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On the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

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hoped, are true Christians, exhibit so little of the good effects of religion in their lives and conversation, their tempers, and dispositions? Why is it that they are so often "careful and troubled about many things." Believing, as they do, that, "one thing is needful?" Why is it, that they seem so much engrossed with the things of this world, with its cares and pleasures, its business and amusements, and so unmindful of their heavenly inheritance? Believing, as they do, that all on earth is "vanity;" why is it that their study of the sacred Scriptures, seems to have so much less effect upon them, than might have been expected? The words of the text explain the reason; their faith is weak, wavering, and unsettled the word does not profit them much, being mixed with so little faith-so little self-application-and self-examination. Well may we all, fervently, humbly, unceasingly, pray with the apostles, "Lord increase our faith!" and in the excellent collect of our Church, "grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son, Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved." D. W.

ON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

THE more we reflect on this instance of Divine love, the death of our Lord, the more we shall perceive that there was a particular propriety in pointing out, by a peculiar ordinance, a circumstance of such immense importance. Nay, we may even venture to assert, that in some dark and corrupt ages, when the Scriptures were little known by the people, and hardly studied by the priests, the death of our Saviour might have been almost forgotten, had not the remembrance of it been renewed by the celebration of this sacred ordinance. It should also be remembered, that the vanities of the world, the allurements of sensual pleasure, the charms

of ambition, the splendour of riches; in short, temptations from worldly objects of every kind, have often too fatal an influence on our tempers and conduct; they have a fatal tendency to draw the mind aside to folly, and to put an end to the practice of things divine. It was therefore a kind, a wise intention of our great Redeemer, by a frequent repetition of the sacramental feast, to call back the wandering heart of man to a sense of his duty and of his obligations as a Christian.

From Kimpton's Hist. of the Bible. Sent by "A Constant Reader and Advocate."

THE REWARD OF KINDNESS.

HEROD Agrippa, during his imprisonment in the dungeons of Tiberius, was one day in an agony of thirst; and seeing a young slave pass by, carrying a vessel of water, implored that he would let him drink of it. The slave willingly, and doubtless at some personal risk, complied. The captive monarch assured his humble benefactor, that when he regained his liberty, this good deed should not pass unrequited; and he kept his word: he procured the slave's freedom, made him comptroller of his estates, recommended him in his dying testament to his heirs, Agrippa and Bernice; and history, while it hands down the name of this benevolent slave, assures us that Thaumastus reached a good old age in that station of trust, emolument, and respectability, to which he had been promoted. The moral of this little tale, Josephus could not, or would not, draw; it may, however, be deduced by the simplest follower of Christ. If a man, to use the mildest terms, by no means remarkable for virtue, obeyed with such good faith, the dictates of a grateful heart, and so recompensed the gift of a single draught of water,

Convictions for adulterating Beer.

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what may not be expected from the solemn promise of our gracious Master, that a cup of cold water given in his name shall by no means lose its reward.

CONVICTIONS FOR ADULTERATING BEER.

THE landlord of a public-house in Soho has lately been fined 1007. for having beer-colouring, Guinea-pepper, and liquorice in his possession, and for adulterating his beer with vitriol and other unlawful ingredients. Mr. Bird, general surveyor of excise, on tasting the beer, found that its quality had been injured; he then applied a chemical test to it, and found that it turned green, showing that vitriol had been put into it; a quantity of salt had likewise been added. The landlord might have been, by law, fined 2007.; but the chairman, taking his poverty into consideration, and with the hope that he might take warning from his present conviction, mitigated the penalty to 1007.

An information was likewise laid against the landlord of an ale-house at Shadwell, for having mixed unlawful and unwholesome ingredients with his beer. The chairman said there was little doubt that the defendant had defrauded the public to the extent of one third of his consumption of beer; and that, whilst he was selling this trash, he was regardless of the health of his customers. The landlord had since left the house, and was in very embarrassed circumstances. The Court, considering these things, did not insist upon the whole of the penalty, but sentenced the offender to pay 507.

Another landlord from Shadwell was brought up, and fined, for a similar offence, 1007. A landlord of Southwark was also fined, for having green vitriol and salt mixed in his beer. Another from St. Pancras, for the same offence, was fined 100%.

It is well that the laws of the land do inflict punishment on those who are thus guilty of defrauding the public, and injuring the health of their customers; but we fear that there are numerous cases of such frauds which are never discovered. All landlords, it is true, are not alike; and we trust that there are many who would dread the thoughts of committing such crimes as we have been recording. An ale-house, however, is not the place for learning much good morality; and it is grievous that it has become the habit of English labourers to meet together in such places, where, even if they should meet with a respectable landlord, they are at the same time pretty sure to meet with such company as will do them a great deal of harm. It is for this reason, that those among the poor who have a sense of religion, and a desire to do what is right, feel themselves obliged to keep altogether away from such places. During the last fifty years there has been a wonderful increase in the number of public-houses; and the habit of spending the evening there has greatly increased; and though in manufacturing places the wages have increased in a wonderful manner during that time, yet the poor are very miserably off. It is easy to lay the fault on the government, and the taxes, and the tithes, and the machinery, and so forth, and thus to shift the blame on others, instead of putting the saddle on the right horse. I pity a poor industrious man, from the bottom of my heart, who is sober, and considerate, and who tries to maintain his family, and yet cannot do it with comfort; but where the taxes get a penny out of a poor man, the ale-house and the ginshop get a pound. A thinking, considerate man, knows this well enough, and keeps out of the mischief, and he is generally rewarded for his caution; whilst the others starve themselves, and then grumble at the laws which have allowed them the liberty to bring themselves to their own ruin. When, however, I read of the shameful mixtures that are sold in the shape of beer, I am determined to buy none of it. I shall buy

An Address for the New Year.

33 no gin, neither, for that is worse; but I mean to brew a little beer in my own house, and then I know what I am drinking; and the quantity I drink shall be moderate; and I trust at the year's end I shall see the benefit of my own fire-side, and my own home-brewed beer at two-pence a pot, instead of green vitriol and salt at five-pence, and bad company into the bargain. V.

AN ADDRESS FOR THE NEW YEAR, FROM A CLERGYMAN TO HIS PARISHIONERS.

THE following address was sent to us nearly a year ago, but too late for our last January Number.

Ar the beginning of another year, I feel inclined to resume a plan I have occasionally adopted, of circulating a few remarks, chiefly for the perusal of those with whom I may not have had opportunities of holding much personal intercourse. I trust, indeed, my parishioners will give me credit for wishing, at all times, to keep up as constant an intercourse as possible; but they must be aware that in a large parish where the dwellings lie so wide apart, and the inmates are so much employed on their farms in out-door work, to see all would be difficult, not to say impossible: and consequently it is to the sick that my visits are more frequently made. It is for those, then, of whom I see the least, that this address is, as I have said, chiefly intended; at the same time, as the remarks contained can be injurious to none, I am anxious that they should be seen by all.

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. When I witness on Sundays, the numerous and often crowded congregations assembled at the evening

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