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I hope no offence your honour, but 'twas so wicked on 'em, was'nt it sir?"

It appears cruel, I replied, but had he not some reason for compelling her to quit the cottage.

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The Lord knows, sir. She had'nt lost her wretch of a husband long, and I'm sure she is as civil a creature as ever the sun shone upon. Ah well, Lord help us."

Inquiring further into the matter I found the information I had received to be correct, and although the death of her husband was no ultimate disadvantage to Betty H—, yet the expenses attending his funeral, together with those of their children, had so deprived her of what little she had been able with the greatest difficulty to save, as to render the payment of her rent, altogether impracticable; I accordingly interested myself about her,

and with the assistance of a few friends, released her from her embarrassments, and at length settled her in a cottage, where she resided the remainder of her life; and where by perseverance and industry, assisted in some measure by her eldest son, she contrived to provide for herself and her children. Her cottage is situated about midway between the village and my own residence, and attracts attention by the cleanliness of its appearance, and the neatness which every thing assumes around it. In her garden particularly, Betty had taken considerable pride, and although it was small, yet the order, regularity, and beauty, that prevaded the little spot were sufficient to demonstrate to every beholder both her industry and her taste.

My efforts however to obtain the liberation of the widow's son were useless and unavailing, and as I retraced my way home, I called at her cottage to acquaint her with the intelligence; but how unable is unassisted nature to endure the distressing sorrows of life. Nothing that I could say could soften the intensity of her anguish, or afford one ray of consolation to her mind. Such a scene could not but convince me of the unspeakable value of that religion, which calms the soul in its severest trials, and affords its soothing influence in every situation and under every circumstance. I do not mean the externals of religion, which indeed in the season of prosperity afford a delusive satisfaction, but shuns approaching adversity, and leaves the sorrowing soul to a conviction of its insufficiency; I mean that vital religion which is alone the effect of the Spirit's influence on our souls which raises its possessor above the transitory trials of life, and teaches him to regard "these light afflictions which are but for a moment," as working "out for him a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory." It was of such an ani

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mating assurance that Betty now felt the want-but alas, though moral and externally consistent, she had lived "without Christ," and consequently "without hope."

"Oh sir, I'm sure I shall die, he's the only child I had to depend on, what shall I do? what shall I do ?"

Pray for grace, Betty, to enable you to submit to all the dispensations of a wise Providence.

"Submit sir! ah! I would submit--but now suppose you was to lose a son, should'nt you feel it?"

Undoubtedly I should, but yet it would be my duty to bow in resignation to the will of God; because he can tell what is best for us. We have all of us our trials, but our murmuring will not lighten the burden nor console us under it, but if we are the children of God, he will make even our trials blessings to our souls; for the Bible declares that" all things work together for good to them that love God."

"Ah well sir, I go to church every Sunday, and I always say my prayers, I don't know what else I should do."

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Ah Betty, if you think this is all you have to do in order to secure the safety of your soul, you are totally unacquainted with your own state and your situation before God; have you never read in the Bible that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die;" and yet that "all have sinned." And do you not see then that we are all exposed to the anger of God on account of our sins? Yes Betty, the sentence of death is written against us, and unless we find a Saviour, we must all suffer the penalty of our sins. But Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins," and "whosoever cometh unto him, He will in no wise cast out."

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'Tis true sir, I have been a sin

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That I believe Betty, but look into your own heart, and see whether it is without sin; have you not lived forgetful of God, have you not all your life been sinning against Him, and breaking his commandments, and does not your own conscience whisper your condemnation, and convince you that you are a guilty, hell-deserving sinner? We must not judge of our own state, by comparing our characters with the characters of those around us, but let us bring it to the test of God's holy law, and we shall see that the very best of mankind falls awfully short of the standard which is there revealed. Ought we not therefore to seek his mercy the way which he has appointed, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and seeking to be cleansed from all iniquity by his precious blood? Ought we not, like Job, to "abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes? " Ought we not, like the affrighted Peter, conscious of our great danger, and alarmed for the everlasting wellbeing of our souls, to cry, "Lord save me or I perish." Yes, Betty, we should; and if we know the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the value of our souls, and the awful state to which it has reduced them, we should give God no rest, as the scriptures say, till he had spoken by his Spirit to our souls, "Arise and go in peace for your sins which are many are forgiven." It is by no means, Betty, my wish by these remarks to add to that sorrow with which you are already depressed, but I would desire that your afflictions may all be sanctified, that they may lead you seriously to examine into your own state, and convince you that your transgressions have merited far greater trials than you have ever been called to endure, I would not only show you your sins, but lead you to that

must part with this the last remnant of earthly consolation, and bury all her happiness in the tomb of her beloved child. He was an interesting youth,―amiable in his temper, and affectionate in his disposition; and the certain indications of approaching decease, which his pallid countenance presented, had endeared him still more to those who knew him.

Lamb of God, who died "for us men and for our salvation," and grants a willing pardon, and a free salvation to every humble penitent, who seeks for mercy and builds his only hope upon the Saviour's righteousness and death; and if your trials should have this blessed effect, if God make them instrumental in leading you as a lost and ruined sinner to the cross of Christ, you will praise him through time, and to all eternity, that he ever called you to endure them.— Farewell Betty, pray for resignation to the will of God, pray for his blessing to follow all your troubles, and make them productive of your soul's eternal good; and then, though it may please him to remove your dearest earthly comforts, he will more than supply the deficiency and be a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

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But Betty H-, had another and a severer trial to encounter, and yet He whose ways are not as our ways, had ordained in his inscrutable wisdom, that even that trial should be the source of blessings to her soul, which shall not cease to flow, throughout the countless durations of Eternity.

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sun does not always shine in the morning, nor yet at noon, often indeed it sets in clouds, nor sheds upon the world one glimmering ray; yet it is not unfrequently the case, that even "in the eleventh hour" he throws aside his fleecy veil, and shines with an effulgence which would almost favour the supposition that he had withheld his beams throughout the day only to make his exit the more gloriously splendid. How far this was exemplified in the experience of Betty H—, the reader will be enabled to judge. Her youngest son who had ever possessed a delicate state of health, now began to evince some alarming symptoms of approaching consumption, and the disconsolate widow looked forward in agonizing expectation, to the period when she MARCH 1826.

“He seem'd like a stranger on earth, Like a blossom too sickly to thrive, Seduc'd from the land of its birth,

In a wilderness valley to live.

I thought him too sickly to last,

I thought that a storm would arise; And I reckon'd that every blast,

Would waft the sweet flower to the skies."

And at length the moment arrived that ushered his youthful spirit into heaven's disturbless rest; and made his widowed mother, in her own estimation at least, childless, hopeless, and forlorn.

Shortly after his interment, I called upon the distressed Betty, to attempt at least to pour the balm of consolation into the painful wound, which this afflicting dispensation of Providence had caused; but how was I surprised to see an air of resignation upon that countenance where I had only expected to find the silent workings of despair. A tear indeed glistened in her eye, but she hastily wiped it away as I approached, and exclaimed, Well sir, I have lost my dear little Tom, but I seem to bear it better than I expected; Oh sir, how very wicked I have been to murmur and com. plain in my troubles; I have been a great sinner and deserved more than I have suffered." Yes, Betty, I replied, had we met with our deserts, our condition had been infinitely worse than it is.

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"Oh sir, when I remember that, it grieves my very heart to think that I should grumble when the Lord afflicted me, and yet I have thought many a time that I did'nt

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deserve it all; but I know now that I did, and a thousand times more, Lord forgive me."

Your earnest prayer for forgiveness is of itself a sufficient proof that he has forgiven you. Continue instant in prayer, and do not doubt but that Jesus is able to save unto the very uttermost.

"But do you really think he will forgive me ?"

There is no distinction made in the New Testament. God hath given his only begotten Son, that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life," whatever be their situation or their circumstances, their character or their age. She looked earnestly She looked earnestly at me while I was speaking, then covered her face with her hands, and burst into tears.-"Oh sir," said she, "I do not cry because my dear little boy is dead; I know that he is now in heaven where he will be happy for ever, but I cry to think how good the blessed Jesus has been to me, and yet how ungrateful and wicked I have been.'

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of the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord."

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Yes sir, that is what I wish, I think I see my sins to be greater and greater, and feel more and more how guilty a creature I have been all my life. God be merciful to me a sinner." Again the big tears rolled in quick succession down her cheeks, the scene was truly affecting, it appealed to every feeling of my soul, and having taken my leave of the awakened widow, I quitted her cottage.

How merciful are the dealings of Jehovah with his guilty creatures, and how manifold are the channels by which he conveys his converting blessings to their souls. Sometimes he speaks in the thunder of his judgments, but oftener in the whispers of his love. Sometimes a season of trial is the day of grace, and sometimes the overtures of mercy arrest the attention of the thoughtless and the gay. Sometimes he wakens the slumbering soul by almost imperceptible degrees, while at others, he speaks the omnipotent word, and instantaneously the blind receive their sight, -'tis the sight of their danger; the dumb speak,-'tis the language of prayer; the deaf hear,-'tis the assurance of pardon.

"Deep in unfathomable mines,

Of never fading skill;
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will."

'HYMN FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

WITHIN these walls be peace,

Love through our borders found:

In all our little palaces
Prosperity abound.

God scorns not humble things;
Here, though the proud despise,
"The children of the King of kings
Are training for the skies.

May none who thus are taught,

From glory be cast down,

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But all through faith and patience brought To an immortal crown.

MONTGOMERY.

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

Practical and Internal Evidence against Catholicism. By the Rev. Joseph Blanco White, M. A. B. D. Murray, 1825. Pp. ix. and 296. The Lollards; or some account of the witnesses for the truth in Great Britain, with a brief notice of events connected with the early. History of the Reformation. Nisbet. Pp. xii. and 324.

Six Lectures on Popery. By William Groser. Holdsworth. Pp. ix. and 274.

Proceedings of a Court Martial at Malta, with subsequent proceedings respecting the Trial of Lieut. G. F. Dawson. Butterworths. Pp. vii. and 108.

Trial of Captain Thomas Atchison, at Malta, with an Appendix. Hatchards. Pp. viii. and 91. THERE are two subjects which appear, at the present moment, of paramount importance. Subjects which have indeed often occupied our attention, but to which we must again and again return. The one is Colonial Slavery;-the other, the Antichristian Corruption. On the subject of Colonial Slavery, we inserted much important information, in our last two numbers, and can now only intreat our readers to strain every nerve, in order that they may obtain from Parliament some decided amelioration of the wretched condition of the negroes-some step towards their eventual emancipation. Not only are 830,000 fellowcreatures groaning under unrestrained and unlimited tyranny,not only are their children born to the same dreadful inheritance ;-but this horrid system every where impedes the progress of religion; corrupts, debases, and enslaves all who come into contact with it; and promotes, on both sides of the Atlantic, violence, and cruelty, and licentiousness, to a degree of which few have

any adequate conception. COLONIAL SLAVERY IS A NATIONAL CRIME; and all who do not exert themselves in the use of every legal means to promote its termination, are accessories to its guilt, its cruelty, and its nameless and unnumbered abominations.

The other subject of paramount importance, we have said, is the Antichristian Corruption. By this we understand especially Popery, connected, however, as it intimately is, with the errors of the Greek Church; and contributing very essentially, as it has ever done, to the advancement of the Mohammedan imposture. This is a subject of very considerable extent, and of awful importance. And that importance is increased by the consideration that many very able divines have anticipated the revival of Popery, prior to the universal extension of Christ's kingdom; and that whatever opinion may be entertained of the premises on which their conclusions are founded, there are, in various parts of the world, at this very time, most striking demonstrations both of the activity and the success of Antichristian influence. We speak not merely of Popish bulls against the Bible Society-of the determined efforts of Irish priests to restrain their people from reading the Scriptures, and to extinguish the schools of the Hibernian Society, whose glory it is to admit no book within their walls but the oracles of God. We speak not of the restoration of the Jesuits, or of the political recognition by the Holy Father of the South American republics; but we regard the whole together, and connect with these Antichristian efforts the blind subserviency of Spain and Portugal, the lamentable drivelling of the French Government, the firmans of the Grand Turk, the prohibitions of the Armenian Patriarch, the

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