my heart, and this is the reason of the remark you listened to. Had they been obliged to struggle against difficulties,. to gain their professions, and were they now dependent upon their own exertions for their support, my sons would have gained honor to themselves and me."" Bur Wretched old man! Disappointed Disappointed parent! dened with riches, and conscious that he must soon leave them; disappointed that his sons, reared and educated in luxury and indolence, have not done honor to themselves and him! No wonder that this is "a burden upon his heart," since the very influence of his tenderness and wealth, has rendered them inefficient and unfitted them for the duties of active life. His parental tenderness was ruinous, and all his efforts were wasted. He had "too much money." "Had they been obliged to struggle with difficulties, to gain their professions, and were they now dependent upon their own exertions for support, my sons would have gained honor to themselves and me." The cause of this failure is fully understood and deeply deplored. And this is the experience of many wealthy parents. "Nothing can be expected of rich men's sons," has become a proverb. Who are the distinguished men and women of our country? How few of them have been reared in luxury! Go into our seminaries and colleges, and who are the bril liant, reliable scholars, that give character to the class and the school? With very few noble exceptions, they are the children of parents in dependent circumstances, or at least not wealthy. These children have been taught the necessity of economy, self-reliance and industry, while yet at home. And who are the indolent and reckless in our Schools and in community? As often as otherwise, they are the undisciplined and petted children of the rich. If this view be correct, the wealth that parents may accumulate for their children, especially if it finds them without a thorough practical education, is, in most cases, a curse rather than a blessing. A competence is, of course, desirable, but nothing more, for the good of the family. Parents should spare no pains nor means, within their power, to educate their children. They should do nothing for them, however, which they can do for themselves. Give them the best advantages; place them under the most rigid discipline, and the most watchful care; surround them by the best moral and religious influences; teach them habits of industry, and that self-reliance and self-application are the only means of success, in the school or in the world. Money and toil, that secure for children such advantages, and such results, have not been wasted. Parents should not, then, aim to accumulate wealth for their children. It is a dangerous experiment. But they should strive to give them all the advantages of a thorough, physical, intellectual and religious education. With this, they have a surer guarantee for success, happiness and usefulness in life, than millions of money could be stow. 0. WAIT A LITTLE LONGER. Friends on life's tempestuous sea, Jesus in the Ship asleep, Will his own in safety keep. When temptation's waves roll high, And you fain would from them fly, Jesus tempted like as we, You who form the christian band, Eager for the promised land, Jesus standing at the helm, Though the voyage of life be long, Safe into the port you'll glide, Anchor on the other side. L. P. THE TEACHER'S MISSION. The sun rose bright and beautiful and his rays fell with an autumnal softness on the thousands gathered within the holy city, to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles. Far away in the distance the mists rose from lake and mountain stream, and, like a gcssamer vail, spread out over the picturesque landscape. Soft and musical was the chant as the autumn breeze played among the tall spires of the temple, or sighed through the foliage of the towering palm-trees. The shouts of the reapers had died away. The presses were filled with new wine. The garners were piled to overflowing, and Judah's thousands, their hands filled with thank-offerings, stood within the temple's sacred inclosure. Joy beamed forth from the eye of the thrifty husbandman, and thanksgiving went up from the heart of the toil-worn laborer, as they called to mind the provident care of the God of harvest, who feeds even the fowls of the air, though they "neither reap nor gather into barns." A low murmur of inquiry ran around from lip to lip of that assembled multitude, "What think ye, will he not come up to the feast?" Curiosity and expectation were drawn out to their extreme tension, for even then one was journeying about among the hills of Judea and over the plains of Gallilee, "who taught as never man taught, " at whose touch darkness fled away from the sealed orbs of vision, and sound entered in where hitherto silence had sat enthroned. At his word the staff fell from the cripple's hand and without it he walked, and even the dark portals of the tomb opened at his approach, and life, loveliness and beauty, again glowed afresh on the pale lineaments of its imprisoned tenant. An almost breathless suspense hung around this vast assembly, an anxiety even painful in its impress was depicted on many a countenance, as the oft-repeated interrogatory fell from their lips, "Where is he?" Hushed at once was the murmur of voices and fixed was every eye, as from the midst of that multi tude, a voice rose loud and clear, and, with a power that made even the proud Sanhedrim tremble, Jesus proclaimed, “Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharasces, Hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. " "Wo unto you lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge, ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered." No wonder that the common people heard him gladly. No wonder that the Scribes and Pharisees denounced him as in league with the father of lies, and sent their officers to drag him forth from the temple. Aye, no wonder that the officers urged, in extenuation of their failure. to bring him, "Never man spake like this man." Surely, never man did speak like him, "for he taught as one that had authority." Our Saviour, in his mission to earth, not only healed the sick, and fed the hungry and preached the gospel, but he also taught the people thus by his own example investing this office with a worth and dignity second to none else. I think that we, as a community, do not justly estimate the importance of the Teacher's mission. We are too slow at remembering that to the Teacher we commit the training of that ennobling faculty which exalts man above all things else that walk upon the face of the whole earth. We are too prone to forget that the young intellect is plastic, and that in the Teacher, in a very great degree, lies the power to clothe that intellect in the habiliments of beauty or deformity. More than twenty-eight centuries ago this maxim came from the pen of inspiration, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;" and the experience of the whole world ever since, has not been able to gainsay it. That class of teachers whose aim is to develop, in the fullest measure, all the mental and physical powers, and to implant in the heart moral and religious truths, as well as to secure mental culture, will have accomplished the Teacher's mission better than those who aim to adorn the intellect alone. When we remember that all of life here, though it be drawn out to three score and ten, or even four score, years, is but the dawning of existence when compared with eternity, when we remember that this brief moment is all we have wherein to prepare to meet the responsibili ties of that ever enduring cycle, we feel that all of earth falls away to utter nothingness when weighed in the bal ance with a soul redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. The Teacher may and should do much to adorn and beautify, and elevate the whole mental power, and these efforts are worthy of all praise. But this is not all. He should do much, aye very much, to implant deep down in the heart, those moral and religious truths, that shall in after years bud, and blossom, and bring forth fruit, yea, the "fruit of righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." When efforts and aims like these wake up the energies and draw out the warmest desires of the Teacher; when he deems no effort too great, no sacrifice too costly, no labor too wearisome, that from his hand may be turned off the pure spirit, fitted for usefulness here and glory hereafter; when, with "line upon line and precept upon precept," he lifts up to the throne of grace that earnest, untiring prayer of faith which must prevail; then, and not till then, will the Teacher have fulfilled all his mission. N. W. TRUE TRUST.--One evening, we are told, after a weary march through the desert, Mohammed was camping with his followers, and overheard one of them saying, "I will loose my camel, and commit it to God;" on which Mohammed took him up: "Friend, tie thy camel, and commit it to God, that is, do whatsoever is thine to do, and then leave the rest to God." - "Strike while the iron is hot."-That is one way, but it is more to the purpose to make the iron hot by striking. |