know, your royal highness." "What has he been doing?' "Purloining the oats, your royal highness; and I discharged him." "What, sir! send him away without acquainting me! not know whither he is gone! a fatherless boy driven into the world from my service with a blighted character! Why, the poor fellow will be destroyed. Mr. I did not expect this from you. Seek him out, sir, and let me not see you till you have discovered him." Tom was found, and brought before his royal master. He hung down his head, while the tears trickled from his eyes. After looking stedfastly at him for some moments, “Tom, Tom," said the prince, "what have you been doing? Happy it is for your poor father that he is gone; it would have broken his heart to see you in such a situation. I hope this is your first offence? The youth wept bitterly. Ah, Tom, I am glad to see that you are penitent. Your father was an honest man; I had a great regard for him; so I should have for you, if you were a good lad, for his sake. Now, if I desire Mr. to take you into the stable again, do you think that I may trust you?" Tom wept still more vehemently, implored forgiveness, and promised reformation. "Well, then," said the prince, "you shall be restored. Avoid evil company: go, and recover your character: be diligent, be honest, and make me your friend; and, hark yoụ, Tom, I will take care that no one shall ever taunt you with what is past." The result of this little circumstance is not stated, neither the authority by which it is authenticated; yet, unfinished as it is, it is not wholly without instruction. Since an earthly ruler, however frail and imperfect his character, can take this interest in the welfare of an erring servant, can thus pity his destitute condition, and aim at restoring him to the right path, will not our heavenly Father manifest his love to backsliding, guilty sinners like ourselves? His own word repeatedly and expressly declares his readiness to receive and restore our souls. His own language is, "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? How shall I give thee up? Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings," Hosea vi. 4; xi. 8: Jer. iii. 22. " Will ye also go away ?" John vi. 67. Let us then reply, "Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God. Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son," Jer. iii. 22; John vi. 69; Luke xv. 18. But thou alone hast power, I know, No love but thine can make me blest, Nor let it be forgotten, that special promises are made to the children of "them that love God and keep his commandments," Exod. xx. "The promise is unto you, and to your children," Acts ii. 39. Let the advice of king David to Solomon his son be remembered, "Know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind': if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever," 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. A NOBLE CHRISTIAN MINER. Ar a meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, the Rev. R. Young, of Truro, mentioned a very remarkable fact that had taken place in Cornwall: "Two men were working together in a mine, and having prepared to blast the rock, and laid the train, the latter became by accident lighted. In a few minutes a tremendous explosion they knew was inevitable, and the rock must be rent in a thousand pieces. On perceiving their danger, they both leaped into the bucket, and called to the man on the surface to draw them up. He endeavoured to do so, but his arm was found too feeble to raise the bucket while both the men were in it. What was to be done? The burning fuse, which could not be extinguished, was now within a few feet of the powder; a moment or two, and the explosion must take place. At this awful crisis, one of the men, addressing the other, said, 'You shall live, and I will die ; for an impenitent sinner, and if you now die, your soul will be lost; but if I die, I know that, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I shall be taken to himself.' And so saying, without waiting for a reply, he leaped out of the bucket, and prayerfully waited the result. On the other reaching the you are surface he bent over the shaft to ascertain the fate of his companion. At that moment a terrific explosion was heard; a portion of the rock was thrown up and smote him on the forehead, leaving an indelible mark to remind him of his danger and deliverance. But the man of God, when they came to search for him, was found arched over by the fragments of broken rock in the mine, uninjured, and rejoicing in the Lord. This magnanimous miner exhibited in this act an amount of disinterested love and charity which has seldom been equalled, and is never found but in connexion with the love of Christ. Here is none of that unholy daring of which we see instances among the heroes of Greece and Rome, who, actuated solely by a love of notoriety, inflicted upon themselves tortures, and even death; but that pure Christian charity which, at all hazards, even at the sacrifice of life itself, seeks to save the immortal soul of man." TRACT ANECDOTES, FACTS, ETC. CHRISTIANS ARE FELLOW WORKERS WITH GOD. THE late Mr. Kilpin, of Exeter, frequently gave a small parcel of tracts to Christian friends who called upon him, and generally took a strong pledge, which he called a promissory note, that they should be personally distributed. A member of a Christian church in Devonshire received a small supply in this manner, but they remained in his house long neglected. His religious sentiments were what are generally termed "high," and he seldom felt it his duty to employ any kind of instrumentality for extending the knowledge of the Redeemer. His favourite creed was "God will do his own work," forgetting that he is pleased to employ his people as his instruments for its accomplishment. He however could not forget the pledge which he had given to Mr. K. He had occasion to travel a short distance from home, and he determined to take the tracts with him, and so get rid of his engagement. He met several wild and thoughtless young men, to whom he offered tracts. "Be they religious books?" said one of the youths, and on finding they were, he told the distributor to keep them himself. Now the worthy brother had but little zeal in the cause, and on the first repulse he retreated. He went on his way, but his conscience told him he had not done all he might have done. He accordingly returned, and conversed with the youth who had positively rejected "the silent monitor," and eventually prevailed on him to accept it. The distributor afterwards discovered that it pleased God to make the tract the means of convincing the young man of sin, and he eventually became a decided follower of the Redeemer. He felt anxious to be useful to others, and having acceptable talents he was called to the work of the ministry, and became an active labourer in the vineyard of the Lord. How useful a small donation of tracts may be when given with an affectionate charge to circulate them, and how important it is to feel that God permits his people to "be fellow workers with him" in leading prodigals to himself. BURMAH. From the late Report, July, 1846, of the Tavoy Baptist Missionary Society. Tavoy. The Burmese assistant has been accompanied by a missionary in his visits to the villages in the neighbourhood this year, and tracts and books have been distributed in twentyone villages. The word of truth has been faithfully preached, and several thousand tracts in Burmese, as well as many in Tamul and Bengali, have been distributed in town and in the villages. Books are well received, and we have reason to believe read also, for the number of good readers met with in the villages this year was greater than was found before. In one instance a man had a tract he received nine years since, which had often been read, and he was anxious for more. One man, on receiving a tract consisting of the three first chapters of Genesis, after reading a few verses, exclaimed, "Now I have got an account of the origin of things, this is what I want." Many such interesting incidents are met with in tract distribution. TRACTS IN INDIA. One of the cases of the usefulness of tracts mentioned by Mr. Osborne, was that of a young man who was brought to the knowledge and the faith of the gospel by the Society's English tract, "Remarks on Infidelity.' Another was that of a woman who could not herself read, but in whose case the Lord blessed the hearing of the truth read from one of the tracts of the Society, and, if we mistake not, read by a heathen. Thus doth the promise of God stand firm, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." But the good wrought by the Tract Society is undoubtedly far more extensive than can ever be reported, or than will ever be known till the day of the revelation of the secret things of God. In fact, as Mr. Sutton truly said, there is scarcely a conversion among us in which the Tract Society is not honoured by God to be one of the agents in producing it. When a sinner is awakened by the preaching of the missionary, the impression is strengthened by the tract which he receives at the close of the address. When the heart-stricken sinner comes to the missionary for instruction and advice, he has a tract put into his hand, which he reads and meditates upon in the privacy of his retirement, or as he walks by the way, or rests under the spreading tree. In fact, in almost every case in which sinners are converted in this land, the reading of tracts is one of the instrumentalities employed by God in carrying out his gracious purposes. CHILDREN. AND this sweet social commerce with thy children groweth as their growth, Unless thou fail of duty, or have weaned them by their absence. Keep them near thee, rear them well, guide, correct, instruct them; And be the playmate of their games, the judge in their complainings. So shall the maiden and the youth lean on thee, their sympathizing friend, And bring their joys to share with thee, their sorrows for consoling; Yea, their inmost hopes shall yearn to thee for counsel, They will not hide their very loves, if thou hast won their trust; Thou shalt be a Nestor in the camp, the just and good old man, No secret shall be kept from thee; for, if ill, thy wisdom may repair it; If well, thy praise is precious; and they would not miss that prize. The young unawed, the old unchilled, in unreserved communion! And finding there the last to blame, the earliest to commend. LUTHER'S EVENING HYMN. |