him." Pray then for that love which casts out fear, for that fear which casts out sin, and for that holiness without which we shall never see God.

Fear Him, ye saints, and you shall then
Have nothing else to fear,

Make you his service your delight,

He'll make your cause his care.

AN AGED CHRISTIAN IN A WORKHOUSE.

(From a Young Friend.)

I visited, to-day, an aged and much-afflicted child of God. Many a lesson has she taught me. She has children married who might support her, but who seem to be without natural affection.' I have known her three years; and when I first visited her, she had a little room of her own. Her sufferings are great, and she had no one to attend to her, and she is now in the workhouse. This is a great trial to her, poor thing; for she has not one with whom she can converse, or speak to of the Saviour she loves so warmly. Thursday is the only day on which visitors are admitted; and I try, if possible, never to miss a week. Her eyes fill with tears when she sees me; and, I am sure, I love to be any comfort to one who loves Jesus, and to learn of her, for she lives far nearer to him than I do. She is 80 years of age, and so helpless that she cannot move even her arm without assistance, yet the mind is unclouded, and its noblest powers expended upon the noblest object. "There is not one person in this world," she said to-day, "that I would change places with-not one: 1 am Christ's, and Christ is mine-every trial draws me nearer to him." She spoke with such delight of the finished work of redemption! "Oh! when this has been done for us, what should we be, and what are we ?" Every thing should be done for his glory. Oh! may our dear Saviour have our whole hearts! Then she said, "I can only see you one day in the week now; I love to think we shall meet in a happy land, and I am sure we shall

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know each other there far better than we do now. shall soon be there, and what will years of suffering then be? But a moment!" I shall never forget her very happy expression of countenance. I never leave her without her blessing, and a few words of prayer for me.

THE ELEVENTH HOUR.

For five-and-thirty years, Joyce tells me, they had a comfortable house, with a large kitchen, and a wide fire place. But the rent was high, and though they contrived to pay it while Jack had constant work and good wages, yet they were getting in years, and he suffered much from a hurt he had received long before; and, all things considered, it was a pleasant plan to build a little place on the waste ground, and live there rent-free. I said they were getting in years; but Joyce is not very exact. She says she is threescore

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and a great deal more, getting on to fourscore." would be hard to guess her age; she looks weatherbeaten; her face bronzed by the sun and air to which she has been so much exposed; her short wiry black hair turning grey. And poor Jack! he looks more than sixty-five, which he says is his age. It was very convenient for them, that at the bottom of the lane were the remains of an old factory of some kind; and the wall was ready to form the back of the house, and (whether this was a point of consequence to them or not,) there clustered round the end of the wall a quantity of ivy, looking very picturesque, and of a bright reddish purple hue. Diligently poor Joyce did her part; she fetched the water, and made the mortar ready; and together they built up the little place with one window, one door, and a chimney. Another wall of the old factory formed a nice shelter for their little garden; and over the wall hangs a vine, wild and unpruned—and what wonder that it bears no fruit !

These our neighbours are of the number of the uncomplaining poor; they are inured to hardships; they

take them as their daily lot; and they murmur not at the burden which they are used to carry. Poor Joyce will, indeed, tell you that her head or side is bad; and put the complaint in her head to the burdens she has had to carry: but there is no complaining in her tone. What an honour to be in any way permitted to ease the sufferings of such!-above all, to tell them, and read to them of a world where the weary are at rest, and to find them ready to listen! Time was, indeed, when, though they always spoke civilly as we passed, they had no value for our visits. For year after year they were in vain invited and entreated to come to church; and though neither of them could read, and much as they needed instruction, they did not seem aware of their want. Now the case is altered. It is delightful, indeed, to see light break in by degrees upon the soul. But a few years since, and I was grieved at the ignorance of the poor man, when, after they began to permit us to visit them, asking if he knew who our Saviour was, he paused, and, after some consideration, said, "Why, I believe he is one of the Lord's angels." Now he answers to the same question, "He is the Son of God."

As often as the church is open, then poor Jack and Joyce are seen, no longer making their clothes an excuse for staying away, but constantly mounting the steep lane. And they do not go away even when the sermon is ended, as hundreds of baptized Christians go away from the Feast appointed by Him who gave his life for them: they will not also go away. Late, indeed, they began their attendance on the blessed feast; but there is hope that now they come in faith, and "take this holy sacrament to their comfort."

Poor Joyce! I shall not forget how her dark eye glistened as she interrupted me when reading "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," and said, "Aye, he is the good shepherd, and he's our shepherd.'

But we must glance round the inside of their cottage, and then take our leave of them. A large part of the only room is occupied by the bed, on the side of which

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they have both seated themselves, having willingly resigned their only chairs to their visitors; about the walls are a variety of useful things,baskets, a salt-box, a hatchet, and in one corner is their winter hoard of potatoes; and from one side of the room to the other is a line on which hang various articles of clothing. But where is there a cottage without some ornament? There are some here :-sheet tracts with pictures against the wall. And on the top of the cupboard is a treasure of which I trust they feel the value, though it would surpass the tongue of an angel to describe itthere is the Testament, from which they love to hear of the wonders of redemption; of Him who clothes the lilies, and feeds the fowls of the air; of Him who loved them, and lived and died for them.

I have seen tears in their eyes, as they have said of the giver of that book, "I have a right to bless him, and I have a right to thank him." And that thought led to a higher thought. Yet a little while, a few more labours, a few more sufferings, and then the rich and the poor, the high and the low, who have alike sought refuge at the Cross of Calvary, shall say of Him, who is gone to prepare a place for them in heaven, "I have a right, (for he has given it me) I have a right to thank Him, and I have a right to love Him."

CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY.

No. II.

THE GROUND OR REASON OF ITS OBLIGATION.

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This lies partly in the mutual dependence of creatures. is a complete foundation for the obligations of Christian liberality, in the relation and interests of our being. The substantial interests of human society demand the habitual practice of true liberality. We are not only dependent upon our Creator, but there are many respects in which we are mutually dependent upon each other. The child is dependent upon the parent-the aged in turn is dependent on the child; the sick and infirm are dependent upon the healthy: the poor are dependent upon the rich for employment;

and the rich are dependent upon the poor for labor. The ignorant are dependent upon the learned for instruction and upon the wise for counsel. In erecting public works, we are mutually dependent. The different tribes and nations in different longitudes and latitudes of the earth's surface, are dependent upon each other for a variety of the products of the earth. While, therefore, there is no good foundation for that patriotism which seeks the good of our nation at the expence of the rights and interests of others, there is a solid ground for universal liberality, kindness, and love towards all our fellow-creatures of the great family of man. We are formed,

not only to serve God; but to serve one another as mutual helpers. In turn, and in many respects, we are mutually dependent; and as we have all freely received, so ought we freely to give.

Besides, God has created us for his glory, and in his own imago, that through us his perfections might be manifested. As we are the constant recipients of his bounty, we ought to reflect its beams upon all around. It is highly fit and reasonable that we should thus glorify the Giver of all. In requiring Christian liberality, therefore, God enjoins only what is fit, proper, and reasonable in the nature of things, and most happy in all its tendencies.

There is, however, so much practical unbelief of this fact, that it is necessary to bring forward the evidence that true liberality tends to happiness and prosperity. The sacred writers abundantly connect the one with the other. Christ said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." He says further, "There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come, life everlasting." In his Sermon on the Mount, he said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." After attending to the wants of life, he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." The wise man assures us that "There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that witholdeth more than is meet; but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." He further says, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of thine increase; so shall thy barns