your private duties of reading, meditation, self-examination, and prayer. 5. Carry tracts and good books with you to read, distribute, or lend, according to circumstances. 6. Seek opportunities to do good to the souls of those into whose society you may fall. 7. Never, by deed or conversation, appear to be ashamed of your religious profession. 8. Remember you are to "stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." Let me entreat you to read these items of advice over and over again, and recur to them in every time of temptation. They are the affectionate warning of one who knows the danger of your situation, and whose heart's desire and prayer to God is that you may maintain your Christian integrity, honour God, live in obedience to His will, and enjoy the peace which can alone spring from a "conscience void of offence," "because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart." THE LIVING SACRIFICE. ST. PAUL enjoins us, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." How, some will say, can the body become a sacrifice? Let the eye dwell on nothing evil, and it becomes a sacrifice; let the tongue utter nothing base and ungodly, and it becomes an offering; let the hand lend itself to nothing unlawful, and it becomes a holocaust, a whole burnt-offering. Nay, this is not enough: it is further required of us to work that which is good. Let the hand distribute alms and help; let the mouth edify others, and bless those who insult and wrong us; and let none but divine and goodly words attract our ears. Let us, then, offer our hands, and feet, and lips, and all our other members, as first-fruits to God. Such a sacrifice is acceptable to Him from them who are "one body in Christ.' In the strength of Christ's good 77 Spirit we must destroy the old man, we must mortify and kill our fleshly lusts, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds; and, ceasing to be conformed to the world, crucify the world to ourselves. We shall then want neither knife, nor altar, nor fire; yet shall we rather want all these, but not made with hands; for all will come to us from above, both the fire and the knife; and our altar will be broad as the heaven itself.-Chrysostom. "THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH." (Romans vi. 23.) I HEARD a Minister, not long since, while preaching on the nature and deceptive influence of sin, make use of the following illustration : 6 "Suppose," said the preacher, "an individual should go to the blacksmith, and say to him, 'I wish you to make me a very long and heavy chain. Here are the dimensions; have it done at such a time, and I will pay you the cash for it.' The blacksmith is pressed with other and more important work; but, for the sake of the money, he commences the chain, and, after toiling hard many days, finishes it. The individual calls. Have you made that chain ?' Yes, Sir, here it is.' That is very well done. A good chain; but it is not long enough!' Why, it is just the length you told me to make it.' 'O, yes; but I have concluded to have it much longer than at first. Work on it another day or two, I will then call and pay you for it.' And, thus flattered with praise, and encouraged with the promise of full reward for his labour, he toils on, adding link to link, till the appointed time, when his employer calls again, and, as before, praises his work; but still he insists that the chain is too short.' 'But,' says the blacksmith, 'I can 78 where her true resource lay, saved SCENE IN A RAGGED-SCHOOL. do no more. My iron is expended, and so is my strength. I need the pay for what I have done, and can do no more till I have it!' 'O, never mind; I think you have the means of adding a few links more; the chain will then answer the purpose for which it is intended, and you shall be fully rewarded for all your labour.' With his remaining strength, and a few scraps of iron, he adds the last link of which he is capable. Then says his employer, 'The chain is a good one; you have toiled long and hard to make it. I see that you can do no more; and now you shall have your reward.' But, instead of paying the money, he takes the chain, binds the labourer, hand and foot, and casts him into a furnace of fire! Such," said the preacher, "is a course of sin! It promises much, but its reward is death; and each sin is an additional link to that chain which will confine the transgressor in the prison-house of hell! Now, therefore, be ᎩᎾ not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.' There happened to be in the congregation that day a blacksmith, who had lived a very wicked life. He was much excited; and, at the close of the meeting, declared that the whole discourse had been directed to him; and he wished to know "who had been telling the preacher all about him." The preacher had never even heard that there was such a man; but in the course of the week he had the pleasure of knowing him as a brother in Christ. OMNIPOTENCE OF PRAYER. THE Scripture is full of facts that prove what may be called the omnipotence of prayer. Prayer is omnipotent, as it takes hold of the hand of God. Haman, being not a man of prayer, fell down from the highest pinnacle; but Esther, who knew SCENE IN A RAGGED-SCHOOL. IF I were asked, says a writer in the "Christian Times," which is the wildest, the most wretched, portion of west London, I should say Drurylane. The street itself, and every court which leads out of it, overflows with filth, and sin, and crime. But it must not be forgotten that honest poor are often found mingled Iwith the felon and the thief. The charity that "suffereth long and is kind" goes into this den of immorality, and, fixing upon a spot in the very heart of it, settles down there, and begins her good work. On a Friday morning I find myself in the chief room of the school, which was discovered, after a long search, amidst the purlieus of Claremarket. The time approaches the hour of one P.M., and I see seated round the room upwards of a score of children - rags and pale faces, with that peculiar set of the hair which indicates poverty; sallow cheeks and sunken eyes-but there are here also brave people who go into the hardest and hottest strife, who are careless of the praise of the world, whose highest joy is doing good. These people are beside me, A benevolent old man, a Q.C. and METHODISTS IN THE MILITIA. M.P., whose name for philanthropy is known throughout the world, walks round the tables, and speaks kindly words to the poverty-stricken guests. A kind lady, whose goodness sometimes, nay, frequently, assumes the form of substantial viands, is going about the room; and her presence falls like sunshine upon the ragged ones. But the baker has come with a huge joint of meat; and the superintendent, who has the rare quality of seeming to be everywhere at all times, is slicing away at it; kind-hearted ladies are acting as waiters; and sunken eyes begin to flash, and pallid cheeks begin to glow. Every little one, from three years old and upwards, is helped; then all rise, and, to the plaintive music of "Martyrdom," ask God to bless the food of which they are about to partake. Remember that food of this kind is strange to these little ones. But the feeding is but a small portion of the good work done. There are dayschools for boys and girls; there is an infant-school; an evening-school for elder girls; a boys' night-school; and there is a Sunday-school. And, more than this, there is a mothers'-meeting, always well attended, which is superintended by the lady already named. There is a penny-bank, penny-readings; and for twopence you may become a member of the Clare-market Institute, which entitles you to books and newspapers, &c., &c., and a comfortable room. There is also a lending-library; and we may hope that the book taken home by the little girl or boy may help towards the reformation of a depraved father or mother. The superintendent invites me to supper. He tells me that my companions will be poor boys, who are engaged at business during the day. I accept the invitation. Through the flaring market, past the noisy 79 public-houses, I come once more to the principal room of the Claremarket - schools. The scene is changed. On the faces of the poor boys is a look that speaks of struggling with the world. Half-past eight is the appointed hour for supper. The clock over the fireplace points to the half-hour. The guests concentrate their looks on the door. It soon opens; and in enters a baker with a portly tray on his head. The expectant boys breathe with a feeling of relief. An elderly man, whose breakfast and dinner has been a cup of coffee, is treated to an ample plate of roast-meat with pudding and potatoes. The friend who accompanied me said, when we reached Lincoln's Inn Fields,-there were tears on his cheeks,-"That school seems to me like a new heart put into a diseased body. I hope it may, by its healthy pulsations, spread wholesome life everywhere." SENTENCE FOR THOUGHT. IF, upon the invitation of an earthly prince, we be held disengaged, though preoccupied with a thousand avocations, how much more, upon an audience fixed and about to be holden with the King of kings, doth it become us to break loose from all thraldom of men and things, and be arrayed in liberty of thought and action; to drink in the rivers of His pleasure, and perform the commission of His lips? METHODISTS IN THE MILITIA, IN a few weeks the militia regiments of the nation will be mustered in many towns. On Sundays the men will be paraded for Divine worship, and marched to various churches. Many in these regiments are Wesleyans. They belong to Methodist families, schools, and chapels; and, if they choose, they 80 A PRAYER FOR DIVINE GUIDANCE. can attend their own place of worship during the period of their training. Wesleyan militiamen will do well to avail themselves of their privilege to go to their own chapel. Let them see that they are properly entered as Wesleyans. It is a mistake to suppose that any commanding officer can compel them to go first to the parade-service of another church. The Queen's regulations say, on that subject: "Commanding officers of regiments are to be particularly attentive that no soldier, being a Roman Catholic, or of any religious persuasion differing from the Established Church, is to be compelled to attend the Divine worship of the Church of England; but that every soldier is to be at full liberty to attend the worship of Almighty God according to the forms prescribed by his own religion, when military duty does not interfere." Let all Wesleyan-Methodist Ministers and earnest laymen unite to welcome our men of the militia when they are quartered in their Circuits; and strive, by God's help, to save their souls whilst they wear their regimentals; and then they will go to their homes to strengthen many a village Society. If any difficulty of an official kind arises, it will be well for the Ministers to act according to the circular addressed to them by the President of the Conference on the subject. Our Class-leaders, Sunday-school teachers, Methodist fathers, mothers, relations, and friends should seek earnestly to impress on their acquaintance, or kindred, in the militia, the importance of worshipping with their own Church, and of making themselves known to the Ministers in the town where they are drilled. Every man in her Majesty's service has the right to worship God according to the custom and form of his own people. This right is not questioned in high quarters; but certain officious people do sometimes exercise illegally their power. The day has now come when the children of Methodism should assert their rights, and no longer be driven like dumb cattle into strange pastures, or folds that are not their homes. If Methodists in the militia are true to their name and duty this year, their number will be soon manifest, and great good will be the result. Chatham. C. H. K. A PRAYER FOR DIVINE "He shall choose our inheritance for us." (Ps. xlvii. 4) GRACIOUS Father, Thou shalt choose My inheritance for me: When my helpers pass away, Strength according to my day! Help me, Lord, my cross to bear, All my way to Thee commit; Let my care on Thee be cast, Meekly to Thy will submit: When my gourd is stricken down, Let me know no will but Thine. That my path is mark'd for me; And every sorrow, every pain, Shall only lead to Thee. Then, amid my earthly trials, I shall hear a Father's voice, Feel a Father's hand upholding, In a Father's love rejoice. Thou wilt give, with every trial, Grace, in love to say to Thee, "Gracious Father, Thou shalt choose My inheritance for me," Easingwold. R. THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY AT OXFORD. THE importance of public libraries amongst civilized communities cannot be easily over-estimated. In the earliest times, as soon as books began to be multiplied, collections of them would be formed. All the countries of the ancient world, in which learning had established itself, possessed libraries, which are as indispensable for the sustenance of learning as food is for the sustenance of the body. While all books were manuscripts, and their price consequently was high, it was the more needful that public collections of them should be made; private students, for the most part, being unable to purchase them. Among the most extensive and famous public libraries of antiquity were the VOL. XIII.-Second Series. library of the Ptolemies, at Alexandria; that of the kings of Pergamus; and that founded at Rome by the Emperor Trajan, which was called, after his own name, (Ulpius,) the Ulpian Library. The greatest collections of books, in the Middle Ages, were those of the Arabs, established in their various possessions in Asia, Africa, and in Spain, and the Imperial library at Constantinople. Of all these renowned libraries, only a few stray volumes have come down to our time. In the ninth and eleventh centuries, Basil the Macedonian, Emperor of the East, and the learned Commenian Imperial family, made several collections of books, principally in the convents of the Egean Islands and Mount Athos. In the west, libraries were founded in the second half of the eighth century by the encouragement of Charlemagne. F |