might not fully understand the reason of them, and without asking any questions. But how was it that the people of the city, when they saw the priests, and the army, going their rounds, did not shoot darts, or cast stones, and kill them? Most likely they were so far from the walls, that they were unable to reach them. Many of the people did, no doubt, look at this odd sort of parade, as they would term it, and would scoff and treat them with contempt. And as they saw them march round day after day, and no harm came to the city, they began to think they were very safe; and that neither Israel, nor Israel's God, could do them any injury. If they thought so, they did not think right; for on the sabbath-day morning, the people rose early and marched round the city seven times. What a moment that must have been when they had got round the seventh time! When they all stood still and fixed their eyes on the walls of the city! When the priests blew with their trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, "Shout! for the Lord hath given you this city." "So the people shouted, when the priests blew with the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him; and they took the city." When the men of the city saw the walls fall down at once with a dreadful crash, they were struck with terror, and had no strength, or even desire, to resist, and so they became an easy prey. And Joshua destroyed the city, and laid it waste, as God had charged him. God had a right to cut off, and he can do it in an instant, any one who dares rebel against him. And if there be a town, or even a world full of rebels, he has a right to punish, or to consume the whole. But would it be right for one people now to go and take the city of another nation, and to destroy it? No; unless God had given them, as he gave Joshua, an express command to do so. And God gave the people the city, by the sounding of the rams' horns, and the shouting of the people, to convince us, that in every age he can fulfil his mightiest purposes by the feeblest means. It was his design to feed vast multitudes of people during a dreadful famine of seven years: and he did so by means of a Hebrew youth who was sold for a slave. It was his design that the Gospel should be preached, and the kingdom of the Saviour set up among the nations; and he has done it, by a small company of fishermen, tent-makers, and carpenters. And why? That "no flesh might glory in his presence; but as it is written, Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord!" REGARD FOR THE SABBATH. A YOUNG man brought up as a gardener in the country went to live near London, and procured a situation, which he filled so well as to be enabled in a few years to take some ground, and enter into business for himself. He had been brought up in the fear of the Lord, and taught in his youth to reverence the Lord's day; but the love of the world gained such influence over him in his business as to lead him to sell the produce of his garden on that holy day. Providence appeared soon to frown on his endeavours; his trade failed, and he became a bankrupt. His sister, a converted young woman, kept his house, and told him her fears, that the real cause of his losses was his profanation of the Sabbath. She strongly urged him to begin business again on a small scale, offering to lend him thirty shillings, which was all she had, to buy a few articles necessary for his work, upon the plain and express condition, that he should sell nothing on the Lord's day, but spend it in the worship of God, public and private, in which case she told him, she thought he might ask for the blessing of God on his undertakings. Having learned by experience, what, indeed, he might have learned from the word of God, that a curse had rested on him while breaking the Sabbath, he agreed to take her advice. His efforts were followed with a blessing, so that his business prospered wonderfully; in a few years he rose to affluence, was able to purchase the ground he formerly hired, and to contribute largely to the cause of God, and the good of many. Thus was again fulfilled, "them that honour me I will honour.” Reader, if you are a Sabbath-breaker, take warning; soon the last Sabbath will come, and a fearful day of reckoning will it be if death should introduce you to the bar of God, breaking his Sab bath. Oh! flee from the sin, and "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Hollingworth. J. R. OR, OUR JOHN IS ALWAYS FIGHTING." No. I. I AM sure that every reader will immediately acknowledge that this little fellow must be both troublesome and dangerous. While you gratify his wishes with everything he desires, he is content and pleasing; but as soon as you refuse to comply with his requests, he becomes peevish and even boisterous. Although the article may be your own which he wants, if you refuse to give it him, he will perhaps sit down on the floor and sulk, or cry for an hour, or otherwise furiously kick, or strike you. This you know must be very annoying to all who are about him, and it must be very wicked in him to do so, because God does not like children to indulge in evil tempers and dispositions. I am sorry to say that there are too many children, besides John, who give way to the same unruly and wicked spirit; many children who are unkind to their brothers and sisters, and a grief to their pa rents. If any such characters should read these remarks about "fighting John," I would say to them that God sets down all these wicked actions in the book of his remembrance, against the day of judgment; and also that he will severely punish you for them, if you do not forsake them for the future, and obtain his pardon for the past. If you - have ever been to a sabbath-school you must have been taught that God does not love any child but such as love their brothers and sisters: you must have heard of this command, which Christ has given to children as well as to grown-up people :— "Love one another:” you must have read how Christ loved not only those of his own household, but all mankind, and of what his love prompted him to do for a wicked world: and surely you must have read or heard of those beautiful lines written for the use of children, by a good man named "WATTS," "Whatever brawls disturb the street, There should be peace at home; If you have not seen or heard of these, you may have seen those pretty lines printed on the 96th page of this Magazine, for the same purpose, which I would recommend you to commit to memory; and let them influence you, reader, to love your parents, your brothers and sisters, and your companions and neighbours, and to strive to promote their happiness. By doing this, you will enjoy peace and comfort yourselves, and all about you will feel its blessings. But in order that you may exercise universal kindness, and possess a patient, forbearing, and forgiving temper, you must earnestly pray to God to give you that grace which changes and purifies the heart. The heart of every one of us is naturally prone to evil, and unless we obtain divine help, our inward corruptions will |