JUVENILE MISSIONARY MEETINGS AND MISSIONARY TREE. ON Sabbath, December 3rd, 1854, the Second Annual Juvenile Missionary Meeting, connected with our Sabbathschool in Whitehaven, was held in the Catherine-street School-room. The chair was ably occupied by our friend, Mr. J. Jackson, one of the superintendents; and short appropriate addresses were delivered by Messrs. W. Murdock, R. Gordon, T. Whittaker, W. Reed, W. Looney, B. Harrison, R. Williamson, and W. Tate. The addresses were listened to with great attention, by the juvenile auditory, and a collection was afterwards made in support of the Mission Fund. A few weeks ago, it was also decided by the teachers of the school to have a Missionary Tree for the same noble purpose, and on Thursday and Friday, the 28th and 29th instant, the results were exhibited. A lofty and beautiful fir-tree was seen in the centre of the school-room, bearing on its branches a great variety of useful and ornamental articles, contributed by teachers, scholars, and other friends. The somewhat novel spectacle attracted a considerable number of visitors, who manifested their admiration of the scene, and their sympathy with its object, by liberal purchases. The proceeds of the tree amount to £10 13s. 14d., a sum which, having reference to the shortness of the time spent in preparation, far exceeds the expectations of those who originated the movement. Our Sabbath-school friends, in other parts of the Connexion, may depend upon the statement, that a Missionary Tree is a very beautiful and a profitable thing. We cannot, indeed, affirm that it bears golden fruit; but its productions brought within the wondrous influence of the Missionary enterprise, are soon transmuted into the precious metals. On Sabbath, December 10th, our first Juvenile Missionary meeting was held at Egremont. The good cause was vocated by Messrs. W. Herd, W. Ireland, R. Turner, and W. Reed, in brief speeches, which evidently excited con siderable interest on the minds of the juveniles present. A collection was then made, and a goodly number of collecting cards distributed among the scholars. This, the first meeting of the kind held at Egremont, we believe, will not be the last. Our friends there, as well as those in Whitehaven, are disposed to do what they can to help forward the work of God in its mission of mercy to a dark and perishing world. May God bless them in their efforts. Whitehaven, December 30th, 1854. W. REED. FOR THE CHILDREN. MY DEAR CHILDREN, HISTORY informs us of a Heathen Prince, who while surveying his great and noble army consisting of hundreds of thousands of the choice men of his kingdom-wept! And when asked why he wept? said, it was the thought that in a hundred years, the whole of his brave army would be dead. And in a hundred years from now, where, my young readers, will you be? And where will your companions and school-fellows be? A hundred years hence, and perhaps not one of the present generation will be living upon the earth. Death will have entered every habitation, and will have dispossessed every house of its inmates. A hundred years hence, and all now living will be mouldering in the cold and silent tomb. Innumerable multitudes will never see fifty years. No, nor twenty; nor ten; nor five; nor two; nor even one. And some of you may be among that number. This year may be your last. It may have been said concerning you and you; This year thou shalt die." It is no uncommon thing, you know, for young persons to die. Many during the last year have diedmany who rejoiced at its beginning, who were as young, as healthy, and as likely to see its close as you,-are no more! They have been lying in their cold graves, for these many long months past. And others of you, before the present year shall have closed, will be no longer inhabitants of this world. Long before that time, your dear parents may have followed your mortal remains "to the house appointed for all living." The question is then, are you ready? are you prepared to die? A preparation for so solemn and so decisive an event, you know is necessary. You would like to go to heaven, when you die. And "heaven," once said a little scholar, in the Sabbath school, "is a prepared place for a prepared people." And this preparation is holiness! "Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Now, I want you, my little readers, to seek this preparation for heaven; And to seek it now! Commence with the year. While you are reading these lines decide for God. Say, I will give my heart to God, now I will make the dedication here. "Take my poor heart and let it be, For ever closed to all but thee." What encouraging promises are given to you in the Scriptures; "I love them that love me," saith God," and they that seek me early shall find me." O then seek the Lord!-Seek Him as poor sinners; seek Him in prayer, seek Him through Jesus Christ, His well-beloved Son who died for you, and who now intercedes for you, at his Father's right hand, in heaven. Seek Him in his holy word. Seek Him in the public and private means of grace. Seek Him in faith; earnestly, and perseveringly; and you shall not scek in vain! In vain! no, no, it cannot be in vain! Your hope shall not be disappointed, your expectations shall not be cut off. He never said to the seed of Jacob, “Seek ye my face in vain." Seek the Lord and you shall find Him.-He will reveal Himself to you, as your God; as your Redeemer; as your Saviour He will pardon your sins; adopt you into His family; make you his children, and will impart to you the riches of His grace here, and the treasures of his glory hereafter. J. M. S. A BIRD TOWN. Did you ever hear of a Bird Town? You have all seen the little birds build their nests, gathering up the little straws, and flying away to weave their little homes. You have no doubt watched them with much delight, and thought how wonderful was their industry and skill. But did you ever see a town of nests? A town you know is a collection of houses, and a bird town is a collection of nests, Let me tell you about one I saw the other day, as I stood in the door of the mission house, at Olendebenk in Africa. Quite near the house is a tall, slender tree, with but few branches, and these at the top of the tree, so that I could look up and see the homes of the little birds who lived there, and I counted thirty nests in that single tree. It was a very wonderful sight. A great many little birds must have been very busy to have made so many nests. How many times they must have flown to those high branches with their little bills quite full. Now that they have their town all built, they seem to live very happily together, Sometimes we hear a great chattering in those branches, and I think, perhaps the birds are having a "town meeting." We do not know what the birds are talking about, but we cannot help thinking a great deal of that heavenly Father who made them all and taught them to do so many wonderful things, and who still watches over them, so that "not one of them could fall to the ground without his knowledge." There are a great many birds in Africa. Some of them are very small, but their plumage is very fine. The colours are so bright and beautiful, I wish you could see them. Sometimes there is ring of gold about their necks, and their dark feathers are tipped with blue, sometimes several colours are beautifully blended. Africa is a nice home for birds, there are so many trees. I think you never saw such large trees as there are here-such immense trunks, and lofty branches, and graceful vines twining in, and around, and about them, until they seem one mass of green "Leafy homes," indeed for the beautiful birds of Africa. But there are a great many children in Africa who never think, when they see the birds and the trees, of God who made them all, for they know nothing about God, or Jesus Christ, or heaven. Missionaries from England, Germany, and America, have left their own homes and come to this land, to tell the people these things; but there are still thousands of children who are as ignorant as ever, and who never heard of the Bible, or the Sabbath, or the Sabbathschool. God has made the children of Africa, as well as the children of Britain and America, and he wants those to whom he has given so many blessings, to remember those who are so destitute. May you, also, all become followers of the Saviour, and then as you gather around the throne of God, how it will rejoice your hearts to see many from the dark lands of heathenism brought there through your instrumentality, and sitting down together with you at the "marriage supper of the Lamb." GO WORK TO-DAY IN MY VINEYARD. Listen, Christian, to the word Which the Master now is speaking; Do the bidding of thy Lord, Only his approval seeking. In the vineyard work to-day, For the rain and dew's distilling. Work to-day-the days are few Still wide regions waste are lying, Which, all sown with precious seed, When the joy of vintage sharing. S. |