THE OLD MAN'S PRAYER.-An aged man, whose hair was whitened with the snows of more than fourscore years, was on a bed of sickness. His hoary head was 66 a crown of glory," for he had long been a servant of God; and now "in a good old age," having set his house in order, he was quietly waiting till his change should come. It was Saturday evening; and as arrangements were about to be made for his comfort during the night, at his request he was assisted from his bed to the rocking chair. After sitting a while he was removed to his bed, and when all was quiet, as he was about resigning himself to slumber, he repeated audibly and with great emphasis, the prayer of his childhood: "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; I pray the Lord my soul to take." He then remarked, "That prayer my mother taught me at her knee more than eighty years ago, and never have I failed to repeat it going to my rest at night." It was his last prayer, and soon it was answered. He fell into a peaceful slumber, and before the sabbath had dawned upon earth his eternal sabbath had begun; for the Lord had taken his soul to Himself, to be clothed with immortal youth, and be united to the mother who taught his infant lips to pray. This is, no doubt, a remarkable instance of the permanence of religious instruction; it is, however, "fact, not fancy," related by his own daughter to the writer, who was for many years well standing the multiplicity of hymn-books for the young, the present collection, which has been prepared with great care, will find a welcome place in many schools and families. On the score of both merit and cheapness (the book is published at a penny) it deserves a large circulation. [Other Notices are unavoidably postponed.] GLEANINGS. acquainted with the venerable patriarch. But may it not be that cases, similar in kind, are less rare than we imagine? Though it is doubtless true that many a one, who in his tender years would almost fear to close his eyes in sleep without repeating this lesson of childhood, after reaching the years of maturity goes habitually to a prayerless couch,-who shall say that there are not many who can neither forget nor slight the petition learned at their mother's knee !-The Mother's Friend. JESUS FIRST OF ALL." Do you think we shall know each other in the kingdom of heaven?" asked a wife of her husband, just before they parted in death. "To be sure we shall," said he. "But when I get there, and see my dear Redeemer, I shall want to gaze ten thousand years upon His lovely face before I turn round to see who else is there." O my dear young friends, is Jesus to you "the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely?" Is He first in all your thoughts? TRAVELLERS.-As strangers and travellers abstain, in countries where they are strangers, from many things which would hinder them in their voyage: so good Christians, in their passage through this world, should abstain from the lusts of the flesh, which hinder their souls from life everlasting. ILLUSTRATIVE TEACHINGS. THE SERVICE OF PLANTS.-And the world of plants! Who shall exhaust the story of their service under the blessed ministry of Christ? Well were frankincense and myrrh, precious products of aromatic trees, brought to His cradle; for His religion has educated the gentle, and refined, and merciful tastes that have given the flowers, and shrubs, and trees their true interpretation. How much of the gospel do flowers speak now in fields and gardens, churches and homes-whether to express sympathy to the sick or afflicted, give joy to the festival, or lend poetry to love; whether to throw comfort over death, or to express the rising to life and immortality! Frankincense and myrrh we all give to Christ, when we read in the flowers and trees the interpretation of His truth and grace; and our affections rise to His Father and our Father in the devotion which is incense, and the remembrance which is myrrh. ASHES.-As the ashes cast upon the fire put it not out, but are a means to preserve the same in the night against the morning, which otherwise would be consumed; or as the barrenness of the trees in winter are a means to preserve the root against summer, which then will send up their juice into the body and branches thereof, whereby they are greatly enlarged and made far more fruitful than ever they were before: even so are afflictions unto the children of God, which do not only keep them from the barrenness of sin, but also increase and multiply them in the life and fruitfulness of God's Holy Spirit, and exercise them in patience and hope. GODLY CHRISTIANS.-As wholesome herbs are in some countries growing plentifully, in others sparingly, in some in every highway, in others only in private gardens, and somewhere again they cannot grow at all: so godly Christians are in some places many, in others few, somewhere mewed up in close houses, and somewhere again not to be found at all. As some herbs will prosper and grow in the mountains, some in low grounds, some in shadowy places, some in sunny places, some in the corn-field, some on the dry heath, some by the salt sea coast, some by the sweet rivers: so godly Christians grow up, some in high places, some in mean estate, some where they have defence, and some where they are persecuted, etc. COMPANY OF BODY AND SOUL.-AS men commonly do care to be more honestly apparelled when they are to meet at some banquet or marriage, or to come before some honourable personages, than ordinarily, when they company with inferiors even so, in like manner, we, as concerning our bodies, do accompany with men like unto ourselves. But as concerning our soul with God and His angels, to whom it is lifted up now by faith, but at death really, it is therefore repugnant to all order and reason to care more for the beautifying of the body with sumptuous apparel than adorning of the soul. THE GOLDSMITH.-As the goldsmith putteth his gold into the fire, not to mar it, but to purge the dross out of it; or as the husbandman, who, when his corn is somewhat too rank, either moweth it down, or else eateth it with his sheep; and as a gardener doth prune his vines, not to destroy them, but to make them bring forth more abundant fruit: even so the Lord doth try His children by laying His cross upon their necks, and purgeth them like gold in the fire; He cutteth from them many occasions of evil, that He may bring them to the bearing of greater and more plentiful fruit. xlv. Sentiment and Principle, Perseverance Angels' Whisper, the PAGE POETRY:- 484 Godliness and Ungodliness contrasted 468 Harvest, the 78 Easter Musings 147 Heavenly Contentment 556 Faith 203 High-Priest, the, of our Profession 514 Gem, a, from Herbert 47 How to Resist the Tempter 36 Glory to God alone 383 Master's Call, the 519 Heaven's Stars 526 No Night in Heaven 515 Hope 104 Opportunities offered for All 181 Hymn for the New Year 3 Our Divine Teacher 517 "In God have I put my Trust " 389 Our Refuge 555 Ishmael the Outcast 478 Path, the, of the Just 375 Prophet's Intercession, the 376 Safety, the, of the Righteous 176 Love 530 Sea, the ... Service, the, of God 33 Name, the, in the Sand 95 Truthfulness and Lying Two Foundations, the Unanswerable Question, an Unchanging Saviour, the 82 Obedience 143 Wait and Watch 178 Wait and Work 180 Waiting Servant, the 471 Walking with God 32 Psalm, a, of Heaven 437 White-robed Throng, the 223 Running Water 143 Widow of Nain, the Words 271 Strength Given 478 Work, the, of God's Children Worth, the, of one Soul 518 Things that never Die 101 Year, the End of the 559 Young Disciple, a 324 True Poetry 285 Youthful Piety 35 Watch, Mother 95 Whisperings 6 151 PRECIOUS Stones, the, in the Breast- 245 PAGE from a Teacher's Note-book CHRISTIAN LIFE: XXXiii. The Be- Prize Adjudications: Little Ones, 105; Prize Lessons for Little Ones |