THE CHOLERA. A PRESCRIPTION FOR SUDDEN DISEASE. Prevention is not all that wisdom suggests at any time, especially at a time like this. It becomes us to prepare for a form of sickness, perhaps of death, which may come at any day or hour. There is in Isaiah a prescription worthy of universal regard: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him: and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Forsaking of wicked ways, whether they are the ways of the drunkard, the libertine, the Sabbath-breaker, the profane swearer, or whatever ways of sin, is indispensable to a suitable preparation for sickness or death. in any form. Turning unto the Lord, who "will have mercy and abundantly pardon," is the best of all security in every hour of need. And the hour of need may be very near. It may be the present hour. While you are reading this, the destroyer may be at your 'door. Seek peace with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ; and if disease in its most terrific form shall come, peace of mind may be of essential service in enabling you to throw off the malady. If that cannot be done, then surely you will need, all the more, for the dying hour, the peace which will enable you to say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" There is an appointed time of dying for all. If we have the needed preparation for death and what is beyond it, we need not be solicitous about the means which our heavenly Father appoints to remove us from the earth. If the passage of Jordan is rugged and dark, it may be quick. If we arrive at the blessed haven of eternal rest, it will matter little to us whether we were wafted by gentle winds, or were driven there in a tornado. THE BREVITY OF LIFE. It is singular to observe with what complacency we talk about the brevity and uncertainty of life. From the way in which men speak of it, we might almost suppose that they were speaking of the inhabitants of another world; or, if not, that they were speaking of something in this world, with which they themselves had nothing to do. "All men think all men mortal but themselves." We see our relatives, and friends, and acquaintances, and neighbours, dying on every hand around us, we see men, day after day, taken away at a stroke; and yet how seldom does the thought occur to us, "This must be my doom; my dust must mingle with the clods of the valley." But, reader, this great fact is true as to you, as well as to the rest of your fellow-creatures. You, too, must die! Young or old, rich or poor, you must die! Already the hand may be uplifted which is to take your life. Already the disease may be preying in your vitals which is to finish your earthly career. Perhaps that dread disease which is now stalking through the land, and which has already removed so many of your companions, may in a few hours, or even minutes, come as the messenger of God to you. Oh, put not off till that awful moment the thought of death and eternity! Prepare to meet your God! TURN YE! TURN YE! WHY WILL YE DIE? "Hasten, O sinner, to be wise, And stay not for the morrow's sun; The harder is she to be won!" "Why should I not enjoy myself" 39 What will you do? 41 NARRATIVES, ANECDOTES, &c. The Price of a Soul. 43 The Death of Saladin 44 "Now!" PAGE. 46 You are Going the Wrong Way 46 Conversion by a Shipwreck. 47 DAILY TEXTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES.-Cover, p. 2. MURDER-LIGHTNING-EXECUTION!-Cover, p. 3. IS CHRIST YOur Saviour?-Cover, p. 4. PRICE ONE HALFPENNY. LEEDS: JOHN HEATON, 7, BRIGGATE; LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., ARTHUR HALL & CO., BENJAMIN L. GREEN; GLASGOW: J. M'COMB. May be had by order of any Bookseller. DAILY TEXTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. "O how I love thy law! it is my meditation all the day."-Psalm cxix. 97. Text. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. (Prov. xxiii. 17.) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. (Hebrews iv. 16.) THE LORD'S DAY.-Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. (Job. xxii. 21.) Surely I know that it will be well with them that fear God. (Eccles. viii. 12.) They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. (Psalm cxxv. 1.) In my Father's house are many mansions. (John xiv. 2.) We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Cor. v. 1.) Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. (Isaiah xlix. 15.) Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? (Isaiah ii. 22.) THE LORD'S DAY.-The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James v. 16.) It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. (Lamentations iii. 22.) Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also. (Luke xiii. 7, 8.) A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench. (Matthew xii. 20.) God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John iii. 16.) In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. (1 John iv. 9.) Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (1 John iv. 11.) THE LORD'S DAY.-Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. (Psalm lxxxix. 15.) They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah xl. 31.) The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. (Isaiah lix. 1.) Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. (Psalm xvii. 8.) When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. (Is. xliii. 2, 3.) He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. (Job v. 19.) Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of THE LORD'S DAY.-Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. (Jas. iv. 8.) I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. (Psalm xxvii. 14.) BEGINNING AT THE BEGINNING. A. Good morning, my friend, you and I seem to be taking the same road. B. Why, yes, we are both, I suppose, going to K-; but where may you be going to when you get there? A. I'm going where I could wish all were going who can leave their homes to day,-to the house of God. B. And I am not going to any church or chapel in the town, and I can tell you why if you like. A. Yes, I should like to hear your reasons for not going, for I suppose you will be willing to hear my reasons for going; or at least you will not object to my making my remarks on what you say. B. Oh, with all my heart. I was always fond of free discussion; but often the only answer I get to what I say is, that I am "a bad man," "a Sabbath-breaker," and "shall be ruined at last," and such like things; and I do not happen to think myself worse than those who lecture me so. A. If any really good people talk to you thus, I think they forget themselves; for if they know their own hearts they will know too much evil in themselves to permit them to "lecture" others in that way. But now for your reasons for not going to the worship of God. B. Well, now, to be plain, I think "the parsons" are but impostors, who mislead the people to make money of them, and therefore it's no pleasure to me to hear them. The Lord Jesus A. I grant at once that there are such men. Christ foretold that there should be such, "wolves in sheep's clothing," as he termed them; but are there not "wolves in sheep's clothing" in every good cause? How many professed patriots, and professed friends of the poor, even men who have been trusted for their seeming good character with the hard-earned savings of the poor, have turned out to be selfish impostors; yet I suppose you will not distrust every treasurer of a sick club, or every earnest public speaker, because some have turned out rogues! B. I see what you mean, and what you say is quite fair; still I have a strong impression that great numbers of the parsons do not really care, as they profess to do, about the souls of the poor, or but very little; and how am I to know those who do? A. Just as you would know the honest men in any other calling. "By their fruits ye shall know them," is our Lord's own direction. B. Yes, but some come and tell me that they are "successors of the apostles," and that all other so-called ministers are interlopers; and they will be very charitable to such as take it all in, either from their own pockets, or from public charities, and the like. |