1

murderers, gamblers, help to make up that mass of misery; and, even of the debtors that are there, many have been brought to their sad condition by their extravagance, their profligacy, or their frauds. An observance of the rules of Christianity would at once put a stop to all this wretchedness. Look, too, at the misery of the mind which is brought on by vice; see the numbers whose spirits have been wholly broken down, by the remembrance of their crimes. Look into the inside of a lunatic asylum. The enemies of religion will tell you that a great proportion of its inmates have been brought there by religion; but how very far is this from the truth! These sorrows arise much less frequently from religion, than from the want of it. The greater proportion, indeed, of the melancholy inhabitants of these abodes of misery were constitutionally disposed to this afflicting malady; and their thoughts will often turn to what they were before inclined. The mind of a man who was religious, will, in the low state of his spirits, turn to religion, and his views of religion, will probably be then melancholy, but religion cannot, in such a case, be considered as the cause of his affliction: on the contrary, nothing is so likely as religion to cheer and comfort him. We often, indeed, see religious people sorrowful; and their sorrow does often seem to come upon them, just when they have begun to be in earnest about religion; but, can we say, even then, that religion has caused their sorrow? It is perhaps the thoughts of their past sins which humbles them; it is sin, then, not religion, which has given the sting. But theirs are the tears of penitence, and they shall be blessed! Such were the sorrows which weighed down the godly men of old, whose names are written in the book of life. But the true penitent is in the way to happiness. Look at the penitential psalms of David, and see, how he was cast down with the thoughts of his sins,-but

3

see how his spirits were raised again to joy and cheerfulness, when he considered, that, though bis sins were great, God's mercies were greater!And shall not the Christian's tongue be filled with praise, and his heart with joy, when he thinks of the blessings which have been purchased for him, and which will be freely given to him, if in true repentance he will turn unto the Lord, nay, further, that God will give him repentance unto life. He has every cause to rejoice, and to feel assured, that though he sow in tears he shall reap in joy. V.

SURE CONFIDENCE IN DANGER.

THE Curling waves with awful roar
A little bark assail'd;

And pallid Fear's distracting power
O'er all on board prevail'd.

Save one, the Captain's darling child,
Who steadfast view'd the storm,
And cheerful, with composure, smil'd
At danger's threatening form.

“And sport'st thou thus," a seaman cried,
"While terrors overwhelm "?"
"Why should I fear?" the boy replied,
،، My Father's at the helm.”

So when our worldly all is reft,
Our earthly helpers gone,

We still have one sure anchor left,

God helps, and he alone.

He to our prayers will bend his ear,
He gives our pangs relief,

He turns to smiles each trembling tear,
To joy each torturing grief.

Then turn to Him, 'mid sorrow wild,
When wants and woes o'erwhelm,
Rememb'ring, like the fearless child,
Our Father's at the helm.

From the St. James's Chronicle.

BARLEY BROTH.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

SIR,

IN the Cottager's Monthly Visitor for February, 1825, appeared a Receipt for making Barley Broth.

A better thing than barley broth, when well made, cannot be brought upon table; but I think I can give you a better Receipt than that of Dr. Kitchener's, and I can, from experience, recommend it. This barley broth is at once nutricions and wholesome; and though it will cost more, yet it will be found to produce an excellent dish for any family; especially as there are some persons with whom the dripping and suet and fat in Dr. Kitchener's receipt might not agree.

I am always anxious to encourage my Cottage 'friends to try to raise an occasional dinner of beef or mutton. The only animal food used by some "Cottagers" is bacon-there are some persons with whom this does not agree,-another objection is, that from its saltness it causes an unnatural thirst, and tempts a man to visit an alehouse, when he otherwise would not. I'am, &c.

M. I. E. H.

RECEIPT.

Take two or three pounds of the lean end of a neck of mutton, soak it well in cold water, then put it in a tin saucepan, with about five quarts of water, a little pepper and salt, and a tea-cup-full of Scotch barley-just before it boils, skim very well-then add a few onions, carrots, and turnips, cut into small pieces, and let it all boil very gently for three or four hours. This is a dinner for any

body's table. It is a dish of soup and a dish of meat

too.

N. B. Good Scotch barley, which answers better than fine pearl barley, may be purchased for twopence a pound, at Mr. Dudgeon's shop, in the Strand, London.

HINTS TO NATIONAL SCHOOL CHILDREN.

NATIONAL School children generally sit together at Church, and they are taught to join in the responses of the churches; I mean in those parts which are appointed for the people to repeat. This is right. The Church-service has part for the minister, and part for the people; and thus it is that our service is said to be a social worship. The prayers, too, which the Minister offers up, are the prayers of the people also; and the people are therefore to join in them with their hearts, though they do not join aloud with their voices. In repeating the responses it is better not to be too loud, for a large body of children, all speaking together, may drown the voices of all the rest of the congregation. You should, however, be very careful that you do not repeat the words of the Prayer-Book in a careless, thoughtless manner. Your mind and thoughts should go along with you all the time. You are offering petitions to God, and, therefore, wilfully to let your thoughts be turned to any other subject, is a very great sin. In many churches, I hear the children repeating the responses, and I hear nobody else. This is quite wrong, as it belongs to every body in the church.

You are taught, likewise, to kneel down whilst you are praying; and this again is right; but I have seen, in some churches, that the children are almost the only persons who are kneeling down. This is all wrong. Kneeling is the proper position for prayer. When a person is ill, or lame, and cannot

kneel, then the case is different. God searcheth the heart, and can judge between a devout worshipper, and a careless one. But when a person is not kneeling, we can hardly believe that he is praying.

Now what I wish to advise you to do, is to think of these things, and to think seriously of them, and to consider why you do them. You will then see, that, when you have left school, you are not to leave off these good practices. You have, perhaps, learned to sing also. When you are grown up then, you should join in the singing of the Church. If we were all to be taught these things when we were young, and not forget them when we were old, we should make a congregation of worshippers much more devout in their appearance than we now behold. I say. in their appearance; but there may indeed be the appearance without the reality. This is hypocrisy ; -may God keep us from this sin! It has, however, often been said," that, though there may be an appearance of devotion without the reality,-there cannot be the reality without the appearance.

Let us show our respect for the service of God by the outward reverence of our behaviour, and by the proper observance of his appointed worship'; and let us, at the same time, know, that, for our service to be really acceptable in the sight of God, it must be an offering, not only of the lips, not only of the body, but it must be the inward offering of the affections, and of the heart.

(From Rivingtons' National School Magazine.)

V.