educational oversight of all its families, rested on an iron palisade. By this priwas adopted and enforced. "On Dr. Chalmers's removal from the Tron Church to that of St. John's, four of the teachers in these Saltmarket schools organized themselves into a separate society. They chose as the field of their operations both sides of the Saltmarket, with the numerous lanes which branch off from them, containing a population of 3624 souls, out of which, when they began their labours there were only 128 children attending any Sabbathschool. Instead of extending their operations at once over the whole space, each appropriated a small locality, exerting all his influence to induce others to come and help them. In six months their numbers were complete-the space was covered-twenty-six schools were opened -thirty-three teachers, including visitors, were engaged, and instead of 128 children, 732 were in attendance. 'These schools continue to the present day, and there have flowed from this small local Sabbath-school society, eight other societies in different parts of the city and suburbs, all fairly traceable to the impetus given in the Tron parish by Dr. Chalmers in this branch of parochial economy. I consider, had Dr. Chalmers done nothing more than promote the principle of this local system of Sabbath schools, he would not have lived in vain."" PREACHES IN LONDON-GREAT POru LARITY. "On approaching the church, Dr. Chalmers and a friend found so dense a mass within and before the building as to give no hope of effecting an entrance by the mere force of ordinary pressure. Lifting his cane, and gently tapping the heads of those who were in advance, Dr. Chalmers's friend exclaimed, 'Make way there-make way for Dr. Chalmers ! Heads, indeed, were turned at the summons, and looks were given; but, with not a few significant tokens of incredulity, and some broad hints that they were not to be taken in by any such device, the sturdy Londoners refused to move. Forced to retire, Dr. Chalmers retreated from the outskirts of the crowd, crossed the street, stood for a few moments gazing on the growing tumult, and had almost resolved altogether to withdraw. Matters were not much better when Mr. Wilberforce and his party approached. Access by any of the ordinary entrances was impossible. In this emergency, and as there was still some unoccupied space around the pulpit, which the crowd had not been able to appropriate, a plank was projected from one of the windows till it vileged passage, Mr. Wilberforce and the ladies who were with him were invited to enter, Lord Elgin waving encouragement and offering aid from within. 'I was surveying the breach,' says Mr. Wilberforce, with a cautious and inquiring eye, when Lady D., no shrimp you must observe, entered boldly before me, and proved that it was practicable.' The impression produced by the service which followed, when all had at last settled down into stillness, was deeper than that made by any of those which preceded it, and we may hope it was also more salutary, as the preacher dealt throughout with truths bearing directly on the individual salvation of his hearers." HIS LABOURS IN ST. JOHN'S PARISH, GLASGOW. These "His own round among the families of the parish Dr. Chalmers completed within two years. The general manner of these visits has already been described. Much greater pains, however, were now taken, both by himself and the other parochial agents, to secure a large attendance at the evening addresses by which these forenoon visitations were followed up. The success justified the effort. Multitudes, who otherwise would never have had the overtures of Divine mercy addressed to them, were brought within the sound of the preacher's voice. local week-day undress congregations assembled in a cotton-mill, or the workshop of a mechanic, or the kitchen of some kindly accommodating neighbour, with their picturesque exhibition of greasy jackets and unwashed countenances, and hands all soiled and fresh from labour turning up the pages of unused Bibles, had a special charm for Dr. Chalmers; and all alive to the peculiar interest and urgency of such opportunities, he stirred up every faculty that was in him, while he urged upon the consciences and the hearts of such auditors the high claims of the Christian salvation. His chosen and beloved friend, Mr. Collins, often accompanied Dr. Chalmers to these evening meetings; and we have his reiterated and emphatic testimony, that no bursts of that oratory which rolled over admiring thousands in the Tron Church or in St. John's ever equalled, in all the highest qualities of eloquence, many of those premeditated but unwritten addresses, in which, free from all restraint, and intent upon the one object of winning souls to the Saviour, that heart which glowed with such intense desires for the present and eternal welfare of the working classes, unbosomed in the midst of them all the fulness of its Christian sympathies. "His own peculiar province of preach ing and visiting formed but a section of that wide domain over which the labours of Dr. Chalmers at this period extended. Single-handed, or even with such zealous aid as Mr. Irving could supply, but little comparatively could be done towards bringing the young and old of a population of 10,000 under effectual Christian training. He threw himself, therefore, upon the help of the laity; and in no region of effort does his power appear to us to have been rarer or more unrivalled than in his gathering around him, and stimulating to such noble deeds of Christian philanthropy, so large a number of the intelligent and influential merchants of Glasgow." THE CAMLACHIE WEAVER. "This man had been the only son of a pious mother, who was a widow. In his boyhood he had been apprenticed to a master who was an infidel, and who, with about twenty men under him, had sown so sedulously his own principles among them, that every one of them had been seduced into unbelief. Among the rest, this unprotected widow's son fell a victim to his arts; and when his mother saw him married to his master's daughter, who was as bold an unbeliever as her father, and when she heard him blaspheme that holy name in which she trusted, it was too much for her to bear-deprived of reason she died in an asylum for lunatics. In the course of years, and when his own only child was grown up, consumption seized upon him. The near look at eternity, and perhaps the remembrance of his mother's instructions and prayers, threw him into spiritual distress. A minister was sent for, who attempted to reason with him; but he deep,' and the wound remained unhealed. It so happened that he was living at this time in the district of St. John's parish assigned to Mr. John Wilson, one of the most valued and beloved of Dr. Chalmers's elders, who soon brought his The minister to see the dying man. simplicity, the earnestness, the sympathy displayed by Dr. Chalmers, won the man's confidence, and it was not long till he related the history of his unbelief. Weekly, during nearly three months, Dr. Chalmers's visits were repeated. The instructions given, and the prayers offered at that bedside, were blessed: a sinner was turned was too 367 from the error of his ways, and a soul was DEATHBED OF BRUCE THE REFORMER, "That morning before the Lord called him to his rest in a very easy manner,for he had little sickness or pain, but a weakness through age, he came to breakfast at his table. After he had eaten, ashis use was, a single egg, he said to his daughter, 'I think I am yet hungry; you may bring me another egg,' and instantly fell silent; and after having mused a little, he said, Hold, daughter, hold! my Master calleth me!" With these words his sight failed him, and he called for the Bible, as has been noticed; but finding he was not able to read, he said, 'Cast me up the eighth chapter to the Romans, verse 28 to 39,'-much of which he repeated, particularly, I am persuaded that neither life nor death shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord,' and caused put his finger upon them; which was done. 'Now,' said he, is my finger upon them?' They told him it was. When he said, 'God be with you, my children. I have breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ groan or shiver. this night,'-and straight gave up the ghost, without one Thus this great champion for the truth,. and the crown, and interest of his Master, who knew not what it was to be afraid of the face of man, was taken off the field as more than a conqueror, and had an abundant entrance administered to him into the everlasting kingdom of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."-Wodrow's Life. FAMILIAR LETTERS TO THOSE WHO WISH TO LABOUR IN No. III. "Where there's a will there's a way." "I've no turn for that sort of thing. It is all very well for those who have; but as I've none, I could be of no use." Such is the answer often met with by over-wrought workmen, when they try to entice others into the vineyard, to help them to bear the burden and heat of the day. join your Committee meetings. And I really have no turn for squalid sights and offensive smells; so I cannot go about among the poor. It is all very well for those that are less sensitive." 6. "I've no turn for old maids, so I need not offer to sit with those old ladies; for I should find nothing to say to help them to pass the time." 7. "I've no turn for a sickroom, so really mamma must just sit and amuse Johnnie, although she has so many other things to do; and although she is not able to foment him every two hours, I really cannot help, as I have no turn for medicine. If I had, I might shew old Janet at the byre, how to mix the saline draught mamma wants taken to her, and how to dress that burn on her hand" 8. "I have no turn for advising people, or, perhaps, I might have tried to prevent my foster-sister going to that fair and But to enlarge a little, and descend to wake which ruined her, when she talked particulars. to me about going," &c. "I've no turn for that sort of thing !" or, in plain speaking, "I've no turn for doing God service, or man either." Thank you for the candid admission. But are you really willing to give it to us, or even to let us take it? And when we ask you what you have a turn for, are you prepared with the answer which is really involved in the other, "I've only a turn for letting sin, and misery, and Satan, go on their own way in the world; why should I trouble myself to try and stop them?" 1. "I've no turn for speaking to the lower classes; so I can be of no use in district visiting." 2. "I've no turn for children; so I need not attempt any charge of schools. I don't even help my own brothers and sisters to prepare their lessons for school; and though much money was spent on my instruction, it is of no use in saving my parents getting tutors and governesses to hear the younger ones prepare their lessons." 3. "I've no turn for housekeeping; so I must just let my mother slave at it, without any help from me; nor could I be of any use in looking into the parish soup-kitchen." 4. "I've no turn for sewing, except fancywork, so mamma must just toil over those unending shirt collars and children's frocks; and as for the Parish Clothing Society, I don't know a bed-gown from a wrapper, so I could be of no use to you there." 5. "I've no turn for business, so I can't help my father with the accounts; and it would be of no use to get me to Now, my dear young lady, whoever you are, that disappoints us by such answers as these, give me leave to ask what you have a turn for? For I presume you don't want to be thought non compos mentis altogether, and fit for nothing? "Oh! no; I've a turn for reading German, and riding on horseback, and practising duets, and dressing up a Christmas tree; and I've a great turn for dining out, and taking my turn in going to a concert, or a reading of Shakespeare; and I've a turn i for collecting shells, and autographs, and coins, and ferns," &c. Now tell me, do you, who are a professing Christian, seriously intend to go on growing old at such occupations-as those that best fulfil the chief end of your being, and that are the best means you can devise to glorify God, or fit yourself to enjoy Him for ever? But if you have a sort of consciousness that the claims of your fellow-creatures, and the designs God has for them, require delay and hinder it? If there is much fallow ground to break up, and the husbandman stands waiting for a hand to a plough, ere the night cometh when no man can work, will you wait to think whether you have a turn for ploughing, and leave the seed unsown, until, when men sleep, the enemy comes and soweth tares? more at your hands,-where some channels | work, take it off from the work itself, or for meeting those claims, and furthering those designs, are pointed out to you by old labourers, do you seize the opportunity and try to attain, in your own life, the usefulness you say you admire in theirs? Perhaps you have no "turn" for planning and setting agoing useful schemes yourself, (although I doubt your choosing to sit down contentedly under the general charge of stupidity and want of originality;) but when others set them agoing, how is it that, if you have the will, you don't help when you are shewn the way? Be deeply impressed with the necessity of a purpose, and you will soon find ways of doing it. Be deeply impressed with the importance of a subject, and you will soon find words to speak of it. Believe me, this is the only secret which accounts for the useful activity of some of God's servants,-the secret of their power to devise, and their fluency to persuade. There is nothing more simple. There are no gifts unusual required, but such as come forth of the Spirit and with prayer. Ask themselves, and they will probably say they had no conscious tory warning that they had "a turn" for doing the thing which they succeed in so well. They do not even know that they have a turn now. They do not stop to analyze that. They just see that the thing should be done. If any one arises to do it, and do it better, they say "God speed" heartily, and fall back cheerfully into the line of being only helpers. But if no one comes forward to do it, why, they must. Time, and the tide of Providence, wont wait for the lagging doers of the good that ought to be done. Besides, who knows whether she has a turn or not, till she tries? The turn comes by practice and use; and more than all, let me tell you, the turn comes by forgetting yourself, and your "turn or no turn," your gifts or no gifts; and by fixing your mind on the end required on the thing needed-on the object desired,-which, in an earth teeming withness of a mysterious power,—no premonisin and woe, is, that God's will may be done on it, as it is done in heaven! Oh! friends, keep this, in glowing characters, before your eye,-" What good is there still left undone in the world?" and having found that out, (the search need not take you far, it is to be found nigh you, even at your doors,) the next question is, "Is it my place to do any of those things that are left undone?" If it is, for God's sake be up and doing! I speak reverentially. It is for God's sake,-for "His glory, which is great in man's salvation," that I adjure you to activity. 1. Is there a good to be done? 2. Is it MY DUTY to do it? Then there is absolutely no room for a third question, "Have I a 'turn' for doing it ?" The Providence who opened the door, will shew you how to enter in; the Lawgiver who gave the command, will give you the power to obey it; the Master who requires you to make the bricks, will give you the straw; the Creator who made your arm for His purposes, will clothe it with the muscle and the sinew that enable you to wield it. "No turn for speaking to those sort of people!"-(namely, the ignorant, the erring, the suffering.) Why, if report says true, we ladies are amply endowed by nature with that gift. "No turn for speaking !"-Do you wait to ascertain your gift before you call out to turn a friend back from a precipice? and are those verging on a fearful pit and miry clay of temptation and sinful habits, to wait with less danger? "No turn for speaking !"-Do you wait for that when you are vehemently arguing out your If calculating the effort of every move- own opinion on a favourite topic? Yes; ment takes away all case and grace of I correct myself; you must get a turn for motion in the body,-may not turning speaking. As well as "Him who spake our attention too much on how we are to as never man spake," you must "be wakened (by His Father and your Father) morning by morning, to learn how to speak a word in season to him that is weary," (Isa. 1. 4.) Oh! dear friends, talk of opportunities! Just pray to be so wakened every morning as to learn how to speak such a word; and, depend upon it, dawn shall not advance to dusk without one that is weary being sent you to speak it to, and sent you just in season,-just when they are most weary, and you have best learnt the "word" they need. When you are weary yourself, and awake morning by morning, saying, "Would God it were evening," try this receipt, and I assure you, your spirit of heaviness shall be exchanged for the garment of praise.— Your faithful friend, H. L. EXPOSITION OF THE GIVING OF THE "MANNA.” EXODUS XVI. 22-30. PART III. We have now come to that part of this, covetous, and, in this respect, God-defyinstructive type that teaches of the Sabbath ordinance and rest. "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein." The people were surprised. So was not Moses, the servant of the Lord. He had counted on Jehovah's faithfulness. "This is that which the Lord said;"-just what I expected. This is but the second notice of the Sabbath in the Book of God,-the first being before the fall; and yet, observe, it is not here noticed as a new or strange thing. And, in rebuke of the earthliness and infidelity of our day, what a testimony to man, even by an additional miracle, the double portion of "manna" sent down on that day, that his bread shall "be given him and his water sure," if he will only "rest on the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment." The half of the double portion gathered was "luid up; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein." What a rebuke, I repeat, to the spirit and growing practice of our age and nation-of our ing nation, which is hastening to break asunder, and blot out among us the sign and bond between God and the earth,— "bowing,” like Belshazzar and Tyre of old, to our idols; "praising the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone." These are your gods, O Britain! And what was their fate? "In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote upon the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,—i. e., God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it! Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting!" Alas! that we should hasten to fill up the measure of our type's (Tyre) iniquity,-to justify God's judg ment in repeating on us the doom of Tyre. And Have we forgotten?-In France's first day of ruin, they blotted out the Sabbath from the days of the week, and a public decree soon followed, denying the very existence of God; and over the resting-place of the departed, was this inscription, "Death is an eternal sleep!" Are none of us anticipating this? Is it fanatical or irrational so to do? Is there no retribution, even in this world, for nations as well as for individuals? In our worldly engrossment, forgetting and forsaking the end of the Sabbath,-God ceasing to be "in all our thoughts,”—to be taken into account for either personal, or family, any more than for national life? And "where, oh! where are the intercessors ?" "And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for |