I WILL GIVE A SHILLING.
By Adolphus Smith
So said Mr. B., my neighbor, when requested to contribute something toward purchasing a Sabbath School Library. Mr. B. had a son about twelve years of age, whose name was John. He was a member of the Sabbath School, and, I believe, a Christian. He used to talk a great deal about his home in Heaven, and about how little he cared for this world. But his father loved this world, and idolized his son. He owned a large, and well-improved farm, which, with a fine brick house he was erecting at the time above alluded to, he fondly hoped to leave for his son and only heir. Alas! before that great house was finished, or the golden apples had ripened on the trees, John was laid to rest beneath their shade till the last trumpet shall awake him to immortal life. Oh! how bitter the cup thus pressed to that parent's lips. He had ardently sought his son's temporal well-being, but had allowed the expenses of that great house to stand in the way of his eternal interests; had expended thousands of dollars for his worldly aggrandizement, and only one shilling for his soul's salvation. John had been faithfully taught in the Sabbath School; had listened attentively to the preached word, by a holy man of God, who also now sleeps in death, and died in full hope of a glorious resurrection. But the parent, though comforted with the thought that his son had died in the faith of Jesus, could nevertheless but reflect that for aught he had done, John would have lost his soul. Parents, take warning from the above. If you have property, use it for your children's eternal well-being. Provide them liberally with books and papers, elevating and Christ-like in their tone. Correct their habits in eating and drinking, and regulate their costume by their Bible and the testimonies of God's Spirit. “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand.” ADOLPHUS SMITH.