SIR MATTHEW HALE'S ADVICE TO HIS CHILDREN.

First, every morning make your private prayer to Almighty God; give Him thanks for His protection of you the night past, and that He has brought you to the morning: and desire Him to bless and direct you by His grace and providence that day, and to preserve you from the evils and dangers of it, and to keep you in obedience to Him.

Secondly, before you go to bed, make again your private prayers to God, returning Him thanks for His protection, and for bringing you to the end of the day, and beg His protection over you the night following.

Always be attentive to your prayers, and keep your mind attentive on the business you are about, with all due seriousness and solemnity, not playing, nor staring about, nor thinking of other matters; for you must remember that in prayer you are speaking to the great God of heaven and earth, Who not only sees and observes our outward behaviour, but also the very thoughts of your hearts and minds.

Let no occasion whatever hinder you from your private, constant devotion towards Almighty God, but be steady, fixed, and resolved in it, and not go about any business of importance until you have performed this duty. And although it be upon the Lord's day, when you go to public prayers morning and afternoon, and though there be morning and evening prayers in your schools, yet this must not make you omit your private devotions, for it is a solemn and sacred employment, as a great and necessary means. of your protection, blessing, and safety, the ensuing day or night I was ever distrustful of the work I undertook before I commended myself and affairs to Almighty God in my private morning prayers.

Let all your thoughts and words be full of reverence: think not of God lightly, nor speak of Him, nor use His name vainly; consider it is by His mercy and goodness you live and have all the blessings and comforts you enjoy, and He it is that can call them away from you at His pleasure; it is He that knows all your thoughts, words, and actions, and sees whether they are such as are decent, becoming, and suitable to His will and presence, before Whom you kneel and stand.

Soon after my arrival in the state of South Carolina, I was informed of an isolated settlement at a considerable distance from the place of my residence. Its original elements were emigrants from New England-a father and his five sons, who, with their wives and little children, had, about thirty years before, become sojourners in the heart of one of the deepest Carolinian solitudes. They purchased a tract of wild, swamp-encircled land: this they subjected to cultivation, and, by unremitting industry, rendered it adequate to their subsistence and comfort. The sons and son's sons had, in their turn, become fathers of families; so that the population of this singular little spot comprised four generations. They were described as constituting a peaceful and virtuous community, with a government among themselves purely patriarchal. Secluded from the blessings and privileges of public worship, it was said that a deep sense of religion, influencing the heart and conduct, had been preserved by statedly assembling on the Sabbath, and reading the Scriptures, with the Liturgy of the Church of England. The pious ancestor of the colony, whose years now exceed fourscore, had, at their removal to this hermitage, established his eldest son as lay reader. This simple ministration, aided by holy example, had so shared the blessing of Heaven, that all the members of this miniature commonwealth held fast the hope and faith of the gospel.

I was desirons of visiting this peculiar people, and of ascertaining whether such glorious and precious fruits could derive nourishment from so simple a root. At length an opportunity

offered, and I resolved so to contrive my journey as to be witness to their Sunday devotions....An expanse of arable woodland now became visible, and wreaths of smoke came lightly curling through the trees, offering, as it were, a welcome to the weary stranger. A cluster of cottages then cheered the eye, so contiguously situated, that the blast of a horn, or even the call of a shrill voice, might easily convene all the inhabitants. To the central and largest building I at once directed my steps. Approaching, I found the window was open, and heard a distinct manly voice pronouncing the solemn invocation, "By thine agony and bloody sweat, by thy cross and passion, &c."—the response rising fully and devoutly in accents of manhood, and in the softer tones of mothers and their children. Standing motionless, that I might not disturb the devotion of the worshippers, I had a full view of the lay reader. He was a man of six feet in height, muscular and well-proportioned, with a head beautifully formed, from whose crown time had begun to shred the luxuriance of its raven locks. Unconscious of the presence of a stranger, he supposed that no eye regarded him save that of Him "who sitteth upon the circle of the heavens." Kneeling around him were his "brethren according to the flesh"-a numerous and attentive congregation; at his right hand was the patriarch-tall, somewhat emaciated, yet not bowed down with years; his white hair combed smoothly over his temples, and slightly curling on his neck; gathered near him where his children and his children's children; his blood was in the veins of almost every worshipper. Mingled with the forms that evinced the ravages of time and toil, were the bright shining locks of youth, and the rosy brow of childhood, bowed low in supplication; even the infant with hushed lips seemed to regard a scene where there was no wandering glance. Involuntarily I said to myself, as my heart swelled with emotion. "Shall not this be a family in heaven ?" In the closing aspirations, "O Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us," the solemn voice of the patriarch was distinctly heard with strong and emphatic emphasis. After a pause of silent adoration, all rose from their knees; aud I entered the pious and happy circle. "I am a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ," I said, as I entered, "and I come to greet and bless you in the name of the Lord."

The aged patriarch, grasping my hand, gazed on me for a few moments with intense earnestness-a welcome such as words could never utter was written upon his brow.

"Thirty and two years has my dwelling been in this forest: hitherto no man of God has visited our lonely dwelling; praised be His holy name who has put it in your heart to seek out these few sheep in the wilderness. Secluded as we are from the privilege of worshipping God in His temple, we thus assemble every Sabbath-day to read His blessed book, and to pray unto Him in the words of the Liturgy of our fathers. Thus, by His grace, we have been preserved from 'forgetting the Lord who bought us, and lightly esteeming the Rock of our salvation.'

At the request of the patriarch, I administered the sacrament of baptism; it was received with the most affecting demonstrations of solemnity and gratitude. The sacred services of the day were continued till the setting of the sun; yet all were alike unwilling to depart-it was to them a high, alas! a rare festival. When about to separate, the venerable patriarch introduced me to all his children. Each seemed anxious to press my hand; and even the children expressed, by their affectionate glances, their love and reverence for one who ministered at the altar of God.

"The Almighty," said the venerable man, "hath smiled on these babes born in the desert. I came hither with my sons, and their companions, and their blessed mother, who is gone to rest. God hath given us families as a flock. We earn our bread with toil and patience. For the short intervals of labour we have a school, where our little ones learn the rudiments of knowledge. Our only books of instruction are the Bible and Prayer Book."

At a given signal, they rose and sang, when about departing to their separate abodes, "Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." Never was my spirit so stirred within me, as when that rustic yet tuneful choir, surrounding the white-haired father, breathed out in the forest sanctuary, "Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us." The following morning I called on every family, and was much delighted with the domestic order, economy, and concord, that prevailed. Careful improvement of time, and moderate desires, seemed uniformly to produce in them the fruits of a blameless life and conversation. They conducted me to their

school; its teacher was a grand-daughter of the lay reader. Most of her pupils read intelligently, and replied with readiness to questions from Scripture history, and other subjects; and what was equally pleasing, there was visible among them, the utmost docility, subordination, and attention.

To this pleasing illustration of the practical influence of true Church principles, we may add the fact, that when the rebellion broke out in the colony of Canada, not a single member of the Church was found among the disturbers of the peace. In our own country also, it was ascertained that not one Churchman was concerned in the chartist riots which took place in Monmouthshire in the year 1839. Whoever else may combine to forget it, let Churchmen at least remember, that loyalty and peaceableness are Christian virtues.

"It is said of king Charles the first, that when the news came of the death, indeed the murder, of a favourite nobleman, his majesty was at prayers-the public prayers of the Church. The messenger came with a troubled countenance, and without any pause in respect of the duty they were performing, went directly to the king and whispered in his ear what had happened. His majesty, it is said, continued unmoved and without the least change of countenance until the prayers were ended, when he went home, shut himself in his chamber, and burst into tears. What an instance is this of earnest devotion! So deeply intent was he on the business he was about, and the words he was uttering; so well did he know what it was to come to Church and utter anything before God. Had he come without thought, and entered without reverence, and been careless about what he was saying, how different would it have been! But it seemed as if one object filled his whole soul, and one business filled up all his thoughts-the presence of Almighty God and the prayers he was uttering in that most awful presence. How well must he have 'kept his foot' in going to God's house! How little was he like a person rash with his mouth or hasty in his heart in this matter! Such was the deep devotion by which he learned in the midst of sad trials and troubles, to receive them with reverence as from God's hands, and to meet death itself with calmness and resignation."