THE RACE-COURSE. A DIALOGUE. A. Are you going to the races to-day, neighbour? the weather is very fine and inviting. B. To the race-course! that sink of iniquity! A. -Sink of iniquity! how can that be a sink of iniquity which many of the nobility, gentry, and even the clergy, support at a greater expense than they do the hospitals and various charitable institutions of our country? B.-If good and evil are to be judged of by the patronage of the majority, then sin will certainly have the decided preference, and virtue be found only among the few who dare to be singular, and will not follow the multitude to do evil. A. But what evil can there be in going to the races? I do not see any. B. Much every way, as the following catalogue will shew:-1. The race course is a place of meeting for the vilest characters in the land, and more evil is perpetrated there in one day than in many other places in several weeks. 2. Look at the multitude of drinking booths which cover the ground, and the number of intoxicated persons, who, on returning from that scene of debauchery, endanger the lives of their fellow creatures. 3. Add to this the thousands of pounds which are lost by gambling on such occasions, and the number of families which are brought to beggary by the folly of those who stake their whole fortune during the moment of excitement. A gentleman once destroyed himself with prussic acid the day after the most fashionable races in the kingdom, having lost his all by the failure of a horse. Another followed his example, though not precisely by the same means. 4. What wholesale murder of horses generally takes place also by over-driving or over-riding them! At the W steeple chase three horses were killed in one day; and at the A- races of the same year, viz., 1845, five horses were destroyed by the cruelty of those who, had they been merciful men, would have been merciful to their beasts. 5. The sabbath-day is awfully profaned wherever a race takes place. The course is generally crowded, while places of worship are neglected. Heathenism, instead of christianity, is the order of the day. THE RACE-COURSE. A.-But will you deny us all kinds of rational amusements? B. Certainly not. There are enough of these without running to the excess of riot which generally attends a horserace. For example Nature yields a thousand sweets, and may be enjoyed in the social party, either on the land or on the water. Literature is a never-failing source of amusement to those who have a taste for her various delicacies. Religion produces the most exalted pleasures which it is possible for a finite being to enjoy in this world; for, "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." A.-Ah! I thought you would come to that. B. And what objection can you have to religion? B.-My friend, I perceive your heart is not right before God; and until that be renewed by the Holy Spirit, religion will be only a subject of jest and ridicule, instead of the one grand object of your life. A.-What, do you take me for an infidel?—I go to church every Sunday, and do no harm to any one? B.-Do not be offended, my friend; for I have no intention whatever to displease you, but you must allow me to speak the truth plainly. All I mean to say is, that you cannot serve God and mammon, you cannot be a race-goer and a disciple of the meek and lowly Saviour. A.-Ah! that's the way of you religionists; you would have us give up all rational enjoyments, and sing psalms and pray from morning till night. B.-Stop, stop, my friend. You mistake me altogether if you think that is my design; for prayer and praise cannot be acceptable to God from an unsanctified heart; and a man who can enjoy the theatre, tavern, or race-course, is destitute of all evidence that he is born again, and become a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ. A.-There is your old cant again about being "born again.” Where in the world did you get that odd saying? B. From the New Testament. A.-The New Testament? well, I don't read it often to be sure, but I'll certainly have a peep into it when I get home, and see for myself what it says. B.-Do, my friend. You may find it in the third chapter of the gospel of John, which I would advise you to read from the beginning to the end every day for a month; for therein POETRY. you will find also that "God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life;"-that he came "not to destroy the world, but that the world through him might be saved." A.-Well, I will look at it at any rate, and perhaps I may read my bible a little oftener for the future: but I can't tell what to say about not going to the races; you have put me out of sorts with them just now; but don't think that I am going to turn all at once, for I don't know what I may do to-morrow. B.-Well, that I must leave with your own conscience. My only desire is to see you a new creature in Christ Jesus,transformed into his image by the power of the divine Spirit, for then I shall have no fear that you will go to races, or any such sinks of iniquity. I hope I shall one day see you running, with Paul, the heavenly course, in which all who run to the end obtain a prize, even the crown of righteousness that fadeth not away." S. L. W. 66 Poetry. THE HEAVENLY HOME. "He hath prepared for them a city."-Heb. xi. 16. ALL the days of my short, fleeting, shadowy life, And will pass through this world of vexation and strife, In this vain sinful world no true bliss can be found, But streams of salvation, to cheer us, abound, Its treasures or joys make not happy the mind,— To that bright blissful state, far beyond this blue sky,— The believer in Jesus is longing to fly, Where he'll live in a Heavenly Home! In that bright world above "many mansions" there are, Christ himself, we read plainly, has gone to prepare ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. And although these "vile bodies," a short time may lie, Yet at length soul and body united will fly, To their permanent-Heavenly Home! And when obstinate rebels from Christ shall receive, True believers shall with him eternally live, With God, holy angels, and glorified saints, Lutterworth. Anecdotes and Selections. J. M. GEORGE WHITEFIELD PREACHING.-An intimate friend of the infidel Hume, asked him what he thought of Mr. Whitefield's preaching; for he had listened to the latter part of one of his sermons at Edinburgh. "He is, sir," said Mr. Hume, "the most ingenious preacher I ever heard. It is worth while to go twenty miles to hear him." He then repeated a passage towards the close of that discourse which he heard. "After a solemn pause, he thus addressed his numerous audience:The attendant angel is just about to leave the threshold, and ascend to heaven: and shall he ascend and not bear with him the news of une sinner, among all this multitude, reclaimed from the error of his ways?' To give the greater effect to this exclamation he stamped with his foot, lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, and with gushing tears, cried aloud, 'Stop, Gabriel! Stop, Gabriel! Stop ere you enter the sacred portals, and yet carry with you the news of one sinner converted to God.' He then, in the most simple but energetic language, described what he called a Saviour's dying love to sinful man; so that almost the whole assembly melted into tears. This address was accompanied with such animated, yet natural actions, that it surpassed everything I ever saw or heard in any other preacher." Happy had it been for poor Hume had he received what he then heard, 66 as the word of God, and not as the word of man." FEEDING THE FLOCK-Dr. Green was, while a pastor in Philadelphia, more than fifty years since, an eminent preacher of righteousness, and was honoured with many seals, of his ministry. But his earlier sermons are described as having been too highly wrought, ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. and as marked by great rhetorical finish. This gave him popularity with a multitude, but it failed of commending him to all his flock. One day returnin; from the service of the sanctuary, he was accosted by a poor woman, a member of his church, who, fearing that his language was not always adapted to the capacities of a portion of his hearers, took the liberty of giving her youthful pastor a hint. "Mr Green," said she, "what do you think is the great business of the shepherd?" "No doubt to feed the flock," was his reply. "That is my notion too," she added, "and therefore I think he should not hold the hay so high that the sheep cannot reach it." The monition, says the biographer of the preacher, was received in the spirit with which it was given, and probably had its influence in causing him afterwards to " hold the hay lower." Let ministers take heed that, in feeding the flock, they do not hold the hay too high. If so, the hungry sheep will look μp, and not be fed. The provision, if beyond their reach, will avail them no more than if not furnished at all. Be sure that you have nourishing hay for the flock, but do not hold it too high. THE FIRST METHODIST SERMON IN AMERICA.-Philip Embury, and a batch of emigrant methodists from Ireland, had so far given up their profession as to become card-players, when another family arrived from Ireland, amongst whom was a mother in Israel, to whose zeal in the cause of God they were all indebted for the revival of the spirit of piety amongst them. Soon after their arrival this good woman ascertained that those who had preceded her had so far departed from their "first-love" as to be mingling in the frivolities and sinful amusements of life. The knowledge of this painful fact aroused her indignation, and, with a zeal which deserves commemoration, she suddenly entered the room where they were assembled, seized the pack of cards with which they were playing, and threw them into the fire. Addressing Embury, she said, "You must preach to us, or we shall all go to hell together, and God will require our blood at your hands." He tremblingly replied, "I cannot preach, for I have neither a house nor a congregation." "Preach in your own house first, and to our own company," was the reply. Feeling the responsibility of his situation, and not being able any longer to resist the importunity of his reprover, he consented to comply with her request; and accordingly preached his first sermon in his own hired house, to five persons only. This, it is believed, was the first methodist sermon ever preached in America. ROWLAND HILL AND THE CAPTAIN.-Once when I was returning from Ireland, (says Rowland Hill,) I found myself annoyed by the reprobate conduct of the captain and mate, who were both sadly given to the scandalous habit of swearing. First, the captain swore at the mate; then the mate swore at the captain; then they swore at the wind; when I called to them with a strong voice for fair |