and said, 'If God would help him through with this lie, he would never never cheat or lie any more.' God heard his prayer and answered it in a very different way from what he wanted, for he inclined his master to suspect that he was telling a lie, and so to cross-question him, that the truth came out. He was so ashamed and affronted, that he could not come out to be seen on the street for many days. Oh how much grief that one lie cost him, and how many bitter tears he shed over it! But he prayed to God for a new heart, and God not only helped him to bridle his tongue from telling lies, but so filled his heart with the love of Christ, that he became a missionary; and when he died an old man, all England mourned for him as the great William Carey, that translated the Bible into the languages of India. 5. The love of Christ in our hearts will bridle our tongues from saying bad words. You all know what bad words arecursing and swearing; or speaking of God or Christ or heaven or hell, or any of the solemn things of the Bible, in a thoughtless irreverent manner. One day there were some carters quarreling during a thunderstorm. One of them called on God to damn his eyes if what he said was not true-and immediately there was a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder, and the carter was struck blind in a moment. A minister heard a man swear one night, but as he was tipsy he waited till he would find him sober before he would reprove him. Next morning the minister met the man, and said to him, 'My friend, I heard you pray last night.' 'No,' said the man, 'it must have been some one else; you are mistaken.' The minister said, 'I am not mistaken; I heard you pray last night.' 'Me pray!' said the man; 'I never prayed in my life!' 'O yes,' said the minister, 'you prayed last night that God would damn your soul; and if He had answered your prayer, where would you have been to-day?' The man was so shocked at having uttered such a prayer, that he began to think seriously, and in time became a changed man. Mr Moody, the great American preacher, tells us that when a young man, he had a bad habit of swearing, and the more he tried to give it up, the worse it grew, until he was converted. Then when the love of Christ filled his heart, he never felt the least inclination to swear any more. If you think you are religious, and have not learned to bridle your tongues from those evil words, your religion is vain— you are deceiving yourselves. But if you give your heart to Jesus, He will make it new, and then you will delight to use your tongue for Him, and to say, 'I love to tell the story Of unseen things above, PRIZE BIBLE QUESTIONS. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. xiii. 8-10.) The Prayer. Merciful and loving Father, Thou art good, and always doing good. Help us to become like Thee. Amen. Help us, from this hour, to keep near to Jesus, Thy Son, and our Saviour, that we may learn to know and love Thee, and to love one another; and only to hate the sin that hurts and destroys. Amen. May we remember Thy words, and the good things we hear in church; and practise them in our daily life at home and everywhere. O forgive us our sins! and help us to be glad in Thee: for Jesus' sake. Amen. SABBATH EVENING FIRESIDE BIBLE CLASS. CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT-ISAIAH. June 4. For what purpose was Christ to receive the tongue of the learned? Isa. 1. 4. On what occasion did Christ specially address the weary? Matt. xi. 28-30. What part of Christ's sufferings are described in Isaiah 1. 6? On what occasion was His back given to the smiters? Matt. xxvii. 26. Mention an occasion when the smiting and spitting were combined. Mark xxvi. 67. What does the prophet say about the face of the Saviour? Îsa. lii. 14. What fulfils Isaiah lii. 15, first clause? John i. 33. Acts ii. 33. June 18. 71 What does Isaiah say about Christ's grave? Isa. liii. 9. Were preparations made for His burial with the two malefactors? John xix. 31. What prevented these arrangements from being carried out? John xix. 38-42. Why was there this tender care of the Saviour's remains? Isa. liii. 9, last clause. Was this also the reason why he was not allowed to lie long in the grave? Acts xiii. 34, 35. What verse in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah speaks of the exaltation that was to follow the Saviour's humiliation? June 25. Repeat the great gospel invitation in Isaiah lv. 1. Had the prophet previously compared the blessings of salvation to water? Isa. xii. 3. What flowed from the smitten rock in the wilderness? Numbers xx. 10, 11. Has this any typical reference to Christ? John xix. 34. What does Jesus say about the water of life in His conversation with the woman of Samaria? John iv. On what occasion did Christ renew the invitation PRIZE BIBLE QUESTIONS. SENIOR DIVISION. 16 Give from an historical book of the New Testament, a proof of the importance of committing the Psalms to memory. 17 What is the first Poem recorded in Scripture ? 18 Which is the oldest Psalm in the Psalter ? JUNIOR DIVISION. 16 In which verse of an epistle are three questions put to teach humility? 17 Give one verse from the prophets in which four emblems are used to describe the folly of boasting. 18 Give a proverbial saying, from one of the historical books, to show the folly of boasting regarding the future. All answers to be addressed, not later than the 18th of each month, to the Rev. JOHN KAY, Coatbridge. Come and seek the Saviour, In life's early morn; Come and seek Him early, Ere the winter's storm; Seek Him with thy young heart,The blessed way of truth; Come, and seek Him early, d f,.,f: s,.,sd, : In the bloom of youth. : : THE BIBLE IN OLDEN DAYS. I. WHEN the New Testament at Worms, the precious volume was brought over thence to London, Norwich, and Oxford, concealed in bales of merchandise. It was eagerly bought and soon many copies were spread over the length and breadth of the land. Many who received a portion of the precious book, cherishing it in their hearts, fell down on their knees and thanked God with tears of joy for it. The Romish Bishop of London, filled with alarm and anger, thrust people into dungeons in whose possession copies were found, and publicly burned all the Testaments he could seize. Then, foolishly thinking to end the matter, he secretly employed a merchant to go to Worms and buy up the whole edition. That done, he had it consumed in a large fire kindled on purpose at St. Paul's Cross. Tyndale himself was afterwards cruelly haunted down by his enemies, and died as a martyr, but the good seed which he had been instrumental in sowing had already taken deep root; and, in thus giving his countrymen the New Testament in their own language, he gave them the charter of salvation, the book of eternal life; while his own history affords a beautiful example of its purifying and saving power, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit.' rejoicings, and those who had long been bound came forth again to light and freedom, one of Elizabeth's lords quaintly said, 'There are yet four or five others to be freed.' 'Ah, who are they?' she asked. 'Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul,' was the answer; they have been long shut up, so that they could not talk to the common people, who are eager to see them abroad again.' Elizabeth was a Protestant, so the cruel laws of her sister were repealed, the evangelists were let to go free, and the people received them gladly. Let not such precious and dear-bought blessings and privileges ever be set aside. The Bible is still the same book; and its enemies bear, in our own day, the very same hatred to it that they did then. It is the old and inevitable conflict between light and darkness, and the war will last till all shadows flee away before the perfect day. WHE -0 A. J. S. SAFE WITH THEE. When the lightnings flash and glare, Safe, Lord Jesus, safe with Thee! KATIE THOMSON. |