but trims up his soul, so as may be fit for a heavenly guest. Neither doth he leave his appetite at home, cloyed with the world, but brings a sharp appetite with him; and so feeds as if he meant to live for ever. All earthly delicacies are unsavoury to him in respect to that celestial manna. Shortly, he so eats and drinks as one that sees himself set at table with God and his angels, and rises and departs full of his Saviour; and in the strength of that meal walks vigorously and cheerfully on towards his glory. Finally, as he well knows that he lives, and moves, and hath his being in God, so he refers his life, motions, and being wholly to God; so acting all things as if God did them by him, so using all things as one that enjoys God in them; and, in the meantime, so walking on earth, that he doth in a sort carry his heaven with him.

The Cabinet.

PREPARING THE WAY OF CHRIST.-You say to us sometimes, "Preach to us of the love of God, of the Saviour's grace, and heaven's blessedness;" and O that we had nothing else to preach of! But some of you are guilty sinners, and do not know it; many of you are perishing in your sins, and do not feel it. If we would deliver our own souls or save yours, we must often preach to you of a broken law, of coming wrath, a descending Judge, and an opening hell. There must be trembling sinners in this place and broken hearts; then, and not till then, the way of Christ will be prepared here; then his Gospel will be valued here, and he himself welcomed and received.-Rev. C. Bradley.

SLANDER. This crime is a conjugation of evils, and is productive of infinite mischiefs: it undermines peace, and saps the foundation of friendship; it destroys families, and rends in pieces the very heart and vitals of charity; it makes an evil man party, and witness, and judge, and executioner of the innocent.-Bp. Taylor.

BOASTED FREEDOM.-If we attend to the writings of some, and the manners of more, in the present age, we shall be led to think that we are not to serve either God or man; that we have nothing to do either with Church or State; that the world is a forest, into which we are turned loose, like so many wild asses' colts, to snuff up the wind, and run till we drop; in a word, that we are born free and independent. Alas, poor creatures! Free and independent indeed! Why we should not live six hours to an end after our birth in such a state. From the first moment in which we see the light, we depend for preservation and support on the good offices of those around us; they depend on others; and all on God.-Bp. Horne.

REAL SORROW FOR SIN.-It is almost a folly to speak of the man of the world as mourning for sin at all; but if he does grieve, it is rather for property consumed, for character forfeited, for health destroyed, than for his resistance to the will of God. He stands in the midst of this garden of the Lord, feeds on his hand, walks in his presence, rests under the wings of his tenderness; and yet sins against him without a single pang of heart. The real servant of God, on the contrary, when he offends, mourns, and mourns deeply; and the chief cause of his grief is the sense of his ingratitude to the Lord who made him, and to the Saviour who has redeemed him by his blood: "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." The sense of his baseness to such a Benefactor, the fear of separation from the Lord of light and love and glory, are to him intolerable burdens. "Mine eye poureth out tears unto God;" "I water

my couch with tears;" "My tears have been my meat night and day!" "I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me;" "I go mourning all the day." What language is this, my brethren! And when did any other penitents approach the Lord with language full of such pathos and meaning, with tears drawn from a fountain of sorrow as deep and as bitter? O the anguish of a soul thus rent by the arrow of contrition! O the joy which the promises of God impart to a heart thus troubled! How natural to the man thus comforted is the language, "I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble" "The Lord is my strength and shield: my heart trusted in him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth:" "I will go unto the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy."— Rev. J. W. Cunningham.

TRUST IN GOD.-None ever trusted in God without increasing in spiritual strength. None ever trusted in him without discovering more and more of the plans of his providence, and of the depth of his unsearchable wisdom. None ever trusted in him without tasting largely of his bounty.-Bowdler.

Poetry.

THE JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON.
BY MRS. ABDY.

(For the Church of England Magazine.) MOTHER, fond mother, hanging in affright

O'er thy loved babe, look up, forget thy pain; God hath endowed thy judge with holy lightSee, the sweet child he gives to thee again. Not thy soft words of love, thy bended knee,

Thy meek persuasions, proved thy rightful claim; No, 'twas thy fearful wail of agony,

Lest ruthless hands the precious babe should maim ; While she, thy envious rival, coldly smiled,

As to the scheme a willing ear she lent. Oh! when did mother ever bear a child, And on its peril gaze with calm content? Often this sacred record I retrace,

When, trembling, I behold a reckless train Threaten our Church to alter and deface,

Her rites abolish, and her laws profane.

I hold that Church as pure and sanctified-
Her priests, her ritual, all are dear to me;
And if rude hands the branches should divide,
Much should I fear the safety of the tree.
But they who value not the Church, nor reck
If she in ruin lie, deposed, opprest,
Lift not a voice her lawless foes to check,

But deem each daring outrage for the best.
Our rulers, at this crisis, Lord, direct
To judge 'twixt genuine zeal and false pretence;
Teach them in passive numbers to detect
The leaden torpor of indifference.

But we who weep, who fearfully implore,

Deeming our Church all earthly goods aboveOh! bid them, like the eastern king, restore

The prize, uninjured, to our pleading love. Rectory, St. John's, Southwark.

THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. For the Church of England Magazine.

BRIGHT city of the living God!

Our hearts ascend to thee:

By angels' steps thy streets are trod;
And there our own would be.
Brilliant and fair thy social scene;
But dreary all the space between.
Bursting from the eternal hills,
Thy living waters flow,

In thousand and ten thousand rills
To our lone world below,

To heal our earth, and speed delight
From lowly vale to mountain-height.
Mansions of light, not made with hands,
In matchless grandeur rear

Their summits o'er the heavenly lands,

And cast their shadows here;
Telling vain man, those distant, dim
Abodes of bliss remain for him.

And there are thrones of glory set,
And saints ascend thereon ;-
The pilgrim and the stranger yet,

And crowds in ages gone;

The poor, the slave, the outcasts, share The kingdom of the Father there.

Bright city of the blest and free!

Angels and holy men!

The lonely long to visit thee,

Not to return again,

BISHOP HALL'S PRACTICE IN PREACHING." When I preached three times in a week," says he, "yet never durst I climb into the pulpit to preach any sermon, whereof I had not before, in my poor and plain fashion, penned every word in the same order wherein I hoped to deliver it; although in the expression I listed not to be a slave to syllables."

CHARITIES OF LONDON.-Within the London bills of mortality there are 502 places of public worship; 4,050 seminaries of education, including 237 parish charity schools; eight societies for the express purpose of promoting the learned, the useful, and polite arts; 122 asylums and almshouses for the helpless and indigent, including the Philanthropic Society; 30 hospitals and dispensaries for sick and lame, and for delivering poor pregnant women; 704 friendly or benefit societies, and institutions for charitable and humane purposes; which several institutions are supported at the almost incredible sum of 750,000l. per annum.

IRISH METRICAL VERSION OF THE PSALMS.-In the year 1833 Dr. M'Leod, now minister of the parish of St. Columba in Glasgow, visited the west and north of Ireland, to ascertain the precise character of the dialect of the ancient Celtic spoken by the Irish. He found, as he anticipated, that the Irish Gaelic was fundamentally the same with that spoken by his own countrymen, and he was forcibly struck with the similarity which existed between the Irish and Highlanders in their manners, habits, and peculiarities of character. He found the same ardent enthusiastic attachment for their own language, the same love for

poetry and music; and was led to regret that the Irish had never as yet been favoured with a metrical version of the Psalms of David in their own language, while the Scotch Gaelic have had a metrical version in their dialect for the last 166 years. Knowing the love which the Highlanders have for the metrical version of the Psalms, and the happy effects which resulted from the circulation of that portion of the Scriptures in Gaelic poetry, Dr. M'Leod resolved to do all that lay in his power to procure the same blessing for the poor Irish. Having devoted a great part of his life to the study of the Celtic language, and having studied the peculiar dialect spoken in Ireland, he commenced the task of preparing a metrical version of the Psalms in the Irish Gaelic; and with that intention he made several excursions to Ireland, procured Irish books and manuscripts, and having succeeded in obtaining the assistance of a good Irish scholar, intimately acquainted with the idiomatic peculiarities of that language, and who has resided with him at his manse in Scotland for some months past, he has been enabled to bring his labours to a conclusion. The specimens of the Irish Psalms circulated by Dr. M'Leod received the approbation of competent judges, and he has been enabled to complete the work.

USEFUL HINTS.-Never enter a sick room in a state of perspiration, as the moment you become cool, your pores absorb. Do not approach contagious diseases with an empty stomach; nor sit between the sick and the fire, because the heat attracts the thin vapour.

JOAN WASTE.-Among many who glorified God by suffering martyrdom in the reign of Queen Mary, Joan Waste, a poor woman, deserves never to be forgotten. Though blind from her birth, she learned, at an early age, to knit stockings and sleeves, and to assist her father in the business of rope-making; and always discovered the utmost aversion to idleness and sloth. After the death of her parents, she lived with her brother; and by daily attending the church, and hearing divine service read in the vulgar tongue, during the reign of King Edward, became deeply impressed with religious principles. This rendered her desirous of possessing the word of God; so that at length having, by her labour, earned and saved as much money as would purchase a New Testament, she procured one; and as she could not read it herself, got others to read it to her, especially an old man seventy years of age, the clerk of a parish in Derby, who read a chapter to her almost every day. She would also sometimes give a penny or two (as she could spare) to those who would not read to her without pay. By these means she became well acquainted with the New Testament, and could repeat many chapters without book, and, daily increasing in sacred knowledge, exhibited its influence in her life, till, when she was about twenty-two years of age, she was condemned for not believing the Popish doctrine of Christ's bodily presence in the sacrament, and burned at Derby, August 1, 1556.-Townley's Biblical Records.

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COMFORT IN TIME OF SORROW.
BY THE REV. EDWARD GIRDLESTONE, M.A.
Vicar of Deane, Lancashire.

THAT "man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward," is a truth with which there is scarcely any one so young as not to be experimentally acquainted. Neither can it be necessary, in addressing those who profess and call themselves Christians, to enter into any laboured proof of the utter inadequacy of all human systems to afford consolation in these seasons of trial. The world, it is well known, with all its wisdom, and all its pleasure, and all its philosophy, has quite failed in discovering an antidote to sorrow. "In the multitude of the sorrows," said David, "that I had in my heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul." Such was the conclusion of one who, in the various vicissitudes of his eventful life, had ample scope for making the experiment. And assuredly, if in time of trial we obtain no refreshment for our souls, it is because, neglecting God's comforts, we seek to some of our own invention.

In the multitude of our sorrows, for instance, can it be otherwise than very refreshing for us to know, that every one of them is ordained by an almighty and all-wise Being, who is watching with the utmost care and tenderness over the personal, individual welfare of each one of his creatures? Were we in any doubt of this, we should certainly, in some instances, have reason to apprehend that God had forgotten to be gracious. With the utmost tenderness, however, our Saviour has assured us, that not a sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge-that every

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hair of our heads is numbered. Not a single change in our circumstances, then, in this world below, can possibly take place without his knowledge, or except by his appointment. And since we cannot do otherwise than think of him as of a Being all-wise, allpowerful, and all-merciful-as one who knows much better than we do what is good for us -as one who would not for a moment willingly afflict us, we must of necessity feel assured that He will make all things, even those which seem most unfavourable, work together for good to them who love him.

But more than this, the Christian is assured in his Bible, that sorrow is actually a proof of God's affection. "Every branch in me," says our Saviour," that beareth not fruit, he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John, xv. 2). So that, while the being subjected to the process of being purged by affliction, is a sign that God is still caring for us, the surest indication of our being cast away already is our being left to ourselves without a warning. Thus also the apostle Paul writes, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth endure every son whom he receiveth. If chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons" (Heb. xii. 5-8). Who amongst us, however great the multitude of the sorrow which he has in his heart,

ye

is not at once refreshed by calling to mind that these very sorrows are a proof that God is dealing with us as children? If to be assured that God loves us with all the affection of a most affectionate parent, be comfortable, then there is comfort even in sorrow.

Another great comfort in the multitude of our sorrows, is the remembrance, that there is nothing which has such power as sorrow to make us feel our own helplessness, and dependence upon Him who is mighty to save. Our best Friend was himself a man of sorrows. And there is no element so congenial for binding us to Him with indissoluble bonds. There is no need surely for any one of us to be informed, how dangerous continued prosperity is, even to the strongest faith. We cannot but have discovered, how difficult it is, while all is smooth and happy, to think lowly of ourselves, and ascribe the glory to God. Who is there amongst us, who has not found himself, at some period of his life, beguiled into forgetfulness, by continued success? forsaking his first love, cooling in his zeal, failing in his dependence, mounting in his pride? It is sorrow which teaches us whereof we are made. It is sorrow, by which we are practically convinced that we are nothing, God every thing; that it is not, in short, "in man that walketh to direct his steps." It is in sorrow, that the kindness of an earthly friend is most perceived and valued. Much more so in the case of our Friend in heaven. Indeed, it is hardly possible for us to conceive, how we can be brought into a state of perfect union with the Crucified, unless we also have had a cross to bear. Who then so sorrowful, but that he is refreshed by reflecting, that this is the very element in which his Saviour lived and died, and that, by living in it himself for a season, he is made more like to that Saviour, and brought into closer union with him?

inclination for reflection are afforded to us? Shall we murmur at the lightning, which rouses us from a destructive torpor, and throws a glare so strong, that sins of past time can no longer be concealed? What though the cloud be oppressive, or the lightning dazzling; is there not somewhat of comfort and refreshment in being sure, that the storm, though grievous while it lasts, is nevertheless accomplishing the destruction of the deadliest blight by which the soul is assailed, the forgetfulness of sin?

It is written, also, that in heaven there are joys, such as eye hath not seen, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of them. This we believe, or at least profess to do so. But how frequently our lives contradict our profession! How many more instances we may witness, of men living as if there were no world beyond the grave, than of those who walk as if they were immortal and accountable beings! To sit loose, then, to the attractions of this present world, is what those who reflect at all cannot fail to desire. And what so likely to wean us from vanities, in which we are by nature too prone to be absorbed, as the being actually shewn that they are vanities? When, for instance, we see our relatives and friends, one by one, taken from us to a more enduring scene, is it possible that we can any longer stay ourselves upon the survivors? When we behold our earthly riches making unto themselves wings and flying away, can we be otherwise than more zealous in laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven? When we find all our long-cherished and carefully devised plans fail of success, must we not be more inclined to commit our ways to the Lord? Once convince a man that the vessel in which he has embarked all his substance is not seaworthy, he will soon hasten into harbour. In like manner, let us only be really convinced that the world is vanity, we shall make with all speed to our rest in heaven. And what is there so likely as sorrow to convince us that the world is vanity? Nay more than this. Sorrow, cheerfully endured for Christ's sake, will verily, for the merits of Christ, not be unrequited. As St. Paul says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. iv. 17, 18).