breathed and mingled with their earliest being, it may become an elementary part of their character. "As if they had been sent to him expressly with a divine charge to illustrate before the world the power and excellence of Christian influence, he is to set himself apart to the grand experiment of ascertaining the greatest amount of good which sanctified parental agency is calculated to effect-how completely it can sever and secure them from all counter agencies-how early it can affect them, and how devoted and useful it can render them as instruments for propagating the same influence among others. In this way he is to illustrate the tremendous operation of sin in having perverted a relationship meant for the transmission of nothing but good into a channel for the discharge of an ever-swelling flood of destruction; and the transcendent influence of the cross, which, like the Tree of Marah, tends to medicate its fatal bitterness, and to turn it into a stream of salvation. But whatever the relations which he sustains to others, he is to regard the influence resulting from it as a cord for drawing them to Christ. There is a sense, indeed, in which he stands related to the whole race. The cross vibrates to the sounds of human misery in every part of the earth, and his heart is to thrill in sympathy with it. As the representative of Christ, he is to regard himself as the centre of all that misery; but as his Christian duties lie around him in concentric circles, and as the first circle includes those most nearly related to him, nothing will excuse him for neglecting an inner for an outer, because a larger circle. In the day of final account, the first subject of inquiry, after that of his own personal piety, will relate to the salvation of the souls immediately around him. How came your wife, or child, or servant, to perish? is a question which cannot be met by a plea that he was achieving a distant good. He must not neglect the Christian welfare of his own household, then, even for the sublime occupation of evangelizing a nation. Nor need he his duty in this case is coincident with his most enlarged ideas. For, by filling the sphere immediately around him first, he is multiplying his agencies for a wider and still wider range of usefulness. It is by : entering into cohesive union with the particles immediately around it, that the atom becomes a component part of the rock, contributes something towards the stability of the everlasting hills, and towards the gravity of the great globe itself: and by erecting the cross in his own house, and converting his own house into a church, and that church into a centre of usefulness to the neighbourhood, he is preparing to subserve most effectually the interests of the race at large. AN INFANT TEACHER. IN a Sabbath-school in Connecticut, there was an infant class of coloured children, under the instruction of a pious young lady. One little girl, in this class, was taught her letters and to read the Bible, so that she could commit three verses a week for her Sabbath lesson. The teacher told her, one day, that she must try to get as many verses as she could. The little girl said she could not get more than three verses, as she had so much to do. When asked what she had to do, she replied, "I have to take care of the babe, and teach my mother to read." Her teacher was so much interested in this reply, that she resolved to visit the mother. On making a visit, she learned that the mother, who, previous to the instruction she had received from her little child, could not even say her letters, had been taught by that child, so that then she could spell in words of one syllable. The lady, finding the mother but poorly clad, kindly made arrangements to furnish her with clothes, so that she could attend public worship on the Sabbath; and that mother is now, through the diligence and filial love of her daughter, and the benevolence of her teacher, enjoying, Sabbath after Sabbath, the privilege of Bible-class instruction. How small a child can do good! How rich the reward that teacher is receiving for all her patient toilings to teach that little one to read!-Philadelphia Saturday Courier. THE TEACHER'S MONITOR. (From the Sunday-school Teacher's Magazine.) L. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER should be converted. "Thou which teachest another teachest thou not thyself?" ROM. ii. 21. EXAMPLE IS BETTER THAN PRECEPT. QUESTION FOR CONSIDERATION.-Is it likely that an unconverted "My son, give me thine heart."-PROV. xxiii. 26. II. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER should be intelligent. To much love in the heart, you should seek to add much light in the mind.-JAMES. He who undertakes the office of teaching the young, should feel the obligation of a diligent and systematic perusal of the word of God. The Teacher must seek for self-improvement if he would do good in the Sabbath-school. One-fourth part of an hour, every day, diligently and wisely improved in self-cultivation, will help a man to grow in wisdom.-TODD. 66 Apply thine heart to understanding."-PROV. ii. 2. III. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER should be persevering. "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." HEBREWS X. 38. Perseverance in any undertaking is the mark of a great mind. No work tests it more than Sabbath-school teaching. Is it not the duty of a Teacher to deposit, under God, the seed of the kingdom in the heart of the young? Time and patient waiting are needed ere its growth and fruitfulness will appear. Did the Son of God labour through a life of poverty, agonize in a death of torture for immortal souls, and will you cast from you their interests because a little sacrifice of time and ease is required on the Sabbath? Can you pretend to fellowship with Christ?-J. A. JAMES. "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel."-GEN. xlix. 4. IV. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER should be punctual. SUM.-If 12 Teachers in one school are each 5 minutes behind the hour when instruction begins, how much time have the young lost by this irregularity? QUESTION: Is GOD, the CHURCH, and the YOUNG to be robbed of so large a portion of valuable instruction, because Sundayschool Teachers are too indolent to cultivate the habit of punctuality? "Will a man rob God?"-MALACHI iii. 8. V. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER should be benevolent. "And he took them up in his arms, and BLESSED THEM." In the kingdom of Christ, great learning is not demanded, great and striking and splendid talents are not necessary. To be useful, to bring souls to Christ, and to win the crown of life, holy, devoted, disinterested piety is the great thing needed. For the conversion of the young, a frozen heart, a dead piety, narrow views, and stinted labour WILL NOT DO.-TODD. "And his disciples rememoered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”—JOHN ii. 17. VI. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER should be eminently devotional. "Ask, and it shall be given you.”—MATT. vii. 7. Your closet should be the constant scene of your anxiety for their welfare. God loves the prayers of his people. Importune him, therefore, to bless your efforts. Confess to him that the work of conversion is all his own. Hang the interests of this school upon his arm, and lay them down in the light of his counte nance. "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”—MAL. iii. 10. ENCOURAGEMENTS. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." REVELATION ii. 10. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."-MATT. xxv. 40. HEBREWS xii. 6. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." A LITTLE child, between two and three years of age, was one day sitting on the sofa by her mama. She asked for something which her mama did not wish her to have. The child was angry at being refused, and, coolly getting off her seat, stamped one little foot after the other on the ground, with the most determined countenance. Her mama took a handkerchief lying by her side, and told the little offender she must tie those naughty little legs. The child was quite passive while they were tied, and never offered to resist, as her mama placed her on a chair opposite to her. Subdued sobs could be observed, while the little one sat in silence, and every now and then her little chest could be seen to heave. After some moments of deep reflection, she looked up at her mama, and, smiling through her sorrow, said, Mama ties baby's legs, because mama loves baby, and wants baby to be good." Mothers, let prayer and love precede all your corrections, and your children will love you all the better for your timely chastisements. Teachers, beware of the spirit which you shew in the correction of your charge. Let not temper guide you in your corrections. Let your little ones see that it grieves you to punish them, and that love alone compels you to do so. You had better never punish at all than lose your own temper while doing so. For then your object is defeated; the offender is irritated, and evil passions excited. Let love rule the day, and it will diffuse its conquering influences into the heart of even a rebellious child. Pray for love, meekness, and faithfulness in all your necessary corrections. Reader, learn from the mouth of a babe. Can it be thus impressed with its mother's love, while receiving correction from its mother's hand? Can it feel even while it is punished, "My mother loves me"? Yes, it can. Then, see here a picture of your heavenly Father's love. Perhaps he is correcting you; and it is hard to kiss the hand that strikes. But it is a hand of love; yea, of deeper love than any earthly parent's can be. Learn, then, to smile through your tears, and let faith whisper, even in the fire of trial, "My Father loves me." EUNICE. NOTICES OF BOOKS. The Business of Life. By CATHARINE SINCLAIR. In 2 vols. 12mo. Pp. 364, and 380. London: Longmans. The author states, in the preface, that her main object in these volumes is to combine, in a serious but conversational manner, what appeared to the author's own |