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where it could not but be the more painfully conspicuous from the force of contrast with what had preceded it; and by a swelling tide of popular contempt many an ancient, many a godly barrier was swept from before the throne of England.

Those painful scenes were not of long duration; and if not their very memory, yet surely their immediate effects should have been done away with when under the modest, matronly influence of a Queen consort like Adelaide, the court became once more the resort of all that was virtuous, and a prohibited spot to the vicious and the vile. But what the tongue of unseemly licence had proclaimed, many a licentious pen perpetuated; and a style of writing gained ground among us, leading mens' minds farther and farther from the good old track, until the principle which every Bible-reader knows to be scriptural is an exploded thing; and the universal characteristic of this generation appears to be that they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." Neither the regal, nor the magisterial, nor the judicial, nor the parental prerogative is properly recognized among us the best, the most ancient, the most sacred bonds of society are loosened on every side; and it is to be feared that many parents who feelingly lament at least their own share in this widespread deterioration of what God has pronounced precious and venerable, help forward the evil, by encouraging a class of writings every way calculated to foster it even to a giant growth.

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Nor is this the worst feature of the case: as we have already remarked, the real object of attack is the national religion; and the result will be found to tally with the Apostle's description of those who

allure" with great swelling words of vanity" the unstable and unwary: "while they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption," though, it may be, unconscious whom they serve; and the tyranny that is by these means among others to be established over the human mind, is a thousand-fold worse than that of the eighth Henry, or any temporal despot under whose sway this or other countries may have ground.

The King of kings is at hand will he find the feelings of expectant loyalty towards His own divine person and the glorious kingdom that he will come to set up, alive and active in bosoms where the principle of submission to constituted authority, and respect for those who exercise it, is well nigh if not altogether extinguished?

C. E.

THE declaration of Luther as to the decay of the Reformation which he anticipated, is remarkable. He says, "The doctrine which I do often report, (and not without tediousness do still beat into your heads, and define unto you,) will be darkened and defaced again when we are dead, for the world must be replenished with horrible darkness and errors, before the latter day comes."'—Bickersteth.

THE FOUR EMPIRES AND THE KINGDOM OF MESSIAH.

(Written by a father for his children.)

ERE angels chanted Prince Immanuel's birth,
Four mighty Empires rose to scourge the earth;
Chaldea, Persia, Macedon and Rome,

Whose orient hour was fixed, and fixed their final doom.

Chaldea first her golden head uprears,

But bows when Persia's silver breast appears.

And silver Persia lays her trophies down
Before the winged power of brazen Macedon.

See Rome come striding on with iron force;
And Greece in vain attempts to stay her course.
Greece falls, Rome triumphs, and with ruthless sway,
Bids nations, peoples, realms, her tyrant laws obey.

By Heaven's decree, two hundred years alone,
Beheld the rise and fall of Babylon.

Two hundred more to Persia's power were given;
And three to Græcia's form-Thus stood the wil of
Heaven.

Since then two thousand years have well nigh sped, And Rome still breathes, still rears her palsied head: But mark her steps! She totters to decay

Her iron strength is gone, Her feet are miry clay.

See yonder Stone! From Heaven's high quarry wrought,

To aid its force no earthly strength is brought-
It rushes down! Before it what shall stand?
Gold, silver, iron, brass, are but as drifting sand.

Lo, yonder Mountain! See, it fills the earth.
Ye angel quires who hymn'd Emanuel's birth,
Retune your harps! The glorious day is come!
The kingdom of the saints! Their EVERLASTING
home !

Oswestry.

PRAYER is living with God; and if founded upon right principles of religion, it puts upon searching the heart, leads us to the knowledge of our wants and weakness, and fixes us in dependence upon God: nothing is more easy than a bare duty or lip-service, and nothing more difficult than the performance of it in truth and sincerity.-Adams.

MARY SPENCER.

A TALE FOR THE TIMES.

CHAPTER XII.

"ICHABOD."

THE summer had past away, and autumn too was far advanced. In Fernely everything was undergoing a gradual change. Mary and Emma had by degrees been dismissed from the Sunday school, though Lady Sophia Benson still retained some influence there, and continued to teach a class herself. The former school-mistress had been parted with, in favour of a person on whom Mr. Norman could rely, and our two friends instructed a few children of both sexes, who came to them on Sabbath evenings; for they still persevered in their morning attendance at Mr. Sidney's church.

Lady Sophia's affectionate heart could never be quite estranged from her younger companions, but Marcella Norman contrived to engross most of her time, so that she was much less with them than she formerly had been.

She did not reject the doctrines of grace, but their influence on her life and conduct, was evidently weakened, and though she professed no alteration in her creed, she seemed half pleased with Mrs. Chambers' charge. "So I hear you are quite a high

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