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On the other hand, Voltaire, who called Jesus Christ "the wretch," and poured contempt upon his Gospel, exclaimed, in the agonies of death, "I am abandoned of God and man. I shall go to hell." Mirabeau died, calling out, give me more laudanum that I may not think of eternity, and what is to come." "O, eternity, eternity," cried the dying Newport, "who can paraphrase on the words forever and ever?" The expiring Altamont exclaimed, "Remorse for the past throws my thoughts on the future. Worse dread of the future strikes them back on the past. I turn, and turn, and find no ray. Death is knocking at my door; in a few hours more I shall draw my last gasp; and then the judgment, the tremendous judgment!"

Precious, thrice precious is the Bible for the death-scene in the family!

The christian prays and toils for the salvation of this ruined world. The mighty work will be accomplished by making the accession of families, one by one, to the elect of God. The church does not number her trophies by nations, but rather by individuals and households. How, then, shall we hasten more surely, the redemption of mankind, than by giving the Word of God to every family? We may marshal troops, mightier than the forces of Xerxes or Alexander, to subjugate beligerent nations; we may spread therefinements of learning and the arts more polished than ever gifted the Grecian or Roman states; we may foster a patriotism more self-denying and sleepless than that of fabled story; but the Millennial morning will not break upon: the scattered darkness of earth, and the consummation of christian hope be realized, until it can be said by a faithfil and exultant church, the Bible is in every Family.

"Star of Eternity! the only star

By which the bark of man could navigate
The sea of life, and gain the shores of bliss

Securely only star which rose on time,
And on its dark and troubled billows, still
As generation, drifting swiftly by,
Succeeded generation, threw a ray

Of heaven's own light, and to the hills of God,
The eternal hills, pointed the sinner's eye."*

* Pollok.

"Prayer is the golden key that can open the wicket of Mercy; Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Omnipotence."

TUPPER.

"Then kneeling down to heaven's eternal King,
The saint, the father, and the husband prays,

Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing,

And thus they all shall meet in future days."

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BURNS.

WE have estimated the value of the SABBATH and the BIBLE to the family. The ALTAR OF PRAYER is the last, though not the least, in this trinity of household blessings. They have separately a positive and hallowing influence, but in union they have the power of a mighty "unity of three." As "the stem, the leaf, and the flower" produce the thriving plant; as "substance, coherence, and weight" give figure to the countless objects of earth; as "the beginning, middle, and end," fashion the immortal epic; as the will, the doing, and deed combine to frame a fact; so the Sabbath, the Bible, and the Altar are the three appointed unities, which can fashion a model family only in their co-influence as "three in one." As the leaf and the flower are not the plant, without the stem; as coherence and weight are not the fabric, without substance; as the doing and the deed are not the fact, without the will; so the Sabbath and the Bible are not the blessing which God designed to the family, without the Altar of Prayer.

The duty of family prayer is not derived from direct Divine commandment. The Scriptures teach it rather inferentially. Reason enforces it. Conscience smiles approval. And, es

pecially, the example of the faithful, in all ages since the advent of Christ, commends it to our regard. Far back in "the track of time to the period when God's people were in" perils oft" for "the faith once delivered to the saints," we learn that the ALTAR was erected in the household. Morning and evening the dependant and grateful members gathered around it in acts of pure devotion. It was their refuge in time of trouble" - their fortress

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and

strength," "the horn of their salvation," and their "high tower." The blessings, too, that have crowned the efforts of parents, who have faithfully observed this rite in the family, amounts to an affirmation that God regards it with delight. As it is the duty of the heads of households to avail themselves of all the possible agencies of moral power in moulding human characters, so it becomes their duty to rear an altar to the Lord," if its influence is as sanctifying, through Divine grace, as facts and the nature of the rite clearly evince.

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It brings the

It

There is power in prayer. The Duke of Bedford was wont to say, "I consider the prayers of God's ministers and people as the best walls around my house." There is security in prayer, for it has power with God. “wall of fire" and the "pillar of a cloud" for defence. pioneers in the moral conquest of the world, and multiplies Pentecosts. On the first Monday of January 1833, an extraordinary religious interest was manifest at the missionary stations in different parts of the world. Hundreds resorted to the Missionaries to inquire, what they must do to be saved. It was the beginning of a great religious awakening. On that day the churches of Christendom were assembled to pray for the nations that sit in darkness. The meetings for prayer were reported to be unusually solemn and interesting. Saints called upon God with unwonted fervor and faith. Some were said to "wrestle" with Him. Is not here a connection between prayer and the religious awakening in

heathea lands? May we not properly regard it, cause and effect? There is power, then, in prayer-power with God, and through Him, power with man.

Prayer is a creature's strength, his very breath and being;"

It may possess the same power in the FAMILY as in the church or closet. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," be he praying as a father or an elder, at home, or in the vestry. It will bless the suppliant parent as really as the suppliant church-member. It can bless the children as easily as sinners in the street.

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There is abundant reason, then, to decide with Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

The first effect of family prayer is, IT WINS THE CONFIDENCE OF MEN. The openly wicked, who sneer at the humble followers of Christ, may make themselves merry over this family rite, yet, after all, they have peculiar confidence in the man who sincerely assembles his family, morning and evening, for devotion. The godless wayfarer, tarrying for the night with a stranger in some dreary wild, thinks well of him if he bows with his household at the altar of prayer, before retiring for the night. His confidence may be misplaced, since hypocrisy assumes various disguises. But the ceremony is effectual to cause him to feel that he is enjoying the hospitalities of a worthy family.

The briefest visit to a family usually leaves some definite impression upon the mind. General appearances cause us to infer that one family is distinguished for this, another for that good or evil quality. As we meet the individual, a stranger, his countenance, demeanor, speech, one or all, force the mind upon a train of inferences. We have our opinions concerning him without trial or jury. Right or wrong, the mind will infer. So it is with the family. And,

* Tupper.