How beautiful! how beautiful!

On heaven's bright orb to gaze;
To hear the songsters of the grove
Their notes melodious raise;
To see the smiling fields display
Their varied hues of green,
And not a cloud obscure the sky,-
How beautiful the scene!

They tell me it is beautiful,-
And beauteous it may be;
But all the fairest forms of earth
Possess no charms for me;
The sun may glorious beams emit,
And shed a lustre round,
But in this dark and gloomy cell
No ray of light is found!

Alas! those glories of an hour
Will quickly fade and die,
For nothing firm and durable
Is found beneath the sky;
But then I have a hope above
These transitory scenes,

And look by faith to that blest world
Where my Redeemer reigns.

'Tis there I quickly shall unite

In the eternal song,

And bear the palm of victory

With yonder blood-wash'd throng;

And though the alluring things of time
I ne'er on earth may see,

A holier, better, brighter scene,

In heaven awaiteth me!

Oh! then it will be beautiful,

Be beautiful to gaze

On HIM, around whose glorious throne
My ceaseless songs I'll raise,

And "day and night" adore the Lamb
Who bled and died for me,-

How beautiful! how beautiful!

To all eternity!

JAMES KNAPTON.

OR THE VALIANT SHEPHERD BOY.

WE dare say that our young friends will see at once who we mean. For which of them who can read the bible at all has not read of Joseph, and Moses, and David, and the scenes of their youth? How Joseph, sold as a slave by his own brothers, became the ruler of a great kingdom-how Moses, when a baby, was preserved from death by the daughter of the man who had doomed him; and how God employed him to do such wondrous things as no man before or since ever did how little David the sheep-tenter slew the great giant, and afterwards became a King.

We have placed a cut of a lion, and a cut of a bear at the head, to remind the young reader of the first

contest in which the young son of Jesse was engaged -a contest with a lion and a bear! two of the most fierce and powerful of wild beasts. His own account of this struggle we find in the 17th chapter of the first book of Samuel. The Philistines and the men of Israel were met in battle array. Three of David's brothers were in the army of the Israelites, and he was the youngest of them all. His father Jesse, anxious for his three sons, sent young David with a supply of provisions-bread and cheese, for his brethren. When at the camp, and whilst talking with his brothers, a great giant advanced, as he had done before, and challenged the Israelites to single combat. David heard his proud words, and asked the men who stood by concerning this matter, but his eldest brother, Eliab, reproved him. However David was brought before the king of Israel, "And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee."

From this conversation between Dávid and Saul, it will be seen in whom David trusted for success

he trusted in the LORD. The LORD delivered him out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, and he trusted that he would deliver him out of the hand of this Philistine giant. And he did. For we are told that David went forth to meet him, not clad in armour, with sword and spear and shieldbut in his shepherd's dress, and carrying in his hand a sling and a stone! Perhaps the little shepherd boy had made himself a sling of sheepskin, and when out in the fields, had often practiced slinging, and was a good marksman; and so trusting that God would, in this case, strengthen and guide him to take good aim, he ventured to meet the proud boaster; and one stone from his sling, in this case, no doubt, directed by an invisible and unerring hand, sunk into the forehead of the mighty giant and laid him prostrate!

But this is what we wish our young friends to learn from this scripture narrative-not that they should seek to be like the giant, men of war from their youth -but, that they should, in all seasons of difficulty and peril, like David, put their trust in the LORD, who is able to deliver them.

Difficulties and perils of one kind or other you will, like all the rest of us, meet with as you pass through life, and what a good thing it will be if you can then say, "The LORD will deliver me: I will trust and not be afraid."

And when you come to the last peril of all, when death, the king of terrors, more terrible than lions, bears, or giants, shall approach with sure step to number you among the myriads of his victims, happy will you be, if then you can, through faith in HIM who overcame death, turn round, as your spirit quits its earthly tabernacle, and exclaim, as you see the deadly monarch standing on your earthly remains, "O death! where is thy sting ?"

AND HIS FATHER'S BIBLE.

To understand the following little history, our young readers should know that, about two hundred years ago, attempts were made by the King of England to force the religion that had been established in England upon the people of Scotland. All such attempts are improper, if not wicked. For as every one of us must give an account of himself unto God, every one of us must be at liberty to read the word of God for ourselves, and then try to serve him in the way we believe he has appointed. Besides, in serving God, there are always two parties-God who is served, and the men who serve him. Those who interfere between these two parties, not only say you shall not serve God in that way, but they say, as it were unto God, you shall not be served in that way; which is very shocking, and a bold sin against God.

Well the people of Scotland did not like for the King of England to interfere as to how they should worship God; and they liked their own way best. Many of them therefore made an agreement, or "Covenant" as it was called, that they would never submit to any such interference, but would stand by their own religion unto death.

William Hannah was one of these Covenanters. He lived at Tundergarth, in Annandale. In the year 1678, he, with many others, refused to go and hear the new preachers, many of whom were not good men. For so doing they were obliged to flee from their homes, and when any died they were buried in the lone moorlands, and their graves are often met with at this day.

We have selected the affecting little narrative which follows from the Christian Treasury. It is written by a Scotch minister, Mr. Robt. Simpson, of Sanquhar.

"On one occasion, when Mr. John Welwood came to Tundergarth, his father's parish, to preach and hold conventicles, the curate was greatly incensed,