The Lancashire Scholar. Impartial Death prepares an equal grave Let virtue be thy steadfast aim! Why dost thou trust in Beauty? say! Let virtue be thy constant care! 565 THE LANCASHIRE SCHOLAR. In many parts of England, some benevolent persons have opened schools for adults, that is grown up persons; but I have often found a great unwillingness on the part of people who have passed the age of childhood, to be instructed as if they were children; they seem as if they thought it a disgrace to be learning their letters, when their children are, perhaps, doing the same; forgetting that the fault is not their own, and that their offspring live in an age particularly blessed by universal education. A few days ago, I met with a poor woman, whose persevering industry had got over all these difficulties; and who had been able, for fifteen years, to read that sacred book, whose promises are particuJarly addressed to the lowly disciples of Christ. Sarah was the daughter of a Lancashire soldier; and her husband served one-and-twenty years in the 1st Regiment of Guards. A few years after she married, when her husband was abroad, she resolved to learn to read. I shall give, as far as I can recollect it, her own account of her progress. 66 Nothing would serve me but I must go to school, like the rest: so to school I went; but I didn't get on much so one day the master says to me, 'Sarah, it's of no use at all your thinking to learn to read, you'll make no hand of it; you're always thinking about your husband, or your little Anne, or something or other so I gave it up. Well, some time after, I heard there was a school set up for grown up people; so I says to a playmate of mine, Come, let you and I put our names down;' so we went; and I was determined to do all I could to learn. They gave us words to spell, and lessons to get off at a night. Hours and hours have I sat up, trying to make out my husband's letters, and to spell the Psalms they gave out at Church. Never shall I forget the trouble I had with some of the long hard words; I could not spell them at any rate; however, I went on, 'till I learned how and now I can manage them pretty well," Thus was the patient industry of this simplehearted Christian rewarded. In her days of health and comfort, she may be less alive to the value of what she has gained; but in the hours of loneli ness and sorrow, the words of Scripture, which she can, and does, now read, will speak peace to her soul, She may also be the humble instrument of pointing out the right way to a fellow-pilgrim; and in the hour of death," she will not have to learn what she "must do to be saved." London, Oct. 19, 1825. IOTA. SELECTIONS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS. We have need to watch and pray always, and more especially at those times when our spiritual enemies seem to be at peace with us. When we are blessed Selections from different Authors. 567 with the light of God's countenance, and Irave power over the sin which most easily besets us, we are very apt to be off our guard; and, by being secure, we lay ourselves open to danger from that grand tempter who is always watching over us for evil; and, if we do not take care to keep the loving eye of our mind constantly fixed on that God who is always watching over us for good, we must fall, Here all our strength lies; but God will not give us this strength, unless we carefully and continually seek it.-Lefevre's Letters, No. 44. The nearer the soul is to the image of Christ, the more it will love him, and the more it will be loved by him, and by the Father through him; and this love is the highest felicity both of saints and angels, Imperfect (in degree) as it is here below, the soul that knows it would not change it for all that earth or heaven could give. And what then must it be above, in the kingdom of eternal glory, where the soul, delivered from this earthly clog, will have no hindrances or obstructions to the pure love of God, but will be wholly swallowed up in it? The same, No. 45, Life is short. We have a great work to do, and God only knows how few of those hours, which are ever on the wing, may be given us to do it in. Therefore lose not a moment. Remember, a Christian cannot stand still; he must go either forwards or backwards; and, if you have not made some advances towards heaven since the clock struck last, you have gone back towards the contrary road. The same, No. 47. Men fancy that they can manage their sins with secrecy; but they carry about them a book written by God's finger, their conscience bearing witness to all their actions. But sinners, being often de prevent this speaking paper from telling any tales, do smother, stifle, and suppress it, when they go about committing any wickedness. Yet conscience, though buried for a time in silence, hath afterwards a resurrection, and discovers all, to their great shame and heavier punishment, Fuller. We may wonder how men can find in their hearts to sin against God. For we can find no one place in the whole world which is not marked with a signal character of his mercy to us. Which way can men look, and not have their eyes met with some remembrance of God's favours unto them? It is impossible for one to look any way, and to avoid the beholding of God's bounty. Ungrateful man! And, as there is no place, so there is no time for us to sin, without being at that instant beholden to him for continuing our existence. We owe to him that we are alive, even when we are rebelling against him. The Same. All the enjoyment of the deceitful pleasures of sin can weigh nothing against the horror that a dying man's review of them will create, who not only sees himself upon the point of leaving them for ever, but of suffering for them as long. And, on the contrary, the thought of sinful pleasure given up for virtue, and religion's sake, will afford a dying man far greater pleasure than the enjoyment of them would ever have afforded him. Hon. Robert Boyle, I have now, at length, by the goodness of God, regained that measure of health which makes the doctor allow me to return to my usual course of life, so that, the physician having dismissed himself, nothing seems more suitable to my present condition than the advice of our Saviour to the pa ralytic man, to whom he gave recovery, and at the 2 Extracts from the Public Newspapers. 569 same time an admonition, which, if he obeyed, he found the more advantageous of the two-" Behold thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." The same. After recovering from sickness, I think we should be more watchful against falling hack into sin, than into sickness, unless we would think that the greatest danger required the least care. The same. White lies, (as they are called) always introduce others of a darker complexion. I have seldom known any one, who deserted truth in trifles, that could be trusted in matters of importance. The habit of lying, when once formed, is easily extended-like all habits, it spreads of itself.-Paley. EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS, &c.. A Man killed by an Elephant.-On the 1st of November, a Coroner's Inquest was held on the body of John Tiessen, the keeper of the Elephant at Exeter Change, who was killed by that immense animal. The principal witness was John Cottel, who deposed as follows:-" I am one of the keepers of the beasts at Exeter Change. We went yesterday morning to the Elephant's den to clean it out. As usual, I took the spear with me, to keep him in subjection; but the deceased told me to put the spear down, as the animal knew him well. I put it down, and the beast, after playing with it under his feet, took it up in his trunk, and waved it about several times. The deceased then struck him with the broom, and said, “Come round." The beast turned quickly, and brushed the deceased with his right tusk on the breast, and pressed him against the bar of the den. The deceased fell immediately, and the Elephant stood trembling, as if conscious that he had done wrong. I am quite certain that the occurrence was purely accidental. The Elephant was remarkably tame, and particularly fond of the deceased. I have been in the den, and cleaned it since the accident, and the animal was perfectly kind." He was asked the weight of the beast, and he replied that he weighed four |