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Thrive will manage to lay aside all his greatness, and come down to be like other poor people; how Mrs. Thrive will like laying aside her brocades, laces, velvets, fine furniture, &c.; and how the little Thrives will now treat other people's children at school. He imagines that they will find that times have changed.

DO YOU WANT A FRIEND?

1. Know for one thing, that I call upon you to consider solemnly whether Christ is your Friend, and you are his.

There are thousands on thousands, I grieve to say, who are not Christ's friends. Baptised in his name, outward members of his church, attendants on his means of grace, -all this they are, no doubt. But they are not Christ's .friends. Do they hate the sins which Jesus died to put away? No. Do they love the Saviour who came into the world to save them? No. Do they delight in the word of reconciliation? No. Do they care for the souls which were so precious in his sight? No. Do they try to speak with the Friend of sinners in prayer? No. Do they seek close fellowship with him? No. Oh, reader, is this your case? How is it with you? Are you or are you not one of Christ's friends?

2. Know, in the next place, that if you are not one of Christ's friends, you are a poor miserable man.

I write this down deliberately. I do not say it without thought. I say, that if Christ be not your friend, you are a poor, miserable man.

You are in the midst of a failing, sorrowful world, and you have no real source of comfort or refuge for a time of need. You are a dying creature, and you are not ready to die. You have sins, and they are not forgiven. You are going to be judged, and you are not prepared to meet God. You might be, but you refuse to use the one only Mediator and Advocate. You love the world better than Christ. You refuse the great Friend of sinners, and you have no friend in heaven to plead your cause. Yes! it is sadly true. You are a poor, miserable man. It matters nothing

what your income is; without Christ's friendship you are very poor.

3. Know, in the third place, that if you really want a friend, Christ is willing to become your friend.

He has long wanted you to join his people, and he now invites you by my hand. He is ready to receive you, all unworthy as you may feel, and to write your name down in the list of his friends. He is ready to pardon all the past, to clothe you with the righteousness of faith, to give you his Spirit, to make you his own dear child. All he asks you to do, is to come to Him.

He bids you come with all your sins, only acknowledging your vileness, and confessing that you are ashamed. Just as you are,-waiting for nothing,-unworthy of any thing in yourself,-Jesus bids you come and be his friend.

Ah! reader, come and be wise. Come and be safe. Come and be happy. Come and be Christ's friend.

4. Know, in the last place, that if Christ is your friend, you have great privileges, and ought to walk worthy of them.

Seek every day to have closer communion with Him who is your friend, and to know more of his grace and power. True Christianity is not merely the believing a certain set of dry abstract propositions. It is to live in daily personal communication with an actual living person, -Jesus the Son of God. "For me," said Paul, "to live is Christ."(Phil. i. 21.)

Seek every day to glorify your Lord and Saviour in all your ways. He that hath a friend should show himself friendly, and no man surely is under such weighty obligations as the friend of Christ. Avoid every thing which would grieve your Lord. Fight hard against besetting sins, against inconsistency, against backwardness to confess him before men. Say to your soul, whenever you are tempted to that which is wrong, "Soul, soul, is this thy kindness to thy Friend ?"

Think above all of the mercy which has been shown thee, and learn to rejoice daily in thy Friend! What though thy body be bowed down with disease! What though thy

poverty and trials be very great! What though thine earthly friends forsake thee, and thou art alone in the world! All this may be true, but if thou art in Christ, thou hast a Friend, a mighty Friend, a loving Friend, a wise Friend, a Friend that never fails. Oh! think, think much upon thy Friend.

Yet a little time, and thy Friend shall come to take thee home, and thou shalt dwell with him for ever. Yet a little time, and thou shalt see as thou hast been seen, and know as thou hast been known. And then thou shalt hear assembled worlds confess, that he is the rich and happy man who has had Christ for his friend.-From New Tract under this Title by Rev. J. C. Ryle.

VARIETIES.

WHAT A BOY CAN DO.

Children, you remember the story of Hans and the beacon-fire, do you? That was what a boy could do for his home. Let me now tell you of a noble boy who worked for the church.

One time at a camp-meeting, a boy came up to the preacher, and said, "Sir, I would like to join the church if you have anything for me to do."

"Have you any young friends that you could get to become religious?" asked the preacher.

Yes," said John, "and I will join the church."

The next day the preacher saw a young man, a friend of John's leaning against a tree. This boy looked very serious, and the preacher approached him saying, "Where is John to-day?"

"O!" said the boy, "John has gone to hoe corn in my place, and has lent me his horse that I might come to meeting and get religion!"

Do you think John will lose his reward? He could not preach; he was not old enough to exhort, or labour in

the altar, but he could hoe corn that others might be led to Christ! Noble boy, I say!

EARLY RISING.

I would inscribe on the curtains of your bed and the walls of your chamber-" If you do not rise early you can make progress in nothing. If you do not set apart your hours of reading, if you suffer yourself, or any one else, to break in upon them, your days will slip through your hands unprofitable and frivolous, and unenjoyed by yourself."-Lord Chatham.

WHO IS TO DO IT?

Some twenty years ago, there was a shop-boy in Dublin, known at first as Johnny Morgan, but afterwards called "Perpetual Motion." He had learned the worth of his own soul, and so he had learned the worth of other souls. Every Sabbath morning therefore, he was to be seen running from door to door in Mountjoy-square, that he might collect the members of an adult Bible class. He never stopped till, like a shepherd's dog, he had found all his stray sheep, and brought them once more under the shepherd's watch and care.

What became of that boy? Did he cease at length to labour for the salvation of men? Having began to run, did he faint in the race? No. That same "Perpetual Motion" afterwards transfered him to a Missionary field. Its activity was first seen in the humbler efforts of a catechist. And when the Catechist had purchased "a good degree,” it was exhibited in the labours of a successful missionary.

What was the secret of his usefulness? Just this, and nothing more. Whenever the question arose, in respect to any service which he could perform, "Who will do it?" he said, "I will do it." Reader! would you learn how you can do much for a lost world? Be always ready to say, when any service in your power is needed, "I will do it." Try what you can do in the way of Juvenile Missionary effort.

TAKING UP THE CROSS.

A good old lady who has lived past her threescore years and ten, said to me a few days since: "The reason why professing Christians cannot take up their daily cross is, because they do not deny themselves. If they would first deny themselves, then they would be ready to take up their every cross and perform every known duty. We must attend to all our duties in the order in which they are placed in the Bible. 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.' Luke ix. 23.

THE POPULATION OF CHINA.

We may with tolerable safety estimate the present population of the Chinese empire at between 350,000,000 and 400,000,000 of human beings. The constant flow of emigration from China, contrasted with the complete absence of immigration into China, is striking evidence of the redundancy of the population; for though that emigration is almost wholly confined to two provinces, namely, Kwantung and Fookien, representing together a population of probably from 34,000,000 to 35,000,000, I am disposed to think that a number nearer 3,000,000 than 2,000,000 from these provinces alone are located in foreign countries. In the kingdom of Siam it is estimated that there are at least a million and a half of Chinese, of which 200,000 are in the capital (Bangkok). They crowd all the islands of the Indian Archipelago. In Java, we know by a correct census, there are 136,000. Cochin China teems with Chinese. In this colony we are seldom without one, two, or three vessels taking Chinese emigrants to California and other places. Multitudes go to Australia, to the Phillipines, to the Sandwich Islands, to the western coast of Central and Southern America; some have made their way to British India. The emigration to the British West Indies has been considerable-to the Havana greater still. The annual arrivals in Singapore are estimated at an average of 10,000, and 2,000 is the number that are said

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