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occurrence in the life of Moses or Jeremiah;" or other kinds of questions. These researches are very useful to the children, and the results are the more edifying and interesting to all the family, because it is out of the mouths of little children that they hear the great truths of religion. The domestics and all the family take part in finding what is required. I note down every day, 1, the place in the Bible which furnished my subject; 2, the title which I give to the lesson; 3, an outline of the lesson and the principal texts cited; 4, the passage to learn by heart; 5, what the children are to search for.

I can say that, notwithstanding this has been done but very imperfectly, and with such faults as give me cause to be deeply humbled before God, yet I have always seen the children interested and taking pleasure in the exercise, during the first course as well as the second.

DRUNKENNESS IN CANADA.

IN Upper Canada there is a river called Grand River, which waters a large district of country, and then falls into Lake Erie. On its banks, about five miles from its entrance, is the small town of This place does not equal in size many English villages, but, as it is in a new country, and of very modern date, it is almost entitled to the dignity of a

town.

There is, however, one thing wanting to complete its character as a town, and that is, a church, with a resident minister. There is indeed the frame-work of a church which was commenced some years ago, but was discontinued for want of money. has not, however, been entirely deprived of Christian instruction; for a very zealous clergyman has occasionally held services in the town, and some indefatigable men, not of the communion of the Church of England, have also laboured there from time to time.

In this place drunkenness sadly prevails. Drink is indeed the curse of this country: it ruins the bodies of those who indulge in it; it stupefies or distracts their minds; and it utterly unfits them for serious thoughts on the eternal world. The fatal effects of this vice are frequently seen, and it is the object of the writer to state one of them, in the hope that, by the blessing of the Lord, some one at least may consider. It was on the 31st of May, 1841, that a person requested me to bury the remains of an old man who had died on the previous day: The request was complied with, and the hour of twelve appointed for the funeral. The house of the deceased was two miles from and the path to it led us through

the bush. After a very hot walk we reached the house, and found many neighbours and friends assembled. Part of the service was read within the house, and before the removal of the body, the people were addressed upon the subject of death, and solemnly entreated to think seriously of their state; and if they had not found mercy, to seek it through the blood of Jesus. The evil and the peril of sin were stated, and the certain consequences of it insisted on.

We then followed the corpse to an old Indian buryingplace, which had been named by the deceased as the spot where he wished to be laid. There is no Christian buryingplace near, and therefore no objection could be reasonably made to his interment in that spot. On our arrival at the grave, the company stood around, the body was lowered, and the remainder of the burial service pronounced.

It is the custom in this place for all to remain until the grave is filled up; we did so; and when the mound was formed, and the green turf laid down, the son of the deceased stood upon the grave, and, with a countenance sobered by the loss of a parent, he looked round upon us, and taking off his hat, thanked us for our attendance.

Two weeks were not completed before that son was laid with his father; and drinking was partly instrumental in bringing him to this sudden death.

The account is briefly this: About seven or eight days after the funeral of his father, he went up to

which

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is a village on the same river, and situated opposite to At that place he remained for nearly two days, and was for the greatest part of that time under the influence of liquor. At length he thought to return home; and going to the river side, he got into a canoe, and proceeded down the stream. He was seen to do this, but he was never again seen alive. His wife and children looked for his return, but they waited long and in vain. Two or three days passed away, and then his body was washed on shore, not far from his own house. How changed from the tall muscular figure which lately stood over the grave.

Is it not enough to make one to shudder with horror at the hideous vice which thus robs a man of present happiness, deprives his family of earthly comforts, degrades his wife by accustoming her to such foul exhibitions, and strips his poor children of the kindness, and care, and instruction which a father should be happy to impart.

Is it not enough to make one shudder at that vice which pulls down the manly form, and lays prostrate the mind and the body-which plunges a family into misery, and anguish, and want? And is it not enough to make one shudder, when

the thought arises within us, Where is the soul of him who has thus ruined himself?

Do you who read this indulge in drinking? then leave it off at once, seeking strength and grace from the Lord, or it will cast you into hell. Or, if you hate the horrid vice which is slaying our poor fellow-creatures by thousands, then be not content with your own sobriety; but, as you love Christ, and poor sinners whom he loved, try to snatch one brand at least from the burning.

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DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF ROME.-No. V. JOHN V. 39. Search the Scriptures." Let it be observed, that our Saviour was speaking to a promiscuous assembly of Jews. Some think that the words should be translated thus: "Ye search the Scriptures." That is of little consequence. In whatever way the passage is translated, the restraints put on the use of the Scriptures by the church of Rome are condemned. Did the Saviour say "Search?" He commands them to search. Did he say "Ye search?" He commends them for searching. Either way, the great principle is established-that the Scriptures are to be searched, and by all persons who possess them. No exception is made. No directions are given to submit themselves to their priests or elders, either in regard to the use or the interpretation of the word of God. The Lord Jesus spake in the hearing of all, and he said to all, without restriction, "Search." Those who withhold the Bible from the people, or discountenance its use, or enjoin any special mode of interpretation, grievously sin against the Saviour in so doing.

1 Tim. ii. 5." There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

Nothing can be plainer than this passage. The Christian prays to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is but one object of religious worship-God; there is but one mediator-the Lord Jesus. Through him we "have access by one Spirit unto the Father," Eph. ii. 18. He " ever liveth to make intercession" for us, Heb. vii. 25. The duty is binding; the privilege is glorious; but if we pray to any other being than God, or through any other mediator than the Lord Jesus, we are offenders. Such is the case of the Romanist. He sometimes prays through the saints, and sometimes to them. Take the following instances: "Sanctify, O Lord, the offerings consecrated to thee, and, being appeased thereby, mercifully look upon us, by the intercession of blessed Thomas, (that is, Thomas à Becket,) thy martyr and bishop." "O, holy Mary, succour the miserable, help the faint-hearted, comfort the afflicted." "Deliver us

from all dangers, O, ever glorious and blessed Virgin." An Armenian Catholic being asked, a little while since, whom he considered the greater, Christ or the Virgin Mary ? answered, "Mary;" alleging as his reason, that in their books of devotion there are a great many prayers addressed to the Virgin, and almost none to Christ." Such is the practical tendency of popery: the creature is worshipped and served more than the Creator, Rom. i. 25.

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A LETTER OF THE REV. W. ROMAINE.

BESIDES all these, an enemy I have whom I do not want to make my friend, and who hates me with a perfect hatred; a most subtle enemy, who has cheated me again and again. Was not my cause good, and my Master almighty, how durst I attempt to pull down the pillars of the devil's kingdom? but because I despair of doing anything as of myself, therefore I make the Lord my strength, and go to battle in the power of his might. I feel sure all will be well so long as I am kept humble. O, pray that I may be a good soldier of Jesus Christ; but, above all things, ask for me humility. A humble man can come to no harm: he will be ever trusting in the Lord, because he finds nothing in himself to trust in, while he gives God great glory, by trusting much in him. God gives him great grace, and this grace is to keep alive an abiding sense of what he is in himself; to show him his helplessness and ignorance; to open to him daily more of the mystery of iniquity; to discover to him the stirrings of corruption which others feel not; and to make him sensible of these, even in duties and ordinances, that he may loath himself and his very best works. These are the fruits of true grace; and he that is under the lashings of the Holy Spirit will abound in them; the more he closes in the heart, the more he humbles it. The great design of his grace is to bring the proud sinner low, and then to keep him low. When he has brought us low, we do not like to be kept there; we want to get up again; our foolish desire is that he may do something in us for which we may have a good opinion of ourselves; and so, with this thought, we are apt to wish, "Oh, that I was but more holy! Oh, that I could pray better! Oh, that I was more spiritual! Oh, that I was but thankful enough!" If you could come to the true motive of these wishes, specious as they appear, you would find that they spring from the secret workings of a proud, selfrighteous spirit. Take off their fine cloak of holiness, and their language and meaning is plainly this: "I wish God would give me something for which I might be better pleased with myself." If this was the case, would not the

eye be turned inward upon this very good self, and be drawn off from looking unto Jesus; and so far as self is made something, Christ is made nothing. You may depend upon this, as one of the surest axioms of divinity; whatsoever it be which makes you pleased with yourself, that is not true grace; and whatsoever makes you displeased with yourself is not true grace, unless it brings you humbled to Christ, and makes you put more trust and confidence in him.

The good Lord teach you these things practically; I have learned them by long experience. Though I know but little yet, I am getting in the school of Christ, and hope soon to be in the lowest form, for there we learn most and fastest; we there depend entirely on the tasking of our Divine Master, who reveals the secrets of his kingdom to none but babes. As a new-born babe absolutely depends on the care of its parents, so must we on God, our Prophet and Teacher; and when we are brought thus humble, he will make known to us what he hideth from the wise and prudent. I would wish you, therefore, the humblest man upon earth, not only that you might know most, but also that you might love most. He that feels his sin and miseries, his vileness and unprofitableness, with the deepest loathings of them, is in the fittest way to love Christ: if he be an experienced believer, the feeling of these sins, miseries, etc. will make Christ more precious. The more he finds of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, he will trust the more in Christ's righteousness; the more misery he knows, he desires salvation from it; all will make Jesus more dear and lovely. His vileness sets forth Christ's grace; his unworthiness, the worthiness of the Lamb; his unprofitableness, the sufficiency of Jesus, who is all in all. When you are going to measure Christ's high grace, do not get upon a mountain, but go down into a valley; lower still, to the depth from which David cried; lower still to the belly of hell from which he cried; from thence take the height of Jesus's grace, and from thence see how lovely he is when the Spirit of Jesus is humbling you, showing you your wicked deceitful heart, laying open your ruined nature in all its abominable working. Has not this often discouraged you? Instead of trusting Christ, and loving Christ more, did it not weaken your trust, and so lessen your love; and thereby you counteracted the gracious purpose of Jesus' Spirit? May he teach you better; that every future sense of sin may greatly endear to you that Lamb of God whose "blood cleanseth from all sin." Depend upon it, that is the only true humbling for sin which makes his blood more precious. Be faithful to your heart, and stop here a moment; look back and read what, from one thing to another, I have written, and examine if you do not begin to fear for the interests of duty and holy obedience. If the

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