HERE and there throughout this old country of ours may be seen the ruins of ancient abbeys, which were once inhabited by Roman Catholic priests and others. There are ruins too, of castles, which were the residences and strong holds of Barons and their soldiers. The castle was mostly erected on some high hill or steep rock with a deep river running beneath it, but the abbey might be found in the rich valley below, with a gentle brook meandering by, and watering the fertile plains around it.

The men who lived in these abbeys had little else to do than to say their prayers, and count their beads, and sing their matins, and eat and drink all the good things they pleased. It is true they were also generous and gave away much food to the poor, and they

would also entertain the strangers and pilgrims who visited them. But they were very rich, and could not themselves stand in need of all they had, and much of what they had was given to them that they might relieve the poor and the strangers.

For in those days the people were ignorant of the word of God. It was only to be seen here and there, not printed as now, but written on parchment rolls, or on small pages bound up in richly ornamented covers. So that a copy of the whole bible was then worth a great deal of money. What a blessed privilege that you can now have the New Testament for four-pence, and a whole Bible for ninepence! Dont forget this.

And so, as the people had never read the Bible, they were taught to believe that all which their priests told them was the law and will of God; and these cunning wicked fellows made a fine penny of their ignorance. They got around the bed of a dying man and made him believe that he would go into purgatory, or be lost in perdition, if he did not leave plenty of money to them and to the poor. And thus they obtained great wealth. And so much did they go on getting, that the king and parliament were obliged at last to put a stop to their greediness, by passing what is called in our law-books, the "Statute of Mortmain,” which forbade the people from giving and the priests from receiving in that way in future. For if they had gone on as they had been, they would have swallowed up nearly all the property of the kingdom. And that law is in force until this day. And it is a good thing it is, or many more widows and fatherless children would have been robbed of their rights by such greedy priests" wolves in sheep's clothing" as our Lord called such men in his day. (See Matt. vii. 15.)

The head-man of the abbey was called "The Abbot,” and a very great man was he-something like a prince-above the rest of the bishops and

THE OLD ABBEY.

nobles of the land, sitting in the highest place in the house of lords, next to the king himself.

But when the Reformation from popery took place, then these proud abbots and their priests were all turned out of their nests, and the jewels and money were seized, and the lands were sold or given away to the nobles. Most of the buildings were allowed to fall into decay, and they are now only heaps of crumbling ruins, as seen in the picture. Some of these even now, after 300 years of neglect and ruin, shew outlines of their former extent and grandeur. A few of them were fitted up by the nobility for country seats-as, Woburn Abbey, the seat of the Duke of Bedford, and Welbeck Abbey, the seat of the Duke of Portland, and Newstead Abbey, the seat of the late Lord Byron, and several others. These places, and the lands around them, are exempt from poor's rates, which is a wrong and a shame.

And so, although, when we look at the ruins of an old abbey, we may feel a kind of melancholy regret that such fine buildings should have fallen into decay, yet when we think by what wicked means they were built and supported-the idleness and vice in which their occupiers indulged-and the wrongs they inflicted on hundreds of widows and orphans, we need not be sorry that they are now found among the things that were.

And never again we hope, will abbeys rear their heads in the beatiful valleys of old England. We know that the Roman Catholics would like, and they are trying all they can, to get into England again, but it is "too late." With our bibles in our hands we can never again submit to receive their mountebank tricks as real religion. Neither will the people of England submit to be taught popish customs by Protestant priests-men who profess one thing and do another. No, no: we hope that our schools, and bibles, and tracts, and magazines, and good books, and gospel preaching, have not only, under God, preserved us

from such scenes of anarchy and bloodshed as we have heard of lately in other nations, but that they will also be the means of preserving us from all that is contrary to the pure doctrines of the word of the living God. Children of England, hold fast by your Bibles!

SIMPLICITY OF CHILDHOOD.
OH! for the reverential eye
To Childhood which pertains,
That sees religion in the sky,
And poetry in plains!

To whom a rainbow like a rapture glows,
And all is marvel which the Almighty shows.
Blest age of Wonder! when a flower,
A blossom, fruit, or tree,

Gives a new zest to each new hour
That gladdens home with glee:
When like a lisping stream life rolls along
In happy murmurs of unconscious song.
It smiles on that, and speaks to this,
As if each object knew

A child exulted in the bliss

Of all that charms its view;
Personified the whole Creation seems
Into a heart that mirrors back its dreams!

Mere knowledge makes us keen and cold,
And cunning dwarfs the mind,

As more and more the heart grows old
With feelings base and blind;

Our light is clearer, but our love is less,
And few the bosoms that our own can bless!
Spirit of grace! we learn from Thee
This noble truth, at length,-
That wisdom is simplicity,

Simplicity is strength;

A child-man, could the world such union find,
Would be the model-form for human kind.

ROBERT MONTGOMERY.

MANY poor lads from Italy find their way over to England, which is supposed by them to be a very rich country; and so they come to pick up a living in the best way they can. And a very poor living some of them get!

In London there are Jews, and others, who let out to such boys, barrel organs, and such like instruments of music. They go out and play in the streets, for nearly all these boys are musicians, and are expected to bring back a certain sum of money every day, and all they get for their day's working and begging, is something to eat, a very bad night's lodging, and a few pence; and sometimes, if they have not had a good day, they do not have these.