David a shepherd boy; Elijah a cattle keeper; Elisha a ploughman; and Amos a herdsman. The apostles too, were mainly fishermen. But the greatest hero of all-Christ Jesus the Son of the Highest-he became the carpenter's reputed Son, and evidently worked at the Carpenter's trade, for men said, “Is not this the carpenter's son?" Yea more than that "Is not this the carpenter?" Never did God crown labour with more dignity than when he chose this humble useful occupation for his Son. Jesus knew what it was to work in the sweat of his brow, and to work too till he was faint and weary. Many a weary night might he have sat up in toiling to make ploughs, and tables, and other articles for the rough Nazarenes. I like this thought because it shows me that Jesus belonged to the working race, and that he can therefore by experience sympathise with their struggles. I do not wonder at the enthusiasm of the poor Frenchman when he thought of it. In the reign of terror in France, a French workman was guillotined, and when he reached the scaffold he made a boast. And what was it? Why, on the scaffold he boasted that the sansculotte-Jesus Christ belonged to the same fraternity as himself-the working man's fraternity. As Mr. Blackie says "The excited and half frantic democrat had caught a distorted glimpse of the great truth which in its clearness and beauty can never be far from the views of the Christian workman, that the King of Glory, when he came to earth to suffer for his sins, did at the same time as a brother labourer share his burdens and endure his toils." Working man this should lead thee to trust and glory in the Saviour. This then is enough to show that the Bible crowns the working class with honour, and sets forth through the noblest examples the dignity of labour. But the Bible also gives the working man certain privileges, and bravely defends his rights. For instance, what a privilege to the working man is the Sabbath Day-the day of rest in seven. Do you not working friends, when weary and unwell, long for its coming? O! the blessed Sabbath Day! It is a boon to the aristocratic for they cast aside the cares of state. It is a boon to the rich, for, for a time they are relieved of their great responsibilities. But specially is it a boon to the working man. What would England be without her Sabbaths? Where, working men, would you be if you had no day of rest, or of worship to look forward to, except that which might be taken by force, or grudgingly given by mercenary employers; would you like it? I know you would not; you know that the Sabbath is one of the greatest boons conferred upon you as a class. And to what do you owe this day of rest? To the Bible, and to it only. It is that blessed book that sets forth how it was given to universal man at the creation; how it was incorporated in the moral laws; and how it was further sanctified by Christ rising from the dead. To that book you are indebted for all the pleasant Sabbaths you have spent. Reject the Bible-look upon it as your enemy-then your Sabbaths cease. As a certain writer has well said, "If God had not stopped the wheels of labour for them on one day of seven, working men would have had very hard work in getting them stopped for themselves." If working men in certain cases, find it hard to get them stopped when they are rolling round at the rate of fourteen hours per day, to bring them down to ten, they would find without an authoritative divine revelation, that it would be harder still to stop them one day in seven. Secularise the Sabbath and you will soon have a Sunday's labour instead of a Sunday's rest. No working man should ever speak a word against the Bible when it has given him a day of rest in seven. Then what a privilege is liberty. We look upon those as being the friends of the human race who love civil and religious liberty. We hate slavery and oppression and wrong. We would have all enjoy the blessings of freedom. Now it is to the Bible we owe the liberty we enjoy as a nation. With the exception of America no nation can compare with us in the enjoyment of the boon of a nation's liberty. But how is this? It is to be attributed to the fact that the Bible lays the foundation of liberty by asserting the unity of the human race. It tells us that "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Here alone is the true foundation of human liberty. Let it be proved that one portion of the human race sprung from one stock, and another portion from a more degraded stock, and a blow is struck at the foundation itself of human liberty. and we must cease to proclaim that all men are brethren. But this is not all, for this conceded, no logical argument can be shown why as in the brute creation, the stronger should not govern the weak, why might should not be right. Then see how the Bible defends the oppressed. In the strongest language that can be used it denounces the oppressor; and by glorious illustrations shows how God has again and again defended the weak against the oppression of the strong. Where can there be found stronger denunciatory language against the oppressor than that used in the fifty eighth chapter of Isaiah. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh." It is a fact that wherever the Bible goes, and is allowed to be read and freely circulated, people get trained to a love of liberty, battle for it and obtain it. In countries where the Bible is proscribed the people groan under oppression. But the men who fought for our liberties and gained them, were men of the Bible. The martyrs' blood was the seed of England's liberty. In the dungeon, on the scaffold, and at the stake, not to speak of the work done on the battlefield by Oliver Cromwell and his brave Ironsides, our civil and religious liberties were fairly earned and won, and may the glorious time come when all nations shall possess them as their lawful heritage. The Bible defends the working man's rights. I will speak of one-the question of wages. It advocates the doctrine that every working man ought to have a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. It has no sympathy whatever with those who grind the poor. I remember a working man once saying to me, "I should like, Mr. Watts, to hear you expound in our place the epistle of James." He knew very well what there was in that epistle. He knew that in that epistle these words were written against the dishonest rich—“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." Whether that working man was right or wrong in applying that passage to some who went to "his place," I cannot say; but he certainly gave the Bible the credit by appealing to this epistle, for enjoining on all employers the duty of giving to the working man a fair day's wage for a fair day's work." 66 Then the Bible inculcates the doing of everything that can make men physically and socially happy. It enjoins that whatsoever things are pure, honest, just, lovely, and of good report should be carried out. It inculcates the duty of charity, and sets forth the idolatry of covetousness; and it is to exhortations like these that we owe the erection of our infirmaries, hospitals, and various benevolent institutions, for they do not exist to any noteworthy extent where the Bible is unknown. Lastly, dear friends, in the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Bible sets the working man on the same platform as the rich man, yea, the poor specially are said to be chosen. No man can say, "My position gives me a greater right to come to Jesus than yours." It sets forth that the monarch must be saved in the same way as the labourer; that in this respect God is no respecter of persons. There is no room for pride here. In heaven the toiling servant shall be on a level with the saved king. Then working men look not upon the Bible as an enemy, but rather as a friend sent to you by God. Make it practically your friend and daily councillor; then you will find that it will cheer you amid life's toils, comfort you in all its tribulations, guide you aright through all its difficulties, give you peace in a dying hour, and support you with its promises as you launch into eternity. Stanningley. Fragments and Choice Sayings. SINS LINKED TOGETHER. One sin draws after itself many more. Joseph's brethren envied him; that was a great sin; they then stripped him of his beautiful coat, and cast him into a pit; another sin; then they sold him to the Ishmaelites; still another; then, to hide these sins, they must add an act of falsehood and cruel deception; they dipped Joseph's coat in the blood of a kid, and carried it to their father, pretending that they had found it in the field. At the sight of it, Jacob's heart died within him. "An evil beast," said he, "hath devoured him: Joseph is, without doubt, rent in pieces." Now they must try to comfort him, and in so doing, they were obliged to play the hypocrite. Then they must persist in their falsehood and deception during all the long years— at least twenty-two-that passed until Joseph made himself known to them in Egypt. What a chain of dreadful sins! Yes, what a chain, for all these wicked deeds are linked together. The first drew after it all the rest. So, Herod first did an unlawful deed in marrying Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; then, when John reproved him for this sin, he "added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison." The first sin led to the second. But that was not the end. This same Herodias, whom he had unlawfully married, what did she do? When her daughter Salome danced before Herod and his lords, he was greatly delighted, and promised, with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask. This was both foolish and wicked. And now you see how these two sins, that of marrying Herodias, and that of making this oath to Salome, her daughter, united in producing another dreadful deed. At the mother's H. W. suggestion, who hated John for his faithfulness in reproving Herod, the daughter asked for the head of John the Baptist, and for "the oath's sake," Herod sent and beheaded John in prison. BAPTIST PRINCIPLES. It is really cheering and inspiring to read such tributes to Baptist principles as the following, from the pen of the distinguished Moderator of the British Congregational Union-Dr. Brown. In a recent address before that body, the eminent Doctor said; "The prominence given by Baptists to the personality of the Christian character and profession, becomes a valuable force arrayed on the side of Scriptural Evangelism against human traditions. It is the direct antidote and antagonist to that official virtue and authority upon which the Church of Rome has based the grand apostacy, and from which neither the Church of England, or even the Church of Luther, nor any other man-made church, has purged or will purge itself." The good Doctor then refers to the same principle in accounting for the great Reformation in Germany. He then adds: In like manner, it may be expected that in proportion as the sentiments come into contact with the rank and rampant Popery of Ireland, and other scarce less Popish influences in England, the labours of the Baptist Irish and Home Mission Societies will tend to precipitate the final battle one day to be fought between the phalanxed forces of truth and error." This is the testimony of one who, though differing from us, yet comprehends both the principles by which we stand, and their unmistakable mission. Poetry. LYRICS FOR THE HEART. BY W. POOLE BALFERN. "And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town."-Mark viii. 23. LORD, I am blind and cannot see my way, My way seems darker, feebler too my sight, Dark shadows haunt me, faces wild and fierce, I would not move a step without thee Lord, I do not care to see the way I go, If Thou, O Lord, wilt deign to be my guide; In this unfaltering faith I place my hand In Thine; Thou blessed Lord! to Thee I flee, MY MOTHER'S VOICE. My mother, 'twas thine own dear voice My manhood's powers I'd consecrate, Some write of deeds by heroes done, But I would weave a nobler crown, With the flowers that deck our earth, And with it grace the peerless brow, The voice that cheered my boyhood's hours, Still sounds above life's raging storm, That voice shall cheer my fainting heart, Till life's stern conflict's o'er, That voice shall greet my soul, when freed, On the Elysian shore. E. F. C. Page for the Young. THE LITTLE CROSSING-SWEEPER. MARY was a little girl who swept a crossing in Broadway, the cleanest crossing you could find. More ladies crossed there than anywhere else, because it was so clean, and because they liked to drop a cent into Mary's hand, and see her sweet look and sunny smile, and hear her hearty "Thank you." The little girl almost always had a sweet look and sunny smile, for her heart was almost always full of love and light. Even on cold and wet days, when every body else looked dark and gloomy, she was as bright and sunny as ever. A little sprinkle of rain, or a chilling air did not hurt her; she was used to them, and glad that she could earn money in all weather. One morning on reaching her crossing, she found Maggie Malone there before her, sweeping away with all her might. Mary stood in amazement and trouble, just like the little wren when a great cuckoo is in its nest. "This is my crossing, Maggie," said she. 'Who gave it to you? Did you buy it?" asked Maggie in an impudent way. 66 Why, I've swept it as much as a year." "That don't make it yours." "It makes it mine to sweep, don't it?" "No, indeed; and if you have had it a year, it's time for somebody else to have it." The policeman came along and, being a friend to Mary, ordered Maggie to find another crossing. She was very angry, and made a wry face and shook her broom at Mary when the policeman did not see her. This made Mary unhappy all day. The passers-by missed the light on her little face, and wondered what had put it out, and tried to kindle it again with smiles and pennies; but it could not be kindled from without. Mary was in trouble for fear she had done wrong. Had not Maggie as 66 'Well, I think I'll stay here; I don't want to take your place from you, said Maggie, a little moved by Mary's kindness: "but this is a poor place," she added, "I didn't get enough yesterday to pay for my broom wear;" so saying she started for Mary's crossing. It was a very dark day; the wind was in the east, and people shivered and scowled and hurried within doors; but Mary's face in her new crossing, was bright and glowing, and some of the cross and gloomy wondered where her sunlight came from. They did not know the secret of having a little sun of love in her heart, and keeping the clouds of sin and selfishness away from it. But God had taught it to Mary. "He hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise." |