noble devotion with which, day after day, and year after || spectful language, and a total neglect of those little revyear, she used the most unremitted exertions in those erential and affectionate attentions that a widowed few avocations open to woman, that she might clothe, mother, above all, has a right to expect, nay, to defeed, and educate her only son. mand, in return for the ten thousand sacrifices she has cheerfully made.

Can there be a dark side to such a picture? Alas! for human frailty. The sunken rock upon which many a mother has wrecked much of earthly comfort at least, wounded her. She loved too well. Too assiduous, too devoted, too careful, his comfort too much her study; he learned to think himself the first object of consider-pleasure, and without a Mediator must have perished ation. O! how does this sap the foundation of much that is valuable, that lays at the root of peace of mind, to say no more.

for ever. Christ undertook to reconcile the parties at variance; and in order to effect this, an atonement was to be made for man. That he might make a suitable atonement, it became necessary for him to assume our nature. This he accomplished in the fullness of time; but in that assumption he did not partake of the depravity that is common to the nature of man. While, then, he is without sin, and in possession of every excellence to which human nature could be exalted, he is "God over all and blessed for ever." Thus he possesses all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and is a proper Mediator, not only on account of the holiIness and dignity of his character, but also because he partakes of the nature of each of the parties at variance. Embracing the Divine and human nature in his character, he can lay his hand equally upon both; and thus God and man meet in him and become reconciled to each other.

Is it not reversing the order of nature, for the parent to look up to the child? To be guided by his opinion before experience has given wisdom? What must be When he came to the world as our Mediator, he the effect of such a course? He who is thus the ob- made no ostentatious parade, no proud ambitious disject of a silent and unconscious flattery, can scarcely play; but his compassion carried him far beyond the resist its influence. He cannot be expected long to ordinary bounds of philanthropy and love. While, in obey one, to whom he is taught to consider himself su- the usual exhibitions of human charity, our gifts are perior! Who has not witnessed self-sufficiency, dis- laid on the altar of Christian zeal and kindness, enough respect, bursts of ungoverned temper leading to disre-l is reserved for convenience and comfort; but He who

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"was rich, for our sakes became poor." He laid aside | his glory, and denied himself the enjoyment of the things he had created, until he became more destitute than the lower orders of the animated creation. Hence the exclamation, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

Salvation is offered unto us in his great name. Let us then come unto God by him, that we may obtain it. When we do so, we shall be happy. Creation will appear more beautiful, for we shall behold it in a new light. Then the "heavens will indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament show forth his handiwork." In the darkness of night we shall be tranquil; While it is too common for man to neglect the for no "guilty gloom" shall rest upon the mind. wretched, the poor, and the fallen, and they are left to When morning breaks around us, bright and lovely, drag out a miserable existence, without sympathy or it will be to us as the emblem of heaven. Amid the aid, Christ manifested a different spirit. Guilty, wretch-splendor of noon we will think of him who is the ed, and degraded man was the object of his pity; and "brightness of the Father's glory." And the milder he turned away from the attraction of unfallen be- charms of evening will be more inviting; for we shall ings-from cherubim and seraphim, to bestow his bles- then be reminded of the close of life, with all its toils, sings on the fallen family of man. But the heavenly and our entrance into the "boundless bliss of heaven." hosts followed him with wonder and adoration down A. BAKER. to earth; and the lowly shepherds of Bethlehem heard them praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Original.

NEGLECTED CHILDREN.

AN aged divine at the funeral of a child said that "our children are not our own but are loaned to us by the Lord, and the love he feels for them is infinitely greater than the fondest parent can possibly feel or comprehend." This remark struck me with peculiar force, and excited in my mind a train of reflections which I trust I shall never forget. It is a thought full of rapture to the pious parent: dearly as I love my babes, anxiously as I watch each development of character, and fervently as I pray for their salvation, yet there is a Being who loves them infinitely better than I do; whose eye marks the forming character with deeper solicitude, than the most devoted mother possibly can. This being is omnipotent; and "in his hands are the issues of life." Then with what confidence, with what unwavering faith, can I implore Heaven's choicest blessings to rest upon my children, praying that his Holy Spirit may breathe upon them, that his love may occupy the first place in their young hearts, and that living or dying they may be his for ever.

Man may relieve a friend in distress, while he has very little sympathy for the miseries of an enemy; but Christ endured privation, almost every kind of indignity, and even death itself for his enemies. And in the closing scenes of his persecution and suffering, he displayed such forbearance, mercy, and magnanimity as the universe has never equaled. When assailed by prejudice and falsehood—when buffeted and spit upon when scourged and arrayed in the habiliments of mock royalty when nailed to the cross, and derided as a vile imposter, his patience and forbearance never forsook him. While the convulsions of the earth opened the graves of saints, and burst asunder her massy rockswhile powers celestial and infernal gazed upon him in overwhelming awe and astonishment-when the sun was made to cease his shining, and the wrath of God was ready to be revealed from heaven against the murderers, his prayer for mercy shielded them-he stayed the sword of Divine justice from the guilty. And he quieted the confusion of nature; and when he cried, "It is finished," he healed the wide breach between man and his God, so making peace betwixt earth and heaven. He was taken from the cross to the tomb; but beyond the appointed period for his exaltation, the pow-trine, of startling interest. I have been so situated as ers of darkness could not confine him.

"Soon his triumphal chariot wheels

Ascend the lofty skies;

While broke beneath his powerful cross,
Death's iron sceptre lies."

But there is one thought connected with this doc

to be compelled to place my infant in the arms of a nurse that she might supply to it the place of a mother, and with a mother's tenderness attend to all its wants. Now if this nurse had treated with harshness and And now in heaven "he ever liveth to make interces- severity the babe I committed to her care; or if through sion for us." The blessings that accrue to man through mistaken or pretended love she had gratified all its his mediation are numerous and great, and they extend desires; if instead of giving it wholesome food, suited through time and eternity. Pardon of sin, regenera- to its constitution, she had indulged it in eating only tion, adoption into the family of God, and entire sanc- sweetmeats, thereby endangering its health and life, tification, are blessings he procures for his "willing and would not my anger be kindled? Though she had enobedient" people in this life. But "a far more exceed-treated me with tears to permit her to retain the object ing and eternal weight of glory" shall be theirs in the world to come. Time, with its changing seasons and annual blessings-the enjoyment of present good, with the hope of future bliss, and in fine "every good and perfect gift" that we enjoy, comes from the Father of lights, through the ever blessed Redeemer,

of her charge, I would have snatched my darling from her arms as from a devouring beast, to place it in more prudent keeping.

The Lord has intrusted me with two dear children; but they are not properly my own-they are only committed to my care by their heavenly Father, who

THE SABBATH.

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twixt her clothes and herself; and though she is not || shall work him disaster, and hindrance, and annoy, and conscious of it, the effect of these and a subdued co- if he repent not, consternation and woe; for he who is quetry, sometimes even in God's house, more than di-wanting to his own soul on the Sabbath, shall hardly vides her thoughts, and renders her attendance there be faithful to it on any other day. How many classes worse than were omission. She is hardly conscious of are yet unrebuked! The children about their parents' this, we say. We speak not bitterly, but in sorrow. knees shall suffer for it, if their parents keep them not We admire to see a beautiful young woman. We ad- in the measure of reverence which they owe to this day mire to see her well dressed-it is suitable and proper. above all other days. And the old-the absolutely Both of these perhaps she can be, and go to Church, old-if they are not right in this particular-if experitoo, without calling for our rebuke. But finery is so ence and the telling of time has not admonished them, out of place in a temple inscribed to the Most High, neither would they be taught, "though one should rise that disgust is the first impression, and charity, per- from the dead." Of the railer, the rioter, the scoffer, haps, a second allowance. The dress should be very we have spoken not. They are the outlaws of society, plain at Church, not affectedly so, though; for it is no as they seem to be the castaways of grace; and their place in which to sport any form of sin. We have unthrift course makes itself apparent in no way more often thought the Spanish Domino,* viewed as a dress strikingly than in that of Sabbath breaking. We alone, is the most becoming and the most suitable of would wish them to reflect, that as the wrath of God any for the Sabbath dress. At least, if it does not should have been stayed on the wicked cities of old, for eradicate vanity, by shrouding it from others, it pre-ten's sake, so, in their course of iniquity, let the Sabvents the mischief of diverting attention, and exciting the desire of like frivolous, and may be, the worse passion of envy in those less able to pluck on to a like sin, &c., &c.

The deportment of the young is more or less conformed to the scale of their dress. There is no ill nature, but the most perfect sincerity in our observations. Will any person believe another sincerely pious, who goes to Church bedecked as for a show-of which the elaborate toilet even should have cost an hour's time, and much reflection and arrangement? And how does the young gentleman look at all this? Is he himself in a position to object? If he have a good sense of truth, can he also say he has no sense of self when too much dressed? We especially speak of the impropriety of much dress for this occasion. This is our admonition to the young whilst within the walls of the Church. And if, by chattings and gallantries on the way home, and by light and irreverent topics when there, the day is violated and profaned, their succeeding week will not be, as happy for it. At least no influence will extend from it to protect and guard them against the vivacious and indiscreet tendencies of youth. And we admonish them that it be not so "Tis not the young alone, amongst the decent classes of society, who are Sabbath breakers. Their sin of vanity is perhaps less unholy than is the sin in those of riper age, of a deliberate and calculating avarice, which seeks occasion and furtherance on this holy day. But no furtherance shall it find, but the direct contrary; for although the disadvantage is neither immediate nor apparent, yet is it so arranged in the providence of God, that the Sabbath worker is allying himself to causes which, in the chain of events-in the four-fold web of life-either in the physical, the moral, the intellectual, or the spiritual-or in the combination of some, or of all these together-that his impious deed

*The Domino, as worn in Spain and other Catholic countries, is a large loose over garment, fitted with a vail or a headpiece, shrouding and enveloping the whole person, and is invariably of black.

bath alone be excepted from their days of sinning, and perhaps for seven's sake, they may in God's mercy yet be saved! MENTORIA.

ABYSSINIAN CUSTOMS. THEIR manner of dancing consists rather in the motion of the shoulders and head than in that of the legs or feet. When several dance at a time, they move round in a ring. The men jump a great height at times, while the women sink down by degrees, making motions with the head, shoulders, and breast, until they nearly squat on the ground. They afterwards spring up in a lively manner, and go round as before.

The Abyssinians, while they profess to be rigid followers of the Christian faith, are yet ignorant of the greater part of its precepts; which arises chiefly from the want of a good example being shown to them by those of the superior class. The heads of their clergy are in general the greatest drinkers in the whole country, and at feasts, the quantity of raw meat which they consume, and the ravenous manner in which they devour it, exceeds all belief; indeed, they behave more like drunken beasts, when in company, than civilized beings.

Notwithstanding the libertine conduct of the Abys-" sinians, they strictly keep all their fasts, which are very numerous, and on those days never eat or drink till about three o'clock in the afternoon, which time they compute by measuring so many lengths of the foot given by the shade of the body on level ground. This, indeed, is the only way in which they keep time in Abyssinia. Their great Lent, which commences in February, lasts fifty-six days. Their years are called after the four evangelists-that of John is the leapyear. They reckon the number of years from the creation of the world to the birth of Christ, five thousand five hundred; and from the birth of Christ to the present time, one thousand eight hundred and five; the latter being about nine years short of our time. The administering of the holy sacrament is quite a public ceremony. After receiving it, they place their hands to

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215

their mouths, and go their way; nor will they on any || self unwell. They complied, and left me with only a consideration spit that day, even if a fly by chance be few friends; but in a few minutes, the people of Antodrawn into the mouth by their breath, which at other la, my acquaintances, hearing of my misfortunes, came times would occasion them to vomit, as they detest a flocking, and began their cry; and I was obliged to sit fly; and many will not even eat or drink what a fly and hear the name of my dead boy repeated a thoushas been found in. and times, with cries that are inexpressible, whether feigned or real. Though no one had so much reason to lament as myself, I could never have shown my grief in so affected a manner, though my heart felt much more.

On passing a church mounted, they alight from their horse or mule, and kiss the gateway or tree in front, according to the distance they are at when passing; and if at a distance, they take up a stone, and throw it upon a heap, which is always found on the road opposite to the church. In Abyssinia, a traveler, who sees in the wildest deserts large piles of stones, might be led to attribute the custom to the same motive which occasions similar piles to be found in Arabia, where some one has been killed and buried, and all who knew him, as they pass, throw a stone on his grave; but this is not the case here, those stones being thrown there by Christians, who know that the nearest church lies opposite to the spot: and on this account an Abyssinian traveler, when he sees such a pile of stones, knows that he is opposite to a church, and, in consequence, kisses the pile, and adds another stone to the heap. The priests are numerous beyond belief.

There are priests and deacons, who go about to the different towns, or residences of chiefs, where they find employment in teaching children to read. Their school is held generally in a church-yard, or in some open place near it, sometimes before the residence of the master, and in that case, during the rains, they are all crowded up in a small dark hut, learning prayers by word of mouth from the master, instead of from a book. When a boy is somewhat advanced in learning, he is made to teach the younger ones. However few the scholars, the master has in general great trouble with them, and, in addition to the ordinary punishments, numbers are constantly obliged to be kept in irons. The common way of punishing scholars is as follows: the schoolmaster stands over them with a wax taper, which cuts as severely as a whip, while five or six boys pinch the offender's legs and thighs; and if they spare him, the master gives them a stroke with the taper; but the correction considered most effective for these young Abyssinian rogues, is that of having irons put upon their legs for many months together, which in one instance I knew, proved fatal. It was a grown Agow boy, about thirteen years of age, who had more than once contrived to get his irons off, and desert from the school; for which the master, by desire of the parents, put so heavy a pair of irons upon his ankles, that he found it impossible to get them off: and this enraged him so much, that he drew his large knife, cut his own throat, and soon afterwards expired.

Before the cry was over, the people with devves were standing in crowds about my house, striving who should get in first; and the door was entirely stopped up, till at last my people were obliged to keep the entrance clear by force, and let only one at a time into the house. Some brought twenty or thirty cakes of bread, some a jar of maze, some cooked victuals, fowls ||and bread, some a sheep, &c.; and in this manner I had my house filled so full, that I was obliged to go out into the yard until things were put in order, and supper was ready. The head priest came with a jar of maze and a cow. What neighbors and acquaintances bring in the manner above mentioned, is called devves. The bringers are all invited to eat with you; they talk and tell stories, to divert your thoughts from the sorrowful subject; they force you to drink a great deal; but I remarked, that, at these cries, when the relatives of the deceased become a little tranquil in their minds, some old woman, or some person who can find no one to talk to, will make a dismal cry, saying, "O, what a fine child! and is he already forgotten?" This puts the company into confusion, and all join in the cry, which perhaps will last half an hour, during which the servants and common people standing about will drink all the maze, and when well drunk, will form themselves into a gang at the door, and begin their cry; and if their masters want another jar of maze to drink, they must pour it out themselves, their servants being so drunk that they cannot stand. In this manner they pass away a day, without taking rest.

I must say, however, that the first part of the funeral is very affecting: and the only fault I can find is, that they bury the dead the instant they expire. If a grown person of either sex, or a priest, is by them when they expire, the moment the breath departs, the cries and shouts which have been kept up for hours before, are recommenced with fury; the priests read prayers of forgiveness while the body is washed, and the hands put across one another upon the lower part of the belly, and tied to keep them in that position, the jaws tied as close as possible, the eyes closed, the two great toes tied together, and the body is wrapped in a clean cloth and sewed up, after which the skin called meet, the only bed an Abyssinian has to lie upon, is The priests came, and the customary prayers were tied over the cloth, and the corpse laid upon a couch read, and my poor child was carried away to be buried, and carried to the church, the bearers walking at a slow his mother following in a distracted manner. After pace. According to the distance of the house from the the funeral, the people returned to my house, and when church, the whole route is divided into seven equal they had cried for a half an hour, I begged they would parts; and when they come to the end of every sevleave off, and let me have a little rest, as I found my-enth part, the corpse is set down, and prayers of for

FUNERAL CEREMONIES.