Advice to Teachers of Sunday-Schools. 107 faithfully improve the means which God has graciously given you for the salvation of your children, how will you give your account at the tribunal of your Judge in the last day? You are parents who bear the Christian name! act then as Christian parents. Attend to your own salvation, and to that of your children. Give no occasion for a child to say, 'I am sent to school and Church every Sunday, but my father and my mother stay at home all the Sunday: I am taught that religion is every thing, but my parents seem to treat it as though it were nothing.' Parents! this is a sad story, a bitter reflection. Let me beseech you to give no occasion for it. Give the Sabbath of God to the God of the Sabbath. Let your minister, let the teachers, let your children see, that you know, and value, and are anxious to improve your inestimable privileges. Such conduct, while it leads, through divine mercy and grace, to your own salvation, will have a powerful effect in contributing also to the prosperity of the Sunday-school; for teachers will work with greater delight, and the children will be more attentive. "I cannot conclude without addressing a few words to the children. Every one of you has a soul that is to live for ever, and that soul, when it leaves this world, will be more happy or more miserable than I can possibly describe to you,--and that for ever. God has made you; the Lord Jesus Christ has died to redeem you; and the Holy Ghost is willing to sanctify you, to make you good and holy. If you would be happy in this world, and glorious in the next, you must daily pray to God to give you his Spirit, you must love Christ and look to him for the forgiveness of your sins; and you must love, fear, and obey God. Wicked company, wicked ways, wicked tempers, wicked words, these you must avoid, for they are displeasing to the good and great God, and they are ruinous to your souls. My young friends! love your School, your Church, your Bible, the Sabbath, your Minister, your Teachers. Think of what is said to you on the Sunday: remember it all the week: let not wicked children lead you astray. Often in the week think thus:- How good has God been to me in giving me a Bible, and in shewing me how I am to be happy for ever. I must please God; I must do what he would have me to do, and I must hate and shun all that he would have me to hate and shun. I must live every day so that when I die I may go to heaven, and be with God, and with blessed spirits for ever.' Thus, my young friends, often think in the course of every week. Then God will bless you and be with you: you will be happier than I can tell you, when you grow up, and when you come to die. All good people will love you here your own souls shall enjoy the peace of God; and, when life is ended, you will be happy for ever in Heaven." Sent by G. B. STRONGEST REASON FOR SPEAKING TRUTH. In the neighbourhood of Macclesfield lies an extensive tract of bog called "Danes Moss," portions of which are allotted to different proprietors of lands and houses around it. These allotments, being of very ancient date, are subjects of frequent disputes, as to their boundaries, in which, appeals are usually made to the oldest residents. It was on an occasion of this kind, that a Clergyman, wishing to put an end to the strife between two neighbours, applied to an old "Mossman" for his testimony:-it was given frankly and decidedly. On the question being put to him, "Now are you sure, John, that what you say is true?" he an swered, "Aye, master, I have soon to look another world in the face, and it is not for me to tell a lie." -Reader, think on this: that you have " soon to look another world in the face," and falsehood will be a forsaken sin. C... TO A FATHER, ON THE DEATH OF HIS ONLY CHILD. THE hand of the Highest, who woundeth, can heal I grant that the stroke which has laid thy hopes low, If hope but deferr'd may cause sickness of heart," Yet, e'en in this hour of depression and grief, If the suff 'rer confide in the goodness of God, Who withholds not His "staff" when He strikes with His "rod." Then arise, like the monarch of Judah, repair To the house of the Lord, humbly worship Him there: That thou may'st "go to him,” though "he cannot return." Sent without a signature. THE IMPORTANCE OF SOBRIETY. (Concluded from page 53.) EXCESSIVE drinking appears, from every view of it, to be a vice against which we cannot plead too strongly. It should be avoided and abhorred in all its stages. Unnumbered evils compose its train, and eternal vengeance is its reward. The young (for they are our chief hope) will permit us to put them on their guard, and to recommend suitable precautions. Let them beware of false complaisance-that easy compliant temper, which yields to every pleasure, and which cannot say "No," though they are invited to their ruin. Let the young consider, before-hand, the chief occasions of excess. Are they destined to some laborious employ, or exposed to the midnight air? they will be tempted to think no supply of liquor too liberal. Are they disappointed in their projects? they will hear that sorrow is best drowned in a jovial cup. Invited to a feast, they are surrounded by a luxurious variety, they are reminded that such seasons seldom return, and that the deeper their draughts, the warmer will be their welcome. If they, on the other hand, are the providers, they will be in danger of circulating the glass too freely, lest they should be thought mean, and charged with the want of hospitality. How many are there, who, when they began to travel as men of business, when they first resorted to the market and the fair, enjoyed an unblemished name: but now they are quarrelsome, and vulgar, and debauched, and callous, and good for nothing. Let the choice of friends be a subject deeply regarded. Neglect here often leads to entire destruction. We dread the consequence of a single hour spent in the company of profligates. What has a virtuous man to do at the drunken club, and the noisy revel? And why should the public-house, intended for the weary stranger, and for the occasional transaction of public business, why should it be so much frequented by its nearest neighbours? The wise and good are at home pursuing their useful labours, or conveying instruction and entertainment round an attentive and affectionate circle. Let the mind form a true estimate of pleasure. If there were no gratification in excessive drinking, it The Importance of Sobriety. 111 had never been practised; but will you call it pleasure? No. True pleasure is associated with duty and dignity; it is durable, and it leads to God. 'Live while you live,' the epicure would say, DODDRIDGE. Let the young, and the aged too, add to temperance-godliness. Godliness includes faith, repentance, love and obedience; and as it is the very soul of character in general, so, in a particular manner, does it fortify a man against temptations to profligate and drunken habits. It is a living principle, which reaches to the whole behaviour, and extends from youth to age, from time to eternity. It is, indeed, the likeness of God (as the word signifies) wrought in man by the power of His grace in the heart. In this state a man is sober and temperate, not by constraint merely, and to avoid the consequences of excess, but because it has become natural to him; for he loves holiness because he loves God; who commands it, and enables him to obey his word. Disgusted with the pollutions of the world, and with the excess of riot to which he may have run, he will henceforth keep under his body, and bring it into subjection; he will abstain from all fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; in one word, he will live under the influence of this apostolic and most important exhortation: "Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." LINES FROM DR. WATTS. Vain man, on foolish pleasures bent, |