Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

subject of the grace that sanctifies, and have the good hope of glory, it is better than to have all the health, and all the amusements that ever were enjoyed.

CALL ON A TIMID YOUNG MAN.

I have called on you, Meredith, to give you a word of encouragement; for I see that you are too easily cast down. Now, nothing ought to cast down them who fear God. If you meet with a little disappointment, it will blow over. If you are visited with an unexpected trial, be patient, and it will pass away; God knows all about the disappointment, and the trial too.

White snow falls from a dark cloud, and it is in the absence of the sun that the sky is lit up with ten thousand stars. Why, then, should we be faint-hearted and feeble, when we ought to be confident and strong? There is no danger that God cannot deliver us from, no good thing which he cannot bestow. Now, Meredith, think of these things, and be encouraged. You were brought up by a Christian father; you have been instructed at a Sunday school; you have learned to read your Bible, and you have heard the gospel of Christ faithfully proclaimed by his ministers, and should, therefore, never be cast down. The lions were hungry enough, no doubt,

when Daniel was thrown into the den among them. The flames were fierce enough when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast into the fiery furnace. But neither the lions nor the flames did any mischief to the servants of the Lord. Now these things were intended * give courage and confidence to God's people, old and young, in all ages of the world. Let them, then, give courage and confidence to you. He who knows that God hath given his Son Jesus Christ to die for sinners, cannot need any other proof of God's love to him; and you may depend upon it, those whom God loves are safe enough, not only as it regards this world, but also the world that is to come, Now let me see you a little more cheerful, Meredith, for the future, Consider not your weakness, but the almighty power of your heavenly Father,

"So strong to deliver, so good to redeem,
The weakest believer that hangs upon him:"

And then, with God's grace, faint-heartedness will fly away; and hopefulness, and confidence, and joy take up their abode in your bosom.

CALL ON AN INJUDICIOUS MOTHER.

Visitor. With your leave, I will put into your hand a few little books for your children,

as a present.

I dare say you will have no objection to your children reading what is likely to do them good.

Mother. No, sir, not at all. My Sally, there, can read as well as most young girls, and likes a tale of all things in the world.

Visitor. The little books are not exactly talebooks; but, if they do not afford so much amusement, they may, perhaps, do more good. One of them, however, is a tale, and will, I think, suit your Sally very well. Perhaps you will not take it amiss, if I ask why you allow your daughter to wear such droppers in her ears?

Mother. Why, the poor thing has weak eyes, and I am told that ear-rings are good things for weak eyes.

Visitor. But then they are terrible things for weak heads. If she only wears them to do her eyes good, (though it is not likely they will be the better for ear-rings,) they need not be so fine and so showy as they are.

Mother. There is no reason, that I know of, why my child should not be as smart as other people's children. We work for our living; and surely we may spend our money and bring up our family as we like!

Visitor. If you think for a moment, you will be convinced that I can have no other motive than your children's good in making a few re

marks. It would do me no injury if your little girl were covered over with jewels; but knowing that unnecessary finery has brought many a young person to ruin, I cannot help warning you against the danger. One text of Scripture in the heart is worth more than two droppers in the ears. Finery may do a child much evil; but it is not likely to make her humble, mild, teachable, and obedient. It is not likely to make her honour her father and her mother, nor to keep her from gay places, and thoughtless company; and least of all is it likely to lead her to the Saviour, that her sins may be pardoned, and the love of God abundantly shed in her heart. But I see that my remarks are unpleasant to you, and, therefore, I will not pursue them. The little book called The Folly of Finery' may be read by your daughter with advantage, and I can only hope that the lesson it affords will be long remembered.

[ocr errors]

Why should we deck this earthly clay,
That soon must perish in the tomb,
When changing seasons glide away,
And bear us swiftly to our doom?

Oh let us for the soul provide,

And humbly seek a Saviour's grace,
That God may be our guard and guide,
And heaven above our resting place.

CALL ON ONE WELL VERSED IN THE

SCRIPTURES.

Visitor. I promised to ask you a riddle the next time I saw you, James, and I do it with the more pleasure, because I know that the Scripture dwells richly in you, and I believe that its consolations warm your heart as much as its instructions inform your head; but my riddle is this:

:

"A mixture of each sort I am;

A hurtful snake, a harmless lamb;
A tardy ass, a speedy roe;

A lion bold, a timorous doe."

James. Ay, sir, I see clearly enough whereabouts you are; the polluted sinner purified by the blood of sprinkling is everything that you have described. He is a mixture sure enough of good and evil, but the good comes not from himself. He is, indeed, a hurtful snake; for his heart is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," Jer. xvii. 9; his "poison is like the p ison of a serpent;" he is "like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear," Psa. lviii. 4; and yet for all this, he is a lamb; for God's children are as lambs in his sight. When our blessed Redeemer commanded Peter to give spiritual food to his people, he said, “Feed my lambs,”

« AnteriorContinuar »