pains, therefore, to keep the feet dry, and as warm as you can; don't sit in wet stockings and shoes, if you can help it; wear warm stockings, and good strong shoes, and take care that the shoes be big enough, as the place which is pinched and made tender is very likely to be attacked by a chilblain as well as by a corn. If the feet are cold long together, a chilblain is very likely to follow. It is not, however, a very easy thing for a cottager to get himself, and his wife, and his children well clothed, and furnished with good warm stockings and strong shoes; but some cottagers contrive it. It is quite delightful to see the creditable and comfortable state in which some labourers' families appear to be: but in this case the wife is always a good manager; there is no idling, and gossiping, and spending money in flounces and ribbons; and the husband in such a family does not spend his money at the alehouse; he is, however, ten times happier than if he did; it is a pleasure to him to be at home, and to see every thing so comfortable about him. Whichever way he looks he sees the good of his sobriety and industry; and his wife has a pleasure in turning every thing to the best account. How many good pairs of shoes and stockings might be bought with the money that some men spend at the alehouse! and their poor children are seen shivering and crying in the cold, with ragged stockings and poor wretched fragments of shoes, which let the naked feet come quite through them;-it is a sorry sight. And then such parents wonder that their children should have chilblains and colds, and agues and fevers. To keep in health it is necessary to guard against the severity of the weather by proper clothing; and great pains ought to be taken for that purpose. I know it is often hard; but it is much harder to see the poor children shivering with cold, and suffering with sickness or pain for want of what is needful. I know that a great deal more might be done towards the comfort of many families than is Selections from different Authors. 91 done for we see some instances where all seems to be as we could wish; and what one family can do, ano> ther may. But the husband and the wife must both exert themselves; and the children must themselves be taught to be careful and considerate. This sort of bringing up for a child is as good as a provision for him; and it is, indeed, for want of such teaching in early youth that there are so many more people in distress than there need be: they feel their distress, but they don't know how to set about the cure of it. But my readers will wonder how all this came out of the chilblains that we began with. Never mind : let fathers and mothers, by good management and care, try to provide themselves and their children with good warm stockings and strong shoes, and they will soon see the good of it. And there are many charitable people among the rich who are glad to help an honest and industrious family; and perhaps there are few things more useful as gifts to the poor than shoes and stockings. In many places, by means of cha+ ritable subscriptions and collections, these things have been sold to the poor at reduced prices-perhaps half price; and this has been of very great use, and enabled those to extend their benefits to many families who could otherwise have assisted only a few. He that will not be persuaded to leap down from a high chamber at once, will come willingly down by the stairs; and, yet he has come down quite as low, though the descent was less perceived by him. His leap might have brought him down sooner, but it could not have brought him down lower. As I would be fearful then to commit great sins, so let me be careful to avoid small sins. He who thinks a small fault a trifle, will commit a great one. I see many drops make a shower: and what difference is it whether I be wet either in the rain, or in the river, if both be to the skin? There is small benefit in the choice, whether we go down to hell by degrees or at Warwick's Spare Minutes. There can be no more forcible motive to patience than the acknowledgment of a Divine hand that strikes us. It is fearful to be in the hand of an adversary; but who would not be confident of a Father? once. Bishop Hall. If we be sure we have begun our enterprises from God, we may securely cast all events on His Providence, which knows how to dispose, and how to end them. The same. Nothing more raises up the heart to present trust than the recollection of favours past. The same. Some people are disposed to think it enough if they labour, and they therefore neglect prayer. Others may perhaps be disposed to think, that, if they pray, they need not labour. We ought to remember that without God's help our labour is vain, therefore we must pray;-at the same time, we cannot expect God's help unless we are willing to work,-therefore we must labour. God expects us to use the means,the blessing on those means must come from Him. Anon. Peacefulness is a more useful acquisition than learning. The angry and turbulent man is always ready to see wrong in others, turning even good into evil. The man of a peaceful mind turneth all things into good. He that is established in peace is not apt to be suspicious of others; but he that is of a discontented or proud spirit is tormented with jealousy of every kind he has no rest himself, and he will not allow rest to others; he speaketh when he ought not to speak, and is silent when he ought to speak; he is watchful in observing the duty of others, and totally negligent with respect to his own. Let thy zeal be exer Selections from different Authors. 93 cised in thy own reformation, before it attempts the reformation of thy neighbour. Thomas à Kempis. We learn from the Bible that happiness is inseparable from obedience, that misery and wretchedness do not depend upon our station, but on the state of our minds and consciences. Adam in Paradise was happy whilst innocent. Anon. Let the infidel and ungodly man be unhappy, but let not that man who has the Bible for his Comforter; Christ for his Saviour; God for his Father; and Heaven for his Home. Bradley. We soon forget objects removed from our sight, and our Lord who knows and pities this weakness of our nature, has given us an abiding memorial of himself. He has appointed an ordinance for that very purpose to remind us of his love. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not designed to blot out our iniquities as many suppose, but to remind us of a dying Saviour. And yet from this ordinance many of us. turn away. What does that conduct prove? It proves that the dying request of a crucified Redeemer is forgotten and despised. We do not so treat a departed friend or parent. His last requests are cherished in the memory, and we almost dread to violate them. How is it then, that our Lord Jesus Christ is despised, when he says, "This do in remembrance of The same. me. Perhaps one of the greatest dangers arising from the world is to be found in an excessive attention and attachment to things lawful in themselves. The cares and business of this life may and ought to be attended to, in a certain degree. But when we make them our I first object-when we suffer them to take off our thoughts from the care of the soul-when we are so careful about worldly things as to neglect the one thing needful, (Luke x. 42.)-when we suffer them to interfere with the duties which we owe to God, and treat them as if they were of more consequence than religion-they become most dangerous, and must be considered as inconsistent with that renunciation of the world which we made at Baptism. Berens' Lectures on the Church Catechism. Never be so foolish as to suppose that attention to any other duty can make up for neglecting your duty towards God. He will not give his honour to another. He has a right to, and he demands the best of our services, the best of our affections. We should do well if we were to fix deeply on our memories the summary of our duty to God, contained in the Church Catechism, and were often to examine ourselves by it. Perhaps we could hardly adopt a better or a more useful method of judging of our spiritual condition. By every means in our power let us endeavour to set the Lord always before us, and to preserve Him and His will in all our thoughts. The Same. EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC NEWSPAPERS. THE LATE DUKE OF YORK.-His Royal Highness the Duke of York departed this life on the 5th of January, after a long and painful illness, which he bore with exemplary patience and resignation. His Royal Highness was next brother to his Majesty the King, and consequently heir presumptive to the throne. He was Commander-in-Chief of the army, which office he executed in a manner which has contributed to raise the British army to that excellent state in which it is acknowledged by all to be. His Royal Highness was born in the year 1763. On Thursday and Friday, the 18th and 19th of January, the body lay in state in St. James's Palace, and all persons dressed in decent mourning were allowed to see the mournful solemnity. The rooms in the palace, and passages, and staircases, through which the company passed were hung with black, and lighted here and there with a wax light, thus adding to the solemn appearance. The room in which the body lay was hung with |