more. If these verses mean any thing (which is doubtful, for they are very foolish), they are a sort of prayer to Matthew, and Mark, &c. But how do we know that these can hear us? And if they could hear us, how do we know that they have any power to help us? They were poor sinful men upon earth, and if they are in heaven now, it is only because God for Jesus Christ's sake forgave them their sins. We are taught in the word of God that we may speak to God Himself in prayer, in the name of Christ, and we may ask Him to bless us; and we are told that to try to speak to any one else in prayer is most sinful'. Remember then and use these verses no more. What prayers then ought you to teach your children? First, I should advise you to teach them one or two of those beautiful hymns, which are at the end of the Prayer-book, as, for example, the Morning and Evening Hymns. One of them they should say standing up by your side. When this has been slowly repeated, the child should kneel down, and say a short prayer, such as you may find in almost any book of family prayers, called, "A prayer for a child." Or, if you cannot get this, you might teach it a little prayer, such as you could make yourself. Or if you cannot do this, choose one or two of the short collects out of the Prayer-book, such as you think are fit for a child to learn. When this has been done, the child should repeat the Lord's Prayer, and finish all with saying,-"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," &c., which is taken from 2 Cor. xiii. 14. But whatever words you teach them to say, you must strive to make your dear children understand what a solemn thing it is to speak to Almighty God; and try to get them to know the meaning of every prayer which they use. And often tell them what a mercy and blessing it is that poor and sinful children are allowed to come near to His throne, and that He has promised, for Jesus Christ's sake, if we ask it, to give us earthly comforts, the pardon of our sins, a new heart, and grace to walk in the path to heaven. E. D. 2 Rev. xxii. 8, 9. There is a very suitable "Prayer for a Child" in a book of Family Prayers, by the present Archbishop of Canterbury. Price 6d. THE MIDNIGHT CRY. Hark! 'tis the midnight cry The sleepers all around Foolish and wise, and low and high, Hark! 'tis the midnight cry Behold the Bridegroom near! Go forth, ye righteous men, Who trampled on His love; Lord! give us timely grace For judgment to prepare To walk in all Thy righteous ways W. B S. B. THERE is not, to my mind, a more comprehensive summary of a Christian's duty than that pointed out to us in the Church Catechism under the head of our duty to our neighbour. It is sad, however, to find so few acting under the influence of the great principles therein set forth. Our Church has provided the Catechism for the instruction of her children so soon as they are able to understand, and also binds upon them in more advanced life the necessity of taking upon themselves publicly, and in the presence of God and His servants, the responsibility of that instruction which they have received, and also their accountableness in all things promised for them in their infancy. Let us for a moment glance at the duties set forth, and endeavour to detect our own omissions therein. In the first place, we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves, and to do to him as we would have him do to us. We are to love, honour, and succour our parents, to obey "the powers that be, to submit ourselves to all who have rule over us, and to order ourselves lowly and reverently to all our betters." Then that true charity is also included," which suffereth long and is kind, is not easily provoked, which thinketh no evil, and therefore speaketh no evil." In short, a charity which teaches all who are led by it to hurt nobody by word or deed, to be true and just in all our dealings, to bear no malice or hatred in the heart; and which, instead of giving the "body to be burned," keeps it under by temperance, soberness, and chastity, and which puts an end at once and for ever to all "covetous desires, so that we neither follow nor are led by them." The last thing to learn is this, to "labour truly to get our own living, and do our duty in that state of life unto which it has pleased God to call us." Seeing, then, we all have a station into which God calls us, let us be in no haste to get out of it. Let us again and again consider our responsibility, and how far we have fulfilled our duty to our neighbour. Instead of unhallowed strugglings to force ourselves out of that station assigned us by Providence, life should be spent in efforts to impart to our brethren of the human. family those blessings we possess, but of which they may be destitute. Those who love their Saviour will desire to do His will, and will find their happiness in obeying Him. They will have their consciences regulated by His example; and be their station high or low, in it they will be content to labour either for food and raiment, or for the good of the community. We live in restless times, and I fear very many are throwing away their happiness and peace by their anxious longings after better situations, and, what they consider, more genteel callings. If a few facts known to myself should prove a warning to any young person who may be tempted to sigh and long for that which is not plainly the state of life unto which it has pleased God to call him, then my purpose will be answered, and good will be the result. W. B. was a weaver in a manufacturing town, and by industry in his calling contrived to keep himself very respectably, and also to save a little money. He was fond of amusement, and volatile in his disposition. But the time came when God was pleased to apply His own word to his heart and conscience, and W. B. joined himself to the people of God. His walk and conversation were consistent for some years, and he married a pious, modest, and most respectable young woman, a teacher with him in the same Sunday school. He, however, became dissatisfied with his station, and in an evil hour abandoned his lawful calling for one of which he knew nothing, but which was one step above his own. As might be expected, he failed, lost the little he had saved, and had a delicate wife and child to maintain ; and, what was by far the most to be deplored, he brought religion into contempt by his imprudence. He again took to his loom, and was able to provide all things necessary for himself and family; but his creditors could not be paid: they, however, never distressed him, and in time he would have surmounted even this difficulty. He soon, however, became restless, and tried another business, which took him often from home into company unfit for a Christian man. He often assisted to wait at public dinners; and by thus coming in contact with an ungodly world he soon began to fall away. It is, I admit, a grievous aggravation of sin to fall into it after men have been awakened; yet sometimes even they who have sincerely and earnestly engaged in the pursuit of salvation have been, through a want of watchfulness, betrayed into those sins from which they had been delivered. So it was with W. B. His volatile disposition again had rule over him. His wife, a sincere Christian, requested me to admonish him. I did so, and endeavoured to point out to him his danger; called to his mind happy days, when his home was his delight and God his friend. He had now two children, had lost two or three, and his wife was near her confinement. He took another step, and became a cornfactor, and went quite out of his station in every possible way. He was now called Mr. He continued, however, sober and kind to his wife and little ones. It is needless to say he had forgotten his God. The next I heard of him was conveyed to me in a letter from his poor wife, and it informed me that W. B., notwithstanding his wife's situation, had absconded, absolutely started for America, without the slightest notice to any one. Life and reason for a time seemed to threaten a period to the poor mourner's sorrows. She tried to find some excuse. I never heard her express anger. Her grief was too deep to find vent in the usual manner. In short, she was a child of God, and though tried in the furnace of affliction, lost nothing but dross in the refining process. "Oh!" she said, the first time I saw her after her more than widowhood, "Oh! we walked to the house of God as friends. We together feasted at the table of our Lord, and together read the word of God, and prayed over it. If an angel had told me I should have been thus forsaken, I should have thought Satan had transformed himself to try my faith, and tempt me to indulge hard thoughts of God; but," she continued, "It is the Lord, let Him do with me as it seemeth best."" Now, had this man remained satisfied with his station, I do not hesitate to assure my readers that at this very time he would have been a happy husband and father, with plenty of this world's goods: but how very sad it is to see so much fair promise blighted by discontent and ambition to be raised out of that condition plainly the best for us, because God in His wisdom placed us in it! Who, not placed in the same sad circumstances, can understand the bitter feelings of the wife and mother when asked by the children, Why father had left them without telling them he was going so far away? True it is many waters cannot quench love. The wife still lives and labours, hoping a time may yet come when W. B. will be restored to her a better and a wiser man, This hope sustains her, for she considers the sin as committed against God, and looks to His recovering grace alone to bring again this wanderer into the fold of Christ. May her hope be fully realized! M. B. PROCRASTINATION. THERE are more people in the world who fail to perform their duty through procrastination than through direct opposition. Many persons, who dare not say, "I will not do it," satisfy themselves with admitting that the thing ought to be done, and resolving to "do it tomorrow." The mischievous consequences of such con |