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urged him to accompany his people to encourage and comfort those who were about to die for their country and their faith.

To a noble soul like that of Zwingli the accident of death was a small matter. "No Christian is afraid of death; he can only dread dying." He trusts his Master's word, and knows that he is about to receive a crown of everlasting glory.

There is, however, a subordinate sense in which Zwingli may have been cheered, in his dying hour, by the thought that though men may kill the body, they cannot kill the scul. He had put his soul into his work, and may therefore have been encouraged by the hope that his labor would not be in vain; that though his body might be mutilated and burned, the truth which he had preached would live in the hearts of future generations. Yet, can he ever have anticipated that, after three hundred and fifty years, his death would be commemorated in lands of whose existence he was hardly aware; and that, in the truth which he had proclaimed, his soul would still go marching down the ages?"

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The dying words of Zwingli have been wonderfully illustrated in the history of the great religious movement in which he was so prominently engaged. Its enemies have always been threatening its destruction. At an early period its chosen emblem was "the burning bush," because, though constantly enveloped by the flames of persecution, it was never consumed. Almost everywhere it has been attacked with fire and sword, yet it is still green and flourishing. Even in this country it has suffered persecutions which are not less dangerous because they are refined, but it still bears its full measure of flowers and fruit.

Sometimes, in seasons of persecution, the best men are in danger of yielding to despair. Yet the peril is in appearance only. The enemies of the truth can never destroy God's people. "They may kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul."

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At night the tree fell fast asleep;
But early in the morning
It woke, to find that leaves of gold
Were all its limbs adorning.
"I'm proud!" exclaimed the little tree,

"There's none in the forest looks like me!"

In the evening, through the forest came
He saw the leaves, that looked like flame,
A Jew, whose beard was hoary;
All in the sunset's glory;

Then he gathered them all, and on his back
He carried them off, in a mighty sack.

The little tree cried out in grief:

"My heart is full of sorrow; I have not a single golden leaf,

And will feel ashamed to-morrow.

I have nothing left to wear-alas!
I wish I had leaves of clearest glass!"
Again, the tree fell fast asleep,

And wakened in the morning,
To find that leaves of clearest glass.
Were all its limbs adorning.
No tree in the forest glitters so!"
"I'm glad," said the tree," because I know

But then a mighty whirlwind came,

And dreadful was the weather;
Swiftly rushing through the woods,
And lying scattered in the grass,
It smote the leaves together;
Were all the sparkling leaves of glass.

The little tree cried out in pain:
See, my comrades still retain

"Now my glass is shattered!

All their leaves unscattered!

How I wish I could be seen
Dressed in leaves of brightest green !"

Once more the tree fell fast asleep,

And wakened in the morning : It laughed to see that leaves of green Were all its limbs adorning : "Now I have leaves like other trees, That will not break with every breeze!"

Then an old goat came through the wood,
With udder wide distended;

For her hungry kids she was seeking food,
As her way through the woods she wended.
66 Aha,"
" she said, "What a splendid haul!"
Then she gathered the leaves and ate them all.

Again the tree was cold and bare;

But its voice was soft and mellow, As it said: "For leaves I do not care, Neither green, nor red, nor yellow. My needles give me back again! I'm sure I will never more complain!"

But when it again had slept at night,

With early dawn awaking,

It was strange to see, in the morning light,
Its limbs with langhter shaking.
Its comrades laughed its plight to see,
But it did not mind their mockery.

Pray, tell me now the wondrous sight,
And what the tree was wearing!
There stood the tree, in a single night
A crop of needles bearing.
Go forth and look; but keep away!
Hands off!

Beware! Don't touch, I pray,
The prickly things,
For each one stings.

When he was sent forth to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow and when his wilful disobedience had banished him from the immediate presence and communion of his Maker, man needed the rest and worship of the Sabbath to preserve him from self-degradation and utter estrangement from God. The Sabbath was recognized as an existing institution by Moses, and enshrined as such by the great leader and law-giver of Israel. It is not merely a civil or ceremonial institution as some people seem to imagine. It is part and parcel of the moral law, the Ten Commandments, and, in its essential principle, is eternally binding upon the children of men. It was engraven in the rock forever by the finger of the Almighty. Death was the penalty of wilful Sabbath desecration under the Mosaic economy which served as a school-master to train God's covenant people for the coming and kingdom of Christ. The prophets, Nehemiah, Jeremiab, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, reprove the people for profaning the Sabbath, and

THE SABBATH A DIVINE INSTITUTION. point to this as the prolific source of

BY REV. CYRUS CORT.}

The Sabbath is a divine institution. It comes down from the days of man's primeval innocency. It is one of the few vestiges of the lost Paradise. It was instituted as the sanctifying climax in the original manifestation of creative energy. When the deep foundations of the natural earth were laid "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His works which God had created and made." The Sabbath is as old as the world and coeval with humanity. Before the crafty serpent beguiled our first parents they kept the Sabbath day holy amid the bowers of Eden. It was intended to promote the physical, mental, and religious welfare of the human

race.

If such was the case even before the fall of man much more was it a necessity after the fall, when he stood amid the wreck and ruin of sin.

national corruption and degradation.

Our Saviour came not to destroy but to fulfil the law and the prophets. It was His custom to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath-day and teach the people from Moses and the prophets. He relieved the Sabbath of some of the harsher ceremonial features, but in no wise did He abrogate or disregard it. In opposition to the self-righteous Paarisees of the time, Jesus taught that it was right to do good on the Sabbath-day, and insisted that acts of charity and mercy were especially acceptable to God on that holy day. The Sabbath was made for man-made to promote his best interests for time and eternity. A traditional or mechanical adherence to the outward letter of the ceremonial law, which did violence to the true spirit and object of the Sabbath, the Saviour condemned as contrary to the divine idea. Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath, was made for man. Sabbath appointments must not be used as a sort of Procrustean bed on which to stretch or contract human nature, regardless of the superior claims of mercy and truth. The Sabbath was based on the wants and constitution of

humanity, founded on the eternal fitness of things and is not a mere arbitrary appointment of the Almighty. In its right observance there is great reward. As the Lord of the Sabbath and King of Saints, Jesus had power and authority to modify the institution, which He did by hallowing the first day of the week as pre-eminently sacred in the new and better covenant of grace. By His triumphant resurrection from the dead and repeated appearance to His disciples on the first day of the week, as well as by sending the Holy Ghost, the blessed Comforter, Jesus sanctified the first day of the week as the pearl of days. The Jewish Sabbath commemorates the finished works of the natural creation. The Christian Sunday, or Lord's day, as it is repeatedly called in the New Testament, commemorates the finished work of human redemption.

On the first day of the week Jesus burst the bars of death and Hades, and came forth Conqueror over all the powers of darkness. On it the Spirit of truth and holiness descended from heaven with power and great glory, and the Church of the New Testament was established. And as the new spiritual creation of God in Christ Jesus, from the wreck and ruin of sin, is more glorious than the creation of the natural world from chaos, so the day that commemorates the former must be hallowed as sacred above all other days.

Hence we find the apostles and disciples meeting every First or Lord's day to worship the Triune God and especially to partake of the Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of their glorified Saviour.

Passages in the New Testament, such as Acts 20: 7,1 Cor. 16, 2, and Rev. 1: 10, clearly prove this. In addition all the early Fathers of the Christian Church speak of the first day of the week as sacred to Christian worship, and having precedence of all other days because it was the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead.

So universal and devoted was the observance of this hallowed day among the early Christians that heathen persecutors of the Church took advantage of the fact, and were able to detect and convict the true followers of Jesus by simply putting the test question,

"Hast thou kept the Lord's day?" The invariable reply was, "I am a Christian, I cannot omit it." They were then led to prison and martyrdom. Thus, in a special sense, was the Lord's day, or Christian Sunday, consecrated in the blood of martyrs. Justin Martyr, who lived in the early part of the second century, states that "on the Lord's-day," that is on the Christian's Sunday, "Christians all meet because it is resurrection day, they read the writings of the prophets and apostles, the leader addresses them and exhorts them to practice what they have heard from the sacred writings, then all stand up and engage in prayer, then they celebrate the holy Sacrament and offer alms of charity and thanksgiving, etc."

The writings of other Church Fathers, and even of scoffing heathen authors, abound in references proving unmistakably that Sunday, the Lord's Day, Resurrection Day, or First Day, as it was variously called, was the day esteemed and hallowed above all other days by the early Christians. The Church, with true spiritual insight under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and in immediate communion with the Risen Redeemer, kept holy the first day of the week. new wine of the Gospel, i. e., the blessings of the Christian dispensation, were enshrined in corresponding institutions. The Sabbath was preserved in its essential character as a day sacred to secular rest and religious worship. The institution was filled with a new and nobler meaning in honor and praise of the risen and glorified Head of the Church.

The

Apostles, Fathers, Martyrs, Confessors, Reformers, and saints of all ages have kept holy the Lord's day, the Christian Sunday. On this sacred festival of the Resurrection the sacramental hosts of every land and nation rallied under the standard of the Cross for over eighteen hundred years, and they will continue to hallow the Lord's day, as a divine institution, until the full reality and blessedness of the eternal Sabbath have ushered in the joy and glory of the Church triumphant in the New Jerusalem.

Contentment makes a believer rich, while plenty leaves the sinner poor.

BROWN" THE" HATTER.

BY THE EDITOR.

He

Brown is an excellent hatter. makes his hats of the best materials, and is very careful in fitting his customers. No one, apparently, knows this fact better than Brown himself, for he has put up a large sign, on which he

stands revealed as Brown "The" Hat

ter. It is evidently his ambition to be regarded as the very best hatter in the whole city.

There may be a certain amount of vanity in this kind of advertising, and to this extent it is not to be commended. The ambition to excel is, however, in itself praiseworthy, and we thoroughly approve of Brown's honest efforts to become "the" hatter.

It is a good thing to take an interest in your regular employment, and to seek, by every proper means, to acquire a high degree of skill in exercising it. Benjamin Franklin began life as a printer's boy, and became, first of all, a good printer. Subsequently, he became eminent as an author, scientist, and statesman; but during the whole of his brilliant career he referred, with special pleasure, to his labors at the press, and in the epitaph which he composed for himself, but which was not put on his tomb-stone, he calls himself Benjamin Franklin, printer."

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M. Jasmin was recently a celebrated poet in the south of France. He was a man of extraordinary genius, and some of his poems have been beautifully transla ed by Longfellow. Besides being a poet, he was also a barber, and nothing ever induced him to leave his chosen calling. The large sums which he received for writing poetry he gave away in charity. He told a visitor, some years ago, that there was only one thing which he preferred to writing poetry, and that was shaving his customers.

In the city in which we reside, there is a distinguished scientist, who is at the same time a working tailor. In his early youth he had but few opportunities of acquiring an education, but he has been a hard student all his life. Though now advanced in years, he toils daily at his trade; but, early in the morning and late at night, he studies

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"Honor and shame from no conditions rise; Act well your part, there all the honor lies." If you have a good trade, thank God for it. Remember that mechanical skill is a talent which God will require at your hands with usury. If you do your duty well, no matter how humble your position, you will be respected by all men whose good opinion is worth having. If you have special abilities, and study faithfully in your leisure hours, you may, in time, come to occupy an extensive field of usefulness; but the main thing is to achieve the highest excellence in your ordinary employment. Follow the example of Brown "The " Hatter.

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Philadelphia, Feb. 12th, 1776. DEAR CHILD:-I condole with you. have lost a most dear and valuable relation, but it is the will of God and nature that these mor

tal bodies be laid aside when the soul is to enter into real life. Existence here on earth is hardly to be called life. 'Tis rather an embryo state, a preparation to living-a man is not completely born until he is dead. Why, then, should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals-a new member added to their society.

We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or doing good to our fellow-creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for their purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure,

instead of an aid become an incumbrance, and nized, and science would hasten to do answer none of the intentions for which they homage to that wonderful mortal. were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we may get of our acquaintance was invited to visit A few years ago an eminent physician rid of them That way is death. We, ourselves, prudently, in some cases, choose a par- a man who had accumulated a large tial death. A mangled painful limb, which fortune by making and selling a socannot be restored, we willingly cut off. He that plucks out a tooth parts with it freely, since the pain goes with it; and he that quits the whole body parts with all the pains or possibility of pains and disease it was liable to, or capable of making him suffer.

Our friend and we are invited abroad on a party of pleasure that is to last forever. He was first ready and has gone before us. We could not conveniently all start together; and why should you and I be grieved at this, since we are soon to follow; and we know where to Adieu, my dear, good child, and believe that

find him?

I shall be in every state,

Your affectionate papa,

BENJ. FRANKLIN.

MEDICAL FOOT-PADS.

BY THE EDITOR.

On a prominent street of a large city there is a sign which advertises Medical Foot-pads. The meaning of the advertisement is, of course, sufficiently obvious. Some one claims to have discovered a pad for the feet, which possesses the virtue of chasing away rheumatism, gout, and all their attendant horrors.

called

"Rheumatic Remedy.' He

found his patient suffering from an
acute attack of the very disease which
he pretended to be able to cure.
"How is this?" inquired the physician.
"Why don't you take your own medi-
cine?" "Well!" responded the suf-
ferer, "My medicine seems to help
some people; at least they say so in
their printed certificates. But don't
you see the beauty of my business, doc-
tor? While you are traveling all over
the city, visiting your patients in all
sorts of weather, I stay at home and
rake in the greenbacks." We do not
envy
the mercenary wretch who could
thus boldly proclaim himself a medical
foot-pad.

It would not be just to condemn all patent medicines. One or two of the oldest of these have been so long and so favorably known, that we can hardly refuse to recognize their merits. On the frontiers, where no physician is accessible, they may sometimes, in simple cases, be employed with advantage. In settled countries there can, however, be no excuse for anything of the kind. In case of illness the only proper thing to be done is to consult your family physiIn our dictionary the word foot-pad cian. If your case is beyond his skill has, however, but a single meaning. It he will, of his own accord, consult with signifies a robber, a highwayman; and men of science who have made that when we looked at the curious sign class of diseases a subject of special which advertised medical foot-pads, it study. If they fail to cure you, make occurred to us that, possibly, it con-up your mind that there is nothing tained a truer meaning than it was in- more to be done, except to continue tended to convey. Was it not possible instant in prayer. Whatever you do, that the advertiser was himself a foot- if you value your money and your life, pad, who made his living by robbing do not put yourself into the hands of the victims of disease? charlatans. Beware of Foot-pads!

The country is full of such medical foot-pads. Some of them live in fine. houses and drive fast horses. Their names and faces are to be seen in the papers, where they chant their own praises in a manner that is both silly and disgusting. If a single one of them could perform the wonders which he claims, he surely would find it unnecessary to "blow his own horn." His skill would soon be universally recog.

A POET-PREACHER.

BY THE EDITOR.

“Karl Gerok,” says a recent writer, "is the ideal of a Christian pastor and poet. To him Christ is, indeed, the life of the world; and he can, therefore, fully accept the Scriptural promise:

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