to Sunday, and what are they employed in doing? In making loud noises and unmeaning sounds in the fields to frighten the birds away, instead of singing, with sweet voice of melody, the praises of their God and Saviour, to call down His blessing upon their youthful days, and His grace into their opening minds. Their parents and employers make excuse that it is absolutely necessary to do this work on the Sabbath day, in order to save the precious fruits of the earth from almost complete destruction. What can the minister of Christ, the teacher of righteousness, say in answer to the plea thus set up so readily by all to defend this practice? "Works of necessity" may certainly be done on the Sabbath day. Exercise the strictest sense of its observance, there is an exception in favour of these. "Save what every man must eat," are the terms of exception in the law of Moses; and the Saviour adds, that "the Sabbath is made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." But may we not inquire whether it would not be well to endeavour to discover some way of avoiding this necessity? Certainly to a Christian and serious mind it must be extremely painful to see so many of our dear little flock engaged in the way I mention on the Lord's day. What an evil habit it engenders in them! what a loss of Scriptural instruction and spiritual devotion it entails! Cannot some means be found to remove this pain and distress from Christian minds? and this injury from children's souls? What are the value of improvements in the culture of the land, if they do not embrace something which will remedy so great an evil? I, for myself, would rather lose what the birds eat on the Sunday, than lose what the children would lose by suffering Satan to steal away the good seed out of their hearts. But enough at present of this. May some else take it up, and do better justice to it than I can do.

Your constant reader, V. D.

NOON-TIDE THOUGHTS.

"The noon-day sun seems dim to me,
No freshness in the breezy air,
The brilliant flowers seem to be

As dull as care.

"The darken'd room where sickness dwells,

With heavenly radiance shone bright,
And quiet thoughts from holy cells

Breathe fresh and light.

"I found the promises, a field

Wherein the rose of Sharon dwelt,
And sweetest fragrance would it yield
When faint I felt."

FEMALE SERVANTS.

It has been estimated that in London alone there are not fewer than one hundred thousand female servants. Upon their fidelity, punctuality, and good conduct depend, to a considerable extent, the security and comfort of many thousand families. But this is not all, to female servants is committed the care, and in some respects the guidance of the rising generation; and if the morals of the nursery and the kitchen be not pure, it is in vain that pure morality is taught and practised in the drawing-room or the parlour. This subject has not been considered as its importance demands; indeed, it has been strangely neglected; and the neglect has been signally visited in a vast variety of melancholy instances.

SHORT REFLECTIONS ON DIFFERENT PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE.

DAN. xii. 2, 3. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."-This beautiful text should encourage us to do all that lies in our power to spread the Gospel of Christ. Let us consider a little the two prospects which are held up to our view; let us suppose the judgment-day arrived, and all that are in their graves awakening at the trump of the archangel. What will be the horror, misery, and shame of those who awake to everlasting contempt! They will recollect the many opportunities of improvement which they have despised and lost, and every action of their past lives will arise

before them like an awful vision. But, alas! a vision will pass away; their wicked actions will remain eternally before their eyes, and combine with "the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched," to torment them. The broken Sabbaths, despised and scorned advice, disregarded admonitions, and all which might have helped them on in the path to happiness, now only serve to aggravate their misery; and when they shall hear those awful words, "Depart from me, ye cursed," imagination cannot picture a state so irretrievably lost and miserable.

But those who awake to everlasting life will feel far differently. Their joy at meeting their Saviour will be unalloyed; gratitude and love to Him will fill their hearts, and they will join in the songs around the throne of God with even greater adoration and happiness than the angels; for the angels never knew what it was to be sinners, and to be saved by a compassionate Redeemer. The joy of those, who, by God's blessing, have been made ministers of salvation to others, will be great beyond conception. They will see all their dear friends mingling with the angelic choir, and think that, under God, they have been the instruments of bringing them to the knowledge of a Saviour's love. Their reward will be great; for "they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." What a glorious prospect! Should not this excite us to follow more closely the footsteps of our Blessed Lord, and to promote His Gospel? Let us imitate Him, who went about doing good; and when the last day shall arrive, may we be found of Him in peace!

O may we stand before the Lamb,
When earth and seas are fled;

And hear the Judge pronounce our name,
With blessings on our head!

Ephesians ii. 8, 9. "For by grace are ye saved, through faith: and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”—It is a very common error to think that by attending scrupulously to the forms of the Church, acting quietly and soberly, and what is called doing your duty to your

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neighbour, that by these means you will be saved. But this is quite wrong; all these things are very excellent and good in their place, that is, as results of faith; but they should not be put in the place of the only true and living way, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Nothing can be stronger against it than this passage; "not of yourselves," and the reason, "lest any man should boast." If our own works and good deeds were to save us, where would have been the necessity for a Saviour? For as an eminent divine of our day has said, we should have as much faith as if we were to be saved by faith alone; and do as many good works as if good works alone would save us.' It is also as dangerous a doctrine to think that an unfruitful faith will save us; for then any man might commit any crime, and think that by looking to Christ he might be saved; whereas if he really had looked to Christ, he would have received the grace of God, and then he would not have committed that crime, but have done his duty to God and his neighbour. For "Christ is our peace, who hath made both one;" and in Him they who were far off are now made nigh by His blood. X. Y. Z.

ON THE ADVANTAGES OF CONSTANT EMPLOYMENT.

A MAN who is taken up with the occupations of his

calling has no time to bestow on the useless thoughts of

the circumstances and situation of other people. And by this means, a man of a sound, active mind, devoted to his business, has, by his constitution and active life, an easy remedy against discontent and envy. These painful passions gain no admittance into his heart. The wisest advice that can be given is, never to allow our attention to dwell on comparisons between our own situation and that of others, but to keep it fixed on the duties and concerns of the condition itself. But since some men will be busy in contemplating the advantages which they see others possess, and since persons in laborious situations are wont to view the richer classes of society with sentiments which not only tend to make themselves unhappy, but which are very different from the truth, it may be a useful office to point out to them some of those considera

tions which, if they will turn their thoughts to the subject, they should endeavour fairly to take into the account. And first, we are apt to murmur when we see extraordinary large fortunes placed in the hands of single persons, larger, we are sure, than they can want, or, as we think, they can use; but whenever the complaint comes into our minds, we should recollect that the thing happens in consequence of those rules and laws which secure the property of us who are not rich, which guard and protect the poorest. It is not for the poor man to repine at the effect of rules and laws by which he himself is benefited every hour of his life, which secure to him his house, his earnings, his bread, his life, without which he, no more than the rich man, could eat his meal in peace, or go to bed in safety. To abolish riches would not be to abolish and put an end to poverty, but, on the contrary, to leave it without help and assistance. Of the two it is rather more for the poor to stand up for the laws than the rich; for it is the law which defends the weak against the strong, the humble against the powerful, the little against the great; and weak and strong, humble and powerful, little and great, there would be, even were there no laws whatever. But it is so ordained by Providence, that whilst fortunes are only for a few, the rest of mankind may be happy without them. And this leads us to consider the comparative advantages and comforts which belong to the condition of those who subsist, as most must subsist by personal labour. A husbandman, manufacturer, or tradesman, never goes to bed at night without having his business to rise up to in a morning. He would understand the value of this advantage, did he know that the want of it makes one of the greatest plagues of the human soula plague by which the rich, especially those who are born to riches, are exceedingly oppressed; indeed it is to get rid of it--that is to say, to have something to do, that they are driven upon those strange ways of passing their time which surprises all who see them. A poor man's condition gives him that which a rich man can seldom find for himself-regular employment, something to look forward to be done every day. Some few men of better judgment, and with good principles, do seek out for themselves constant and useful occupation. There is not one