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have tried to do. Do your children ever hear you speak lightly and disrespectfully of those who labour after their souls? If teachers have thought proper to reprove, have you listened to your children's tales, and believed their side of the story? And have your children heard you blame those teachers who are labouring after their precious souls? Alas! then what is to be done? Why plant such thorns for Sundayschool teachers? Have they not discouragements enough? They beseech, they warn, they instruct Sabbath after Sabbath. And while they are thus labouring, what are many parents about? It is to be feared, acting ungratefully and in an unchristian manner to these kind instructors. Parents, how many hearts do you cause to ache on a Sabbath-day? Not only the hearts of your ministers, but of other fellow-labourers engaged with them in their work.

Now, let me ask you, What do your children's Sabbath teachers get by their labours? Are they paid for their kindness? No, they labour for their Lord. And yet you often treat them as if allowing your children to go to school did them some good-as if a Sabbath teacher's was a moneymaking post.

But I would turn to another class of parents. Far be it from me to infer that all parents act in this ungrateful manner. I have seen many cases to the contrary. Where is the mother or father who knows the value of a soul? Are not the souls of their children dearer to them than their mortal bodies? With what joy do they hail Sabbath-school teachers who are labouring to train their little ones for heaven. Christian

mother, have you a child under the care of a pious instructor? and do you believe that your child's soul is made the first object in the Sunday-school? O, then, I can fancy you seeking to help your teacher in three ways.

1st. By prayer. You will beseech the Lord often and earnestly to bless all the teacher's instructions.

2nd. You will try, by your conduct and conversation, to support your child's teacher at home; and will not (before your child) say anything to lower her character, or to weaken her pupil's opinion of her.

3rd. You will look upon your child's teacher as an instrument (you hope) for your child's best interests; and therefore you will shew and feel gratitude.

Suppose your child is snatched as a brand out of the burning by the means of its teacher; I ask you, Can you ever thank that teacher enough?

EUNICE.

A MOTHER'S FAITH AND LOVE.

WHEN the bloody procession was over, Leclarc was made to stop at the usual place of execution. The executioner prepared the fire, heated the iron which was to sear the flesh of the minister of the Gospel, and approaching him, branded him as a heretic on the forehead. Just then a shriek was uttered, but it came not from the martyr. His mother, a witness of the dreadful sight, in the anguish of her soul, endured a violent struggle between the obedience of faith, and her strong maternal feelings; but her faith overcame, and she exclaimed, in a voice that made her adversaries tremble, "Glory be to Jesus Christ and his witnesses."

Thus did this Frenchwoman of the 16th century have respect to the word of the Son of God-"Whosoever loveth his son more than me, is not worthy of me."

Their fury The crowd mother to

So daring a courage, at such a moment, might have seemed to demand instant punishment; but that Christian mother had struck powerless the hearts of priests and soldiers. was restrained by a mightier arm than theirs. falling back, and making way for her, allowed the regain, with faltering step, her humble dwelling. Monks, and even the town sergeants themselves, gazed on her without moving. "Not one of her enemies," says Beza, "durst put forth his hand against her."

66 THE DEVIL HELPED ME."

M. B. was tried and found guilty, and executed at the Old Bailey on the 5th January, for having murdered an old woman with whom she lodged. I am not going to enter into the particulars of this sad case, further than to quote the wretched woman's reply, when asked "how she managed to raise the body from the bed where she committed the deed, to the box upon which it was found?" She said, "I suppose the devil helped me." What an appalling reply, and yet how true! Let us mark the fearful words, for whenever we sin by thought, word, or deed, it is Satan who helps us. Surely we should take warning by M. B.'s fate. She might have been "ignorant of Satan's devices" before the crime was committed; but her conscience soon after awoke to the enormity of her guilt, and she at once confessed the source from whence she derived assistance to complete the horrid deed. It was from beneath-from him who is styled "a murderer from the beginning." She had forgotten, or never heeded, the admonition: "Satan, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." He found her, like the first woman, willing to listen to the temptation

which he presented to her in the form of a covetous desire. This desire of possessing the money could not be gratified (at least M. B. thought so) while the owner was alive; and then the tempter further suggested, were she out of the way, her object would be attained. The murder followed!

Let us "beware of covetousness." “The love of money is the root of all evil." Is it not a sin peculiar to the present day? Are not thousands "hasting to be rich"? And if this evil ends not in murdering others, it has, in many cases, driven its hapless victims to the no less crime of self murder.

But let us pass on, and see how M. B.'s words have been verified in past ages, as well as at the present time. We have alluded to man's first fall. We may go on to view that of Cain, Moses, David, Hezekiah, Peter, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, and Demas. Some were eminent saints of God, and fell to rise again; but of others, we have no account of "that godly sorrow" having taken place," which worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of." In all these cases, sin was committed, and, no doubt, "the devil helped them;" as it is expressly stated in holy writ, (but in other words,) that "Satan moved David to number Israel." He beguiled Eve through his subtilty: she was the dupe of Satan's falsehood, and found, to her cost, that "Evil pursueth sinners." Thus he still cheats his victims by making fair promises before he entangles them in his net, and then the deluded sinner finds the bitter consequences of listening to his wiles; for sin, at the last, "biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." But we should recollect the difference between us and Eve. She was upright-she had no previous bias to evil, when the Serpent came to her but when he comes to us, he finds his way, as it were, prepared his work is half done! There is a traitor within! We may compare his temptations to sparks, and our hearts to tinder, which readily catcheth fire.

Oh! then, how earnestly should we "watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation," and particularly when we are told, in God's unerring word, that Satan is "the ruler of the darkness of this world;" that he has legions of evil spirits at his command, willing -nay, anxious-to assist him in ruining souls, our souls. His means of temptation are many and various, and he always suits them to our peculiar situations, our peculiar dispositions. At every moment, and on every side, we are exposed to his subtilty—we are beset by his snares. Should not we, then, be sober, be vigilant? Should we not put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil? "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Let us remember Hazael of old, who being warned by the prophet that he would murder his king, indignantly replied, "What! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing !" And, no doubt, the unhappy young wo man, who has caused these remarks to flow from my pen, had she been told a few short weeks ago, that she, too, would become

a murderer, would have as strongly denied the possibility of such an abominable action.

Oh! how little do we know ourselves! "The heart is, indeed, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" And this truth should lead us to deep humility and fervent prayer for divine grace to uphold us, every step we go, or we are sure to become a prey to the great enemy of souls. We are urged to "resist the devil," and promised that if we do," he will flee from us." Our blessed Saviour resisted him by "the sword of the Spirit," which is "the word of God;" thus leaving us an ensample that we should follow his steps. David, the man after God's own heart, amidst all his trials, declares, "I betake myself unto prayer," and, no doubt, alluding to one of Satan's temptations exclaims, "Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall; but the Lord helped me." Thanks be unto God! greater is he that is for us than he who is against us! "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him; to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will help them." "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him." Cry, then, mightily unto God, and plead the merits of Him who has bruised the serpent's head, that he will, of his infinite mercy, strengthen such as do stand, raise up them that fall, and finally beat down Satan under our feet.

E. S.

EXTRACTS FROM MOFFAT'S "MISSIONARY LABOURS IN SOUTH AFRICA."

SEVERAL families had been carried off by the kuatsi. Among them was a married woman, who had been a very diligent enquirer after divine truth. Before the disease began to assume a fatal appearance, she spoke very clearly on the immense value of the instructions, to which she had lately paid so much attention; at the same time, professing the most lively hope of eternal life, through the atonement of Jesus. A few days subsequent to this declaration, feeling that the harbingers of death had arrived, she called her husband and friends, and addressed them in language affecting and arousing, exhorting them to believe in the words of Jehovah, to flee for refuge to Jesus as the only Saviour. "I am going to die." This was startling language from the lips of a Mochuana. Some listened with amazement, and others wept. "Weep not," she said, "because I am going to leave you, but weep for your sins, and weep for your souls. With me all is well; for do not suppose that I die like a beast, or that I shall sleep for ever in the grave. No; Jesus has died for my sins; he has said he will save me. I am going to be with him.'

Shortly after bearing this testimony, she, who a few months before, according to her own language, was as ignorant as the cattle in the fold, now left the world with the full assurance of an eternal life beyond the grave.

Five Bechuanas made public profession of their faith in the Gospel. Most of these were foreigners, who, by the wars in the interior, had, in the mysterious providence of God, been brought by a way they knew not to find an eternal home by becoming fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and often did they endeavour to describe, with native eloquence, the distin. guishing love and mercy of that God who had directed their feet to the Kruman mission. Mamonyatsi, one of these, some years after died in the faith. She was a Matabele captive, and had accompanied me from the interior; had remained some time in the service of Mrs. M.; and early displayed a readiness to learn to read, with much quickness of understanding. From the time of her being united with the church, till the day of her death, she was a living epistle of the power of the Gospel. Once, while visiting the sick, as I entered her premises, I found her sitting weeping, with a portion of the word of God in her hand. Addressing her, I said, “ My child, what is the cause of your sorrow? Is the baby still unwell?" "No," she replied; "my baby is well." "Your mother-in-law?" I inquired. "No, no," she said; "it is my own dear mother who bore me." Here she again gave vent to her grief, and, holding out the Gospel of Luke in a hand wet with tears, she said, “ My mother will never see this word; she will never hear this good news!" She wept again and again, and said, "Oh! my mother and my friends, they live in heathen darkness; and shall they die without seeing the light that has shone on me, and without tasting that love which I have tasted?" Raising her eyes to heaven, she sighed a prayer, and I heard the words again, "My mother, my mother!" This was the expression of the affection of one of Afric's sable daughters, whose heart had been taught to mourn over the ignorance of a far distant mother. Shortly after this evidence of divine love in her soul, I was called upon to watch her dying pillow, and descended with her to Jordan's bank. feared no rolling billow. She looked on the babe to which she had but lately given birth, and commended it to the care of her God and Saviour. The last words I heard from her faltering lips were, "My mother!"

COLPORTEURS IN FRANCE.

She

"I PUT up at the only inn of the place, which was crowded with a great number of merchants who had come to the fair, which was to be held the following day. I had taken my supper with the rest, and had noticed opposite to me at the table a short person of goodly presence, and about forty years of age, who, by his conversation and manners, seemed to carry a great sway over the petty dealers around him. Whatever was the subject of discourse, every one yielded to his opinion. The affairs of government, of trade and commerce, all were discussed in succession, until at length the priests, and after them the subject of religion was treated in the most blasphemous manner. The person who played the leading

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