less they are taught? They cannot. And nature will not teach these things. We must look, then, to Christian instruction, as the appointed means, and on which we may humbly hope for the divine blessing. How thankful then ought we to be that schools are open, where our children may be taught what happiness belongs to them if they are true Christians; and where they may receive those instructions which will shew them the duty and the advantage of living by those rules which are given them by the Almighty himself! And, when they know these things, and have learned that every good gift comes from the hands of their heavenly Father; and when they have been taught what great things have been done for them by their blessed Redeemer; and when they see the need of God's Holy Spirit to enable them to live like Christians, they will be truly thankful for the opportunity which is afforded them, every Sunday, of going to the house of God, to thank him for his past mercies, and to pray to him for his continual help. The chiming of the Sabbath-bell is a grateful sound to a Christian's ear, be cause it calls him to a work which he delights in! May it be the constant wish of every one of us to know Thy will, O Lord; and may it be our chief delight to do it! This is the way to happiness in this world, and this will bring a man peace at the last. It is the way in which our blessed Saviour has told us that we must walk, and it will lead us to that everlasting blessedness, which, by his own blood-shedding, he hath purchased for us. May we trust to his merits. May we follow his guidance, and may we, at last, be partakers of his heavenly kingdom! HYMN. 1. Lord, how delightful 'tis to see II. I have been there, and still would go, O write upon my memory, Lord, IV. With thoughts of Christ and things divine IDLE JACK SIMKINS. THERE is not a more idle slovenly fel. in the parish than Jack Simkins: he is always in dirt and rags, and is constantly complaining: he grumbles and says he can get no work; and I don't much wonder at it, for when he has a job, he does it so badly, that nobody likes to employ him again; and when he has earned a trifle, he goes and spends it at the alehouse instead of carrying it home to his family to buy them what they stand in need of; so that his house is always shabby, and his windows broken, and his garden all over weeds; and every thing about him shews that all is going wrong. I rememberJack when he was a boy at school; but he never took any pleasure in his book, did not seem to care whether he learned any thing or nothing, never paid any attention to what his master said to him, and always came in a dirty slovenly manner to school, and was always at the bottom of his class. And so he is grown up to be just such a man as we should expect. He used to go to church with the other boys; but, when he was there, he never seemed to know what he went for; he never tried to think what the prayers meant, and he therefore never joined in them; neither did he ever listen to the instruction which the minister read in the lessons, or gave from the pulpit. And so he now knows nothing; and he does not seem to wish to know any thing: he never goes to a place of worship, and he is altogether the worst man in the parish. And this comes of being an idle boy at school, and not minding what is said. Jack's great saying was, "I don't care." And " I don't care" never yet did any body good. A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE. IF all children would remember this, they would be a great deal more neat and tidy than they often are. It is an easy thing for a girl to mend a small hole in her clothes; but, if this be neglected, it will become so large, that she will not know how to set about repairing it. It is a very sad thing to see a girl dirty and slovenly in her dress, when a little attention might have kept her clean; and when " a stitch in time" might have kept her from rags. And the worst of it is, that |