And he devotes himself accordingly to the service of his king and Saviour. As a good subject, he will obey His laws, and seek to promote the peace and prosperity of His kingdom; as a good soldier, he will follow his Captain through every danger and every death, and, having gained the victory, he will ground his arms at Jesus' feet, and so be ever with the Lord.

The following is a noble instance of genuine philanthropy, where a person risked and actually lost his life for the salvation of others :-A Dutch East Indiaman was wrecked in a terrible tempest off the Cape of Good Hope; the sailors were every instant perishing for want of assistance. An old man named Woltemad, by birth a European, and who was at this time a resident of an island off the coast, heard the lamentations of the distressed crew and hastened to their relief. The noble Dutchman borrowed a horse and proceeded to the wreck, with a view of saving at least some of their number; he returned safe with two of the unfortunate sufferers, and repeated this dangerous trip six times, each time bringing with him two men, and thus saved in all fourteen persons. The horse was by this time so much exhausted, that the man did not think it prudent to venture out again; but the entreaties of the poor sufferers increasing, he ventured one trip more, which proved so unfortunate that he lost his own life; for on this occasion too many rushed upon him at once, some catching hold of the horse's tail, and others of the bridle, by which means the horse, wearied out, and too heavily laden, was overwhelmed by the billows, and all drowned together. The East India Company, impressed with so noble an instance of philanthropy, ordered a monument to be erected to his memory.

"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."

In this cold clime some mariners are found,-
Two, froze to death, lie stretched upon the ground;
Others, more wise, to keep themselves awake,
They leap and shout, and strive their friends to wake :
One plies the rod-yet from all anger free-
To rouse his neighbour from his lethargy;
Death of his prey, while thus engaged, he cheats,
And finds himself revive the more he beats.
These work and live, although the conflict's sore;
The rest, they slumber, and awake no more.

Here we have a picture of the Polar regions; the accumulating masses of ice raise to the sky their snowy summits-the formation, perhaps, of future icebergs. Here Winter sits securely upon his throne of desolation; unmolested by the Solar King, he sways his icy sceptre. The very winds are hushed to silence by his power. A desolate and terrible region. It is the sheeted sepulchre of Nature deceased. No signs of life are seen, except the Polar beast, fitted for his dreary abode. No sound of rippling brook or voice of joyous bird echoes through the icy cliffs. To bless the eye, no leafy forests wave to the breeze, no cheerful fields of living green appear. To bless the heart, no rising corn, the all-sustaining food of man, bends with its weight of wealth. In this inhospitable climate, man if he possesses not a stout heart, soon dies. A drowsiness steals over him. He feels a very great inclination to lie down; then cold chills through his life's blood slowly creep. He sinks into a lethargy, from which he

never more awakes.

In the picture are seen a few mariners, who are thrown into this unfriendly climate. Two of them, in consequence of giving way to their drowsy feelings, have fallen asleep, It is the slumber of the grave. The others, aware of the deadly influence of intense cold, exert themselves to keep it off. They leap about and cry aloud. They are alarmed for their companions. They strive to arouse them from their dangerous sleep. One, perceiving his friend to have some signs of life in him, procures a rod; he lays it on unsparingly; he finds himself benefitted by the exercise; he continues it; he is successful; he saves the life of his friend; they continue actively employed until deliverance appears. Thus their lives are preserved. The rest, cast into the deep sleep of death, are left to the beasts of prey.

The wintry atmosphere represents that spiritual declension that too frequently happens. Piety is in danger of freezing to death

The church has gone too far north. The thermometer of holiness. has sunk almost to zero. The Sun of righteousness casts but a few feeble flickering rays athwart the gloom profound. Fearful state indeed! The stillness of spiritual death prevails. The shaggy one alone is alive and active. "He goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." The voice of prayer is hushed. No joyful hallelujahs break the monotony of the awful solitude. Doctrine and discipline are neglected. Even the all-sustaining word of God is forsaken. Melancholy position! She will soon become a mere iceberg, dashing herself and others into oblivion. It has sometimes occurred that, by the faithful prayers and active labours of one saint, the church has been brought out of the wintry atmosphere, and been saved. This one living disciple brings the whole church to Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, and keeps her there by faith, until the whole tide of His rays fall full upon her. Her frozen heart now begins to thaw; soon it melts into penitence and love; now the voice of prayer breaks forth as the morning; the song of praise again mounts upward; God's house is filled with worshippers; ministers are clothed with salvation; converts are multiplied, and the sons of God shout aloud for joy.

The wintry atmosphere may furthermore denote the condition of individual Christians when thrown into the society of the wicked, when compelled, in the order of Providence, to dwell in the tents of Kedar." In the absence of the genial influences of religious ordinances, the freezing influences of ungodly principles and practices prevail. Infidelity itself may perhaps lift up its daring front, and defy the God of the armies of Israel, deny the inspiration of the sacred page, and laugh the Christian to scorn as a weak enthusiast. If unwatchful, the professor will at first fall a prey to the stupor of indifference. Then the chilling influence of sin will creep over him ; the life's blood of his piety will be arrested in its course; heart and intellect alike become benumbed; Faith, Hope, and Love are now but indistinct images of the past. He is in danger of spiritual death.

As, in the engraving, we see one arousing his companions with a rod or stick, so the Christian should endeavour to awaken his brother when he sees him falling beneath the influence of a wicked atmosphere. He may possess more Christian experience, or more spiritual understanding; he may have a stronger faith, or be better acquainted with the wiles of the devil; these are so many gifts or graces that he is in duty bound to exert for the salvation of his brother;

hence he is to exhort and admonish him with all long-suffering and faithfulness. If this fails, he is to reprove-nay, to "rebuke him sharply," and in no wise to suffer sin upon his brother. Though it may seem harsh, yet he is to persevere as long as any signs of life remain, lest he perish for whom Christ died; he will tell him of the danger to which he exposes his immortal soul, of the reproach he will bring upon religion if he falls into sin, of the wounds he will again inflict upon the sacred heart of Jesus; that he will cover heaven with sackcloth, and make hell echo with exultations of fiendish delight-he will not spare, in order to arouse him from his slumber. With the hammer of God's word he will strike him, with the sword of God's Spirit he will pierce him, and with the fuel of God's love he will enkindle a fire round about him. He is successful-soon the sleeper moves—he melts-he weeps he prays; in his gratitude he exclaims, "Let the righteous smite me, it is an excellent oil unto me: faithful are the wounds of a friend!" Thus the active Christian, by his perseverance, under God, saves a soul from death, and hides a multitude of sins.

Most beneficial, also, has the exercise been to himself; it has proved the means of his own safety; by it he has been kept watchful and prayerful; his gifts and graces have been strengthened. The more he laboured for his brother, the more he was blessed in his own soul. So true is the promise, "He that watereth others' shall be watered himself."

The wintry atmosphere is such a dangerous region that the Almighty Himself becomes, as it were, alarmed for the safety of His children, when He sees them exposed to its influence; He uses the rod of correction, in order to keep them awake; He uses it in love" whom He loveth He chasteneth." Woe, woe unto us, when He commands the ministers of afflictions to " let us alone!" Poverty, reproach, sickness, and death are employed by our heavenly Father as instruments of correction—yet they are blessings in disguise. He gives us poverty in time, that we may be invested with the riches of eternity; reproach, that we may receive the plaudits of the King eternal; sickness of body, that the soul may flourish in immortal health; death, to usher us into life-into His immediate presence-that where He is, there we may be also. God's children have borne witness in time, and they will bear witness to all eternity, that "it was good for them to have been afflicted."