quainted with Him. Clouds and darkness surround, and hide the mercy-seat from the eyes of the men of the world; they cannot, therefore, worship God as they ought. They cannot love Him.

The true Christian approaches Jehovah fearfully, yet affectionately; he bows before Him with the reverence of a subject, yet prays to Him with the tenderness and confidence of a child. He has considered Him in His awful character as supreme governor and judge of the world, as the great, and holy, and pure hater of sin in every shape and degree; but he has also considered Him, as the great and inexhaustible fountain of love. viewed Him in the beauteous and comforting light of a He has reconciled Father. He looks at His august majesty and holiness, through His beloved Son, and is thus enabled to gaze, through His infinite love, at His infinite purity, with a faithful belief, that both his power and His love are united in carrying into full effect the final salvation and glorification of his soul. He feels, that though utterly and entirely unworthy of the least of His mercies, he has in and through Jesus Christ, an interest in all and every one of the attributes of Jehovah. He is his God, in a sense that he, and others like him, alone can understand. For him he feels that every person in the sacred Trinity has been actively engaged. The Father in his creation, the Son in his redemption, the Holy Ghost in his sanctification; while, by a mysterious union, they have been, and are, all united in their affection, interest, and continual provision, both for his soul and body. Thus the true Christian is the only true and acceptable worshipper. Children of this world, be you high or low, rich or poor, it behoveth you to acquaint yourselves with God; for your present ignorance of His nature is a state of danger. If this "lack of knowledge" be in you at death, you will be "destroyed:" you will be for ever in the power of that enemy, who delights in nothing so much as in hiding the real character of Jehovah from the eyes of mankind. While he makes you afraid of God, and yet says "you shall not surely die," he gives you no information as to a state beyond the grave! No; he blinds your eyes to all you ought to see, and suffers

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you only to dwell upon those attributes of God that make Him terrible; and yet, with a stranger power, he makes you insensible to the fear of offending Him. He shows you the terrors of God, and leads you into His wrath, with a malicious joy at his own lie, by which he has deceived you into a belief that "the wages of sin is" not death."

Awake, O awake from your ignorance of God, and mark the happiness of true Christians. Make acquaintance with some of those that keep up a constant communion with God, that approach Him daily, and read of Him daily. Make acquaintance, I repeat, with some of those "whose God is the Lord Jehovah," and they will tell you of the blessedness and peace of a right knowledge of God, and of a faithful obedience to His commands. They will tell you that they love Him because "He first loved" them, and "gave Himself" for them in their lost estate, to be a perfect and complete Saviour, and that He did this great act of love in their nature, in the nature of man..." that He became Emanuel-God with us!!"

Thus, if any statement can lead you to search further into the true character of God, it is this which all true Christians will make to you. It is by a contemplation of His love in Christ, that any man is led to know God savingly, to shake off the bondage of Satan, and to be really happy in time and in eternity. Seek, therefore, before it be too late, to know and love, and serve the true God, lest, blinded for ever to His love, you be made to feel His anger eternally.

A LAYMAN.

CHILDREN.

In this country, we are apt to let children romp away their existence till they get to be thirteen or fourteen This is not well for the purses and payears of age. tience of parents; and it has a still worse effect on the moral sand habits of the children. "Begin early," is the great maxim for every thing in education. A child six years old can be made useful, and should be taught to consider every day lost, in which some little thing has

not been done to assist its parents and benefit itself. Children can very early be taught to take all the care of their own clothes. They can knit garters, suspenders, and stockings; they can make patchwork and braid straw, they can make mats for the table, and mats for the floor, and they can weed the garden. In early childhood you lay the foundation of poverty or riches in the habits you give your children. Teach them to save every thing, not for their own use, for that would make them selfishbut for some use. Teach them to share every thing with their brothers and sisters, or playmates, but never allow them to destroy any thing.-Mrs. Child.

EDUCATION.

THE first thing, indeed the most important thing in education, is that the mothers of children should govern their own feelings, and keep their hearts and consciences pure. Every mother should, as far as her other duties will permit, take the care of her own children. Poor people cannot always give sufficient attendance to an infant; other cares claim their attention, and sisters or neighbours must sometimes be entrusted. But where this is necessarily the case, the infant should, as much as possible, feel its mother's guardianship. A smile, a fond look bestowed upon him, and some of the endearing terms to which he has been accustomed, will teach him that his best friend is near, and will give him a feeling of safety and protection, alike conducive to his happiness and his temper.The Mother's Book.

EFFECTS OF FREQUENTING BEER-SHOPS AND GAINING INTEMPERATE HABITS.

WHEN a man once loses his self-esteem, and is degraded. from his natural dependence upon himself, under God, and the labour of his hands, for the support of himself and family, being no longer of use to himself or others, he becomes careless of his actions; and being, as it were, rejected by society, becomes the enemy of those above him, and the ready associate of evil men in evil works.Kirby's Bridgewater Treatise.

LABOURER'S FRIEND SOCIETY.

THE fifth annual meeting of the "Labourer's Friend Society," took place on the 13th of last December, the Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells was in the chair. This benevolent prelate has, for many years, been exerting his influence for the good of the labouring classes, and has long been, not only the friend of this society, but has been actively engaged in many other ways, for the bettering the condition of the poor. His lordship's experience has proved, that there is no better method of doing this, than by giving employment to those who can work; and the plan of furnishing labourers with a sufficient piece of garden ground to employ them in their leisure hours, hast not only proved a most profitable help to them, in their worldly circumstances, but has kept them out of those scenes of mischief, where drunkenness and every sort of crime are learned, among those who have no agreeable occupation after their day's work is done. By finding such employment for labourers, a great deal of good has been done in a religious and moral view, as well as in the way of worldly advantage.

In the allotment system, the labourer pays just as much as any other person would give for the land; no more, no less. If he gave more for his little portion, those who retailed the land out to him might be suspected of encouraging the system for their own good: if he gave less, this would be a species of charity, and the labourer would be lowered thereby into a sort of pauper, instead of gaining a feeling of honest independence, which it is one of the great objects of the society to encourage.

At the meeting there was a distribution of prizes, which the Bishop handed to those who had produced the finest and the best vegetables. There were prizes for carrots, savoys, borecole, cabbage, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, leeks, and onions. This was the 5th annual meeting of the society. The Hon. Secretary said, "Thousands of labourers and the members of labourers' families are, at this moment, contentedly and honestly occupying field gardens; and, so far as we can collect, they are evidencing their skill by good cultivation, their prudence

by an ample supply of manure, and their integrity, by a punctual payment of rent."

Capt. Scobell, R.N., bore testimony to the great benefits which had arisen from the exertions of this society, the great advantage of which was, that it did not degrade a labourer, for its charity was not exerted in giving, but in letting the land out at a reasonable rate. An acre of land, let out in field gardens at a fair charge of forty shillings, which is the common rent of the land there, and which is three pence a pole, this acre will produce a profit of 20%.; and if a man lets out ten acres in this manner, he puts no less a sum than 2007. into the pockets of the poor! What charity can be equal to this? A quarter of an acre is the most that a labourer should undertake; if he takes more, it is likely to interfere with his common work, or he may be obliged to have a good deal of help, and then it is not likely to answer. Capt. S. said that he had lent money to the labourers to buy a pig, and never, but once, had he lost the money! He said that a man died who owed him two pounds; and, soon afterwards, his son came and paid the money. Several other gentlemen spoke of the advantages which this society had produced; among the rest, Sir W. S. R. Cockburn, Bart., T. M'Adam, &c. &c.

SPADE HUSBANDRY.

V.

Ar the late meeting of the British Association, at Liverpool, Dr. Yellowly read a paper on spade husbandry in Norfolk. A farm of 317 acres, belonging to Mr. Mitchell, was cultivated with eight horses and twenty men, under a system of spade husbandry, which had required twelve horses and twenty men with the plough; and the general results were, better wages to the workmen, and an increase of one-third in the produce of the farm. Mr. Mitchell attached a garden of a quarter of an acre to each of the men, from which they derived a profit of 31. 3s. a-year. Sir Edward Kerrison, in Suffolk, had made two hundred such allotments, which were sought after with avidity. The rents were paid with great regularity, and the improvement in the condition and character of the cottagers was very manifest.