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change! Offer then daily to do and to suffer for Him whatsoever He pleases; dedicate yourselves eternally to his love, and resolve to suffer a thousand deaths, rather than forfeit in any instance the obedience you owe to this your Father, your Maker, your King, and your God.

Consider, thirdly, the particular lessons that our Lord also gives us in his last dying words upon the Cross.1. Of perfect Charity, by praying for his enemies, and excusing them to his Father: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."-2. Of mercy and compassion, by the pleasing pardon He imparts to the penitent thief: "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." -3. Of duty to our parents, in recommending his mother to the care of his beloved disciple: "Woman, behold thy son; son, behold thy mother."-4. Of fervent prayer to God under spiritual desolation, by his fervent prayer: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"-5. Of perseverance, till we have completely finished the work for which we came into the world.-6. Of committing ourselves, both in life and death, by perfect resignation, into the hands of God, after his great example, when he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." O let us learn these last lessons of our dying Lord!

Conclude daily to frequent the school of the Cross, if thou wouldst learn true wisdom. But more especially take care to study well the two most essential lessons, of renouncing thy own will, and embracing the will of God, by a resolute conformity and obedience thereto, even unto death.-Meditations for every Day in the Year.

Jesus risen from the dead. There was no capacity of mankind, no time, no place, but had visible proof of the resurrection of Christ. He appeared to men and women; to clergy and laity, to sinners of both sexes; to weak men and to criminals, to doubters and deniers, at home and abroad, in public and in private, in their houses and their journeys, unexpected and by appointment, betimes in the morning, and late at night, to his disciples in conjunction, and to them in dispersion, when they did look for Him, and when they did not; He appeared upon earth to many, and to St. Paul and St. Stephen from

heaven. So that we can require no greater testimony than all these are able to give us, who saw for themselves, and for us too, that the faith and certainty of the resurrection of Jesus might be conveyed to all ages and generations. An old Divine, quoted by Bp. Horne.

Your Saviour's resurrection is a forerunner of your own, and as it were, an earnest and introduction of celestial bliss: it is the confirmation of the Gospel, the life of hope, the support of faith, and the evidence of charity. Our Saviour, by the power of his divinity, raised up Himself from the dead, and by virtue of his own resurrection, hath acquired a right to raise up us also. We are to die and live again by his example, and to look upon his resurrection as an emblem and representation of our own. Be of good courage, therefore, ye sons and daughters of affliction. Be holy in your lives, and sound in your faith, ye heirs of grace, and candidates of immortality. Comfort one another with the promises of God, and dwell upon the refreshing thoughts of future happiness. It is not only the solemnity of Easter which calls upon you to settle your affections upon things above, but the Christian Sabbath is the weekly birthday of your Redeemer, and should be constantly and duly celebrated in memory of his resurrection. Repeat the Creed with awe and reverence, and give a perfect and unfeigned assent to the article of the resurrection; never stagger your reason by a nice and critical inquiry into the particular mode of it; but refer all your doubts into that Almighty breast "with whom all things are possible," and rely upon his goodness and veracity for the performance of his promises.-Coney's Devout Soul, 1722. (Sent by Rev. T. Farley.)

The death of Jesus reconciles God to the sinful world. This death, which had been so often foretold, both by the prophets and Christ Himself, is at last accomplished; and pardon of sin, and the possibility of men's arriving to eternal life, is hereby purchased. This death puts an end to the curse of the law; and from this death, O my soul! date thy happiness. Though wicked men who had a hand in it were the means whereby it was effected, yet the Son of God would die; and his voluntary death is

the meritorious cause of thy eternal life. Oh, look upon it with wonder and admiration! And while thou standest amazed at it, see, withal, how thou mayest end thy days. If thou livest like a child of God, He, thy Father, will stretch forth his Almighty arms, and receive thee to Himself, like a faithful Creator.-Horneck.

EXTRACTS FROM NEWSPAPERS.

EXECUTION OF W. CUMMING, AT EDINBURGH.-The Home Secretary having declined to commute a capital sentence passed upon William Cumming, seaman, for the murder of his wife, at Leith, the execution took place at Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, at eight o'clock. The wretched man met his end with remarkable composure, and, before be was thrown off, addressed a few remarks to the vast crowd, warning them against indulgence in intoxicating drink. Considerable sympathy was manifested for the criminal, owing to his excellent conduct since his condemnation, and the hopes of a reprieve excited in his mind by the respite he had enjoyed. No disturbance took place, and within one hour all trace of the awful event had disappeared.

Fidelity of the DOG.-A short time since Mr. Collinson, farmer, of Grainside Beck, in Teesdale, left home with the intention of driving a flock of sheep over the fell to Dufton. Not having arrived at his destination the following day, and a violent storm having raged the whole of the night, a number of men went in search of him, and his body was discovered in the snow by means of his dog. The searchers had passed the place where the deceased was lying, when they were attracted by the actions of a dog, which started up from among the snow. The dog they recognised as having belonged to Mr. Collinson, and it by degrees led them to its master's corpse. The poor man had evidently fallen, completely exhausted, in the snow, which the dog had scraped away from his face, and then nestled in his breast, and had never forsaken him until he heard the voices of men in search.

MATERIALS IN THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.-In a lecture on China, delivered at Bolton the other day, Dr. Bowring said it had been calcu lated that, if all the bricks, stones, and masonry of Great Britain were gathered together, they would not furnish materials enough for a work such as the wall of China; and that all the buildings in London put together would not have made the towers and turrets which adorn it.Builder.

A YOUNG girl of Hinckley, in service, has just died from the effects of eating opium.

A MALE child, five years old, was playing with a miniature cannon in London last week. At one of the explosions the fire caught his clothes, and he was burnt to death.

THERE seems to be a general movement throughout the kingdom to petition Parliament to close public-houses on the sabbath.-The Leeds petition for the entire closing of public-houses on Sunday, signed by upwards of 18,000 persons, has been presented to the House of Lords by Earl Fitzwilliam.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received the Communications of S. B.; M. P.; J. A.; E. A.; A Layman; and Rev. T. Farley.

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I WAS returning home after sunset, a few nights ago. The evening was still, and not a breath of wind ruffled the quiet river, which I could see at a little distance, with the bright moonlight resting upon it. As I came nearer, however, I heard a splash, and the calm moonlight was instantly broken up into a thousand bright spangles. On reaching the bridge, I found out what it was that troubled the quiet stream. There stood my little friend, Charlie Brown, one of the best boys in the youngest class at school. He was throwing pebbles into the water, and watching with delight the fragments of light, which seemed dancing about, as the circles made by the falling pebbles widened one after another. His old grandfather held him by one hand, leaning with the other on the bridge; and he seemed as intent as his little grandson on the bright broken waters. After standing a moment to look at them, I went forward. "Are you helping Charlie to throw pebbles?" I asked, with a smile. The old man smiled in return. 66 It looks very like it, to be sure," he said; "and yet there is a difference: the boy does it for the sake of the pretty jumping light, and many is the time I have done it too; but I now am too old for that. Still, I love to watch

VOL. XXXIV.

K

the moon, lying so still and quiet there on the water, as she did before my little man disturbed her: and when I see her as she is now, I often think that it is something like what goes on in our hearts. When they are quite still and quiet, as it were, then God's light from heaven fills them with bright joy; but when they are brought into any sort of turmoil, then it seems as if the heavenly light could find no resting-place."

66

Very true," I said; "and I was reading the other day in a book just the same thought as yours. As the stars of heaven, and the deep blue skies, are reflected i in the calm sea as in a mirror, but the least ruffle on its surface doth straightway mar and obscure the beauty of the image, and, if a tempest arise, it is utterly defaced; so is it with the soul of a Christian. The joy and the peace of heaven are lost, so soon as the soul's serenity is disturbed by the cares of this world, or the storms of evil passions.' Is not that something like what you mean?"

"Yes, indeed, ma'am; and much better put than I can put it; but the sense is the same, and the thought has often been of use to me, for things will happen every day to provoke a man, if he lets himself be provoked. But I have learned to think of the moonlight on this quiet river; and it helps, at such times, to keep me calm."

"Yes; and a prayer lifted up at such a moment to that God who is the Author of peace and lover of concord,' will enable us to keep down the rising spirit, and subdue the evil temper, before it gets the mastery over us."

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"Ay, that's the very thing that first showed me that! I must, at any rate, keep myself calm and quiet. I never could pray when I was at all out of temper. It was no use trying to repeat my prayers; I found I could not lift up my heart at all: it was as if a dead weight lay upon it; and you know, ma'am, a prayer without the heart is no prayer at all."

"No, indeed! The prayer that will be accepted by Him who searcheth the heart, must come from the Our hearts are in a sad state when we cannot

heart.

pray."

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