days we sometimes think would be of great importance-yes, but a week or two would be better; suppose that granted, several months would be better still; and a whole season-what a boon that would be! But would even that satisfy us? Not long. By-and-by, we would see reasons in abundance for desiring an extension of the term. Even for a series of years, it might be of great importance for us to know how our interests would be affected by certain circumstances and certain steps we may have in contemplation taking; yea, even the interests of our children it might be of no small consequence to know about, or what might be their character and conduct, that we might regulate our treatment of them accordingly. Now, it will readily be perceived, that even a small portion of such a disclosure of the future would materially affect our relations to Divine Providence. There is a class of evils which, through the possession of such a power, we might escape; and if, for example, we were enabled to steer clear of, or avert very much, the effects of storms or floods, so as we could have our crops secured against the time we might foresee such would occur, would it not tend to place our minds greatly out of harmony with the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread?" And would we not be tempted to take credit too much to our own skill and exertions: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent." And, on the other hand, in regard to such evils as might be foreseen clearly to be inevitable, the dreaded anticipation of them as certain would produce greater anxiety and suffering than are likely to result from their unforeseen occurrence. In either case, no scope would be allowed for faith in God as the God of providence, faith itself being supplanted by vision. But such vision would be entirely out of harmony with our dependent condition, and especially inimical to that moral discipline which our corrupt nature so urgently demands.

The husbandman, then, as well as others, should not merely acquiesce in that divine arrangement which limits so much his knowledge of futurity, but regard it as a subject of special thankfulness, on account of the important spiritual and moral uses which such limitation is adapted to subserve, if the high interests of his immortal nature be promoted, not caring to be assured of more, in regard to the mortal part, than that "bread shall be given him, and water shall be sure."

THE COLLIERS' ANNIVERSARY, AND A PITMAN'S SPEECH.

ON Thursday, July 24th, we held our Colliers' anniversary at B, As we assembled at the early hour of half-past three in the morning, we found the atmosphere to be somewhat cold and damp; but the promptness with which the people came together speedily dispelled every symptom of gloom, and the spirit that evidently dictated and guided the whole of the prayers and speeches, was such as to produce the most delightful and animating effect. We assembled in the open air, and as the place of meeting was on an eminence, our songs of praise might be heard at a considerable distance. Four colliers gave out hymns

and engaged in prayer, and the ministers gave ad dresses. It was truly humbling, and as truly pleasing, to witness the proceedings of the service. The colliers were all in their working dress, and during the time of prayer knelt down on the cold ground, placing themselves in a semicircular form. We have read with peculiar interest the speeches of some of the converted natives on foreign stations; but with still greater delight did we listen to the plain unadorned address delivered by an old collier, who has been many years converted to God, and who is a native and an inhabitant of B. He had been requested to pray; he complained of great weakness, his health for sometime had been considerably affected. He begged to be allowed to say a few words in the form of an address, which was in substance as follows:

"My dear friends,-There is one man among you that prays for all the rest every day in the year, and that makes three hundred and sixty-five prayers presented to God on your behalf by one man only. Now, only think of three hundred and sixty-five prayers in one year, and all for the salvation of your precious souls. Yes! it is for your salvation he always prays, and what a blessing it will be to you, should his prayers be answered, and you saved! A blessing which is indeed unspeakable, and yet you may all possess it. Now, there are three ways by which you may get this blessing you may beg it, you may buy it, or you may steal it. You may beg it-for, did not our Lord say, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shal find; knock and it shall be opened unto you?" and it's blessing so great as the salvation of your souls may be had for begging, oh! go at once to Mercy's door; 'for now is the accepted time, and this is the day of salvation.' This blessing is also to be bought, but not with your money, for it is written: Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. And as you may both beg it and buy it, so you may ste! it. Have ye never heard of the poor afflicted woman nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, and whe who spent all that she had upon physicians, and was she heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his clothes; for she said: If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be whole? Now you see how she got in among the crowd without being she could not keep the secret; for she was so ast seen, and stole the blessing she so much desired; but nished at that which was done in her, that she came fearing and trembling, and fell down at the Saviour's feet, and told him all the truth."

This speech of the old collier produced a wonderful feeling. The whole company was in tears, and we hope to see the fruit of our efforts in the salvation of some of the rebellious.-Christian Witness.

A TENDER CONSCIENCE. GET and keep a tender conscience. Be sensible of the least sin. The apple of the eye is not only of fended with a blow or wound, but if so much as a little dust or sinoke gets in, it weeps it out. men's consciences are like the stomach of the ostric that digesteth iron: they can swallow and concoct the most notorious sins (swearing, drunkenness, &c.), with out regret. "Their consciences are seared as with a bot iron."-1 Tim. iv. 2. They have so inured their souls to the grossest wickedness (as the Psylli, a people of Africa, whom Plutarch mentions, had inured ther bodies to the eating of poison), that it becomes as t

Daily Bread.

FRIDAY.

"Rend your hearts.”—JOEL ii. 13
Our mouth as in the dust we lay,
And still for mercy, mercy, pray:
Unworthy to behold thy face,
Unfaithful stewards of thy grace,
Our sin and wickedness we own,
And deeply for acceptance groan.

A broken and a contrite heart is a sacrifice Christ will not despise. You must sow in tears, if you would reap in joy; for a wet seed-time doth prognosticate a sun-shiny and plentiful harvest. It was of water that Christ made the choicest wine at the marriage-feast in Cana of Galilee; so the water of true repentance will produce the choicest wine of consolation in the sacrament. When Joseph's brethren came to be sensible of their sin in selling him, then it was, and not till then, that he made them a feast and kindly entertained them at his table: so, till such time as we be sensible of our sins, and repent for piercing our Redeemer, he will not feast us, nor smile

upon us.-Willison.

SATURDAY.

"The new man."-COL. iii. 16.

Hasten the joyful day

Which shall my sins consume; When old things shall be pass'd away,

And all things new become.

That obedience that springs from faith, is a transforming obedience; it mightily alters and changes a man, from impurity to purity, from sin to sanctity, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from earthlymindedness to heavenly-mindedness, from pride to humility, from hypocrisy to sincerity, &c. Such as please themselves with this, that they are no changlings, and that they are whatever they were-these are still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity.-Brooks.

SABBATH.

"Call the Sabbath a delight."-ISA. lviii. 13. The Lord of Sabbath let us praise,

In concert with the blest,
Who, joyful, in harmonious lays
Employ an endless rest.

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"Must we be excluded and shut out from all pleasures and delights upon the Sabbath?" No," saith the Holy Ghost; "sanctify the Sabbath of Jehovah, and thou shalt not need to fear the want of pleasure, neither shalt thou need to be beholden to the flesh or the world for delights. The Sabbath itself will be incomparably more sweet and delectable to thee than all the sensual and luscious contentments and satisfactions which this whole sublunary world can afford. Make the Sabbath thy delight, and thou shalt need to knock at no other door for pleasurable entertainments. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, 'Call my Sabbath thy delight,' he would make his day unto thee a spring of sweetness, that shall always be flowing out to eternal life." A day well spent with God will fill the soul with "joy unspeakable and full of glory.”—Case.

MONDAY.

"We are debtors."-Rom. viii. 12. Poor debtors, consider how ye may A full acquittance now receive! And, criminals with pardon blest, May at the Judge's instance live! Take an account of your debts to God, as all prudent tradesmen do of their debts to those with whom they deal. Think how many the particulars are, how great the sum total is, and what circum

stances have enhanced the debt, and run it up to a great height-how exceeding sinful your sins have been-how exceeding hateful to God and hurtful to yourselves. Put that question to yourselves which the unjust steward put to his lord's debtors: "How much owest thou unto my lord?" and tell the truth as they did for themselves; and do not think to impose upon God, by making the matter better than it is, as the steward did for them, writing fifty for a hundred. -Luke xvi. 5, 6.—Henry.

TUESDAY.

"Lean not to thine own understanding."-PROV. iii. 5. Jesus! my strength, my hope!

On thee I cast my care-
With humble confidence look up,

And know thou hear'st my prayer.

We say of a false man, Trust him not, he will deceive you; we say concerning a weak and broken staff, Lean not on it, for it will deceive you. The man deceives because he is false-the staff, because it is weak; yet our own heart is both. The heart of itself; it cannot command its own attention to a prayer man hath not strength to think one good thought of

ten lines long, and no wonder, then, that in secret it should grow weary of a holy religion, which consists of so many parts as to make the business of a whole life.-Taylor.

WEDNESDAY.

"Whoso despiseth the Word shall be destroyed.”—
PROV. xiii. 13.

You, who call the Saviour, Lord;
You, who read his written Word;
You, who see the Gospel light,
Claim a crown in Jesu's right:

Why will you, ye Christians, why
Will the house of Israel die?

Many lay aside Scripture as rusty armour; they are better read in romances than in St Paul; they spend many hours" between the comb and the glass;" but their eyes begin to be sore when they look upon a Bible. The very Turks will rise up in judgment against these Christians: they reverence the Books of Moses; and if they find but a leaf wherein anything of the Pentateuch is written, they take it up and kiss it. They who slight the Word written, slight God himself, whose stamp it bears.Watson.

THURSDAY.

"Will he esteem thy riches? No, not gold."—Joв xxxvi. 19. Blessed only are the souls that see Their emptiness and poverty: Treasures of grace to them are given, And crowns of joy laid up in heaven. Covetousness makes a man miserable, because riches are not means to make a man happy; and unless felicity were to be bought with money, he is a vain person who admires heaps of gold and rich posses sions. For what Hippomachus said to some persons, who commended a tall man as fit to be a champion in the Olympic games-"It is true," said he, “if the crown hang so high that the longest arm could reach it" the same we may say concerning riches. They were excellent things, if the richest man were certainly the wisest and the best; but as they are, they are nothing to be wondered at, because they contribute nothing towards felicity; which appears, be cause some men choose to be miserable, that they may be rich, rather than be happy with the expense of money and doing noble things.-Taylor.

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altogether vanity. His days are as a shadow that passeth. "While he is, he hastens away, and within a little is not."

While death is thus sure to overtake all, let me remind you, further, that some he overtakes suddenly and unexpectedly. In exercising his dominion over the human family, innumerable are the means which the king of terrors has at his disposal in order to effect his purpose. The diseases which afflict the human frame-the sorrows that prey upon the human mind-the passions that infuriate the human heart-the dangers that beset our path-the elements of mischief that work unseen in earth, and air, and ocean—these, and myriads besides these, are the agencies by the help of which death accomplishes his purposes of destruction against our race. By which of these any individual is destined to fall, is matter to him of the purest uncertainty, and equally uncertain are the circumstances under which, the manner in which, and the time at which death may, through means of any of them, approach his victim. Of some of these agencies, the operation is such that long and pointed premonitions are given to the sufferer of his approaching fate; whilst of others the effect is so sudden and instantaneous, that the fatal blow is struck, and the awful change experienced, before the slightest token had given to the victim warning of his danger. It is a part of that fond delusion which we are so apt to practise upon ourselves, that most men are found indulging the hope that the former of these cases will be theirs-that a suitable period of gradually advancing feebleness and decay shall be allotted to them, during which they may be enabled to take a calm survey of their past lives, and prepare themselves for the change which seems evidently coming upon them. But how deceptive are all such expectations! The most ample experience proclaims their futility, and utters its warning voice against the folly that would peril so much upon the chance of their being realized. How often do we behold the strong man smitten to the dust in a moment, to rise no more! How often is the man who went forth of his dwelling in buoyant health and spirits, carried home to it, in a few hours afterwards, a mangled and a lifeless corpse! How often does the beauteous form of to-day become, ere tomorrow's dawn, fit only for the corruption of the tomb! How often is the bright torch of youth, that was casting its radiance clearly and strongly upwards, suddenly inverted, and ingloriously extinguished in the cold and noisome exhalations of the tomb! It is madness to talk of security, to dream of certainty, to count upon days or years, or modes of dissolution, in a world where the elements of destruction are so rife on every side, and where we know not at any moment but some fatal power may burst upon us with resistless force. Men may succeed, by such self-deception, in lulling conscience asleep, and saying to themselves, "Peace and safety;" but

for all that, the stern destroyer will creep upon them, and, true to his appointed hour, strike them down; while they, to their bitter experience, shall find that, in persuading themselves to forget the utter uncertainty of life, they have but succeeded in casting from them the only means by which death might have been robbed of his sting, and the grave disappointed of its victory.

This leads me to remark, finally, that there are some who are fully prepared to die, whatever be the time, the manner, or the circumstances of death's assault. To such, the whole aspect and all the relations of death are changed. No longer to them a source of dismay, they can anticipate its approach with calmness and cheerfulness; nay, being raised, by that faith and that hope which are within them, above death, they can cast their gaze over its gloomy portals, and behold the glorious region that is beyond, and long for the time when for them these gates shall open, and they shall be permitted to go up and inherit the land. Happy they who are thus delivered from the fear of death!-to whom he cannot come too soonwhom he cannot strike too suddenly!-to whom a quick dismissal is a blessed exemption from the pangs of dissolution, and an early death brings but a longer fruition of eternal life!

But what is it to be thus prepared for death? and how may this all-desirable preparation be attained? In order to answer these most important questions, we need only to look at the language of the apostle to the Thessalonians, in the verse above cited. Of them he affirms, that they were in this happy state of preparedness for the final summons, because they were not in darkness, but were the children of light and of the day. He does not say that to them that summons would not come, nor does he give the most distant assurance that it would not come suddenly on the contrary, his words clearly involve the certainty of the former, and the possibility of the latter; but with all this, he cheers them by the assurance that, come when and how it might to them, it would not come as a thief, to take them at a disadvantage, and accomplish their ruin whilst they were sunk in the slumbers and wrapt in the gloom of night. The being thus in a state of light is clearly what the apostle here holds out to us as the one indispensable, the certain preparative for the approach of death, and that judgment by which death is followed.

By those who are familiar with Scripture language, this statement of the apostle will be easily understood. All such are aware that, by a state of darkness in Scripture is intended a state of guilt and impurity-the result of that sinful tendency which, through the temptation of the prince of darkness, has usurped pos session of the human heart; and, on the other hand, a state of light is one in which this guilt has been pardoned, this impurity removed, and a tendency to holiness implanted, as the supreme and governing principle of action in the mind.