THE OSTLER AT THE CROWN.

THE town in which I now resided was on one of the great roads, on which there was a constant traffic. Stage-coaches were not so well conducted then as they have been of later years. The roads had not felt the salutary influence of Macadam. There was more posting; and the Crown was, at one time, an inn where much was done in this way. The landlord, however, was a man of the most profligate habits. His wife was separated from him. The other house, more respectably conducted, soon gained the lead, and was patronized by the more respectable inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Politics ran very high at the time. There was a strong ministerial party; but the landlord of the Crown was a thorough and avowed democrat. He had wished to change the sign, but was afraid it would injure his trade. Clubs used to be held at his house, at which he usually presided; and which had for their object nothing short of a combination for overthrowing the constitution in church and state. The evening of Sunday was the usual time for these meetings, which were attended by the loosest characters, though one or two who were men of property were among them. always a busy night, therefore, both in the house and in the yard; and it was notorious, that neither waiter, chambermaid, nor ostler of the Crown, were ever seen at church or meeting. There was a large meeting house in the town, of which, I will only remark, that the minister was a truly conscientious and pious man; and had he been alive, I am sure would have firmly set his face against the conduct of many of his brethren at the present day.

It was

It was late on a Sunday evening that a respectable parishioner called upon me to say, that the ostler of the Crown, who rented one of his cottages, had received a kick on the head from a horse, which threatened to prove fatal. He had consequently been brought home on a shutter, and was now in bed. The person giving me this information requested me to visit the poor man; "for," said he, "I do not think Tom is any better than a heathen. I feel quite ashamed to think I have never given him some good advice, though he is one of my own tenants."

I immediately accompanied my informant to the cottage, where I found Tom in a very deplorable condition. No

medical attendant had as yet visited him. The more respectable surgeons were all out; and the only one near was a man of loose character and principles-in fact, a confirmed infidel -who found, to his astonishment, that his patients were gradually leaving him, and who, this evening, was too busily engaged at the club, planning measures for healing the constitution, to attend to the case of the ostler. He had been twice sent for to the Crown, but had not made his appearancewhich was so far, well; for the state in which he was, from the influence of brandy and the excitement of politics, would have rendered his aid very doubtful. Meanwhile, however, another medical man arrived, and dressed the poor creature's wounds. They were not of a character, it was supposed, to create much alarm. But it was thought that for some weeks it might be impossible for Tom to attend to his business. He had, in fact, received two or three severe blows on the head, besides having one of his legs dreadfully bruised. I took an early opportunity of seeing Tom in the week, and found him then perfectly sensible, which was not the case on the first evening I saw him; for he was stupified and stunned with the blows he had received. And truly, the statement made to me, that Tom was no better than a heathen," was but too correct. Of religion, he knew nothing. He had been wont to hear it ridiculed by his master and his associates; and he used sometimes, by way of procuring an additional sixpence, to launch out against all that was sacred. I could scarcely have believed it possible that such utter ignorance could have been found in a man living in a nation professedly Christian.

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Tom's short history was as follows:-He had been thrown upon the parish when a lad, by the death of his mother. He had never known the blessings of paternal care; and the overseer of the day, being the then landlord of the Crown, sent him into the yard, in which he had passed through one grade of promotion to another, until he became head ostler. He could not read; there was, in fact, no school in the parish for poor children when he was a boy; and all his accounts of corn, &c. were kept by chalk marks, of which he alone knew the meaning, but which were most correct. No one recollected ever seeing Tom at church. The Wesleyan Methodists had been endeavouring, and with success, by various means, to bring many profligate persons to a sense of sin; but Tom

had never come within their notice. Churchmen and Dissenters were alike guilty in this respect, that they never endeavoured to benefit this poor creature. In reply to my first question, as to his health, he replied, "I'm very bad,"and to this he added an oath.

I immediately stated my horror at hearing him take God's name in vain, and asked him if he did not think it was a sin, for which he should be called to answer?

He said, he did not think about it; he hoped there was no offence: he heard master say it was all stuff about sin. And then he repeated many other sayings that he had heard, with which I need not shock the reader. Suffice it to say, that I found him in a state of utter ignorance and hardness of heart. Death and judgment, heaven and hell, had never entered his mind. He was an utter stranger to prayer-in fact to religious duties of every kind.

The wounds he received did not prove fatal immediately; but he was ever afterwards incapable of work. His brain was obviously injured, for he sank into a state not far from idiocy. He was removed, with his wife and child, to the workhouse, where he lived some years. I had frequent opportunities of seeing him and conversing with him; and I did all in my power to instruct him, but I had never any satisfactory evidence that he was in any way impressed by what

I said.

Now this, it may be remarked, perhaps, is an incident in clerical life scarce worth recording, and yet it is one which I confess made a deep impression upon my mind. The yard of a large inn is a soil, indeed, most unfavourable for the growth of religion,-a most contaminating place, which has led to the ruin of many an honest servant; and those who are engaged in it are, in too many instances, almost entirely deprived of attendance on the means of grace. The tap, and not the house of God, is usually the Sabbath resort. The church was at no great distance from the Crown; but its door was never entered by the landlord and his servants. Constant Sunday travelling; the changing of horses; waiting upon guests; the necessity of being in attendance at all hours, -render it very difficult for a servant in an inn to frequent the services of religion. Hence many of them for years never enter a place of worship. Exceptions there are, of course, to this rule; but I am speaking of what is too gene

rally the case. I have known several clerical friends-one a man of deep practical piety and unbounded beneficencewho make it a point, when travelling, to propose to the landlord of the inn at which they may be remaining for the night, that there should be family worship in the room that has been assigned them, and that they have usually found the offer gratefully accepted; and that the waiters and other servants have appeared pleased at the proposal. Certainly it is worth while to make the offer. It may be blessed of God to the good of some one present. The minister has, at least, shown himself not ashamed of his holy calling.

Truly glad shall I be if these remarks should induce any brother in the ministry, or any private Christian, to direct his thoughts more fully to the class of persons now alluded to, should there be such in his parish or neigh bourhood. And, not less so, should they meet the eye of any landlord of an inn, and induce him to give every possible facility to his servants attending divine worship, and keeping holy the Sabbath-day. Those who travel much, whether for business or amusement, may do incalculable good this way; and may have the satisfaction of knowing that their labour has not been in vain. Had Tom at the Crown received some important advice from those who frequented the inn, instead of being led on to reckless indifference, his character might have been that of a real and consistent Christian.

I would only, in conclusion, remark, that the individual, a man of property,-whose horse, notoriously a most vicious one, kicked Tom, and thus made him the inmate of a workhouse, and nearly an idiot for life, though frequently applied to in the poor creature's behalf, never to my certain knowledge, gave him a farthing, and yet he was regarded as a staunch "friend of the people." Nor do I believe the landlord of the Crown ever offered him a meal. So much for principles which are not founded on a Christian basis; so much for that spurious philanthropy which pretends to have in view the interests of the lower orders; but which will, almost universally, be found to be little more than empty declamation; and which, while it harangues on the people's rights, and the people's privileges, and the people's hardships, would willingly leave the people destitute of the means of sustaining life. Tom, at the

Crown, is not the first nor the last who has experienced the folly of being led astray by the enemies of God and of godliness.

[Church of England Magazine.]

CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE.

Do not say your influence is confined to a narrow sphere? Yon little taper is not a sun; yet observe how bright it shines, how far it spreads its rays in the dark night! Hide not then your light, whatever it be, under a bushel; nor keep your talent, because it is a single one, wrapped up in a napkin. Of this I can assure you, that if you adorn the Gospel by a holy conversation, you will give light to some who sit in darkness, and prove a blessing to your relations, friends, and neighbours. You will preach to the eyes what we preach to the ears. You will be living epistles known and read of all men. And can you hesitate to plead His cause before men, who is ever pleading yours before his Father in heaven? Can you continue silent when you see so many profaning his day, slighting his Word, forsaking his house, and blaspheming that holy name whereby you are called? Can you remain at ease, when numbers round you are blindly straying in the paths of the destroyer, and approaching that precipice from which, if they fall, they fall to rise no more? -Rev. E. WARD.

THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL.

THERE is no truth more plainly taught in Scripture than this, that while man's salvation is entirely of God's grace and mercy, his ruin is altogether of himself. If he perish, it will be his own fault, and he will have no one but himself to blame. Wherever the Gospel of Christ comes, it freely invites all to accept the blessings which it brings. Whether men will be the better for the invitation, depends on the reception which they give to it. If they are willing to receive it, and consent to the terms proposed, the blessing will be theirs; but if they refuse and are disobedient, it will be justly withheld from them.- -Rev. E. Cooper.