If, in these days of irreverence, there is any thing that is treated with universal reverence, it is the wayward impulses and whims of children. And often have I seen parents of large and well informed minds, instead of moulding their children's characters, submitting themselves to be moulded by them, brow-beaten out of sound opinions, driven from respectable and worthy habits, and drawn where neither good sense nor conscience would go with them, It is children thus trained, or rather thus untrained, who, when they grow up, push their elders aside. It is such that despise laws and speak evil of dignities. Therefore let it be enforced by ali-Children, obey your parents.

THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE. THE following beautiful and correct thought is from a sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. Peabody in Portsmouth, on the occasion of the State Thanksgiving:West. Transcript.

"Ours, it is to be feared, is an irreverent age and land. The number of those who neither fear God nor regard man, is greatly multiplied. The whole providentially arranged system of things is reversed; and if there is any one motto which might be inscribed on the surface of society as it now is, or as modern innovators and radicals would have it, it would be this-"The elder shall serve the younger." Youth no longer hangs upon the counsels of age or experience, or deigns to ask of the former times; but the less one knows of the past, the surer and wiser guide for the future is he esteemed by many. Men often talk of the past as if God had never worked, virtue never breathed, philanthropy never lifted a finger, and wisdom never given a true response until now. We hear much concerning the dead past, and are bidden to let it bury its dead. Oh! how soon, if our children are no wiser than ourselves, will they be talking the unmeaning cant about our boasted present!"

From the Israelite.

SOLEMNITY IN PUBLIC WORSHIP

A CORRESPONDENT of the Christian Watchman gives the following particulars as to the mode of entering and leaving places of public worship in London:

"When the people enter their pews, they at once engage, for one or two minutes in silent prayer. Episcopalians knelt for the purpose; Dissenters bowed their heads against the front of the pew. This gave to the whole scene an air of solemnity befitting the day and the place. "When the benediction was concluded, the Minister and people remained for a moment in silence. Not a pew door was opened, not a hat or glove taken, nor a foot moved.

"They were exceedingly moderate in leaving the house. In no. instance did I see the aisles crowded. They seemed willing to wait for one another.

"Gentlemen retired from the house of God as respectfully as from the house of a friend; they did not put on their hats until they reached the door."

VOL VI-NS

We must confess, that we have always admired the decorum of our Episcopalian and Presbyterian brethren. It is a redeeming trait in the character of their respective systems, which is entirely wanting in some others. Methodism, for example, knows neither law, order, nor decorum; especially when it encamps in the woods, and gets warmed up by the poetry of Nature. Then it is, that heart-religion usurps the throne of reason, proscribes common sense and propriety, and rends the welkin with its hideous shouts.

But we commend the foregoing extract to our brethren, and recommend them to imitate the example. We are, many of us, deficient in that decorum and reverence, which should pervade a worshipping congregation.

The filthy and disgusting practice of chewing tobacco, and sometimes smoking segars in the house of God, cannot be too severely reprobated.

3

CHRISTIANITY.

THE religion of Jesus," says Bishop Taylor, "trampled over the philosophy of the world, the arguments of the subtle, the discourses of the eloquent, the power of princes, the interest of states, the inclination of nature, the blindness of zeal, the force of custom, the solicitation of passions, the pleasure of sin, and the busy arts of the devil." Sir Isaac Newton set out in life a clamorous infidel; but, on a nice. examination of the evidences of Christianity, he found reason to change his opinion. When the celebrated Dr. Edmund Halley was talking infidelity before him, Sir Isaac addressed him in these or the like words: "Dr. Halley, I am always glad to hear you when you speak about astronomy, or other parts of the mathematics, because that is a subject you have studied, and well understand; but you should not talk of Christianity, for you have not studied it. I have, and am certain that you know nothing of the matter" This was a just reproof, and one that would be very suitable to be given to half the infidels of the present day; for they often speak of what they have never studied, and what, in fact, they are entirely ignorant of. Dr. Johnson, therefore, well observed, that no honest man could be a Deist; for no man could be so after a fair examination of the proofs of Christianity. On the name of Hume being mentioned to him, "No, sir," said he, "Hume owned to a clergyman in the bishoprick of Durham, that he had never read the New Testament with attention."

INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.

The primitive Christians endured the fiery trial with insuperable constancy; and the most powerful argument that inspired their courage, despising life and death, was, that Christ was their leader in those terrible conflicts; he was their spectator when they encountered wild beasts and fiercer tyrants for the defence of his truth and glory of his name; and while they were suffering for him he was preparing immortal crowns for them. This St. Cyprian, in his pastoral letters to the Christians in Africa, represents with such powerful eloquence, that it kindled in their breasts a love to Christ stronger than death.

Basil affirms that the primitive saints showed so much comfort and courage, so much heroic zeal and constancy, that many of the heathens turned Christians. Lactantius boasts of the fortitude of the martyrs in his time.

"Our children and women (not to speak of men) do in silence overcome their tormentors, and the fire cannot so much as fetch a sigh from them." Hegissippus reports an observation of Antonius the Emperor-viz. that the Christians were always most courageous and confident in earthquakes, whilst his own heathen soldiers were, on such occasions, most fearful and dispirited. The suffering saint may be assaulted and troubled, but can never be conquered; he may lose his head, but cannot lose his crown, which the righteous Lord hath laid up for him.

CHRISTIANITY EXEMPLIFIED.

Christianity is not only a system of truth, but of peace. Pliny the Younger was obliged to bear his testimony to this. He presided over Pontus and Bithynia, in the office and with the power of Proconsul. By his humanity the persecution which had been begun against the Christians of his province was stopped; for he solemnly declared to the Emperor Trajan, that the followers of Christ were a meek and inoffensive sect of men; that their morals were pure and innocent; that they were free from all crimes, and that they voluntarily bound themselves, by the most solemn oaths, to abstain from vice and to relinquish every sinful pursuit. What can be a more charming exposition of the words of the Apostle. I Peter ii. 12., than this testimony? How well is it to explain and illustrate the scriptures by the purity of our conduct?

SECURITY OF A CHRISTIAN.

How noble is the triumph of the Christian! Although exposed to manifold difficulties, and persecuted by powerful and dangerous enemies, yet he knows he is safe; yea, even though death is before him, and he fall a martyr to truth, he can still rejoice.

Socrates, when unrighteously prosecuted to death, said of his ene mies, with a courage becoming the heart of a Christian, "They may kill me, but they cannot hurt me." So a Christian may truly say; for his life is hid with Christ in God.-[Buck's Relig. Anecdotes.]

THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD-No. I.

HEAR, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord. Deut. vi. 4. I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Gen. xvii. 1. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Gen. xviii. 25. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. Gen. xx. 34. And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth. Gen. xxiv. 3. Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth. Gen. xxiv. 27. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the

God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob Exod. iii. 6. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said, morever, unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto yon: this is my name forever, and this my memorial unto all generations. Exod. iii. 13, 14, 15. I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thy excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sendest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together: the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the Gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Exod. xv. 1, 11. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, &c. Exod. xx. 2, 3, 4, 5. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, &c. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Know, therefore, this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Deut. iv. 21, 33, 39. See now that I, even 1, am he, and there is no God with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven and say, I LIVE FOREVER. Deut. xxxii. 39, 40. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heavens in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and

underneath are the everlasting arms. Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27. There is none holy as the Lord; for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 1 Sam. xi. 2, 3, 6, 7. The Lord is my roek, and my fortress, and my deliverer. The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, and my savionr. 2 Sam. xxii. 2, 3. As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is true: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him. For who is God, save the Lord? And who is a rock, save our God? 31, 32. But will God, indeed, dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? 1 Kings viii. 27. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is also to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens. Chron. xvi. 15, 26. O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God. Neh. i. 5. AN EVANGELIST.

News from the Churches.

Lancaster, Kentucky, December 22, 1841.

After long silence and absence, I have concluded to address you few lines. During one whole year I was away from the country, to which, above all others, I feel most attached (Kentucky) travelled much in the State of Missouri; and endeavored, after my manner, to teach the followers of our Lord the Christian scriptures, and to proclaim the gospel of God s beloved Son to sinners.

I thank the good Lord for the success with which the labors of his servants were crowned during my stay with them in Missouri. I had the pleasure of seeing, while in Alissouri, between three and four hundred unite with our friends who take the Bible alone as the standard of faith and manners. They were mostly from the world, but many from the various sects. 1 claim not the credit of doing this good work alonegenerally I had brother Thomas M. Allen with me, who is a very efficient proclaimer; sometimes brothers Wills, Lancaster, and others The kindness shown by the people of Missouri I hope never to forget I often think of them with no common emotions. The society generally seemed not inferior to any with which I had the honor of associa ting.

Among other things I fought one little battle in favor of the Bible, in opposition to human creeds Lapsly Yantes, a Presbyterian preacher, was my opponent. The question was, "Is the unity of the church, as intended by the Bible, prevented by written human creed-? By written euman creeds are meant such as are used by the Methodists and Presbyterians in this community." I took the affirmative-Mr. Yantes the negative. We argued two days. Mr. Yantes used your name very freely. I told him if you were there it was probable to me he would not open his mouth against you. He did not say he would or not. I think the Bible cause did not suffer by the discussion.

Since my arrival in Kentucky I have been greatly interested in seeing many join the Bible cause. At our last meeting in this place, commencing Saturday before the first Lord's day in this month, including the two following Lord's days, forty-five additions were obtained, generally persous of great moral worth, calculated to add great weight to the society in Lancaster; thirty-eight confessions; the rest from the sects, &c. Brother Carro Kendrick and brother White were among the most efficient laborers at this meeting. Brother White did not continue all the time, being compelled to leave; but our beloved brother Kendrick continued one whole week, a part of which time I was constrained to leave him to fill another appointment. Brother K. seems to me to be more pious and devoted to the good cause than common. This I love to see. Among those who came forward to confess and obey the Lord, we had five Doctors and one of the best Lawyers in the place. This being rather uncommon is the reason I name it. I pray the good Lord that we may continue to prosper in Lancaster.