what reaches the heart, and tends to humble, quicken, and comfort the soul. In all my reading and acquaintance, for forty years, with religious people, I never saw an instance of one decaying and coming to nothing, who observed these rules-never saw one who presumed, on any consideration, to give over attention to them, who did not fall away. Let us, then, notwithstanding all obstructions, use these means. Whatever our frames or our complaints, our sins or fears, may be, diligence in secret prayer, and cries for knowledge of God's word while we read it, and society with his children, will, in due time, heal all-sanctify all, till we are taken out of this evil world, and join the armies of the saved, who are gone before us, who wait for our coming; to testify, as we shall each of us do for ever, that God, our covenant God, was faithful, and would not suffer us to be tempted above what we were enabled to bear to the glory of his name, and the honour of our holy profession. Amen! H. VENN. POOR QUARRYMAN. A poor quarryman who supported his wife and three children by his daily labour, was also a great blessing to his poor neighbours by his Christian example, and by his labours among them, as a tract distributor, and Sunday school teacher. I need scarcely add that he never entered a public house. He had his home pleasures, and one of the chief, was to assemble his family for the worship of God, every morning before he went to his work, and every evening before they retired to bed. He was in the prime of life, and in good health, but his wife had been confined to her room nine weeks with illness. The first morning she was well enough to come down, her husband expressed his joy at seeing her once more down stairs. "Now wife," said he, "let us have our family prayer, and return thanks together to God, for this mercy bestowed upon us.' This they did; after which, according to his usual 2 custom, he took leave of his wife and children, and said in a kind, cheerful tone, "Goodbye to you, we shall meet again, if all's well, to night;" but when evening arrived, he was brought home a corpse! A stone from the quarry fell on him, and crushed him to death. Keen is the wound which has entered the widow's heart; but it is a source of the sweetest consolation to her, to remember that his last act under his own roof, was to kneel down, and pour out his heart with hers, before Him whom she now looks to, as the God of the widow, and the Father of her fatherless children. One circumstance I must add, because it marks the consistency of this good man's character. On being asked what debts her husband had left, "None, ma'am," his wife answered, "except twelve shillings for my doctor's bill." How few poor men, if thus suddenly called away, would not have been found in some measure in debt for their rent, their shop or their baker! But he obeyed the precept, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another," and he reaped the reward, for instead of leaving his poor wife burdened and straitened, she has but to earn her bread for the day, which with the blessing of God on her own labour, and that of her son, a dutiful boy, trained up in the fear of God, she hopes to accomplish. Who can tell, when he goes forth unto his work, and to his labour till the evening, that he may not be thus suddenly cut off? Happy are those, who before they leave their house, to labour for the bread which perisheth, feed daily upon the bread which endureth to everlasting life, and commend themselves and their families, to the care and blessing of the Keeper of Israel! A FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. The 67th Psalm is evidently such a form, at the same time that it is a prophecy of the event. 1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us, Selah. what reaches the heart, and tends to humble, quicken, and comfort the soul. In all my reading and acquaintance, for forty years, with religious people, I never saw an instance of one decaying and coming to nothing, who observed these rules-never saw one who presumed, on any consideration, to give over attention to them, who did not fall away. Let us, then, notwithstanding all obstructions, use these means. Whatever our frames or our complaints, our sins or fears, may be, diligence in secret prayer, and cries for knowledge of God's word while we read it, and society with his children, will, in due time, heal all-sanctify all, till we are taken out of this evil world, and join the armies of the saved, who are gone before us, who wait for our coming; to testify, as we shall each of us do for ever, that God, our covenant God, was faithful, and would not suffer us to be tempted above what we were enabled to bear to the glory of his name, and the honour of our holy profession. Amen! H. VENN. POOR QUARRYMAN. A poor quarryman who supported his wife and three children by his daily labour, was also a great blessing to his poor neighbours by his Christian example, and by his labours among them, as a tract distributor, and Sunday school teacher. I need scarcely add that he never entered a public house. He had his home pleasures, and one of the chief, was to assemble his family for the worship of God, every morning before he went to his work, and every evening before they retired to bed. He was in the prime of life, and in good health, but his wife had been confined to her room nine weeks with illness. The first morning she was well enough to come down, her husband expressed his joy at seeing her once more down stairs. "Now wife," said he, "let us have our family prayer, and return thanks together to God, for this mercy bestowed upon us." This they did; after which, according to his usual custom, he took leave of his wife and children, and said in a kind, cheerful tone, "Goodbye to you, we shall meet again, if all's well, to night;" but when evening arrived, he was brought home a corpse! A stone from the quarry fell on him, and crushed him to death. Keen is the wound which has entered the widow's heart; but it is a source of the sweetest consolation to her, to remember that his last act under his own roof, was to kneel down, and pour out his heart with hers, before Him whom she now looks to, as the God of the widow, and the Father of her fatherless children. One circumstance I must add, because it marks the consistency of this good man's character. On being asked what debts her husband had left, "None, ma'am," his wife answered, "except twelve shillings for my doctor's bill." How few poor men, if thus suddenly called away, would not have been found in some measure in debt for their rent, their shop or their baker! But he obeyed the precept, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another," and he reaped the reward, for instead of leaving his poor wife burdened and straitened, she has but to earn her bread for the day, which with the blessing of God on her own labour, and that of her son, a dutiful boy, trained up in the fear of God, she hopes to accomplish. Who can tell, when he goes forth unto his work, and to his labour till the evening, that he may not be thus suddenly cut off? Happy are those, who before they leave their house, to labour for the bread which perisheth, feed daily upon the bread which endureth to everlasting life, and commend themselves and their families, to the care and blessing of the Keeper of Israel! A FORM OF PRAYER FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. The 67th Psalm is evidently such a form, at the same time that it is a prophecy of the event. 1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. 2. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. 3. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. 4. O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. 5. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. 6. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. 7. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. It has been the purpose of God, from the beginning, that the earth shall be converted from the dominion of sin and Satan, and given to his "Son" as his "inheritance," for an everlasting possession. This purpose has been variously expressed, and at divers times. The promise that "the seed of the woman shall bruise (crush) the head (power) of the serpent," was the first intimation of it. Afterwards it was told to Abraham," in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." In the 2nd Psalm, Jehovah says, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Isaiah and Habakkuk both say that the earth" shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." Daniel predicts that the "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom" shall be given to the "Son of man," "that all people, nations, and languages shall serve him." Zachariah sings, "The Lord shall be king over all the earth." And St. John in the Revelation learnt, that when the seventh trumpet shall sound, "the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ." For the accomplishment of this purpose, thus clearly predicted, the church of God has always doubtless been taught to pray. The inspired form in the above psalm, was composed by David more than a thousand years before the birth of Christ. Up to that time it constituted a part of the prescribed worship of the Temple and of the Synagogue; and since then it has been continually used in the Christian Church. Its place in the Liturgy of our own church is exceedingly appropriate. When this prayer is answered in its designed accomplishment, the "way" or method of "saving health"-that is, of salvationwhich God has provided and revealed in the Scriptures, will be |