perishing through lack of knowledge, is the heart which most readily thrills at the cry of bodily want; that those who care most for the souls of the heathen are among the most active agents of patriotic and local charities; that genuine Christian charity, while it leaves no object unattempted on account of its vastness, overlooks none on account of its minuteness-copying in this respect the example of Him who, in his way to the cross to save a world, often stood still to give health to the sick, and to wipe away the tears of the mourner; who sowed, at each step, the seeds of those various institutions of mercy which are still springing up in his church; and who, while suspended on the cross in the crisis of human redemption, still thought of his filial relation, and tenderly provided for a mother's comfort.

BRIEF EXTRACTS.

WE cheerfully give place to the following Brief Extracts, sent to us for publication. EDS. R. P. & C. TREASURE IN HEAVEN.-We read of a philosopher who, passing through a mart filled with articles of taste and luxury, made himself quite happy with this simple, yet sage reflection: "How many things there are here that I do not want!" Now this is just the reflection with which the earnest believer passes happily through the world. It is richly furnished with what are called good things. It has posts of honor and power to tempt the restless aspirings of ambition, of every grade. It has gold and gems, houses and lands, for the covetous and ostentatious. It has innumerable bowers of taste and luxury, where self-indulgence may revel. But the Christian, whose piety is deeptoned, and whose spiritual perceptions are clear, looks over the world and exclaims: "How much there is here that I do not want! I have what is better. My treasure is in heaven."-Dr. Tyng.

WANTS SUPPLIED.-A good man shall have what he needs, not always what he thinks he needs. Providence intends the supply of our necessities, not of our desires; he will satisfy our wants, but not our wantonness. When a thing is not needful, a man cannot properly be said to want it; when it is needful, a good man shall not be without it; what is not bestowed upon us may not be so beautiful at that time wherein we desire it, for everything is beautiful in its season. He that did not want God's kindness to renew him, shall never want God's kindness to supply him; his hand shall not be wanting to give, where his heart hath been so large in working.-Charnock.

THE DUTY OF PRAYER.-Consider the great benefit of a constant, diligent, and persevering attendance on this duty. It is one of the greatest and most excellent means of nourishing the new nature, and of causing the soul to flourish and prosper. It is an excellent means of taking off the heart from the vanities of the world, and of causing

It is an excellent preserva

the mind to be conversant with heaven. tive from sin and the wiles of the devil, and a powerful antidote against the poison of the old serpent. It is a duty whereby strength is derived from God against the lusts and corruptions of the heart, and the snares of the world.-Edwards.

MINISTERIAL CHARACTER.-The character of a minister is far beyond that of a mere gentleman. It takes a higher walk. He will, indeed, study to be a real gentleman: he will be the farthest possible from a rude man: he will not disdain to learn nor to practice the decencies of society: but he will sustain a still higher character.

It is a snare to a minister when in company, to be drawn out to converse largely on the state of the funds, and on the news of the day. He should know the world, and what is doing in the world, and should give things of this nature their due place and proportion; but if he can be drawn out to give twenty opinions on this or that subject of politics or literature, he is lowered in his tone. A man of sense feels something violent in the transition from such conversation to the Bible and to prayer. Dinner visits can seldom be rendered really profitable to the mind. The company are so much occupied that little good is to be done. A minister should show his sense of the value of time. He must be a man of business. It is not sufficiently considered how great the sin of idleness is. We talk in the pulpit of the value of time, but we act too little on what we say. A wealthy man builds a fine house, and opens to himself fine prospects; he wants you to see them, for he is sick of them himself. They thus draw you into their schemes. A man has got ten thousand pounds; you congratulate him on it, and that without any intimation of his danger or his responsibility. Now you may tell in the pulpit that riches are nothing worth; but you will tell him thus in vain, while you tell him out of it that they are.

Lord Chesterfield says, a man's character is degraded when he is to be had. A minister ought never to be had.-Cecil.

THE POWER OF PRAYER.

THE Bible account of the power of prayer is the best we can have. Jacob prays-the angel is conquered; Esau's revenge is changed to fraternal love.

Joseph prays-he is delivered from the prison of Egypt.
Moses prays-Amalek is discomfited; Israel triumphs.
Joshua prays-the sun stands still; victory is gained.
David prays-Ahithophel goes out and hangs himself.
Asa prays-Israel gains a glorious victory.

Jehoshaphat prays-God turns away his anger and smiles.

Elisha prays the waters of the Jordan are divided; a child is restored to life.

Isaiah prays-one hundred and eighty-four thousand Assyrians are dead.

Hezekiah prays-the sun dial is turned back; his time is prolonged. Mordecai prays-Haman is hanged; Israel is free.

Nehemiah prays-the king's heart is softened in a moment. Ezra prays the walls of Jerusalem begin to rise. The Church prays-the Holy Ghost is poured out. The Church prays again-Peter is delivered by an angel. Paul and Silas pray-the prison shakes; the door opens; every man's bands are loosed.

SERMO AD CLERUM-CLERICAL AND SECULAR EMPLOYMENT.

"And he left the oxen."-1 Kings 19: 20.

THE text is spoken of the prophet Elisha, who lived about nine hundred years before Christ. He was, as we learn from the context, a man of property; a farmer of substantial eharacter, who oversaw his own workmen, and assisted in the operations. "He was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he with the twelfth." This marks his importance, and the extent of his agricultural business. He was no mean man; no insignificant farmer; and no idler waiting for an adventure in order to better his condition; but a man of note in his day; a man of means, and a man of industry and energy. But when Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him, he left the oxen. All of them; as well the yoke he drove himself, as the eleven others that went before. He did not even stop to give instructions in regard to the continuance of the work, or the putting out of the crop. All that was declined by him, and devolved upon other parties. His avocation was honorable; it was useful; and it was profitable; but he left it all, to accept a higher position; to engage in a nobler calling. His Master had a better work, and a more glorious reward.

He left the handles of the plough for the mantle of the prophet. He did it instantly. There was no hesitation; no weighing of considerations. He left the oxen. Not that he despised manual labor, or honest industry, but because he was CALLED. The call was divine, and must be obeyed. It required his entire time and thoughts, and could not be fulfilled by a partial attention. He could not prophesy as he ploughed, therefore he LEFT the oxen. He did not take them with him. He had no use for them in his new vocation. Other instrumentalities were to be used. Those he left would pass into other hands. He left the oxen. The separation was final; he never came back. His life was long and eminent, and much checkered by vicissitudes of fortune, but Elisha never returned to the plough. His inclination did not incline him; his health did not require it; and the necessities of life did not compel him. Called to be a prophet, he magnified his office, and his office supported him, or God supported him in it. He was not rich, but he was not in want. And when he was offered rich gifts, he declined them positively and promptly. God provided him with all things necessary. He left the oxen, but he did not starve or beg his bread. And in his case was illustrated the saying of the Psalmist: "I have been young and now am old, yet have I never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread."

His eminence was distinguished, and his mission marked, by God's signal favor. None more so. His name lives, and will live forever, in the oracles of inspiration and the praises of the saints-in time, and when time shall be no more.

What it would have been, had he not left the oxen, we can only surmise. Or what, had he left them and returned, we may only speculate. We will not be wise above what is written. Let the text teach its own lesson. A few practical observations in conclusion:

From this subject, we infer

INFERENCE.

1. That no one should leave his oxen for the ministry unless he is divinely called.

2. That being so called, he should leave them promptly, heartily and entirely.

3. That having so left, he should never return, but devote himself wholly to the work of his ministry.

4. That if he do so faithfully, he will be crowned with success and honor.

"He that endureth to the end shall receive a crown of everlasting life."

When we see a minister of the gospel engage in secular employment, we say to ourselves, he is going back to the oxen. When we see his sermons, in consequence, lose their interest, and degenerate into the mere assertion of unquestioned platitudes, or equally unprofitable declamation, we inquire- Why does he not leave the oxen? When the audience becomes sparse, the support small, and the interest less, we think- Will he not leave the oxen? When we find the congregation growing still smaller, the dissatisfaction increasing, and the support diminishing, until it is wholly inadequate, and the poor pastor leaving from sheer necessity, to seek another field, we are sick at heart, and mentally say-Why did he not leave the oxen ?-Christian Observer.

CHRIST CLEANSING THE HEART-TEMPLE.

In what a turmoil and confusion did our blessed Lord find the Temple when he entered it on a certain time of the Passover! A noisy crowd of money-changers and cattle-brokers are driving their selfish and sacrilegious traffic. Herds of oxen are lowing; sheep are bleating; cages of doves block up the way; the air is filled with the jabbering babel of traders' tongues, all eager to sell their beasts and birds. for the sacrifice.

It is a terrible desecration of an edifice sacred to the Lord of heaven and earth.

Right among these noisy traffickers enters one who is greater than the Temple. Seizing the small rushes which were used for tying up the cattle, our Saviour twisted them into a "scourge" or whip, and drove out the whole crowd of profane intruders. The tables of the

money-changers are overturned; and to those who were turning the sanctuary into a pigeon-house, the Divine Master says: "Take these hence! make not my Father's house a house of merchandise!" The temple is cleansed in an instant. Not, of course, by the terror inspired by a small whip in a single hand; but by a supernatural authoritythe authority of the Divine Messiah, which asserted itself in such a manner that the sacrilegious rabble moved off, convicted of their wrong, and overawed by the rebuke of that sovereign who was "Lord also of the temple."

In this striking scene I find a parable, full of spiritual instruction. The soul of every Christian is a temple. It becomes such at the time of conversion. Formerly a habitation of the evil one, it becomes, by regeneration, a "habitation of God through the Spirit." As the stones on Mount Moriah were but common stones until they were consecrated to God's use, so the powers and affections of a sinner's heart become, through true conversion, a dwelling-place for Jesus. "Know ye not, says Paul, "that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy, for the temple of God is holy; which temple ye are." What a glorious idea this presents of a faithful follower of Christ. His heart is a sanctuary of the Spirit-full of holy thoughts and devout aspirations. Not a gloomy cloister; but a tabernacle of praise, with strains of lofty melody pealing through the arches, and the sweet incense of gratitude ascending from the altars. The mercy-seat of prayer is there; and the flames of love, consuming the offerings, send forth the "savor of a sweet smell."

But alas! how often is this inner temple of the believer profaned by intruders as sacrilegious as they who brought their beasts, and birds, and bullion into the sacred edifice on Mount Moriah! Selfishness brings its herd of sinful schemes into the apartments which belong to Christ alone. Gradually, and under fair pretenses, self edges-first into the outer courts, and then into the very sanctum of the soul. But into this profane heart how often does the loving Jesus come with the scourge of sharp chastisements! How often does he twist the very plans of our selfishness into a thong to smite us! Selfishness becomes its own retribution. Our pride, too, is often fearfully scourged by humiliations and mortifications and exposures. Poor boastful Peter! What a scourging did his self-conceit receive in Pilate's garden. And what a terrible whip of retribution did David's lust receive, when the child of his guilt lay dead before his weeping eyes. It was to purify, and not to destroy, that the chastening Lord entered those heart-temples. And our pitying Saviour, when he weaves out of our sins a scourge to punish us, only carries out his discipline of mercy. Whom he loveth he chasteneth; and scourgeth (observe the word)-scourgeth every child whom he receiveth.

We could point to hundreds of church members into whose hearttemple covetousness has intruded and set up its tables of traffic, in despite of that solemn caution, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." Such men are eaten up by the greed of gain; they are thoroughly worldly-minded and unspiritualized. The heart that was once a tem