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and had indeed already enrolled themselves as disciples of the Lamb of God who should take away the sin of the world.

3rd. Let your great aim be to endeavour to ascertain the purpose the speaker had in view, or, in other words, the stand-point from which to view the narrative. In doing this, try to read and study continuously the whole subject in its broad bearings before going into its details. The great Locke said that he never understood the Epistle to the Romans till he read it through very carefully at one sitting. You gather the aim of the writer in this way just as you would understand a letter from a friend much better by reading it through at once.

In studying a passage, the finding the stand-point will often solve the difficulty. Thus, in the parable of the unjust steward, a totally wrong meaning is given to the parable by treating it as if the steward had embezzled his master's goods, whereas his master accused him of wasting them. The object of the steward, therefore, in getting the tenants to understate their rents was, in the first place, to make his master's income smaller, and thus to show his master that he had not wasted his income. His lord did not detect the cheat, and hence commended him as having so fully cleared himself. Christ adds to the Pharisees the significant comment on this parable, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts."

In doing all this remember that prayer is the pulse of the soul, and that where it does not exist the soul can have no life. But where you daily draw fresh draughts at the wells of salvation, the Word of God will be a source of joy and peace, fitting for the life that now is in preparation for that which is to come.

Do not consider the Sabbath as the only day for this study. If you are closely engaged all the weck

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mind may need rest.

your Therefore, I would have you prosecute your religious study during the week, and let your mind be taxed less on the Sabbath, reading such books and engaging in such services as are calculated more to affect the heart than to tax the mind. You ought to spend more time than usual on God's holy day in your closet, in reading the Scriptures, and prayer. But besides the Bible, I would particularly recommend religious biographies, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,' and works upon sacred literature. But secular history, or any books or papers of a secular character, should be avoided on the holy Sabbath. A portion of the evening of the Sabbath, before retiring to rest, should be spent in reviewing the day, recollecting the sermons, examining how you have kept the day, and seeking in prayer the pardon of what has been amiss, and God's blessing on all the services in which you have been engaged.

A Sabbath thus spent will be a blessing to you, not only for the six days following, but as long as you live. It will contribute to the formation of religious habits that you will be thankful for to the day of your death. And when you become accustomed to spending your Sabbaths thus, so far from finding them long and tedious days, you will find them the most delightful of the seven, and will only regret that they are TOO SHORT-they come to an end before you have finished all the good designs you have formed.

THE fact that God has set apart a day to himself, and commanded us to keep it holy, would naturally lead us to conclude that he would order his Providence so as to favour its observance. We have only need to examine the subject to be convinced that he does so. When his ancient people, the children of Israel, refused to keep his Sabbaths, and trampled his holy day under foot, he emptied them out of the land, and caused them to be carried off into a strange country, and to remain there seventy years. This was threatened in Leviticus, xxvi, 34, 35: "Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her Sabbaths.

As long as it did not rest in

lieth desolate, it shall rest; because it your Sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it." In 2 Chron. xxxvi, 20, 21, this is referred to as one of the principal reasons why they were carried away to Babylon: "And them that escaped the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfil

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the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate, she kept Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."

GOD PUNISHES SABBATH-BREAKERS.

I CAN think of no reason why God, in his holy Providence, should not punish Sabbath-breakers now as well as then. I have no doubt that he does. If we could see the design of his Providence, as it is explained in the Bible, no one would doubt it. Sir Matthew Hale, after a long and laborious public life, declared, as the result of his experience, that he found his affairs prosper, during the week, just in proportion to the strictness with which he had observed the Sabbath; and that he had never met with success in any business which was planned on the Sabbath.

I might fill this book with narratives of accidents that have happened to young people, while seeking their pleasure on the Lord's day. Scarcely a week occurs, in the summer season, but the papers contain accounts of parties of young people drowned while taking Sabbath excursions on the water, or of young men and boys drowned while bathing on the Lord's day. Many very striking accounts of this kind have been collected and published in tracts. And a great many facts of a more general nature have also been published, in various forms, showing that it is profitable to keep the Sabbath, and unprofitable and dangerous to break it. My object in this place, is simply to impress on the minds of my readers the very important influence which the proper observance of the Sabbath has in the formation of character. And I wish them to follow the youth through

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life who has been accustomed to keep the Sabbath, and who continues to keep it; and then follow the course of one who has, in early life, been accustomed to disregard God's holy day. And one thought, in particular, I desire you to ponder well, The Sabbath-breaker cannot expect God's protection. And, if God forsakes you, what will become of you?

A party of young people set out for a sail on the Sabbath day. One of the young ladies told her brother that she felt very bad to think she was breaking the Sabbath, and she must return home. But he entreated her not to spoil his pleasure, for he should not enjoy it, unless she went with him; and to please him she consented to go. The boat was upset, and she was drowned. The distracted brother now gave vent to his grief in the most bitter lamentation. He had been the means of her death. There he stood, wringing his hands in agony, and exclaiming, "O! what shall I do! How can I see my father's face!"

THE YOUNG SABBATH-BREAKER.

THERE was a boy in Boston, the son of respectable parents, who gave promise of becoming a respectable and useful man. He stood well in school, and had the reputation of being a good scholar. He attended the Sabbath school, and appeared to be a good boy. His mother was endeavouring to bring him up in the way he should But on one Sabbath, he was persuaded by some bad boys not to go to Sabbath school, but to go with them to Chelsea. This was his first step in the down-hill road. The next thing was to conceal his conduct from his mother. She asked him if he had been to Sabbath school, and he said he had.

go.