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there were three or four subscribers of 1s. 6d. or 1s. a quarter, who subscribed in order to lend to others. I thought this a good feature in the plan, as it encouraged thoughtfulness for others in this respect, and provided the means for exercising it. In one or two instances, I had reason to believe the library of material use in improving the minds as well as advancing the religious state of those who availed themselves of it. I saw its good effects in their conversation, and I hope in their lives also. Keeping in view the upper class of my parishioners, I have a larger proportion of a higher range of books than I have seen in some parish libraries. I will write down some of those which I like best.

Cheap Repository Tracts-Scongal's Life of God in the Soul of Man-Baxter's Saint's Rest-Converse with God in Solitude-Dying Thoughts-Plain Man's Guide to Heaven-Fuller's Characters-Davy's Village Conversations on the Liturgy-History of England-Humboldt's Travels in South America-Tales and Stories from the Supplemental Catalogue of the Christian Knowledge Society--Cottage Readings-The History of the Great Plague-The Two Wealthy Farmers-Scott's Force of Truth-Leighton on St. Peter-Charlie Burton -Memoir of Maria, a Converted Jewess-The Loss of the Kent G. Herbert's Life and Poems-Davies of Devauden-Bishop Beveridge's Resolutions-Help to the Unlearned in Reading the Epistles (Seeley)-First Sundays at Church-Lives of Eminent ChristiansScott's Life-H. Martyn's Life-Bishop Burnett's History of the Reformation-The Homilies-Bishop Wilson's (Sodor and Man) Sermons-Bishop Wilson's Saora Privata-Burkitt's Help and Guide to Christian Families -Sankey's Sermons-Doddridge's Rise and Progress-South Indian Sketches; and I mean to add next, Bishop Hall's Contemplations, and Balm of Gilead, and some, if not all, of Mr. Blunt's (of Chelsea,) Lectures.

With regard to the arrangement of the books in the catalogue, I have found it convenient to make so many different classes corresponding to the number of shelves. Thus, when a new book is put in, it is registered in the

catalogue without difficulty as next in number to the one last put in on the same shelf which its size is suited to. For example, shelf A is for duodecimos, shelf B for octavos. Suppose the last book placed on shelf A was numbered A 26, and the last in shelf B, B 17, then the next book I buy, if a duodecimo, will be A 27; if an octavo, B 18.

Perhaps you will hardly see the object of all this. But at W., when I registered them one after the other as they came in, I found the inconvenience that (e. g.) 27 would not stand next to 26, the shelf which suited one being too low for the other.

MARY'S GLEANINGS.

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EARNESTNESS.

"WHATSOEVER thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might," is a maxim not out of place in the most insignificant enterprise. Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. How much more, then, in such an engagement as that of a teacher of Christianity! Here earnestness is not only commendable, but absolutely necessary. Zeal and energy not only make success likelier, but without them success is impossible. The ancient proverb, Mighty is the man that doeth one thing," is emphatically applicable. The truth, which is the subject of the Teacher's ministrations, demands great depth of feeling and fervour of zeal. To dwell upon it listlessly is, absolutely, not to express it at all. To speak of God without reverence of eternity without awe of the love of Christ without tenderness, are utter contradictions To be frigid in conceiving these realities—to be careless in urging them-to omit one opportunity or one means of enforcing their claims, is to be traiterous to their greatness. An amount of eagerness that, on other topics, would be fanaticism is only rational here. Enthusiasm can scarcely be kindled to too great an intenseness; for "the love of Christ constraineth us." The Teacher's power over the pupil

is necessarily in proportion to the sympathy that is excited. Children, especially, are quick observers of character, and will instinctively feel, if they do_not clearly discern, when true earnestness is lacking. Real energy, be it remembered, is not necessarily loud or obtrusive in its manifestations. It is an error, common enough, but very misleading, to confound noise with power. The sublimest truth is best expressed in simplicity; and the mightiest power works in silence. It is, then, by no means bustle for which we contend. It is that deep resolution which arises from a worthy impression of the work that is to be done-earnest, patient, and hopeful-like Him who was at once the mightiest and the gentlest, whose spirit manifested at once the most energetic determination and the most unruffled calm.

THE PRODIGAL FOUND.

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."-ECCLES. xi. 6.

TEACHERS must work in the dark. They must work by faith, and not by sight. And though in the dark, as it were, not knowing in which heart the good seed will remain, and take root, and burst, and grow, and bring forth fruit, yet they work on the promise that no word sent forth by God shall return unto him void. Theirs is the duty, with God alone is the result. And though they may see but little fruit, yet how sweet and comfortable the thought that they are working for God, sowing seed which he has sent into their hands to scatter abroad on the world. This should be enough for them. They should say to themselves, God has honoured me by hiring me as a labourer in his vineyard. It is my part to sow the seed-to train the young plant-to dig about it and dung it, and to supply all materials suitable for a vigorous growth: and whether this or that plant comes to perfection remains with God alone. I will seek his

grace that I may plant and water, and I shall leave it to him to give the increase.

Ah! my dear Teachers, if you will thus go to work, in this simple faith, you will be saved many a heart-ache, and spared many a heavy sigh. We are all too apt, as an old divine has said, to be scratching up the seed every now and then to see whether it is sprouting or not. No; let us sow it, and take all proper means for its culture, and leave the rest with Him who disposeth all hearts. And how often has it happened that those children who have appeared to be the most hopeless, and upon whom all our pains seem to be lost, have turned out the most promising! A minister in Germany, when writing to one of our Religious Societies, says

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At the conclusion of our last anniversary, I was informed that there was a young man at the door wishing to speak to me; and to my great surprise I found him to be a youthful sailor who had formerly been a scholar in our Sabbath-school, and one of the most troublesome, insubordinate, and mischievous boys that ever came under our care. We often threatened to exclude him as a common pest to the school, and always feared that he would in future life be a source of extreme anxiety to his parents. To my joy, however, I found, from his brief statement at the door, that nothing was too hard for the Lord. I soon perceived that he had undergone a most marvellous change, and he deeply regretted that he had not seen me before the time of the public meeting, as his case might have been an encouragement to the friends of the institution. I invited him to come to my house next morning, and tell me all that the Lord had done for him. He was always an intelligent boy, and had been well taught in the theory of religion; I was, therefore, prepared to hear a clear and correct statement of his own convictions and feelings. He intimated to me at the outset of his narrative, that he was at sea what he used to be at school-the foremost in all that was bad, If anything were wrong, it was sure to be Edward D. who had done it; if there were to be any spree, he was always at the head. It was one

Sabbath-day, when the men were going to get up some frolic, that the captain of the vessel, who, though not a religious man, saw the evil of their conduct, determined to put every man to work who would not go down into the cabin and take a book and read. Edward assured me that the book was no attraction to him; but of two evils he thought it the least, and therefore consented to submit to the drudge of the book rather than the labour of the work. On going to the library furnished by the Bethel Union, he took out a volume of tracts, and opened at the one entitled A Conversation between Two Sailors.' 'I had not read far,' said he, 'before conviction flashed upon my conscience. I felt myself a condemned sinner, and I scarcely finished the tract before I felt myself a believer in the Lord Jesus. I enjoyed the comfort of believing, and did not, as in many other cases, remain for any period under darkness or doubt.' This seemed to me, at first, to be too much of the hot-bed growth, and I felt somewhat suspicious of the reality of such ready maturity; but on further inquiry and probing, I found his heart was in the right place, and he was resting on the right foundation; and subsequent investigation into his character and conduct fully confirmed my conclusion. He closed by saying, that the change in his own feelings and conduct produced such a change in those of his companions, that they now shunned and hated as much as they had formerly caressed him. He therefore left the ship, and is now sailing under another captain, but faithfully serving his Lord and Master."

Now, if this youth had not received a religious education, he might not have understood what he read, and that tract might not have come home to his conscience with such power. Who can say that it was not the good seed which had been sown in the Sunday-school that was now called to life, and the faithful instruction there received brought home with power to his alarmed and converted conscience!

Then, dear Teachers, work on in faith; and though such instances as this may never occur in your Sundayschool experience, yet rest assured that when you behold

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