A. Breaking vows. Q. What was the Mosaic law concerning vows? Q. What does Solomon say on the subject of vows? Q. What vows are upon all Christians? A. Their baptismal vows. Q. How are we to pay our baptismal vows? A. By obedience, faith, and repentance. Q. What does St. Paul say is the lawful use of oaths? A. Heb. vi. 16. Q. What commandment forbids false oaths? A. The 9th commandment. Q. How does our Saviour guard his followers against rash or idle words? A. "Let your communication be yea, yea," &c. (ver. 37.) Q. Which of the apostles recommends the same simplicity of speech? A. St. James, chap. v. 12. Q. What is meant by this? A. That a plain declaration is sufficient for a Christian; and that the words of such a one require no oath to make them believed. Q. Which commandment is next commented on by our Lord? A. The sixth. Q. What was the measure of justice under the Mo saic law? A." Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." (Lev. xxiv. 20; Ex. xxi. 24.) Q. By whom was that punishment to be exacted? A. By those who were appointed to administer justice. Q. Does our Saviour forbid this law, by which the judges of the land punish crimes? A. No: but he taught his followers not to indulge private revenge, as some of the Jews did-by interpreting Moses improperly. Q. What does he teach us by his tone of authority; I say unto you? A. That he had divine authority, for he was equal with God, and was God. Q. What Christian graces does our Lord enforce in the 39th and following verses? A. Meekness and long-suffering. Q. In what short sentence does St. Paul sum up these instructions of our Lord? A. "Follow peace with all men." M. B. A. THE WISE MAN. "HE that is his own teacher has a fool for his master." So said St. Bernard several hundred years ago. But people who are proud of their own opinions, will not listen to this saint, or to any other :-neither will they hearken to the voice of Scripture, when it teaches them the very same truth, and when it tells them that it is the "fool" who is "wise in his own eyes." The same Scriptures declare to us, that the Christian's privilege and happiness is-to be taught of God." And it is an everlasting truth, which all the cavils of scoffers and unbelievers cannot shake, that whilst those who neglect God, slight his Scriptures, and resist his Spirit, are tossed to and fro by every change in the affairs of the world, he whose desire and whose endeavour it is to make the will of God his rule, soon discovers that he is secure and safe: he is defended against the vexation which harms others,—and, in the midst of troubles, he is at peace. Let every one, then, who would pursue a safe course, pursue that which God's word points out :-at all times let him ask himself what is God's will," Lord what wouldst THOU have me to do?" There never, from the time when Christ first taught his Gospel to mankind, has been a single person who has resolutely pursued this course, and has had cause to repent of it, and to say, that, in choosing God for his guide, he has been sorry for his choice. And there never has been a man, who has acted in opposition to this rule, who has not had cause to be sorry for the choice that he has made. be so. Let every Christian look at this evidence of the truth of God's word. If ever there was peculiar need of thinking of this truth, it is at the present moment. Numbers of persons are employed in teaching strange doctrines, some denying the truth of God's word, and some despising it: and such is the corruption of human nature, that numbers will listen to their ruinous falsehoods, and rush along the "broad road to destruction," whilst few in comparison will tread the "narrow path" which leadeth to peace, and to everlasting "life." But our Lord himself foretold us that it would Now I am as confident as that I now hold my pen in my hand, that every man who listens to these false teachers, and pursues the course which they advise, is, at every step of his sin, going nearer and nearer to misery,-and that, instead of the riches promised, he shall find deeper poverty, and, instead of the ease and liberty promised, he shall find slavish bondThe word of God cannot lie age and distress. "BLESSED is the man that putteth his trust in HIM." But whoso breaketh God's commandments and teacheth others to do the same, it were better for him "that a millstone were hanged about his neek, and he were cast into the sea. "Be ye not followers of them.” Will any one say from his conscience, that those who are now endeavouring to agitate and distress the country, and to bring about changes, are really men who fear God?—If not, He was no good change can come from them. indeed the wisest of men, who said, after long experience and deep consideration, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." * Solomon. V. Verses by a Young Person 87 VERSES BY A YOUNG PERSON BETWEEN THIRTEEN AND FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE. If the Editor has not seen the following lines, perhaps he may think them worthy of a place in his Monthly Visitor. They were written by a young person, who lived with her father on Maidenhead Thicket. The introduction to her book, (from which they were taken) says, they were the unassisted productions of Mary Anne Browne, who had passed the few years of her life, altogether in a state of country retirement, unacquainted with poets, except through their works, and guided by no other rules than her own feelings and imagination.-1827. C. S. SAW "WATCH AND PRAY." ye where the Saviour kept Did ye listen to the Lord, And receive his hallow'd word? Heard ye your Redeemer say To his followers "Watch and Pray." Not to them alone that call It was given alike to all All in pleasure, all in pain They that serve, and they that reign,— All alike are mortal dust, Vain is every earthly trust; None can see how soon they may Rich men in your palaces, Maiden in thy beauty's pride, Know'st thou, though in life's young bloom, There the fairest flowers must wither- Oh! whilst lovely, "Watch and Pray." Peasant in thy lowly cot, Murmuring at thy humble lot, Earthly wealth will not endure; Who, while here, will" Watch and Pray." THE RICK BURNERS. WE do not profess to be reviewers of books, but, if we were, we should recommend a tract called The Rick Burners; which is the history of a poor man, who had once something like a knowledge of religion, and a regard for what was good: he was an industrious man, and content to serve under a worthy farmer, who was anxious to do what was right towards those who laboured for him. But this labourer was led into the ways of wickedness by some people who called themselves his friends; they tempted him to the ale-house, they taught him to despise the Bible, and to laugh at the ministers of religion. And, as God forsakes those who forsake HIM, this poor man was led on, from one crime to another; every thing that was done by those above him seemed to be wrong; and every thing that |