תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

thrown away, and add it to the heap, and he will find the benefit of it in his garden crop next year. Happily, these things are now becoming better understood in many places and all intelligent small farmers and gardeners are saving what used to be thrown away in drains and sewers, for the uses we have alluded to. In foreign countries this has been the practice for a long time; and, doubtless, our own cottagers only require to be told of the advantages attending it, and they will be as careful to preserve, as they have been to get rid of, those kinds of refuse which are valuable as manure. The cottage garden may be rendered fertile and beautiful by the same things which make the streets of the village disagreeable and unwholesome.

E.

A CHILD'S PRAYER.

(A Translation.)

"O Lord Jesus! who wast Thyself a child, and who from childhood upwards increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and with man; have mercy on me, watch over my childhood; grant that I may be kept free from sin, and that all my actions may be pleasing in thy sight, and in the sight of my parents and my fellow-creatures.

"O Lord Jesus! Thou who wast so dutiful to thine own parents, I recommend my parents to thy merciful care. Bless them, I beseech Thee. Give them grace and strength to obey Thee. Grant them patience under suffering, and may they see me, as is their desire, grow up in thy stedfast fear and love. Amen."

A mother who is teaching her little child to pray, is performing the most sublime and affecting duty we can imagine. A woman who is thus engaged, is raised above earthly things, and resembles the angels of God, those ministering spirits, who accompany us through life, directing us in what is good, and holding us back from evil.

Mothers, who may read these words, reflect on them, and put the advice they give into practice; teach your little ones to pray to that Father who is heaven, to lisp

their praises to that Saviour who would not allow his disciples to prevent the approach of children to his presence. Do not wait till they can speak plain, till they can understand their prayer, till they go to school, and are taught to pray by another person. It is a mother's duty, a mother's privilege, it should be a mother's pleasure, to teach her child never to lie down at night without thanking God for the blessings of the past day; never to rise in the morning without praying for his protection. throughout the day that is before him. So shall prayer be your child's safeguard through life, and he shall enjoy a blessed hope of endless life hereafter.

C.

MANASSEH.

SCOURGE of thy people, Judah's shame,
Who sighs not at Manasseh's name?
Worse than the heathen sunk in night,
Thy sins prevail'd to quench that light,
Which linger'd yet o'er Judah's land,
And stay'd the Lord's avenging hand,
When He on Israel's woe-worn head
The tempest of his anger shed.
Hence to Assyria's King is given
The charge to wield the rod of heaven,
While Judah's monarch, captive led,
Is doom'd a foreign land to tread,
And bound with fetters, plung'd in woe,
Th' extremity of ill to know.

O blest affliction! thine the smart
Which humbled proud Manasseh's heart!
The cup of sorrow, he could feel,
Has medicine, sorest plagues to heal.
To Him whose mercy knows no end,
Behold the contrite sinner bend,
And own, in bitterness of soul,

How sin had rul'd with stern controul,
Shutting from his benighted sight,
Mid taunts and scorn, the source of light.
The prayer of penitence has power
To soothe affliction's lonely hour,

When, as the dew from heaven conveyed,

The Spirit lends his fostering aid.

Manasseh now avows that He,

From whom his rebel heart could flee,

All nature governs by his nod,

Through heaven and earth acknowledged God.
To Him the prostrate altars rise,
And victims bleed in sacrifice!
To Him, devotion's holiest part
Ascends, the incense of the heart.

X. Y. Z.

[graphic][merged small]

GREENWICH HOSPITAL.

FROM whatever point of view this extensive building may be looked at, the observer will immediately think it much more like a palace than a hospital. He is much surprised to hear that it is the residence of infirm sailors, instead of some wealthy nobleman or powerful prince. And yet he will have reason to be pleased when he finds that it is devoted to the purposes of charity, and forms the last residence and refuge of those noble servants of their country, who have defended her in war upon the seas, and have ventured their lives, and lost their limbs, for our safety. Still, it is equally true at the same time, that this building is a palace; for it was built by King Charles the Second for a royal residence, and was the birth-place of Queen Elizabeth. In the time of King William the Third it was changed into a naval hospital, and although it was very large before, another range of building was added to it for this purpose. Two other extensive portions were added by Queen Mary and Queen Anne, and the whole now forms a grand and extensive square. The front of the building is open to the river Thames; and there is a fine park adjoining, which adds greatly to the beauty of the place, and forms a perpetual amusement to the inhabitants of the hospital. When a visiter goes down the river to see this magnificent place, (and there are many thousands almost every week who visit it from London,) he is greatly delighted, not only with the appearance of the building and the country round it, but much more in beholding the numerous groups of the sailors who are here provided for, and who are always walking about either in the park, or by the river side. There are no less than 3000 of them larly boarded in the hospital, besides those who are called out pensioners, residing in different parts of the kingdom, but receiving regular pay from this establishment. The number of out pensioners is 5400. It cannot be otherwise than pleasing to a charitable mind to contemplate so large a number as are assembled every day in the common hall at their meals, or in the chapel at their devotions; one cannot but feel thankful for the laws of

VOL. XXIV.

C

regu

our country, which thus provide a refuge for the disabled and distressed. It has, indeed, been said by those who are intimately acquainted with the pensioners, that they do not appear to be so happy as could be desired; but if this is really the case, it is not from any cause which can be removed by outward circumstances. They have every necessary of life provided for them, and have no burden of any laborious kind imposed upon them. They are treated with the utmost kindness, and have no fear of future destitution or poverty before their eyes. But every wise man knows that all these things alone will not secure the happiness of any one. They are all that man can provide for his fellow man; but they are not enough to make his mind established in peace, without which there can be no full and solid enjoyment. There must be added to all this something much more valuable and rare, which God alone can give; namely, a heart at peace with Him, and built up in a true and stedfast hope of enduring bliss hereafter in the eternal world. Whoever neglects to seek for this where it may be found, is neglecting the chief source of his happiness, and cannot expect to be at rest in his own mind. Nothing else can satisfy him, and if he was the most wealthy and successful of men, he would still have to endure a continual return of unsatisfied desires and wishes. One thing can satisfy him, if he can truly embrace it as his all, and that is, the love of God, as revealed in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.
(FROM A MODERn traveller.)

SHARON.

A RECENT traveller speaks of this part of Palestine as follows:

"From Jaffa to Ramleh (the ancient Arimathæa) our way lay through one of the most fertile and extensive plains we had yet beheld in the East. Although not a sixth part of this plain is cultivated, yet, where it was tilled, the crops of corn, which were about a foot high, were most luxuriant. I do not think we passed a dozen

« הקודםהמשך »