dignity of his office, and by an honest and open confession of his principles as a Christian believer; soon shall we see many of all ranks "coming to the help of the Lord against the mighty." And the happy consequences will be a great and extensive moral reformation.

Thus a heavenly radiance will be poured upon the sacred pages by the Lord, the Spirit; while Jesus will, in his own good time, "open their understandings savingly to understand the scriptures" (Luke xxiv. 43), and, as a matter of necessary consequence, incline them to follow its hallowed instructions.

I admit, indeed, that a creditable portion of secular learning may be taught without the use of the word of God, but that will not countervail the loss; for experience has taught that the communication of secular-of the senseless and sinful prostration of learning without corresponding check, found the whole man to human authority; its only in the inculcation of scriptural truth, devotees suffering themselves to be beguiled is not only dangerous to the state, but that it by the false doctrines of designing men, withmay prove a curse rather than a blessing out giving themselves the trouble, or perto the individuals receiving it; and, besides, haps without possessing the power, of invessuch a system of instruction were utterly tigation, for the discovery and acknowledgopposed to the divine command, which makes ment of the truth. Uneducated, they are the diligent teaching of the word of God the without the key of knowledge: every avenue primary and chief business of early education. to information is closed to them, except that And what, without this instruction, would derived from the priesthood. Under these be the moral and religious condition of our circumstances, it is no marvel that the weak children (and we must remember that they should fall an easy prey to the specious abethave souls precious and immortal, like our tors and upholders of the apostate church; own)? they would not only be in utter igno- or to characters still more dangerous-the rance of all moral obligation to do their duty avowed advocates of infidelity itself. in that state of life to which it shall please God to call them, but also of the true character of God, and of the only way of pardon and reconciliation; all which are revealed in the inspired word.

Then, how important it is to have the mind stored with divine truth, and to be able to read the bible for ourselves! The wisest of men declared-" For the soul to be without knowledge, is not good."

But some may object and say, even with" Knowledge," spiritual or secular, is power: this word, those who hear and those who the latter, under the bias and influence of the read must still remain in spiritual darkness, former, or, I would rather say, the combinain ignorance of all moral obligation and their tion of the two, cannot but conduce to the final accountability to God, without divine happiness of man, both in the present world teaching: to all which I unfeignedly assent and in that which is to come. as just and true. Nevertheless, we may and ought to hope and believe that, "honouring his word above all his name, God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness," will, in answer to the prayer of faith, and in the diligent perusal and serious inculcation of his word, "shine into the heart, giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Notwithstanding all that can be urged in favour of education, there are those, even in our day, who altogether object to teaching the children of the poor.

of the rich. This, however, I feel almost daily-that ignorance of the word of God in the letter, and the want of ability to read that word, are the most insuperable obstacles to ministerial usefulness.

I am not aware that education, in itself, is an evil; or, that if it be so, it is more dangerous in the hands of the poor than

It is the main device of the prince of darkness, and of his grand master-piece popery, to keep men in ignorance; and in ignorance of the word of God, under the fallacious pretence that "ignorance is the mother of devotion." But of what devotion?

But some, while they approve the imparting of the power to read, object to the extent of education given in our national schools: some affirming that it makes the poor discontented with their station in life; others, that it makes them careless of their duties, and above duly performing them; others, that it places within their reach all the concerns, private and professional, of their employers; while others, and most severe of all, allege that the education imparted to the poor gives them a literary superiority over many of the sons and daughters of the rich and great (than which, properly considered, a higher commendation of education could hardly be expressed). I shall only observe generally, and with reference to all these objections, that there certainly can be little danger in the extent of secular knowledge gained at our national or any other schools, provided there be, previously or simultaneously, a corresponding moral and religious restraint imposed; and that as laid down and enforced in the sacred scriptures.

Like every other good gift, education may possibly be perverted to evil; nor will all our care to prevent it be invariably successful. But does the apprehension of the possibility of the abuse of the blessing ever exclude the middling and higher classes of society from the benefits of education? Is it not unjust and ungenerous, then, to withhold from the poor so great a privilege on such a principle? It is virtually denying them access to the book of God; of which the great Chillingworth said, "The bible, and the bible alone, is the religion of protestants." And not only would it deprive the poor man of this exalted privilege, but it would effectually close to him those stores of wisdom and knowledge which would enable him to minister to the edification of his family, to lighten and relieve the gloom and tedium of the winter evening, and to beguile many a painful and solitary hour-the common lot of rich and poor in the world that now is. But without extending my remarks, suffice it to say that the argument in question would apply with equal force to all classes; and, if universally acted upon, it would shut up the whole world in intellectual, moral, and spiritual darkness. But, though myself a strenuous advocate for education, and especially the religious education of the poor, there are, after all, two or three things necessary to give full effect to our moral and religious training; and which require more than an ordinary share of sagacity to supply.

of temptation, but effectually lead them to the Saviour.

Then there is another defect in our moral and religious training, which perhaps I feel more particularly as a churchman and as a minister of the church. We want a connecting link between ourselves as Christian churchmen and Christian ministers, and the younger members of our flock; without which the instruction imparted in our educational establishments will be altogether insufficient to attach them to our church. At baptism we receive children into the congregation of Christ's flock; they are the acknowledged members of our communion; they themselves acknowledge the relationship, and, consistently as such, seek admission into one of our schools conducted upon strictly church of England principles, and continue under instruction the appointed period, and are then dismissed: here, perchance, is a child of much promise; there, however, is a child of opposite character. How desirable it is that the former should be retained within our own communion, and that the latter should not be cast off as incorrigible and reprobate, but be brought by kind entreaty and Christian admonition to contrition and amendment of life! But how, humanly speaking, can this be effected? The most likely method of retaining our hold would be the establishment of a suitable library, and the institution of some means by which they may be brought under our personal notice, for purposes of scriptural instruction and spiritual edification, from the moment they are dismissed the schools.

The children receiving instruction in our schools proceed with their studies for a certain specified period, at the expiration of But there remains one more defect, which, with or without the prospect of em- which has long weighed upon my own ployment, they are dismissed the school and mind as a Christian protestant. As besent forth into the world, where sin and temp- lievers in the Lord Jesus, we all admit tation ever abound. If they are well-dis- the importance of the apostolic precept, "Be posed, there is no one to take them by the ready always to give an answer to every hand and encourage them to persevere in man that asketh you a reason of the hope that which is good; and, if ill-disposed and that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 impatient of parental restraint and authority Peter iii. 15). And, if it be true that (a melancholy feature of the present day)," popery at this moment is as audacious in there is seldom found any one of sufficient pretension, as subtle in contrivance, as insoweight and prudence to counsel and remon- lent in usurpation, as exquisitely organized, strate with them: but both the good and the as skilful in adapting and lending herself to bad (except here and there one) are entirely meet all emergencies and occasions, as resolost sight of from the moment they leave lutely determined on the aggrandisement and their school. This, be it remembered, occurs supremacy of her sway, as she was in the at a time and under circumstances when they pontificate of Gregory the great; and if it most require the counsel and friendship of the be true that she is all things to all mengood and wise. I know of no remedy-Ishaking hands with republicanism, caressing cannot of myself devise any certain remedy; and therefore for the present must seek relief under the anxiety which I really feel upon the subject, in the hope that the divine lessons taught them from the word of God while under the master's care, may in after life not only operate as a preservative from the force

infidelity, fawning on aristocracy, but, under all masks, and in every variety of policy, always promoting and tending towards one object-the subjugation of the human race to her iron yoke:" I say, if this be the true character of popery in the present day, let the "no-popery-party" of this and every other

The grave received the body dead,
Where all that live must lay their head.
Sank then the soul to dust and gloom,
Worms and corruption in the tomb?
No; in "the rainbow round the throne,"
Caught up to paradise, it shone,
And still it shines, until the day
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And those that sleep by Jesus here
With him in glory shall appear.
Then will that soul and body meet,
And, when his jewels are complete,
'Midst countless millions, form a gem
In the Redeemer's diadem;
Wherewith, as thorns his brows once bound,
He for his sufferings shall be crown'd,
Raised from the ignominious tree
To the right hand of Majesty,

Head over all created things,
The Lord of lords, the King of kings.
MONTGOMERY.

on a sort of hurdle into the fields, but more frequently in sacks on their heads. In the Valley d'Aspe it is taken to the fields in large woollen sacks placed upon the backs of donkeys. I find it stated in my journal, that in the beginning of August the maize in the Valley of Campan was waving in all its glory, having attained the height of a man's shoulder, and being still green. At the same time the reapers had begun to cut the wheat and oats; and I expected to have seen the yellow corn-fields adorned, as they are in England, with those golden sheaves which have so many pleasant associations. To my disappointment, however, I found that the harvest in the Pyrenees was a very different affair from what it is with us; for no sooner was the wheat cut down, than it was tied up in bundles, carried away upon the heads of the owners, and stowed into those innumerable little barns which adorn the splendid landscape; all this dispatch being rendered necessary by the dishonesty of the people, which is such, that no one leaves his corn in the field, after it is cut, for a single night. I am sorry to make this confession in relation to the people whose simple lives I had previously thought so enviable; but I am also bound in common justice to state, that even their potatoes, when ready to be taken up, were always watched in the Valley of Campan; and every night, at a certain hour, we saw a lantern placed in the potatoe-field, and heard the firing of a gun, which announced that the watch had commenced for the night. -Mrs. Ellis's Summer and Winter in the Pyrenees.

Miscellaneous.

PEASANTS OF THE PYRENEES.-The peasants of the Pyrenees have all which their necessities demand within themselves. They grow their own flax, and one of their most busy occupations is to dress it. They do not steep it in water before beating it as in England, but spread it on some sloping field or hill-side, where it undergoes no other process than what is effected by exposure to the weather. Not only is the flax prepared and woven for their own use, but the wool of the mountain sheep, undyed, is made into jackets, trousers, and petticoats, as well as into various other articles of clothing. Thus supplied with the most common and necessary kinds of dress, their wants are equally simple as regards their furniture and food. A few brass or copper vessels for their milk are always used by those who make cheeses, as many of the peasants do, not only of the milk of cows, but of that of sheep and goats. For a churn they have a very simple substitute, being no other than a dried sheep's skin. For keeping wine the skins of kids are frequently used, with the hair inside; and the same article is also converted into a large pocket or knapsack, which the little girls carry at their backs. The skin, when used in this manner, is kept entire, either the head or the tail of the animal being folded over the opening of the knapsack. All implements of husbandry used amongst the Bearnais are equally simple in their character. The pole of their little carts is often nothing more than the stem of a tree, cut off where it has divided into two branches, so that the ends of the two forks connect with the axletree; and the forks with which their hay is made, are branches or stems of the same description, on a smaller scale. Their ploughing, such as it is, is effected by a sort of double process, requiring four oxen-two to go before with the coulter, and two others with another implement to turn over the soil. Both these are generally conducted by women. For millet and buckwheat, which succeed immediately to the earliest crops, the soil is merely turned over with a shovel after the earth and stubble are burnt in heaps, and strewn upon the field. The process of preparing the ground for wheat and oats is simple in the extreme. Both the seed and the manure are strewn upon the land, ploughed in together, then harrowed, and all is finished. labour of carrying and spreading manure is performed almost exclusively by women, who sometimes carry it

The

DOMESTIC LIFE IN INDIA.-On entering a family house in India, you can scarcely make your way through toys of every description; every room seems equally a nursery; dining and drawing rooms, bed and dressing-rooms, alike appear the property of young people. Each child has one, and sometimes two attendants, who follow it wherever it goes. The women are called ayahs; and it is generally a palanquin-boy who superintends the whole nursery establishment. On entering, you will find in the verandah of the house, rocking-horses, carts, low tables, and small chairs, in most agreeable confusion, with drums, swords, and sticks, forming a collection of extraordinary variety. Then the young ladies and gentlemen themselves contribute no small share to the astonishment of the stranger. Their dress consists of one single garment of cotton or muslin, made with scarcely any sleeve, and reaching a little below the knee, and they go without shoes and stockings during the heat of the day. Perhaps at the time you pay your visit the gay romping scene may be varied, by one or two of the youngsters being asleep; but that does not mean that you are rid of them. The youngest, a baby from a month to a year old, is being rocked to sleep on the feet of the ayah. This woman sits down on the ground, balances the infant's head upon her two feet, with the child's feet in her lap, and thus rocks her feet backwards and forwards like the motion of a cradle, at the same time singing a monotonous kind of song consisting of four or five notes, repeated over and over again, adding a few words which mean baby, by-by!" At the same time, a little further on, you will see a little one about two years old, lying asleep on a mat upon the ground, with a kind of cage over it formed of bamboo, and covered with green gauze, in shape something resembling a large wire dish-cover; it is always placed over children when they are asleep, to prevent musquitoes and insects of any description disturbing the little slumberer.

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