A priest said, "O king, consider what this is which is now preached to us; for I verily declare to you that, as to my own experience, the religion which we have hitherto professed has no power nor utility in it. . . . . It remains, therefore, if, upon examination, you find those new doctrines which are now preached unto us better and more efficacious, for us immediately to receive them without any delay." And then an old Thane said, "The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me, in comparison of that time which is unknown to us, like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your commanders and ministers, a good fire having been lit in the midst, and the room made warm thereby, whilst storms of rain and snow rage abroad; the sparrow, I say, flying in at one door, and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry storm; but after a short space of fair weather soon passed over, he immediately vanishes out of your sight into the dark winter from which he had emerged. So this life of man appears for a short space; but of what went before, or what is to follow, we are utterly ignorant. If, therefore, this new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed." The question was settled as it was in the other case in the African valley; and the blessings of the same Gospel are now inherited alike by the children of the Yorkshire converts, and the Christian offspring of the old Namaquas of Africa.

THE BRITISH CROWN.

THE crown worn by Queen Victoria at the opening of Parliament is composed of hoops of silver, which are completely covered and concealed by precious stones, having a Maltese cross of diamonds upon the top of it. In the centre of this cross is a magnificent sapphire. In front of the crown, above the rim, is another Maltese

cross, in the middle of which is the large unpolished ruby which once graced the coronet of the chivalrous Black Prince, and underneath this, in the circular rim, is another immense sapphire. The arches enclose a cap of deep purple, or rather blue velvet; and the rim of the crown, at its base, is clustered with brilliants, and ornamented with fleur-de-lis, and the Maltese crosses equally rich. There are many other precious gemsemeralds and rubies, sapphires and small clusters o drop pearls of great price. The crown is altogether valued at over £100,000. Indeed, were it possible to re-collect and bring together such precious stones, this estimate would fall much below their intrinsic value. The old crown of England, made for George III., weighed upwards of seven pounds; but, notwithstanding this gorgeous display of jewellery, independent of the gold cap, the present crown only weighs nineteen ounces and ten pennyweights. It measures seven inches in height from the gold circle to the upper cross, and its diameter at the rim is five inches.

But the richest crowns of earth soon fade. You might have even this costly crown on your head for a fortnight, and yet not be happy. It cannot keep away sickness, or sorrow, or death. It was but the other day that the Queen stood weeping at the bedside of her dying mother. She had been a kind, good mother, and the Queen loved her; but she could not keep away death.

You may never get a crown to wear in this world; but if you belong to Jesus, you will have one in the next. Better far than the British Crown was that which Paul looked forward to when he said, "There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which God, the righteous Judge, shall give me." Reader, you may have such a

crown if you will, for they are reserved by Jesus for "all them that love Him."

Paul's crown was better far than the Queen's. When in prospect of death, he said: "Henceforth there is laid up for ME a crown of righteousness, which God, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing.”

Reader, will you have a crown when Christ appears ? Now is the time to secure it.

THE CROP OF ACORNS.

THERE came a man, in days of old,
To hire a piece of land for gold;
And urged his suit in accents meek-
"One crop alone is all I seek:
That harvest o'er, my claim I yield,
And to its lord resign the field.”

The owner some misgivings felt,

And coldly with the stranger dealt
But found his last objection fail,
And honeyed eloquence prevail;
He took the proffered price in hand,
And for one crop leased out the land.

The wily tenant sneered with pride,
And sow'd the spot with acorns wide;
At first like tiny shoots they grew,
Then broad and wide their branches threw ;
But long before those oaks sublime,
Aspiring, reached their forest prime,
The cheated landlord mouldering lay,
Forgotten with his kindred clay.

O ye, whose years, unfolding fair,

Are fresh with youth and free from care,
Should vice or indolence desire

The garden of your souls to hire,
No parley hold-reject the suit,

Nor let one seed the soul pollute!

My child, their first approach beware-
With firmness break the insidious snare;
Lest, as the acorns grew and throve

Into a sun-excluding grove,

Thy sins, a dark o'ershadowing tree,

Shut out the light of Heaven from thee!

L. W. S.

CHIPS FROM LUTHER.

I would rather fall with Christ, than stand with the

emperor.

To stand still is to go back.

The faithful are a treasure, buried in a field, valued of none, because unknown.-John xv, 19.

The Gospel is the proper bell and organ for Divine service.

A Christian, while in the world, is surrounded by his enemies, and should never go out without his armour. No stone, steel, or diamond, yea, nothing upon earth, is so hard as the impenitent heart of man.

The Bible is my mirror; in which I see what I was in Adam before the Fall-what I became by the Fall-what I am and should be in Christ now, and what I shall be through eternity.

HOW A BIBLE WAS SAVED.

MANY years ago, a little boy, a Sabbath scholar, was sent by his mother to a shop for some soap. The shopwoman weighed it and tore a leaf out of a book which lay on the counter for waste paper. The boy was surprised and grieved when he saw the book was a Bible. He said to the woman, "Mistress, you should not tear up that book, for it is the Bible." "What does it matter ?" said the woman; "I bought it for waste paper." "What! the Bible!" said the boy; "I wish it was mine. I would not tear it up like that." "Well," said the woman, "if you will pay me what I gave for it, you shall have it." He thanked her, and said he would go home to his mother for the money.

Away he went home, but he soon began to cry, for his mother had not the money to give him. He went back to the shop-woman, and told her, and wept as he said, "But, O mistress, don't tear the Bible; for my teacher told me it is the Word of God."

Seeing how concerned he was, the woman said, "Well, don't cry, you shall have the Bible, if you go and get its weight in waste paper." Away he went again to his mother. She gave him all the waste paper she had, and then he went to the neighbours, and begged for more, till he had collected, as he thought, a big enough bundle. Then he went back to the shop. "Now, mistress, I have got the paper." The woman weighed it, putting the Bible in the other scale. Then she gave him the book, and he ran home with it happy, crying, "I have got the Bible! I have got the Bible!"

Reader, do you care as much for the Bible as this little boy did?