of your faults, and thus drive you still farther from your God and Saviour.

False Motive.-Because you do not find that those who go to the Sacrament, are better than yourself; and that therefore it is better to keep from the Sacrament, than to be an hypocrite.

True Motive.-Because you do not wish to be better than those, who you presume to say are not better than yourself. The truth is, you are quite indisposed towards his holy Ordinance; the real language of your heart is this-I love not religion, I love the world, I shall therefore embrace that which I love, and shun that which I hate-welcome then sin; welcome everlasting death. Farewell, God of inercy-farewell, Saviour of sinners-farewell, Spirit of Holiness-farewell, Heaven-farewell, Everlasting Life.

False Motive.-Because you have had some difference with your Clergyman, about his dues; or because he has refused to grant you some unreasonable demand; or because he has rebuked you for some misconduct; or because he has dismissed you his service; or because he has prevented your having a parish allowance; or because he would not grant you some request; nor do himself, nor induce others to do, what neither he nor others had the power of doing.

True Motive.-You are glad of any excuse, which shall save you the shame of meeting with the man you seek to injure; and to escape from the immediate presence of that great Being, whose courts you enter not with pleasure, and in whose ordinances you take no delight.

You do not go to the Sacrament on Christmas-" Day; nor on Good Friday; nor on Easter Day; nor upon Whitsunday; nor on any other day :

False Motive.-Because you have not yet made up your mind upon the subject; and you wish to have time

On Forbearance.

201

to consider well the nature of the holy Ordinance; that you cannot decide in a hurry upon so solemn a subject; and that this delay must mark the respect you feel for the Sacrament, and the anxiety you feel, to be duly prepared for receiving it.

True Motive.-Because you have not a real sorrow for your sins, and a hearty desire to forsake them. Because you have not a real faith in your Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ; because you have no love for him, and no hope in his promises; nor love nor gratitude to him, for all he has done for you. If you had a real sorrow for your sins, you would be glad to approach that Saviour, through whom alone is forgiveness. If you had a hearty desire to forsake those sins, you would be glad to seek for God's Spirit to help you. If you had any love for him, or gratitude for all he has done for you, or any trust in his promises, you would attend to his earnest, his last, his dying request, THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME."

ON FORBEARANCE.

I HAVE often thought that the virtue of Christian forbearance, which our blessed Lord so strongly inculcated, both in his life, and doctrine, is but too little esteemed, and practised, by the generality of professing Christians. Weak and sinful, as we all are, we are yet ready to be offended with our brother man on the slightest provocation. Surely, were we to reflect but for a moment, on the goodness and mercy of our heavenly Father, to us his erring creatures, who are constantly disobeying his commands, and abusing the blessings which He pours on us, with so liberal a hand, a deep sense of our own un worthiness, and of the infinite and unmerited goodness of God, would teach us to bear with patience the infirmities of our neighbours, and to judge cha

ritably of all their actions. I dare say, many of you will tell me, that you have often resolved that you will not be put into a passion, but that people do provoke and irritate you so much, it is impossible to prevent it. Let me tell you, in the first place, that if you sincerely pray to God for the assistance of his Holy Spirit, and use your own humble but earnest endeavours, you will find that it is quite possible to prevent being in a passion-and I would advise you, whenever you feel that you are getting at all warm, to remain silent, and to persevere in a determined silence until you can obtain sufficient command over yourself to speak with coolness and meekness. Even if you have a just cause for being angry with any one, there is never any good got by putting yourself in a passion. How many people have said and done things in a passion, which they have had cause to repent of all their lives!

There is still another strong motive for the performance of this duty. How greatly would it conduce to our happiness in this world, if we were to cultivate a patient and forbearing temper! How many quarrels and how much misery have arisen from a few angry words! And indeed how often do we take offence, where no offence was meant! Could we but learn to love our neighbour as ourselves, we should avoid all these miseries which so greatly embitter our lives. When we meet with persons who are unfortunately irritable or discontented, we are too apt to treat them unkindly; but a little consideration would teach us that they are far more deserving of our pity than our anger, for no persons are more truly miserable than those who possess irritable dispositions. They lose their best friends; they are disliked by all around them; and thus enjoy but little or rather no happiness here, and they cannot suppose that whilst they indulge this disposition, they are in a state of preparation for the happiness of heaven. Treat such persons

with great kindness, try to convince them of their errors, and be assured you will not only do a kind action to your fellow-creature, but do one which is well pleasing to God. Let me earnestly beg you to remember our blessed Lord's words, in his Sermon on the Mount. I say unto you, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you."-Remember also what he said when his enemies had scourged him, and led him to the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Go ye and do likewise.

SUN-RISE.

1.

WHEN from my humble bed I rise,
And see the morning Sun;
Who, glorious in the eastern skies,
His journey has begun:

2.

I think of that Almighty power,
Which call'd this orb from night;
I think how many at this hour
Rejoice beneath its light.

3.

And then I pray, in ev'ry land
Where'er its light is shed,

That all who live might bless the hand,
Which gives them daily bread.

THE OLD LABOURER.

ARE you not tir'd, Oh! poor old man?

The drops are on your brow;

Your labour with the Sun began,
And you are labouring now.

W. W. C.

"I murmur not to dig the soil,

For I have heard it read,
That man by industry and toil
Must eat his daily bread.

"The lark awakes me with his song
That hails to-morrow gray,
And when I mourn for human wrong
I think of God and pray.".

Let idlers waste their time and health,
And try each vain delight,

They cannot buy, with all their wealth,
The Labourer's rest at night.

SUNDAY NIGHT.

1.

Let us unfold God's holy book,
And by the taper's light,
With hearts subdued and sober look,
So spend the Sabbath night.

2.

Where now the thoughts of anxious life,
Its guilty pleasures where?

Here dies its loud and mourning strife,
And all its sounds of care.

3.

Let other views our hearts engross,
To our Redeemer true,

Who seems, expiring on the cross,

To say, "I died for you."

From the Villager's Verse Book, by the Rev. W. L. BOWLES.

SCRIPTURE CHARACTERS.

(NO. IX.)-ENOCH.

(Continued from Vol. 6, p. 127.)

IN a former Number, a very short account was given of the history and character of this eminent servant of God. We resume the consideration of the cha