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IV.

The triflers, too, his eye can see,

Who only seem to take a part:
They move the lip, and bend the knee,
But do not seek him with their heart.

V.

O may we never trifle so,

Nor lose the days our God has giv'n;
But learn, by Sabbaths here below,
To spend eternity in heav'n.

A CHILD'S HYMN FOR SUNDAY EVENING.

I.

WE'VE past another Sabbath day,

And heard of Jesus Christ and heav'n;
We thank thee for thy word, and pray
That this day's sins may be forgiv❜n.

II.

Forgive our inattention, Lord,

Our looks and thoughts that went astray;
Forgive our carelessness abroad,

At home, our idleness and play.

III.

May all we heard and understood

Be well remember'd through the week;
And help to make us wise and good,
More humble, diligent, and meek.

IV.

Bless our good minister, we pray,
Who loves to see a child attend ;

And may we honour and obey

The words of such a holy friend.

V.

So, when our lives are finished here,
And days and Sabbaths shall be o'er,
May we along with him appear,

To serve and bless thee evermore.

SECOND LETTER TO AN ORPHAN NEPHEW.

MY DEAR NEPHEW,

I AM very sorry to hear that you are again out of work. I know how much you wished and expected to get a place this Michaelmas, and I am truly sorry for your disappointment. I wish, with all my heart, I could assist you to get a place. I cannot do that. To give you good advice, and to pray fervently to God to enable you, by his grace, to lead a Christian life, is all that I have it in my power to do for you. Remember, above all things, that God, who governs the world, is a wise and merciful Father-it is He who sends afflictions upon us; and He sends them for wise and kind purposes, although perhaps we cannot understand this. He does all things well, and it behoves you to wait, with humble and pious resignation, till it shall please Him in his good time to remove your affliction. In the 40th Psalm David says, "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my calling." It is, I know, a great affliction to you to be out of work, but no doubt it is sent for some wise purpose, which you cannot see perhaps it is to try you, to prove what is in you; whether you will keep God's commandments or not. If you had gone on prosperously and happily, it might have led you to forget God. One of the best men that ever lived, said, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted;" and I think I may venture to say, that there is not one of us who has been at any time in affliction, who will not own that it has been good for us. Let me advise you, while you have no regular work, to contrive to keep yourself employed. Always be doing something, for idleness is the mother of mischief. Idleness leaves room for bad thoughts to come into our minds; and bad thoughts quickly lead to bad actions besides, if once you get into a habit of idleness, it will give you a disrelish for employ

ment; and, when you can get work again, you will find a difficulty in keeping steadily to it. Another sad evil arising from idleness is, that it leads you into bad company, and bad company has been the ruin of many and many a young man, of whom one would have hoped better things. Now, that you have so much spare time, improve yourself as much as you can in reading, but be very careful what books you read; if you have a Bible you need never be at a loss for good reading, for it contains advice for every situation in life-it shows you, that if you hope to be happy in the next world, you must love God and keep his commandments in this: it tells you, what you must already have felt, that you cannot, by your own strength alone, keep in the path that leads to heaven, and it shows you where you are to apply for strength to enable you to do what is right. God has said, "My grace is sufficient for thee;" and he has promised his grace to all who ask for it in sincerity of heart. The Bible also informs you, that no temptation can assail you but such as is common to men, and that God will, with the temptation, also leave a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it; and it likewise teaches you not to presume upon your own righteousness, "not to be high-minded, but fear." It gives you this excellent piece of advice, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." If you are in affliction, the Bible holds out this encouragement to you, that if you bear it with patient resignation to the will of God, it shall work for you an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. It teaches you to have recourse to God in prayer, in your affliction. "Is any among you afflicted, let him pray." If you are at a loss for words to express your prayers, take your Common Prayer Book, and turn to the collects; in these beautiful prayers you will find your thoughts expressed in simple and fervent language; but do not suppose that God will reject your prayers be

cause they are poorly expressed-God looks at the heart and the thoughts, and not at the language. N. L. H.

ON SELF-EXAMINATION.

AMONG all the instruments of religion, none seems to be of greater use than the daily calling ourselves to a strict account for all our actions,-comparing them with the laws of God. It is of such importance, that the greatest part of our spiritual improvement seems to depend upon it for our relapsing daily into the same faults, and making no advancement in piety, chiefly proceeds from the neglect of this practice. If we submitted ourselves to this examination every evening, it would be next to impossible that the seeds of vice. should take any deep root in our hearts; neither would evil habits be so likely to prevail over us. The longer the work of self-examination is deferred, the more difficulty there is to perform it aright. By charging our memories with the actions of a day, we may easily recollect the whole time from our rising to our going to bed: so that before we commit ourselves to sleep, we may heartily beg God's pardon, through Jesus Christ, for the sins of the day, and thankfully acknowledge the blessings we have received. This method will make our examination easy and advantageous to us; the succeeding day may teach us to grow wise by the faults of the present, and we may learn to keep our guard in the right place, that the same sin may not surprise us. The end and design of examining ourselves is to discover what temptations we are most liable to, and what occasions most easily overcome us; what virtues we are most defective in, and what sins generally prevail upon us. We ought particularly to consider the weakest part of our minds, for there lies the greatest dan

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ger, and there ought to be our greatest watchfulness. NELSON.

EPITAPHS.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. MR. EDITOR,

THE following simple lines are written on a gravestone in the church-yard of Weston-Underwood, Bucks: it is the grave of two children, James and Harriet Swannell, who died on the same day, the former aged seven, the latter two. Perhaps I read the lines with more interest on the spot, than they would convey in any other place: it is the same Weston where Cowper lived so long, and to which he was so much attached. There is no monument to his memory at Weston, for he died at a distance from his favourite village; but his labours of love, and unaltered kindness to his poor neighbours in their seasons of distress, are still gratefully acknowledged: and they form the fairest monument a Christian can leave behind him.

I am, yours, &c.

"I take these little lambs," said he,
"And lay them on my breast,

Protection they shall find in me,

In me be ever blest!

Death can the bonds of life unloose,

But not dissolve my love;

Millions of infant souls compose

The family above!"

Epitaph on a Child in a Church-Yard in Berkshire.

What! is the lovely shadow fled?

Yet stop those falling tears;

She from a thousand pangs is freed,
You from ten thousand fears.

Tho' lost, she's lost to earth alone ;
Above she will be found

Amid the stars, and near the throne

Which babes like her surround.

F.

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