DAILY TEXTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. "O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day."-Psalm cxix. 97. 1Th I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew! first, and also to the Greek. 2 F And even as they did not like to retain God in their know- 3 S 45 As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without Rom. i. 16. Rom. i. 28. Rom. ii. 12. Rom. ii. 13. THE LORD'S DAY.-For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 5 M Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Rom. iii. 20. 6 Tu Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 7 W Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins 8 Th He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; Rom. iii. 28. Rom. iv. 7. Rom. iv. 20. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, Rom. v. 19. Rom. vi. 12. Rom. vi. 23. 13 Tu For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. 14 W O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the Rom, vii. 19. Rom. vii. 24. Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom. viii. 1. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Rom. viii. 32. What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. 16 F 17 S 183 19 M O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge THE LORD'S DAY.-For with the heart man believeth unto 20 Tu I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Rom. ix. 22. Rom. x. 10. Rom. xi. 33. Rom. xii. 1. Owe no man any thing, but love one another. Rom. xiii. 13. 24 S ! As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and Rom. xiv. 11. 25.3 THE LORD'S DAY.-For to this end Christ both died, and Rom. xiv. 9. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edi- 26 M 28, W To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Rom. xv. 2. Rom. xv. 4. WHO HAS DONE MOST TO ELEVATE THE POOR? I was going along the highroad, and saw before me a person walking with a bag of tools on his shoulder, whom I found I should overtake in a little time. I soon perceived that his dress and appearance was very different from my own. He could perhaps have called me a gentleman, and I him a working, or a poor man. He will be company for me, I thought; perhaps he will look on my coat, and think something more of me for it; but I shall not think the less of him for his! and why not? Because I cannot look at him, and forget the class to which the Lord of Glory belonged! The working classes-what is their rank? They are equals of my incarnate Lord! What is their order? Nobility? gentry? middle-class? The order of parchment titles and coats of arms? The order who carry their distinction in their purses? No; oh, no! It is the order of manungilded, ungarnished man; and therefore the order of "the Son of Man." "Verily," as Jesus says, "let the poor man rejoice in that he is exalted." A peasant's garb-why should he not glory in it? Jesus wore it. A peasant's means- -why should he be ashamed of them? Jesus lived on charity. The name workman-why feel lowered by it? Jesus was, and was called, the Carpenter's Son. Nay, it is the name Idler, not Workman, that lowers the man. While I was thus meditating, he turned into a different road; there was only time for me to call to him and offer him the last number of "The Appeal," which he evidently received with as much pleasure as I gave it; and we went on our several ways. Are we, thought I, ever to meet again on earth? Thou art my fellow-traveller in more senses than one. Which of us will finish our journey first? Shall we meet together in the happy presence of the Glorified "Carpenter's Son ?" God grant it, of his grace, for thy sake and mine, my late fellow-traveller. Again my thoughts reverted to the "Working Class "-the "Poorer Class," and to the "great fact" of the world-long honour conferred upon it. It was Christ's chosen rank! But what if I mention these thoughts! "Fanaticism," "wild-dreaming," "ignorance of life and the world;" yes, I should be sure to hear this, be pointed to illiterate poor men, self-degraded poor men, and similar things, and asked what I could say for my honourable class. Say; why, that compare a hundred rich and a hundred poor and I should find as many who did not like learning, though some had been forced into them, and as many selfdegraded, in one class as the other. And again, I should recur to the grand fact, that the Lord of Glory-he who made you all-he passed by the monarchs, the nobles, the wealthy, the "respectable." He despised all this. He took up his abode with the peasant class. The deeds of many a conqueror, of many a warrior, of many a monarch, belong to other classes; but not the deeds of Jesus of Nazareth. It was not a noble or a king who bid the winds and waves be still (what a vulgar thing to command an army when compared with this!),—not a noble who had the waters for his carpet (how mean comparatively the most splendid palace floor),—and it was not a noble who bid diseases depart, and life return to the dead,-bid evil spirits flee, and peace calm the raging bosom. It was not a noble who stood on earth the supreme Lord of all that was in it, and of legions of angels too. No; these were the deeds of a peasant, of a working man. Greatness of all sorts has been achieved by many; but the only true greatness of man, the only instance of perfect human goodness, maintained, too, under the greatest difficulties-this was reserved to be achieved by the Son of a peasant. Nay, more, it was not noble blood (speaking after the manner of our nobility) which flowed on the Cross, the atonement for the sin of the world,-not a noble who ascended to heaven, and sits there enthroned as man's great Representative, and God's Head of all things. No; it is the blood of a Jewish peasant which alone can cleanse from all sin,-it is a glorified peasant through whom alone earth's greatest ones may find an equal acceptance with the millions whose class the Redeemer made his own. So thought I, and a thought or two more followed before I arrived at my destination. No marvel if others forget what class Jesus deigned to honour; but why do the poor forget it? Why should not they hold it for their chief honour, that Jesus was one of them? And again, how can any of the poor refuse their greatest honour? Had the Lord taken his earthly rank among the great, less wonderful would it be that the poor should suspect his attachment to them. But why does any poor man not merely forget, but even reject Him who is the Glory of the poor? And again, I thought that for the poor, if other things were unattainable, one thing is quite, and even especially, within their reach. "Those who honour Christ, he will honour." The poor may be his followers. By his ever-present aid, they may rise in true goodness as much above the worldly great as they are below them in "uncertain riches." I must omit, however, all thoughts further but one-He who has done most of all to elevate the poor, never envied, never showed rudeness to the rich. He was above that. If they were generous and kind, He accepted their hospitality as it was intended. If they were corrupt, and oppressive, and selfish, He sternly and faithfully rebuked their wickedness. THE DISOWNMENT. "I never knew you." Who will utter these solemn words? Jesus! Yes; he who is now addressing you in words of kindest invitation, who says, "Come,"by his ministers entreats you to be reconciled unto God,-bids you to come and take of the waters of life freely,-weeps over your impenitence and unbelief,—and would have you believe on his name and live. You will not always be so privileged. Jesus will say, "I never knew you." When? "In that day” (Matt. vii. 22). The day of your death! We would not limit the Holy One of Israel; but we believe from our hearts that very few indeed find mercy upon their death-bed! And just because it is not properly sought. The feelings of an unconverted dying man, are unfavourable to calm and intelligent thought, faith in Christ, and love to God. All is alarm, dread, painful apprehension ! How often is the truth of our position verified, in the case of persons who were brought nigh unto death, but, contrary to their expectations, have been spared, and restored to health. They made solemn vows that they would serve God, if life were restored; but, alas, with improving health there has been declining seriousness, and eventually the man has returned to his former iniquities, and his last state has been worse than his first. Depend not upon a death-bed religion! You have very little to encourage the hope of seeking and finding then. The probability is, that you will mourn at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say, "How have I hated instruction," &c. (Prov. v. 11–13). And then Jesus will profess, "I never knew you."-So He will say in the day of judgment! All must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Character will then be examined, and the destiny of men for ever fixed. To some-and may you, dear reader, be among them-Jesus will say, "Come ye blessed of my Father." To others He will say, "I never knew you; depart from me." Awful! awful! to be disowned by Jesus,for Jesus to say to us in that day, "You do not belong to my people, you were never my disciples,-I don't see in you any of the marks of my sheep! Away with you, away. I never knew you.” To whom will Christ address these words? To the infidel and unbelieving! To them who have avowedly rejected the inspired volume as a cunningly devised fable, and treat the truths of the Bible as the production of impostors; such as Voltaire, Hume, Hobbes, &c. To all who practically disregard the records of the gospel concerning Jesus Christ, all unbelievers. "He that believeth not shall be condemned." Reader, are you an unbeliever? If so, Jesus will say to you, “I never knew you."-To the sensualist. Such as the drunkard and glutton, the fornicator and adulterer,—those who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, whose chief anxieties regard "what they shall eat, and what they shall drink,"-who live to eat, and not eat to live! whom Paul describes thus,-"Whose god is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, and who mind earthly things' (See 1 John ii. 16; 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10). Reader, are you a sensualist? If so, Jesus will say to you, "I never knew you.”—To the worldling. The man of the world, who has his portion in this life,-who loves the world, and the things of the world,-who seeks, as his chief good, wealth, houses, land, pleasure, honour,—and the love of the Father is not in him (James iv. 4). Reader, are you a worldling? If so, Jesus will say to you, "I never knew you."-To the hypocrite. This is the man who seems to be what he is not. One who has the form of godliness, but not the power, his name in the church-book on earth, but not in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven. He attends chapel, sings, prays, and often talks like a christian; but the root of the matter is not in him, there is no heart religion! (Matt. xxiii. 23— 23; vii. 21, 22; Rom. ii. 23, 29). Reader, are you a hypocrite? If so, Jesus will say to you, "I never knew you."-To the self-righteous, "who being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." These are they who expect to merit heaven, to secure salvation by the deeds of the law. Vain hope! Useless attempt! Sandy foundation! (Rom. iii. 19, 20; Gal ii. 16; iii. 10-14). "None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good." Reader, are you a self-righteous Pharisee? If so, Jesus will say to you, "I never knew you."-To the slothful. There are some professing christians who are ever crying out for enjoyment; they have no idea of serving Christ. But if you would have the "well done," you must do well. His cause you must attend regularly, in order to worship him. You must do good, and to communicate forget not, and as opportunities occur, you must make efforts for the salvation of your fellow-men. Happiness with you ought to be a secondary matter. Work for Christ, and he will take care of your happiness. Woe be to you if you are at ease in Zion! Reader, are you a slothful professor ? If so, Jesus will say to you, "I never knew you" (Matt. xxv. 14, 46).—To the unholy. Good works are needful, not to merit heaven, but to constitute our meetness for it,—not to render us worthy, but to qualify us for its enjoyment. Good works are not the price of our redemption, but they are "the white robes" which, when washed in the blood of the Lamb, make us "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord" (1 John iii. 7; Matt. vii. 21). We must live the life of the righteous -doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Dear reader, are you unholy? Have you not yet ceased to do evil, and learnt to do well? If so, Jesus will say to you, "I never knew you." Walsall. J. WILLIAMS. THE EXECUTION OF TWO HIGHWAYMEN. Reader, have you ever witnessed an execution? I could never collect my own feelings enough to see one. The thought only of its |