time little Grace fell sick, and as her parents thought her sickness might be of a serious kind, they immediately sent for a doctor. When the doctor came, he ordered Grace's parents to give her some medicine to make her better. Grace's mother procured some of the medicine prescribed by the doctor, and went up to her bed-room to give it to her. On entering the bedroom, she found Eliza standing by Grace's bed-side talking to her. " I have brought you some medicine to make you better, Grace," said her mother. Grace, like most little boys and girls, did not like anything that had a nasty taste; and she began to cry, saying she did not like nasty physic "You must take it-it will do you good, my dear," said the kind mother. And Grace wept, and her mother pressed her to take it in this manner for some minutes. Eliza, who was standing by all the while, requested her mother to give her the cup containing the medicine, not knowing what she was about to do with it. "Mother," said Eliza, "Grace is very bad, and she doesn't like nasty physic-I'll take it for her;" and, so saying, she immediately drank the contents of the cup. Eliza, dear girl, either forgot, or did not know, that her taking it could be of no use to her sister; but it beautifully illustrated a sister's love. Yes, love was the reason of her drinking it; and oh, my dear young readers, your Saviour loved you, and drank a cup much more bitter than that which Eliza drank. He left a glorious throne in heaven, was born in a stable at Bethlehem, suffered as little children do; when he became a man he was treated by his countrymen as one of the worst of characters, he was scourged, and spit upon, and despised, and at last he was hung upon a rugged tree, and expired in the greatest of anguish. And all this he suffered for you, because he loved you. And he requires you, in return for this love, to give him your hearts. It is his will that you should repent, that you should be sorry for your sins, and believe in him as your Saviour. Can you refuse to do this when he loved you, and gave himself for you, and thus afforded you the strongest proof of his desire to befriend you? How can you refuse to give him admission into your heart? "Admit him, for the human breast Ne'er entertain'd so kind a guest; Admit him, for he loves you well, And died to save your soul from hell." GOD IS LOVE. MISS G, on being asked one morning, not long before her death, how she had passed the night, she replied, "It has been quite sleepless; but how do you think I have been employed? I have been composing some verses, and think I could now repeat them, if you, my dear would take a pencil and commit them to paper." This was immediately done, when Miss G-dictated the following lines; scarcely a verbal alteration was made afterwards : 'Poor wearied child! now rest thy head Upon thy Father's bosom : 'I am thine;' repose in peace; I delight to give thee ease,— A smiling God is thine. "Afflicted child! I hear thy cry, I know thy every sorrow; Submissively receive my rod, View thy sympathizing God, And rise above the storm. "Suffering child! thy conflict's sharp, Thy weakness long endures; Infinite love appoints the whole To fructify thy inmost soulTo purify thy heart. "Rebellious child! it is thy sin Thy Father would subdue; "Unthankful child! why restless thus? Thy present, faithful friend. "Happy child! lift up thy head, The clouds roll fast away; Memoirs of Miss G Cabinet of Things New and Old. "I HAVE NO TIME TO ATTEND TO THESE THINGS." Dear reader, have not these words often escaped your lips when any Christian friend had called your attention to the salvation of your soul? Perhaps you are the father or mother of a large family, who depend for their subsistence entirely upon your own industry: in these circumstances I am ready to acknowledge you have no time to spend on trifles; but is it not true that you spend time daily in evil thoughts? Much time in vain and useless conversation with your neighbours? Am I exceeding the truth when I say you spend all your spare time in forgetfulness of God? Know you not, my dear reader, that this very inattention, though you had committed no other sin, procures the damnation of the soul: "consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver," Ps. 1. 22. So you see you have only to forget God, to be eternally forgotten by him! With this awful alternative before your eyes, are you serious in urging the excuse at the top of this paper? Is it a statement which the omniscient Searcher of hearts knows to be true? Does it satisfy your own conscience? Could you lay down your head on the pillow of death, and, with the judgment-seat and an impartial Judge in full view, console yourself with this,-God knoweth "I had no time for these things?" Ah no! So far from this, conscience will bring back to your recollection days, weeks, months, and years of golden moments for ever fled; and your spirit, stung by the agonizing reflection, may utter forth the despairing wail of the hopeless sinner, "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the hour when it was said, A child is conceived." Do you "O I don't intend to be always in this state-as soon as my circumstances will permit, I am resolved to give more time to this matter than I have done." But leaving out of view for the present the uncertainty of human existence, (which this apology entirely overlooks,) it appears to me that you are labouring under a fatal delusion as to the amount of time necessary to settle the difference between God and your soul; you think that before you can be reconciled to God, delivered from the love of sin here and its punishment hereafter, you must first spend a long period of time in attending to religious duties and striving to make yourself better, by which God may be induced to pardon your sins and receive you into his friendship, because you consider you will then be in a fitter state to receive forgiveness. My dear reader, this view of the way of salvation, which is so very prevalent among those who know not God, and even many professors of religion, is not God's way. Just look at the serious errors it contains: it assumes that you have a previous work to perform, and a very arduous one, before you can say, I be in a state to receive pardon from God; it places self in the foreground, and is, therefore, man-glorifying; it does not sufficiently recognise, as a first step, reliance on the finished work of Jesus Christ, and it alone, without one single meritorious act, as the only way to be saved, and is, therefore, Christ-dishonouring; and, finally, it tacitly ascribes to God a certain degree of unwillingness to receive the sinner now,—all of which is opposed to the revealed will and character of God. What then, do you ask, is the way God hath made known whereby I may be saved? "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed," Rom. x. 8-11. "Now to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness,” Rom. iv. 5. From these and numberless other passages which might be quoted, it is evident that, if you wish to be saved at all, you must at once and for ever cease your selfjustifying efforts, and take salvation as a free gift, 1 John v. 11, and just as you are. Abandon, I beseech you, your soul-killing delusions about previous worthiness and preparation. Know you not that every act of this kind performed before coming to Christ is sinful, because it springs from a selfish desire to render to God a kind of partial satisfaction for, your sins, and an unwillingness to believe that Jesus has already borne the punishment due to your sins "in his own body on the tree," 1 Peter ii. 24. O flee from all such refuges of lies; believe the great truth that God is satisfied, his law magnified, and nothing left for you to do but to receive a finished salvation: and do it now. "Let not conscience make you linger, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," 2 Cor. vi. 2. And now, my fellow-sinner, remember God means what he says in that passage last quoted: he says now, which means that at this very moment, while your eyes are running over these lines, he is in Christ already reconciled, and is waiting, and even beseeching you to be reconciled to him. Suffer this heavenly truth once to fill your soul, and then, instead of pleading you have no time for these things, you will arise and go to your justly offended but forgiving Father, and with the language of an entirely dedicated one upon your lips, you will exclaim, "Take my body, spirit, soul- W. F. WHITHER GOEST THOU? READER, allow a friend, a sincere friend, who is concerned for your present and everlasting felicity, to present this question to your very serious consideration. It may be, that in consequence of your numerous and various engagements, or from some other cause, you have not yet given that diligent attention to the state of your immortal soul which its worth demands. When I name your soul, I mention that which is above all price, and which exceeds in value all the riches of this world, or even of ten thousand worlds unitedI mean that soul of which the Saviour of the world said, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" The soul is different from the body, which after death will return to dust; but the soul will live for ever, and, what is more awful, it will exist for ever in heaven or in hell-enjoying the greatest happiness with God, or enduring the severest torments with accursed spirits in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. I cannot, my dear reader, speak of your age or character; I know not whether you are young or aged; whether you have given your heart to God, or are altogether indifferent to him, or even a rebel against him. It is enough that I address you as a sinner, a lost soul. Were you disposed to reject this appellation, the word of God would instantly condemn you and proclaim, "There is none righteous, no, not one."-" All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." If you consult your heart, or examine your words, or survey your conduct, you will detect many thoughts, expressions, and actions contrary to the character of one who is every day proceeding towards eternity. Whither goest thou? Life is a journey-how long or how short none can tell. The years of man are threescore and ten; but numbers do not reach that age-indeed few do. How many of your friends-some, perhaps, younger than yourself-have been summoned into eternity! They are gone-whither? They are gone to the grave; and whither goest thou? Each moment thou art going to the grave; already it yawns to receive thee :-art thou prepared? If not, shall I tell thee? Yes, hear and remember; if thou diest unprepared, thy soul will be lost,-lost for ever! Whither goest thou? You say, I hope I am going to heaven; but are you in the way that leadeth to life eternal? Sin must be pardoned, and the only way by which this can be obtained is through the Lord Jesus Christ. For this you must apply to him, and his promise is, that "he will not cast you out;" his language is, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life!” Whither goest thou? Does any one say, Through the infinite mercy of God, I trust I am journeying to the place of which God hath said, "I will give it you." Blessed be his name for inclining my heart to give myself to him; I have found his ways to be plea santness, and his paths to be peace; may I finish my course with joy! Delightful declaration! Go and proclaim the love of the Saviour; go and invite others to come to the arms of mercy; go and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee. Sinner! whither goest thou? Without repentance, without a Saviour, following the course of this world, an enemy to God and all righteousness, consider, that unless thy course be changed, eternal misery will be thy portion! O reflect in time! turn to Jesus as thy refuge from the wrath of God, and thou shall find that his service is perfect freedom, and his favour a free, and satisfying, and everlasting portion. P. Q. HAPPINESS: WHO MAY ENJOY IT. ONE fine evening in summer a lady was returning with her two children from a walk on the sea-shore. The tide had retreated and exposed to view a long range of black rock, the extremity of which projected far into the waves; the sea-gull had retired to its nest; the whistle of the ploughman was no longer heard from the land, nor the song of the returning fisherman from the sea; the only living object that attracted their attention was a poor child who was wandering in search of shell-fish among the rocks. "Oh, mamma," exclaimed Fanny, "look at that poor little girl; she was wandering over these rocks as we came, and here she is still. And to be walking barefoot over the rough stones, and so poorly clad, how miserable she must be !" "Perhaps, Fanny," replied her mother, "that child may be happier than you suppose. But see, she is coming towards the beach; I will have a little conversation with her." In answer to the lady's questions, the child stated that she resided in the parish poor-house, and was sent out to collect shell-fish, which she sold to fishmongers and others, bringing home the profits to her master. "And where, my dear, are your father and mother ?" "I have none, ma'am-they are both dead." She might have added, but she did not, that the death of her mother had been brought on by ill-treatment received from her husband, who was a fisherman. Often had he returned in a state of intoxication at a late hour of the night, merely to wring from his wife and child their miserable earnings, or to beat and abuse them when they had nothing to give. “And are you not very unhappy?" inquired Fanny, “Oh no, miss,” said she; “I have a great deal to make me happy." "How can that be?" said Fanny. "Why, miss, on Sundays I go to school, and there I learn to read about Jesus Christ, and then we are all taken to church, and our good minister tells us about our Saviour, and the love of God, and a great many other things." "But in the week are you not yery miserable ?" "Not at all, for then I think of what I heard on the Sunday, and I sing the hymns I haye learnt at school, and I often pray to God and thank him for |