apocalyptic angel, who, when "a door was opened in heaven," instead of coming down to John, spoke to him with a trumpet-voice, saying, "Come up hither, and I will show thee."

Yet a simple style and a luminous course of argument are of great consequence in books intended for the young. These qualities will, I hope, for the most part, be found to characterize this little volume. I only ask my young friends to read it through entirely, and to join with the author in a devout prayer that the truths which it contains may be, to them, the power of God unto sal

vation.

J. P.

THE

CLAIMS OF THE GOSPEL

ON

THE YOUNG.

SECTION I.

EXAMPLE OF A YOUTHFUL MONARCH,

ONE of the ancient poets, quoted by lord Bacon, has said: "It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is comparable to standing on the vantage-ground of truth, and to see the errors and wanderings, and mists and tempests, in the vale below." The comparison is a beautiful one; yet, I confess, it seems to me to be incomplete. It needs a crowning ornament, and there may be descried among these mists and tempests a single object which possesses the

• B

very highest of all earthly attractions. That object is a youth inspired with high resolve, and practically devoting himself to the service of his God. Such an object is especially commanding, when the person referred to is environed with powerful temptations to an opposite career.

Come with me, then, my young friend, and let us take our stand on this elevated position, in the nineteenth century, and look into the vale of history. Far down, through the dust and smoke of a thousand battles, and at a distance of more than twenty-four centuries, we descry a most remarkable personage. His rich robes, his attendants, his dignified bearing and his crown, betoken the presence of a monarch. It is Josiah, the youthful king of Judah. Yet he possesses

a character superior to all the splendours of royalty. He has consecrated his youth, his cultivated powers, and his public influence to God. The lustre of his character is the more conspicuous on account of the foils with which it is begirt in the bad influences that surround him. He was born to a throne. He was educated in a court alike