buried in a small meadow, under the woods of St. John's,near that place. Thou! who dost tread this smooth and verdant mead, Viewing delighted, the fair hills that rise On either hand, a sylvan theatre : While in the front with snowy pinions closed, These mould'ring heaps, which the blue spiry grass Scarce guards from mingling with the common earth. Mark! in how many a melancholy rank The graves are marshall'd.-Dost thou know the fate, Disastrous, of their tenants? Hushed the winds, And smooth the billows, when an unseen hand Smote the great ship, and rift her massy beams : She reel'd and sunk. Over her swarming decks The flashing wave in horrid whirlpool rush'd, While from a thousand throats, one wailing shriek, Burst; and was heard no more. Then, day by day, The ebbing tide left frequent on the sand, And here, by friends unknown, unmarked, unwept, They rest-refuse not thou a passing sigh; For in thy country's service these men died. The facts before mentioned, are historically true. The ship, when first she filled, fell over so as to dip the flag, at the mast-head, in the sea. Then, rolling back, she fell over to the other side, till her yard-arms touched the water. She then righted, and sunk nearly upright. While she was sinking, nearly every soul on board came on deck; and I was told, by Admiral Sotheby, then Lieutenant on board the next ship, that as she went down, this mass of people gave a cry so lamentable, that it was still ringing in his ears. It was supposed, that at the time of the accident, above a thousand persons, men and women, were on board; not four hundred were saved. The eddy made by the sinking ship was so great, that a large victualling barge, which lay along side, was drawn in, and lost with her. My brethren, without delay, let us quit the old beaten path of Satan and sin, and venture on a new and a safer path. We have often erred and strayed from the right way, because we have not felt sufficiently grateful to a merciful God, for our daily comforts and blessings: also, we have vainly fancied that we could sanctify ourselves by our own power, without the aid of the Holy Spirit; and, alas! we have too often proved, by our actions, that our faith and love towards a crucified Saviour were very transient, when he only suffered and died an ignominious death, to rescue every creature from everlasting misery. "My brethren, these things ought not to be so." J. G. M. No. 83.] [Vol. IV. THE PENNY SUNDAY READER. EDITED BY THE REV. I. E. N. MOLESWORTH, RECTOR OF ST. MARTIN'S, CANTERBURY, AND ONE OF THE SIX PREACHERS OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY, IN WHICH CHRISTIANITY WAS FIRST EMBRACED BY A KINGS SHALL BE THY NURSING FATHERS AND THEIR QUEENS THY NURSING MOTHERS.-Isaiah xlix. 23. CANTERBURY: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED, EVERY WEDNESDAY, AT THE OFFICE OF THE KENTISH OBSERVER. AND OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. LONDON AGENTS-MESSRS. RIVINGTON'S, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD. Just Published, Price Threepence, (Printed to bind up with the Penny Sunday Reader,) GOD'S GLORY DECLARED IN THE HEAVENS; A SERMON ON THE 19TH PSALM, SUGGESTING PLAIN AND DEVOUT MEDITATIONS ON THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, MAY 15, 1836. THE announcement of the eclipse, to which this discourse refers, had escaped the observation of the Author, till long after the PENNY SUNDAY READER for the 15th of May had been printed, and he was, therefore, prevented from offering, as he would otherwise have done, in that Number, reflections suitable to the occurrence. As the best means of supplying the omission, he has printed the Sermon which he addressed to his parishioners on the occasion; and this forms his apology for putting forth a publication of so little pretension. CANTERBURY: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT THE KENTISH TO BE HAD OF MESSRS. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. Vols 1 and 2 of the PENNY SUNDAY READER, for 1835, may now be had of all booksellers, price 2s. 9d. each, neatly bound in cloth, with the wood-cut of St. Martin's Church, Canterbury, printed on the cover. It should be noted that these two vols., though published in 1835, form a comment on the Collects, &c., and a manual of Sunday reading, adapted to every year. C. W. BANKS, PRINTER, ST. GEORGE'S STREET, CANTERBURY. No. 83.] THE PENNY SUNDAY READER. [Vol. IV. July 31, 1836.-Ninth Sunday after Trinity. MORNING PRAYER.-FIRST PROPER LESSON. 1 Kings, xviii. WE proceed with the testimonies and judgments of God, which, by his faithful prophet Elijah, he set before the revolted tribes of Israel, to be records of their perverseness that they sinned against knowledge. The folly and obstinacy with which they persisted in their errors and wickedness, may make us thankful for our knowledge, and teach us to offer up earnestly the petition of the Collect, that God will "grant us the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful." On the other hand, the noble appeal of Elijah (verse 21) is in perfect agreement with the caution of our Lord, illustrated in the parable, which we read in the Gospel for this day. In both, the Holy Spirit teaches, that if the children of light would not "halt between two opinions," but be as wise in their generation, that is seek the favor of God, whom they profess to believe, as earnestly as the children of this world seek its advantages, they would be not only consistent, but also secure of their reward.* The period at which this chapter commences, is when, after a long season of dry weather and a famine of three years, Elijah, who had escaped the merciless persecution with which the wicked Jezebel * See Vol. II. pp. 102. 103. G |