Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

in the distance, but also a very interesting New Zealand village in the foreground. The villages, which are fortified as this is, or defended against the assaults of enemies by works thrown round them, are called by the name of pahs; and this appears a peculiarly safe and strong situation, from the remarkable height and steepness of the vast cliff on which it stands.

ON FASTING.

SHORT COMMENTS ON MATT. ix. 14-17.

"14. THEN came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?"-Probably those who asked the question had a very high opinion of themselves for their fasting. He answers them, that all times are not alike proper for it, nor all persons alike capable of it.

1

15. Can the children of the bridechamber mourn," &c.-They will act unsuitably to their circumstances if they do while He is present, and if they do not when He is gone.

"16. No man putteth a piece of new cloth," &c.-It is so old and tender as not to bear a piece of new stiff cloth.

"17. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles," &c.-Bottles made of skins, which, if old, would burst, instead of stretching, with the new fermenting liquor: signifying that the disciples were yet in a weak state, and must not have too much imposed upon them,-not that they were always to continue weak. Fasting is not here denied, and at other times is supposed by Christ to be a duty; it has the example of all ages and all holy persons to recommend it, and will be found a proper means to confirm and quicken us in our Christian progress, when used for right ends; to conquer our appetites; to wean our hearts from the world, to aid us to examine and humble ourselves, and draw nigh to God. Bodily infirmities may be an exemption, but let every man be sincere with himself.-From the Rev. Thomas Adam's Exposition of the Gospels.

INCREASED DEMAND FOR THE BIBLE IN MANCHESTER.

[EVERY true Christian will be pleased to read the annexed remarkable report of the number of Bibles lately sold in the great manufacturing town of Manchester. We hope the very best things from the appearance of such a spirit among the workpeople in that immense and powerful city. Of late years great temporal prosperity has been granted them, and they have had regular employment. Their masters' gains having been large, their wages have increased, and they have received good remuneration for their labour. We are happy to find that they are spending a portion of their gains so profitably and wisely as they seem to have done in the purchase of the Holy Scriptures. Nothing but the knowledge and love of that sacred book can render their prosperity a real good to them. This will teach them thankfulness to the Giver of their blessings, and lead them to look to that Saviour who can grant them better things than earthly riches. By this too they may be enabled to be prepared for less prosperous times, if it should please God to send them. The sale of eleven thousand copies in the first eighteen days of November, is a very extraordinary event, and much to be remembered. Many should be thankful to hear of Bibles being sent among such a population as that of Manchester at the rate of more than one thousand a day. May that rich and important city be "filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."]

From a paper recently published by the Manchester and Salford Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which was instituted in 1810, we learn that "during the thirty-four years ending the 30th of September, 1844, it had distributed 194,335 Bibles and Testaments, being an average annual issue of 5,712. During the present year an extraordinary demand for the Holy Scriptures has manifested itself among the working classes, and more especially among those employed in the factories; and this demand is progressively and rapidly increasing. In the year ending the 30th of

September, 1845, the distribution exceeded 15,000, being nearly threefold that of the average of the preceding years. But in the month of October the sales of the Depository amounted to 9,618; and so rapid has been the increase of demand, that in the first eighteen days of November, 11,718 copies have been issued, the sales during the last ten days averaging more than 1000 a-day." This is certainly a remarkable circumstance; and as the sale is at reduced prices, it has afforded the Society great pleasure to receive a gift, through the Bishop of Chester, of 500l. from "An Octogenarian Friend."

PROVIDENT FUNDS.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, The establishment and extension of provident funds being a material point in every well-regulated system of District Visiting, the question becomes important as to the principles on which they should be conducted; may I therefore ask you to insert in your useful publication, the following extract from "The District Visitors' Manual, with a Preface by the Rev. T. Dale," a work containing much valuable information. Yours, &c. J. S. L.

Bonsall, near Matlock,
January 22, 1846.

"A lady at Bath commenced a penny savings-bank, with a determination to give no premium; and to the astonishment of many friends, who had predicted the failure of the project, she had in a few years no less than nine hundred names entered on her books.

"At Worcester, a premium had been originally granted; but was afterwards discontinued, in consequence of a falling off in the subscriptions, yet no diminution occurred in the number of depositors. The fact is, that the poor themselves generally think much less about the premium, than of the benefit which they derive from having their own money laid up in safety for them. The clergyman of a country parish lately remarked, on distributing the clothing to the members of a penny club,

that he feared there would be some reduction next year in the premium :-'Oh, sir, never mind,' was the general reply; if you only take care of our money, and give us our own again, we want nothing more.'

"A very large or uncertain premium, especially one which is made to depend each year upon the accidental state of the funds in hand, is attended by many of the same evils which are occasioned by gratuitous charity. One penny or twopence on the shilling, are quite enough to operate as an encouragement to economy, where such encouragement is needed: sixpence on ten shillings is the allowance at Brighton and Liverpool; although the supporters of these institutions may not be unwilling to afford their indigent neighbours this trifling charity, in its most unobjectionable form, it is a source of great satisfaction to have ascertained, that the exist ence and enlargement of Provident Societies are not necessarily dependent upon the continuance of honorary subscriptions; and that such institutions may be carried on to an indefinite extent, and all their most important objects may be fulfilled, with hardly any gratuitous aid whatever."

VANITY.

"THERE be many that say, Who will show us any good?" So speaks every child of man but one, and he the real Christian. Search the world in its varied spectacles and diverse scenes, and you will find men of all nations, however different, from the highly civilized European to the poor African in his degraded misery, all echo that anxious cry, which the Psalmist records as resounding in his days, and all give their seal to the truth of God's word, which declares that man has fallen from the knowledge of the Most High, and that the way of peace he hath not known." Who will show us any good?"

The village child that plays so gaily and laughs so merrily before its mother's cot, that has not tasted of the world's bitterness, nor bent as yet beneath the world's buffetings, even that child feels in its restless spirit of

longing desire for the speedy attainment of man's estate, that it may throw off the kind parental control which its ignorance deems irksome, and possess, as it fancies, the continual joys of those that eat, drink, and make merry. Has it obtained the object of its childish wishes? The fruit it reached after is proved to be like the " apples of Sodom "-enchanting and lovely in the distance and to the touch, but vile ashes in the mouth. Like the evangelist, it has swallowed the little volume of experience, and finds it in its belly as bitter as gall. From the cradle to the tomb, man continues straining after draughts of water from broken cisterns, striving to find a restingplace in a world of which the fashion is passing away.

"There be many that say, Who will show us any good?" So says the ambitious man, the worldling, the glutton, all who seek pleasure in earthly things;-so says the villager, that lives without God in the world, and sorrowfully gazes on children that the ale-house has beggared; so say one and all of those that walk in the broad way, that crowded and glittering path, that has the pleasures of sense for its beginning, and the gloom of Tophet for its end!

All is vanity." Read this; for it is plainly written, so that he who runs may read it, on every plan that has no reference to God and eternity. Threescore and ten winters make to wither every hope of earthly origin. Be ours the Psalmist's prayer, "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us!" All is dark that is not lit up by this sun. Heaven itself is illuminated by this glory alone.

And we, in these days of enlarged privileges, can utter the Psalmist's prayer with increased assurance of success. For we know for certain of One who hath taken our nature upon Him, and in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He is the express image of his Father's person, and He hath given us promises of acceptance such as the holy men of the Old Testament knew not of. When Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith, we find and enjoy that peace which a thirsty world pants after as the hart for the water-brooks. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is beheld in the

« VorigeDoorgaan »