some of the people thought about the bite of this rattlesnake. "He is too torpid," said some, "to do any harm." His fangs were like two little needles; the spots where he bit his owner were like two little pin-pricks; but yet they were big enough to let the poison in; and so your sin may seem little to you, and you may hardly be persuaded to believe that it will ruin the soul. But it will-for God has said so; and it has been bad enough already to hang the Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross to die. Ah, yes! even little sins will send the soul to hell, though people may not think so. But, lastly, there is only one Physician can cure you. When this doctor was bitten by the snake, they tried all they could to cure him. He had many friends, but they could do nothing. After he was dead, however, a doctor, a long way off, wrote a letter and put it into the papers, stating that he could have cured him, and he told what medicine he ought to have taken in order to get well. Now, whether, if he had been on the spot, he could have done any better than others, I do not know; but one thing I do know, and that is, nobody can cure you but the great Physician of souls, the Lord Jesus Christ; and His medicine is His own blood, and His medicine-chest is the Bible. If you go to Him in prayer, repent of your sins, and believe in Him, He will make you well, and He will keep you well, for He is a great Physician. He gives medicines out of the Bible. There are warnings there to keep from sin, and many precious promises also, all to make and keep the soul well. Sometimes, like the surgeon who cuts off a bad arm or leg, he will cut off our comforts and friends, to make us well and keep us from dying. Ah! he is a great Physician, and cures all who come to him. Like the woman we read of in F the Gospel, you may try other doctors, but you will find that you will have to go to Jesus Christ at last, or else die. The poison of the bite of the Devil is only cured by the blood of Jesus. THE SEA-SIDE. THERE have been few more joyous moments for me than those I have spent at the sea-side. It is delightful to stroll along the beach-now walking pleasantly over the firm, smooth sand-then plunging shoe-deep in the shingle, and then, perhaps, scrambling over the green and slippery rocks, but all the while enjoying the pure sea-breezes, and listening sometimes to the gentle roll, and sometimes to the loud roar, of God's own mighty ocean. People who have never seen the wide, wide sea, stretching far |