90 LESSONS BY THE WAY, ETC. Jesus! cast a pitying eye On the thousands far from Thee; Spirit of the living God! Come, refresh our land again; Ripen for the harvest home; Wм. M'COMB. LESSONS BY THE WAY-THE HOLE IN THE ROAD. THE man shouted and shouted, and at last swore; but neither shouting nor swearing did any good: there the horse stood, with a heavy load behind him, but draw it up out of that hole he could not. At length, in one of the desperate tugs which he gave, one of the shafts broke, and a deal of fuss there was, and time lost, in an effort to splice it: and Jonathan could not help fearing that many a lie would be told to the master, in order to account for the fracture of his newly-done-up and nicely-painted cart. At length one of the men (for there were several standing round and lending a helping hand) took a spade, and cutting away a little of the earth before the wheels, at the next pull out came the cart. Well, now, much precious time had been lost-the cart broken-and the horse a good deal shaken, as well as his temper tried-for A REVIVAL AT THE AUSTRALIAN DIGGINGS. 91 horses have tempers, as well as men, and many a gentle horse has been spoilt by bad treatment. Now, said Jonathan to himself, might not all this trouble have been saved? When the carter found the hole he had driven into, might he not have thrown off part of his load, and thus, in the end, have saved time and trouble? Reader, the roadway of life is often uneven; there is a hole here and a rut there; this part is rough and that part boggy; but don't you think that, after all, there is extra weight in the cart? Would it not be well for us to seek to reduce the load, in order to gain the road? The tugging and the toiling against such a burden is a waste of time and strength. Our own fretful hearts and peevish tempers so increase the load, that we can make no progress. The fretting and fuming is all to no purpose. Come, reader, look into thy heart, and see if a good deal that is hidden there would not lighten the load, if removed, aye, and you not injured, but benefited thereby.— Old Jonathan. A REVIVAL AT THE AUSTRALIAN DIGGINGS. It appears, by a letter received from Ballarat, one of the principal gold-fields, that the religious awakening has reached even that far end of the earth. The letter states that "It is upwards of three months since the Lord answered the prayers of his people, and poured out his Spirit upon the people of the Brownhills. Many a hardened sinner was brought low at the feet of Jesus, weak and sickly ones quickened, and believers generally confirmed in the faith. The work still continues. Week after week, one, two, and three are brought under conviction, wounded by the hand which alone can heal." WE give this month an engraving of one of the most remarkable birds in nature. It lives not among green trees and shady hedges, as other birds, but builds its nest in the dark and lonesome cavern on the sea-shore. It sees no other fields than the wide and billowy ocean, and knows no other forest than the rude stone trees of its rocky home, or the wild forests of sea mucous which adorn the quiet deep. It is in every respect an ocean wanderer Thousands of miles from land it lightly skims the water, springing from wave to wave with as much agility as the sparrow hops from bough to bough. It seeks its food THE SEED AND THE FRUIT. 93 among the small marine insects on the surface, or dives beneath after the small fish swimming near, as the many-coloured Kingfisher, sitting beside the shady brook, catches the frolicsome Minnow in its play. The Petrel is found in every quarter of the globe, except the hottest; and many of them, it is stated, come to land only for the purpose of breeding. Often ships at sea-a thousand miles from any shore-will meet with one of these strange visitants, which will then, in the hope of obtaining some food, follow the ship for many miles. The sailors, ever ready to attach some omen, either good or bad, to every circumstance or incident at sea, have looked upon these harmless creatures as betokeners of evil. Whether it is from this, or from their real attendance upon a storm, that one of them has been named the Stormy Petrel, we know not; but it is certain that the Petrel fears the ocean hurricane as little as the joyous inhabitant of the forest grove fears the summer shower. THE SEED AND THE FRUIT. IN the life of Daniel Wilson it is related that two young men of the village of Swerford, named Thomas Wheeler and John King, had been living in carelessness and indifference about religion. On one occasion they set out to enjoy the pleasures of a Sunday feast in the village of Great Jew; but in the good providence of God something induced them to turn aside and enter Worton (Mr. Wilson's) church. They were so powerfully affected by the sermon, that, by mutual consent, they gave up all idea of the feast, and on their walk home, conversing about the things they had just heard, they went down into a quarry by the roadside, and, kneeling down, united in what was probably their first earnest prayer to the 94 A MISSION SUPPORTED BY AN INDIAN CHIEF. God of their salvation. Thomas Wheeler continued a consistent Christian to the end of life, and John King went out as a missionary to New Zealand. Two other young men, belonging to the village of Deddington, received religious impressions at about the same time, and followed John King as missionaries to New Zealand. "Let those who sow in sadness wait Till the fair harvest come; They shall confess their sheaves are great, A MISSION SUPPORTED BY AN AN American missionary has been sent to a town in India called Kaparthala, where the people are ruled over by a prince or chief. The missionary, in a letter to a friend, says: "There will be no European society within ten miles of us. The Mission is to be supported by the Rajah. He is to pay my salary, and other expenses connected with our labours. He has already commenced preparations for building a house for us to live in. The Rajah, in this matter, is setting a noble example to every other native prince throughout the land. He is taking a step which, sooner or later, will be followed by every chief in his position. It will please you to learn that the Rajab, although not yet baptized, is gradually coming up to the attainments of the Christian. He has lately issued orders, strictly forbidding all labour on the Sabbath; and is erecting a large poor-house for the accommodation of all the really destitute in his territory. . The new Mission will have much prejudice to encounter, and many obstacles to overcome. We need your prayers now more han ever." |