ings which they felt more than ever laid up for them in Christ Jesus. He shelters his people from the wrath of God, he comforts and refreshes them in all the trials and temptations of life; all the fruits of righteousness are to be found in and by him, to the glory and praise of God. He is the shadow of a great rock to which they may continually resort.-Biblical Treasury.

A SABBATH SCHOOL STORY.

"THERE was a lad ten years of age," said Mr. Kershaw, the late Member of Parliament for Stockport, "in a class in a Sunday School in Manchester. The name of the president or superintendent of that school was Steele, a name very fragrant in that great town. James was a very troublesome boy. The teacher came up with his name to the superintendent, and again and again said:

"I cannot do anything with him.'"

"But,' said Mr. Steele, 'I am sure there is something in James, if one knew how to develop it.'

"Again and again came the complaint, and again and again did this kind-hearted superintendent set it aside. At last this little boy broke through a rule which involved exclusion; and when the next Sunday came, the inquiry was, I believe, somewhat in this form:

"Who of you have been to the races during the past week ?'

"None in this class, none in the other, none anywhere, but James.

"Well,' said the teacher, 'you see the boy must go, Mr. Steele; a diseased sheep will infect the flock.'

"But,' said the superintendent, I cannot part with that boy; let us have him up in the presence of the whole school.'

'Up he came, a fine, daring, defiant, handsome little fellow. All the school looked on, and the superintendent said:

"Now, James, I am sure when you come to think of it, you are sorry that you went to the races.'

"The little fellow shrugged his shoulders; he was not at all sorry. Then, just as one of you ladies would touch the keys of a piano, did the superintendent in his address try to touch the keys of that boy's heart, till at length he had produced some effect. Turning to the hundreds of boys in his presence, he said:

"My lads, if we turn James out of the schools he will go to the bad and become worse. Shall he go?'

"No, no, no!' shouted three hundred voices, and James burst into tears, fairly conquered by affection fairly won by love.

"What he became afterwards, there are Manchester gentlemen on this platform who can tell you better than I. He became a Member of Parliament; he became a member of a Christian church. His £100 a-year was always carefully paid into the London Missionary Society, and sixty guineas, as I know, into the Manchester City Mission; and I may also say, as I happen to have some pleasant acquaintance with him, that there were many things which his right hand did, which his left hand was not allowed to know. Now he has gone one of the brightest trophies of Sunday School instruction."

WORKING FOR CHRIST.
THE low tuft grass is not a stately tree,
Nor yet a lovely and all-fragrant rose;
It yields no nectar to the grateful bee,
Nor fashions for their transit o'er the sea

The "hearts of oak," revered by friends and foes Yet think of it as lightly as you will,

Passing it over in your careless tread,
It has its own peculiar place to fill,
And, humble as its work appeareth, still

Nor oak, nor rose, could do that work instead.
So, youthful Christian, through life's transient day,
There is a special work marked out for you;
It may be of the lowliest kind, it may
Be such as shall the loftiest powers display,
But none beside yourself your work can do.
Then bend in meekness at your Saviour's throne,
And seek to learn the purpose of his grace;
Ask Him, who has so oft your duty shown,
To point you out the work that is your own,

And tell you where to find your proper place. "What wilt thou have me do ?" With single eye To your Redeemer's glory, work for him; Illumined every moment from on high,

Strive in each action Christ to glorify,

Nor let one thought of self life's radiance dim.

Work! work! nor covet an ignoble rest:
Allow no sloth thy spirit to beguile;

Those love the Saviour most who serve him best,
And he who blesses others shall be blest

With the full sunshine of his Saviour's smile. Church Scholars' Magazine.

MISSIONARY NEWS.

IT has just been reported that the rebels have taken Pekin, the capital of China, where Mr. Burns has been preaching for some time.

Our missionary, the Rev. George Smith, reports a visit he lately made to a new place named Kway-I-ham, a market-town, containing about 10,000 inhabitants. The Roman Catholics have many followers there. The people are exceedingly superstitious, and have strange notions about foreigners. "On my first arrival," says Mr. Smith, every motion I made was eagerly watched, as having some mysterious meaning. If I took a turn in the afternoon, the report was spread that I was away to search out the treasures of the earth; if I looked at my watch, it was some charm for catching the dragon; if I sat down on a knoll, there was sure to be something very significant if not dangerous in it. I have been asked seriously by these people whether I could not see four or five feet down through the earth, and whether I could not see when it was pitch dark!"

Mr. Smith pleads hard for more missionaries for China.

The Rev. Dr. Mullins, for twenty-one years la most devoted missionary in India, is about to return home to become one of the Secretaries of the London Missionary Society.

The Rev. Mr. Ellis, writing from Madagascar, says— "Amidst many difficulties we have much to encourage us. Under the mercy of its Divine Author, the Gospel is still spreading, and evidence of its influence over the minds and hearts of men placed in circumstances peculiarly unfavourable to such influence is continually

coming to our knowledge. Two days ago I received a visit from some of our own people here, who were accom. panied by a Christian from one of the frontier villages on the south-west of Imerina, seventy miles distant; and between whose village and the eastern villages of the Sakalavas there are only military pickets. In that village, amidst the mass of heathens, there are thirteen Christians, who pray to God, observe the Sabbath, and are learning to read and to sing; and the object of the visitor in coming to me was to ask for a Malagasy Bible, and school-books and hymns. I was glad to supply his want, and hope to learn a little more of the history of the introduction of the Gospel to that remote region before he returns,"