to provide that they all should "hear the word of the Lord,"-and accordingly, we find that " he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings; according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not, before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were among them."Again, it was the praise of the Father of the faithful, spoken by God himself, "I know him that he will command his children and his household after him; and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.'

And he received his reward, in the pious and devoted faithfulness of his servant Eleazar, and in the affectionate obedience, the holy and tranquil life of his beloved Isaac. Timothy, while a child, had been taught the holy Scriptures by Lois his grandmother, and by his mother Eunice:-and they were indeed rewarded for their pious cares. St. Paul says, he was thereby "made wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus." David calls upon 66 young men and maidens, old men and children," to join together and praise the name of the Lord. In so doing, we may trust that our 66 sons will be as plants, grown up in their youth, and our daughters as the polished corners of the temple." As to caring for the souls of our children, we have indeed many very express commands. And is it possible to obey them-is it possible bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”—if we do not " feed these lambs," with the sincere milk of the word?" 66 Train child in the way he should go," is the command; and if we ask how we are to set about it, David will tell us what he found the best, the only means of being defiled in the way."- Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee."-" Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate

to

66

66

up a

un

every false way."-"Order my steps in thy word, so shall no iniquity have dominion over me." This then is the training, by which a child must be led into the right way; and we have the promise that "when he is old, he will not depart from it," that his hoary hairs shall be a crown of glory" being found in the way of righteousness." If we inquire with the Psalmist, "wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" We shall receive the same answer which inspiration suggested to him-" by taking heed thereto according To THY WORD." If then we would not have to answer for the souls of our children, and of our servants, as well as for our own, at the day when we shall "be judged out of the things written in the Book of the Law of God." Let us steadily resolve, no longer to neglect reading that word to them, by the which we and they shall be judged. And let us pray, with them, for divine grace, that we may "thereby be nourished with all goodness," and "kept in the same through faith, unto salvation."-Then shall we have fulfilled our part, towards obeying the exhortation of Jeremiah," Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel." (Sent without a Name.)

TEMPER.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, PERHAPS there is no Christian duty of which your readers of all ranks require to be more frequently reminded than that of cultivating a meek and gentle temper" one not easily provoked." The truth is, there are many people who have never been taught in their youth the necessity of commanding their passions and they give way to every burst of burst of anger without perhaps being aware of the grievous sin of so

doing. Thousands and thousands have lived to lament, bitterly, words spoken in the heat of passion; and others have had still more dreadful cause to mourn, when, by blows given in the first moments of anger, they have been the occasion of terrible sufferings, and not unfrequently even of death. We may all recollect reading in the newspapers, not very long ago, the case of a wretched man who in a moment of passion threw an iron which he happened to have in his hand, at his wife, who by some means had provoked him, and killed his poor infant which she held in her arms at the time. Another parent also not long ago used so much violence in correcting his son, that the death of the boy was the consequence, for which I believe the wretched father suffered the extremity of the law himself. I shall mention one or two cases, as a warning to mothers, whom I earnestly advise never to punish a child while they are in a passion; but to wait till they are cool, for otherwise they will not be fit judges what punishment is needful, or whether the child's fault was intentional, or accidental, as in the case I am about to relate.

Jane Wilson was not an unkind mother, but she had a violent temper, which she had never been taught to control. She was standing one day at the washing tub, and called to her daughter, a little girl of ten years of age, to bring her the bar of soap from the dresser quickly, and knowing her mother's impatient temper she ran across the wash-house, and in her haste caused a tea-pot to fall off the dresser, where it had been placed too near the edge. Jane never stopped to consider whether this was not her own fault in leaving it there, and that at any rate it was quite an accident; but, being provoked at the loss of the tea-pot, she in her rage gave the little girl such a furious blow that she fell and broke her arm; here then trouble came upon trouble, for instead of being able to mind the baby while its mother stood to her washing, the poor little girl could no longer carry it

in her arms, but was confined to her bed, where Jane Wilson had to attend upon her for weeks, by which means she lost the custom of those she had formerly washed for, who, though they were sorry for her, could not employ her when she could not get up their linen properly-so she lost this means of assisting to support her family-then her husband lost his day's wages from having to walk to the next town for the doctor. In short, this one little moment of passion brought on months and years of misery and misfortune.

The next case, and the last I shall mention at present, is that of Margaret Smith, who thinks herself much better than her neighbours because she goes often to church, and reads her Bible frequently; in both these things she does right; but if she does not attend to the advice of the clergyman, or the commands of the Scriptures, neither the one nor the other can do her good. After having been at church last Sunday, when she returned home she fell into a great passion with her little daughter for having allowed the fire to get so low that she could not make the kettle boil for her tea, so soon as she wished. So she sat fretting and grumbling till her husband, who had come in to take his tea in peace with his family, was so uncomfortable that he took his hat and went off to the alehouse: this provoked her still more, and as she lifted the kettle, trembling with passion, she let some of the boiling water come upon her hand: this completed her bad-humour; and the poor children did not dare to come near her; but the eldest went and called in their next door neighbour, Susan Grey, who, seeing what had happened, took a raw potatoe, and having washed it clean, scraped some of it with a knife upon a soft rag, and applied it to the scalded part. This immediately gave ease, and Margaret went to bed in rather a better humour, though not sensible she herself had been at all in fault, but prided herself on having been to church, though she seemed entirely

to have forgotten that one of the great purposes of going to church is to beg of God to enable us to conquer our sinful passions, and to bring our minds to that calm and holy state which is the mark of the true followers of Him who was "meek and lowly in heart."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant

and CONSTANT READER,

X. Y.

N. B. This application of the potatoe is useful for slight scalds or burns ;-in severe cases a doctor's advice should be had.

SIR,

HISTORY OF HH M- -K.

HAVING read with pleasure the remarks of a "Constant Reader," in your January number, against a common error at this day, of regarding the house of God rather as the house of preaching than of prayer-an error, of which, as a country curate, I have lamented the existence, having been scarcely able at any time to draw more than a very few persons to the prayers of the church, yet also highly approving of your excellent observations on "preaching the word," I send you a short account of a poor woman whose death has but just taken place, which perhaps may serve as an illustration of your remarks.

H-h Mk had been instructed in her youth in the catechism of the church of England, and taught to read her Bible. She was married early in life to a labouring man, yet, as it has been told me, lived unhappily with her husband, which I look upon as the natural consequence of an absence of real religion. For several years, however, before her death she had been tolerably regular in her attendance at church once on a Sunday; but from time to time returned