dwelleth under the defence of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

What is Almighty?" Able to do all things:" God is able to take care of us in the night, for his eye neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.

Why do we call God King of kings?-Because even kings are subject to him.

Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ills which I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and Thee,

I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

What should we think of, after giving glory to God for his mercies?-We should remember our sins, and pray for pardon.

Through whom alone may we hope that God will pardon the ills (or sins) we have done?-For the sake of his dear Son Jesus Christ, who has promised to procure (or gain) pardon for all those who repent, or are sorry for their sins.

What state may we hope to be in, if our sins are forgiven?-At peace with God, the world, and our own consciences.

What do you mean by "ere I sleep?"-That I hope before I sleep, God will forgive me, and let me be at peace.

Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed:
Teach me to die, that so I may

Rise glorious at the Judgment day.

How do we pray that God will enable us to live?That we may lie down and die as willingly, and that we may as little dread dying as going to bed.

How do we pray to die?-That we may be able to look forward with joy to the day of the Lord's approaching; when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven, and judge the quick and the dead.

O may my soul on thee repose,

And with sweet sleep my eyelids close;
Sleep, that may me more active make

To serve my God when I awake.

On whom may our soul repose?—On God. "I will lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makes me dwell in safety."

What is repose?-Rest.

1 Psalm iv. 8.

1835.1

POOR LAWS.

23

How do we trust our eyes may be closed ?--With sweet sleep.

What sort of sleep ?-Such peaceful and refreshing sleep as may make us fitter to serve God in the morning. "I have thought of Thee in my bed, and remembered Thee when I was waking."-From a Correspondent.

THE DYING CHRISTIAN.

COME, my friends, enter into the chamber of a dying saint, in the lively exercise of divine faith, and with the bright prospect of immortality full in his view; observe the smile that sits upon his countenance; view his patience, his resignation, his peaceful serenity; hear the holy and heavenly language which drops from his lips :-" I go the way of all the earth, and I long to be where my Saviour is; I have trusted in him for salvation; I have committed my everlasting all into his faithful hands; and I know in whom I have believed. Oh the heavenly peace and joy that I now find in God's everlasting, sure, and well-ordered covenant. It has been my support through life, under many painful trials, and overwhelming sorrows. And now, when drawing near to the eternal world, and about to bid adieu to all things here below, it is the spring of joy unspeakable and full of glory. With my Shepherd's rod and staff to support me, I can walk fearless and undismayed through the valley of the shadow of death. I have no righteousness of my own to plead at God's tribunal, but I bless God, who hath given me faith to rely on the allatoning efficiency of my Redeemer's blood, and the infinite merit of his perfect righteousness; so that, now, through faith in his name, I can triumph, and say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."-Black. Sent by F. C.

MR. EDITOR,

POOR LAWS.

THE poor in my neighbourhood complain of the change that the new Act of Parliament is likely to make in their condition. I try to show them that the change will be greatly to their benefit; and, I think, they will perceive this in a short time, if they be but patient. They suppose

that the change is only for the sake of lowering the rates. Now this is not the great object: the rate-payers will be benefited, but the great benefit will be to the poor themselves.

The sums paid to the poor from the rates for several years past have been enormous-many millions of money; -and yet the poor say that they were never so ill off: the thing was getting worse and worse; more and more expended, and yet the poor getting worse and worse in their condition.

An employer who wants workmen at any time will naturally try to get them as cheap as he can: and of late, when the weekly wages given by the employer were not sufficient to support a labourer's family, the rest was made up out of the poor-rate. It did not signify to the labourer how low his wages were, if he could get the rest of the maintenance for his family made up out of the rates. Thus, though the sum altogether sounded high, yet the actual wages paid were low; and this set the price of labour; and the rate of wages fell, in consequence of this practice. A young man without a family could earn more, but nobody would give him what he could earn, because a married man could afford to do the work cheaper, knowing that he should get his pay made up by the parish. A young man, upon the new plan, now will have a chance of getting all he can earn: he was before kept down for the sake of the married man. I expect to see wages rising by and by, and the poor restored to that state in which they were, before the poor laws had been turned from their proper purpose. But this will not be done all at once. I consider that the new act of parliament does not take away any of the advantages which the celebrated act of Queen Elizabeth gave to the sick and aged and helpless poor, but that it removes the abuses in the application of that Act, and, we hope, may prevent the distress which such abuse brought on the poor, and the very low condition to which it reduced them. The late practice looked like kindness, but it brought misery with it. Under a better regulation some things may seem harsh, which I trust will, in the end, be a very great benefit to those active and industrious men who desire to earn the means of support by their own honest and independent exertions.

D.

THE GAZETTEER.-No. 14.

BATTLE.

BATTLE is a market town in the county of Sussex, containing nearly 3000 inhabitants; it derives its name from having been the spot on which the great battle was fought in the year 1066, between William, duke of Normandy, (afterwards king of England, and styled the Conqueror,) and Harold, then king of England. This place is about eight miles from Hastings. There is a fine abbey at Battle, which is now inhabited by Sir Godfrey Webster, and has been for some time past in the family of this baronet. This abbey was originally built by William the Conqueror, on the spot known at that time by the name of Heathfield Plain, where the battle was most fierce and obstinate. The high altar of this abbey was placed on the spot where the body of Harold was found. The abbey was founded for the residence of one hundred and forty monks: it was one of those which was suppressed in the time of King Henry VIII. Additions were made to the abbey, at different times, after its first erection, though some of the original building still remains. The annexed drawing represents the present appearance of the abbey gate.

Battle is now celebrated for its manufactory of gunpowder, which is esteemed particularly good.

BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

V.

THE battle, in which William the Conqueror subdued Harold, is called the battle of Hastings, having been fought within a few miles of that place. The following is the account given of the battle.

In the year 1066, William, having provided an army of 60,000 men, effected a landing on the coast towards Pevensey; he then marched on till he came to Hastings, where he halted. While encamped at Hastings, the duke of Normandy published the proclamation of the causes which he had for his present proceedings: many reasons were given, but the real one was a desire to obtain the crown of England. Harold was engaged, at the time, with the Norwegians at Stamford, whom he defeated, and whose