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eternity! Paul pleads hard for Onesimus; "receive him as my own bowels, or as we should say, my own heart; "receive him as myself; "I beseech thee for my son Onesimus:" I, Paul, aged and a prisoner, as if I were on my knees at thy feet, when I might stand and command thee what is right." Paul had a good hope of success, have confidence that thou wilt do more than I say." We seem to see the fulfilment of his hope. We see Onesimus made welcome by Philemon, and Apphia, and Archippus, and the whole church in their house. We hear the eager inquiries on the one side about Rome, and Paul, and his own conversion; and then on the other side the answers, full of adoring gratitude. Prayers are offered and psalms of thanksgiving rise. And ere evening closes, we are much mistaken if the master has not spoken to the slave the magic words that make him free," above a servant now, both in the flesh, and in the Lord.”

Slavery is blotted out from the roll of our national institutions; but many a sore remains upon the body politic, and there is scarcely a relationship of our social life that does not offer its pressing problems for solution. The very relation between master and servant, utterly different as it now is from the ancient one, is yet equally difficult to regulate. Capital and labour are too often enemies where they ought to be allies. Mistress and maid are sometimes prone to mutual complaint, instead of exercising mutual forbearance, and working out a common ground of friendly and respectful intercourse. Society stands aghast at the growing gulf of separation between the one class and other. What remedy has the Christian Church to suggest?

The Church is not the State; nor is it her proper office to undertake the immediate reform of social abuses. Reform is a work to which her sons delight to give a helping hand; and from her ranks come, age after age, the foremost of the philanthropists. But her special call is not so much to remove the sores, as to renovate the constitution of the body. Now, as in the olden time, her strength lies in the proclamation of the divine love to all men, and in the practice of a human love equally broad, disinterested, and comprehensive. "Love

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as brethren; be pitiful, be courteous." Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Such a spirit as breathes in these apostolic words is from above, and it is not easily naturalised in human hearts and lives. But we see it actually at work in those early Christian days; and if we have eyes, we may see it still. In its spread is the one great hope of the world. When all Christians learn to be to one another what many of them are already-what as husband and wife Aquila and Priscilla proved, and what as master and servant Philemon and Onesimus became-the dawn of a social regeneration will have broadened into day.

"Then might we live together as one life,
And, working with one will in everything,
Have power on this dark land to lighten it,
And power on this dead world to make it live."

OUR NEW MINISTER AGAIN.

"A MINISTER that'll laugh_out | Bowditch knocking off Mr. Tolman's loud in evenin' meetin'," said Dea- hat?" con Twitchell with solemnity, "has mistook his callin,' according to my way of thinkin'.

It was at the regular fortnightly tea-fight, a few weeks after our new minister, the Rev. Mr. Bowditch, had come among us, that our new pastor's demerits were called upthe ministerial besom having lost a trifle of its newness.

"He whissles sec'lar tunes when he's a-blackin' his shoes in Miss Porter's back yard," said Mrs. Payson, thereby unconsciously betraying a knowledge of music for which we had never given her credit.

"I like to hev' cherity f'r all," said old Mrs. Preston, with a vain attempt to call up a benevolent look upon her naturally harsh features, "but I've heered that Mr. Bowditch is hand-'n-glove with that 'ere John Banks."

"That 'ere John Banks," I would remark in passing, was a rather eccentric old bachelor of some wealth, and great literary tastes, who was an infidel-or was said to be --and who had incurred the wrath of Mrs. Preston and other ladies of our parish, by declaring the sewing-circle to be "an association for promulgating scandal," and the majority of its members" a set of chattering fools.”

Mr. Tolman was the Baptist minister at Leybridge.

The universal "no" that followed must have afforded extreme delight to Miss Vergin, in that she had something entirely original to offer; and after assuring the breathless circle of listeners that she had witnessed the scene with her own eyes, she began:

"Why, it was last Saturday when the boys were kicking the football in the street, Mr. Bowditch came along, and when he saw the ball handy to his foot, what does he do but give it a-a-tremendous kick so that it went whizzing through the air like a rocket, and as Mr. Tolman turned Ayers' corner, it struck his tall hat and knocked it right into the street!"

"What did Mr. Tolman say?" inquired Mrs. Harker, eagerly.

"What could he say, dear? He looked very much grieved," continued Miss Vergin, in a pathetic tone, "but he received Mr. Bowditch's excuse that he didn't see him coming' in his sweet manner, though when Mr. Bowditch added with what I call unpardonable levity, 'You ought to have dipped your head, brother Tolman,' Mr. Tolman seemed positively hurt."

If Mr. Bowditch's ears burned on that eventful evening, it was no “Yes,” said Joe Grainger, grave-wonder; and as I listened to the ly," and more than that, the new additional gossip which followed, I minister's uncle's son married a thought of a laughing remark which young lady whose aunt's second the young minister had made to me cousin has been strongly suspected when he had first called at our of Extreme Ritualistic tendencies." house, that one of his great comforts "Sho!" exclaimed Mrs. Preston, was in not knowing all the unpleaeagerly, "is that so, Mr. Grainger? "sant things that were said about But Joe was spared the necessity of him.

possible evasion by the interposi- "It is unfortunate," said Mrs. X., tion of Miss Vergin, a young lady as we walked home, "that they of some antiquity, who exclaimed: should have begun on Mr. Bowditch "But did you hear about Mr. so soon as this."

"It is unfortunate," I said, "that some of our society should be so morally cross-eyed, as to regard a man's peculiarities of temperament with such distorted vision."

As Mrs. X. made no answer to my rather hasty exclamation, I continued:

"You know the boy Casey who has been in the Reform School for the past year, and how much talk there was because Mr. Bowditch took him into his Sabbath-school class?"

"Well," I continued, as Mrs. X. signified her acquiescence, "Casey was at work the other day at my office, helping me to move some old papers and books into the other room, and I asked him how he liked his new teacher and his Sabbathschool.

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'Well, sir,' said Casey, 'I'm bound to say that I likes the preacher as has our class 'bout as well as any man ever I see, not alone of his speakin' the good Word to sech as I be, but along of his allers a' havin' a sunshine in his face.

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He explained to them familiarly but reverently the more practical truths of the Bible, in such a way that it should have a bearing on their everyday lives, if possible and all things are possible with God.

Now none of these boys as yet had shown any very marked change either of heart or head, and yet Mr. Nourse, the fruit-grower, said that he wasn't "a b'leever in these here perfessin' Christians to no great amount, but that 'ere little minister had somehow learnt enough good to them boys that had stole his Hubbardst'n apples for the past five years, so'st they never come a'nigh his orchard now, an' he guessed that so smart a man's that was wuth hearin'; and to the great wonderment of Leybridge, Mr. Nourse hired and occupied half a pew in our church thereafter.

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"He oughtn't to laugh out loud in meeting, though, John,” said Mrs. X., returning to our topic of conversation, after a long pause wherein I had revolved all these things which I have recorded in my mind.

"There's folks,' he went on, as I tried to say some encouraging words to the boy, 'that is allers "The 'laugh' was only the faintȧ 'tellin' to these 'ere evenin' est ripple of a smile," I answered, meetins how they want wicked" and by no means suggestive of folks to repent, an' how they pray mirthfulness. It was when good for 'em; but I tell you, Mr. X,' said Casey, turning round and facing me, when a chap like me has kinder' made a start for to go back on his tracks, an' try 'n' do better, it seems jes' as if some of these very folks I was speakin' of was them as was the first ones for to disbelieve a feller; but that 'air Mister Bowditch, he ain't no sech

man.

Our young minister had got together a Bible-class comprising eight of the worst scapegraces in Leybridge, over whom he presided every Sunday in such a manner that storm or shine saw every boy in his place.

Father Baybrook rose, and in his quaint way said the room was so full of the Lord, that if Satan was hanging around in any stray corner, he guessed that he'd find himself in in a pretty tight place. Mr. Bowditch, as I have said, did faintly smile, and I entirely fail to see why this should be brought up against him.

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"The football episode was, need hardly say, entirely accidental," I continued with an inward chuckle, as I pietured the discomfiture of the Rev. Mr. Tolman, who is a most excellent man and perfect model of ministerial deportment; "but I confess the pun

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was in this case unpardonable, as puns should only be indulged in by preachers who have attained to such eminence and ability as to command a thousand a year."

"I had rather see a minister with a cheerful countenance, even though he did whistle 'Silver threads among the gold,' than to have him stalking solemnly around, with a face like an old-fashioned slate tombstone," I went on, as Mrs. X. timidly adverted to the unministerial musical propensity alluded to, and also referred to a remark concerning the same unfortunate young man, who it seemed had indulged in a game of 'Goose,' at some house he visited," and as for his playing 'Goose,' he'd better do it out of his pulpit than in it-as some far more eminent divines are known to do."

Here Mrs. X. very properly reproved me, but undismayed I continued:

"As for his so-called intimacy with John Banks, I only hope it will continue. I don't think Mr. Bowditch is a man who would be very likely to be affected by infidel argument, and I do believe that he may with God's help some day change the views of Mr. Banks. "The truth of the matter is," I

continued, "that Leybridge has more than its quota of mischiefmakers, and I foresee if this sort of thing continues, we shall lose the only man that has ever roused us out of our rocking-chair style of religion."

"Rocking-chair style of religion ?" said Mrs. X., inquiringly.

"Exactly," was my reply; "we sit very much at our ease therein, and while we rock ourselves into drowsiness, our knitting-work becomes neglected, and we drop so many stitches that we spend far too much time in picking them up."

"What is the knitting-work, John ?" said Mrs. X.

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Any work that God has given us to do, which he intends us to bring to completeness," was my answer; and as Mrs. X. meditated upon the simile, I unlocked the front door of our house, and we went in.

I'm afraid that we shan't be able to keep Mr. Bowditch, but time will show. Leybridge is a very peculiar town, and in the language of old Elnathan Hodges, "there's some of the fault-findin'est folks to Leybridge that never was, an' if they hed the 'Pos'le Paul to preach to 'em, they'd pick flaws with him." But time will show.

A PRAYER ABOUT PRAYER.

BY THE REV. T. R. STEVENSON.

"And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”—Luke xi. 1.

We have here a prayer about prayer: "Lord, teach us to pray." We have also a prayer answered by a prayer: "And he saith unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father who art in heaven." The request made was evidently pleasing to Christ. Nor can this be wondered at. It was a good one. There were several admirable features in it. "Lord, teach us to pray." None can teach a thing so well as he who has himself done it. Moreover, none can instruct concerning a given matter so fully and ably as just after he has

been engaged in it.

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This was the case with the Saviour. was asked to speak of supplication immediately after He had been thus occupied. The favour, therefore, was sought of One well qualified to grant it, and at a season more suitable than any other. It would be of infinite advantage to us if we, like His disciples, applied to Christ for directions about prayer. There is nothing better than to go to head-quarters for orders. Too often we imitate each other's rather than His petitions. There are few of us who do not fall into a set phraseology and adopt what may be called "regulation" terms. Any one accustomed to attend week-night services knows this. Much is lost by it. Why should we mar the force and freshness of this delightful exercise by stereotyped and hackneyed language? Jesus, not His followers, should be our model. "Teach us to pray." All are not docile. Some display singular unwillingness to learn. They have a creed, and to that creed they refuse both additions and subtraction. Their views of God and their conceptions of duty do not develop with the flight of time. "Believers" is a name that may be applied to them with perfect correctness, but "disciples" is a title to which they can lay no reasonable claim. "Teach us to pray." The petition was an appropriate one. Ever and anon Christ received requests which were quite foreign to His purpose as a Saviour. His aid was asked on occasions which could never be justified. One said, "Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance between A very inappropriate wish. It did not come within the scope of our Lord's mission to settle family disputes. Far different was it with the desire now under consideration. To teach men to pray certainly became Him whose work it was "to bear witness to the truth."

us."

"When he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray." Should we have done the same? It is very doubtful. The probability lies the other way. Had we been in the place of this "disciple," our exclamation would most likely have been simply one of astonishment and admiration. "When he ceased," we should have said, "What a prayer! How seraphic; how fervent; how affectionate ! Who ever heard such a prayer?" This would have been our cry. "One of his disciples knew better. He acted a wise part. Excellence ought to excite emulation. To appreciate and praise exalted deeds will profit us little if we do not also try to reproduce them.

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In this well-known verse there are certain arguments for and encouragements to prayer, worthy of careful attention.

Prayer is instinctive. Four classes of persons are here mentioned. In some respects they were very different from each other. Their characters and lives presented marked contrasts. One thing, however, they had in common, namely prayer. Christ prayed. His disciples did the same. John prayed. His followers were like him.

Now, this incident may fairly be spoken of as a microcosm; that is a world in miniature. What took place then, illustrates what is always

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