heart from those who cannot enter into its conflicts. And once more there is the suffering involved in seeing those for whom we have laboured and prayed, despising their own mercies; conformity to our Lord when he wept over the city, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children-but ye would not." This is a fellowship in suffering which must be deeply felt by every faithful minister of Christ. Nor is it unknown in its measure to the Sunday school teacher; and those who have never known anything of its anguish, have but little experience of the privilege of being called into the fellowship of Jesus. But, blessed be God, there is a fellowship of glory, and to this we are called by Him that is faithful. It is a theme on which God's word is clear, decided, animating. "If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." "Glorified together!" what a termination-a termination which yet knows no end,-of a fellowship begun in weakness, in tears, in agony. Then the Redeemer shall "see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;" then shall we be satisfied awaking in his likeness. Then shall He joy over his ransomed ones with singing; then shall his servants, be they ministers or teachers, rejoice over many a saved one, who shall say, "You led me to Jesus." "Glorified together,"-who would not suffer with Him in hope of such a guerdon? "Ye see your calling, brethren," is it not a high and noble one? What a blessed year will this be if we learn more of its reality, its sanctifying influence. We are striving and rightly so, to increase our mechanical efficiency as teachers, but far beyond this in its power over others, will be deeper personal fellowship with Jesus. Let us aim after it, seek for it as for hid treasure, rest short in nothing else, and then, though our fellowship with Christ in will, in work, in suffering, should close, as far as earth is concerned, ere another year shall dawn, it will only open out to us what here we have but dimly seen, what a "weight of glory" was involved in our calling to the "fellowship of the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Lord." Bora. THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST. A. B. had, from early childhood, been a most unpromising girl, her extreme dirt, stubbornness, and ignorance, rendering her instruc tion apparently fruitless. Added to this, the great irregularity of her attendance at school made the work of her education almost hopeless; and I well remember the feeling of discouragement which passed over my mind when I observed the poor girl, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, still in one of the lower classes, her careless, indifferent countenance, her thick and tangled black hair, and her dirty and unmended garments, forming a sad contrast to the cleanly and tidy appearance of her companions. Truly, at such moments, it is needful to dwell upon words like these, "Your labour is not in vain in the Lord," lest we should "be weary and faint in our minds." Those, however, who knew A.'s home life, though they might be disheartened, could not be surprised, at her low estate. Her elder sister, of wicked and profligate habits, had gone grievously astray and still more fearful, her mother, who should have taught her better things, both by precept and example, had sank, I may say without exaggeration, to the lowest pit of vice and degradation. Her father, I hope, desired to do well, although his weakness and folly, to say the least of it, in the management of his family, amounted to what was wrong. About a year since, A. gave token of some improvement, and her Sunday school teachers noticed a change in her conduct. Not long afterwards, I also observed and wondered at the patience of this ill-conducted child. Her mother had gone off with another woman's husband, leaving her own husband, A., and some younger children, amongst whom was one who was in a dying state. When I visited the wretched house, day after day, I saw A. seated on a low chair, by a miserable fire, with the dying and fretful child on her lap, bearing with it, and humouring it, in a way that I was not prepared to witness. The sick child died, and the mother returned home disgraced, but not ashamed; and it was then, knowing the school of vice in which A. would be trained, and anxious, if possible, to save her from falling, as both her sister and mother had done, that I proposed her removal to come "Home," where, under God's blessing, she might be led to higher and holier things. The poor girl eagerly seized on the proposal, and I obtained admission for her into one of these excellent institutions, the Industrial Home, Tre-wint, Hackney. I saw her many times before her departure, and was again pleased by her softened manner, and the way in which she was moved even to tears when I talked and prayed with her. She conducted herself well from the commencement of her resi dence in the " Home;" but not many months passed before she became ill with rapid decline, and at the end of five months she was laid in the grave! It pleased God, however, in his great mercy, not only to remove her, but to prepare her for Himself, for the evident change in her could have been nothing less than the Spirit's work. I shall now transcribe chiefly from the words of the matron who so kindly watched over her during her stay at the "Home." C Mrs. writes, "During the last three months, A. became more thoughtful, and after hearing a lecture given by a City Missionary, at the Home,' from these words, 'Will a man rob God? yet ye have robbed me,' Mal. iii. 8, her own words were, 'I went up to my room, and there begged of God to change my heart. Before I rose from my knees, He, I trust, did so, and since that evening I feel a new creature; I love my Bible, and prayer, and the House of God; and most of all I love God, which before I did not.' On being asked one morning, before leaving her room, 'If she always prayed to God?' she answered, 'If I did not I should be robbing Him.'" "On another occasion," writes Mrs. "I asked her, 'How she felt with regard to eternity and salvation?' Her own words were, 'They say I must believe in Jesus.' I asked her 'What is meant by believing in Jesus?' She said, 'To feel sure that He died for me, and that his blood will cleanse me from all my sins. I know his blood can cleanse my soul, and I believe I can do nothing but bring my sins to Jesus.'” Later in the day heard her talking to S., and telling her that she believed her heart had been changed since she had been at this "Home." "I was much struck with her last Friday. When the other girls washed in the washhouse, I had A. wash by the kitchen fire; directly after I told her she had better go to bed. For the first time since she has been here she shewed a bad temper, turned herself about, and objected to go to bed-after all she went. The next morning, as soon as she awoke, she asked me if I remembered her naughty temper? She said she thought it was an answer to prayer. I asked her how that could be? She said in the morning she had earnestly prayed that God would show her herself, if there was any sin she did not yet know of, and she thought that was the reason she was left to fall into that naughty temper." At another time the matron, after describing her sad state of illness, adds, "Her nights are very restless. Last night I heard ber say,'Thank God for sending me to this 'Home,' I might never else have sought my Saviour.' She is not aware I heard her." A. was extremely anxious for the conversion of her elder brother, whom she often grieved over, as being far from God. How earnest were her prayers for him. The last Sunday evening, when on earth, she begged that prayer might be made on his behalf, and after her request was complied with, still silently prayed God to answer prayer for her poor erring brother. She often spoke with gratitude and affection of her father, and her Sunday school teacher. As her end drew near she evinced no fear, but patiently waited God's time. When in great pain, a few hours before she died, she She was asked if she desired any message to be given to her father. said, "Give my love to him, and I hope to meet him in Heaven. I shall soon be there to behold the bright crown on my Saviour's brow, and to be with Jesus." Once she said to those around her, "Good bye, He is coming, He is coming!" but she again revived, and most earnestly said, "Oh! that not one of the girls may ever hear the Saviour say, at the last day, 'Depart accursed, I know you not.' After this she fell asleep in Jesus; I cannot doubt her happy soul is with Him, perfectly happy for all eternity." Let teachers learn from this history never to despair whilst pursuing their toilsome and often discouraging work. Have you in your class some girl, or some boy more dirty, more careless, more unpromising than the rest, remember poor A.! It may be that God has set his love upon that child, that He has chosen him as a vessel of mercy, and that He will take him out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set his feet upon a rock, even upon the Rock of Ages. It may be that the child of whom you expected the least, and of whom you felt the most hopeless, is the one who shall shew forth most brightly the mighty power of the Spirit's work, and thus exemplify the truth of those words of Scripture, "The last shall be first." M. H. THE CANTERBURY MARTYRS. [FOXE enumerates thirty-seven martyrs, men and women (besides some who died in prison), who were burnt at Canterbury during the Marian persecution; the last five, only six days before the accession of Elizabeth, i.e., on or about the 12th of November, 1558. passage of Scripture on which the following lines are founded, occurs in the second Morning lesson for that day.] The "One soweth and another reapeth...............other men laboured and ye are entered into their labours."-ST. JOHN IV. 37, 38. I. O, hast thou marked the tranquil spot, Which, mindful of the olden days, The Martyrs' Field we call? II. Pass it not, stranger, lightly by : Great deeds have here been done; The armies of the King of heaven Their trophies here have won. |