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and that darkness, thick darkness, overshadows your path. Can you listen, then, to the voice of consolation? Can you receive a word of encouragement? If your eyes and your hope are fixed on the earth, no wonder that you see nothing but gloom; but if you are really looking upwards to the skies, take courage; your night of darkness may have been a long one, yet "the day will break by-and-by!"

They who love God are loved by him, and will be brought by him out of darkness into marvellous light. When the Egyptians were encompassed with "a darkness that might be felt," God's chosen people, the Israelites, "had light in their dwellings," Exod. x. 23. Jesus loved Lazarus, and though the shadows and darkness of death and the grave fell upon him, yet did the Saviour scatter the darkness, and redeem him from the power of the grave. Fear not, then, whatever be the shadows around you; for if you love the Lord of glory, it will be well with you. "The day will break by-and-by.'

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Do you fear poverty? "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich," 2 Cor. viii. 9. Do you fear sickness? He is the great Physician, and can cure all diseases both of body and soul. Do you fear death ? "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John iii. 16. Be of good cheer, the day spring from on high has visited us. The Saviour has come into the world, and will again appear in glory; and to all that love his appearing, sins and sorrows, and clouds and darkness will be known no more. Let, then, your darkness be what it may, the fear of poverty, sickness, or death, it shall not endure; your sorrow shall be turned into joy, for "the day will break by-and-by." Trust, then, in the Lord, "until the day break, and the shadows flee away," Sol. Song ii. 17; iv. 6.

DRUNKENNESS.

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DRUNKENNESS is a fruitful "work of darkness; every evil word and work, tending to misery, wretchedness, poverty, murder, and deaths the most awful. A work most fearfully prevalent in this highly-favoured land, a land of gospel light. Yes, in England, 600,000 persons are

either occasional or habitual drunkards. Oh! what an awful fact—a fact which should sink deeply into every heart! And who is there that will not help forward this God-like cause, in which some have engaged; the object of which is to reclaim the poor drunkard from the error of his ways, from a premature end, and from an awful eternity? Let every Christian, and especially Christian ministers, come forward, and "be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord!" How many infatuated fellowcreatures are rapidly passing into an awful eternity! Yes, one of these every ten minutes passes through the gates of death-so that while we are this morning in the sacred house of prayer, eight poor drunkards will have fallen victims to intemperance, and have been called to give in their solemn and final account before the judge of quick and dead. What Christian, what philanthropist, can hear this statement, without forming a determination, in the strength of the Lord, to use every effort to rescue his fellow immortals from the drunkard's vortex of destruction? "He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins," Jas. v. 20. And who can compute the value of a soul immortal?

"Say, know'st thou what it is? or what thou art?

Know'st thou th' importance of a soul immortal?
Behold this midnight glory; worlds on worlds;
Amazing pomp! Redouble this amaze:

Ten thousand add; and twice ten thousand more;
Then weigh the whole; one soul outweighs them all:
And calls th' astonishing magnificence

Of unintelligent creation poor."

Of the 600,000 before mentioned, it has been found, upon a fair calculation, that 60,000 die annually. Let this, therefore, stimulate us to holy ardour, and let us work, fearless of all opposition, while it is called day, for the night cometh when no man can work. In due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not, Gal. vi. 9.—J. Harris.

SABBATH-BREAKING.

SABBATH-breaking is another "work of darkness,” and accompanies intemperance. Three million sabbath-breakers are to be found in this land of Bibles and gospel light,—

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'Where streams of heavenly mercy flow,

And words of sweet salvation sound."

Sabbath-breaking and intemperance are the harbingers and producers of all other crimes that can be named, all of which are termed "the unfruitful works of darkness," be

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They are wrought under the influence of the prince of darkness. "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," Eph. ii. 2. Again, they are called the works of darkness, because they are wrought under the influence of a dark and deceived heart. The apostle exhorts the Ephesians to "walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart," Eph. iv. 17, 18. "Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil," John iii. 19.

The reward of these works is eternal darkness. "The wages of sin is death," Rom. vi. 23, moral, natural, eternal death. The unerring standard of truth declares-" These shall be cast out into outer darkness; to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. J. Harris.

THE CANKER.

Ir was a fine ripe pear, the fairest on the tree, that caught my eye, and I gathered it hastily, when I found it had a canker on the other side. It was a blooming rose that among lovely flowers appeared the loveliest; there was none other like it on the bush where it grew. I plucked it somewhat eagerly. Alas! the rose as well as the pear was cankered. There are fruits and flowers in this fair world beside pears and roses that are the object of our desires; while we admire their bloom, let us not be unmindful that they may be cankered.

Health and strength are excellent things, and Clement

possessed them; but alas! he employed them in folly and wasted them in sinful pursuits, so that they were cankered to him, and better had it been for Clement had sickness and weakness clung to him all his days.

Knowledge is an estimable possession, and Clement did all in his power to attain it; but when gained it made him not happy, for he used it to do evil and not to do good. His knowledge was cankered to him, for it only increased his power to be wicked.

Riches are desired by almost every one, and Clement rose early, and late took rest, that he might become rich; but his wealth hardened his heart; he laid up for himself alone, and relieved neither the poor, the widow, nor the fatherless. When affliction came upon him, how did his gold become dim, and his fine gold become changed! His riches were cankered to him, and rose up as a witness against him.

Reputation is beyond price, but it ought to be fairly obtained. Clement was more anxious to possess it than he was to deserve it, and when people praised him it made him proud. His reputation was cankered, for it led him to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, and to look down on others whom he ought to have esteemed.

Health, strength, knowledge, riches, and reputation, may be as much cankered as the fruit on the tree. With God's grace, they are blessings, indeed; without it, they are as a fleeting flower that the canker-worm spoileth, and that passeth away.

THE CONVERTED SOLDIER.

(The following Narrative is abridged from a Tract written by the Rev. John Gray, Rensselaer County, New York.)

IN an American village, several pious persons, who had met together, conversed on the various ways by which they were brought to a saving knowledge of the truth. Among those present was a young man in the full dress of a soldier. A minister, who knew his history, requested him to relate it to the company: With much hesitation he complied. He commenced by referring to the days of his youth, when under the fostering care of pious parents. Their instructions and prayers, their holy example and tears, which he had wickedly resisted, were alluded to with deep feeling. After a course of sin and folly, he said that, at length he had enlisted as a soldier.

"Before I left my native land," continued the soldier, "my father offered to buy me off, and my mother implored me not to leave her. 'O my son!-my only son!-my only child ! do not break your mother's heart, and draw down the curse of God upon your own head.' I felt I loved them; gladly would I have stayed at home; but their religion-it was their religion, not them, I hated; and to get away from it, I resolved to go away from them. Being an only child, it was too much for the already broken heart of my tender mother to bear up under; and, praying for her unworthy child, she sunk into the grave soon after my departure.

“When far at sea, one day, when changing my linen, a small Bible dropped out from the folds of a shirt. My mother, concerned for my salvation, had placed it there when she had put up my clothes. I felt mad with rage, snatched it up, ran on deck, and cast it overboard as far as I could throw it. When I joined my regiment, I cast off all restraints, and sinned with an high hand. The number and nature of the sins I committed, make me tremble and blush when I think of them. I regarded not future consequences, and nothing but grace, abounding to the chief of sinners, could have reached my case.

"I was engaged one day with my companions in our usual profane manner, when the sound of distant psalm-singing broke upon my ear. My attention was arrested; I stood still and listened, and thoughts altogether different from any which had heretofore occupied my mind laid hold upon it, and tears ran from my eyes. Home stood up before me, my father's and my mother's prayers, the grief I had caused them, sabbaths at home, family worship in my father's house, my heinous sins' against God; all came crowding upon my remembrance, until I shook and trembled in view of the wrath of Almighty God, to which I stood exposed, and which I thought had then overtaken me.

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My companions at first mocked at my distress, and then left me. I walked towards the place whence the sound of singing had proceeded, and found a missionary preaching to a congregation of negroes. I laid down under a bush, and heard the remainder of the sermon, and heard also when they were again to meet for worship. It would be impossible to describe how my nights and days were passed till then. I had no Bible, nor was there in the regiment a man to whom I could apply for advice and instruction. At the time appointed I was again secreted behind my bush; but the sermon served only to call up to my view fresh guilt.

"I had been a leader to the regiment in its föllies and wickedness; again and again my companions urged me to

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