you, my friends, in prosecuting, in a spirit of humility, faith, and prayer, the important work in which you are engaged. "May the love of God be shed abroad in your own hearts more and more abundantly by the Holy Ghost given unto you;" then you will want no stimulus from me or my brethren in the ministry to animate you in the path of duty. A higher, a holier motive-the highest and holi. est of all motives—will stir you up to go on. “We love him because he first loved us,” exclaims the beloved disciple; and 0, my friends, let it be repeated, if our own hearts be really under the influ. ence of love to the Divine Redeemer, to whose love in dying for us we are indebted for every hope of pardon, peace, and eternal life—if we have that love really in our bosoms, we shall never forget that he left the command, “ Feed my lambs.” And “ let us work while it is day.” “ This I say, brethren, The time is short. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." The opportunities presented to us of glorifying God and benefiting our fellow-creatures will soon have passed away; and if allowed to pass unimproved, they will be irrecoverably lost. They will bear testimony against us at the great and awful day when we must give “ an account of our stewardship, and be no longer stewards.” O, how ought all to tremble at the thought of being weighed in the balances and found wanting !” Yet we must not be discouraged. “ She hath done what she could," was the commendation passed by our Divine Mas. ter on one who humbly desired to honour him. The followers of Christ should remember that they serve a gracious Master, one “ whose service is perfect freedom," and who, although he himself purchased their salvation at so costly a price, condescends to accept from bis disciples" a cup of water," if presented in faith and love.

My friends, we should be thankful if allowed to benefit even one poor child : it is cause for rejoicing also to assist " in lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes” of the venerable and apostolical Church of which we are members, for her prosperity is closely connected with, nay, inseparable from, the prosperity of the land that gave us birth. But above all is it delightful to be employed in the service of the King of kings and Lord of lords; it is a distinguished honour and privilege and blessing to be permitted to labour in his vineyard in the spot and in the work which He has assigned us. Let the covetous grasp after money; let the ambitious seek “ the honour which cometh from man alone ;' let the children of this world go after their idols; but let the servants of the Divine Redeemer be always found at the post of duty, ever seeking to glorify the Giver of all good,“ rejoicing in the Lord, and joying in the God of their sal. vation.”

My friends, you all have your trials in your allotted stations, but remember, “ this is not our rest ; " we must not expect that happiness can be derived from a world which has by transgression fallen under the anger of its Creator. The servants of Christ must look beyond this passing scene for their happiness; they must remember that " they are strangers and pilgrims” upon the earth, and are seeking “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” To that city, my dear friends, do you bend your eyes continually—this will sweeten the toils of the way; there “ your treasure"

is deposited ; and “where your treasure is, there let your hearts be also." But the servant of Christ cannot bear the thought of partaking of “the pleasures at God's right hand ” alone. Having tasted of the water of life himself, and knowing that his heavenly Father has invited the whole family of man to drink and live, the true follower of the Divine Redeemer is anxiously desirous to be the honoured instrument of bringing others to know him “ whom to know is life eternal.” The poorest and most wicked little child, in the vilest alley of the crowded city, is not an object of contempt in the eye of the true servant of Christ. O, no ; he delights in assisting to bring to his Heavenly Father “all who are ignorant and out of the way,” knowing that the blood of Christ can cleanse, and the spirit of Christ can renovate, the most depraved heart; that the God of all grace can transform the most abandoned, and make the most impure, the most profligate, the most blasphemous in society, “new creatures"-monuments of mercy here, and prepare them, through Christ Jesus, for the enjoyment of endless glory hereafter.

My friends, when tempted to grow weary in your work, think of the mercy “ which made you to differ" from the most awful characters around you ; think of this, not pharisaically, but with all humility as well as gratitude ; think especially of Him who toiled, who wept, who suffered, who bled for us, undeserving as we were of his love, and who “ left us an example that we should tread in his steps."

IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE OF THE Rev. WILLIAM WAIT,

WRITTEN ON THE DAY OF HIS DEATH.
• Remembrance wakes with all her busy train.'-Goldsmith's Deserted Village.
Dear blind old man, to me from childhood known,
From years when · Zion's Trumpet'* first was blown;
Early did heaven's own breath thy heart inspire,
Early thy lips were touch'd with holy fire;
Well could thy strong and simple pathos wake
The trifler; well could bid his conscience ache ;
Well his disease, bis danger paint ; then guide
To that free Saviour who for sinners died.
Long wert thou banish'd from the things of sight,
While faith still cheer'd thee with her inward light:
A patient pilgrim long we saw thee walk,
And loy'd thy friendly heart, thy Christian talk :
Now, Wait, we hail thee, with a new year's morn,
To'heaven's eternal year,' of blissful service born.

T. G.

OUR POORER CLASSES.

How vain is all human glory! how little will it bear inspection, whether it respect an individual or a nation ! Never has a nation stood out so brightly and dazzlingly before the rest of the world as our own, combining as it does so many elements of greatness; all that is to be admired in literature, science, arts, legislation, commerce, arms, and extent of empire- and added to all this, that which all other nations have been without (except the Jewish) the profession of a pure morality, and of a heavenly faith. Yet, how insignificant is the value of all this, save the last, when brought to a right test; and of this last-which alone can give a real glory to any nation-how much more there is of merely nominal, than of real inAuential, possession. We may sometimes amuse ourselves by talking over and recounting our ships, our colonies, our extended population, and our various men of name, and we might fill up for our modern Tyre, an inventory as full and as astonishing as that given by Ezekiel of the ancient port of the Mediterranean. But what, after all, is the real worth of the possession of this glory? and how quickly may it be diminished, bow speedily melt away! while the more searching observer discovers beneath, a mass of evil and corruption, mortifying to perceive, but too palpable to be doubted or denied. It is true we have a portion of the fine gold, yet that even alloyed, and, at the most, but small indeed.

To deal direct with the fact, let us ask, what is the actual value of the moral greatness possessed by this nation? When we have anxiously collected every item, what will be the whole amount? When we have melted down what may at first present itself in answer to the inquiry, and separated all the dross, how much of real metal will appear ? Alas! the “ founder melteth, almost in vain.” Although we should now obtain more than we formerly could, still how painful is the result of such inquiries to the Christian mind. And, when proceeding further, we examine more particularly the character of the dross, it is not mere “ reprobate silver,” not mere “ brass and iron,” but we come at last to a refuse, that sickens us with sorrow and disgust.

. Yet, as every christian is a possessor of the secret--the true alchemy - which can transmute the vilest dross into the pure metal, he cannot turn away in mere disgust, but must only be stirred up more earnestly to apply and test this secret, committed to him. The real state of the mass of our population is being daily brought more conspicuously before the attention of the Christian community, and increasingly painful as is every successive detail, it is well that it is being thus revealed. Some late remarks in our most influential daily journal are worth our best attention, though made to support most insidious propositions, and for the purpose of suggesting a professed remedy which is, in fact, a recipe that would eventually inflame and more deeply fix the evil. It is abundantly confessed,' says the writer, that our population, especially in our manufacturing towns, have frightfully outgrown the means of instruction and improvement provided for them. Factories, mines, coalpits, railroads, have raised, and are raising daily, a corrupt and disorderly population, which bas every appearance of being still destined steadily and rapidly to increase. The course of events, of feeling, of legislation, for many years past, points distinctly in that direction. The vice and misery which result, and will more and more result from this, are not a fact, but the fact of the day. So far as this arises from mere poverty, from low wages, and insufficient employment, it is to be met, if by anybody, by the statesman and financier; but, so far as it depends—which in a very great measure indeed it does on the debauched and improvident habits of those who suffer by it, who is to grapple with it?”

This is a sad but true picture; and the inquiry which results most important ; but perhaps the statement is open to one remark. Whatever may be the peculiar circumstances which are developing evil and misery at the present day, there is no new creation of moral evil. A fresh combination of circumstances may tend particularly to foster and ripen the seeds of evil already existivg in the heart, but they have no power to scatter new germs, or to invoke new principles. The immense mass of dark and fearful vice and distress presented to the view in our manufacturing towns, awakens our attention, and painfully excites our feelings; but, those who are acquainted with the state of our larger villages, which have not had the counteracting influence of good schools, or of a diligent and faithful ministry, know, that the depravity existing in such places is often most awful. The breathing of the pure air, combined with habits of exercise, instead of awakening virtuous and amiable feelings, according to the views of some theorizers, seems only to give more energy to their passions, and brutality to their habits. The difference between the neglected population of a ma. nufacturing town and that of a village, seems to be principally in the way in which the evil is developed—the habits of the one are squalid and filthy, the other more gross and brutal. But, while even in the present day, the vicious character of neglected village populations is only known within the range of a few miles—the pictures of the others being placed in more conspicuous points, and commanding more attention from their extent, are noticed and remarked upon with more particularity of detail.

But whether in villages or towns, the state of our population of its crowded massesbecomes more and more an object of painful interest to the Christian philanthropist; and any details which throw light upon that condition, become increasingly valuable. And while the Christian is attracted first by an interest in their spiritual condition, the necessity also of noticing the moral and physical features of their state, is continually pressed upon his attention.

There are two opposite views generally taken by persons who are not acquainted, by personal observation, with the real character of the condition of the poor. The one regards them only as objects of compassion and sympathy,- the other as hopelessly vicious and degraded; and as if another and more corrupt nature belonged to them. Both, as being extreme, are incorrect views; and if permitted to govern our feelings and conduct, the effect must be evil, negatively or positively. Nothing has done more harm, perhaps, than indiscriminate charity, by inducing habits of hypocrisy, encouraging

imposture and improvidence, and destroying proper independence of feeling; and certainly nothing has done less, than a spirit of hopelessness. The first steps in, and so injuriously applies a good instrument, as to produce a new combination of evil; and the other abandons a corrupt mass to a still worse corruption. Those however who are not guided wholly by this latter extreme of feeling, are yet apt, while their pity is strongly drawn out towards the poorer classes, to regard them, as possessing peculiar and stronger dispositions to evil; but even in this there is error. It is not that they exhibit a nature more radically evil than our own, but that they are placed in circumstances which more strongly and evidently develope their corruptions, and bring out more abundantly and into stronger light before others, proofs that “ every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually.” We complain of deceitfulness, cunning, licentiousness, &c. But will not every family, even where Christian principles are in operation, afford proofs of the existence of the same evil tendencies, tendencies too, which even under the best restraints, will not unfrequently burst forth in open acts, overwhelming parents and relatives, with grief, and sometimes disgrace. Alas! ourselves infected, we go among the diseased and dying ;- inmates of the same great hospital, but, living in better wards, and becoming, only by daily waiting on God's healing grace, ourselves convalescent; with a duty now charged upon us to visit our fellow-sufferers, to dispense the healing medicine, and urge submission to the Physician. Every single fact, as well as every grouping of facts which tends to bring out the varying and peculiar features of their case, individually and collectively, is valuable, as serving to direct us in the application of our energies. It is intended to detail a few which have come under the writer's notice ; and as the state of our manufacturing districts has already been touched upon, and have been very much engaging public attention lately, it may be interesting to state the results of some observations made during visits among the silk-weavers of Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, within the last eighteen months.

It appears that the demand for the kinds of goods which are manufactured in Spitalfields is not sufficient for the maintenance of the numerous families dependent on that sort of employment, and that the average earnings of a family, even where the wife has her loomwhich is usually the case-is generally so low, that it is hard to imagine how they subsist. One case may be mentioned in proof. The family had been visited in the course of the distribution of the Relief Fund lately raised for the weavers, and had been relieved two or three weeks ; it consisted of a man and his wife and three children; they occupied an upper room where were two looms; the man had employment then, but stated he had been at play'-as they term it-very much in the winter, and was getting but a low price for the work in hand ; the place was very clean and tidy, and so were the children. It having however been intimated that the case hardly needed relief, a more particular inquiry was made. The remark of the clerk at the warehouse from which the man received bis work was, that he should hardly have thought that his was a case wanting any relief,' and he appealed to the foreman, who also expressed the same opinion; this seemed to confirm the suspicion that a