the assurance from valued and able friends in all directions, of every possible support on their part.

The work, though urged upon me for several years past, and frequently in my thoughts, comes upon me now somewhat suddenly. I must therefore crave the patient indulgence of my readers, and beg them to bear in mind, that so far from the commencement giving promise which cannot be maintained, it is reasonable to hope, from the haste in which we begin, that we shall be enabled to grow in interest and usefulness as experience matures our plan, and the increasing contributions of friends come in to enrich our pages.

"Not in works my trust I place,
But in God's good helping grace;
With the weakest work or word,

Thou canst give thy blessing, Lord."

(John Bickersteth.)

rose.

LIVE NOT TO YOURSELF.

On the frail little stem in the garden hangs the opening Go ask, why it hangs there? "I hang here,' says the beautiful flower, “to sweeten the air which man breathes, to open my beauties, to kindle emotion in his eye, to shew him the hand of his God, who penciled each leaf and laid them thus on my bosom. And whether you find me here to greet him every morning, or whether you find me on the lone mountain side, with the bare possibility that he will throw me one passing glance, my end is the same. I live not to myself."

Beside yon highway stands an aged tree, solitary and alone. You see no living thing near it, and you say, Surely that must stand for itself alone. "No," says the

tree, "God never made me for a purpose so small. For more than a hundred years I have stood here. In summer I have spread out my arms and sheltered the panting

flocks which hastened to my shade. In my bosom I have concealed and protected the brood of young birds, as they lay and rocked in their nests; in the storm I have more than once received in my body the lightning's bolt, which had else destroyed the traveller; the acorns which I have matured from year to year, have been carried far and near, and groves of forest oaks can claim me as their parent. I have lived for the eagle, which has perched on my top; for the humming bird that has paused and refreshed its giddy wing, ere it danced away again like a blossom of the air; for the insect that has found a home within the folds of my bark; and when I can stand no longer, I shall fall by the hand of man, and I shall go to strengthen the ship which makes him lord of the ocean, and to his dwelling to warm his hearth and cheer his home. I live not to myself."

On yonder mountain-side comes down the silver brook, in the distance resembling the ribbon of silver, running and leaping as it dashes joyously and fearlessly down. Go ask the leaper what it is doing. "I was born," says the brook, "high up the mountain; but there I could do no good; and so I am hurrying down, running where I can, and leaping where I must, but hastening down to water the sweet valley; where the thirsty cattle may drink, where the lark may sing on my margin, where I may drive the mill for the accommodation of man, and then widen into the great river, and bear up his steamboats and shipping, and finally plunge into the ocean, to rise again in vapour, and perhaps come back again in the cloud to my own native mountain, and live my short life over again. Not a drop of water comes down my channel, in whose bright face you may not read, 'None of us liveth to himself.""

Speak now to that solitary star that hangs in the far verge of heaven, and ask the bright sparkler what it is doing there! Its voice comes down the path of light, and cries, "I am a mighty world; I was stationed here at the creation; I was among the morning stars that sang together, and among the sons of God that shouted for joy, at the creation of the earth: aye, I was there

'When the radiant morn of creation broke,
And the world in the smile of God awoke,
And the empty realms of darkness and death
Were moved through their depths by his mighty breath,
And the orbs of beauty and spheres of flame
From the void abyss, by myriads came,
In the joy of youth, as they darted away
Through the widening wastes of space to play,
Their silver voices in chorus rung,

And this was the song the bright ones sung.'

Here, among the morning stars, I hold my place, and help to keep other worlds balanced and in their places. I have oceans and mountains, and I support myriads of immortal beings on my bosom; and when I have done this, I send my bright beams down to earth, and the sailor takes hold of the helm and fixes his eye on me, and finds his home across the ocean. Of all the countless hosts of my sister stars, who walk forth in the great space of creation, not one, not one lives or shines for herself!"

And thus God has written upon the flower that sweetens the air, upon the breeze that rocks that flower on its stem, upon the rain-drops which swell the mighty river, upon the dew-drop that refreshes the smallest sprig of moss that rears its head in the desert, upon the ocean that rocks every swimmer in its chambers, upon every pencilled shell that sleeps in the caverns of the deep, as well as upon the mighty sun which warms and cheers the millions of creatures that live in his light—upon all has he written: "None of us liveth to himself."

And if you will read this lesson in characters still more distinct and striking, you will go to the garden of Gethsemane, and hear the Redeemer in prayer, while the angel of God strengthens him. You will read it on the hill of Calvary, where a voice that might be the concentrated voice of the whole universe of God, proclaims that the highest, noblest deed which the Infinite can do, is to do good to others, to live NOT to himself!

INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

THE Christian has power to prevail with God. Would that this truth were engraven upon every heart in which has been kindled the flame of Divine love. What is prayer? Inquire not of a cold and dead orthodoxy. Ask not the man who has the form of godliness, but who practically denies its power. He who has felt the spirit of prayer-he who has been blest with a baptism of the Holy Ghost-he from whose altar the incense of prayer ascends-he shall answer. Ask him what is prayer, and he shall tell you it is power with Jehovah. Viewed in this light, what a precious boon from heaven to men is prayer! It is a key to the storehouse of God. It opens the repository of heaven's choicest blessings, and brings them down to earth. Happy is he who possesses it. He has influence at the throne of God. He can move the arm that moves the destinies of the universe.

There are many aspects of this subject upon which the Christian loves to dwell. I shall aim, however, at present, to exhibit but one of these aspects. It is the efficacy of intercessory prayer, and the duty of God's people in relation to it.

By intercessory prayer, is meant the prayer of faith for the salvation of impenitent sinners; the use of this influence with God in averting the doom of those under sentence of death, and in leading them to the cross of Christ.

Christians who feel an interest in the conversion of their ungodly friends, seldom realize the amount of influence they possess at the mercy-seat. They do not take God at his word. They do not believe they have power to prevail with him. Their addresses to the throne of grace demonstrate their unbelief. They ask for small things; or if they pray for greater, they have little expectation of receiving them. Their language shews it. It is the prayer that will take no denial that prevails with God. It is the wrestling of Jacob. Jacob interceded all night with the Lord; and when the day dawned, and he was reminded that it was time for him to desist, and attend to his flocks and herds, he

replied, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." He was blest. God said to him, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, (that is, one who supplants another) but Israel, (warrior with God, as the name signifies,) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with man, and hast prevailed."

.

Power with God! O, if his children believed, felt, realized this, what intercessions would they not make for an ungodly world! Power with God! Did the church feel this as they ought, the moral foundations of the world would be moved, and the kingdom of the Messiah speedily and permanently established. They do not feel it. Why is it, when God seems almost to anticipate their faith, and to go before them in bestowing his blessings? Why is it, when they know they have received immediate and signal answers to their prayers for the impenitent? Why is it? How can they be so faithless, so sceptical, so ready to distrust God? Why, every one who will give himself the trouble to watch the phenomena of the moral world, and to inquire for their causes, must see that the intercessions of the godly man prevail with God. Unconverted men even, with all their prejudice against spiritual religion, and all their obtuseness of moral vision, are generally too observing not to notice and too honest not to acknowledge it. It is almost self-evident. The man who is eminently pious, walks with God; and it is plain as a sunbeam, that when he speaks God hears.

John Knox was the principal agent in introducing and disseminating the Protestant religion in Scotland. He was a holy man, and had much of the spirit of prayer. Mary Queen of Scots, and a zealous advocate of the Catholic faith, according to her own confession, trembled for the fate of Popery in her dominions. "I am afraid of John Knox," said she. But why did she tremble? Why was she afraid of this man? Was she afraid of his

No, she knew well

rank and influence in the world? that he was poor, and far enough removed from what the world called greatness. Was she afraid of his fleets, and his armies, and his military skill? He was no general; and, except by the angels of God, he was unattended. What was she afraid of? his learning and eloquence?