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The New Zealand Evangelist

Varieties

Varieties.

Earnestness and success.—

A young lady who taught a class of fourteen girls, after her own heart was touched by the power of divine grace, had the happiness of seeing eleven out of the fourteen give evidence of real conversion to God. But the most remarkable case of this kind I have ever heard of is that of Thomas Cranfield, a Sabbath School teacher in the metropolis. Thomas was originally a London boy—a cruel and quarrelsome blackguard, whose delight was to set other boys a-fighting. He became a soldier, and in the siege of Gibraltar signalised himself by his deeds of daring bravery. When the Spanish floating batteries were blown up by the red hot balls shot by the besieged, he was almost frantic with joy, and hurrahed till he lost his voice. Returning home at the end of the war he heard the Rev. Mr. Romaine preach. He became from that time a new man—a great soldier of Jesus Christ. He opened a Sabbath School in the “Mint,” in his native Southwark. Sixty years ago, Sabbath Schools were a new thing there. At first, the wretched inhabitants of the district assailed him with mud and rotten eggs; but Thomas who had confronted the Spanish batteries, with their grape shot, was not to be repulsed by such missiles in his campaign of benevolence. He gathered an interesting class around him from among the neglected children in the “Mint.” In the course of years, many of them became members of Christian churches; nay, so great was his success, that, when he had completed his 80th year, there were counted more than 2000 who owed their first knowledge of the Bible to this good old soldier.

Gain from Godliness

There has lately appeared in the journals a touching anecdote. A poor shepherd, in the environs of Yvetot (Seine Inferieure,) the father of a large family, had purchased, last summer, an old Bible, to furnish him with reading page 92 during the winter evenings. Lately, in going through this volume be perceived that several leaves were pasted together, and he at once cautiously proceeded to separate them; but judge of his surprise upon his finding between these leaves a bank note for 500f., (£20) with these words:—“With much trouble have I amassed this sum! Having no natural heirs but persons who are absolutely free from want, I make thee my legatee, O thou who readest this Bible!”

Barking Sheep.—

Rowland Hill once said, “that the wolves should bark at the sheep is very natural, but that the sheep should bark at each other is too bad.” Some one replied to him, “It is only a constitutional cough that the sheep have got.” To which he instantly retorted, “Then it's a proof they're rotten, Sir.”

Cheap Religion.—It is a maxim from heaven, “Honour the lord with thy substance.” He who has a religion that costs him nothing, has a religion that is worth nothing; nor will any man esteem the ordinances of god, if those ordinances cost him nothing* — Comp. Bible.

Exemplary Patience.—At a session of the court, Judge Olin was violently attacked by a young and very impertinent attorney. To the manifest surprise of everybody present, the Judge heard him quite through, as though unconscious of what was said, and made no reply. After the adjournment for the day, and when all had assembled at the inn where the judge and many of the court folks had their lodging, one of the company, referring to the scene at the court, asked the judge why he did not rebuke the impertinent fellow. “Permit me,” said the judge loud enough to call the attention of all the company, among which was “the fellow “in question, “permit me to tell you a story. My father, when we lived down in the country, had a dog—a mere puppy, I may say. Well, this puppy would go out every moonlight night, and bark at the moon for hours together.” Here the judge paused, as if he had done with the story. “Well, well, what of it? “exclaimed half-a-dozen of the audience at once. “Oh, nothing—nothing whatever! The moon kept right on, just as if nothing had happened!—

Hints to Ministers.

Ministers cannot miscarry but the world will ring of it. The eclipses of the sun by day are seldom without witnesses. Other men may sin without observation; they cannot.

Hating and Fighting.—

No man can fight well, but where he hateth or is very angry; much less against them whom he loveth, and loveth above all. Every unrenewed man is so far from hating sin to purpose, that it is his dearest treasure. Hence an unsanc-tified man that loveth the enemy, is very unfit to be a leader in Christ's army.

Eyes and Ears.—

As long as men have eyes as well as ears, they will think they see your meaning as well as hear it, and they are apter to believe their sight than their hearing, as being the page 93 more perfect sense. All that a minister doth is a kind of preach-ing, and if you live a covetous or a careless life, you preach these sins to your people by your practice. The same holds good though to a less extent with parents.

Wooden Priests.—

Let us pray that God will preserve pure ordinances and powerful preaching among us; idolatry came in first by the want of good preaching; then the people began to have Golden Images when they had Wooden Priests.

Pleasure.—

In the country of Sardinia there is an herb like balm, that if one eat too much of it he will die laughing; such an herb is pleasure; if one feeds immoderately upon it he will go laughing to hell.