heard a knock at her door, and on opening it saw a drover with a herd of cattle for the Glasgow market. He said that a cow had just broken its leg, and she might have it if she liked, for he could not wait to look after it, having to be in Glasgow by daylight. The cow was dragged into her little shed, and became the means of her support: clearly a gift from Him to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong."

So Abraham's servant now asked help from God, and was graciously answered. He asked God to point out to him the maiden whom he had ordained for Isaac. He shewed much shrewdness in the token he asked of God by which to know her, namely, that when he asked for a drink, she should not only give it, but also water his camels. This conduct on her part would shew a kind and obliging disposition, well fitted to make her agreeable to Isaac. Such a disposition has much to do with success in life. Every one likes those that are characterized by it, and takes pleasure in helping to forward their temporal interests. A sour and sulky disposition has quite the opposite effect; for instance, a disobliging shop-keeper is likely to drive away his customers, and come to ruin in consequence,

Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, and grand-daughter of Nahor, came out to the well with her pitcher on her shoulder. This shewed she was a lady, as the poorer girls were required by the custom of the country to carry their pitchers on their heads. Her obliging conduct corresponded exactly with what the servant had proposed, and gave him good hope that his prayer had been answered. He therefore presented her with golden bracelets and a golden nose-ring, which is still a common ornament for females in the East, and asked who she was, and whether he might lodge in her father's house. When he learned that she belonged to Abraham's kindred he manifested lively gratitude to God. He was not ashamed of his religion, but openly bowed his head and worshipped, blessing God for leading him to the house of his master's brethren.

Laban, the brother of Rebekah, who, as appears from his after-history, had a keen eye to the riches of the world, probably had his heart won by the golden jewellery with which he saw his sister adorned. But his beautiful salutation, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without?" shews the simple piety by which the common language of his people was characterized, and which is now, alas! so rare. Being thus introduced to his master's relations, the servant at once told his errand, and received a favourable answer. Still manifesting the greatest promptitude in executing the trust committed to him, he was soon on his way homeward, taking with him Rebekah, who was to become the wife of Isaac, and the mother of the Covenant seed.

This story furnishes a beautiful emblem of the betrothal of the believer to Jesus Christ. Ministers and Sabbath school teachers are like the servant. They come to us with a message from the Father, that He wishes us to be espoused to His Son Christ Jesus. They set forth the riches of the heavenly Father's house. They seek our consent to go with them, that we may become the bride of Christ in the heavenly Canaan. When we are asked the question, "Wilt thou go with this man?" may we have grace to say, We will go-go to forsake a wicked world, and dwell with the King of Glory. Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, comes to us himself. He stands at the door of our hearts: He says, "Is there room for us to lodge?" Oh may we, with hearts emptied of the world, and prepared for His reception, be enabled to say, in the language of Laban's salutation, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, wherefore standest thou without?"

Memory Exercise-Shorter Catechism 33.-Psalm xc. 14-17.
Subject to be Proved-God's Blessing should be sought.

Text for Non-Reading Classes.

"And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham."-Genesis xxiv. 12.

THE

SABBATH SCHOOL MAGAZINE.

MICHAEL FARADAY, THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER.

Ir is eleven years this month of September since the British Association met in Aberdeen. The presidency of the wise and good Prince Albert lent a peculiar dignity to that scientific congress, which was also graced by the presence of some of the most illustrious savants of Europe. If the Association has sometimes laid itself open to the censure of shewing undue adulation to mere rank and wealth, it has never been lacking in true respect to its great men. On the present occasion, one of its most distinguished members, contrary to expectation, had not made his appearance when the proceedings commenced, and his absence was a cause of disappointment and general regret. The beadroll of scientific worthies was felt to be incomplete, wanting a name to which princes and ministers of state had done homage-a name which had been, over Europe and America, inscribed in connection with the highest honours whereby scientific societies recognise the merits of great discoverers; while men like Baron Humboldt, (the Nestor of science,) Schönbein, Arago, Dumas, Liebig, Agassiz, Whewell, South, Herschel, delighted to call its owner their friend, and rank him among their correspondents. At length, when expectancy was changing into despondency, some one cognizant of the philosopher's religious associations, suggested the propriety of making inquiry respecting him in that direction; and the result was the discovery of MICHAEL FARADAY drinking tea, at five o'clock in the afternoon, with a small coterie of his Sandemanian co-religionists, in a humble dwelling in one of the obscurest parts of Aberdeen. The truth is, that his Christian friendships and sympathies had now for him a far more powerful attraction than his scientific reputation, and the honours it brought to him. He was in his sixty-eighth year, and we find him writing, exactly a month before his visit to Aberdeen: "My worldly faculties are slipping away day by day. Happy is it for all of us that the true good lies not in them. NO. IX.] [VOL. XXII.

I

As they ebb, may they leave us as little children, trusting in the Father of mercies, and accepting His unspeakable gift." The philosopher shrank from the glitter and stare of the great northern meeting; and after appearing at one or two of the sections, took the earliest opportunity of departing from the granite city as quietly as he had entered it. During his brief stay the present writer had the privilege of meeting him, along with several of his eminent confréres, in private, and cherishes the impression left by the gravity and simplicity of his character, the unobtrusiveness of his conversation, the gentleness of his manners, the radiant kindliness of his smile, and the quiet and cheery laughter with which he rallied a youthful physicist-who has since made himself an illustrious name by his electrical applications—on a theory he had been expounding on the same day, accounting for the heat of the sun being maintained by fuel obtained from the asteroids. A lady present sung him one of Burns's songs, which pleased him greatly; and followed it up with a sacred composition descriptive of the felicity of the heavenly state. "Ah!" he remarked, in an earnest undertone, "if we could only get people to believe that!"

Michael Faraday was born at Newington Butts, in 1791. His father was a blacksmith, and had at one time been in indigent circumstances, the family having been so pinched as to require parochial aid in a certain contingency. In the noon of his fame Faraday referred to his humble origin without being ashamed of it, and equally without the pride that apes humility. Seeking repose and health in Switzerland in 1841, and while expatiating, as was his wont, in such noble aspects of nature as met him at Interlaken, he stumbles upon a prosaic fact at that charming place:-" Clout-nail making goes on here rather considerably, and is a very neat and pretty operation to observe. I love a smith's shop and everything relating to smithery. My father was a smith." Young Faraday being fond of books, his parents got him a situation in the shop of a bookseller and bookbinder in London, where he commenced his career as a newsboy, delivering papers to his master's customers. This was at the age of 13; and he remained in the same situation for eight years, during the chief part of the time binding books. He wrote, six-and-forty years afterwards, when asked whether it were true that he derived his first taste for chemistry and physics by reading Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry,-"It was in those books, (which he bound,) in the hours after work, that I found the beginning of my philosophy. There were two that especially helped me-the Encyclopædia Britannica, from which I gained my first notions of electricity; and Mrs. Marcet's Chemistry,

which gave me my foundation in that science. Do not suppose (he adds) that I was a very deep thinker, or was marked as a precocious person. I was a very lively, imaginative person, and could believe in the Arabian Nights as easily as in the Encyclopædia; but facts were important to me, and saved me. I could trust a fact, and always cross-examined an assertion. So when I questioned Mrs. Marcet's book by such little experiments as I could find means to perform, and found it true to the facts as I could understand them, I felt that I had got hold of an anchor in chemical knowledge, and clung fast to it." The first quality to be observed in the progress of the young student's self-education is industry, shewn by his diligent improvement of his spare hours after work, by reading the books that were passing through his hands. This was combined with the love of truth and strong conscientiousness; qualities which not only characterized his intercourse with the world from boyhood to old age, but which accompanied and directed him in all those experimental investigations in chemistry and physics which ultimately exalted him above all his contemporaries. He conceived a dislike to trade, which he thought "vicious and selfish;" and having been taken to the Royal Institution to hear some of Sir Humphrey Davy's lectures on chemistry, he wrote notes of what he heard, illustrated them by his own drawings, and transmitting the manuscript to the lecturer, expressed a desire to be employed in the service of science, which, he imagined, "made its pursuers amiable and liberal!" Sir Humphrey received the application with indulgent kindness, and soon after offered him the situation of assistant in the laboratory of the Institution; "at the same time," says Faraday, "he still advised me not to give up the prospects I had before me, telling me that science was a harsh mistress, and, in a pecuniary point of view, but poorly rewarding those who devoted themselves to her service. He smiled at my notions of the superior moral feelings of philosophic men, and said that he would leave me to the experience of a few years to set me right on that matter." Faraday entered upon the duties of his new situation in 1813, and in the same year went to the Continent with Sir H. Davy, as his assistant in experiments and writing. He returned in 1815, and resumed operations in the Royal Institution, where he first laboured for several years as assistant, employing his spare hours in private investigations; was then promoted to the principal office, and by his discoveries and lectures raised the Institution to a high state of prosperity; and only resigned his connection with it in 1865, two years before his death.

The Life and Letters of Faraday, in two volumes, by Dr. Bence

Jones, has been published this year, having been preceded by a volume from the pen of Dr. Tyndall, entitled, Faraday as a Discoverer. Apart from the profound discoveries of this great and good man, there are some interesting facts connected with his self-training for the business of his life, and traits of character of such an instructive description as cannot but be useful when brought under the notice of young men; and to these we shall return in next number.

SABBATH SCHOOL CONVENTION AT DUMFRIES.

On the eve of our going to press, we have been favoured with a copy of the Programme of the Sabbath School Convention, to be opened at Dumfries on the 22nd of September, and which we have been obliged to transfer to the Cover. The arrangements, it will be seen, promise au interesting meeting. The Directors of the Glasgow Sabbath School Union have appointed twelve delegates to represent the Union on the occasion.

THE FUTURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

(Continued from page 79.)

WE have hastily sketched the work which may be required of our Sabbath schools among well-to-do children in the future, shewing that great numbers of them are growing up in almost total neglect of the concerns of their immortal souls. But we must now consider if it is not possible for the Church to do more in an official way for the children of its regular members and adherents. It would surely be a good thing if a quarter of an hour were set apart, during every sermon, for direct appeal to the young of the congregation. Sermons, as a rule, are composed for grown-up people, perhaps for a critical congregation,-and would it be strange if in such compositions there were words and matter which fell like so much unmeaning sound upon the children's ears? With regard to sermon literature, it is well that for men and women there should be provideä "strong meat." Yet, let us not forget the "milk for babes." The knowledge that parents and guardians were at the same time auditors, and would most probably catechise at home, could not but induce increased attention in hearing on the part of the young. The children being aware that they would be personally addressed, would naturally be solicitous to pick up what they could of general intelligence in the progress of the service, and be enabled more readily to perceive and apply remarks which might afterwards be directly addressed to them. Thus might pulpit administrations and home examination work into each other.