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that dear Saviour who died for you upon the cross, to take this great and dreadful sin of ambition out of your hearts, and to make you humble, and contented with whatever things it may please God to give you in this world. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."'" (Heb. xiii. 5.)

Then Mrs. Fairchild showed to her children how much God loves people who do not wish to be great, and how he blesses people who are lowly and humble; and that he will take such people to heaven as he hath promised-"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted," (Luke xiv. 11)-where they will live in the house of God, and in the sight of that dear Saviour who humbled himself for them, "and being found in fashion as a man, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' (Phil. ii. 8.) Then Mrs. Fairchild kissed her children; for they were beginning to cry, to think of their wicked ambition, and how they had been discontented with their dear parents and happy home. And Mrs. Fairchild knelt by the bed-side, and prayed that God, for his dear Son's sake, would take the wicked desire to be great out of her dear little girls' hearts. I shall put down Mrs. Fairchild's prayer in this place, with the hymn which they sang afterwards: they may both be of use to you when you feel any of the same kind of ambitious desires and thoughts; for, as Mrs. Fairchild said, "The wish to be great is natural to every man; neither can we conquer our ambition, excepting through Jesus Christ, who died that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.

The Prayer.

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O Lord God, Almighty Father! hear the prayer of a poor, wicked, proud child! I know that my

heart is full of sin, and that my body is corrupt and filthy, and that I must soon die and go down into the dust; and yet I am so foolish and so wicked as to wish to be great in this world. I wish to have a fine house to live in, and a great many servants to wait on me, and to be of great consequence, and to be made a great deal of; and yet I know, that if I had what I deserved, I should now at this moment be in hell fire. O thou that resisteth the proud, and givest grace to the humble! give me the grace of humility make me humble and lowly in heart, content and thankful for what I have. O set my sins in order before my eyes, that I may see I have nothing to be proud of, and know that I am not worthy to be set up and made great in the world. I know that thou, O Lord! lovest humble and lowly people; and that thy blessed Son, when in this world, appeared in the form of a servant, amongst the lowest and poorest of men, and was meek and lowly in his behaviour. O Lord! send thy Holy Spirit to cleanse my heart from all proud thoughts. Teach me to know my sins and hate myself, and to humble myself before men and in thy sight. O give me a clean and a new heart, that I may rather desire to be numbered amongst the saints, and martyrs, and children of God—those holy people of whom the world was not worthy-than amongst the great and mighty men of the earth.

O holy Father, I am not worthy of myself to make this prayer; but there is One in heaven, even the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who bled and died for me, who has promised to intercede for us before the Throne. For the sake, therefore, of thy beloved Son, O Lord Almighty! be favourable unto my prayer, and send thy Holy Spirit to take all pride from my heart. Amen.

"Our Father," &c.

HYMN XII.

WITH tears of anguish I lament,
Here at thy feet, my God,
My passion, pride, and discontent,
And vile ingratitude.

Sure there was ne'er a heart so base,
So false as mine has been;

So faithless to its promises,
So prone to every sin!

My reason tells me thy commands
Are holy, just, and true;

Tells me whate'er my God demands
Is his most righteous due.

Reason I hear, her counsels weigh,
And all her words approve;
But still I find it hard t' obey,
And harder yet to love.

How long, dear Saviour, shall I feel

These strugglings in my breast?

When wilt thou bow my stubborn will,

And give my conscience rest?

Break, Sov'reign Grace! O break the charm,

And set thy captive free!

Reveal, O mighty God, thine arm,

And haste to rescue me.

ON THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT ;

OR, A

SUNDAY AT MR. FAIRCHILD'S.

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THE Fourth Commandment is this: Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day: six days 'shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; 'but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy

'God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; 'thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man'servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the 'stranger that is within thy gate: For in six days 'the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: where'fore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hal'lowed it.'

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Though we are bidden to remember the Sabbathday, yet how few are there among people who call themselves Christians, who rightly observe this command of God, to keep the Sabbath holy! You will, perhaps, like to hear how Sunday was kept in Mr. Fairchild's family.

On Saturday, Betty always made a fruit-pie, and baked it, and roasted a fowl or a joint of meat, to be cold the next day; so that she might have nothing to do, when she came from church on the Sunday, but to boil a few potatoes. On the Saturday evening, also, she cleaned the house. And Emily and Lucy used to rub the chairs and tables, and do such other little things as they could to help Betty. They next looked out their own clothes and Henry's for the next day, and laid them on chairs near their beds. Their mamma then gave them a complete washing and combing; after which they packed up in their little baskets their Bibles and Prayer-books, and such little presents as they might have been able to prepare during the week for the children of the school. Lucy and Emily sometimes would have a little cap, or a tippet, to take to some good little girl; or a pair of mittens, or a pincushion, or a little needle-book: for whenever their mamma threw away any little bits of silk or cloth, or an old card, or anything else which could be turned to use, Emily and Lucy used to pick up, and contrive something or other of it and if it was but a shabby thing which they were able to make, yet it pleased the poor children. Henry, too,

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was also always contriving something for the little boys in the school; so that their baskets on a Sunday were never empty.

On the Sunday morning, the family generally rose a little earlier than usual, in order that everything which was necessary might be finished before breakfast-such things, I mean, as feeding the pigs, milking the cow, getting parsley for the hare, and giving corn to the fowls and pigeons. The children were always allowed bread and butter and tea for breakfast on a Sunday. And after breakfast all the family made haste to dress themselves; and having made up the fire and locked the doors, they used to set off to the village; for the school and the church were in the village. Many pleasant walks had Mr. Fairchild and his family, on a summer's morning, to the village church; Henry, Lucy, and Emily walked quietly first, (for they were not allowed to run on a Sunday,) Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild coming up next, and Betty and John behind. Mrs. Baker's neat little house was just at the entrance of the village, the very first house after John Trueman's; and, unless something very particular happened, Mrs. Baker was always ready to come out, and go with Mrs. Fairchild to school.

When they came to the schools, Mr. Fairchild and Henry went to the boys' school, and Mrs. Fairchild and her little girls, with Mrs. Baker, went into the girls' school: there they heard the children the Catechism, and heard them read, and gave them religious instruction. Lucy and Emily had each six little girls less than themselves, and Henry as many little boys to hear. They generally contrived to be two hours at school, before it was time to go to church. When they knew, by the church bell, that it was time to leave the schools, the children were all placed two and two, and taken to church. Henry walked by his little boys, and sat with them at church, to find their Psalters, and to see that they behaved well; and

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