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THANK GOD FOR THE BIBLE!

HANK God for the Bible! 'tis there that we find
The story of Christ and His love-

How He came down to earth from His beautiful home

In the mansions of glory above.

While He lived on this earth, to the sick and the blind,
And to mourners, His blessings were given;
And He said, "Let the little ones come unto Me,
For of such is the kingdom of heaven."

In the Bible we read of a beautiful land
Where sorrow and pain never come;
For Jesus is there with a heavenly band,
And 'tis there He's prepared us a home.

Thank God for the Bible! its truth o'er the earth
We'll scatter with bountiful hand;

But we never can tell what a Bible is worth
Till we go to that beautiful land.

WEEDS AND SEEDS.

HAD a garden and a little child,

And in them both there grew so many weeds—
So very rank and tall they grew, and wild,

I saw no space to plant the goodly seeds.

And many hours I spent in weary toil,

'Mid burning suns and storms of childish tears, To root the weed from out my garden's soil, Which to the tiller's eye so vile appears.

Yet day by day my care seemed all for naught;
In despite of my toil still grew the weeds;
And the free soil for which my hand had sought
Nowhere I found to plant the goodly seeds.

A kindly neighbour saw me o'er the wall,

And asked me why I toiled so long for naught; "For thus," he said, "thou wilt not work their fall, Nor gain the end for which thou long hast wrought. "Put in thy plough, then plant the clover seeds, And mark me if I speak thee not the truth: The seeds will grow and choke the hateful weeds To which thy tireless hand hath shown no ruth."

Ah, kindly neighbour, o'er the garden wall,

Thou'st taught me what I had much need to know,To fret not at the weeds which grow so tall,

But haste with liberal hand my seed to sow.

I sought the heart-soil of my little child,
No longer now to rudely pull the weeds;

With God's own truth I ploughed the fruitless wild,
In faith and love I thickly sowed the seeds.

And now my garden yields me fragrance sweet-
From laden boughs I pluck the golden fruit,

My sickle now may find a harvest meet :

There scattering weeds find scarcely space for root.

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

DIET OF INFANTS.

After a child is completely weaned, milk prepared as follows may be given three or four times a week:

Take of mutton suet one ounce; cut this into small pieces, tie them in a muslin bag, and boil in a pint of good new milk.

The administration of milk thus prepared tends to keep the bowels in a regular and gently active state, thus preventing the accumulation of undigested food or other effete matters. Milk prepared in this manner, with the addition of an ounce of lime water to each pint, is an excellent article of diet for children suffering from the presence of worms in the intestines. It is likewise one of the best and most useful medicines for children affected with rickets, or distortion of bones or joints. In these cases the disease arises from a deficiency of lime in the constitution of the bones themselves, and by administering lime in a soluble form we supply the element of which nature is deficient.

After the child has attained the age of from twelve to eighteen months, the regulation of diet must be left in a great measure to the judicious management of the mother. For the guidance of the mother, it may, however, be well to state, that the flesh of young animals is not so easy of digestion as that of more mature ones. Hence mutton is more easy of digestion than lamb, and beef than veal. Salt meats, and pork in any form, are to be avoided. When animal food is given to children, it ought to be in its lightest and most digestible form. The following preparation contains these properties, and is likewise very palatable:

Take the gravy from a leg of roasted mutton, leave it at rest until the fat forms on the surface, and remove it; then stir three or four tablespoonfuls of well-boiled rice into it, and gently simmer the whole for ten minutes.

This is an excellent form of giving animal food to children soon after weaning, or where the stomach is weak and delicate.

Some parents, in mistaken kindness, appear to think that their children can never eat too much or too often. Every cry which can be taken to express want of any kind is immediately rewarded with food; and, in many instances, whatever article of diet the child sees, points to, or cries for, is instantly given "to quiet it." Those parents who adopt this system frequently find their own reward in a child cross, peevish, wilful in temper, and variable, sickly, and depraved in health. If a child eats a meal and digests but one half of it, the remainder becomes a source of irritation to the stomach and bowels; and even if, after a time, this effete portion becomes partially digested, it is but to serve as a means of vitiating the blood, giving rise to eruptions, offensive breath, clay-coloured evacuations, hard stomach, and worms. again the digestive powers are constantly taxed, the stomach soon loses its tone, the bowels become weakened, torpid, and irregular, and the craving for food itself either voracious, or else morbidly delicate. Those parents who wish to see their offspring robust in health, and gentle in spirit, must make it a rule to give them food simple, plain, and digestible in quality, without spices or condiments of any kind-moderate in quantity, and at proper and regular intervals.

If

THE

MOTHERS' TREASURY.

LETTER TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS.

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E are the parents of several young children, and are anxious for their salvation. Not long since one of our little boys went to visit a very kind friend, who has been remarkably successful in the pious education of his family. We were desirous to have our friend's opinion of our son. His leading observation was, that the child did not show a cordial concern for his faults. Feeling the justice of this sentiment, and our own inexperience, we requested him to tell us at length how, under God's grace, this concern might be best excited; which drew from him the following letter:

"The subject on which you request my sentiments is one of the most important in education. Without a cordial concern for a fault, no sound foundation is laid for its cure. Even if the parent looked no further than to worldly principles, to mere prudence and fair character, this would be true. It is eminently and obviously true, when the reference is to religion, and to God who searches the heart. Without this cordial concern there can be no repentance, and without repentance there can be neither forgiveness nor the Divine blessing; and therefore all must be unsound, even if outward reformation be obtained. I ought to apologise for repeating truths so familiar to you, as applied to adults, if not also as applied to children, to whom they are equally applicable. It is their very high and fundamental importance, and their not meeting with due attention in education, even from very many religious parents, which induces me to state them. I too frequently see parents make the reformation of their children's faults a matter in which religion is scarcely, if at all, referred to and little or no appeal is directed to the heart and conscience. Thus morality comes to be considered as consisting entirely (or nearly so) in mere outward observances. God, Christ, and the Holy Ghost are little brought into view in the course of the child's daily conduct; and he gets into the habit of being satisfied with himself, if he does nothing contrary to rule, though his motives may not have been holy, and his heart may have been in a very indifferent state. You could describe to me, better than I to you, the evils of such a state, and the hardness of conscience, and other future miseries threatened by it.

The system here has been, carefully to counteract these evils, both present and future, by doing our best to lead our children to have GOD in all their thoughts, and to habitual daily repentance and tenderness of conscience before Him;-in short, to that frame of mind, making proper allowance for their age, which is required in all of us by our heavenly Father. To this end we always endeavour, in correcting a fault in a child, to have a right religious view of it, and to give the child, partly by precept and illustration, and partly by sympathy, a right feeling respecting it, as an offence against his Maker, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. It is too common, as you know, to cut short the notice of a fault. It is strongly blamed, perhaps the child undergoes some punishment, perhaps he is threatened with severe punishment if he repeats the fault; or perhaps he is required to say that he is sorry, and will not repeat it. The parent is peremptory, the child is frightened, and all is over in a very short time, without any useful impression on the child, except that he is less disposed to commit the outward act which has drawn upon him these animadversions. Mrs. and I, on the contrary, endeavour to make every fault of our children to be felt by them as an offence against God, and a sin to be repented of, and upon repentance to be pardoned through our Saviour. We therefore carefully guard against the child's thinking that his fault is reproved as a personal offence against ourselves. We talk to him solemnly, but tenderly; feeling and expressing much concern that he has offended God; contrasting his conduct with the love of God; painting the pleasure with which his holiness would be received in heaven, particularly by Christ, and the pain which his sin has occasioned. In short, we talk with him as with a friend with whom we tenderly sympathise, while we feel that we have a right to command. We temper the terrors of the Lord with representations of His love and mercy; and we persevere in this course till the child's mind appears humbled and softened, and brought into such a penitent frame as God looks upon with favour. The whole often ends in a short affectionate prayer of half a minute, or a minute, for pardon and grace, dictated by ourselves, as far as the child's own thoughts will not of themselves supply it. This process is never hurried over, nor is it ever brought to a conclusion before the end appears to be attained; as nothing can be more important, so nothing is suffered to supersede or interrupt it. It is taken up very early, and is always accommodated in its different parts to the years and knowledge of the child. It appears formidable on paper; but it is surprising how short, and even pleasant it is, in all common cases, through its being commenced so early, and habitually practised. It has almost banished punishment from our house, and has brought with it various other good consequences. I need not say that considerable discrimination and discretion must be exercised by the parent. Religion must be

made to wear an amiable and endearing, as well as an awful, countenance. The bruised reed must not be broken; the feelings must not be excited beyond what nature will bear; and if a storm of feeling arises, it must be allayed without any improper indulgence destructive of the effect to be produced. You will see that sagacity and self-command are wanted on the part of the parent, for which he cannot hope, if he do not maintain an unruffled mind.

There are some necessary concomitants of this system, which, were they not so, would be recommended by their own intrinsic importance. Holy things must always be approached in a holy way. The Bible must never be read with levity or indifference. Hymns and the Catechism must never be jabbered over nor repeated with that hard tone and manner which bespeaks an unconsciousness of their sacred nature. Religion must practically be made the mainspring of life; and she must not only be so, but appear to be so, without departing from her native modesty, and without losing dignity by the frequency of her introduction, or by the kindness with which she is invested. You will be aware that difficulties, and very great ones, must be encountered, where, instead of habits of proper feeling and repentance on committing faults having been formed from infancy, other habits have been formed. I had a child here for several months, some time ago, whom I could never bring to quite a satisfactory state of mind on his committing faults; owing, as I believe, to the errors of his previous education. With our own children we have never experienced very formidable difficulties, God be praised! His is the work; but He makes great use of the instrumentality of parents, and gives, as I believe, an especial blessing to a welldirected early education."

MINISTERIAL NEGLECT OF THE YOUNG.-A writer in the Princeton Review says: "Ministers have devoted an undue proportion of their labour to those that are grown up; whilst the young, by far the most hopeful part of their congregations, have been almost wholly neglected." Dr. Ashbel Green, shortly before his death, said, "If I had my ministry to go over again, I would give far more attention to the children." Dr. Samuel Miller, in his seventy-ninth year, said, "After the observation of a long life, I have come decisively to the conclusion that if I had my life to live over again I would pay ten times as much attention to the children of my charge as I ever did when I had a charge. If I were now about to undertake the care of a new or feeble church, I would consider special attention to the children and young people of the neighbourhood as one of the most certain and effectual methods of collecting and strengthening a large flock that could possibly be employed."

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