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"Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." (Exod. xx. 8—10.)

2. While breaking God's command, I cannot have his favour; and then, what good will all my gains do me?

"The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but He blesseth the habitation of the just." (Prov. iii. 33.)

"Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world . . . they increase in riches! .... How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors!" (Psal. lxxiii. 12. 19.)

"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark viii. 36.)

3. If I close my shop, and trust God to take care of me, I shall be sure to have all I want, and enjoy real happiness.

"Great peace have they which love thy law." (Ps. cxix. 165). "Godliness is profitable unto all things; having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (1 Tim. iv, 8.) "Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed .... : A little, that a righteous man hath, better than the riches of many wicked." (Psal. xxxvii. 3. 16.)

4. How miserable will the remembrance of Sabbath trafficking make a dying bed!

"The sting of death is sin." (1 Cor. xv. 56.)

"What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.... For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. vi. 21—23.)

EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS.

"THERE are but two sorts of persons who can be styled reasonable ;—those who serve God with all their heart, because they know Him; and those who seek Him with all their heart, because they know Him not."-Pascal.

The greatest spiritual danger consists in careless and confident security; a dread of sin is a necessary safeguard to Christian virtue; he who thinketh he standeth should take heed lest he fall, and work out his salvation with fear and trembling, making a vigilant self-distrust the basis, not of desponding anticipations but of joyful confidence. The more persons are aware of the dangers that

beset their Christian course, the better is the prospect of escaping those dangers and steadily pursuing that course."-Abp. Whately.

"All things are ordered by the will of God: this is the great consolation of those who suffer. The belief of his providence is a powerful support under the most grievous troubles of life. Nothing escapes his observation, not even the smallest things, of which He is only the Creator; how much less those, of whom He is the Father, the Saviour, and the Fountain of eternal blessedness.

Quesnel.

The Lord's Prayer. Seeing that we have an Advocate with the Father for our sins, when we, that have sinned, come to seek for pardon, let us allege unto God the words which our Advocate hath taught. For since his promise is our plain warrant, that in his name what we ask we shall receive, must we not needs much the rather obtain that for which we sue, if not only his name do countenance, but also his very speech present our request? Cyprian.

EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS.

GROWTH OF TREES. It has been ascertained that wood increases in the following proportion:- 1st year as 1; 2nd, as 4; 3rd, as 9; 4th, as 15; 5th, as 22; 6th, as 30; 7th, as 40; 8th, as 54; 9th, as 70; 10th, as 92. So that a tree one inch in girth when planted, will measure two inches round in the first year, four inches in the second, nine inches in the third, &c. It is therefore concluded, after due consideration, that wood ought never to be cut till the tenth year of its growth.

AGE OF TREES. The following trees are calculated to live about

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Some kinds of trees are said to live 5000 and 6000 years.

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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received the communications of Rev. T. Farley; M. H.; A Layman; and M. D.

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1 Kings xvii. 18. "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son ?"

WHO was it that used these touching words? Who was it that uttered this reproach in the first agony of her grief? It was the widow of Zarephath, that widow of whom our Lord spake when in reproving the Jews for their unbelief, He said, "Many widows were in Israel in the times of Elias, but unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." It was that widow, who had shown such lively faith and ready obedience in sparing of her last morsel of meat and drop of oil, to give unto the prophet of the Lord, trusting to his promise to save the life of herself and her son,— that widow, thus chosen out of many to minister to the necessities of God's holy servant, and thus protected by a special miracle, she it was, who, when visited by God's chastening hand, acknowledged the justice of the stroke; and considers the death of her son as the deserved punishment of her past sins. We are not told what those sins were, nor is it necessary that we should know; but we may equally apply the case to ourselves when we are

VOL. XXIV.

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visited by the hand of God, and learn to consider the visitation as sent to call our sin to remembrance. That man can know little of his own heart, who will say, "I have committed no sin that deserves punishment, and if I suffer it is for no fault of mine :" yet many do say this, some in words, some in actions; and in visiting among the sick, Christ's minister is often obliged to deal very gently and patiently, before he can bring the sufferer to call his sins to remembrance; and to acknowledge in his sickness, or his affliction, the punishment of past offences, as well as the exercise of his faith and patience.

Not long since, I was called upon to witness a sad scene of sorrow and suffering, which seemed naturally to arise from the indulgence of this sinful spirit. I went to see a woman, who had been lately confined, and who, I was told, was suffering extremely both in mind and body. During her illness, her eldest child had been seized with scarlet fever; the nurse was afraid to tell her of the child's illness, for she was doatingly fond of it, and it was, the only one left, out of three that she had once had; but the child died, and, as in most cases, the attempt at concealment was useless. The secret was soon told by the silence of the little sufferer, and by the sorrowful countenances of those who came from the chamber of death to assist the mother. The poor woman dared not ask the truth, but fearing something was wrong, took the opportunity of the nurse being asleep, and went into the next room to see her child. It was laid on the bed a corpse! Poor soul! she fainted on the dead body of the child, and carried back the infection to her infant, now the only one. I must break the thread of my story here, to point out the want of faith and piety shown in thus endeavouring to deceive our friends, in order to save them from sorrow, which we think will prove too heavy for them to bear. God never yet sent a trial, which He could not enable his children to bear; and it is not for us to judge of the times and seasons when such trials should be sent. Short-sighted and ignorant as we are, we are liable to make fatal mistakes in thus interfering with the designs of an ever-watchful and gracious Father; and commonly, we increase the mischief we seek to avert.

So it proved in this case. Had the mother been told of 'the illness of her child, she would have been gradually prepared for its death. Her heart would have been lifted up in prayer to God for its preservation, and her faith might have been so strengthened as to enable her to resign it meekly into the hands of her Creator; but the sudden shock overcame her bodily strength; her first feeling was, that she came too late to save her darling.

Then again, had she been gently, but honestly, told of the circumstances, she would not have run the fearful and useless risk she did in exposing her infant to the infection. Now, alas! she was called upon to mourn over both the dead and the dying; and her affliction was so great, that her own life was brought into danger. I had known Jane Bentley from a child, she had been one of the best girls in the school, and had since that time been in service, which she left with a good character when she was married. Up to the time of her marriage, she was a regular attendant at church, and at the Holy Sacrament. After her marriage, I missed her at the Holy Sacrament, and called upon her to enquire the reason. I was vexed to find that it was simply because her husband, not being in the habit of receiving it, she had not liked to "put him out of the way" by remaining behind him. After some serious conversation with her husband, he, far from seeking to hinder his wife, professed his willingness to accompany her, and the difficulty was thus overcome; but still Jane was often absent, and whenever I enquired, it was owing to some of the cares of this world. After her eldest child was born, she came full of joy to return thanks for her safe deliverance, and to have her baby christened; but from that time, I scarcely ever saw her within the walls of the church; and I found that her heart was wholly engrossed with her husband and child, and the cares of her little family, and that her religious duties, both public and private, were neglected. I warned her and exhorted her, but in vain; she had two more children, and with them of course her cares increased, but they both proved weakly, and were soon taken from her. I was absent at the time of their death, but I knew the circumstances, and was grieved to learn that the sorrow she

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