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then labouring under illness, which incapacitated her from rendering Sarah the assistance her infirmities required, but partly also with the view of helping her sister out of her little gains. She hoped, moreover, that it might have pleased the Lord to have blessed her humble endeavours to withdraw her brotherin-law from a course of vicious indulgence to which he had long abandoned himself. This unhappy man was gifted with good abilities; he was brought up to the business of a clockmaker, and having a considerable turn for mechanics he might have obtained a respectable living, but he unfortunately became contaminated in early life by evil example beneath the paternal roof. The child was trained up in the way he should not go, and no marvel if the man did not depart from it. He became a confirmed drunkard, and, of course, a creature completely selfish, morose, and, not unfrequently, brutal, towards his uncomplaining wife, though he never, it was observed, exhibited any violence towards his children. Of them, indeed, he was fond in his way; and in his intervals of sobriety, which sometimes lasted for several days, he would teach them to read, and to sing hymns, accompanying their voices on a violin he had himself constructed. But his brighter days were "few and far between;" the delight his family experienced when he staid quietly and good-humouredly at home -the artless yet eloquent expression of his little ones, on one of these occasions, "Oh father, if you would always be so, how happy we should be," all was quickly forgotten. No sooner did he get abroad and receive money for work done, than he again yielded to temptation. He would be absent for days together, leaving his family destitute of food or firing, and when his earnings were all gone he would return, violent from actual intoxication, or sullen and wretched from the after effects of strong drink. It was in vain the worthy minister of the parish, and others, who sincerely wished to befriend him, remonstrated with him upon the sinfulness and cruelty of his conduct. One while he would take their well meant advice extremely ill; at other times he would acknowledge his errors, and confess he was always more comfortable in body as well as mind when he abstained from liquor, and make strong protestations he would reform; but the habit of intemperance had become inveterate, and what man, trusting merely in his own strength, ever shook off a rooted bad habit? No wonder if his resolutions were as quickly forgotten as they were hastily formed. No wonder that, as he sought not counsel of the Lord in prayer, they were 66 as the morning

cloud, and as the early dew th t goeth_away."* In this unhappy family Sarah continued not very long, but yet longer than was consistent with her comfort or her health; at last she was compelled, by the obstinate misconduct of her brotherin-law, to return once more to her mother. She ceased not, however, to offer up fervent prayers for the unfortunate victim of intemperance, nor did she fail to exhort him in the true spirit of Christian charity whenever he visited her cottage, as occasionally he did, conscience-smitten and desolate in mind.

Seven years were added to Sarah's life after she quitted Guy's Hospital. Seven years of great bodily suffering, but years, nevertheless, of spiritual health. Her peace of mind was delightful, and it is to be hoped that the beauty of her example was not wholly lost upon her neighbours. The Lord was her supporter; he made all her bed in her sickness; in his precious promises she entirely relied, and she could feel the full consolation of that assurance-" Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon thee, because he trusteth in thee" (Isa. xxvi. 3).

(To be concluded in our next Number.)

THE FIRST WORDS OF MY CHILD; OR, MY EVENING WALK.

(For the Village Churchman.)

Ir was evening: the sun was setting and I turned towards the churchyard to enjoy the glorious sky, and to look at the graves of two of my poor people, who, after much suffering in body, and a constant struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, had at last entered into rest. The sight of the tender mother on her dying bed, her three lovely children, one scarcely a year old, all passed before me; but she was gone gone, we hope, to the Saviour she loved and trusted. I thought of the employment of her happy spirit, but I was painfully called to attend to other sounds, for what did I hear?-two little children, one five, the other three, sat playing together. What think you was their play? Reader,

* The unfortunate man above alluded to, fell a victim to his destructive propensity, Sept. 29, 1839, just a month after the death of Sarah. In his last and fatal illness he was a deplorable spectacle. His powers of digestion were gone; nothing could he retain; and his intellect was sadly shattered.

it appeared to be who could swear the fastest! They stopped when I looked at them-they knew that they were guilty; these little children had a conscience. I took these children to their parents, but, oh! it was a father's lips that first taught them to swear!! Yes, their fearful language was but the re-echo of a father's words. Are you, my friend, a father? Has your child ever heard you swear? Is it the word which often finishes a sentence? Must the thousand little trials of every day provoke you to desire damnation to come down upon your own head?

"Stop, poor sinner, stop and think,
Before you further go."

Perhaps you have already brought down that worst of all evils to a parent's heart-a thankless child, whose breath is spent in cursing and swearing. Can you teach your babes no other words? Do you know nothing of a Saviour's love? Has he never granted you one prayer? Can you teach them, after your work is done, no Bible stories? Can you not ask God to give you his good Spirit, that you may learn to “ keep your own tongues from evil speaking," and give you firmness to correct your children before it be too late? Listen to the prayer of a Sunday-school teacher-" If you do not help us, our work will indeed be in vain." I often see a melting heart at school, and if you would encourage these strivings of God's Spirit, there would not be such bitter sorrow in store for you; the poor weary mother would not say-" My girls are too much for me;" nor would the father have to acknowledge that "he cannot manage his boys."

When you lie where that poor dying mother lay, and your past life is looked over, you will ask yourself how you have brought up these children? God grant that you may be able to say, "I have taught them to fear God, and to love my Redeemer." With the most constant watchfulness our short comings will be great and grievous. One word more: Da you believe that there is a great and coming day when each family must stand before God? Every idle word must then be brought to your remembrance. Does no feeling awaken in your stony heart, when you think that these dear children, for whom you have eaten the bread of carefulness many a long year, are, through your neglect, placed on the left hand of Him who died to save you?

ARNOLD.

THE VILLAGE CHURCHMAN'S SABBATH

MEDITATIONS.-No. VIII.

ON THE ADVANTAGES OF AN ESTABLISHED LITURGY.

INDEPENDENTLY of the benefit we possess in being able to try the doctrines we may hear by those we find recorded as the foundations of the Established Church of England, it appears to me that her members have another decided advantage in their congregational addresses, over those who dissent from our communion, in the order and regularity of the ritual. Forms of prayer have been in use from the earliest ages of Christianity, and how are they to be avoided if the worship is to be congregational-not confined to the minister alone, but divided between him and the people. How can numbers unite, at the same moment, in the same words of prayer or praise, unless the words they are to utter are previously ascertained? Some assert, that by frequent repetition we cease to regard the meaning of the words we hear or utter; but if this remark were strictly true, it must also apply to the Bible itself: to that most holy book we are commanded that none shall add; and from its blessed contents none shall take away. The language of the Bible has remained the same for three centuries; do we, then, cease to regard its meaning, or does it not, on every re-perusal, appear clothed with fresh beauty, majesty, and interest? All the prayers of our Church breathe its spirit-many express its very language; and it argues but poorly for the devotional spirit of those who acknowledge that they grow weary of confessions, thanksgivings, and aspirations after holiness, couched as these are in the words of inspiration itself. I am persuaded that many will agree with the writer, who feels that the expressions she has uttered from childhood are linked to her heart by the ties of memory and love, and that, as years increase, so does her attachment to that Church who admitted her to its privileges by infant baptism, whose services hallowed the dearest of earthly ties, and whose ritual has spoken comfort at the grave of departed friends.

In addition to a daily service, we have a regular yearly circle of Sunday collects, with their appropriate epistle and gospel. By these we are guided to that especial tenet of faith or practice to which, as the Sundays recur, the Church of England directs the attention of her members, and thus the devoted Churchman may in some measure prepare himself for

the public services in which he is to engage. He knows that the true " preparation of the heart in man" is from the Lord, but God works by means; nor can any be more conducive to this end than a prayerful study of His Holy Word, rendered the more careful when devoted to some explicit object; and thus the mind is prepared to "embrace and hold fast" the doctrinal truth or practical precept which the collect or the other peculiar service for the day exhibits.

If such be the advantage accruing to the congregation from a regular succession of religious services, how much it must tend to lighten the labours and anxieties of a minister! If, more especially on those festivals when the Church leads her members to consider the various points of doctrine which are the bulwarks of her faith, a minister feels assured that his people have prepared themselves by reflection and prayer, he will be encouraged to hope that the fallow ground is in some measure broken up, and rendered more fit to receive that good seed, which, sown in prayer and watered by the dew of God's blessing, may spring up with abundant increase.

While the cry of those who follow the guidance of novelty or variety seems always to be," who will show us" any "new thing;" let the children of the Church of England be mindful to ask for the "old paths," and as carefully to follow them. New modes of worship have sprung up on all sides of those venerable fabrics where our forefathers assembled to offer to God their praise and prayer; but the words they used are still preserved to us in our beautiful and holy ritual. A service can scarcely be termed "congregational," where (though many hearts unite) but one voice ascends to heaven, or at the conclusion of a long and sometimes a single prayer, one "amen" is alone returned. Many parts of our service are divided equally between the minister and people; the remainder of it is broken into short petitions: at the end of each we are warned, that prayer can only be acceptable to God when offered "through Jesus Christ our Saviour," and then, "the people are to say, amen.” Let me remind my fellow villagers, that the service is not deputed to the minister and clerk; the people have their share to fulfil: if they omit to repeat the responses" in an audible voice," and to join in every petition by their assenting "amen," they are not fulfilling the directions of their prayer-book, nor carrying out the intentions of the pious and venerable men who framed and arranged our liturgy. META RILEY.

Papplewick.

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