring, or complaining, or peevishness; he was uniformly grateful for the kindness of those who waited upon him, and resigned to the will of his heavenly Father. Another feature was his attachment to the sabbathschool, and his love to his teacher.