A HOME FOR THE WIDOWS AND DAUGHTERS OF CLERGYMEN, AND COMMISSIONED OFFICERS OF HER MAJESTY'S NAVY.

GOD discovers a special regard for widows and fatherless children, and frequently recommends to his people, to be very careful in affording relief to the widow and orphan. "A Father of the fatherless and a Judge of the widow, is God in his holy habitation."-Psalm lxviii. 5. "Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child, if thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”——Exodus xxii. 22-24. "Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."-Isaiah i. 17. "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." Jeremiah xlix. 11. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."-James i. 27. St. Paul would have us to honour widows, that are widows indeed, and desolate; that is, having neither husbands nor children to help and relieve them. See 1 Timothy, v. 3–5.

For the reception of the respectable aged and infirm poor from amongst the labouring classes, arrangements have been made in some cottages near Norfolk House, where eighteen persons may find a quiet and comfortable home.

Poverty and distress are not, however, confined to the widows and fatherless from amongst the labouring classes. There are many widows

or be cloathed is not compassion, but derision: And therefore on the Sabbath, our love must be the charity of the purse, and not only of the lip; we must act good works, and not only give good words: Faith acts not without love, Gal. v. 6., and love acts not without works. Heb. XIII. 16. When we are blessing God on a Sabbath, let the poor be blessing us, it will be sweet harmony, when our heart, and the poors loyns both praise God together. On the Sabbath we must appear before God, Psal. XLII. 2. And the Old Law commands us not to appear before God empty, Deut. xvi. 16. Charity on any day is Silver Bullion, but on the Sabbath is Golden Ore. Let us therefore on that holy day, feed the hungry, refresh the thirsty, receive strangers, cloath the naked, visit the sick, and comfort those in prison; this will redound to our account in that day, when acts of charity are the recorded characters of a sincere and sympathizing Saint, Mat. xxv. 35. And happily capacitate us for the donative of a Crown."

From "The Practical Sabbatarian;" or, "Sabbath Holiness crowned with Superlative Happiness." By John Wells, Minister of the Gospel. London, printed 1668.

CONCLUDING APPEAL.

"I wish now most respectfully to suggest to my Lords and Reverend Brethren-the Bishops and Parochial Clergy of the Church of England, the benefit which would arise both to the poor and to the church from the renewel of this godly and charitable custom. In every parish, let the clergyman, assisted by some upright, religious, and judicious members of his flock, make a collection for the poor on the first day of the week, that every one, when going up to the house of God, having laid by him in store as God hath prospered him, may have an opportunity of casting in his free-will offerings into the treasury of the Lord. Care must be taken that this fund should always be kept as a purely charitable fund, free from all legal interference, so that it shall be entirely left to the judgment and discretion of the Clergyman and his parochial advisers and helpers, to dispense it for the benefit of the poor as they shall deem best. The church would then be doing its duty to the poor, who would again regard the ministry of the church with that fond affection which they were wont to do in her purest and most prosperous days."

This Extract and the Scriptural Testimony are from "A Letter to the Bishops and Parochial Clergy, in behalf of the Deserving Poor," published by the Editor in the year 1838.

It is the intention of the Editor that the Third Number of the Advocate s'all appear (1.V.) on the 1st of November, All communications connected with this publi cation are requested to be addressed, "To the Editor of the Deacon's Advocate, Norfolk House, Shirley, Southampton."

TUCKER, PRINTER, HIGH-STREET, SOUTHAMPTON.

A HOME FOR THE WIDOWS AND DAUGHTERS OF CLERGYMEN, AND COMMISSIONED OFFICERS OF HER MAJESTY'S NAVY.

GOD discovers a special regard for widows and fatherless children, and frequently recommends to his people, to be very careful in affording relief to the widow and orphan. "A Father of the fatherless and a Judge of the widow, is God in his holy habitation."-Psalm lxviii. 5. "Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child, if thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless."-Exodus xxii. 22-24. "Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow."-Isaiah i. 17. "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me."-Jeremiah xlix. 11. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."-James i. 27. St. Paul would have us to honour widows, that are widows indeed, and desolate e; that is, having neither husbands nor children to help and relieve them. See 1 Timothy, v. 3–5.

For the reception of the respectable aged and infirm poor from amongst the labouring classes, arrangements have been made in some cottages near Norfolk House, where eighteen persons may find a quiet and comfortable home.

Poverty and distress are not, however, confined to the widows and fatherless from amongst the labouring classes. There are many widows

amongst the higher classes, who having been much reduced, and having neither husbands nor children to help and relieve them, have a claim to our sympathy and charitable consideration. For these, the widows and also the daughters of clergymen and naval officers, it is proposed to provide a home at Norfolk House, which shall be so regulated and conducted that comfort and respectability shall be equally considered with the economic arrangements of the establishment; so that Gentlewomen born and brought up and habituated to all the associations of the higher classes of society, may find most of the comforts to which they have been accustomed, and at the same time be enabled to maintain their own rank in society.

Norfolk House has proved a most comfortable home for the Rev. Herbert Smith and his family, when some of the trials and difficulties of life united to make it most acceptable. He, having experienced some of the troubles as well as many of the comforts of this our earthly pilgrimage, is desirous of making those arrangements for some of his fellow travellers, especially of the weaker sex, who have been less abundantly provided for, that in seasons of sorrow and distress, when bereaved of a husband or a father, they may feel they have a quiet and comfortable home amongst those of their own rank, where, undisturbed, they may serve the God of the fatherless and widow, and at the same time occupy a sphere of usefulness, according as their varied powers and the circumstances of life may direct.

As the establishment will be arranged for the accommodation of persons of very limited incomes, its domestic economy will be such, that whilst the essential comfort of all will be considered, every one will be expected to be moderate in their requirements, and contented with that which will be provided.

The expences will be rent of rooms, allowance for servants, firing, and a dinner at a common table, or if preferred, ladies might have dinner sent to them in their own rooms.

Norfolk House will accommodate about twenty ladies, who shall elect one of themselves to superintend the conducting of the establishment, and she may select two other of the ladies to assist her. Each of these, it is intended, shall receive a proper acknowledgment for their trouble.

All communications, for further information, are requested to be addressed to The Rev. Herbert Smith, Norfolk House, Shirley, Southampton.

Norfolk House, May 19, 1847.

TUCKER, PRINTER, SOUTHAMPTON.

FROM NOVEMBER, 1846, TO MAY, 1847.

A SHORT statement of the plan of conducting this school formed part of an advertisement in the last edition of the "Southampton Post Office Directory." It commenced last autumn with some of the boys from the Shirley National School; to these elder boys were added, elderly men, and young and able-bodied men, during the severe weather of winter or short periods, when they could not obtain any other work. The boys have been thus trained in the cultivation of the soil, by spade labour, &c., and in cutting wood and making it into bundles for lighting fires. The numbers thus employed have varied from six to twenty. More than £40 has been expended (beneficially it is hoped) in labour. A piece of waste land of Shirley Common has been dug, trenched, and brought into cultivation, which, should it please God to bless the land with increase, will add to the quantity of food in this season of scarcity, and set an example to others to "go and do likewise." Moreover, many families have expressed their gratitude for the aid thus providentially extended to them in seasons of distress, when the additional supply thus afforded to them, helped to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. The ultimate object of these exertions will be to obtain such an influence amongst the poor of the neighbourhood, as may tend to their moral and religious improvement.

The industrial system was advocated in sermons preached last year, in behalf of National Schools, at the Priory Church, Christchurch, Hants; at Bransgore Church, in the same parish; and also at St. Mary's, Southampton, from which the following extracts are subjoined. The plan is similar to that which is now recommended by the Council on Education.

"One of the greatest defects, perhaps, in our modern system of education, as respects the children of the labouring classes, is that they are not sufficiently trained in habits of useful employment. They attend our National Schools, where they are confined to a school room for six hours, five days in the week, sitting or standing with their book, slate, or pen in their hand, with little beyond mental exercise, which generally speaking is far from being the only instruction requisite for the largest number, to make them useful in future life; since most of them are destined to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, and by hard work to make themselves independent and respectable members of society. Amongst the Jews, their children were always trained to some handicraft employment.