that hath said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Seek to be his servant whom you have so long neglected and grieved by your carelessness and sins; seek to have your sins washed away in the blood of Christ, and you will not be rejected nor cast away, either in this world or in the world to come. E. D.

"TAKE HEED HOW YE HEAR."
WHERE'ER God's word is read and taught
The Heavenly Sower sows ;
With hand unsparing, seeds of life
Broadcast around He throws.

And happy he whose heart sincere
Firmly that word retains!
But woe to those unstable ones,
Who mock the Sower's pains!

Oh! may we ne'er with harden'd heart
The word of life reject!

Nor yet, when once with joy received,
Inconstant then neglect!

Nor let the world's distracting cares,
Nor riches' false display,

Nor giddy pleasures choke the word,
And wither it away!

But may the Sower joyful see

The produce of his care,

While we from honest heart and good
Large fruits with patience bear!

POISON.

M.

WHAT is poison? Is it not any substance which, when taken into the system, has the effect of disordering some one or more of the actions which make up the sum of life; and which, if taken in sufficient quantity, will destroy life itself? This is the true definition of poison. Is it not also the strictly true definition of ardent spirit? Spirit has the effect of disordering the nervous system to so great a degree, as to produce intoxication; exciting the brain, sometimes to madness, always to folly, in an extraordinary manner. Is not this to disorder the functions of life? And if it be taken in sufficient quantity-if a man swallow a pint of over-proof rum at a draught will it not kill him? It will. - Wherein,

therefore, does spirit differ from poison? Only in the dose.

Ay, but (you may say) it is only poisonous when taken in sufficient quantity. True:-neither is prussic acid, neither is arsenic, neither is mercury, neither is opium. All these poisons are daily given by medical men, without destroying life. Why? Because they are not given in sufficient quantity. But will you, therefore, contend that they are not poisons?-Johnson.

REMEMBER THE SABBATH.

(Written on seeing some persons working in the fields on the Sabbath day.) WHAT!-Work on the day which the Lord calls his own,

And hallow'd: his Sabbath of Rest1!

With hearts and with consciences hard as a stone,
Such labourers ne'er can be blest.

"REMEMBER THE SABBATH" from Sinai was heard,
'Mid thunderings loud from the mount;

And they, who dishonour the law of the Lord,
Must render an awful account.

Think, what will it profit a man, though he gain
Whatever this world can supply,

If he lose his own soul, and his portion be pain
Where the worm and the fire never die?

Six days we may labour, and God will approve,
And prosper the work of our hands;

But, keeping the Sabbath, we show how we love
And honour his holy commands.

And blest is that Day, both to man and to beast,
Their tasks and their service fulfilled,

When all from the toils of the week are released,
And rest, as their Maker hath willed.

How joyful the sound of the church-bell at morn,
That bids us assemble in prayer!

While peaceful at eve to our homes we return,
To offer our thanksgivings there!

To read in our bibles; our children to teach,
And train in the way they should go;

Then, kneeling together, the Lord to beseech
His blessing on all to bestow.

Oh, sweet is the Sabbath, when thus it is spent,
In the worship and fear of the Lord;

1 The meaning of the word Sabbath, in the Hebrew tongue, is Rest.

While the sunshine of peace, and the smile of content,
Are seen round our hearth and our board.

But sweeter, far sweeter, that Sabbath shall be,
Which God for his saints hath in store;

When the Lord of the Sabbath Himself they shall see,

And shall rest with Him evermore.1

1 From "Parish Rhymes for Schools and Cottages," by the Rev. R. A. Scott.

CHRISTIANS MUST AIM AT PERFECTION.

THOUGH none ever did or can attain to absolute perfection, while they are in the body, yet all should aim at it, and strive to come as near it as they can. Although we have brought ourselves into such a condition, that we cannot now perform such perfect and exact obedience to the whole moral law as we are bound, yet we are still bound both in duty and interest to do it: and though we cannot do it so well as we ought, we ought to do it as well as we can. How far soever we have gone in the narrow path that leads to life, we must still go on further and further. How much soever we have hitherto learned, and endeavoured to walk so as to please God, we must " abound more and more." Whatsoever grace we have already attained to, we must not be content with that, but be always labouring after more; we must "give all diligence to add to our faith, virtue; to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness, charity." And as we should be always thus adding one grace to another, so likewise one degree of grace unto another, so as to " grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." This every man is bound to do, and by that means to get every day nearer and nearer to perfection, until he hath got as near it as he can in this life, all things considered.—Bp. Beveridge. Sent by Rev. T. Farley.

DEVOTION.

He who seldom thinks of heaven is not likely to get thither; as the only way to hit the mark is to keep the eye fixed upon it.-Bp. Horne.

COLOGNE.

MANY of you may have heard this name without thinking of the place meant by it; for you have probably seen fields of the white (or Colonn) wheat; or perhaps have seen in shops slender long-necked bottles of a sweetscented spirit called eau de Cologne, useful in relieving headaches and nervous complaints.

It is in Germany,-400 miles from London,-on the western bank of the Rhine, and the largest and richest city on that great river. It is on the Roman Catholic province of Juliers, belonging to the protestant and excellent king of Prussia, who is the sponsor of the little prince of Wales. Its inhabitants are 65,000 Romanists and 5000 Protestants. Though 200 miles above the mouth of the river, it has all the bustle of a sea-port, and its ships go quite out to sea; for the Rhine is narrower and deeper for small shipping here than up at Mentz, of which we told you lately. There is a bridge of boats 1400 feet long; and the city is strongly fortified. The country around is flat, but very rich in corn. The town itself is sadly dirty, though full of fine buildings: and there are in it twenty-four distilleries of that sweet scented spirit which bears its name, and is much used all over Europe.

Before the French revolution, Cologne had nearly seventy churches besides abbeys; but now there are only twenty-six places of public worship, of which two have been given to the Protestants. Many of the churches are grand and venerable, and some exceedingly ancient; and there is the magnificent but unfinished cathedral often called the Church of the Three Kings, or Wise Men of the East, but dedicated, it is said, to St. Peter.

Cologne was at first one of the castles with villages round them, which the Romans built on their own side of the river, to guard against the savages who roamed in the forests on the other side. Agrippina, the wife of the emperor Claudius Cæsar (mentioned Acts xi. 28), sent a colony of Romans to cultivate the country about this castle, and it was called Agrippina colony after her; just as in our times one place is called Georgia, another