even though the doing so cause them trouble and persecution.

It was hay-time again. The country was once more dressed in its brightest garb of green and gold. The feathered songsters sent forth their joyful notes, and all nature seemed to rejoice in the warmth and sunshine of the beauteous summer. Once more Farmer Arnold was among his workpeople, urging them on and helping them in their labours; but this year neither Hetty Freeman nor Polly Green were among the haymakers. The latter was lying upon her death-bed, and the former was carefully and anxiously watching over her.

"Open the window a little, Hetty," said the sick girl, "and let me feel the breeze; it is so refreshing."

As Hetty complied with the request, the scent of the newly-made hay was wafted into the room, and the sound of the mowers sharpening their scythes was heard in the distance.

"Ah, Polly," said the young nurse; "this time of the year puts me in mind of what you said to me last summer; do you remember what it was ?" Polly did not immediately recollect what her friend referred to, so she went on. "It was about working while it is called to-day, seeing that the night comes when no one can work; you remember now?"

“Oh, yes, I remember now, Hetty; and I think I said something about not knowing when our day would be over. Mine is nearly passed, Hetty; my work is nearly done; but I hope my life has not been spent in vain."

"No, Polly, it has not indeed. But for you I should not have been so happy now; it was you who pointed me to the Saviour, and helped me to find salvation through faith in Him. Oh, no; your life has not been wasted."

"I am so glad, Hetty dear, that you have found peace with God; and now you must set yourself to work for Him. There is work for us all, you know; and, if we would be happy Christians, the more work we do the better."

A few days later, and Polly Green had finished her work in this world, and had gone to the Saviour whom she had loved so well. But although she was gone, her works remained, and who can say where the results of her loving labour ended?

She was only a poor working girl, but she did what she could, and perhaps accomplished more good than many others who have greater opportunities of usefulness.

"A word spoken in due season, how good is it?" and yet how many there are who never speak the word. They know the blessedness of trusting in Jesus, and finding peace and safety in Him, but cannot bring themselves to point others to the same happiness. They are afraid of being thought righteous overmuch; they think they will give offence, or are so diffident as to fancy that they are not competent to properly perform the duty of speaking a word of advice or counsel. But is this a right feeling? Is there not work for us all to do, and is it not our duty to do it? If every Christian were but to let his light so shine before men that they might see his good works, and thus be induced to glorify his Father who is in heaven, how much good might be done, how much misery and wretchedness avoided !

Let no one say that he or she is too humble to be able to do good. Every one who is taught of God may do some good. There is work for us all, and the time in which to do it may be very short; knowing this, it behoves us to work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work.

Do you say you have no opportunities of usefulness? Look around you, and you will find plenty to do. Is there no sin to be battled with? no suffering to be alleviated? Surely you can do some work for Him who has done so much for you. Even without going from your own home you may find work. "The well-directed efforts of a good man, even in the private walks of life, may produce results hardly to be calculated," says a writer on this subject. "His conduct throughout the successive engagements of

the day may operate powerfully on the different members of his family, and even upon his friends who frequent the house, who make him social visits. He may on these occasions frequently give a suitable direction to conversation— may exchange unprofitable or light converse for that which will instruct and edify, and raise the conviction, that while frivolous and vain subjects leave a painful void, those of higher import refresh and invigorate the mind, and increase its zest for spiritual things." In other words, we may be constantly working for Christ, and doing good to those about us, by living a sincere and truly Christian life.

One thing is certain, that he who would do any work for his Divine Master must seek that Master's aid: "of ourselves we can do no good thing." Seeking help from on high, and striving faithfully and earnestly to do good to all about us, we are certain to succeed, and to have the satisfaction of knowing that we are doing our share of the work that God has laid down for us to do. There is work for all; let us, then, work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no man can work,

The Crippled Miner.

A

SIMPLE theme--but humbly I
Would offer it to Him

Whose mercy ever shall endure

Till suns and stars are dim;

Whose love still flows o'er all the earth,
From distant pole to pole,

And through the Spirit of His grace

Thrills the believing soul.

The day was fine, the larks were up
Singing their April psalm,

The early flowers were peeping forth,
Whose every look was balm,
As down a crooked lane I went,

Which led into a moor,

Where rushes grew beside the stream

Close by the thatcher's door.

G. H. S.

Before me was an ill-clothed man
Bent on his crutches low;
And 'mid the stones and rugged ruts,
His pace was very slow.

And as I neared him I could see
His was a piteous case;

The marks of powder, flint, and fire,
Were on that miner's face.

A hole exploding in his work

Before he could withdraw,

Crashed round him with a thunder-roar,
And shattered him like straw:
His limbs were broken in the blast,
His manhood bruised away,

And life to him was life no more
From that eventful day.

We met-I spoke of birds and flowers,
Which God to man had given,
And how the blossoms never fade
On the green hills of heaven;
When such a shout from that pale form
Rose the white clouds above,

Linked with the Saviour's hallowed name,
As listening angels love.

Oh, could the infidel have seen

His face glow bright with fire,

As if a seraph in the air

Swept high his golden lyre,

Whose rare refulgence strangely flashed

Upon the lonely moor

A glory such as Eden wears,

He'd doubt His word no more.

The heights with hallelujahs rang;
Methinks I hear them still,

Though twenty years have passed away,

With freights of good and ill.

And long ere this that shattered man,

Of such a low estate,

Clad in the white robes of the King,

Has past the golden gate.

He had no earthly heritage

To fill his life with joy;

But peace Divine had been his stay,
Which blight cannot destroy.

And up and down this warring world
How many souls there be,

Who testify that Christ's own truth
Can set the shackled free.

J. H.

A Homely Homily for Young Married People,

ON THE DUTIES OF HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

"For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”—Matt. xix. 5, 6.

PROPOSE in this paper to consider the duties of married persons to each other and to their children, according to what we learn on these subjects from the Holy Scriptures.

In these particular situations of life we cannot gain instruction from the example of our Saviour, as He did not appear to us in the character of a husband or a father; but in the words of my text He expresses, in the strongest manner possible, His approbation of the sacred engagement of marriage; and His apostles particularly explain the duties which belong to it. Paul says, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it."1 Peter, who was himself a married man, directs the wife "to be in subjection to the husband," and the husband to "dwell with the wife, giving honour to her, as unto the weaker vessel ;" and "as being heirs together of the grace of life." And John, in the Book of Revelation, sets the dignity of marriage in the strongest light, when he speaks of the union of Christ and His Church under that title.