noble devotion with which, day after day, and year after || spectful language, and a total neglect of those little rev- Nor was she satisfied with providing only for that part 66 Joyful was that mother's heart, joyful beyond all earthly joy, when yet in the morning of his days he enlisted under the banner of the great Captain of his salvation. And when kneeling beside her, he first received the sacred symbols of the crucified body and blood of his Redeemer, she cried with Simeon of old, "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." But I would not make my sketch too accurate. would rather others should look around and observe the conduct of those who have been too much the objects of solicitude, and thence derive a lesson. Is it not reversing the order of nature, for the parent to look up to the child? To be guided by his opinion before experience has given wisdom? What must be the effect of such a course? He who is thus the object of a silent and unconscious flattery, can scarcely resist its influence. He cannot be expected long to obey one, to whom he is taught to consider himself superior! Who has not witnessed self-sufficiency, disrespect, bursts of ungoverned temper leading to disre 211 O! mothers, why will you, by too much tenderness, sow with your own hand those seeds that can produce nought but the piercing thorns of mortified pride and wounded affection? Why will you refuse to wield that sceptre which God himself has placed in your hand? You cannot throw it aside without sinning, nor can you fail, by so doing, to bring sorrow upon yourselves and those you love. You have only to read your Bible to learn that God has commanded you to govern your children. O! that they might feel the sin of disobedience! O! that parents could feel that God has delegated to them authority, for the proper use of which they are responsible to him. Have any of my readers been so happy as never to have seen a professing Christian, leading a moral life, a regular worshiper in the temple of the Lord, obscuring the lustre of his Christian character, and becoming a stumbling-block to others, by a want of filial piety? O! that all such would arouse to a Christian sense of their duty to their parents, "that their language might be respectful, their actions dutiful, and their whole behavior such that they might not increase the burden and care of their lives, but prove a comfort and a blessing to them."-Mother's Magazine. THE MEDIATOR. Br sin man brought himself under the Divine dis Can there be a dark side to such a picture? Alas! for human frailty. The sunken rock upon which many a mother has wrecked much of earthly comfort at least, wounded her. She loved too well. Too assiduous, too devoted, too careful, his comfort too much her study; he learned to think himself the first object of consider-pleasure, and without a Mediator must have perished ation. O! how does this sap the foundation of much for ever. Christ undertook to reconcile the parties at that is valuable, that lays at the root of peace of mind, variance; and in order to effect this, an atonement was to say no more. to be made for man. That he might make a suitable She implanted principles of unswerving integrity, but atonement, it became necessary for him to assume our how was their lustre dimmed by little omissions. He nature. This he accomplished in the fullness of time; loved her, but how was this love manifested? By re- but in that assumption he did not partake of the degard for her wishes? By respectful and kind atten- pravity that is common to the nature of man. While, tions? He consoled himself for the neglect of pres- then, he is without sin, and in possession of every exent duty by promising to return at some future time ali cellence to which human nature could be exalted, he is he owed her. When fortune smiled, what pleasure it "God over all and blessed for ever." Thus he poswould give him to maintain her who had so long sup-sesses all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and ported him. is a proper Mediator, not only on account of the holiIness and dignity of his character, but also because he partakes of the nature of each of the parties at variance. Embracing the Divine and human nature in his character, he can lay his hand equally upon both; and thus God and man meet in him and become reconciled to each other. When he came to the world as our Mediator, he made no ostentatious parade, no proud ambitious display; but his compassion carried him far beyond the ordinary bounds of philanthropy and love. While, in the usual exhibitions of human charity, our gifts are laid on the altar of Christian zeal and kindness, enough is reserved for convenience and comfort; but He who Original. 212 NEGLECTED CHILDREN. "was rich, for our sakes became poor." He laid aside his glory, and denied himself the enjoyment of the things he had created, until he became more destitute than the lower orders of the animated creation. Hence the exclamation, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." While it is too common for man to neglect the wretched, the poor, and the fallen, and they are left to drag out a miserable existence, without sympathy or aid, Christ manifested a different spirit. Guilty, wretched, and degraded man was the object of his pity; and he turned away from the attraction of unfallen beings-from cherubim and seraphim, to bestow his blessings on the fallen family of man. But the heavenly hosts followed him with wonder and adoration down to earth; and the lowly shepherds of Bethlehem heard them praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Man may relieve a friend in distress, while he has very little sympathy for the miseries of an enemy; but Christ endured privation, almost every kind of indignity, and even death itself for his enemies. And in the closing scenes of his persecution and suffering, he displayed such forbearance, mercy, and magnanimity as the universe has never equaled. When assailed by prejudice and falsehood—when buffeted and spit upon when scourged and arrayed in the habiliments of mock royalty when nailed to the cross, and derided as a vile imposter, his patience and forbearance never forsook him. While the convulsions of the earth opened the graves of saints, and burst asunder her massy rockswhile powers celestial and infernal gazed upon him in overwhelming awe and astonishment-when the sun was made to cease his shining, and the wrath of God was ready to be revealed from heaven against the murderers, his prayer for mercy shielded them—he stayed the sword of Divine justice from the guilty. And he quieted the confusion of nature; and when he cried, "It is finished," he healed the wide breach between man and his God, so making peace betwixt earth and heaven. He was taken from the cross to the tomb; but beyond the appointed period for his exaltation, the powers of darkness could not confine him. Salvation is offered unto us in his great name. Let us then come unto God by him, that we may obtain it. When we do so, we shall be happy. Creation will appear more beautiful, for we shall behold it in a new light. Then the "heavens will indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament show forth his handiwork." In the darkness of night we shall be tranquil; for no "guilty gloom," shall rest upon the mind. When morning breaks around us, bright and lovely, it will be to us as the emblem of heaven. Amid the splendor of noon we will think of him who is the "brightness of the Father's glory." And the milder charms of evening will be more inviting; for we shall then be reminded of the close of life, with all its toils, and our entrance into the "boundless bliss of heaven." A. BAKER. Original. NEGLECTED CHILDREN. AN aged divine at the funeral of a child said that "our children are not our own but are loaned to us by the Lord, and the love he feels for them is infinitely greater than the fondest parent can possibly feel or comprehend." This remark struck me with peculiar force, and excited in my mind a train of reflections which I trust I shall never forget. It is a thought full of rapture to the pious parent: dearly as I love my babes, anxiously as I watch each development of character, and fervently as I pray for their salvation, yet there is a Being who loves them infinitely better than I do; whose eye marks the forming character with deeper solicitude, than the most devoted mother possibly can. This being is omnipotent; and "in his hands are the issues of life." Then with what confidence, with what unwavering faith, can I implore Heaven's choicest blessings to rest upon my children, praying that his Holy Spirit may breathe upon them, that his love may occupy the first place in their young hearts, and that living or dying they may be his for ever. "Soon his triumphal chariot wheels Ascend the lofty skies; While broke beneath his powerful cross, Death's iron sceptre lies." And now in heaven "he ever liveth to make intercession for us." The blessings that accrue to man through his mediation are numerous and great, and they extend through time and eternity. Pardon of sin, regeneration, adoption into the family of God, and entire sanctification, are blessings he procures for his "willing and obedient?" people in this life. But "a far more exceed-treated me with tears to permit her to retain the object ing and eternal weight of glory" shall be theirs in the world to come. Time, with its changing seasons and annual blessings-the enjoyment of present good, with the hope of future bliss, and in fine "every good and perfect gift" that we enjoy, comes from the Father of lights, through the ever blessed Redeemer, But there is one thought connected with this doctrine, of startling interest. I have been so situated as to be compelled to place my infant in the arms of a nurse that she might supply to it the place of a mother, and with a mother's tenderness attend to all its wants. Now if this nurse had treated with harshness and severity the babe I committed to her care; or if through mistaken or pretended love she had gratified all its desires; if instead of giving it wholesome food, suited to its constitution, she had indulged it in eating only sweetmeats, thereby endangering its health and life, would not my anger be kindled? Though she had en of her charge, I would have snatched my darling from her arms as from a devouring beast, to place it in more prudent keeping. The Lord has intrusted me with two dear children; but they are not properly my own-they are only committed to my care by their heavenly Father, who THE SABBATH. Original. We all know that Sunday is one seventh equal division of time. We all know time is the basis of life, as it also is of death and of eternity. In life, in death, and in eternity, we all have an equal stake. Though our life may be shorter or longer than that of another, yet, as to its ultimate and full value—the sal feels for them more than maternal love. He has required me to be their nurse, guardian, and teacher-he has given me instructions in his holy word how he would have them trained; and his will therein revealed is to be my guide in all my conduct towards them. I am not at liberty to treat them as my caprice might dictate, as their wishes might demand, or as imperious fashion might require. Their heavenly Father cannot be deceived, but marks with a jealous eye all my deal-vation of the soul-it is equal to all. Is there one who ings towards them. If, in attempting to correct the denies this? Is there one created being who dares to faults or allay the fretfulness of childish humor, I should say that God requires more of us than we have the reprove and correct with angry tongue and cruel hand, ability to perform! And this ability God supplies to us. and continue in such a course, so as to blunt all the Now Sunday being the seventh part of time, if not finer sensibilities of their nature, blast in the bud every misused, affords to us a seventh value or proportion of tender affection, and crush every gentle virtue, would I opportunity to help ourselves towards God, and so has not, by such a course, incur the just displeasure of the a seventh value in our endeavor after salvation. Yet holy One? or if, through mistaken tenderness, I indulge|| more, as God "set apart the seventh day," and "blessed them in unbridled liberty-suffer them to follow the it," and appointed it a Sabbath of rest and of holiness, dictates of depraved nature, without endeavoring to so by that very act and decree do we know that its eradicate from their young hearts each plant of nox- use is not at all, neither shall be, necessary to our secious growth-neglecting to use my exertions to train ular support. There are but few exigencies, in all the them up in the way they should go-to water and cul- varied life of God's creatures, that shall render it necestivate every grace-in short, should I fail to employ sary to use this sacred day, this holy time, to the conevery reasonable means in my power to train them for|| servation of our life, or even of our comfort. And usefulness here and happiness hereafter-for such neg- even these instances, this necessity, we must believe we lect of duty would not the anger of the Lord be kin- have superinduced upon ourselves, by some train of dled against me? and might I not justly fear his judg- previous sin, which has worked out this natural consements would be inflicted on me, either in my own per- quence of disadvantage to us, and for which we should son, or in the persons of my children? I think it pro- all the time repent, and pray for the remission of a furbable that the Divine Being has permitted thousands ther penalty. And yet the instances which I have of children to be torn from the arms of their agonized mentioned are not of deliberate Sabbath breaking, but parents by resistless death, for no other reason than that of what we deem necessity, to extreme cases. That those parents were recreant in their duty towards their we tend the sick, comfort the afflicted, and "go about children. The Lord, out of compassion and love for doing good," we have the authority of Christ's examhis innocent ones, removes them from under the pro- ple, as well as precept. We know that the appropritection and influence of parents, where, to remain, ate use of the day is attendance on preaching, prayer, would be ruinous to their souls. O, for wisdom to di- holy reading, and meditation; and by this improverect, for ability to perform, and for perseverance to ac- ment of the day-to its specific appointment of a Sabcomplish the pleasing, the fearful task of training young bath-it shall far outbalance its proportionate value of immortals for heaven! CYNTHIA. a seventh to our hoping and our gaining-verily it shall in some measure commute and cover the lesser and insufficient gainings of the other six days. If we must not say this to ourselves in this form, yet let us not be so dull, so little reflective, as not to perceive that the influences of a well spent Sabbath do extend and read themselves over the frame, and condition, and available agencies-in a religious sense-of the succeeding six days, till another appointment invigorate our faith, and renew our strength, and may be receive some accumulation from preceding Sabbaths, and their connecting influences from week to week. And in how many instances could we admonish the many that their Sabbath, even with church attendance, and other acknowledged proprieties, yet falls short of the decency of holiness-that holiness which we do not deny by the ascription, but which, alas! we often contradict and gainsay in the practice. There is far too much dress, and sense of dress on the Sabbath. This littleness obtains, even with mothers and fathers, whilst the grown daughter sometimes divides her vanity be 213 THE POPE'S RETORT. INGRATITUDE in a superior, is very often nothing more than the refusal of some unreasonable request; and if the patron does too little, it is not unfrequently because the dependant expects too much. A certain Pope, who had been raised from an obscure situation, to the apostolic chair, was immediately waited upon by a deputation sent from a small district, in which he had formerly officiated as cure. It seems that he had promised the inhabitants that he would do something for them if it should ever be in his power; and some of them now appeared before him, to remind him of his promise, and also to request that he would fulfill it, by granting them two harvests in every year! He acceded to this modest request, on condition that they should go home immediately, and so adjust the almanac of their own particular district, as to make every year of their register consist of twenty-four calendar months. 214 twixt her clothes and herself; and though she is not || shall work him disaster, and hindrance, and annoy, and conscious of it, the effect of these and a subdued co- if he repent not, consternation and woe; for he who is quetry, sometimes even in God's house, more than di-wanting to his own soul on the Sabbath, shall hardly vides her thoughts, and renders her attendance there be faithful to it on any other day. How many classes worse than were omission. She is hardly conscious of are yet unrebuked! The children about their parents' this, we say. We speak not bitterly, but in sorrow. knees shall suffer for it, if their parents keep them not We admire to see a beautiful young woman. We ad- in the measure of reverence which they owe to this day mire to see her well dressed-it is suitable and proper. above all other days. And the old-the absolutely Both of these perhaps she can be, and go to Church, old-if they are not right in this particular-if experi too, without calling for our rebuke. But finery is so ence and the telling of time has not admonished them, out of place in a temple inscribed to the Most High, neither would they be taught, "though one should rise that disgust is the first impression, and charity, per- from the dead." Of the railer, the rioter, the scoffer, haps, a second allowance. The dress should be very we have spoken not. They are the outlaws of society, plain at Church, not affectedly so, though; for it is no as they seem to be the castaways of grace; and their place in which to sport any form of sin. We have unthrift course makes itself apparent in no way more often thought the Spanish Domino,* viewed as a dress strikingly than in that of Sabbath breaking. We alone, is the most becoming and the most suitable of would wish them to reflect, that as the wrath of God any for the Sabbath dress. At least, if it does not should have been stayed on the wicked cities of old, for eradicate vanity, by shrouding it from others, it pre-ten's sake, so, in their course of iniquity, let the Sabvents the mischief of diverting attention, and exciting bath alone be excepted from their days of sinning, and the desire of like frivolous, and may be, the worse pas- perhaps for seven's sake, they may in God's mercy yet sion of envy in those less able to pluck on to a like sin, be saved! MENTORIA. &c., &c. ABYSSINIAN CUSTOMS. The deportment of the young is more or less conformed to the scale of their dress. There is no ill nature, but the most perfect sincerity in our observations. Will any person believe another sincerely pious, who goes to Church bedecked as for a show-of which the elaborate toilet even should have cost an hour's time, and much reflection and arrangement? And how does the young gentleman look at all this? Is he himself in a position to object? If he have a good sense of truth, can he also say he has no sense of self when too much dressed? We especially speak of the impropriety of much dress for this occasion. This is our admonition to the young whilst within the walls of the Church. And if, by chattings and gallantries on the way home, and by light and irreverent topics when there, the day is violated and profaned, their succeeding week will not be, as happy for it. At least no influence will extend from it to protect and guard them against the vivacious and indiscreet tendencies of youth. And we admonish them that it be not so! "Tis not the young alone, amongst the decent classes of society, who are Sabbath breakers. Their sin of vanity is perhaps less unholy than is the sin in those of riper age, of a deliberate and calculating avarice, which seeks occasion and furtherance on this holy day. But no furtherance shall it find, but the direct contrary; for although the disadvantage is neither immediate nor apparent, yet is it so arranged in the providence of God, that the Sabbath worker is allying himself to causes which, in the chain of events-in the four-fold web of life-either in the physical, the moral, the intellectual, or the spiritual-or in the combination of some, or of all these together-that his impious deed ABYSSINIAN CUSTOMS. THEIR manner of dancing consists rather in the motion of the shoulders and head than in that of the legs or feet. When several dance at a time, they move round in a ring. The men jump a great height at times, while the women sink down by degrees, making motions with the head, shoulders, and breast, until they nearly squat on the ground. They afterwards spring up in a lively manner, and go round as before. The Abyssinians, while they profess to be rigid followers of the Christian faith, are yet ignorant of the greater part of its precepts; which arises chiefly from the want of a good example being shown to them by those of the superior class. The heads of their clergy are in general the greatest drinkers in the whole country, and at feasts, the quantity of raw meat which they consume, and the ravenous manner in which they devour it, exceeds all belief; indeed, they behave more like drunken beasts, when in company, than civilized beings. Notwithstanding the libertine conduct of the Abys-" sinians, they strictly keep all their fasts, which are very numerous, and on those days never eat or drink till about three o'clock in the afternoon, which time they compute by measuring so many lengths of the foot giv en by the shade of the body on level ground. This, indeed, is the only way in which they keep time in Abyssinia. Their great Lent, which commences in February, lasts fifty-six days. Their years are called after the four evangelists-that of John is the leapyear. They reckon the number of years from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ, five thousand five hundred; and from the birth of Christ to the pres ent time, one thousand eight hundred and five; the lat *The Domino, as worn in Spain and other Catholic countries, is a large loose over garment, fitted with a vail or a head-ter being about nine years short of our time. The adpiece, shrouding and enveloping the whole person, and is inva riably of black. ministering of the holy sacrament is quite a public ceremony. After receiving it, they place their hands to ་ ABYSSINIAN CUSTOMS. 215 their mouths, and go their way; nor will they on any || self unwell. They complied, and left me with only a On passing a church mounted, they alight from their Before the cry was over, the people with devves were standing in crowds about my house, striving who should get in first; and the door was entirely stopped up, till at last my people were obliged to keep the entrance clear by force, and let only one at a time into the house. Some brought twenty or thirty cakes of bread, some a jar of maze, some cooked victuals, fowls and bread, some a sheep, &c.; and in this manner I had my house filled so full, that I was obliged to go out into the yard until things were put in order, and supper was ready. The head priest came with a jar of maze and a cow. What neighbors and acquaintances bring in the manner above mentioned, is called devves. The bringers are all invited to eat with you; they talk and tell stories, to divert your thoughts from the sorrowful subject; they force you to drink a great deal; but I remarked, that, at these cries, when the relatives There are priests and deacons, who go about to the different towns, or residences of chiefs, where they find employment in teaching children to read. Their school is held generally in a church-yard, or in some open || of the deceased become a little tranquil in their minds, place near it, sometimes before the residence of the some old woman, or some person who can find no one master, and in that case, during the rains, they are all to talk to, will make a dismal cry, saying, "O, what a crowded up in a small dark hut, learning prayers by fine child! and is he already forgotten?" This puts the word of mouth from the master, instead of from a book. company into confusion, and all join in the cry, which When a boy is somewhat advanced in learning, he is perhaps will last half an hour, during which the sermade to teach the younger ones. However few the vants and common people standing about will drink all scholars, the master has in general great trouble with the maze, and when well drunk, will form themselves them, and, in addition to the ordinary punishments, num- into a gang at the door, and begin their cry; and if bers are constantly obliged to be kept in irons. The their masters want another jar of maze to drink, they common way of punishing scholars is as follows: the must pour it out themselves, their servants being so schoolmaster stands over them with a wax taper, which drunk that they cannot stand. In this manner they cuts as severely as a whip, while five or six boys pinch pass away a day, without taking rest. the offender's legs and thighs; and if they spare him, the master gives them a stroke with the taper; but the correction considered most effective for these young Abyssinian rogues, is that of having irons put upon their legs for many months together, which in one instance I knew, proved fatal. It was a grown Agow boy, about thirteen years of age, who had more than once contrived to get his irons off, and desert from the school; for which the master, by desire of the parents, put so heavy a pair of irons upon his ankles, that he found it impossible to get them off: and this enraged him so much, that he drew his large knife, cut his own throat, and soon afterwards expired. I must say, however, that the first part of the funeral is very affecting: and the only fault I can find is, that they bury the dead the instant they expire. If a grown person of either sex, or a priest, is by them when they expire, the moment the breath departs, the cries and shouts which have been kept up for hours before, are recommenced with fury; the priests read prayers of forgiveness while the body is washed, and the hands put across one another upon the lower part of the belly, and tied to keep them in that position, the jaws tied as close as possible, the eyes closed, the two great toes tied together, and the body is wrapped in a clean cloth and sewed up, after which the skin called meet, the only bed an Abyssinian has to lie upon, is The priests came, and the customary prayers were tied over the cloth, and the corpse laid upon a couch read, and my poor child was carried away to be buried, and carried to the church, the bearers walking at a slow his mother following in a distracted manner. After pace. According to the distance of the house from the the funeral, the people returned to my house, and when church, the whole route is divided into seven equal they had cried for a half an hour, I begged they would parts; and when they come to the end of every sevleave off, and let me have a little rest, as I found my-enth part, the corpse is set down, and prayers of for FUNERAL CEREMONIES. |