THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE. retirement from this house of God, in the | evening of the day, "return, and bless your households;" and, having begun the practice, continue it each succeeding day. Be not diverted from it by the usual engagements and pursuits of life. It was after a busy day that David acted in the way described in the text. Approve yourselves in this way to your families, your consciences, and your God, and thus secure for yourselves the gracious and encouraging commendation pronounced by God, with reference to the father of the faithful: "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him; and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him" (Gen. xviii. 19). One word in the third and last place, you, 3. To the whole of the congregation. You have been hearing this morning of family religion; but remember that the first thing which each of us has to do is to obtain the blessings of religion for ourselves. The pearl of great price is to be personally sought by us; and, having found ourselves the treasure, let us direct to this pursuit the attention of others, and especially of those with whom we are more immediately connected. Consider, I beseech that without an interest in Christ you must inevitably perish; and those must perish too, in whose destinies you are associated. And then, in eternity, parents will reproach children, and children will reproach and rise up against their parents. Rejoice that, at present, to every one among you gospel blessings are accessible. Seek first then for yourselves, and also for others, the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all other necessary things shall be added unto you. Whilst many are careful and troubled about many things, be it to obtain the "one thing needful," and pray and strive that your blessed portion may be your children's also; and God in mercy grant that in all our different families the rich and gracious promise may be fulfilled, "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass; as willows by the water-courses: one shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel" (Isa. xliv. 3-5). yours WINTER PLANTS*. THE various species of evergreen trees and shrubs not only enliven and enrich the wintry landscape. economy of nature. but also serve many important purposes in the searches into every part of natural history scarcels Gilbert White, whose re anything seems to have eluded, observes, respecti the berries of ivy, that they afford a noble m providential supply for birds in winter and spiag The first severe frost, he adds, freezes and sa all the haws; and this sometimes happens as e as the middle of November. Ivy-berries, he says do not seem to freeze. accurate observer, "is the last flower that sup "Ivy," according to th ports the hymenopterous and dipterous insects. He further expresses his belief that, when the insects, which on sunny winter days may be see to swarm on trees covered with this climbing under the shelter of its leaves, concealing them plant, finally disappear, they "probably retir selves between its fibres and the trees which i entwines." Markwick also bears witness to having seen winged insects swarming about the flowers of ivy very late in the autumn. Evergreens generally would seem to attractin sects of various species. says White,"clouds of insects, usually called "On every sunny day, the winter through," gnats, appear sporting and dancing over the tops of the evergreen trees in the shrubbery. At night, and in frosty weather, and when it rains or blows, they seem to retire into those trees." "This," adds Markwick, "I have also seen, and have frequently observed swarms of litt the middle of the winter, even when the ground winged insects playing up and down in the air in has been covered with snow.' One of the most common and hardy of British evergreens is the holly (Ilex aquifolium). ( this shrub there are several varieties, bearing be ries and leaves of various hues. None perba are more ornamental than is the common da may be seen reflecting the beams of the winter green holly, of which the glittering prickly leave sun in the wild hedge-row, as well as in the gar den. It is almost superfluous to mention the laure with its large, shining, foreign-looking leaves, an indispensable ornament of the winter garde rope; and when first introduced into England considered to be exceedingly delicate. It is to have been first planted in the garden of a La don merchant; who, in winter, was accustom to protect it from the cold by throwing over blanket. Its leaves are poisonous, and shoul never be used, as they sometimes are, in culinar preparations. This beautiful shrub is a native of southern E evergreens, is in some parts of England much With the misseltoe-which, along with othe request, at the season of Christmas, for the dee ration of churches and houses-much curious i formation is connected. Among the Druids t singular plant was accounted sacred. Near eighteen hundred years have elapsed since, in the island of Mona, in this country, now illumined From "The Garden, the Grove, and the Field;" by Milner. Bath: Binns and Co. A book we have be avourably noticed.-ED, by the bright beams of gospel light, an arch- author of "The Journal of a Naturalist," "while Druid might be seen, attired in flowing vestments, it furnishes meditation for the closet of the studious, and having his brow cinctured by an oaken gar- it gives to the reflections of the moralizing ramand, issuing forth at the head of an imposing bler admiration and delight, and is an engaging procession, to gather by means of a golden knite companion that will communicate interest to every be mysterious misseltoe; sacred fires meanwhile | rural walk.” With the same author we entirely lazing on the heights around, and, loud as the think, that "young minds cannot be too strongly ound of many waters, solemn hymns in honour impressed with the wonders of creation by which of the god of day ascending from the united they are surrounded." In the busy race of after voices of the assembled throng. Those pagan life, these wonders may, perhaps, be passed by unrites are no more; and with them have ceased heeded; the unceasing occupations and unavoidathe fearful human sacrifices of which they were ble cares of the world may preclude the possibility the accompaniments, and which bore witness to of close attention to them;" but they will always the inspired truth, that "the dark places of the give a beneficial bias to a reasoning mind, and earth" are ever "the habitations of cruelty." tend in some after, thoughtful, sobered hour, to The same peculiarity, however, of growth and comfort and to soothe. The little insights that form which rendered the misseltoc sacred in the we have obtained into nature's works are, many estimation of the ancient British Druids, has, du- of them, the offspring of scientific research; and, ring succeeding centuries, caused it to be regarded partial and uncertain as our labours are, yet a by the ignorant with superstitious veneration. brief gleam will occasionally lighten the darkEven among naturalists it was long thought to be some path of the humble inquirer, and give him impossible to propagate the misseltoe; and a a momentary glimpse of hidden truths. Let not, popular error to the same effect is still extensively then, the idle and the ignorant scoff at him who prevalent. In its wild state the seeds of this devotes an hour-no calling left, no duty broken-plant are believed to be scattered by the missel- to investigate a moss, a fungus, a beetle, or a thrush, which, as is well known, feeds on its shell, in ways of pleasantness and paths of peace. berries. These berries are very glutinous, and They are all alike the formation of Supreme will readily take root and germinate if introduced Intelligence, for a wise and worthy end, and into the bark of certain trees which are found to may lead us by gentle gradations to a faint be favourable to their growth. conception of the powers of his infinite wisdom.” We have mentioned that troops of gnats may even in midwinter be occasionally seen sporting in the clear sunbeams. In sheltered situations, too, the leafless sprays of bushes and hedges may still be seen hung with the silken-looking web of the gossamer-spider; but myriads of insects, of all shapes and hues, are at this season sleeping around us. Winter is to them a season of repose; and in many species wondrous metamorphoses are in progress, though without their aid or conscious ness. At the approach of severe weather innumerable insects set forth in quest of winter-quarters; and the retreat selected by each hybernating creature is admirably adapted to its constitution and to its habits of life. Some remain wholly, others partially torpid; all awaiting the return of spring for their awakening, and going forth into a new and beautiful creation of sunshine and flowers. THE NEW CRYSTAL PALACE AT SYDENHAM. THE following remarks formed the close of a sermon, on Matt. xii. 8, preached at Hornsey church, on Sunday, Oct. 31, by the rev. Richard Harvey, rector: It has seemed well to say a few words on the character of the Christian sabbath, and the spirit in which the Lord of the sabbath observed and enforced it, because public attention is from circumstances especially directed to the question, and much may depend for good or for evil to this country, on the view which may be taken of it by our rulers. A scheme is shortly to be submitted to the legislature for re-opening, on an extended scale, and for a long continuance, the building of It has been observed by a popular writer that the Great Exhibition. The late one was comit is matter of surprise, that in these enlightened menced, we believe, under a commission from the times we should meet with comparatively few per- crown, with little hope that it would cover its exsons who have any knowledge of, or who take any penses, while visitors were flocking in from every interest in, natural bistory; "that subject, even quarter of the world, and a year was the utmost if it obtain a moment's consideration, having no limit to be permitted for its continuance. Conabiding place in the mind, but being dismissed as taining, as it did, contributions from every people the fitting employ of children and inferior capa- (Jew, Turk, infidel, and heretic), and intended for cities." The pursuits, however, of the lover of the full inspection of every nation under heaven, natural history, as the same writer adds, even con- it was under the direction of a Christian queen, sidered abstractedly from the various branches of and was closed without remonstrance or inconvescience which they embrace, may be fairly allowed nience on the Christian sabbath. The committee to "constitute one of the most delightful occupa- of arrangement comprised persons of every shade of tions that can employ the attention of reasoning sentiment, political and religious, of whom many beings, that occupation consisting in the investi- were voluntarily responsible for the loss which was gation of the workings and ways of the great expected to be sustained. But, differing on many Author of nature, in this created world of won-points, they were agreed on one, that the great ders filled with his never absent power.'" This place of public anusement and resort for the year attractive study tends to elevate while it occupies the mind, and, to borrow again the words of the * Jesse. should not be open on the great day of prayer and praise, and rest for eternity. Men were not again to lose their title to the tree of life by par taking of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The building was opened with prayer and closed with praise; and our gracions queen proved herself a true defender of the Christian faith by giving no sanction to ought which might weaken or undermine it. The blessing of the Most High rested on the undertaking; and the project was in every way successful. There was no bowing to an image of gold. Men of all ranks and ages and countries were enabled to visit the Exhibition. And, in the place of its being a rendezvous of profligacy and profaneness, to encourage the idle and the dissipated, there was no admission on a Sunday to the public without; and there was relaxation and repose for the servants and retainers within. It is now proposed (and a most desirable proposition it is) to revive the exhibition, and to have a permanent one on an extended scale; but, instead of being the public property of a Christian people, it is to be a private scheme for un-Christianizing the land. The queen's exhibition was closed on the Lord's day; but for the pecuniary behoof of some private speculators (not for the advantage of the labourers and artizans, as is pretended) it is proposed to open the new one on the sabbath. The plea which is put forth by the projectors is the relaxation of the working classes. The relaxation of those who drive engines on the rail, or coaches on the road, the repose of servants and arrangers within the building, the religious services, the eternal well-being of any or all of these is not taken into account. We are told, indeed, that they can attend a morning service, that they can have the semblance of religion for one hour, and the reality of no religion for twelve hours; that their lips may say one thing till noon without thought or meaning, and utter another through the day with all their heart. Such pleas cannot be seriously offered, and will not on any ground be received. If the recreation of the poor is designed, they should be allowed a gratuitous admission, not tempted by every inducement to intemperance and every encouragement to profaneness; they should be permitted to refresh themselves without cost or disturbance, as they at present do in our suburban villages and parks. When the disciples were an-hungred, they could pluck their neighbours' corn without let or hindrance. No payment was exacted in return. The teachers might minister the bread of life without interference from the ruling powers. A sick man might be healed, the sight of a blind man restored-even a dumb animal might be rescued and fed: the sabbath was allowed to be employed for any good or needful purpose. But this is widely different from ministering to those whose God is their gold-from retaining men in bondage of body and darkness of soul to work, work, work on God's day of rest, that their employers may heap up gold, gold, gold. The working classes cannot be benefited on earth, and will be unfitted for heaven, if they are to be withdrawn from their wives and children on their only day of being together, and, instead of seeking a common salvation, are to spend their earnings apart in dissipation, revelry, and vice. No blessing can be expected from God, if man shall openly sanction the violation of his day. We have no wish to make the sabbath a day of gloom. Men cannot be driven to be religious and we would press none to come with lagging step to the house and table of the Lord; but it is not fair to deprive any man of his Christian liberty, t keep away any who may desire to come, or reta in unwilling bondage the freemen of the Lord Jesus. The real friends of the labourer shoul be stirring, to insure for him the relaxation wa they claim for themselves. Let no charter be asked from a Christian legislature which is a chater to disobey God, which even the Jew, were k admitted to parliament, must consistently opp The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath, and her terprets all that is connected with it in referee to the end for which it was appointed. He de not treat it literally as to its minuter parts: looks liberally on it as a whole. But he w have it a day of rest and repose and refreshmen and recreation for every soul of man. He is n respecter of persons. He does not will the mak ing any toil on the day of rest: he does not pleas that this man should be worked, and that ma amused at his expense. Every one is taken as count of by him, and every one will have to g account of himself to God. It is not our Savion pleasure to make a difference, and say, “Ta man shall serve God, and be saved"—" that ar shall serve him and be lost;" "this: shall come to the house of prayer and the Lart table"-" that man shall be wiled to give up pab worship, and neglect all the ordinances of God." The Lord of the sabbath does not will that should be worsened in soul, that another may bettered in body. He would beckon all aw from sin he would have the sabbath on earth employed, that each and every one may be more fitted by it for the sabbath in heaven, whe the ungodly and profane cannot enter-we there is no admission for anything that defileh but only he who seeks the grace of God to hold him, and the Spirit of God to direct him, the Son of God to intercede for him-he, in shor that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. RELIGIOUS WRITERS OF SPAIN. No. VI. BY MISS M. A. STODART. FRAY DIEGO DE ESTELLA. ON CONTEMPT OF HUMAN OPINION. "WITH ne it is a very small thing that Is be judged of you or of man's judgment. Ba judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge before the time, until the Lord come, wh will bring to light the hidden things of das and will make manifest the counsels of the le and then shall every man have praise of G The apostle said this, despising the words opinions of men. Since it is God who know hearts, and who has to judge us, thou oughtest & to be vain-glorious when thou art pr nor sad when thou art blamed; for to" slandered is no injury, nor can the prase others confer real honour. In the hour of o it will be seen who is good or wicked. Care for the iniquitous judgments of men, but rat endeavour to please God alone. Those who tilt, though they may be praised or condemned by the ignorant people, have nothing to do except with the judges, who have to give the prize, and reward the best tilter. So thou oughtest not to set any value on the praises of men, nor to care for their reproaches, but to keep all thy thought on pleasing God alone, who is to judge thee, and who will render to every one, as the Saviour says, according to his works.' If thou doest well, he sees it all; and from his hand thou wilt receive thy reward*. Love the truth, and care not for what people say; because often they speak through hatred or through love, not knowing what is in man. Do not forsake the right path, whatever people may say. The bear who carries the hive full of honey cares little if the bees sting him. In like manner do thou, fulfilling thy duty, and having God with thee, care little for the sayings and murmurings of men; for these are stings which can do thee little harm. Very quickly will he be condemned who, in the things that he does, attends more to the sayings of men than to God; this oftimes, and not the evil disposition, extends the power of sinning. He is not without praise and honour who, for the love of God, despises praises and honours. The wicked, who take our good deeds in wrong part, show that they do not know the art of doing good. Therefore thou oughtest not to care for their evil judgments and perverse sayings. As we despise the sayings of those who speak of what hey do not understand, so thou oughtest not to nake any account of what such say. It is nothing to the painter, though he nay hear a rustic shepherd say that the igure which he has done is not well painted: vell would it be for the artists if only proessors and artists were to judge of them. Do not be indignant or grieved though some may have a bad opinion of thee. Art thou, erchance, better than Jesus Christ? Read the ospel, and thou wilt find it written that some aid Christ was a Samaritan, and had a devil; and thers said he was not of God, since he kept not he sabbath; and others answered how could he, eing a sinner, do so many miracles? so that St. wanting some one to speak against it; and, if thou art so unsteady as to pay attention to all that men say, thou wilt never do any thing right. That blind man who was sitting in the road to Jericho called upon Christ; but there were not wanting some to reprove him. But, the more they contradicted him, the more he went on crying. It is impossible that there should not be tongues of malicious persons. Draw near to God, pursue the path of holiness, and persevere in the good that thou hast begun; taking no account of the words of idle persons, who make it their business to comment on the intentions and interpret the works of their neighbours. Thou wilt lose thy senses, if thou attend to every thing that people say. Labour continually to stand well with God, and to do his will in all things; for all the rest is very great vanity and sorrow of spirit. The Cabinet. UNBELIEF. Remember that the despair of relief is the very essence of unbelief, for it is the distrust of the remedy which God has provided; and, for the same reason that faith is power, unbelief is weakness. Pray for "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be grace to put far away the debilitating persuasion. saved" (Acts xvi. 31): "my grace is sufficient for you."-Bp. Shirley in a 66 Letter to a Friend." PARENTAL INFLUENCE.-What a thought it is, that not only our general conduct, but even particular acts or expressions, may influence the character and everlasting condition of those immortal beings who have been entrusted to our care! and not only so, but that our children, and children's children, and all who shall come within the reach of their influence or example, may be affected by the character which we have been the means of imparting. What a ramification of responsibility does such a thought open to one's view, and how does it raise into importance even the most apparently trivial action of life !-Bp. Shirley. Poetry. John says that there was a division among them, HYMNS FOR THE SUNDAYS IN THE YEAR ome saying one thing and others another. Then, there were so many opinions of the Saviour of he world, who was holiness and goodness itself, (For the Church of England Magazine). FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADvent. hy art thou so proud that, being full of a thou- (SUGGESTED It is a great error not to practise virtue for hat the world may say. However holy may be e path that thou tak est, there will not be ⚫ Bishop Butler's experienee seems to have been similar to r author's; for the English prelate complains, in his preface his sermons, preached at the Rolls chapel, that there are any who have a real curiosity to see what is said, who have sort of curiosity to see what is true. "And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto thee."-(1st Lesson, morning) ISAIAH xxx. 18. LORD! thou hast waited long for me, And yet thy wrath has not been stirred. Space for repentance thon hast given; That I may learn the way to heaven. O what long-suffering is thine, To wait that thou mayest gracious be; Keep me from trifling with thy love, Thee, "let and hindered" tho' I be, Till I shall see thee "face to face." HYMN FOR RAGGED SCHOOLS*. "To thee, O Christ, our Saviour, We lift our feeble prayer, For thou thy gracious favour Hast bid us children share : Though "children of the needy," Yet happy children we! "The children of the needy" Are saved, O Lord, by thee." Though poor on earth our station, Though poor on earth our home, Thou, God of our salvation, Wilt have the children come; The children of the poor. And yon bright home above. In peace and pleasantness: "THE PAST AND THE PRESENT." STANFORD CHURCH, BRANDON, NORFOLK† : BY THE REV. F. W. MANT, A.M. "For who hath despised the day of small things?"ZECH. iv. 10. TIME there was, when zeal was earnest, Hearts were warm, though faith was new, When the goodly church of Stanford Into gradual beauty grew. Time there came, of gloom and sadness, And beheld the ruin fall. Time there was, when clustered columns Spanned the dim arcades between. * Used in the Birmingham Ragged School. † Appeal for funds to restore it. Time there came of desolation, When the wandering cattle trod, But those days of shame and sorrow For the slumbers of the past. In our late awakening hour Very small the boon we crave: Shall not forfeit its reward." Of God's promise in the skies; Till the gracious river flows; And by God's especial blessing, Without whom we toil in vain, Love's fond work shall be accomplish'd And our church arise again. Miscellancous. THE LUNATIC ASYLUM, VENICE.—The lang asylum was a very affecting and humiliating si, One man, a poor old priest, kept close to us, and h. begging of us privately to get him some letter-pa saying, that he was confined there for being in t on the doctrine of the sacrament, and he wid write his confession to the patriarch of Venice, that might be absolved, and set at liberty. There ». some very horrid spectacles. One man, quite fra was confined with a strait-waistcoat in a roos himself. He was a sailor, and seemed to think? self in a storm; for he was, without a moment's sation, giving orders about the managemen vessel. The evening before, he had been per quiet, and indeed perfectly sane; for, when the not on him, he is quite rational. There was thing very fearful in the contemplation of this s On what a fearfully tender thread does God's bes poral gift depend! What reason for thankfu him have we, that he has not made our body th of our mind! I am sure we ought daily to en to realize more the constant presence, the daily intending care of our heavenly Father. I can. measure, feel his goodness to me in the bles enjoy; but how little do we think of all the danger, the unimagined calamity from which wa preserved -Bp. Shirley. London: Published for the Proprietors, by HUGHES, 12, Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; * procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and (.*) PRINTED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 246, STRAND, LONDON. |