used to buy his provisions on a Sunday morning, when many shops were open. He was never now to be found an applicant for parochial relief at the workhouse, where he had been amongst the most clamorous; nor did he ever now appear at the petty sessions, as he had often done, on suspicion, too well grounded, of poaching, although the winter had been one generally of a very trying nature, and more especially in our parish. To what was all this to be referred? Simply to the power of God's Word, brought home to this individual's heart by the Holy Spirit of God, through the instrumentality of his child's reading that Word. The seed sown did not lie dormant. God's purpose is, that it never shall. It sprang up, and brought forth much fruit. Will entered on a new course of life. He felt convinced of the heinousness of his past conduct. He saw clearly the guilty mode by which he sought to provide for his family, or rather the indulgence of his own lusts; and one or two circumstances which he related to me, but which I am not at liberty to mention, though one was connected with most brutal conduct towards a game-keeper, to whom it was made known, but who freely forgave him, fully testified that the life of a poacher is one of the most lawless character; that his occupation, like that of the smuggler, and all who habitually transgress their country's laws, often leads to the very foulest deeds, and tends to nurture a fearful ferocity of disposition, an outrage of all laws, human and divine, and a total recklessness as to futurity. Will renounced his former habits, and with them his former associates. He underwent no small persecution in consequence. Many sought to laugh him out of his serious convictions-to induce him to spend his evenings at the alehouse, and to join them in some project of nightly depredation; but all was in vain. The grace of God triumphed. The spiritual adversary was not permitted to gain the victory. Will grew more and more serious. He was earnest in prayer: his child taught him to read; and there was quite a sensation the first Sunday on which, as a humbled and contrite sinner, he approached the table of the Lord, to which, after a full conviction of the reality of the transformation that had been wrought, I induced him to come. But the change in his character, I rejoice to say, was no transient feeling. It was no superficial change. While I was in the parish, I marked a growing consistency, an increasing attention to things which belong to salvation.

The last time I heard of him, he was leading, as far as could be judged, a godly life. His daughter, the child referred to, had married, but died soon after the birth of her first child. His wife was dead also; and his grandchild, who had survived her mother, lived with him, and was a teacher in the school. Will often told me, that, in comparing his comfort, even in a worldly point of view, after this great change, with his licentiousness before it took place, he could not but adore that sovereign grace which had brought him from darkness to marvellous light. I shall never forget the energetic and affectionate manner in which he clasped my hands when I was about to leave the parish some time after, and exclaimed, "God be praised, Sir, that you set the Sunday-school a-going! I was deadly opposed to it, with some wicked associates. I swore that my child should never go there. Of these associates one was executed, two others transported, a fourth was crushed to death by the wheel of a wagon going over his head. I alone, Sir, a guilty sinner, am now before you to pray that grace and mercy may follow you for ever and ever."

Much encouragement, indeed, does such a case afford,and assuredly it is no solitary one,-to those who, amidst much opposition, are energetic in the furtherance of every good work; much encouragement to those who feel it a privilege, no less than a duty, to attend to the religious instruction of the young among the lower ranks, even when there is apparently little fruit of their labours. No human being can calculate the benefits which may arise from a well-regulated Sunday-school, conducted on strictly scriptural principles, where a heartfelt reception of Gospel truth, and not merely a head knowledge of biblical history, is the great aim of the teachers. The latter, indeed, may exist, and often does exist, without the former; and perhaps the disappointment which so many meet with in regard to their expected results from such institutions may, in a great measure, be traced to the substitution of a mere acquaintance with scriptural facts, for the cordial reception of the mercy revealed in the Gospel. The teacher, however, who is engaged in the good work of imparting to others a knowledge of salvation, and who is almost afraid, from a sense of deficiency, to go on, may derive comfort from the reflection, that God often works by the humblest instruments; and that whether he sees any fruit resulting from his labours or not, he is still engaged in a truly

pious work. The admonition which he gives, though apparently now unheeded, may yet be thought upon when his tongue is silent in the chambers of desolation; and the small tract with which he may present the child, little inclined, perhaps, to accept it, may find its way into many a cottage, and be read by many a thoughtless person, and be the instrument in God's hand of awakening that person to a solemn inquiry as to the things which belong to his everlasting peace. [Church of England Magazine.]

RELIGION THE BASIS OF EDUCATION,

RELIGION ought to be made the ground-work of all education; its lessons should be interwoven with the whole tissue of instruction, and its principles should regulate the entire system of discipline, in our National Schools. But I believe that the lessons of religion will not be rendered less impressive or effectual, by being interspersed with teaching of a different kind. The Bible will not be read with less interest, if history, for example, and geography, and the elements of useful practical science, be suffered to take their turn in the circle of daily instruction. On the contrary, I am persuaded that the youthful mind will recur, with increased curiosity and intelligence, to the great facts, and truths, and precepts of Holy Writ, if it be enlarged and enlivened by an acquaintance with other branches of knowledge. I see no reason, why the education given to the poor should differ from the education of their superiors, more widely than the different circumstances and duties of their respective conditions in life render absolutely necessary. One thing is certain, and it is a very important consideration; that if we teach them the methods of acquiring one kind of knowledge, they will apply them to the acquisition of other kinds; if we sharpen their faculties for one purpose, they will be sure to use them for others. Some information, on subjects of general interest, many of them will undoubtedly seek to obtain: and it is plainly desirable that they should receive it from our hands in a safe and unobjectionable form. It is desirable also that they should not be accustomed to consider that there is any thing like an opposition between the doctrines and precepts of our holy religion, and other legitimate objects of intel

lectual inquiry; or that it is difficult to reconcile a due regard to the supreme importance of the one, with a certain degree of laudable curiosity about the other.

The experiment of mixing instruction in different branches of useful knowledge with scriptural reading, and lessons on the truths and duties of Christianity, has been tried with success in the Sessional Schools at Edinburgh, by a zealous and able friend of the poor, Mr. Wood, to whose publications on the subject I would refer you for further information. It has been tried in more than one large parochial school of this diocese; and the results have been very encouraging. I am, therefore, desirous that additions should be made to the School Catalogue of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, adapted to supply materials for a more varied course of instruction than that which is ordinarily pursued in our schools. A certain number of publications, intended for this purpose, have already been sent forth by the Committee of General Literature and Education appointed by the Society.

The extension and improvement of the National system will probably decide the question, whether the education of the poorer classes shall be suffered to remain, where it ought to remain, in the hands of the parochial clergy; or whether an attempt will be made to place it under the control and direction of the Government, with a compulsory provision for its maintenance. The political constitutions, as well as the ecclesiastical systems of those countries in which this plan has been carried into effeet with success, are so widely dif ferent from our own, that we can hardly reason from one to the other with sufficient correctness of analogy, to justify us in breaking up a machinery, which is on the whole working well, and which is every year working better, for the sake of substituting another, which may perhaps, in theory, be more systematic and complete; but which is certainly more complicated, and less in accordance with the habits and feelings of the people. At any rate the experiment would be one of great hazard; and if it should go to deprive the clergy of any portion of their legitimate authority and influence in the education of the country, it would be productive of incalculable evil.- -BISHOP OF LONDON.

THE OBLIGATION TO RELIEVE THE DISTRESSES OF OUR FELLOW-CREATURES.

THE works of mercy are as various and of as many kinds as the wants and infirmities of men, which are the objects of mercy. Were men perfect, there would be nothing in them to pity or compassionate. Every kind, therefore, and every degree of misery is an object of mercy; and whether men are exposed to calamities by the necessity of their condition, and the overruling providence of God; or whether they bring them on themselves by sin and wickedness, or by folly and indiscretion; yet still, considered as miserable, they are objects of pity. If this were not so, mercy would not be one of the attributes of the Deity. For He is not moved by a fellow-feeling of our calamities, or any apprehension for Himself: for no evil can approach Him. Sin and wickedness are attended with guilt as well as misery, and therefore also objects of justice and punishment; and it may, perhaps, be a case attended with difficulties, when we attempt to reconcile the operations of justice and mercy, with respect to the same subject. But if God be a God of mercy, as undoubtedly He is, the conclusion must stand, that misery, viewed by the eye of reason, is an object of compassion; and the consequence must be, that in the reason of things mercy is as extensive as misery: and not to be confined by any particular or partial considerations to misery of one kind, or of one man more than another. If we consider ourselves, therefore, merely as reasonable creatures, no reason can be assigned for excluding any object of misery from our pity and compassion. But if we consider ourselves as men, there is another and perhaps a more sensible inducement to the practice of the works of mercy, and which on examination will be found, as far as our power of doing good goes, of like general influence. And this arises from reflecting that there is no misery we see to which we are not ourselves liable. The case therefore of the miserable is a common case, and in some sense every man's own. If we find ourselves better than others, so as to avoid the calamities which sin and iniquity bring on many; or wiser than others, so as to shun the evils which folly and indiscre tion draw down on numbers; this is so far from being a reason why we should despise or neglect their sufferings, that it daily reminds us to ask of ourselves this question, "Who