are some Christian people who have never offered prayer in the presence of others, and whose timidity in this respect prevents their usefulness, who might have done incalculable good if in their boyhood they had been called upon to perform this simple exercise. Mr. Lusk, probably, could not have been a silent Christian, even if this opportunity had not been afforded him; but whether that be so or not, we can see that the training which he had was exactly such as to fit him for a useful public man. It is also certain that the prayers which were offered for him have been answered, and there is no doubt but that they were often safeguards to him in after life, when he left the sheltering roof of his aged relations, and entered the world of temptation. He would never be able to forget in new scenes the old habit which he had observed for so many years. Do not the two things put together teach a lesson to heads of families? Andrew Lusk was a poor boy who first worked as a ploughman, and who knelt every morning and evening around the domestic altar. Andrew Lusk is a member of Parliament, and occupies one of the highest, most responsible, and most dignified positions in the land. Does it not seem as if he early took to his heart the Divine teaching: "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He will give thee the desires of thy heart"? His successful career is very suggestive of encouragement to lads and young men, and his early training indicates to parents and guardians the truth of the old saying, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. It is to be feared that the good old practice of morning and evening prayer in the family is gradually falling too much into disuse. The times are so fast that there seems no leisure to pray. In many households late hours are kept. The parents are not at home in time to pray with their children at night. They do not rise early enough to be able to spare ten minutes or a quarter of an hour in the morning. There is only just time for breakfast; as soon as it is over the children have to be hurried to school. And so in thousands of Christian families the parents and children do not read the Word of God together more than once a week; and sometimes not so frequently as that. Is it not a pity and a shame that it should be so? There is something exceedingly wrong in the arrangements which shut Christ out of our days. We may be in haste to be rich; we may be greatly desirous of the success of our children; we may send them to good schools that they shall be well educated; but it needs no spirit of prophecy to foretell the future of the young who are not taught both by precept and example to fear the Lord and to thank Him for His mercies. And therefore we earnestly advise all those who have not done so to establish a family altar. Begin at once; gather the children together, and read a few words from the old book; and then ask the Lord's blessing upon yourselves and your children. If you can sing a verse or two together, so much the better. You will often hear some little shrill voice grow weaker as its owner remembers how very suitable are the words Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son, The ills that I this day have done." Do not say that there is no time. It is absurd to pretend that you cannot spare a quarter of an hour of all the hours which God gives you in each day. And do not say that you have not the ability. Your prayer need be no oratorical display; it only requires to be a few sentences of real petition. Oh, for the sake of the future, toward which your children are going, let them hear you at morning and night ask God to bless them.-S. S. Times. A WORD OF COUNSEL TO YOUNG WOMEN.-Girls, beware of transient young men. Never suffer the advances of a stranger. A plain labourer or industrious mechanic is worth all the floating fops in the world. The allurements of a dandy Jack, with a gold chain, a walking-stick, a cigar, and a brainless skull, never can make up the loss of a good home and parents' counsel. THE STUDY OF MORALS.-We cannot be a moral people until our schools, from the highest to the lowest, shall become the nurseries of virtue. This most of them are not, in any sense. It is in vain to shut our eyes against the fact that we are reaping thorns and briers. Could we reasonably look for anything better, having neglected to prepare the ground in the springtime, and cast in the precious grain? There needs to be wrought in the minds of fathers and mothers; in educators of all grades; of those who legislate for education, and those who superintend the administration of the laws that regulate it; in short, of all people of influence and intelligence, a deep conviction of the truth that it is only by sowing wheat that golden harvests can be looked for; only by beginning in season to teach the young the pure lessons of Divine wisdom, and training them, with the very unfolding of their powers, to virtuous thought, feeling, and action, that society can be purified, and the well-being of this great people permanently secured. When one looks at the exhibitions of moral corruption which the last few years have made,-at the many forms of crime, at the brutalities, the robberies, the murders, the gigantic frauds and betrayals of trust that have excited such frequent astonishment,and then considers that vastly more of evil lies covered and concealed than has come to light, it surely seems high time that a public sentiment should be aroused which should resolutely demand that far more care and pains should be bestowed in the amily, in the school, and in the college, or university, on the moral and religious instruction of our children. EBENEZER AND JEHOVAH JIREH. "SAMUEL took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-EZER, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”—1 SAMUEL vii. 12. "Abraham called the name of that place, JEHOVAH-JIREH ; " that is, The Lord will provide.-GENESIS xxii. 14. 'OINING these two memorial names together-bringing the past and the future at once under the sunlight of God's love-we gain a cheering view of our present position, and are strengthened in the prospect of running with patience the race set before us during the untried scenes of a new period of time. Whatever may have been the sorrow of our bygone lives, we cannot but own, with lively feelings of thankfulness, -if we have ever known what it is to have the faith and the feelings of a Christian-that, however difficult the path has been, "HITHERTO HATH THE LORD HELPED US." There have been days that we are thankful we cannot live over again; but we have lived through them because "the Lord helped us." And there have been other days, whose sweet remembrance will be a blessed possession for ever in our memories; for in them there have been on every side glad tokens that "the Lord helped us," filling our hearts with joy, and our lips with praise. What are we, that He, the High and Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity, should deign to care for us, to relieve our sorrows, to hear our prayers, to rebuke our feeble faith, and gladden us with the light of His love? There is something overwhelming in the thought of all that He has done for us. "Great is His faithfulness!" Filling our hearts with such memories, we may look into the future-not for us a drear and dark abyss, but a pathway, along whose unknown windings a careful hand is ready to guide us, and a strong arm is ready to support us. Life is seen by the Christian, not indeed as a gay fool's paradise, but as a place wherein God is making Himself known. With His blessing we need not fear to advance-though perhaps to some there may be more of solemnity than of hope in the prospect. We desire to advance, trusting not in ourselves, our friends, or fortunes, but in our God. He hath helped, and He will help us, by the strength of that blessed ONE, who suffered greater woes than ever child of man suffered, and suffered them for us! The history of the past declares His love, and not less will that of the future declare it, even to that last solemn hour when the Christian puts off his mortal body, and enters the great eternity beyond, where for the everlasting happiness of His people "THE LORD WILL PROVIDE." "I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE, NOR FORSAKE THEE." S B A BLESSING FOR BABY. LESS thee, my baby, may life for thee ever Be bright as a long summer's day; May all that is sweetest and all that is dearest, May thoughts that are holy like angels attend thee; May love like a blossom unfold in its beauty, And, oh! may the years as they speed fall as lightly May Time, though he wither the roses we cherish, And yet may the fulness of earthly enjoyment— Be only as pain to the exquisite gladness MATTHIAS BARR. SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS. AFE in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe from corroding care, Free from the blight of sorrow, Free from my doubts and fears, Only a few more tears. Firm on the Rock of Ages S MY MOTHER'S HE altar of my infantlife, Of changeless love for me. Though justice used the rod; And he how dread is God. ; KNEE. The mystery I could not reach, By heaven revealed, and read- But long before my head had learned Their hidden mystery, Beside my mother's knee." |