whose mouth the writer learned these particulars. This poor man was extremely humble, and could scarcely be prevailed upon to go through the necessary forms, when the ceremony of the consecration of the church was to be performed. He continued his self-denying habits, that he might be the instrument of doing still more good; and his life was spared for many years after the dedication of his church to its sacred purposes: and he enjoyed the unspeakably precious blessing of a faithfully preached gospel within the walls which he had been the honoured instrument of erecting.

The reader cannot but have observed that the forester first heard that truth, which, accompanied to the heart with divine power, is able to make men wise unto salvation, in a Church and that the poor man in the hamlet anxiously desired a Church, for his own benefit, and that of his neighbours. "How shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher ?" Contrast the state of the foresters, before they heard the gospel, with their state, after they had enjoyed the ministrations of a clergyman, and especially after the house of God was built, and its services faithfully and regularly performed amongst them; and, surely, none can continue to doubt the propriety of supplying the want, where it exists, (and it does exist most lamentably in many parts of our land) to the utmost extent of their ability.

Nor let any excuse themselves from immediate exertion, or from erecting churches where, at present, they would not be a welcome gift, by the assertion, that they will wait until the desire has been expressed for them, on the part of those who have them not. This desire is not to be found in the unrenewed mind. The natural man is averse from the truth of God, and will not seek it: he must be sought by it. Those who wish for his real good must use the means. There is a wide difference, indeed, between the effect produced by destitution, in temporal things and in spiritual. In temporal want, all, without exception, feel the wish for a supply, and earnestly endeavour to obtain it: all their powers are brought into willing exercise with a view to the attainment of their end: but in spiritual things, it is far otherwise. The natural man, influenced by his enemy, puts from him the richest blessings, not only does not desire, but will not accept them, while he remains in his natural state in order to the desire and effort, a change must be wrought the quickening power of God's Holy Spirit must be experienced the evil of sin, the danger to which the sinner is exposed, must be seen and felt: there must be conviction of the necessity of a Saviour, before the glory of Jesus, his excellency, and the suitableness and sufficiency of his work will be seen and acknowledged. And hence the propriety of sending the means of grace to those who, at first, would be unwilling to receive the blessing, with the hope that the Lord would, in his own good time, incline them to value it. Thus it was with the forester. He was like his companions in ignorance and guilt, but God put it into his heart to come to his house, and there the grace of repentance was given, which is the first step to salvation.

:

God, it is true, employs various means of grace for the accomplish

ment of his merciful purposes: but the public ministration in his tabernacles, he is pleased especially to honour. In the house of God, most commonly, is the sinner awakened to a sense of his danger, and led, under conviction of sin, and with true contrition of heart, to enquire, "What must I do to be saved?" And within the sacred walls, the sinner, thus made penitent and contrite, hears from the faithful minister, that "Whoever believeth in the LORD JESUS CHRIST shall be saved." Here the mourner is comforted, the wavering is established, the doubting is directed, the backslider is reclaimed. And as it respects the established believer, such can bear witness to the loss which he has sustained when prevented from attending the public ordinances, and his joy and profit when enabled to return to them. Such can testify that it is good to wait upon the Lord in his House. Under the Old Testament dispensation, the temple worship was not to be neglected, and the faithful amongst the Jews, whose minds were enlightened by the Spirit of God, beheld in their rites and ceremonies, types and shadows of the gospel, darkly, 'tis true, yet sufficiently for their salvation. The sacrifices presented to their eyes of faith, the great atoning sacrifice, which in fulness of time, should be offered. In the various ablutions which were commanded, they saw the necessity for the cleansing influences of the Holy Spirit ; in the Jewish High Priest, they beheld a type of the gracious Mediator and Advocate of his church, pleading the cause of the redeemed family, and presenting the prayers and praises of true believers before the mercy seat. And, under the Christian dispensation, the sanctuary of God is valued and frequented for similar purposes the types have been fulfilled: the shadows have been succeeded by the substance. In his house God meets with his waiting people, and records his name as their God. In frequenting his holy temple, they obey his command, and they use their high privilege. And on this filial obedience, God is pleased to look with approbation-to instruct his people to accept their service-to hear and answer their prayers. It was when the disciples of the Redeemer were gathered together, for the purpose of worship, upon the first day of the week, that their risen Lord appeared in their midst, and pronounced his benediction upon them "Peace be upon you." And it was when the Apostles were all with one accord in one place, that the Holy Ghost descended on them, and endued them with miraculous gifts.

In considering the appalling fact of the immensely increased popula.. tion of our country, without any thing like adequately increased church accommodation, for the millions which, in a few years, have been added to our numbers, Christians should assist, to the utmost of their ability, to supply this lamentable deficiency. Placing themselves in the situation of those who are thus destitute, they should ask, how they would wish, that those who enjoy the inestimable privilege of having a house of God to go to, should act towards them? And they should do likewise. It is right that we should send the gospel to the heathen and to our colonies abroad, and assist in erecting churches for them. But have not our countrymen at home a claim upon us for the largest share of our sympathy, regard, and exertion? It is admitted, that it is our bounden

duty, to admnister to the relief of their temporal necessities-to clothe the naked-to feed the hungry-to relieve the sick: but it is a much higher duty to provide for the welfare of their immortal souls. This is the truest philanthrophy. Spiritual exceed all temporal advantages, in proportion to the value of the soul, above that of the body, as eternity to time, or as heaven to earth. Finally, whatsoever our hand findeth to do, let us do it with all our might! Let us give our money and our exertions, as to the Lord! Let love of the Saviour be our actuating motive! Let us labour in this, as well as in other ways, for the extension of his kingdom, and let us make our offerings on the altar, which alone can sanctify the gift, Christ Jesus, presenting our contributions, and efforts made in other ways, to the Giver of all our good, and praying earnestly, that what is thus done, with a view to the divine glory, and the good of our fellow creatures, may be owned, graciously accepted, and blessed from above!

THE following lines were written, as may be seen by the date attached to them, in the spring of this year-their gentle writer departed this life in little more than two months after. Her pious wish was almost literally fulfilled. She was in her usual health when she wrote them, but after a few days' illness she quietly fell asleep in the Lord Jesus, and entered into her rest. There was the sweet and peaceful smile of which she spoke, upon the face of the dead.

LINES.

OFT when at night I close my eyes
And lay my weary head to rest,
I think, how sweet 'twould be to rise
A saint in heaven for ever blest.

Calmly and tranquilly to glide

From earth's dull cares and scenes away,

With angels bright and fair to guide

My footsteps to the realms of day:

So silently the strife to cease

With inbred and indwelling sin,

To hear my Saviour whisper, "Peace!
"My Father's kingdom enter in !”

Then loved ones left on earth might trace,
While looking on this mortal clod,

These words, in smiles upon my face,
"I sleep in death, and rest with God."
AMELIA

April 29, 1840.

THE BOOKSELLER OF ALLERTON.

WE left our Bookseller at the time that all his fondly cherished hopes were budding forth, fresh as the glad and blessed spring when sending out its sweet germs of promise around our Cottage dwelling. We take him up again when his meridian sun of life has attained its altitude; the spring with him is over and gone, the buds of promise have blown into full expansion; in plain terms William Walters has grown accustomed to the sight of a polished mahogany counter, and a nicely oil-cloth covered shop: he is no longer startled and anxious at the entrance of a new customer, for his shop has become a sort of lounge; at least a place of resort, and of meeting in the Town where he is now established.

Some years have passed since we saw him last, together with his wife and infant child in their new dwelling: some changes have taken place. Walters himself is changed: he is become a man of busine s: he is not yet the bustling, officious, authoritative head of the establishment; but he is grown more active and less reflective; his countenance is less pensive yet strange to say more careful

The child is changed; he has grown a fine intelligent, yet quiet boy, now about eight years old, and is placed at a school where he learns a great many bad ways, and his parents apprehend, but little more: the wife is she changed? No, Esther is just the same, quiet, careful, contented. If she is changed, it is in those secret things that belong to God in all outward things Esther is just as we left her eight years ago; except that the matronly character of her appearance has received a slightly deeper shade, and the expression of her face is more composedly happy. She too has ceased to wonder at many things which at first seemed passing belief: she does not now stop at the door of the back parlour to ask herself if with its aspect of business and comfort united, it is really theirs: neither does she enter with a hesitating step the drawing room, which the kind Rector assigns together with the best bed-room to the use of guests whom the Rectory cannot accommodate, and after touching and retouching with a fair cloth the shining mahogany furniture, pause in the middle of the floor, and casting round a glance rather of enquiry than admiration, as if asking whether the transition from the little shop in the dirty back street had not taken place in a very pleasant dream. Esther has become accustomed now to her honours, but she bears them meekly: she is evidently at ease and there is not on her quiet expansive brow, or in her calm full opened eye, the restless anxious look, or the trace of feverish excitement, which often may be seen in her husband, and bespeak the workings of a mind tasked far beyond its natural powers.

We take up the party on a quiet afternoon, when Esther is seated in the aforesaid back parlour, engaged in examining into the condition of a pile of stockings, the property of her husband and son; and Walters with a flushed brow and pale face has retired there too, from the basking sun of the southern fronted shop, to make out in its comparative shade, a very perplexed account which some dissatisfied customer has demanded. At this moment the door is thrown open and

master Willey, with his cap on his head, and his satchel over his shoulder, bolts into the same room of all work. It was unlike the quiet boy to do this, and both parents looked up.

Willey had often come home out of temper, but now the child's indignation was unbounded: the tale was soon told-it was an old one repeated the master had been unjust again--never was such injustice shewn, School boys have a natural love of justice, but there was something in Willey's love of justice that seemed to be a cause of suspicion to his mother. Esther looked steadily and quietly at her son, then drawing him to her side, she said-my boy, was it the master's injustice, or your own ambition brought you into all this trouble?

Willey raised to her calm, kind countenance, that enquiring regard which an intellectual child will often bestow when the mind receives some light from an idea which it cannot altogether comprehend; but the truth of which innate reason and conscience attest.

But though little Willey did not fully understand his mother's question, his father not only understood but in a singular degree appeared to feel it, and, such is the perversity of man's mind, the simple truth that touches home, even if applied in another's case, is often most hastily rejected; and so Walters, suddenly closing the Ledger said

"Yes the master is unjust; my son shall go to his school no longer.” The decree was passed. Esther never, at the time, disputed her husband's will: we do not say she never, at a more convenient season, endeavoured to bring him round to her's: but Esther had plain good sense: she never made their only child, or his affairs the subject of contention, especially in the presence of that child.

The present case however will afford no example of Esther's mode of managing matters on which so much of the happiness of husbands and wives, and the good of children depend; for on this occasion her mind was entirely with her husband's. She never wished the boy to go to the school he attended, but it was the only one in the town he could attend. Esther thought she would have been quite capable of teaching him herself all that was necessary at his present age, but Walters had much more exalted views of education for his son than she had. The fact is, it was one of Walters' secret mortification that his very limited education and want of knowledge of books, rendered him dependent on the information of others to answer many, or most of the enquiries made to him by his customers; without the assistance of Mr. Mellersh he would often be at a loss, and therefore if there was a person on earth whose possession of knowledge he envied, it was the Rev. Henry Mellersh. The defect which Walters so deeply felt in himself he wished to see remedied in his son, whose assistance in book-selling he expected in a few years to possess, and who, he often thought with that sort of feeling which is at once both pleasurable and sad, would inherit a business ready made to his hand, and without encountering the difficulties or feeling the obstructions his father had had to contend with, be better calculated to uphold it, and be more highly thought of than the depressed and laborious founder of the establishment.

Esther, we have said, made no reply to her husband's assertion; and