When he cried, in bitter anguish,

"Ye mystic words!

Thou semblance of a hand! illusive forms!

Ye wild fantastic images, what are ye?

Dread shadows, SPEAK! explain your dark intent!
What power have I ?

Oh, soul-distracting sight! but is it real?
Again, 'tis there! 'tis written on the wall!
I see the writing, but the viewless writer,

Who? what is he? Oh, horror! horror! horror!" Little friends, was this man happy, think you? Were those children happy who mocked good old. Elisha, saying: "Go up, thou baldhead, go up," meanwhile God sent two she-bears from the wood, and destroyed forty-and-two of them? Fearful! Was the Witch of Endor happy? Simon Magus, Herod, who gave not God the glory, and was eaten of worms? In a word, is the devil happy? Is hell a happy place? But who are the happy? "Come, ye children, hearken unto me, and I will teach " the fear of the Lord." you Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy." Enoch was happy, he walked with God, and God took him. Noah was happy, Abraham was happy, Joseph was happy in the prison, Moses, the Meekest, was happy, Joshua and Caleb were happy, they "followed the Lord wholly." The three men in the fiery furnace were happy; Daniel in the lion's den was happy, very happy. The Prophets of the Lord were happy; David, the sweet singer of Israel, was happy; the Apostles were happy; the Martyrs were happy ("of whom the world was not worthy"), though they wandered in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; were sawn asunder, tempted, slain -being destitute, afflicted, tormented! Yes,

these were happy, very happy. What shall we say more? Time would fail us to tell of Baxter, Bunyan, Fletcher, Fenelon, Taylor, Payson, all who fought the good fight, laid hold on eternal life, were happy, inexpressibly happy. Heaven is a happy place, God is happy, angels, spirits glorified all holy beings. Without holiness

no man shall see the Lord." Holiness is happiness and happiness is holiness. This, young friends, and nothing short of this, is the happiness we wish you. "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

MY SLEEPING CHILD.

BY THE LATE REV. J. E. HANKINSON.

I BENT me o'er my infant child,
And mark'd that in her sleep she smiled;
I could not tell from what bright thought
Her cheek that ray of gladness caught;
Yet doubted not an angel's voice
Had bid my little one rejoice.
And when, with all a parent's fears,
I pore into the gulf of years,

'Tis sweet to think of Him, whose hand
Caressed the infant race,

What time, with voice divinely bland,
He spake those words of grace,—
"The Children's angels always stand,
Before my Father's face."

TWO YOUNG LADIES SAVED AT SEA.

[Some of our young readers may know the scene of the dangerous deliverance mentioned in the following, which has been reported in several newspapers. It is beautifully instructive.]

INTREPID CONDUCT OF A YOUNG LADY.--TWO

LIVES SAVED.

On the afternoon of Saturday, the 24th June, two young ladies were walking along the beach at the back of the Isle of Wight, near Black Gang Chine. It was blowing hard at the time, and the sea running very high, when a violent squall gave such a sudden impetus to the rising tide that they were overtaken by the waves, which, in their reflux, dragged in the younger female, and in a minute she was floating in deep water, at least twenty yards from dry land. The first impulse of her friend to rush in to her rescue was checked by her self-possession, which told her that to obey that impulse was certain death to both; she, therefore, with heroic calmness, awaited the returning wave. Twice she saw the body sink beneath the surface. As it rose the second time she watched it borne on the crest of a tremendous sea towards the shore. Seizing the second of time that intervenes between the bursting of the surge and its fearful recoil, she advanced up to her waist in the water, clutched hold of her exhausted and nearly insensible friend, and dragged her up the beach. There was really so little time to spare that both were again submerged. Another desperate effort placed her out of the immediate reach of the waves, but she had, clinging to bunches of grass and rushes, to climb

with her burden up a steep bank of slippery green sand, the appearance of which almost belies the possibility of such an ascent, before they were in safety. Only those who know the treacherous nature of the sea on this coast, and the irresistible draught of its receding waves, can appreciate the mercy vouchsafed to her who was saved, and the courage and presence of mind which were the instruments of her salvation. It is no exaggeration to say, that it was a more hazardous and skilful exploit than saving a life by jumping into deep water. But a few days since the papers recorded the deaths of two young females, on a far less dangerous part of the coast, under similar circumstances; and, three or four years ago, a stout young man, nearly on the same spot, was drawn in by the sea, and drowned before the faces of his comrades.

"MOTHER," AND "HOME."

I MET a child, whose golden hair
Around her rosy face in clusters hung,

And, as she wove her king-cup chain, she sung
Her household melodies-those strains that bear
The heart back to Eden: surely ne'er

A brighter vision blest by dreams.

"Whose child

Art thou," I said, "sweet girl?". In accents mild
She answered, "Mother's." When I questioned "Where
Her dwelling was?" Again she answered, "Home."
"Mother" and "Home!" A blessed ignorance -
Or rather blessed knowledge! What advance
Further than this shall all the years to come,
With all this love, effect? There are but given
Two names of higher note,

"6 FATHER," and "HEAVEN."

GOOD BOOKS FOR YOUNG PERSONS.

1. JEWISH WITNESSES THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST. Edited by RIDLEY H. HERSCHELL. 18mo. cloth, pp. 248. London: Aylott & Jones. CHRISTIANITY was, at first, made known to the world by Jews. All the Apostles of Christ, all the writers of the New Testament, were born and educated Jews; but they became converted to the faith of Jesus. Our blessed Saviour himself was a Jew. Many of the most intelligent and pious Christians, therefore, take a lively interest in the Jewish people, and especially in those who are converts from among them to the faith of the everlasting gospel. To such, and indeed to all reflecting persons, this neat volume will be a valuable present, as it contains the memoirs of ten Jews, who have, in modern and ancient times, become decided and eminent believers in that Redeemer whom their forefathers rejected. Every one of these memoirs is highly instructive; and the volume is well adapted to religious edification.

2. COMPARISONS OF STRUCTURE IN ANIMALS. -THE HOUND and MAN.

3. THE ATMOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERICAL PHENOMENA. BY THOMAS DICK, LL.D.

4. THE HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM IN FRANCE, from the Earliest Ages to the End of the Reign of Charles IX.

These three little works are some of the 'Monthly Volumes" published by the Religious Tract Society. They are altogether worthy of that admirable institution, as they are excellently