so that through the cold weather and the ensuing summer, they got along very comfortably. But in December, the family was again visited with sickness, their little stock became exhausted, and coming to me in his distress, I gave him a few shillings, which once more enabled him to resume his business. About this time, I had reason to fear, there were some evils in his case, of his own creation, which impeded his prosperity. It was said that he was not strictly temperate, and did not duly honour the Sabbath. Grieved to learn these things, I visited him at noon, on the Sabbath, when a call from me would be least expected, and met him returning to his home, with the remains of a basket of fruit, unsold. I accompanied him to his family, and found him prepared for all my kind counsel and reproof, for his dis. regard of temperance and the Sabbath. As he listened, tears coursed their way down his cheeks. He acknowledged me as his friend-promised to be guided by me; and himself and wife subscribed a pledge of abstinence, which to this hour, I believe, they have faithfully kept. Feeling an interest in the family, during the past season, I have repeatedly made passing calls to give them a word of counsel and encouragement, and have been pleased to find them in comparative comfort. Early in the winter, I was accosted, in the street, by a woman with a basket of fruit on her arm, who expressed much joy at meeting me. It was the fruiterer's wife on the way to her stand, for she is now helping her husband in his business. To my inquiries about their affairs, she replied: "Thank God, since we signed the pledge, and kept the Sabbath, we have wanted for nothing. When the cold weather set in, our rent was paid a month in advance. We had a barrel of flour, plenty of meat and potatoes, a ton of coal-all paid for-and nearly ten pounds in cash. Our children, who were obliged to live out to get something to eat, now live at home. They attend public school, and every Sabbath go with their father and me to church, and belong to the Sabbath school. We can never forget your kindness to us; for without your advice and aid, we would surely have come to some bad end, and, perhaps, have perished." All this was said with a warmth of gratitude which really confused me. It is true, a family had been rescued from suffering; and what is incomparably more important, saved from pauperism. But what had I done, or what favours had I bestowed, to merit such thanks, and bring out such results? As the almoner of others, I have expended a few shillings for the relief of an indigent family, accompanying the gift with friendly intercourse and counsel, which scarcely occupied more time than the recital of these facts. Surely, I am repaid a hundred fold for my small services; and with the grateful woman, would devoutly thank God for an instrumentality so happily adapted to improve the condition of the poor. SUTTEE IN THE UPPER PROVINCES. THE burning of the Hindoo widow-a practice so contrary to reason, and so revolting to humanity-still prevails in several of the countries of India not under the control of Britain, nor yet traversed by the messengers of peace. Among the most recent and afflictive instances of this abhorrent superstition, are the following, stated in a letter lately received from Mrs. Hill, of Berhampore: “There has been a revolution at Lahore. Many fell in battle, among whom was Moonshee Devan, jun., eighteen years old: his body was burnt, and with it his handsome wife, only fourteen. He had acquired great distinction for his bravery while defending himself and master for their lives. How many females will thus be put to death, with the garments or bodies of their husbands, if found, of those who unfortunately fell in battle! "The two wives of Harah Singh, and ten female slaves, had burnt themselves at Jumboo; also two wives and five slaves of Mean Singh-a frightful sacrifice of human life! The two wives of Pundit Jella and Mean Jah Singh had followed their wretched example. Oh! when, dear friends, when will the horrid rite of Suttee cease! It makes one shudder to think of it. Pray fervently, pray incessantly, that the everlasting Gospel may enter with its glorious light into those disturbed states, and cause a great shaking among the dry bones. How greatly blessed are British females! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.' "How often, when in England, did I grieve to see the monthly Missionary Prayer-meetings so thinly attended. Ought they not to be crowded? Try and picture to yourself those unhappy females grieving over the death of their husbands. Imagine, then, the pile of wood, the dead body laid on it, the widow ascending the pile, with the nearest relative setting fire to the wood; whilst the spectators shout, and the drums beat to stifle the groans of the miserable victim. Can you imagine a more dreadful scene? Then think of their souls, their never-dying souls. Perhaps they never heard of a Saviour. Oh! pray that a Saviour's dying love may be proclaimed throughout the world. Pray that the followers of the False Prophet, and the infatuated Hindoo, may hear the Gospel, believe, and be saved.' ETERNITY. Eternity, thou vast abyss! Who can thy depths declare? But when ten thousand years are past, Our wise inquiry then is this- Lord, if I know my own desires, And where thou art would dwell. Make thou me capable of bliss, And quickening, in true holiness, PRAISE. PRAISE well becometh the redeemed, Not less by those who fight on earth, But we, as well as they, belong To him who shed His blood: They ran their race through grace divine; They overcame their enemies, And what though still we troubled are There is a rest prepared for us, Not less secure than theirs: Let then the tongues of saints below, Resound with hymns of grateful praise L. P. J. P. GLEANINGS. Composed at Coburg during the Diet of God to us a tower will be, Though the world were full of devils, Their defeat a word can seal. Wondrous word! with us remain- POPERY REFUTED BY COMMON SENSE.-Some of the Irish are so far enlightened by Sunday-schools and Bible societies, that they can exercise their reason in resisting the abominations of Popery. One of them being lately asked by his priest, a curate, why he did not come to confession, said to him, "Please your reverence do you ever confess?" "Yes, I do, to the rector. -"And do you pay?" "Yes."-"And to whom does the rector confess?" "To the bishop."-" And does he pay him?" Yes."-" And to 99 66 whom does the bishop confess?" "To the vicar general.' -"And pays him?" "Yes."- "And to "To the whom does he confess ?" Pope."-"And pays?" "Yes.""And to whom does the Pope confess?" "To Jesus Christ."-"And does he pay anything?" "No." "Then please your reverence," the man, "as I am very poor, I think I shall go to Christ at once.' "said PRIDE is the common forerunner of a fall. It was the devil's sin, and the devil's ruin; and has been, ever since, the devil's stratagem, who, like an expert wrestler, usually gives a man a lift before he gives him a throw.-Dr. South. POVERTY RECONCILED. - Poverty only looks well in poetry, and only is well in religion. DEEDS, NOT WORDS.-It is not enough for us to stand gazing upon the wickedness of the times, unless we endeavour to redress it.-Bishop Hall. OCHRISTIAN! can you be content to place so low an estimate upon your heavenly birth, your exalted dignity, your rich spiritual privileges, your sweet consolations, your glorious eternal prospects. I cannot. My Father, make me to feel more of my blessedness as a child of thine, and make me to live more becoming my origin and my destiny.Iota. THE CONNECTION OF HAPPINESS WITH HOLINESS.-If we seek our happiness in anything besides the peace of God and a good conscience, we shall as certainly be unhappy as that everything in the world is uncertain.-Adam. ANGER.-Wise anger is like fire from the flint; there is a great ado to bring it out; and when it does come, it is out again immediately. "I WOULD reprove thee," said a wise heathen, "if I were not angry." And shall not Christians say as much? EXPENSIVE WORSHIP. The Chinese expend annually £90,000,000 for incense to burn before their idols; about five shillings for every man, woman, and child in the empire. TEMPERANCE. DR. HOPE'S OPINION AS ΤΟ STIMULANT LIQUORS.-After having been for twenty years in almost constant official connection with some of the largest hospitals in this country and abroad, during which time I have habitually made statistical and often numerical observations with much care, I have a strong conviction that drinking is the grand curse of this country; and more especially the notion almost universally prevalent amongst the lower classes, that a proportion of stimulant liquors is indispensable for the maintenance of health and strength; under which impression they take from two to four pints of ale per day, and think that moderation. I have especially studied the diseases and statistics of foreign nations, barbarous and otherwise, who have never had access to stimulant liquors; and I find their diseases almost as simple as those of animals, and their strength and endurance, under favourable circumstances of food, climate, and clothes, to be equal, and often superior, to the best specimens in this country. Add to this, the result of Sir E. Parry's observations, those of the Americans, &c., and it is, I think, demonstrated, that stimulant liquors of any kind, and in any quantity, are unnecessary (except as medicines under especial circumstances of delicacy or disease) for the maintenance of health or strength.-Memoir of Dr. Hope. STATE OF A RURAL DISTRICT 39 YEARS AGO.-[By a Resident_at Pett, on the coast of Sussex.]"Our labouring men were formerly distinguished for their honesty, sobriety, and strict obedience to religion and the laws of their country; but, alas! how changed this gratifying scene. Drunkenness, that most baneful of all vices, has become the constant guest of the thatched roof, and has introduced in her train her constant attendants-idleness, disease, and villany. The husbandman no longer goes to the labour of the day with cheerfulness and gratitude to heaven for the blessings he enjoys, no longer returns in the evening to the bosom of his family, to glad their affectionate hearts with his smiles, and pour into the minds of his smiling prattlers the accustomed lesson of duty to God, their parents, and their king, and love to all mankind:-alas! this is no longer the case. A gratification of a superior nature now claims the leisure hourof evening-his visit to the darling gin-shops. It is in this cursed place he sacrifices his integrity, his constitution, and the happiness of his family. It is in this haunt of infamy he first begins to feel a dislike to labour and domestic enjoyments, and acquires a habit of repining at his situation in life, and forms a determination to use any means, however dishonest or violent, to lift himself out of it; and it is now that vicious, turbulent spirit is engendered, which causes him to bid defiance to all laws, human and divine, and at length conducts him to the gloomy horrors of a public prison."-Gleanings in Sussex, by S. Southerden. London, 1807. THE DRUNKARD.-Poor unfortunate being! A slave to his appetite, he lives under the most abject control of his worst enemy. Lash after lash he receives, yet he loves and hugs the monster to his heart. It preys upon his vitals, prostrates him in the ditch, drinks up his heart's blood, and turns him over to the tender mercies of his fell destroyer. He arises, shakes himself, and is again prostrated. His whole life is made up of a fearful succession of downfalls. Down, down still he goes, travelling faster and still faster ruin's road, till perhaps the dreaded delirium tumbles him into the drunkard's grave. O, what a life! O, what a death!! Drunkards, beware!!! THE ARABS.-The Arabs of the desert are among the most hardy of the human race, enduring the greatest fatigue and exposure under a burning sun, and their drink is water. |