The time is short-the work is longMy heart is frail, my foes are strong— Be thou, my Master, with me still, And strengthen me to do thy will.

On thee, for all, may I depend, Elshaddaï! my changeless Friend! Mighty to save! let pow'r be shewn, For one weak, helpless, and alone.

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Many there be who bondage break,1 Jesus! I would not thee forsake; Around me wind thy three-fold cord, And may I ever serve the Lord!

1 1 Sam. xxv. 10.

LETTER IV.

PUNCTUALITY IN FAMILY PRAYER.

IN entering upon the particular arrangement of your family, perhaps one of the first things that engages the attention, is the necessity of method, order, and punctuality. Among what are commonly called the minor virtues of life, (which said minor virtues exercise an inestimable influence on daily duties and daily habits,) there is not one of more importance than punctuality. By punctuality we mean, such an arrangement of our time as may enable us to perform our various duties within such periods and at such hours, as, after candidly surveying our own engagements, and the engagements of those with whom we stand connected, we find to be most fit and appropriate. All must go on harmoniously; one duty must not jostle against

another; one engagement must not assume undue importance by engrossing a larger proportion of the hour or the day than justly and fairly belongs to it; and while we endeavour to put the talent with which we are all entrusted, time, to its true use, full regard must be had to the comfort and convenience of the persons with whom we are brought in contact. And this is what we call punctuality. We said it was one of the minor virtues; but after defining what we understand by the word, we boldly assert that punctuality ought to rank much higher than it is commonly allowed to do. The right employment of our time involves all that is meant by our duty; the loss or waste of it on our own part is the omission of our duty; and some sin it must be to be instrumental in the loss or waste of time on the part of others.

In entering on the management of a house, endeavour to arrange every thing on a regular plan. This is no easy matter, for in order to accomplish it, it is necessary to take a comprehensive view of all your duties. It has been affirmed that few women are women of system; and the remark agrees with the fact that the inability to grasp a whole, is one of the predominant defects of the female mind.

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When warned of our defects, we ought to stand on our guard against them, and, what Pope Clement XIV. said to a young student, Method, method, method,' we may venture to recommend as judicious advice to every lady at her first entrance on domestic life.

Now, punctuality is an important part of method; and we may possibly return to the subject in speaking of other branches of duty. I had intended in this letter to make some remarks on the duty of family prayer; but taking it for granted that you acknowledge the duty, it does not seem incorrect, before treating specifically of the manner and spirit in which it ought to be performed, to consider the advantage of a fixed season for its performance.

On this point I may cite the words of an aged minister, uttered to one who felt and who has remembered them. You are a young housekeeper,' he said, I am an old one: take my advice: fix that hour for family prayer, morning and evening, which, after taking into consideration all the circumstances of your family, you find to be the most convenient ; have your servants in, and, having fixed your hour, suffer nothing to interfere with it. Whatever happens, whoever comes, let nothing en

trench upon that time which you have peculiarly devoted to God, and which you must consider sacred. Assign the true reason-it is the hour for family prayer.'

This advice, I strongly recommend to your prayerful consideration. The first care of every professedly Christian family should be to build an altar to the Lord, and to arrange at what times the service shall be offered to Him from whom all our blessings are derived. The important effects of punctuality in this particular cannot easily be overestimated. If any thing, if every thing is to interfere with our assembling ourselves together for the social worship of our God; if our Bibles are to be opened and closed just when caprice may dictate; if we avail ourselves of frivolous excuses for deferring to a more convenient season," what we ought to do at an appointed time, we virtually assert to our families that the veriest trifle holds, in our estimation, a higher importance than communion with our Maker. They who say such things by their actions, must prove them, if they can, by their words, and explain to their families what they understand by" seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." I am not taking the extreme

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