tioned, of which the complexion is always varying, the wisdom of God has simply given us a broad rule of universal applicability, "Be not conformed to this world" which, perhaps, may be paraphrased-take heed that you wear not the semblance of unbelievers in your daily deportment and manner of living. SUNDAY SCHOOL PRAYERS FOR EVERY SUNDAY DURING A MONTH. PRAYER IV. ALMIGHTY and Gracions God, who hast brought us safely to the beginning of this holy day, accept the imperfect thanks of thy frail and feeble children, for all thy goodness and loving kindness to us and to all men. Blessed Lord, give unto us the spirit of prayer, and let us not draw nigh to thee with our lips, while our hearts are far from thee. O Lord, let thy blessing descend upon us, and make profitable unto each of us this our meeting together. May those who teach, and those who learn, receive thy gracious aid, and experience thy promised presence; and may we all find it good for us to be here. Gracious Lord, we beseech thee to look with compassion on the tender years of some of those who are now bowing down before thee. We bring them, Lord, to thee: look with the eye of mercy on these lambs of thy flock, and call them early into thy fold. Be thou their Shepherd, and cause each of them, yea, even the youngest amongst them, to hear thy voice and to follow thee. Enable these children, O Lord, to pray for themselves, that thou wouldest be pleased to give them grace, not only to hear, and to read, but also to do thy Holy will. Keep them from the snares and temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Let them live in thy fear, and help them to love and obey thee every day more and more. O Lord, make all of us doers of thy word, and not hearers only Prevent us from saying one word that is untrue or uncharitable, and put away far from us every angry and unholy temper. And, O Lord, in coming before thee, we would beseech thee to forgive us all our sins, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. May we love to hear his Gospel taught. Open our understandings, that we may know what our Saviour has done for us. Soften our hearts that we may be thankful for such great mercy. Teach us to trust in Him. Give us grace to live as those ought to live who call themselves Christians, and help us never to depart from the good way in which we are taught to walk. Hear us, Lord, not for ourselves alone, but likewise for all those for whom we ought to pray. Bless our friends and our enemies. Bless our minister, and all who are near and dear unto us, and bring us all to thine everlasting kingdom. Listen to our cry, O Great and Mighty God, and despise not the feebleness of our prayers, which are offered in the prevailing name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. M. P. H. The Rev. Chancellor Raikes, having been prevented presiding on the Fifth Anniversary of the Chester Christian Temperance Society, held 7th January, 1840, the following letter was sent to Wm. Wardell, Esq. who had kindly consented to take the Chancellor's place in the Chair. TO WILLIAM WARDELL, ESQ. MY DEAR SIR,-Your kind compliance with my request saves me from a great embarrassment; and I can now trust to the kind friends who invited me to take the Chair at the Christian Temperance Society Meeting to excuse my unavoidable absence; since I have succeeded in obtaining for them the advantage of having you as their President. But though I feel assured that I have thus discharged my duty to them, and have no uneasiness as to the reception with which the announcement of my absence will be met; it is not so easy to satisfy myself; and if I were not informed that any attempts at exertion now might prolong my confinement, I do not know how I could resist the impulse which prompts me to go out and add my protest to theirs, against the curse of England and of human nature, this sin of Drunkenness and Intemperance. Every year I live, and every day's experience, tends to strengthen the conclusion, that of all the evils under which our country groans at present, the far larger part arise from Drunkenness, or are connected with it. In our own city, I feel no doubt upon the subject. Such is the wealth of the place, and such the amount of employment at present, that if it were not for Drunkenness, poverty would be comparatively unknown. So healthy is our situation, and such are the medical advantages, that if it were not for Drunkenness, sickness would be rare. Such is our police, so well behaved are all ranks of Society in general, that if it were not for drunkenness, riots and disorderly behaviour would be uncommon, We possess means of happiness, which if they were but carefully husbanded and properly improved, would make us one of the happiest communities in the United Kingdom; while it is but too true, that through the simple operation of drunken. ness, there is as much misery, want, and immorality in Chester as in any place of the same extent. Should it please God in his mercy to bless the efforts of these Societies (I say these Societies, for I look chiefly at the end which they are intended to produce, and less at the means by which they endeavour to produce it)-if I say, it should please God to bless the efforts of these Societies so as to check the prevailing torrent of iniquity, to break the habits which lead to drunkenness, and to strengthen the weak resolution of those, who awake to their danger are not proof against temptation; I should believe that these Societies had conferred upon this place a greater blessing than has been conveyed to it for centuries; and should hope that they would be remembered in the prayers of thousands and tens of thousands rescued from misery through their agency. I very recently have been reading a book, the narrative of a traveller who had visited Denmark, and I could not but be much struck and affected by perceiving the sentence with which he closes the account of that country. "I have now," says he, "been through the whole of this kingdom, and in the course of my whole journey I have not seen a single beggar, a single cripple, nor a single person in a state of intoxication," My first impression was to exclaim, Happy country, free from those vices, and free from those evils; which form so melancholy a prospect round us here! O! why is it, that that cannot be said of England, which is here said of Denmark? Will the time never come when a traveller may say of England what this man says of Denmark? But after the first impression subsided, I could not but think that one part of his statement threw light upon the other, and that cause and effects were included in the same report; for that the real cause why there were no beggars was that there were no drunkards in the country. That there were no cripples there might seem to require some other cause; for bodily infirmity does not proceed from drunkenness, with as much certainty of connection as poverty. But if bodily imperfection do not always arise from excess of liquor, are not the cases many, where sickness, lameness, loss of limb, have been occasioned by drunkenness, and must be ascribed to drunkenness as their source? In other words, "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? they that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine." Prov. xxiii, 29, 30. All these various evils are the fruits of drunkenness, and the effects of drunkenness. Wherever drunkenness abounds these will abound; nor can we hope to get rid of these except by getting rid of that odious brutal vice that gives occasion to them all. I hope that the blessing of God, that blessing without which nothing can prosper, will be on your Society; and unable to attend the meeting as I had anticipated, I feel that it is a comfort to me to think that efforts are being made to resist an evil which is the curse of this city, and which spreads poverty and sickness wherever it extends. The pen is in my hand, and I have begun upon a subject where it is not easy to stop, either in speaking or in writing; so large are the materials, and so great and so pressing the evil which we have to combat. May I be excused if I come nearer home, and ask you, and through you ask the meeting, to take into consideration some of the many usages among ourselves, which lead the way to intemperance, and prepare the Victims for destruction. I do not hesitate to say, that there are usages existing among us, practised by people of the highest respectability, and with the kindest intentions, which still have a direct tendency to produce a habit of drinking, and in consequence lead to all the evils of drunkenness. Among these, I do not hesitate to mention first, the habit of giving liquor, as a remuneration for trifling services. There are services occasionally done, which according to the usual rate of pay, could not be entitled to payment in silver. At all events the employer thinks he can get them more cheaply done if he offers liquor; and without considering the consequences that may follow to the poor thoughtless being whom he employs, he induces him to take liquor which he does not want, instead of money which he does want. The man employed may feel that he is underpaid, but is tempted by his love of liquor to take less than his due in order to gratify his appetite; and thus is doubly wronged, by receiving less than he ought to receive, and by being made to drink more than he ought to drink. I know a man, a Gardener, who is reduced to abject poverty, and to misery, which makes poverty ten-fold worse than itself, through this unhappy practice on the part of his employers. He was accustomed to keep gardens in order, and he was paid for the occasional visits which he made for this purpose, by liquor. The result has been, that the man who is a first-rate gardener, and had every prospect of comfort before him; is little better than a beggar, his health ruined and his family miserable. I believe also, that it is not unusual for persons who deal in Spirits, to make a certain quantity of Spirits, a part of the weekly pay of the men in their employment. Again let me mention, the habit which prevails in many respectable shops which do not deal in liquor, of giving Spirits to their customers. It was only last week, that a gentleman whom I know, saw a ruddy country boy go into a shop to buy a smock frock. The frock was examined, and fitted on, and pronounced to fit to admiration. The price was named, and considered, and paid'; and the bargain was settled by a full glass of gin, offered by the shopkeeper, and swallowed by the poor foolish boy; who was flattered by the attention, and thought himself a gainer by every drop he swallowed. It is hardly necessary for me to say, that that glass so given and so swallowed may have made that poor lad a drunkard for life. He went out of the shop, feeling that he was something more than what he had been. He had been treated like a man, and he had acted like a man. He could boast to the poor silly lads with whom he associated, of what he had done; and if the fire then poured into the system did not beget the appetite for more, and send him to finish at the Spirit Shop what had been begun at the Draper's; he had at all events lost the horror which a child feels of such a potion, and had taken a step in that road from which few return. Let me name again another, and I am afraid, a very frequent practice, that of paying workmen at a public-house. The convenience of having an open house to meet at, the accommodation in getting change, all these trifling advantages connected with the usage, are poor compensations for the certain evil done, and the risk incurred by all, who are drawn together for the purpose. It is impossible to mention the number of men who have been drawn into habits of drunkenness from this single cause; and if the masters did but know the amount of money spent on these occasions; the amount paid by them, but which is spent where it is paid, and which never reaches the families of those whom they employ; they would shudder at the fraud to which they have unintentionally been accessories. I am afraid of trespassing on your time, but I hardly know how to stop. I see these abominable habits entwined with almost every exercise of kindly feeling, and with every occasion of rejoicing. I see the admirable scheme of Benefit Societies, perverted from their real character, and made the destruction of those who belong to them, by the liquor which is consumed at their private, as well as at their public meetings; I see the honest sober labourer driven from employment by the despotism of his companions, who will not allow him to work with them, unless he will likewise drink with them. I see the interests of Masters injured by this system, which makes drunkenness obligatory on their people. In a word, see poverty where there ought to be independence; wretchedness where there ought to be comfort; sickness where there ought to be health; discontent where there ought to be cheerfulness and peace; ungodliness and irreligion, where there ought to be righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; - and while I see that this wretched state of things is produced by drunkenness, can I do otherwise than lift up my voice against those usages which lead to drunkenness, and perpetuate drunkenness among us. I would take the liberty then of suggesting, that the Society may with great propriety address themselves to those individuals, who through want of reflection on the consequences of such usages as these which I have specified, contribute to the growth of a vice which they deprecate themselves I think that the Society may most beneficially avail themselves of the statements made by Mr. Dunlop in his recent most important publication; and lay open the customs which prevail among most classes of workmen, and all of which are made to promote occasions of drunkenness. In saving this, I know that I am addressing myself not only to a Temperance Society, and which as such is bound to discountenance and prevent drunkenness by every means; but also to a Society which being founded on Christian principles, and bearing the honoured title of a Christian Temperance Society, has in that title a second and more powerful motive to exertions such as these. Among those principles which the Gospel inculcates, and which every Christian professes, there is noue which is more decidedly Christian, than this, that no man liveth for himself. In the Christian body, if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and a Christian will always feel that the sight of a fellow creature's sufferings, is a motive to exert all his power for their relief. In a word, The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him, which died and rose again. As we see, then, on every side the miseries produced by drunkenness, let us come forward and make good our character of a Christian Temperance Society, by endeavouring to check these habits which spread poverty, wretchedness, disease, and death, through the neighbourhood we live in. Believe me, my dear Sir, always truly yours, H. RAIKES. Imitated from the celebrated French Sonnet of Des Barreaux. But so have I transgress'd that should'st Thou show Yes, Father! such my sin's enormity! It leaves Thee but of punishment the choice: And "let him die" is even Thy mercy's voice. FRS. WRANGHAM. Printed by T. Thomas, Eastgate-street Row, Chester. REV. AND DEAR SIR, To the Editor. I TRESPASS yet again on your indulgence for the insertion of a few more remarks on this interesting subject. It is a subject, which I freely admit increases upon me as I advance, and makes me feel its importance more and more in proportion as I reflect upon it. In the last letter I addressed to you, I came to a conclusion as to the chief object in Early Education. I stated that the first end to be aimed at should be the forming of a spirit of love and confidence in the Infant mind; that the germ of affection, which we supposed to exist, was to be quickened into growth by tenderness, and that development was thus to be given to the feeling which was to be the future principle of life. And let me here distinctly state, that as this is the proper education for infancy, so it is the only education which should be attempted; and all endeavours to give knowledge, before the powers by which knowledge is received, are matured, are worse than useless, and cannot be too much deprecated. In educating an infant, we should never forget that the being to be educated, is as yet merely a sentient being. It has feelings which may be touched, and awakened, and drawn out; but it has not reason to consider the nature of the applications made to those feelings, nor power to discriminate between them. The ideas formed during that period of life must be obtuse and general, approaching to those of animals, and chiefly differing from them in this respect, that they are capable of receiving larger development, and of being combined with knowledge of a higher kind. But limited as the effect of this Education must seem to be, it is not to be despised. If it seems to include nothing more than feeling, and that feeling an unreflecting sort of instinct; we must remember that man is led by feelings more generally K |