WAITING. "Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.”—Jas. v. 7. MOTHER! watching o'er thy child, Father filled with anxious care, In the soil by sin defiled Sow the seed, and sow with prayer, Though through many an anxious year Neither fruit nor flower appear; Though the winter o'er it spread Though it sleep, the seed is there. Late perchance, yet surely so, Sacred lessons early taught Burst the ground and wake to life, One by one each word and thought First the blade and then the ear, Ere the ripened corn appear, Till the golden harvest stand Ready for the reaper's hand: Though, perhaps, it greet thine eyes ΑΝΟΝ. THE LORD'S PRAYER PARAPHRASED. And forgive us our Trespasses. O LORD, during our past lives I and all Thy children have often transgressed against Thee. There are our known sins; and there are our secret faults, those which we cannot remember. There are bad things which we have done, and good thing which we have left undone [here call to mind the sin or fault which most strikes you, and which you are trying to get the better of] For all these sins we owe a debt to Thee, and that debt is too vast for us to pay. Lord, we our Redeemer, loose us from repent; for the mercies of Do not punish us for our sins the debt that we owe Thee. either in this world, or in the world to come. As we forgive them that Trespass against us. Bur on our part we do freely forgive those who have done us any harm. We resolve this day to put away from us all revenge, and hatred, and ill-will, and malice; to be careful of giving offence and taking offence. Thou art good and merciful to us; may we be so to others. May we love our friends IN Thee, and our enemies FOR Thee. May our enemies ever have a place in Thy mercy and in our prayers. May we from our hearts forgive every one his brother the debt of a few pence in this world, as we hope to have ten thousand talents forgiven us at the day of judgment. PRESBYTER. IMPROVEMENT.-He was never good man, that amends not. God's family admitteth of no dwarfs, which are unthriving, and stand at a stay.—Bp. Hall. THE CHURCH CALENDAR. ST. MATTHEW, Sept. 21st. ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, Sept. 29th. It was a striking proof of the Divine nature of our Lord's mission upon earth, that He could afford to select His disciples from among those classes of men, which were held to be the most mean and contemptible. Unlike mere human adventurers, He had no need to gain credit to His cause, by seeking to enlist persons of rank, or learning, or distinction in His service, but could take the unlettered fisherman, the despised and hated publican, could mould them into vessels of honour, and by the lustre reflected from Himself, exalt them into objects of men's love and reverence, through all ages of the Church. Thus with ST. MATTHEW. By birth a Jew, he had exposed himself to the contempt and hatred of his fellow-countrymen, in having accepted an office under their Roman conquerors, which, from its nature, excited their bitterest feelings of scorn and hatred. He was a publican, or tax-gatherer ; one, that is, who farmed, or contracted for, the tribute which the Romans levied upon the Jews, as a sign of subjection. This of itself was enough to render the office unpopular, but in addition, these Publicans were in the habit, by fraudulent and oppressive exactions, of wronging the poor, and thereby adding to their own gains. We are told, that so odious was this tax and its collectors to the Jews, that they considered it "unlawful to show any kindness to a publican; money received of him was considered VOL. VIII.-No. 9. K under a kind of curse, as being the produce of extortion ; he was not admitted to give evidence in any cause, and was not only deprived of all communion in Divine worship, but shunned in affairs of civil society; it being esteemed infamous and unlawful to marry into the family of such." Yet our Lord, setting at naught these wide, and deep-seated predjudices, called Matthew, "sitting at the receipt of custom," that is to say, in the very act of ex"And he left all, rose ercising his unpopular vocation. up, and followed Him." From that moment he became a faithful and attached disciple; voluntarily turning his back upon all that had hitherto made life dear to him, a gainful trade, easy living, congenial friends, and devoting himself to the service of one, who, so far from offering worldly advantages, had often not where to lay His head. Some years after his blessed Master's death, he wrote that account of His life, sufferings, and crucifixion, which bears his name, and for which the Church will owe him a debt of gratitude as long as she herself shall endure. It is supposed that he was commissioned to preach the Gospel among the Gentiles in Ethiopia, and that there also he suffered martyrdom, though in what particular manner is not clearly known. And together with St. Matthew, the blessed apostle and evangelist, we celebrate also this month the Festival of ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS; a festival on which we commemorate the services performed by these bright and holy beings, in celebrating God's glory in Heaven, and in succouring His militant saints on earth. For although we are left in considerable uncertainty as to their nature and attributes, we have the warrant of Holy Scripture for believing that the welfare of God's people is committed in an especial manner to their charge. Besides the particular instances recorded both in the Old and New Testament of their being employed as direct messengers from And God to man, we learn from St. Paul that they have a general commission to watch over the interests of the Church; “ Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ?" It is further the belief of many good men, that they are peculiarly present in the public assemblies of God's worship, assisting sincere worshippers in the discharge of their religious offices, and furnishing also an additional motive for a devout and reverent behaviour in God's House. that at the hour of death they stand by the faithful in that great conflict, and convey their separated spirits unto the mansions of the blessed; which is confirmed by our Saviour, when He tells us, upon the death of Lazarus, that he was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom. And finally, that at the day of judgment they shall be the great instruments of the resurrection of their bodies and the reunion of them to their souls, as may be gathered from that parable of our Lord's, related in the 13th chap. of St. Matthew's Gospel, in which He expressly mentions the Angels as taking part in the transactions of the last great day. And again, in St. Matthew, the 24th chapter and 31st verse, we read that " He shall send His Angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." We have thus abundant testimony, that bright and holy and happy as these beings are, so far excelling us in happiness and holiness, we may secure their ministry to ourselves, if we only shew an earnest and persevering desire to do God's will, to cease from evil, and follow after good. God will then send His Holy Angels to watch over us, to protect us from evil, to avert danger from us, either to the soul or to the body; to stand by us in our conflict with our spiritual enemies, and in our last moments to surround us with holy influences, and to bear our parting |