9. Never give your children any thing because they cry for it.

to it in a most important sense. the threatening of greater punishIt has overcome an obstacle that ment, should the fault be renewed. must needs have been surmounted. It has not been, upon the whole, going backward, but advancing, and its prospects for the future are now brighter than ever be fore.

So the Church of God, in her progress toward universal extension, has been swept back by many counter-currents, and has at times

10. On no account allow them to do at one time what you have forbidden, under the like circumstances, at another.

11. Teach them that the only sure and easy way to appeur good is to be good.

truth.

13. Never allow of tale-bearing.

12. Accustom them to make seemed to be further from her ha- their little recitals with perfect. ven than at the beginning. But God has ever stood at her helm, and has steered her in the best way toward the fulfilment of the glorious promises which he has given her. She has not been, in the great scale of success, going backward, but always forward.

RULES FOR HOME EDUCATION. 1. From your children's earliest infancy, inculcate the necessity of instant obedience.

THE LITTLE ENQUIRING GIRL

It must be a pleasing sight to angels as well as to men to see lit tle girls coming to give their young hearts to Jesus, the Saviour of their souls. The minds of children though naturally prone to sin, are still tender, and like the wax, ready to receive the stamp of heaven on their hearts when impressed by the 2. Unite firmness with gentle- Holy Spirit. We cannot doubt. ness. Let your children always that many serious impressions on understand that you mean exactly the minds of children are lost, which what you say.. with proper care on the part of parents and teachers might result in their conversion to God. The following may serve as an encouragement.

3. Never promise them any thing unless you are quite sure you can give them what you promise.

4. If you tell a little child to do something, show him how to do it and see that it is done.

5. Always punish your children for wilfully disobeying you, but never punish them in anger.

6. Never let them perceive that they can vex you or make you lose your self-command.

7. If they give way to petulance and temper, wait till they are calm and then gently reason with them on the impropriety of their conduct.

8. Remember that a little resent punishment when the occasion arises, is much more effectual than

"In time of a revival, when the Holy Spirit descended with uncommon power, a little girl, at the close of the service, pressing through the anxious multitude, and coming to the place where the minister stood, said, with a look and tone of voice bespeaking the deep anxiety of her heart, I have been seeking religion for some days, and can not find it. Will you tell me what I must do to be saved?' He was struck with her solemn address and apparent sincerity, and directed her to cast her burdened, guilty soul into the arms of her gracious

Saviour, and choose God as her moment and pass away quickly the Father, and with a broken heart time that would otherwise hang love and obey him without delay. heavily upon their hands. A laudShe retired, and shortly after as she able ambition we are bound to enhoped, gave up her heart joyfully courage-an ambition that will to God and chose him as her un prompt to holy deeds and generfailing portion. She held on her ous impulses--that will lead the way, and united with the visible possessor, step by step, in the path Church. Some months after she of usefulness. Let all our young was siezed with a rapid consump- wen be thus ambitious, and whention and died; but her end was ever they shall feel like asking peace. Her great work was done; themselves, "What have I done?" a sweet serenity sat upon her coun- they could point to much that Death had lost its sting would give them pleasant reflecand the grave its dreariness. Lean- tions and make them at last resigning upon the arm of her beloved, ed whenever the summons caine with the rod and staff to comfort for them to prepare for the grave. her, she fell asleep in Jesus, and ascended, as we trust, to her rest and home in the skies. Now, had that child refused that favored moment to make God her refuge she might have gone down to the grave unpardoned, and sunk to a world of endless sorrow."

tenance.

WHAT HAVEWE DONE?

A FEW POINTED QUESTIONS.

Do you remember daily that you and all in your hands and under your charge, belong to God?

Do you remember that there is given unto you these talants to be used for their owner, who will require interest?

Have you not been laying up the Lord's money and substance for your children and heirs, and saying you could not afford to help the Lord's cause when it has been even in great straits ?

Where does the Lord say lay up treasures on earth, or make secure your money, and houses, and stocks and merchandise here? The stock of all earthly banks and all securities will be of little value to you when you come to die?

As important question: What have we done? We have breathed, moved, and lived on the fruits of the earth. Have we made others better or happier? have we accomplished any good for mankind? have we been the instruments of suppressing vice and immorality, and promoting virtue and industry? If not, it is high time for us to inquire, What have we done? Certain it is, if we live on in the same dull round no one will ever point at us as the instruments of good, and we shall pass off the stage of life, leaving the world in a worse Will it not be a dreadful matter condition than we found it. If there for you to die with the Lord's is a life that we look upon with a money and substance, which he kind of horror, it is such as those trusted with you to do his will, secharacters lead who never cast a cured carefully, and kept in your thought to the future, nor care own hands, for your own use, and what is the influence they exert, kept by you from bim? provided they enjoy the present Man, thou art born for

What will you say of all these when He calls upon you to give an account of your stewardship?

a

ness you have not been able to see much, except a very imperfect outline of him; but now a lamp has come, and the Prince in his anxiety to find his gem takes the lamp in

Now, the

ing for the lost gem.
light which falls on the road where
that gem is lying goes up also into
the face of the Prince, and while

you never would have seen him
but for that loss. Now, it is like

that with the revelation of God. I

"IS THAT MOTHER ?" AMONG the many brave, uncomplaining fellows who were brought up from the battle of Fredericksburg, was a bright eyed intelligent his own land, and there he his lookyoung man, or boy, rather, of sixten years, who belonged to Northern regiment. He appeared more affectionate and tender than his comrades, and attracted a good deal of attention from the atten- he finds his gem you see him as dants and visitors. Manifestly the pet of some household, he longed for nothing so much as the arrival of his mother, who was expected, tell you that when the great God for she knew he was mortally came forth from the retirement of wounded and failing fast. Ere she eternity-when he came forth from arrived, however, he died. But the shrouding darkness that had he thought she had come, for while been about him in his own eternity, a kind lady visitor was wiping the to the salvation of men, there was death sweat from his brow, as his light which, while it was thrown sight was failing, he rallied a little, on the poor, lost sinner that he like an expiring taper in its socket, might be found, was thrown upon looked up longingly and joyfully, the face of God, who came to seek and in the tenderest pathos whis- him and to save him. pered quite audibly, "Is that mother?" in tones that drew tears from every eye. Then, drawing her towards him with all his feeble power, he nestled his head in her arms like a sleeping infant, and thus died, with the sweet word "mother" on his quivering lips.

GOD REVEALED IN REDEMPTION.

You know creation is not a manifestation of the personalities so much as manifestation of the nature of God. It shows forth not the personalities as distinguished from each other, but it shows his eternal power and Godhead; but when you get the plan of salvation the personal distinctions come out. You see the Father loving, pitying, giving his Son; you see the Son SUPPOSE you are standing over coming to redeem; you find the against some palace, and it is near Spirit applying; and thus you get midnight, and the gates are open a revelation of that wonderful deep ed. Forth from that palace gates of God's inner life-the personal there comes a procession. The distinctions of the Holy Trinity; Prince has come forth attended by and perhaps if it had not been for many of his train. He has not this plan of salvation, these things gone far, however, before you hear might not have been known to any that the Prince has dropped a of his creatures; and thus the rebeautiful gem. He is anxious demption of man is a lesson with about that gem not simply for its regard to the nature of God, and intrinsic value, but it was the gift the very angels themselves were of one he loved. and he calls for taught by what was witnessed lights. You never saw the Prince here.-Rev. S. Cole, in your life, and in that dim dark

BY REV. J. M. SHERWOOD,

EDITOR OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN AND THEOLOGICAL REVIEW.

THE MORAL CAUSES OF OUR NATIONAL CALAMITY "O LORD, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day."-DANIEL 9: 7.

THE prophet Daniel was a man of marked integrity. Born a prince and the prime minister of several successive heathen kings, he yet preserved a spotless character. And God honoured his singular integrity by shielding him from the malice of his enemies, and continuing him in office and in favour under different rulers and dynasties.

But the cares of state and the favour of princes did not lead him to forget that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, nor lessen his sympathy for his people in their captivity, or his grief over the desolations of his fatherland. His mind dwelt on the state and prospects of his unhappy country, scattered and punished of God. He studied the prophecies which related to the captivity to know "the times and seasons which God had determined respecting the desolations of his country. And knowing from

these that the appointed time of the captivity was drawing to a close, he stirred up his soul to take hold on God with prayer and supplication. The

• Preached in the Plymouth Congregational Church, Milford, Conn., at a union service on the National Fast Day, April 30th, 1863,

certainty of the event already declared in prophecy did not supersede the necessity of prayer; his personal integrity did not free him from a participation in the Divine judgment which rested on his people; and hence he mourns and confesses in sackcloth and ashes as if the sin of Israel were all his own. It was a day of Divine rebuke, and instead of pleading his own innocence and casting the blame on others, he binds the burden of guilt and woe to his own soul, and his patriotism and piety find fitting expression in sackcloth and prayer.

"And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments: we have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments; neither have we harkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day; to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespasses which they have trespassed against thee." And in a similar strain he continues to pour out his confessions and supplications till the time of the evening oblation," when the angel Gabriel was sent to assure him that his prayers were answered.

Daniel makes a full and hearty confession of the national sin; he goes into particulars and specifies the sins which had so offended God; he charges the guilt upon all, "the kings and princes, the fathers and all the people of the land;" he traces their national calamity to moral and not to political causes, and he vindicates God's severe dealings with his people while he heartily repents with his hand on his mouth and his mouth in the dust.

Civil

The example of Daniel at a time of great national calamity commends itself to us to-day. The hand of God is heavy upon us as a people. We see a day of evil which none ever dreamt of as likely to overtake us. We have been suddenly stopped in our splendid and prosperous career. strife and war rage throughout our borders. The arm of a gigantic rebellion is lifted to destroy our magnificent inheritance and rend in twain this great republic. The "Stars and Stripes "-the symbol of our nationality, and till now every where feared and respected-have been insulted and trodden in the streets, and have lost their prestige among the nations. Already two anxious years of peril, strife, and carnage have passed over the land, and lives without number have been sacrificed, property which no figures can compute has been destroyed, and oceans of tears and sorrow have flowed. No interest, no class, no community, no sex or condition, no State, city, or hamlet has escaped. War-WAR with all its devastating and demoralizing and burdensome agencies is upon us, and we have no alternative but to fight it out to the bitter end; and what the result will be; and when, and through how many more baptisms of darkness