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extort, will only excite fresh prejudices against a cause she would fain serve.

To one other point we must allude; we have hitherto considered the young Christian anxious to learn and do her Master's will, but it is not always that the seed sown, even by affectionate and Christian parents, at once takes root: God often tries the faith and patience of his servants, by delaying the blessing of his grace; and the parents who would guard their children, as from a fatal pestilence, from the fascinations of the gay world, must be pained with ill-suppressed signs of a longing for its forbidden joys. This is doubtless a sorrow, for which only believing prayer, turning like that of Jehoshaphat into songs of praise for the yet unaccomplished victory, can bring full relief; but much may be done by wise treatment to remove the pressure of present difficulty. It is vain for parents to expect that their children, while their hearts are yet untouched, should take interest in the same holy pleasures which are to them sufficient recreation amidst the sterner duties of life: they must then, as far as possible, enlarge the circle of home enjoyments. Let no lawful intellectual pleasure be excluded-let home be a scene of varying interest, as well as fond affection—let the delight which the young mind takes in active exertion, be fostered by free permission to engage in schemes for the temporal relief of the surrounding poor-let the immediate harvest of pleasure such schemes bring to an ardent and benevolent spirit, be reaped to the full ; and, though the growing love for the quiet pleasures of home, which will be the probable result of such a course, will not satisfy the Christian parent, some unkindly prejudices will have been removed; the soil will be softened to receive the good seed, and in due time such a parent

who has sown with tears of bitterness, little suspected by the thoughtless child, shall reap in joy.

One word more, ere we close: we do not think the extracts we have brought before our readers contain anything contrary to the spirit of Scripture, which so often calls on us to rejoice in the God of nature, and trace him in his lower works; yet these are times when some aspects even of truth, need to be guarded with especial care, and we almost tremble, lest, in the sympathy it was impossible to repress with a spirit so ardent in its love and worship as that of our author, we may have too much forgotten how many are now ensnared by the fascinations of a mere sentimental religion. Again and again we would press on our readers the recollection, that while all the works of God praise him, while all earthly beauty and glory ought if they do not, and only fulfil their destined purpose when they do, lead the soul to the strength and beauty which are the habitation of his throne, still the cross is now the touchstone of our character. It is in vain we think we delight in the God of nature-it is in vain all things lovely touch a kindred chord in our spirits, and we fancy we have fellowship with goodness and beauty, if the humbling, flesh-abasing doctrines of the cross revolt us, or fail to touch our hearts. The heathen of old may have shown the desire of their souls towards their Maker, as they groped their way towards him amongst his lower works, but God has given us the cross of Christ, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to us who believe, the glory of God and the wisdom of God. If this cross be not our delight, we are wilfully rejecting God's way of salvation, and fearful will be the awakening from the ensnaring dream of beauty, with which the enemy has deluded us. But

if we can rejoice in the cross, then let us not be fearful, but believing, and receive joy with free and thankful hearts from every well-spring of happiness our Father has opened to us, even here in the wilderness. The beautiful extract quoted in this paper show, that the doctrine of a free unearned salvation is precious to our Author, and it is the fear that others whose minds are less imbued with Scripture truth, might make use of his volume to feed a dangerous delusion, which has led us to append this remark.

Christ is an example to us of entering into mixed society. But our imitation of him must admit of restrictions. A feeble man must avoid danger. If any one can go into society as Christ did, then let him go: let him attend marriage-feasts and Pharisees' houses.

It is a Christian's duty to maintain a kind intercourse, if practicable, with his relatives. And he must duly appreciate their state: if not religious, they cannot see and feel and taste his enjoyments: they accommodate themselves to him, and he accommodates himself to them. It is much a matter of accommodation on both sides.

Avoid disgusting such friends unnecessarily. Cultivate good sense. If your friends perceive you weak in any part of your views and conduct, they will think you weak in your religion.

Bring before your friends the extreme childishness of a sinful state. Treat worldly amusements as puerile things. People of the world are sick at heart of their very pleasures.-CECIL.

THE NARROW ESCAPE.

A FEW days ago I received a visit from three young men, nearly of the same age, pursuing the same profession in the law, and evincing those cordial and earnest marks of piety which are so remarkably beautiful in early life, when it has been blessed with a real working of the Holy Ghost. As we were conversing about the great change that has taken place in their minds, and upon conversion in general, its instrumentalities, usual symptoms and blessed consequences; one of my young friends, whose brow was strongly furrowed with a very deep scar, which I had not observed the last time I had met with him, told me how he had been the object of a particular deliverance from the hand of death; for as he was handling a loaded gun, previous to his attending a sporting party, the fatal weapon had unexpectedly discharged its contents through his brow, but in such a perpendicular direction, as to tear away his upper eye-lid without injuring his eye; and to pierce a hole in the prominent part of his skull without injuring the brain. It was indeed a narrow escape. Now at the same time, as through that unexpected event, his face was stamped with an indelible mark: the hand of the Lord stamped upon his soul an everlasting impression of awe and gratitude, and sealed it for everlasting life. Ever since that blessed call, the young barrister seriously enquired about and found his salvation, and now he openly and boldly bears testimony of his faith and heavenly adoption.

As he ended this interesting account, one of his companions stated, that he, through God's mercy, had also JANUARY, 1847.

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had a narrow escape, for which he had ever since been called to give continual thanks to his Divine preserver who had made that event beneficial to his soul. According to his account, as he one day mounted a spirited steed, he was suddenly thrown off, but his foot being entangled with the stirrup, he was dragged for a considerable distance with his head downwards upon a stony road, till providentially the stirrup broke and he was left senseless upon the ground. But He who recalled him to earthly life, had also called him to spiritual life, and now as a regenerated disciple of Christ, he wishes to glorify his Master in his heart, and before the present generation, by a candid and courageous profession of the Gospel of grace.

These two narratives were succeeded by a similar testimony to God's glory, by the third young man, who stated, that at that fatal Sabbath-breaking féte of Versailles, so celebrated in the records of rail-road accidents; he happened to be in the third carriage of that train that was crushed and burnt down, with such a considerable number of the gay and opulent, so suddenly called to appear before their heavenly judge my young friend had escaped unhurt, among many who were torn to atoms, or reduced to ashes—and since, his precious soul had escaped from the far more consuming furnace of iniquity, and had been taught to know and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that these three young men could now joyfully join in singing to the Lord: "thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." (Ps. cxvi.)

And they are now all three converted.-And you, my dear reader, are you also converted? But perhaps you will oppose that you have not had such reasons to

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