help. One day I apologised to Mr. Joseph for the persistency of my visits, when he said, "It is right to be.persistent in a good cause."

I have not written this hasty paper to flatter or please those who are the subjects of it, for it is not likely they will ever see it, or if they did, I question whether it would please them. I have written it for your good, my dear young readers. I want you to emulate their good deeds. "Ah!" you may say, 66 we cannot do likewise; we have not the means." This is a great mistake. You all have, and will have as long as you live, a certain amount of means of doing good, and it is this means, and not that which others possess, which you are called upon to employ, and which, when employed, yields the heart its rich and true reward. Great riches, it is true, enable a man to do good on a large scale, and I have no objection to your aiming to become rich, if your motive be to do good with your gains. Do not wait till then before you begin to do good; begin now, and go on therein, leaving it to Providence to guide your feet into that worldly path which will be the best for you and others.

J. SIMPSON.

ECHOES FROM THE CHRISTIAN'S STUDY.

READINESS.

TITUS iii. 1, contains the following advice given bv St. Paul," Be ready to every good work.' The words "ready" and "readiness" imply a willing disposition as well as a power and a preparation to perform any deed. When we read in Psalm lxxxvi. 5, "Thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive,' we understand that Jehovah possesses the moral ability to pardon sin, and it should never be forgotten that his willingness to do us good is as great as his power.

Some persons always seem willing or ready for the performance of some evil action towards their fellow-creatures. Readiness to do mankind evil is a very prominent characteristic of Satan, and all those who are characterised by the same principle are very closely allied to man's infernal opponent.

The word "ready" is one that frequently meets our eye in the perusal of the divinely inspired volume. In Ezra vii. 6 we read that Ezra "was a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given."

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Nehemiah ix. 17 speaks of the Lord as a God ready to pardon." Job iii. 8 refers to a class of persons "ready to raise up their mourning." Job also speaks of houses ready to become heaps.-Job. xv. 28. And elsewhere he refers to the grave as being ready for him, i.e., waiting to receive his mortal frame when his earthly life shall become extinct. The inspired penman of Psalm 38th seems to be almost overcome with mental affliction and outward trials, so that in verse 17 he exclaims, "I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me." Luke the Evangelist informs us in his 22nd chapter, 33rd verse, that on one occasion Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both to prison and to death." In this instance we can admire Peter's courage, but we do not commend the spirit in which he uttered the language, for we fear it was in his own strength only that he so resolved, for very shortly afterwards we find him ready to deny his Lord and Master, for he began to curse and swear, and positively said that he did not know Jesus.

In Romans i. 15 Paul says concerning himself, “I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also," thus expressing his willingness to proclaim the tidings of salvation in that city as well as elsewhere. On one occasion, when Paul was about to proceed from Cesarea to Jerusalem on a missionary tour, his friends at Cesarea desired him not to go, fearing the evil that might befal him there; but like a man of strong confidence in God, and full of holy zeal, he said to his friends, "I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."-Acts. xxi. 13. And when this same Apostle of Christ was appointed to suffer the death of a Christian martyr, he said, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." Although we do not imagine that Paul was desirous to leave our beautiful world and the church on earth, yet if Nero the Roman tyrant would have his life taken away he was willing to die for the sake of Christ. Already he knew something of the happiness which awaited him on his arrival on the other side of death's cold river; he was perfectly aware that his services in the Lord's vineyard were very imperfect, yet the fight in which he had been engaged was a good one, the race he had run was one of profit, and the faith he had kept was of a saving character, therefore says he, "henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." Paul's Christianity made him a workman that needed not to be ashamed, and wherever we find him after his conversion we find him "ready to every good work," and in the letters

he writes to persons and churches he exhibits a spirit of anxiety for the churches' good and the world's salvation; how desirable it is that we should possess the same spirit and ever "be ready to every good work."

We should be ready to the good work,

1st. Of Reproving Sin.

In St. Paul's epistles to Christian churches and to private individuals we find him reproving sin. This he does unflinchingly wherever he beholds it, whether in parents or children, masters or servants, husbands or wives, teachers or the taught, the rich or the poor, magistrates or prisoners, ministers or congregations, monarchs, tyrants, governors, or judges, he was resolved that no man's blood should stain his garments. Some of his letters contain very sharp reproofs, but not sharper than were necessary, for even amongst Christians reproof is sometimes very essential to their personal and relative good. Would it not be well if all our readers who have ceased to do evil and learnt to do well would reprove sin at suitable times when opportunity presents itself? How indifferent many professed Christians are about this matter, and we fear that the blood of many lost souls will in the great day of accounts be required at their hands. Would you save your own souls and be free from the blood of all men? do your Christian duty in reproving sin at home and abroad. Do it at the right time, and in the right place, and in the right manner.

You should also be ready to the good work,2nd. Of Giving Advice

Advice that will be profitable for body and soul, for individuals or families, the young or the middle-aged, or for those farther advanced in years. To "communicate, forget not," that information especially which will improve the morals, enlighten the mind, make glad the heart, and assist in the elevation of mankind. If your advice will tend to prevent intemperance, stop dishonesty, or shut the mouths of blasphemers, give it; give it heartily, give it earnestly, and in giving it pray God's blessing to attend it. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."-Eccles. xi. 6. Never mind a few scoffs and jeers at the advice you give. Noah did not preach about the coming flood without being termed a fool or a madman. Enoch did not proclaim a future judgment of all nations without the jeers of wicked men. The apostles of Jesus did not find it all pleasant work as they went everywhere preaching the Lord Jesus. And

"Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?"

Then be not discouraged by a few difficulties, stay not thy efforts to do the world good because thou hast a little opposition to meet with. "Be not weary in well doing;" be valiant for anything that will better the world and glorify God. If thou shouldest neglect to give moral or religious advice thou canst not tell the evil that may be committed in the land, and the souls that may perish through thy sin of omission.

You should likewise be ready

3rd. To lend a helping hand to all good works, as far as practicable. We have read of St. Paul making collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem; also of the liberality of the Christians of Macedonia, and some time ago England contributed largely of her wealth for the relief of the sufferers in the Indian mutiny. Since then all the counties of England and many other parts of the world, have nobly helped Lancashire and other cotton districts of England in the time of their severe distress and sad calamity. But whatever assistance may have been rendered in the past for the temporal good of churches, districts, and countries, we have still the sick and the poor amongst us, and our churches still need monetary aid and every other kind of assistance we can render them. We should therefore seek by our personal and combined efforts to relieve the sick, help the poor, and to propagate the great truths of our holy religion. Perhaps our readers may not have the genius of a Milton, or the learning of a Leland, or the science of a Newton, or the reasoning powers of a Locke, yet they may all have the liberal heart of Christ, and possess a disposition to do all the temporal and spiritual good they possibly can. Let then our Christian Missionary societies, tract societies, Sabbath school institutions, Bible societies, mechanics' institutes, &c., have all the aid we can render them. While therefore you are thus engaged seek for divine wisdom and strength. And may "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen." 2 Cor. xiii. 14. "Prepare to meet thy God." WILLIAM BIRKS.

already been sent to the mis- Bowen. The children had la

Poetry.

TIME, MISSION, AND DESTINY:
Or, Verses for the Year 1864.

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send me."-ISAIAH VI. 8.

'Tis like those vap'rous clouds that soar Is running fast-and soon will come