I cling to Thee-my Refuge still Thou art.

they have died, they live a better life than

ours.

First, they have close fellowship with Christ; then, they are separated from this present body of weakness, of dishonour, of corruption; then, they are withdrawn from all the trouble, and toil, and care of this present life; and then, and surely not least, they have got death behind them, not having that awful figure standing on their horizon waiting for them to come up with it. They are closer to Christ; they are delivered from the body, as a source of weakness, as a hinderer of knowledge, as a dragger-down of all the aspiring tendencies of the soul, as a source of sin, as a source of pain; they are delivered from all the necessity of labour which is agony, of labour which is disproportionate to strength, of labour which often ends in disappointment, of labour which is wasted so often in mere keeping life in, of labour which at the best is a curse, though it be a merciful curse too; they are delivered from that "fear of death" which, though it be stripped of its sting, is never extinguished in any soul of man that lives; and they can smile at the way in which that narrow and inevitable passage bulked so large before them all their days, and, after all, when they came to it was so slight and small.

If these be parts of the life of them that "sleep in Jesus;" if they are fuller of knowledge, fuller of wisdom, fuller of love, and capacity of love, and object of love-fuller of holiness, fuller of energy, and yet full of rest from head to foot; if all the hot tumult of earthly experience is stilled and quieted, all the fever-beating of this blood of ours ever at an end, all the "whips and arrows of outrageous fortune" done with for ever; and if the calm face which we looked upon, and out of which the lines of sorrow and pain and sickness melted away, giving it back a nobler nobleness than we had ever seen upon it in life, is only an image of the restful and more blessed being into which they have passed-if the dead are thus, then "BLESSED ARE THE DEAD.”

REV. A. M'LAREN.

JOHN i. 5.

JESUS, all-wise and kind! Helpless, and weak, and blind,

This was my prayer:"Dark is the path before, Thick-strewn with dangers o'er, Make me Thy care."

Wildly the billows rose,
Wildly my ghostly foes

Raged in their might;
Each star of earthly joy
Passed like a meteor by,

Quenched in thick night.

Wildly the billows rose,
Wildly my ghostly foes

Laughed at my woe;
Dark though the path before
(Black as hell's deepest floor),
On must I go.

How shall I pass along,
Where such strange terrors throng;
How shall I meet
Horror, and doubt, and pain,
Pressing my fevered brain,
Dogging my feet?

Led by Thy kindly hand,
On to the further strand,

Over the deep:
There could I feel my way,
As for returning day

Watching to weep.

And on my aching sight
Burst a rich flood of light,

Light from above;

Sprent with fresh hope from Thee,
Life had new joys for me,
Lightened with love.

Hearer of anxious prayer,
Oh, for Thy guardian care,
Past and to be,
Let my whole life now raise
Anthems of grateful praise,
Jesus, to Thee!

THOMAS RAGG.

Ir is impossible to read biographical history, or to look at the present aspect of society, and not to feel how much of the amiability, happiness, and peace we see in families must be traced to a Divine blessing following judicious moral training, even where there has been no spiritual and vital knowledge of God.

Seek, then, to lead children in the path wherein you would see them walk in their social relationship to others. Strive to make them truthful, just, upright, hospitable, charitable, loyal, kind, courageous, enduring. Let us enter a little into detail

here.

You cannot too earnestly impress upon them the value and importance of truth. Check the slightest approximation to anything like deception, double-dealing, or even exaggeration in their converse with others. Show them how greatly you estimate a simple statement of facts-how deeply you abhor

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the utterance of a falsehood. Lead them to place such confidence in you, as their best and truest friends, as to have no desire for concealment. Teach them to regard their word as a sacred thing, which you rely upon implicitly, in proportion to your experience of their straightforwardness in character.

Again, try to inspire children with a love of justice and equity, so that they may look with sorrow and indignation on "the perverting of judgment in a province," and may ever sympathise with the oppressed. Warn them against that false liberality, that unhealthy leniency, which is so prevalent in our day, and which would shield the offender from the consequences of his crime. Let them feel that it is their duty by every means to aid the administration of justice in the land, and to bring about the righteous punishment of guilt. Remember that the principles which you inculcate in training the young will

have an influence over their conduct when, in after years, they sit as jurymen in the courts of their country, or as statesmen in her senate-house. For the present moment, the sense of justice you may awaken may show itself in a narrow sphere, but in a little while that sphere will be extended, and they will have to play their part in the world's government for good or for evil. They will have their share in the promoting or perverting of judgment.

Again: urge upon children the necessity of uprightness in their transactions with others. There is a great deal of dishonesty in the world which does not go by that name. There are a thousand ways in which the straight course of rectitude may be departed from without incurring legal penalties. Point out to those under your charge the fraud, trickery, and chicanery whereby the covetous man drives his bargains, and teach them to despise it all-to eschew bribery and corruption-to abstain from taking unfair advantage of another's ignorance. The world's market will try their principles, but God's Word will be proved true, and in most cases the man will be found walking according to the training of his childhood.

Again: lead the young to show hospitality. Of that word, in its highest sense, I fear we know but little. Few of us are in these days actuated by the spirit which moved Abraham to rise up at his tent door, and go to meet the men that stood before him, saying, "Pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: let a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts." Instead of the patriarchal simplicity with which of old time the passer-by was brought within the threshold of an open door, we have now the gay world's cold, formal invitations to the dinner and the ball, and the religious world's cautious biddings to the gatherings of an exclusive clique or party. I fear there must be a great change wrought in our fashion of showing hospitality before we have any hope of partaking in the happiness of those "who entertained angels unawares."

Would that there were more amongst us of that free and unrestrained intercourse with others which necessarily excludes all parade and ostentation. Children can easily distinguish between an entertainment given for purposes of display, and a feast which resembles that made by the father of the prodigal, and which is spread as a token of the full spirit's gladness.

If you would see them truly hospitable, teach them to give the heart's welcome to their father's guest, whether he be the stranger, the wanderer, or the old friend of the fireside; to gather round him, not to attract his notice, but to enjoy his conversation; to delight in preparing for him the best of all the house affords, and in performing the various little offices of love which make him feel at home among brethren.

Again: cultivate in children the exercise of charity. I do not use the word in the sense it bears in 1 Cor. xiii. 13, where our translators have adopted it as synonymous with the Greek word ȧyárη. Such love as the apostle praises is a fruit of the Spirit, found alone in the children of God. I use the word in its more common acceptation, as referring to the liberal and willing dispensation of temporal benefits to the needy. Take the young with you, as much as possible, in your visits to the poor, that, seeing the distress and suffering of others, their feelings may become interested in their behalf, that they may aid their necessities, "not grudgingly, but of a willing mind.”

Again: bring up children to be loyal. Endeavour to awaken in them not merely a true and devoted attachment to the sovereign whom God has placed over them as the supreme head of power and dominion, but also a regard for all lawfully-constituted rule. Fortify them against revolutionary principles, that when the time comes for them to appear in public life, their moral and political creed may be expressed in the noble words of the centurion, "I am a man under authority."

Again teach children to be kind. A gentle, courteous manner is of more value