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thank you for directing me to the Saviour. I feel my burden removed,
and my sins pardoned, through the precious blood of Jesus."
I re-
plied, "Give Him the glory." She responded, "Praise His name."

"Joy beaming through her eyes did break,
She meant the thanks she could not speak."

She "rejoiced with a joy unspeakable and full of glory," as she exclaimed,―

"Now will I tell to sinners round,
What a dear Saviour I have found;
I'll point to His redeeming blood,
And say, 'Behold the way to God.'"

Our prayers that night were turned to praise; and I believe while we were returning thanks to God on earth, angels were rejoicing in heaven; "for there is joy in heaven over a sinner repenting." After this she rapidly sank, and soon after expired. I humbly trust she sleeps in Jesus,-saved in the eleventh hour. Is not this a "brand plucked from the fire?"

"IT IS TOO LATE."

On the day that Louis Philippe abdicated the throne of France in favour of his grandson, the Duchess of Orleans, mother of the infant prince, entered the Chamber of Deputies, leading him by the hand, that, as the heir apparent, he might be proclaimed king of the French by the representatives of that great nation, in the room of the repudiated monarch. It was an awful moment, big, not only with the destinies of the reigning family, but of thirty-five millions of people. All eyes were fixed upon Odillon Barrot, as he rose slowly from his seat, ascended the tribune, and moved that the young Count of Paris, then and there present, be proclaimed king, in the room of his grandfather. Every sound was hushed. Men held their breath. It was as the heart of an empire ceased to beat. The question was about to be put, when a single voice from the gallery broke the silence"It is too late!"

Never did a more thrilling and potent exclamation burst from mortal lips. It smote the ear of the Duchess as the death-knell of her house. Great confusion ensued, and she was glad to escape with her son through one of the back doors of the Chamber. It was too late. Had the motion in favour of the heir apparent been made a day, or even a few hours, earlier, it might have prevailed. But the time was gone by. It was too late! the throne was irrecoverably lost. This is but a single example among a thousand of the fatal consequences of delay. Many a throne has in like manner been lost.

But our purpose is not to dilate upon examples like these. Those ominous words in the French Chamber, It is too late! apply to losses

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continually incurred, which are infinitely greater than those of any dethroned or expectant monarch. The value of a thousand earthly kingdoms bears no proportion to the worth of an immortal soul. For the soul there is a day of grace, and there is a day of final retribution. While mercy pleads and waits, the sinner may repent and be saved; but by and bye, perhaps the next hour, it will be too late. On this point the bible abounds with examples and illustrations which were "written for our learning, on whom the ends of the world are come. One of the most striking of these is in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, "Looking diligently," warns the apostle, "lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who, for one morsel of meat, sold his birthright. For ye know that afterwards, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." It was too late. And as it was too late for Esau, so would it soon be for them, if they continued to "reject the great salvation." To the same purpose is that awful communication in the first chapter of Proverbs. We have room for only a part of it. "Because I have called, and ye refused, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but shall not find me. They would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways, they shall be filled with their own devices." They might have hearkened, they might have been saved, but now it was too late. They had heard and slighted the last call of mercy, and nothing remained to them but a certain fearful looking for of wrath and fiery indignation." So again, in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, we read-"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. But he answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, I know you not." No pleadings now could open the door. It was too late.

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We often hear it said, that while life lasts it is never too late for a sinner to repent, and in one sense it is true. If he would truly repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, in the last mortal hour, he would be saved. But will he? How small, we have reason to fear, is the number of such. The day of grace may close even before the wicked man dies; it certainly does where the unpardonable sin is committed, and who can tell how long before? Be it a few years, or but a few days, it is then too late. And if the Saviour were to speak by an audible voice from heaven, in a thousand dying chambers, who can tell in how many of them he would say, "These all might have been saved, but it is too late. When I called, they refused, and now there is no more place for repentance." The rich voluptuary who had a little before spurned Lazarus from his presence, would have given

all his banquets, and purple and fine linen, for "a drop of water to cool his tongue," but it was too late. The horrors of a guilty conscience drove Judas back to the temple with his thirty pieces of silver, crying, "I have betrayed the innocent blood," but it was too late. The Saviour had said, "Good were it for that man if he had never been born," and he went away in black despair and hanged himself. Voltaire and Thomas Paine, and other blasphemers, would, some or all of them, have given kingdoms in their last hours for the christian's hope, but it was too late. 'They have treasured up wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." How many such, according to the most authentic testimony, have gone shuddering and shrieking out of the world to meet their final doom?

The king of the Sandwich Islands, who promised the missionaries that in five years he would break off from his debaucheries, and attend to their instructions, died in less than two; and what hope could they have of him? He had fixed his time; but before it half expired he was in eternity. It was too late. And so it will be with all impenitent hearers of the gospel, who put off their preparation to "a more convenient season," and do not live to see it. They will bewail their stupid procrastination when it is too late. The young Duke of Bordeaux lost only a temporary crown. They will lose that " crown of glory which fadeth not away."

Reader, reader, whosoever thou art, yet in thy sins, there is no time to be lost. The arrows of death are flying thick. The young as well as the old are falling. If thou dost not repent, a voice from the other world, It is too late, too late, TOO LATE! will ere long seal thine everlasting doom.-Dr. Humphrey.

Varieties.

THE BLESSEDNESS OF DOING GOOD.-Reader, let the mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. Seek to have your bosom filled with pure kindness and holy compassion-a compassion various as is human sorrow-a kindness which shall be flowing whilst life is ebbing. Cease to be selfish. Learn the blessedness of doing good. Even you can contribute to that great work,—the making of a bad world better. Is there no acquaintance over whom you have influence? None whom you might reclaim from a bad habit? None whom you might induce to read some useful book, or attend the house of God? Are there no poor children whom you might collect on a Sabbath afternoon, and teach them a Bible lesson? Is there no sick neighbour to whom you might carry a little comfort,-something

nice to tempt his listless palate? No invalid friend whom you might cheer with an hour of your company, or to whom you might read or say something for the good of his soul? At all events, you can be doing good at home. You can minister to the wants of some aged parent. You can sooth the grief of some bereaved relation. You can lend a helping hand, and lighten their labours who have got too much to do. With a firm but fatherly control, you can guide your children in Wisdom's ways. And you can diffuse throughout your dwelling that sweetest music-cheerful and approving words; that brightest light-the clear shining of a cordial countenance. And when God in his Providence sends favourable opportunities, with selfdenied and prayerful affection, you may be the means of stamping on some immortal mind a truth or lesson as enduring as that mind itself. The Happy Home.

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THE CHRISTIAN'S HOPE.-One windy afternoon I went with a friend into a country alms-house. There was sitting before a feeble fire a very aged man, and the better to keep from his bald head the cold gusts, he wore his hat: he was never likely to need it out of doors. He was very deaf, and so shaken with the palsy, that one wooden shoe constantly pattered on the brick floor. But deaf, and sick, and helpless, it turned out that he was happy. "What are you doing, Wisby?" said my friend. "Waiting, sir." "And for what?" "For the appearing of my Lord." "And what makes you wish for his appearing?" Because, sir, I expect great things then. He has promised a crown of righteousness to all that love his appearing." And to see whether it was a right foundation on which he rested that glorious hope, we asked old Wisby what it was. By degrees he got on his spectacles, and opening the great Bible beside him, pointed to that text, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Rom. v. 1, 2). And, dear reader, the God of grace puts that blessedness within your offer. Embrace it, and you will be the happy man "to whom death is welcome, whilst life is sweet.”—The Happy Home.

GOD! TIME! ETERNITY!-A traveller, passing through Savoy, came to an inn, and saw the following admonition printed on a folio sheet, and hanging in its public room :-"Understand well the force of the words, a God! a Moment! an Eternity! A God who sees thee, a Moment which flies from thee,- -an Eternity which awaits thee! A God whom ye serve so ill,-a Moment of which ye profit so little, an Eternity which ye hazard so rashly."

"Moments swiftly fly away,
Nothing can compel their stay;
Whither are they leading me?

To a vast eternity."

INSURANCE.

THE EDITORS OF "THE APPEAL" think they cannot serve the temporal interests of the working-classes better than by introducing to their notice, and cordially recommending to them, the CHRISTIAN MUTUAL PROVIDENT SOCIETY.

The designation "CHRISTIAN" was chosen not to indicate anything sectarian or denominational, from which the Society is entirely free; but simply to remark that the Society repudiates all which can be deemed unchristian in its management, all such tendencies to immorality as public-houses, and all such extravagances as feasts, regalia, and processions; it will welcome, protect, and relieve to the utmost of its resources those who may desire and need its help, but it will detect and expose every attempt at imposition and fraud. Instead of attracting the young, and disregarding the old, it will hold sacred the right of every member to the full amount of his assurance. It will uniformly be conducted by men of competent scientific experience, whose character and position in society will guarantee justice and good faith.

Societies established for effecting Assurances against death are very numerous, and, generally speaking, their operations have been most successful, their funded property being at present many millions sterling. But Societies contemplating Assurances against sickness as well as against death have in very few cases been prosperous. The great majority have lasted but a few years, have then broken up, destroying the expectations of their members just as their benefit was likely to be needed. Frequent instances of failure, and of consequent distress to the members, suggested to practical and scientific men the importance of analyzing the returns which, pursuant to Act of Parliament, were presented to Government some few years since, to ascertain the causes which led to results so deplorable. The conclusions deduced from this investigation are twofold, 1st. That the insolvency of Friendly Societies would not have happened but for erroneous principles which had been admitted into the constitution of such Societies from their very commencement, such, for example, as engaging larger allowances than the subscriptions were adapted for,-taking risks without proper medical examination,—insuring all members upon a uniform rate of contribution,-extravagance in the employment of the funds, and far too limited sphere of operation,-and, 2nd. That, as the laws which govern human sickness may be defined with even greater certainty than those which regulate the duration of human life, it is quite practicable to establish a Friendly Society, which, in proportion to its means, shall become as prosperous and beneficial as any Society contemplating Assurances upon death only.

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