been uttered by him in the way of prayer. He therefore adopts him immediately, as a child of God through faith. Beloved, be not ignorant of this, that the one thing needful is the pardon of your sins. So long as you want this, you never can be of good cheer. Read, therefore, often and earnestly, the Word of God, and pray that you may have faith to believe the witness that is there given by God himself to this great truth, that Jesus Christ, the rejected of men, the crucified of the Jews, was the Son of God, sent to take away the sins of the world. Your prayer will most certainly be answered, and you will then go to this same Saviour, with faith to be healed; and his comforting words to your souls will be, Sons and daughters, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you. Your sins once forgiven, you will obey your Saviour, not as servants, unwillingly, but as sons and daughters, willingly and affectionately. Depend upon it, there is no love of God and Christ in any one's soul till there is a sense of the pardoning love of Christ : it is not in man till he feels that God first loved him, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for his sins, or, in other words, to make that satisfaction to God for his sins which must be made, but which he himself never could have made. The multitudes, you will observe, marvelled, or wondered, and glorified God that had given such power to men. This was better than the conduct of the scribes; but still we do not find it said that any of them were converted. The truth is, they were astonished, and no more. There was no feeling of love, though indeed the tenderness of Jesus should have made them love him. They thought that Jesus was a mere man, to whom God had given the power they had just seen put forth; they did not see in Him that God, "whose tender mercies are over all his works."

A LAYMAN.

4 1 St. John iv. 10.

EXTRACTS FROM NEWSPAPERS, &c.

ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, 8TH JULY, 1842.-The only eclipse of the sun visible in Great Britain until the 6th day of May, 1845, and the largest until the 9th October, 1847, occurs early on the morning of Friday, the 8th July next. The penumbra, or faint shadow of the moon, first touches the earth on the north of the great desert of Zaara, in Africa, where the eclipse is first visible, and it finally leaves the earth in the Pacific Ocean, near the eastmost of the East India Islands. The central and total eclipse commences a few miles to the west of Cape St. Vincent, and passes over Spain, the south of France, the north of Italy, Germany (passing near Vienna), Russia in Europe, Russia in Asia (where the sun appears totally eclipsed at noon), and China, ending near the Ladrone Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The portion of the earth upon which the dark shadow of the moon falls is an ellipse, the greatest axis of which is 105 miles in length. The total darkness at any place within the eclipse only lasts nearly fifty-nine seconds. At Edinburgh, the dark body of the moon comes in contact with the sun 70 degrees from his vertex, towards the right, at 48 minutes past four o'clock, morning; the greatest obscuration being at 40 minutes past five, when nearly seven-tenths of the sun's disc will be covered by the moon. The last contact, or end of the eclipse, will be at 34 minutes past six oclock, 153 degrees from the sun's vertex towards the left. This eclipse will be visible over the whole of Europe, the whole continent of Asia, except the southern half of Arabia, and the southern part of Hindostan, the north of Africa, and the extreme north of North America. The present is the second periodical return of this eclipse since the 16th June, 1806, on the afternoon of which day a partial eclipse was visible in this country.-Edinburgh Witness.

DEATHS BY EATING HEMLOCK.-Two lamentable accidents occurred at the parish of Llanerfyl, Montgomeryshire. A poor woman of the name of Davies had occasion to leave her home on Monday, and during her absence her three children discovered some roots of water hemlock near the river side, of which they ate freely, and an old woman in passing by found two of the children very ill. Upon inquiring what was the matter, the eldest informed her what they had been eating. A messenger was despatched for a surgeon, who was quickly in attendance, but on his arrival he found two dead (one aged ten years, the other three years and a half), and the other in a hopeless state, but through prompt and judicious treatment, is recovering. Inquests were held on the bodies, and the jury returned their verdict-That their deaths were caused by the eating of poisonous roots, commonly called water hemlock.-Cambrian.

SUGAR IN THE OLDEN TIME.-In the Reign of Henry IV. of France sugar was so rare in that country, that it was sold by the ounce by apothecaries, nearly as Peruvian bark is now sold.

EDUCATION THE BEST ESTATE. - He that makes his son worthy of esteem by giving him a liberal education, has a far better title to his obedience and duty than he that gives him a large estate without it.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

WE have received the communications of E. A.; A Constant Reader; Rev. T. Farley; T. B.; A Gentleman's Servant; and F.

66

CHURCH MUSIC.

Ir is pleasing to see the improvement which has been made within these few years in that part of our church worship which, for a long time, in many of our village churches, was rather a hindrance than an encouragement to the devotion of the congregation. We were called to sing to the praise and glory of God;" but instead of ourselves singing, the whole business seemed to be in the hands of a few people raised up in a kind of gallery, who had learned the art of playing badly on some sort of instrument; and every young man who thought he could play upon any instrument carried it with him into the singing gallery, and there was a strange mixture of the sounds of different instruments, many of them altogether unsuited to that solemnity of sound which ought to accompany sacred music. It was a collection of bad military instruments, very badly played on. The parties, we may suppose, practised together during the week, and then agreed what should be the psalms, and what should be

VOL. XXII.

the tunes which should be set up for the following Sunday. The tunes were generally such as no part of the congregation could join in; they were chosen for the purpose of bringing in their different instruments, and to suit the voices of some of those who thought they had voices, and believed that they were able to sing in parts: so that those among the congregation who could have joined in a plain simple tune, were quite baffled in any attempt to join in the psalm; and those who really understood music, and could sing, were quite put out too, and found no place for them; they were quite shut out from joining in the song of praise. To prevent this, a small organ has been introduced into some village churches; and such simple tunes are played as all may join in. Where, however, the old plan of the singing gallery is still retained, there is in many churches a very much improved style of singing. The clergyman chooses the words to be sung: if he selects only a portion of a psalm or hymn, he takes care that this portion shall contain a completeness of sense,-not merely measuring out a certain number of verses and then stopping in the middle of the sense, and making the meaning almost nothing, but giving a complete song of prayer or praise. Then he chooses a simple tune, such as he knows his school children are acquainted with, and such as almost all the congregation can join in. The instruments should be few, and soft, and such as to guide the singing, and not to put it out by unmeaning noise. I was at a village church last Sunday, the congregation seemed very attentive; and the men in the singing gallery seemed more attentive to the service than is usual with those who occupy that place. But I was disturbed even at these, and saw, in a degree, the same fault which is to be seen in almost every singing gallery. Whilst the minister was reading the lessons, they were turning over their music books, instead of listening to the word of God which was proclaimed to them. It is to be feared that, during the prayers, they were engaged in thinking over their parts of the tune, instead of offering up their earnest supplications to God. In truth, if our eye should glance from our own solemn work for a moment, and be turned towards

the gallery, it will be almost sure to be forced to see that there is a preparation for music, instead of an engagement of the heart in prayer. This is one great objection to having a singing gallery at all; and I hope to see the day when the singing shall make a part of the devotion of the whole congregation, instead of a business confined to a few, who seem condemned to lay aside the thoughts of worship in the church, as if their music was all that concerned them, and all that they thought concerned the congregation; and thus profanely singing to their own praise, whilst they profess to sing to the praise and glory of God. I look upon the singing gallery as a great temptation to draw the mind from prayer: though I am bound to say, that I know some singing men who appear to be under the influence of a devoutly religious spirit, in spite of this temptation. V.

ON THE LORD'S PRAYER.

(Continued from p. 226.)

"Give us this day our daily bread."

DAYS and weeks passed on as usual after the events mentioned in the last chapter. The sun rose and set; the flowers blossomed and died; the labourer went forth in the morning to his daily work, and returned to his home happy and contented; the children played together on the village green, and their voices sounded merrily on the evening breeze, and, to all outward appearance, that which had occurred was as if it had never been. But there was one by whom that dying sceñe could never be forgotten, -the mother, who with so deep a joy had welcomed her infant at its birth as her most precious treasure, who had so fondly guarded it in health, and so earnestly prayed for it in sickness, now sat by the empty cot in her solitary cottage with a heart often sinking under that bitter grief which only a parent can feel. It was not that Mary was ever again tempted to repine or give way to despair, for every day's experience made her see that her child had indeed been taken away from the evil to come. But her joy on earth was gone; and with all her sincere endeavours for resignation (and that they were sincere, I most truly believe), there were times when a word, a look, or