THE GOSPEL TRUMPET. Published by the Trustees of the late PETER DRUMMOND, at Drummond's Tract Depot, Stirling, N.B. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." No. 288.-DECEMBER, 1880.] FLOATING DOWN NIAGARA. WO or three miles At first, it was supposed to be side. empty; no one could imagine that a man would expose himself to such well-known and imminent danger. But a turn in the current showed that it was occupied by an Indian, who was lying sound asleep at the bottom. The spectators were shocked. [MONTHLY, ONE HALFPENNY. 1 90 "Arise, call upon thy God" (JONAH I. 6). They shouted to the man, to rouse him from his danger, but he did not hear; again and again they united in cries of alarm, but he was deaf to their warning. It chanced that the current, which was now hurrying along with increased speed as it neared the fatal precipice, drove the little boat against a point of rock with such violence, that it was whirled round and round several times. "He's safe! he's safe!" cried the spectators joyfully; "the man is safe; that shock must wake him." But alas! no. Fatigue, or perhaps intoxication, had so oppressed his senses, that it seemed more like death than sleep that held him. It was indeed the sleep of death. All hope was gone; and they hurried along the bank in horror to see the end. It soon came; for the torrent was now rolling so rapidly, that they The dunning sound, which had roused him from sleep, told him at the same time that it was in vain now to strive for safety by rowing. Nor, indeed, had he time to try. Upright as he stood, he was carried over the awful precipice; and the boat and its occupant were seen no more. Floating asleep down Niagara! Almost too late indeed, but not too and be safe! OPPORTUNITY is the flower of time; and as the stalk may remain when the flower is cut off, so time may remain with us when opportunity is gone. "Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth" (PSALM XCVII. 9). 91 THE day is coming when those exhibitions of God's goodness and severity shall be, as it were, lost sight of and forgotten in the presence of a new, and, to many souls, an unexpected demonstration; when they who shall have sinned on to the verge of life, refusing to believe in God's severity, as something inconsistent with His goodness, shall be made to see both stare them in the face with terrible distress,-His goodness, embodied in the Saviour whom they have rejected, and on whose blood they have trampled, His severity, in that derided hell, which they regarded as a phantom, and | from which they would not let Him save them.-J. A. Alexander. "THY WORD have I hid in mine heart, that I might not SIN AGAINST THEE." Works Bear Witness. HAT was a most significant and suggestive inquiry which was made recently by one member of the Nova Scotia Parliament of another, during a discussion on the Temperance question. Mr. Ford, of Queen's County, alluded to a member of one of the families in the province, who had lately died, and been buried in a pauper's grave, in consequence of being addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, and said that such an instance was "a temperance lecture in a nut-shell." Mr. Pugh, a member from Halifax, immediately rose to oppose Mr. Ford, and stated that he was himself a liquor-seller, and legitimate as that of a carriage-builder. and that the business was just as honourable Mr. Ford promptly responded, and said, "I build carriages, and when I turn out a fine waggon and put it to rolling along the street, I say 'That is my work.' I would ask the honourable member from Halifax if he is proud of his work as he sees it rolling along the street ?” Mr. Ford's query is also "a temperance lecture in a nut-shell." 92 "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (PSALM XCVII. 10). FAMILY PRAYER. When ANY a child can trace its salvation to a father's or mother's prayers. your little ones are dying, then you think about their souls. Why, then, do you not talk to them about their souls when Remembered Years. "I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High" (PSALM lxxvii. 10). ORGET them not, thou aged saint of God, Forget them not, those golden years of grace: Let not a hoary winter o'er the sod Spread its cold pinions, hiding each fair trace. they are in health, and while they chatter 'Tis true, the flowers have faded; yet, thy heart away to you so merrily? Perhaps you do not know all the answers that may have been given to your prayers, and you do not know all that is going on in the hearts of those children you love so dearly. Therefore honour God in your family. A friend said to me the other day, "I have so much more comfort and satisfaction in my household since I have been more faithful in praying with them." Crooked things thus become straight, if we only oil the wheels of life with prayer. "If Still hides the memory germs, to blossom soon In grateful praise, where the new life shall start, Beneath the Sun of Heaven's eternal noon. The years of His right hand-His ruling hand, That governed all things for thy lasting good; What tender patience, and what faithful love, What constant care, have marked thy devious track, 'Tis true, there have been changes. Said He not But if the flowers of spring have passed away, Rose not a spring from out the winter's tomb? Perhaps some of you say, "I am so ignorant that it is of no good trying to have prayer in our family." You make a mistake there. It is not grand words that God wants, but honest hearts. God offers you His Holy Spirit to help you in your prayers and to teach to pray. you Jesus says, If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" Ask God It shall be so again. Death is a change; for the help of His Holy Spirit, and you will find that it is far better than all the help that any man can give you. WORLDLY friendship is like our shadows; while we walk in sunshine it sticks close to us, but the moment we enter the shade it deserts us. THE grand old Book of God still stands; and this old earth, the more its leaves are turned over and pondered, the more it will sustain and illustrate the sacred Word. Changes have given the very flowers they snatched, Life's winter ended in eternal spring; And though again thou see the sere leaf fall, IF we would stand, Christ must be our foundation; if we would be safe, Christ must be our sanctuary. "The end of all things is at hand" (1 PETER IV. 7). was an old churchyard, close by the sea, and all around were the graves of sailors and fishermen of the generations past. Not a few had come to an untimely end through the stormy tempest, but their bodies had been recovered from the deep, and were lying here to await the resurrection morn. On the tombstone of one I read words that came home to me with double power, from the fact that so many lying around had been suddenly cut off, and I could not but fear that many must have been unprepared for the change. The words were these: "To-morrow I will better live,' Is not for man to say: To-morrow can no surety giveThe wise make sure to-day." Ah! it is the old story: "To-morrow -to-morrow!" This fatal "tomorrow" is the great destroyer of souls. To-day I am young; to-day I am full of work; to-day the cares of business engross me; to-day a young family fills my hands and keeps me back. But I will leave it awhile. Tomorrow,―next week,-next year, it will be different. I will then begin a new life. I will turn over a new leaf. To-morrow I will begin to seek the Lord, and to read His Word, and all shall be well. Here is the guile of the old serpent; here is the craft and deceit that draws the soul along the broad way, until the gate of mercy is shut for ever. Think how many "to-morrows 93 have come and gone, and are you a whit nearer? Have you taken one forward step? Are you more disposed to forsake sin and to live to God? Are your duties and cares less than they were a year or two years ago ? Nay, be honest with yourself; you. know you are not. It is just the other way. The claim of the world holds you firm. Heavenly things seem more distant and shadowy. The heart is less impressible. The conscience is less tender. Think how you are then beguiling your self, whilst your danger is increas ing and your day of grace may be |