III. "Tis easier work, if we begin To fear the Lord betimes; IV. 'Twill save us from a thousand snares, Grace will preserve our following years, 4. To Thee, Almighty God, to Thee, VI. Let the sweet work of pray'r and praise Thus I'm prepar'd for longer days, I. QUESTION. What does this Hymn teach you? A. The child who "receives instructions well." Q. What do you mean by receiving instructions well? A. Attending to them, and profiting by them. Q. What should you fear to run into? II. "A wise man Q. What must you do to please God? Q. What do Hymn from Dr. Watts. you mean when you say that "A flower when offer'd in the bud Is no vain sacrifice?" 211 A. I mean that God will graciously accept the prayers and praises even of a child. III. Q. How may the service of God become easier work to you? A. "If I begin To fear the Lord betimes." Q. What does Solomon call" the fear of the Lord ?" A. "The beginning of wisdom." Q. What do those become who grow old in sin? A. "Harden'd in their crimes." IV. Q. If you attend early to religion, what will it save you from? A. “A thousand snares." Q. And what will you need to preserve you, in your following years, and to strengthen you in all virtue? A. The grace of God. Q. Shew me from Scripture the virtues which a Christian believer is bound to practise. A. 2 Peter i. 5, 6, 7. "Add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness; and to brotherly-kindness, charity." From Dr. Watts's Hymns for Children, with Questions and Answers. ON SERVANTS CHOOSING PLACES WHERE THEY MAY HAVE THE POWER OF ATTENDING PUBLIC WORSHIP. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. IN SIR, your February Number, I observe, in the history: you gave us of Fanny Mason, that her good mistress recommends her never to engage in a place where she cannot be sure of having liberty to attend Church regularly. Perhaps the following conver sation, on somewhat the same subject, taken from "Dr. Warton's Death-bed Scenes and Pastoral Conversations," may be useful to some of your readers. I remain Your much obliged and constant reader, E. P. Dr. Warton relates, that, when visiting a young woman named Martha Bilson, who was very ill, the following conversation occurred between them. "I have promised," said Martha, "and deter mined to read my Bible, now that I have leisure to do it, and to go to Church when I am able. When I lived with Mrs. Bryan, I could not do either; and so my not doing them was no sin, Sir." "But tell me, Martha," I inquired, "were you forced to live with Mrs. B. ?" "I cannot say that, Sir," she answered reluctantly. "Why did you go to live with that lady?" I inquired again. "Because," she replied, "the place was more respectable, and I got greater wages." Önce more I inquired, "Had you more time to yourself in your former place?" "Yes," she answered, "a great deal." "So that then, perhaps, you read your Bible On Servants choosing Places. 213 at home," I said, " and went to Church now and then besides?" "Yes, Sir," she replied, "I went to Church very often ; for it was a rule that all the servants should go once on Sunday, and some twice, in their turns; and my then mistress would have no company on the Sabbath, Sir, nor any thing but the plainest dinner in the world, that her servants might have as little to do as possible, and so we found time for reading the Bible, Sir." "Well, Martha," I said, "these were great advantages; I think you must be speaking of the good Mrs. Bolton, and I believe I shall be right in supposing that she had family prayers." "Yes," she replied, "she read them herself, and very well too." "And what situation had you in Mrs. Bolton's household, Martha ?" I asked. "I was under-housemaid, Sir," she answered.. "And what situation had you with Mrs. Bryan?" I asked again; and she replied, "that she was upper housemaid." "So then," I said, " better wages." you got a higher place, and "Yes, Sir," she answered, "that was the only reason for changing." "But do not you recollect, Martha," I said, "whilst you lived with Mrs. Bolton, having read sometimes in your own Bible (which I dare say she gave you) and having heard sometimes at Church, such a sentence as this: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things shall be added unto you:' all the necessaries of life, and all the conveniences too, the higher places, and the better wages too, if God sees fit?" Why yes, Sir," replied Martha, a little conscience-struck, "it is very true; I remember that verse as well as any other." "But you did not understand it then, I suppose, or perhaps," I said, "you did not believe it? For you sought the higher place and the better wages, instead of the kingdom and the righteousness of God; and you gave up these for the others, doing thus the very contrary to that which Jesus Christ himself warned you to do." Poor Martha was now sore beset, and became quite dumb but her mother interposed, and said, "Yes, Sir, it was very unlucky; but my daughter did not know that Mrs. Bryan would keep her from Church, till she went to live with her." "Who first heard of the place being vacant?" I inquired. "It was myself, Sir," said the mother. "And did you ask any body," I enquired again, "about the habits of the family?" By her silence she confessed that she had not. "But you knew yourself, I suppose, did you not, that they kept very late hours?" "I cannot deny it," she answered, "all the parish knew it." "But when people keep late hours," I said, "is it likely that they, or their servants, will be able to go at all to the morning church?" The old woman being now dumb, in her turn, Martha resumed her part, and said, "No, Sir, and so I found it to my cost; for mid-day was always gone by, before I had put my mistress's room in order, after she quitted it to go down to breakfast. Then the lateness of our dinner, Sir, made it quite impossible for the servants to attend church in the afternoon; and so we went on to the end of the chapter, without being able to help ourselves at all." "Yes," I said, "so you went on without a God in the world; but whether you were able to help yourselves, or not, will appear presently. Was your mistress, do you think, the only person to blame for this heathenish, irreligious life?" "We laid it all upon her, Sir," she answered, "for servants, you know, Sir, have no right to contradict their superiors, and I have always made it a point to obey mine." |
