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the Lord would have it) her friend was out of town, and would not return for three weeks. "Three weeks," exclaimed the poor woman, who had so dwelt upon the pleasure she should experience in paying her baker 21.-" three weeks," said she, turning from her friend's door; "Oh! dear Lord, help me; Lord, what shall I do?" and being very fatigued with her journey, she slowly proceeded towards her home. 66 Ah," said she, "shall I go to the lady herself; perhaps she would not be offended? Oh, if she should, I shall lose my 41. per year. Lord, direct me what to do." And having proceeded but a step or two farther, made a stop, saying, "Yes, I will go to the lady herself;" and immediately turned towards the West end of the town, and with a heavy heart reached Square, nearly exhausted with the journey and her great disappointment; and with her mind alternately exercised between hope and fear, she walked several times up and down in front of the residence of Lady F; At length summoning all her fortitude, she rang the bell, which was quickly answered by one of the domestics, who, upon ascertaining her business, spoke very kindly to her, and had her seated in the hall that she might compose herself a little, telling her that he would go to the lady in a minute and speak for her; and reminding her of her ladyship's great kindness, and that she had nothing to fear, he withdrew. She had, previous to ringing the bell, in her heart asked the Lord to give her favour in the eyes of the lady, and the kind words of the servant seemed quite to raise her hopes, and when she was beginning to feel a little matter comfortable, the servant came down-stairs with a message from the lady, informing her that she wished to see her immediately. "Oh!" said she (while her heart sank within her) "if her ladyship is offended with me, I shall lose my four pounds a-year." "Come along," said the servant, 66 come along," and almost had to pull her up the stairs; "come along, I hope the Lord will give you favour in her eyes," said he, and presently showed her into the room where the lady sat on a sofa. "I beg pardon, ma'am," said the poor woman, as she entered the room; "I hope no offence, ma'am, but as as Mrs.

-;" the

-was

was out of town, ma'am, I thought I would take the liberty of lady interrupted her by saying, "Oh, thee did right in coming, as Mrs. out; thee did quite right in coming; here come here, and sit down by me; and so thee art poor Mrs. art thou; well now, let me know somewhat how thee get on; God bless thee, poor creature-there, sit thee here; but stop now before thee begin―let me pay thee the pound thee know ;" and having paid her, the poor woman, after thanking her, proceeded to give an outline of the trials and difficulties through which she had been called to pass, not forgetting to speak also of the Lord's gracious interposition on her behalf which she had experienced many times; and during the recital of which, her ladyship now and then exclaimed, "God bless thee, poor creature, thee hast seen a great deal of trouble," and so on. When the poor woman had finished her narrative, the lady said, "Well now, I will tell thee a little about myself; thee know I am pretty well to do in life, and as I think it right we should do all that lays in our power for our fellow-creatures, so thee know I endeavour to do all the good I can, especially to the poor, and as often as my health will permit, I go to church, and I take the sacrament at least once a-month; as I do not think we ought to be remiss in these things, and every opportunity of doing good that comes in my way, I do what I can, and so thee know, Mrs. we may hope for the best." "Well, ma'am," said the poor woman (who did not feel quite comfortable while the lady was speaking, feeling anything but satisfied with the account of herself), "I never was in your circumstances, ma'am, though I have been much better off than I am now, ma'am, and at that time I thought as you do now, that if I did something for the poor, and did all the good I could, ma'am, that it was all God required of me; and as far as my circumstances would permit, I did something for my neighbours, ma'am ; but the Lord opened my eyes to see that I was trusting to an arm of flesh, that I was building on a sandy foundation, and not on the rock Christ Jesus, ma'am. "Give me back that pound," exclaimed the lady, "Give me back that pound." "Yes, ma'am," continued the poor woman-nothing daunted at having to give back the money-" to see that nothing short of Christ would do to trust to, ma'am." "Give me back the

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pound here, take two pounds-I am trusting to a false foundation-there, take two pounds-I am building on a sandy foundation," said the lady. Ah, ma'am," said the poor woman, astonished at this turn of affairs, " if I had died in that state, my soul would have gone to hell." "Here," again exclaimed the lady, "here are five pounds-there" (putting down a five-pound note)“ take five pounds, the Lord has sent thee to open my eyes, and to show me that I am building on a sandy foundation. Ah, well, God bless thee, dear soul," and getting up, said, "sit thee here, and take some refreshment, and then thou must tell me some more about it," and having ordered something for her, retired upstairs. After some time had elapsed, the lady came down-stairs with a large bundle of flannels, linen, &c., telling the poor woman she would no doubt find them useful for her little ones, and then sat down and conversed freely with her about Jesus and his great salvation; after which having thanked the lady many times, the poor woman took her leave, and coming down-stairs, nothing could she say but "Bless the Lord, bless the Lord; five pounds and the one I have at home make my baker's bill-bless the Lord;" and all the way home, having quite recovered from the previous fatigue, it was "Bless the Lord, bless the Lord." Having arrived at her dwelling, she soon procured the one pound, and, late as it was, immediately went to the baker, and told him she had come to pay him his bill. "What," said he, "you have come to pay something off, you mean?" "Oh, no," she replied, "I have come to pay you six pounds." "What!" said he, "six pounds! Why, where did you get the money from?" Now, as he was not a professing man, she did not enter into particulars, but merely explained that a kind lady had given her five pounds, and one she had saved up herself. "Well," continued the baker, "I never expected to have received a farthing of it; and I had made up my mind that as long as I had a loaf in my shop, you never should have wanted one." "Well, here," said the baker, "take a guinea of it, and here is your bill receipted." Having thanked him for his kindness, she made towards her home, and nothing could she say but "Bless the Lord, my baker's bill is paid-bless the Lord," and so on; and retired to rest that night, no doubt, with her heart full of gratitude to Him who hath said, "Trust in the Lord, and do good, and verily thou shalt be fed."

This unexpected interposition of Divine Providence, though it was a great help to her for a time, was but a temporary relief, and she had still to struggle with difficulty, and sometimes great distress: this will be illustrated by a little circumstance that occurred, and also show that she was not forgotten, and so not forsaken, by a good and gracious God.

(To be continued.)

REVIEW S.

2 Vols.

Gideon; or, the Humble Christian. By HENRY WATMUFF. 12mo. London: Scott, King's Row, Walworth Road. THERE are three things to which we have great objections-long prayers —long sermons—and long introductions or prefaces to books. Before a long family prayer is finished, we frequently fall asleep; and would here drop a hint in love and faithfulness to parents who seeing, as they ought to see, the propriety of erecting a family altar, imprudently detain their families at that altar till its duties become so tedious as to make them dread their return, and glad of an excuse to avoid them. Of long sermons, varying from one to two hours, we usually become so

restless and weary, and have at times found such awful enmity springing up in our hearts against some of the Lord's own servants for speaking so long, that we have trembled upon our seats, and have been afraid the Almighty would strike us dead for our impiety and rebellion. God only knows what we have suffered upon this ground, and how much we have dreaded to enter the sanctuary lest we should be afresh the subjects of such painful exercises. But there is a third point we mentioned, and that is long introductions or prefaces to books. If a writer wishes his book to be acceptable and useful, he should endeavour to come to his subject as quickly as possible, and not occupy his readers' attention with a long, dry, prosy introduction, just sufficient to exhaust their patience, and cause them to lay down the book with little or no inclination to take it up again. Hence the leaves of many a useful volume have never, we are persuaded, been cut open, much less perused. It is a secret which we believe many an author has yet to learn, to substitute an appendix for an introduction, if anything by way of explanation is necessary. Another hint we may throw out while upon the subject of book-making, and that is, it has been suggested by a writer of judgment, that persons before they publish, ought either to submit their MS. to the scrutiny of a friend, or lay the same by in a drawer for a twelvemonth, and then re-peruse it prior to sending it to the press.

These remarks may be considered by some to be foreign to the subject before us; we think otherwise: for however reluctant we may be to anatomize the productions of any writer whom we think there is reason to believe is under divine teaching, in expressing an opinion of the volume before us, we cannot but state, that we think the author has over-written himself. That he has sound scriptural views, we doubt not, for with many of his remarks we are much pleased, and see eye to eye with him; that he has an experimental acquaintance with the truths he has brought forward, we doubt not; but that he has displayed much judgment in bringing forward those truths, we entertain considerable doubt he has wandered from his subject; he has introduced ideas which have no bearing upon it; and he has made two tolerably thick volumes of what would have been much better compressed in one. By the time, therefore, the present edition is out of print, we recommend Mr. Watmuff to revise his work-to submit it to the judgment of some man of sound experience, who may be more skilled in "book-writing;" and then see if their mutual conclusion will not be considerably to abbreviate the work, and reprint such portions only as have a more direct bearing upon the subject under consideration. We make these remarks in brotherly kindness and affection, and trust they will be received as such.

The Protestant Keepsake: Dedicated to the Right Hon. the Earl of Winchilsea. London: Hayward and Moore, Paternoster Row.

THIS is a work got up in a handsome and very attractive form, in order to draw the attention more particularly of young persons, to the crafty,

fallacious, and destructive practices of Popery. The "Legends of the Saints" are, we are informed, a faithful translation. The principal articles which are written in the shape of "Tales," are, we are decidedly of opinion, calculated to arrest the attention, and impress the mind of the reader with a conviction of the infamy and craft which are covered over and kept out of sight by the various ceremonies of the common foe of God and man. The story of " Arnold of Brescia" is told with a feeling and ability, which cannot fail to excite the most intense interest of the reader. If he begins, we believe it is almost impossible for him to discontinue its perusal. The work has previously appeared in a periodical form under the title of "Tales about Popery," and we have been pleased to observe, that it has tended to throw a stumbling-block in the way of the easy ingress which, to our sorrow, we have long seen Popery has been making. We rejoice, likewise, to perceive, that we are not so far sunk in Laodicean sloth and indifference, but what some remain, though in numbers comparatively few, in whose hearts the power, and not the mere letter of the truth, is kept alive, and who appear likewise to have a becoming sense of the present low condition of the church of the living God; who are favoured with sufficient grace and fortitude boldly and fearlessly to oppose, as it comes in their way, the specious semblances of, or substitutes for, true and vital godliness with which the present day abounds. We wish that works illustrative of the spirit of Popery were more numerous; and we trust that such as already exist will be accompanied with the blessing of God, for the edification and establishment of his family.

Little Maurice and his Uncle: Uncle Oliver and his Nephew. By Geoffry BlaND. London: Houlston and Stoneman, Paternoster Row.

Two little works written in the form of tales, intended to impress upon the juvenile mind the horrors of war. They are not probably published at an untimely season. In most of the stories there appears a want of tact; with one or two we were pleased, as they are faithful pictures of what is every day acted upon the stage of life; but the author, in our view, makes a too common hack of RELIGION. That to which he so often alludes may adapt itself to the piety (so called) of the day; but in our estimation, he makes it too easy of attainment to apply itself to that vital godliness which is the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart. We like to see mere morality and real religion kept in their proper places. The want of this distinguishing characteristic has considerably helped on the evils of the day in which we live, when the performance of the mere outward forms and ceremonies of religion are substituted for the vital power and energy thereof.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

PARAPHRASES OF THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM.

THE Lord is my Shepherd-he will be, has been ;

No want shall I ever possess ;

He makes me lie down in sweet pastures of green,
And leads by the waters of peace.

My soul he restores when by sorrow opprest―

In trouble he will not forsake;

In the smooth paths of righteousness leads me to rest,
And all for his blessed name's sake.

Yea, though I the valley of death should walk through;
'Tis a shadow, I will fear no hurt;

For thou, Lord, art with me-my guide thou art, too-
Thy rod and thy staff my support.

How often, kind Shepherd, my table is spread

In a manner no enemy knows;

With heavenly oil thou anointest my head;
The cup of thy favour o'erflows.

Surely goodness and mercy that I cannot tell
Shall follow me all through my days!

In the house of the Lord I for ever will dwell;
My blessed employ shall be praise!

JUDGES, XI. 1.

WHEN Israel in the olden time
Transgressed against the Lord,

They fell into captivity

Captured by Midian's sword :

Jehovah, who had hitherto

Maintained them in each war,
Withdrew his arm of victory

Which strengthened them before.

So, when the Saviour's followers
Forsake his holy ways,
And walk in paths of sinfulness,

Of sorrow and disgrace;
Then Satan and his company
(Permitted by the Lord)
Afflict with each adversity
That trouble can afford.

Believer, you are travelling
Along the path of life;
Oh! combat with iniquity,

Maintain a constant strife;

For, if you sin, that peacefulness

Which now you love to feel,

Will fade like the calm of a summer's sky
When thunder-clouds assail.

City Press, Long Lane: Doudney and Scrymgour.

EBENEZER.

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