of any circumstances so peculiar, as to justify such a suspension.

"But how can you have a Sabbath school in a house where there is no fire?"

We would answer by asking other questions. “How can you have a common school, in a house where there is no fire And can you make the sacrifice of warming a room, for the good that may be done, at the common school, to the minds of your children; and can you not make the same sacrifice for the good that may be done, at the Sabbath school, to their immortal souls ?"

It is true, some of the smaller children cannot attend the Sabbath school, during the severer parts of the year. The parents, or older brothers or sisters of such should hear their lessons at home. But those children and youth who attend meeting, and who laugh at the pelting storms of winter, as they sport along, daily, to their common school, surely will never speak of snow and cold as an excuse for absence from the Sabbath school. We wish parents, superintendents and teachers, where it is the practice to close the school for the winter, would look at this subject; and see if a little more zeal and a little more of the spirit of self-denial, would not remove all their difficulties. Remember there are long winter evenings, on which to study the lessons and read the library books; many of these children have no religious instruction at home; the mind and heart of the young will contract a degree of the coldness and obduracy of the winter, if so long separated from the warming and softening influences of divine truth; and remember, too, that death never suspends his work for the cold.Teacher! should one of your scholars, die without hope, during the time in which, for want of a little self-denial and zeal, you suspend your labors for his salvation, would you have no secret compunctions? This is a question which may have much to do with your peace of mind, when on your own dying bed. Then ponder it well and act wisely.

We have heard of a little girl that said to her mother, who was talking to her about loving God, "Mother, I don't want to become pious." "Why, why, my child!" "Because all pious children die; and I don't want to die." Now this little girl should have thought, carefully, on these two questions, before she urged that objection to becoming a Christian while young. 1. Is it true that all children who become pious do die young ? 2. Do no other children die, but those who are pious?

Had she only thought a moment, she would have seen that nothing is farther from the truth, than to say that all pious children die ; i. e. die young. In all our churches there are men and women who were converted in childhood; and this has been true in all ages of the world. Samson and Samuel, and Josiah and Jeremiah, and John the Baptist and Timothy were early pious; but none of them died while they were children. Some of our own fathers and mothers "Remembered their CREATOR in the days of their youth,"and are still alive to exhort us to do the same. Look at the Sabbath school reports for the last ten years. Have all the thousands and thousands of children and youth, reported as having become pious, died? Did they all die while young? No. Thousands of them are now active members of the Church; scores and hundreds are preach

ing the everlasting Gospel. It is not true, then, that all pious children die. All those pious children, whose memoirs are written, die to be sure, for we never write the history of a child's life, sickness and death, till after he is dead. Had a book been written of every man and woman now living in the United States, or even in Massachusetts, who became pious in early life, that little girl, could she see those books piled up together, would never say again that "all pious children die.”

But do no other children die, but those who are pious? You do not, it is true, often see long memoirs of any other children. In the second chapter of the second of Kings, there is a short memoir of forty-two children, who mocked the good prophet Elisha. Did they live to be old? Almost every week the newspapers give us brief memoirs of children and youth, who were drowned while sporting in the water, or violently killed while hunting, or riding, or playing about the rail-road, on the Sabbath. Are all these children and youth, who die in the very act of breaking the fourth commandment, pious? Go into the grave-yard. Do you see those little graves all around you ?— Were all the children and youth whose bodies now moulder beneath these little mounds of earth, pious children and youth? Would to God they had been pious; but were they pious? O no, only here and there one.

In view of all these things, was there not much more reason for that little girl, instead of saying what she did, to have said, "Mother, I want to become a Christian now, for all wicked children die." Although it would not have been true that all wicked children die, it would have been a thousand, thousand times nearer true than what she did say. Yes, it is an affecting truth that many, many more wicked than pious children die.

We would say to all our young friends, “Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth." All children, whether pious or not, are liable, every day, to die; but the pious only can die happy.

WARNING TO SABBATH-BREAKERS.

Several notices have been laid on our table, of the sudden deaths of Sabbath-breakers.

Thomas Foley, a boy between eight and nine years of age, was killed on Sabbath, the 18th of September, at the Depot of the Boston and Worcester Rail Road, near South Cove. He was playing, in company with several other boys about his own age, with a kind of capstan that is used to turn the cars.

On the first Sabbath of October, William Bords and George Forrester, 15 and 17 years of age, were drowned, at East-Boston, while amusing themselves with a boat. We understand that the latter youth has been a child of disobedience. How awful to be called into the presence of the great God, while in the very act of profaning the Holy Sabbath!

James George, a young man belonging to Roxbury, was drowned on the same Sabbath, while sailing on Fresh Pond, in Watertown. Another young man who was sailing with him, narrowly escaped a watery grave.

We record these providential events as warnings to all, both young and old, not to trifle with God's Holy Day. Should not sudden and deserved punishment overtake any of you, in the midst of your provocations, as it often has others, yet, you may be sure, your sin will find you out. Happy for you, if it does not find you out when it is too late to be repented of and forgiven.

Voluntary thoughts are the best indication of the frame of our minds. As the nature of the soil is judged by the grass which it brings forth, so may the disposition of the heart by the predominancy of the voluntary thoughts.-Owen.

MISSIONARY EXERCISES FOR S. SCHOOLS.

The Foreign Mission Committee of the Society of Inquiry, in the Theological Seminary, Andover, have been inquiring into the expediency of introducing a Missionary Exercise, into our Sabbath schools, once in two months. Similar exercises have been introduced, by the students, into the schools at Andover, with happy results. The subject has been given out a few weeks beforehand, and " Quarterly Missionary papers" of the Board,

(if there are any appropriate to the subject,) together with suitable questions prepared for the purpose, have been circulated among the scholars. By an occasional exercise like this, for a few years, the entire history of Missionary operations, including the origin, progress, and present state of each station, and the condition, wants, and claims of the world, may be made familiar to the minds of all the children, youth, and adults connected with our Sabbath schools. Who can estimate the amount of good which, with the blessing of God, must follow such an acquaintance with the moral history of the world! Would not a general and active Missionary spirit be awakened? Would not many of our young Samuels be found early "ministering before the Lord?" And would not older Christians be led more perfectly to identify themselves and their treasures with the cause of Missions?

It will be necssary, in order to the general introduction of this exercise into Sabbath schools, to provide some way by which teachers and scholars can obtain the requisite intelligence on Missionary subjects; and it is desirable to have these subjects taken up systematically.

We have had a correspondence and, also, a personal interview with a committee at Andover, appointed for the purpose of investigating this whole subject. The result is this: The lessons for these exercises, will be published in the VISITER,-half a lesson in each number, or a whole one in every other number, as the case may be. The questions will be published on the cover. This plan for furnishing the necessary intelligence, is believed to be the most economical, and, in all respects, the most feasible that can be adopted. These articles, which are to be studied in the schools, may also be read with interest and profit by all. The Visiter is already in the hands of many of the teachers and scholars, who will, therefore, be at no extra expense in adopting the exercise. Other teachers and scholars will readily supply themselves.

The first Sabbath after the Concert of Prayer for Missions, in February, April, June, August, October and December are the Sabbaths proposed to be appropriated for this object. The first exercise, we intend to publish in the January and February numbers. We hope, in the mean time, Pastors, Superintendents and Teachers will confer on this subject. Should they adopt the plan, it may be desirable to notify their schools soon, that the teachers and scholars who may wish the Visiter, may give notice the last of November, or the first of December.

This is a volume

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS BY THE SOCIETY. ELLEN AND MARIA OR, CHILDREN DOING GOOD. : of 72 pages, and is divided into six chapters. 1. Poor Margaret, containing an account of Ellen and Maria's visit to a sick Irish girl. Ellen became greatly interested for the poor child, and visited her almost daily, to administer to her wants, and, as she began to recover, to teach her to read in a Bible with which she presented her. 2. What made the difference? explaining the reason why Ellen was so much more persevering and successful in doing good, than Maria. 3. The Robins, a touching contrast