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the partner of so many joys and sorrows, dead; the old house in other hands, and herself despised, and barely tolerated, by those who owe her the deepest love and reverence. It is one of the best tests of genuine nobleness in man or woman, the thorough appreciation of, and reverence for, the virtues and excellence of old people, especially those united by ties of blood, and, perhaps, shrouded in what sometimes seem strange and uncouth forms. Note well the man or woman, young, elegant, attractive though they may be, who are ashamed of their early home and lowly antecedents, and they will be found treacherous friends, and mean, malicious, cowardly foes, without the knowledge or conception of honor, truth, or sincerity. We beg young girls and young men to reflect upon this. Tenderness and deference, even if they are not the promptings of the heart, are so graceful in youth toward old age, that one would think this consideration alone, would be sufficient to induce the exhibition of these qualities, at least before the world.-Jennie June.

THE BEGGAR-BOY AND THE FLOWERS.

The following story, the origin of which we cannot trace, beautifully illustrates the power of kindness: "Go away from there, you old beggarboy! You've no right to be looking at our flowers," shouted a little fellow from the garden, where he was standing. The poor boy, who was pale, dirty, and ragged, was leaning against the fence, admiring the splendid show of roses and tulips within. His face reddened with anger at the rude language, and he was about to answer defiantly, when a little girl sprang out from an arbor near, and looking at both, said to her brother: "How could you speak so, Herbert? I'm sure his looking at the flowers don't hurt us." And then, to soothe the wounded feelings of the stranger, she added: "Little boy, I'll pick you some flowers if you'll wait a moment," and she immediately gathered a pretty bouquet, and handed it through the fence. His face brightened with surprise and pleasure, and he earnestly thanked her. Twelve years after this occurrence, the girl had grown to a woman. One bright afternoon she was walking with her husband in the garden, when she observed a young man in workman's dress, leaning over the fence, and looking attentively at her and at the flowers. Turning to her husband, she said: "It does me good to see people admiring the garden; I'll give that young man some of the flowers ;' and, approaching him, she said:

"Are you fond of flowers, sir? It will give me great pleasure to gather you some."

The young workman looked into her fair face, and then said in a voice tremulous with feeling:

"Twelve years ago I stood here, a ragged beggar-boy, and you showed me the same kindness. The bright flowers and your pleasant words made a new boy of me; ay, and they made a man of me, too. Your face, madam, has been a light to me in many dark hours of life; and now, thank God, though that boy is still an humble, hard-working man, he is an honest and a grateful one." Tears stood in the eyes of the lady, as, turning to her husband, she said: "God put it into my young heart to do that little kindness, and see how great a reward it has brought!"

The Guardian.

VOL. XVI.—APRIL, 1865.–No. 4.

WE BELONG TO CHRIST.

BY THE EDITOR.

That we do belong to Him admits of no dispute. We may disown His right in us and over us; but we cannot destroy it.

"The Lord hath

made all things for Himself; even the wicked for the day of evil.”

In the last day it will be seen that even those who opposed God, and refused to submit to Him in willing obedience, will be made to exalt His glorious justice. The wrath of man must praise Him; the remainder of wrath will He restrain. Every knee must bow to Him, either willingly or by dreadful constraint. Every tongue must confess Him, either with gratitude to His grace, or with unwilling acquiescence in His justice. "Know ye not that the Lord, He is God? It is He that made us, and not we ourselves." Shall the creature disown the Creator? He may refuse to take his place as a living stone in the building, but he cannot avoid being made a part of the scaffolding for its creation. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things."

We are not

As Christians, however, we are Christ's by far stronger and sweeter We are His, not merely as creatures, but as children.

ties.

only

and

only His as he upholds us, but we are His as He is our life. He is not over us, as He is over the wicked; but He is in us, as our immortality He is not merely our proprietor, but our Redeemer. He with He has bought us as redeemer. He has been us as preserver. He is beneath us as supporter. He is over us as ruler. He is around us as protector. He is before us as guide. He is

our peace.

was before us as creator.

in us as our life.

This ownership of Christ in us extends over our entire person, and over the whole period of our history. Our souls are His. We became a living Soul by the breath of life which He breathed into us.

VOL: XVI.-7

AN the faculties

of our souls have also been redeemed by Him; they are preserved by Him; they are to be sanctified by His Spirit, and to be devoted to His glory. Our will is His; He has a right to direct it. Our understanding is His; He enlightens it, and asks to employ it to His praise. Our memory is His; He fills it with recollections of His goodness. Our imagination is His; He uses it to bring before the eye of our faith some faint idea of the glory that shall be finally revealed in us. Thus, all our soul's faculties, being from Him, being preserved by Him, are His, and must be devoted to Him, as living offerings of gratitude and love.

Our bodies are His. He created them. He preserves them by His power, and feeds them from His goodness. His saving grace extends to them, as well as to our souls. He saves the whole man, body and soul. He makes our bodies temples of His Spirit. He shall “ change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." (Phil. iii. 21.) It was spoiled by sin, and must sink, under the power of corruption, into the but it is His, and He does not forsake it, but saves it. "It is grave; sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." (1 Cor. xv. 14.)

The effects of the religious life upon the body are seen even in this life. Compare the man of lust and sin with the temperate and chaste man; compare the aged saint with the aged sinner, and see whether there is not a difference observable, even in the lineaments and features of the body. The one is placid, serene, and heavenly, with a feature of purity and peace playing upon its surface, and shining out from within, which proclaims it the abode of a soul holy, and at peace with itself and with its God. In the case of the sinner you have the same mysterious lineaments of mischief which long habit, and the workings of a wicked spirit from within, have fixed immovably there. There is something scowling, repulsive and fierce in the sinner's face

"Sullenly fierce-a mixture dire,

Like thunder-clouds of gloom and fire!
In which the experienced eye can read
Dark tales of many a ruthless deed."

Thus the whole man, soul and body, is the Lord's. He operates on them both, by His grace, to sanctification and salvation. Hence the prayer of Paul in behalf of the Christians at Thessalonica: "The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thes. v. 23.)

Let us not

If our bodies are His, let us not treat them as our own. abuse them as a vile thing. "What, know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?" (1 Cor. vi. 15.) If they are His members, let them be employed in His service and to His glory. Let the ear hear for Him. Let the eye see for Him. Let the tongue speak for Him. Let the hands work for His glory, and let the feet walk in the path of righteousness. "What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) What a solemn

reflection is this! Most appropriately does the apostle exhort: "Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Rom. vi. 12, 13.)

We are His in life. Eternal life has its beginnings in this life. The eternal world will only consummate what is here begun. We will, therefore, not only be His when we get to Him, and into the possession of His glory in Heaven, but we are His in this life. We are prone to selfishness, and consequently are apt to look upon our relation to Christ in this life as something not so much to be enjoyed as to be endured, on account of what it promises in the life to come. Hence there is a kind of piety which thinks more of what it shall enjoy in the world to come, than it does of what it can do to glorify Him in this world. We are, however, now His; and are not to devote our powers of body or mind to our own interests, only carrying religion along as something to be used in death for comfort, and something to be enjoyed in heaven. No; here and now already we are His. We are to feel like His; yield ourselves constantly to Him in true devotion; submit our will to His, and labor with body and mind for His glory. If we improve our talents in life, it is for Him. If we increase our wealth, it is for Him. If we secure influence, it must be cast on the side of His cause and kingdom. "Whether, therefore, ye cat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. x. 31.) We are His in death. Being His in life, we do not become our own in death. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." (Rom. xiv. 7, 8, 9.) Christ's life is in us, and His dominion over us, from the time we become His, on through our eternal history; and of course we are His in death, as well as before and after.

We die, not to ourselves, but to Him. The world is affected by the death of every man, to some extent. His place is vacant; his influence is withdrawn; his labors cease. The relations and dependencies of society which centred in him must now be otherwise hinged. Man, in social life, stands like a tree in a forest, whose limbs are intertwined with those of other trees, and through and around whose branches various vines have crept for support: when the tree falls, all that surround it are affected. Though the death of one man, especially if he be obscure, seems a small event amid the thousands that fall, yet, when we look at all the delicate ties, relations and dependencies, by which society is bound together, it is an event affecting the equilibrium of social life, far and wide. The vacancy will touch at all the points which he filled while living, and must be filled out by others, in some way or other.

Over all this an all-wise Providence presides. He knows when, how, and why our death should take place just at such a time and under such circumstances. His all-seeing eye, extending over the whole organism of social life, sees when we have fulfilled our mission, and when we may be released from our part by the call: "Well done, good and faithful servant;

thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. xxv. 23.)

The cause of Christ is also seriously affected, either for good or for evil, by the manner and character of our death. In many instances, in the case of martyrs, the cause of Christ was as much honored and benefitted by their death as by their life. So, also, the death of Christians, who died in quiet and peaceful times, has been such as to make a deep and lasting impression in favor of religion. Weak believers have been encouraged and sinners have been alarmed by the peaceful and triumphant death of God's people. In thousands of cases have the solemn words of exhortation and warning, uttered by the trembling lips of the dying, been the occasion of bringing neighbors or friends to repentance.

Who, in "the chamber where the good man meets his fate," has not deeply sighed forth the words of Balaam: "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his?" (Num. xxiii. 10.) Thus the death of Christians, even as their life, is the Lord's. We ought to labor and pray, that we may be able to glorify God and honor His religion in our death. In this respect we have Christ as an example; His death, as well as His life, belonged to His mission of love to us; so must we glorify His death, even as in our life.

grace in our

It will be easily seen how, to be the Lord's in body and soul, in life and in death, is a great source of comfort. If our souls are His, He will enlighten, enlarge, sanctify and save them. If our bodies are His, He will embalm them in grace for the grave, and raise them by His power, renew them like unto His own glorified body, and make them happy sharers in the life everlasting. If we are His in life, then whom shall we fear? He will deliver us from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He will cover us with His feathers, and under His wings shall we trust. His truth shall be our shield and buckler. We shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, but the danger shall not come nigh to us. No evil shall befall us, neither shall any plague come nigh our dwelling. He shall give His angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways; they shall bear us up in their hands. Because He has set His love upon us, therefore will He deliver us; He will set us up on high, because we have known His name. With long life will He satisfy us, and show us His salvation.

it

If we are His in death, He will make our death an honor to His cause and a comfort to us. He will take away its victory and its sting. Though may look dark and comfortless to us at a distance, He will make it put on tenderness and smiles as it approaches near to us. As the day of life draws to a close, He will cause a serener and softer twilight to gather around us, and will make the portals which lead through the night of death, like the golden vista in the evening sky, sweet and inviting inlets into a brighter and better land. The gate of death, though hung in robes of mourning, emits, as it opens, streams of light and glory. And as he approaches it, the Christian sings, with joyful heart, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

"How blest the righteous, when he dies!
When sinks a weary soul to rest:
How mildly beam the closing eyes,

How gently heaves the expiring breast!

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