Lately, a decent-looking woman, named Elizabeth Jenkins, was brought before the magistrates of Hull, by Bently, to account for her possession of a watch which had been pledged by her. Bently had found the watch pledged at Mr. Burstall's, in the name of Elizabeth Jenkins, for thirty shillings. Mrs. Jenkins, on being interrogated, said she picked up the watch in Wellington-street, about a quarter past six, on Wednesday night. A young woman was with her when she picked it up: she immediately showed it to some persons who were at her stall, and it was publicly shown during the evening. She admitted she had not employed the town crier, or advertised that she had found it. She was told by the magistrates that she had acted with very great indiscretion; by law, all persons finding property, if they did not advertise having so found it, were liable to be punished. The thirty shillings for which it was pledged, was ordered to be paid to the man who had lost the watch, in order that he might redeem it, and the woman was then discharged.-Hull Observer.

RELIGIOUS EXERCISES.

SINCE the body of the people do not regularly attend the service of the church oftener than one day in a week; and since this is, in no sort, enough to keep up in them a true sense of religion; it were greatly to be wished they could be persuaded to anything which might, in some measure, supply the want of more frequent public devotions, or serve the like purposes. Family prayers, regularly kept up in every house, would have a great and good effect.

Secret prayer is a most important exercise, and may be performed at all hours, and will always be the habit of a pious man, yet it will be grievously forgotten by the generality, till they can be brought to fix for themselves certain times of the day for it. Indeed, custom, as well as the manifest propriety of the thing, and examples of good men in Scripture, justify us in insisting that none omit their prayers morning or evening, who have not thrown off all regard to piety. But secret prayer comprehends not only devotions, before men begin and after they have entered the business of the day, but

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such also as may be performed while they are employed in their business, or even in company. And truly, if, besides our set devotions, morning and evening, all of us would fix upon certain times of the day, so that the return of the hour should remind us to offer up short prayers, or exercise our thoughts on holy subjects, perhaps there are few persons in so high and habitual a state of piety, as not to find the benefit of it. If it took up no more than a few minutes, it would call to our minds, that we are in the Divine presence, and contribute to our living in the fear of the Lord all the day long.

A duty of the like kind, is the particular acknowledgment of God, when we are partaking of his bounty at our meals; but this practice is, without shame, laid aside at the tables of the highest and the lowest among us.

But whilst we endeavour to keep up the "form" of godliness, we should be careful that this "form" be made more and more the means of promoting "the power of godliness." 2 Tim. iii. 5. In prayer, we should take heed that our thoughts and intentions go along with our words, that we really, in our hearts, exercise before God the affections we express in words.

The outward appearance of religion may be some restraint on a person's morals, and have a good effect on the world around him; it is, therefore, our duty; but regard to one duty will in no sort atone for the neglect of any other. A form of religion must not be put in the place of a principle of reverence, love, gratitude, hope, trust, resignation and obedience. It is the express condition of the Gospel covenant, that religion be our principal concern. The terms of that covenant of mercy, are founded on the incarnation, sacrifice, and intercession of Christ, together witht he promised assistance of the Holy Ghost, not to set aside our endeavours, but to render them effectual.B. P. Butler, written eighty-five years ago.

A word of God and of religion dropped sometimes in conversation, gently, and without any thing severe or forbidding, is often of great use. It leaves an impression, is repeated again by the hearers, and often remembered by plain, well-disposed persons, longer than one would think.-The same. Sent by C. W.

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BRAMINEE BULLS.

WHEN SO many strange notions prevail in the world, as to the great God and Creator of all things, how thankful ought we to be, that we have the knowledge of the truth delivered to us by the Almighty himself in his own written word. In countries where the true God is unknown, still there is generally a notion that there must be some Being who made the things with which the earth is filled. The most ignorant people, whilst looking at the trees and the flowers, and the animals, and all the works of nature, could not help seeing that there must be some one to make and to contrive those things: they might then look towards the heavens, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and be led to believe that there was some Divine power in them; and thus be led to worship them and we do know that it is a fact, that "the host of heaven," the sun, and moon, and stars, both in ancient and modern times, was worshipped by many nations. Other nations made images of departed heroes and great men, and worshipped them, calling them their gods. Others worshipped different sorts of animals, bulls, crocodiles, fish, and all sorts of four-footed beasts. This false worship God might overlook, and we are told that for a time," he winked at it," in those who had never been taught better. But, when he first called a particular nation to whom he made himself known, he required of them that they should acknowledge the one living God, and that Him alone they should serve. Then it became a grievous sin in the Jews, this chosen people of God, to worship the idols which the heathen worshipped; and when they were settled in Canaan, they were required to keep themselves separate from the nations around them which worshipped idols, and to abhor that false worship which they had themselves seen in Egypt, where bulls and calves, and fish, and creeping things of various kinds, were worshipped. They were required to cast aside all these things, since the worship of them would draw their hearts from the true and living God, as Christians are now required to keep away from all those temptations of the world which may lay hold of their minds, and thus be as

idols, turning them from the love and service of their Lord and their God.

We have said, that, in some countries, even now, where the true God is not known, the same strange kind of worship still prevails. How anxious ought Christians to be, to seek to remove these strange superstitions and vanities, by exerting themselves to convey the light of the Gospel to those who are in the darkness of heathen ignorance. The picture at the head of this article represents the Braminee bulls, held sacred at this day in India. A traveller in Hindostan, speaking of these bulls, says, "On the banks of the river, in the neighbourhood of a small pagoda', we saw a couple of the Braminee bulls so sleek and fat as to form a perfect contrast with the population around them, every where suffering from the sad scarcity of grain, whilst the bones of these sacred animals were loaded with flesh. It was melancholy to see, that, while thousands of human beings were starving, the bulls dedicated to their stern divinity, Siva, were so pampered, that they could eat nothing but the most delicate food. These bulls were small, but very beautiful. I could not help feeling deeply the sad fact, that the miseries of their fellow creatures, were looked upon with cruel indifference by the rich Hindoos, while before the dumb creatures devoted to their gods, and those senseless blocks, which formed the disgusting images of their divinities, that food was scattered which would have saved whole families from perishing with hunger." V.

DRUNKENNESS.

In one gin-shop in Manchester, not fewer than 2,000 persons, chiefly females, enter each Saturday evening from five to twelve o'clock. There enter weekly into fourteen of the principal gin-shops of London, 142,453 men, 108,593 women, 18,391 children. making a total each week of 269,437 for only fourteen gin-shops. The number of places for the sale of distilled spirits in London exceeds that of bakers, butchers, and fishmongers added together.-Parliamentary Evidence.

1 A temple of the false gods.