FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Gems. JESUS CHRIST, the holy, partook of human nature, that man, the unholy, might be made a partaker of the divine nature. OUR LOVE TO CHRIST both unites and separates; it unites us to him, and it separates us from the world. DIVINE LOVE is a loadstone which, though it may make the needle of our souls tremble with fear, always fixes it at last on the Star of Bethlehem. GOD HAS NO DUMB CHILDREN.When born again in Christ Jesus Poetic Selections. HEAVEN is the City of our God, The Palace of our King, Where saints and angels, "day and night," Its gates are all one priceless pearl, The Paradise of bliss, they have all the gift of speech, and There shall we pluck of living trees, THE PITH OF TRUE PIETY is to love the Saviour. Our hearts should beat with emotion when we think, or write, or talk of him; of all he has done, and all he will do for us. COME TO CHRIST; and come just as you are. Wait not to look over either your good deeds or your bad deeds. Forget them all for the moment, and come to him for salvation. CHRIST WILL RECEIVE YOU. Who says he will not? He is a liar who says he will not, be he man or devil. Never mind man; never mind the devil. Christ hath said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out." That is enough. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.-We talk of its value as infinite, and so it is. That, however, will not save us. We must show our estimation of its value by trusting in it alone for our own salvation. So only can we honour it. THE PHYSICIAN OF SOULS.-You always choose the doctor of whom you have the best opinion, and he is pleased that you prefer him. Just so is it with Jesus Christ. The higher your opinion of his power to save you, the more will he be pleased with you. And drink of living streams, That from his glory streams. Pilgrim! look onward to thy rest, As there thy footsteps tend, Thy weary toil shall end. Speed then your flight ye wings of time, B. S. CHRIST AN UNFAILING REFUGE. THE smoothest seas will sometimes prove They can be treacherous too. The mighty oak, with arms outspread Full oft, when storms the welkin rend, Draws lightning down upon the head it promised to defend. But thou art true, incarnate Lord! Who didst vouchsafe for man to die; Thy smile is sure, thy plighted word No change can falsify. I bent before thy gracious throne, And ask'd for peace with suppliant knee; And peace was given-nor peace alone, THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. The Children's Corner. THE SHEPHERD BOY'S SONG. ONCE more I quit my humble bower, And pleased I haste away, For sweet content crowns every hour, Onward I trip, with cheerful speed, My little dog, how willing he How charming is the scene, Thou feedest all my numerous flock— Extend thy care to me; They drink the cooling water brookLord give me drink from thee. Then shall my humble voice resound; So shall the vallies catch the sound, And oft as this is my employ, JESUS shall be my theme; LOSS OF THE "MARIA" MAIL BOAT. It is now thirty-five years ago; but we remember it well, and the universal sympathy it excited for the sufferers. Dr. Hannah, in the "Wesleyan Magazine" for March, 1861, in a memoir of the only survivor, who died April 17th, 1859, gives some thrilling details of that awful event. The Mission-party returning to Antigua were the Revds William White, Thomas Truscott, Daniel Hillier, William Oke, Thomas Jones; with Mrs. White, and three children; Mrs. Truscott, and one child; Mrs. Jones; and two nurses. They reached Montserrat; but, sailing thence, were driven back by the violence of the weather, and spent Sunday, the 26th, on that island. Mr. Hillier read the prayers and lessons for the day, the second lesson being 2 Cor. xi. "During the reading of the account of St. Paul's sufferings," says Mrs. Jones, "my mind was deeply affected. At the words, 'A night and a day I have been in the deep,' the horrors of shipwreck were suddenly presented to my view so forcibly, that I said to myself, 'I could suffer anything but shipwreck.' The impression remained; and during the service it would recur still to my thoughts, 'A night and a day have I been in the deep." It was not until evening that she obtained relief; but on Monday morning, while at prayer, the same impression returned, and she could not but ask herself in silence, "What can this mean?" After much prayer and deliberation, the Missionparty, anxious to return, went on board the "Maria" mailboat. On Monday, Feb. 27th, 1826, they took an early dinner at Montserrat,-the last meal on earth to all of them but one, and set sail. The wind rose very high in the night, and the sea became rough; but the party went to sleep. The morning of Tuesday was stormy, and the wind right ahead. But about four o'clock there was a cry of "Land! Antigua in sight!" Expectation was now revived and raised. Mrs. Jones relates the pleasing incident that Mr. White's little boy, William by name, opened the hymn-book, and gave out a bymn, which the rest of the children joined in singing; that he proceeded, with sense far above his years, to relate the account of the prophet Jonas, and other Bible histories; and that, with an emphasis and seriousness which powerfully called attention at the time, he gave out the verse which begins, "Though waves and storms go o'er my head." LOSS OF THE "MARIA" MAIL BOAT. Mrs. Jones's own mind now became suddenly disturbed. The feeling, she says, was one which she had never experienced before, for she was a stranger to fear at sea. She attempted to pray, but for the moment could not. At length she cried, "Lord! Lord! help me.' Scarcely had she uttered the words, when she became composed. She then sang, "When passing through the watery deep, I ask in faith His promised aid, The waves an awful distance keep, And shrink from my devoted head: They cannot harm, for God is there!" Her mind then remained calmly stayed on God, though an oppressive apprehension of evil hung over her. About this time, the steward brought down a light in a lantern. The sea began to be very rough. Mr. and Mrs. Truscott were alarmed, and thought the vessel would be upset. But little William still said to his mother, "Mamma! don't be afraid! no danger! Mamma must not be frightened: we shall soon be on shore." Quickly after the steward came down in great haste. His countenance told that something was amiss. He snatched up the lantern, and, when Mrs. White asked him what was the matter, made no reply. On this, all the missionparty jumped out of their berths, (the children and nurses were on the floor,) and, the vessel turning on her beam-ends, all were tumbled together. The sea was breaking over them, and washing down into the cabin. They got out with great exertion: the mothers and nurses pushed up the children, each parent claiming his own. Mr. White gave his baby to Mrs. Jones while he was helping up the others; and Mr. Jones laid hold of her, assisting her to the side of the vessel which was highest out of the water. She asked him what was the matter. He said, "There is danger! Let us pray! The vessel has struck on the reefs, and there is no hope of being saved!” Mrs. Jones continued to hold to the vessel's side, with the baby in her arms, until the sea came so strongly upon them that she gave it to its mother. "I kissed the dear creature," she writes, as I parted with it, and almost felt a mother's feelings." The Captain was very much alarmed, and cried out, "O my vessel! what will become of us?"--and the sailors appeared panicstruck. As the sea came rushing upon the wreck, it washed away the boat, with a Negro in it, who had been struck by the boom, and thrown into it in a senseless state. The Mate, 66 LOSS OF THE "MARIA" MAIL BOAT. seeing the boat thus launched, jumped after it into the water, intending to bring it to the rescue of the passengers and crew; but, as the sea ran high, it was carried down with the current. No hope of deliverance now appeared. The Captain looked eagerly after the boat, but it was soon out of sight; and, in a fit of despair, he cried, "O, my men are gone! the boat is upset!" The cries of the sailors were piercing, and the missionaries exhorted them to pray. They clung about these servants of Christ, and eagerly caught all they said. Orders were subsequently given by the captain that the mast and rigging should be cut away, himself assisting. The passengers clung to the bulwarks, and all were engaged in prayer to God. The fury of the sea continued, and suddenly broke up the vessel. At that time, the Captain and four sailors, with Messrs. Hillier, Oke, and Jones, were clinging to the bows; while Mrs. Jones, Mr. White and family, Mr. Truscott, wife, and child, two nurses, one gentleman passenger, and several of the sailors, who were holding by the bulwarks on the quarter-deck, at once went down with that part of the vessel to which they had trusted themselves. When the wave had passed over, Mr. Jones called out to his wife. She heard him, and cried out, “I am going!" But her feet were entangled in the rigging, and this was the cause she was not washed away with the rest. Finding by her voice that she was not far off, Mr. Jones said, "Put out your hand." She reached it out above the water, when he caught it, and brought her up from a watery grave. But she now heard the heart-rending shrieks of the children. Their cry was, "O mamma! I am drowning. O papa! save me! save me! "The little baby's cries," she adds, "were distressingly distinct." One of the nurses had two children of her own on shore. She cried, "O, what will become of my children? They will become fatherless and motherless!" She then began to pray. Mr. Jones perceived her clinging to a part of the floating wreck in the water; but there was no possibility of helping her. He called out to her, "My sister, pray! O, pray to God to receive your soul. He will provide for your children: leave them to Him." "Yes," she said,-then added, "Lord, receive my soul-take me to Thyself," and calmly resigned her spirit to God. The other nurse cried out, "Farewell, aunt! farewell, sisters! we shall never meet on earth again. O, may we neet in heaven!' "I trust," says the survivor, Eliza's prayer when drowning will be fully answered." She 66 |