minds of others, by our evil words and angry passions, as if we robbed them, or did them a grievous bodily injury; and, moreover, the same law of God which forbids us to rob, and to cheat, and to murder one another, forbids the sin of anger :-and a man who gives way to his angry passions, cannot be in a state of preparation for the happiness of heaven. "Let a man examine himself:" let him do it particularly at this time, the beginning of a new year. A Christian is called "a child of God:" the very title that is given unto him, when he first receives the name of a Christian. Let him ask himself "whether he is really such?" Whether he is a "member of Christ and a child of God?" "There is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus." But how are these described? It is they that "walk not after the flesh but after the spirit *:" they that do not follow their own sinful desires,-but who walk according to the guidance of God's Spirit. Are we then "at peace with God, through Jesus Christ?" Have our sins been forgiven through his merits? Let us never believe that it is so with us, unless our sins are forsaken, and unless we bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in our lives, and tempers, and practices. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness :- -a man who gives way to the violence of anger, must not for a moment believe that he is in a state of favour and acceptance with God, or ready to be admitted into his kingdom.

V.

PRAYER.

THE inclosed little prayer was written by a mother for the use of her own children in these awful times. If the Editor of the Cottager's Visitor thinks it likely to be acceptable to his readers, and worthy of a place in his useful miscellany, it is quite at his service.

*Rom. viii. 1.

+ Gal. v. 22.

Prayer.

PRAYER IN TIME OF PESTILENCE *.

25

O Lord God, my heavenly Father, merciful and gracious, hear, I beseech thee, my prayers whilst I fly to thee for succour in the name of thy beloved Son. In this time of danger, when a terrible pestilence threatens to pass through the land, of whom can we seek help, but of thee, O Lord? We know that thou art infinite in mercy and compassion, and that thou dost not willingly afflict the children of men. But, alas! in spite of thy tender mercies, we draw down thy punishments upon our own heads, by our sins. [Young as I am] alas! how many times, and in how many ways, have I broken thy righteous laws. But, O Lord, I repent; I am sincerely sorry; and I firmly resolve, by the help of thy Holy Spirit, to avoid, to the utmost of my ability, all sin for the future; to allow myself in no one thing that I know, or believe, to be wrong; and to fulfil, as diligently as I can, all my duties. Do thou, O merciful Father, accept my repentance; forgive my sins, for Jesus Christ's sake; strengthen my good resolutions by the grace of thy Holy Spirit, and let thy blessing rest upon me; so that if thou shalt see fit to take me now, I may be ready to obey thy summons with a willing mind, firm in faith and humble hope: or if thou shalt be pleased to preserve me, I may use the life, which thou hast spared, to serve thee faithfully, and make still better preparation for the great change which must some day

come.

But not for myself only do I entreat thy mercy: 0, gracious Lord God, thou who canst do all things, thou who dost direct the angel of death whom to strike, and whom to spare, look down in mercy on my country, my family, and my friends. Preserve to

This prayer was written for a young person; but by leav ing out the first passage in brackets, and altering the second according to circumstances, it may be fitted for general use. NO. 1.-VOL. XII.

C

me, I beseech thee, [my beloved father and mother, my dear brothers and sisters], and all those whom I love, and suffer not thy plagues to visit them; but if, in thy infinite wisdom, thou hast otherwise appointed it, then I beseech Thee, as a still greater mercy, so to prepare them for death, that it may be to them an entrance into eternal joy, and give to those who may survive, resignation to bear their loss with true Christian courage, and grace so to profit by it, that finally we may all meet hereafter round thy glorious throne, to join in anthems of praise to our merciful Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier.

Hear and accept this prayer, O gracious Father, for the sake of thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Sent without a name.

LOST CHILDREN.

WE were perfectly astonished at reading the following statement in a newspaper ;- "The average number of lost children restored to their parents through the Police Office alone, in Manchester, amounts to more than one thousand six hundred annually *."

What a picture does this present to us of the state of the people in a large manufacturing town! When trade is good, the workmen are employed during a considerable part of the day, and earning good wages. Their leisure time is too often spent at the alehouse, and much of their earnings thus thrown away.

Their

wives are perhaps engaged in business of some kind; some of them gossiping from house to house, or wasting their time and their money in idleness or extravagance: and all this time their children are entirely neglected! When times are bad, instead of being contented with little profit, the men often refuse to work at all, and choose rather to earn nothing than a little, and perhaps

* In one year.

herd together to abuse their masters, who are themselves making no profit at all,-or to find fault with the government, as if the government had caused their misery: and the care of their children is all along entirely forgotten! This is not however the case with all: far from it. The good and the industrious know that times will vary; that trade will sometimes be good, sometimes bad. When it is good, they save their money; and they have something to go to when their earnings are small. They consider that a little is better than nothing, and they are therefore always earning something: and thus it is that these last sort of people do well; and, whilst others are grumbling, they are prospering; and thus we see a reason plain enough, why a few people, in great towns, rise to prosperous situations in life, whilst the greater number are brought to great poverty, and are filled with discontent, and lay the blame of their misfortunes any where but on themselves. But the case is hard indeed for their poor children. We most sincerely wish that there were so many Infant Schools in every great town, that there might be one within reach of every poor family in the place. We could never help being surprised that any person could make objections to these schools. Many of them have been established: and many schools, moreover, for older children; and much good has been done by them. Many of the parochial clergy have laboured hard in this good work; and many are still earnestly engaged in it. We cannot, for a moment, join in the cry of those who ungenerously refuse to acknowledge the good which is thus offered them, and who are ready to make others bear the blame of all that is wrong. We do not mention these things for the sake of praising the clergy of our Church, for we are well aware that many of the dissenting clergy are engaged in the same good cause. But still, with all that is done, a great deal still remains to be done. There are vast numbers of children in great towns who never come within the reach of any

instruction whatever. The best disposed of the parents are those who send their children to the schools in their neighbourhood, whilst hundreds of the children of careless or bad parents wander about the streets, learning nothing but idleness and wickedness. Some of them are the poor children who have been picked up by the police at a distance from their homes, too little to find their own way to their parents' houses: those who are a little older learn to quarrel and fight and swear; and at a time of life so early that it is frightful to think of, are perfect in every kind of wickedness and profligacy: and thus in almost every great town, there is a regular training up of a crowd ready for every deed of the most desperate and deadly kind. I am well aware of the difficulty of bringing those under the influence of instruction and good example, whose manner of life is so completely opposed to all that is good but this difficulty ought not to discourage the attempt. Every town should be divided into districts, and every district should have some persons to watch over it who should put the parents into a way of sending their children to some school, if they cannot plant one in the district itself. No other plan will meet the difficulty; without this, nothing will be done among such people; and even with it, there will still be much that it is hard to reach, and vice enough will still prevail to discourage those who are not urged on by the strongest motives of zeal in the service of God, and consequent anxiety for the good of their fellow-creatures. And if they cannot do all that they could wish, they will be consoled with many an instance of the benefits which they have conferred, of the crime and misery which they have prevented, and of the cases of severe suffering which they have discovered and relieved.

V.