The other days and thou,

Make up one man; whose face thou art,
Knocking at heaven with thy brow:
The week-days are the back-part;
The burden of the week lies there,
Making the whole to stoop and bow,
Till thy release appear.

Man had straight forward gone
To endless death: but thou dost pull
And turn us round to look on one,
Whom, if we were not very dull,
We could not choose but look on still;
Since there is no place so alone,

The which he doth not fill.

Sundays the pillars are,

On which heaven's palace arched lies:
The other days fill up the spare
And hollow room with vanities.
They are the faithful beds and borders
In God's rich garden: that is bare,
Which poets their ranks and orders.

The Sundays of man's life
Threaded together on Time's string,
Make bracelets to adorn the wife,
Of the eternal glorious King.

On Sunday heaven's gate stands ope;
Blessings are plentiful and rife-

More plentiful than hope.

My young friends, the more the above lines are examined the more excellent they will appear. I wish to be impressed myself, wish to impress you, with the greatness of the boon which the Sabbath is to us. As your eyes are unclosed, and as you rise from your beds on the Sabbath morn, I hope many of you feel glad, and think of the lines of Dr. Watts.

"This is the day when Christ arose,
So early from the dead;

Why should I keep my eyelids closed,
And waste my hours in bed.

I'll leave my sport to rest, and pray,
And so prepare for heaven;

O may I love this blessed day,

The best of all the seven!"

Yes, my young friends, the Sabbath is an interesting day. The infant lessons- the holy song- the music, waking up old memories of the Sabbath-bells — the assembling with other happy worshippers in the house of prayer the crowds meeting in the Sunday schools, are deeply interesting. The expositions of the Holy Bookthe fervent prayers for the Divine blessing-the application of spiritual light and consolation to darkened and sorrowing minds the communion of saints- and the holy preparations going on in ten thousand places for heaven, make the day deeply interesting. Gloomy, indeed, would be rest of the week, were it not for the light streaming from this blessed day.

I said, however, that the Sabbath is not only an interesting, but an important subject. Let us go back in thought to the first Sabbath. The heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. The canopy of blue, studded with brilliant stars, and variegated with clouds of every shape, having two good lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, were created. This beautiful world was finished. It was then much more beautiful than now. Diversified with hills, Its fields inhabited by

and dales, rivers, lakes, and seas. happy and innocent cattle. Its woods rang and echoed with the joyous songs of birds. All was so beautiful. Man, for whom this splendid home was prepared, was made last of all. A helpmate for him was formed by his kind Maker, and brought to him, amid the songs of the morning stars, and the shoutings of the sons of God. He who had made all things, saw all his works, and declared them very good. "And the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it." He thus, in commemoration of his

"six days work, in creating the world," instituted the Sabbath. Thus the sacred day carries us back to the garden of Eden and the bliss of Paradise.

Again, Israel had come out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language. The Israelites stood on Mount Sinai, "bare, bold, and craggy." A fire burned on the mountain. Sinai is altogether in a blaze. There are thunderings, and lightnings, and tempest. There is the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words. God himself discourses in terrible majesty. In the hearing of the trembling multitude he delivered his law. Among the commandments that he delivered, was one to remember and keep holy the Sabbath-day. In various parts of the Old Testament, the Sabbath is spoken of, and always in terms indicating its vast importance. While the Jewish Sabbath was kept on the seventh day, in commemoration of the creation of the world, the Christian is kept on the "first day of the week," in memory of Jesus having risen from the dead on this day.

A Christian gentleman, some time ago, was so deeply impressed with the importance of the Sabbath, that he offered three prizes of fifteen, ten, and five pounds, for the three best essays on the Sabbath, to be written by working men. And more than a thousand essays were sent in by the hard-handed sons of toil. Think of more than a thousand heads of working men, all engaged in writing about the claims of the Sabbath. Some of these essays contain some most beautiful and eloquent writing. There are glowing in their pages, "thoughts that breathe and words that burn." One of these, written by a labourer's daughter, called the "Pearl of Days," is dedicated to the Queen, and has been read by her Majesty and Prince Albert with deep interest. The sun of England's glory will not set, whatever may be the shaking of nations arounds us, while her thousands of working men reverence the Sabbath, and our beloved Sovereign, God bless her, is found patronizing the efforts made to promote the sanctity of the "Lord's-day."

In pointing out the principal sources of mental and

moral culture to you, my young friends, I should have very greatly erred, had I not given special prominence to the Sabbath. I for the present close, by reminding you of the words of Jesus, "the Sabbath was made for man." For man, that he might rest from toil. For man, that he might think of God, learn his will, and worship and enjoy him. For man, that, in the cultivation of his head and heart, he might answer the great ends of his being: having faith unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. My next letter will be about "Magazines and other Periodicals." I am yours affectionately,

UNCLE JOSEPH.

POETRY.

AUTUMN.

I come, I come o'er valley and hill
Casting a shade o'er the sparkling rill,

Stripping the leaves from each quivering bough,
Strewing my path as onward I go.

The tree of the forest, the grass of the plain,
Submissively bow to my despotic reign;

The flow'rets that bloom in the garden and heath,
All wither and droop at the touch of my breath.

I come not as Spring with its gifts profuse,
Decking the earth with its gorgeous hues,
Scattering blessings like glittering gems,
More precious than those of earth's diadems.
The hum of the insect, the song of the bird,
No more in the glades of the forest are heard;
Though silent I tread, yet my footprints are seen
In the withering wherever I've been.

I come not as Spring with its long sunny hours,
Decking the earth with its verdure and flowers,
I come to forwarn the mortal who clings
To the perishing phantoms of temporal things.
I come to admonish the children of clay,
To turn from a world of death and decay;
To seek for a portion more lasting and sure,
In the land of the blessed, the just, and the pure;
Where the smile of the Lord, is his people's delight;
Where the soul is untouched by a canker or blight;
Where the heart's best affections for ever shall bloom,
Beyond the dark valley of death and the tomb.

WE suppose that many of our readers are acquainted with a book called, "The Pilgrim's Progress." It is a very wonderful book; and contains very pleasing and important instruction. It is an allegorical work. An allegory is a figurative discourse, in which something different is intended to what is literally said. In the "Pilgrim's Progress "John Bunyan describes himself as having, in a dream, seen a poor man, who dwelt in a very wicked city, leave his home, his wife, and his children, and travel in search of a holy city, where he might enjoy happiness and serve God-and he most interestingly describes the events which happened, the persons he met, the conversations he had, the wonderful things he saw, the troubles he had, the pleasures he enjoyed, and the glorious place at which he at last arrived. John Bunyan, however, intended his readers to understand, that the poor man, fleeing from the city of destruction and going on pilgrimage, represents a sinner leaving his wicked companions, putting away his sinful practices, and setting out to seek the way to heaven.

Bunyan, in his "Pilgrim's Progress," has, allegorically,