To the Editor of the Christian Magazine. DEAR SIR,Some of the people in our Church come in very late, and lose the confession and absolution. This, our clergyman tells them, is a great loss, and so of course it is, but some of our people come in early; some perhaps as much as ten minutes before the service begins; but for all that they do not behave as they ought to do, and I wish you would speak to them about their conduct. They come into church very irreverently, just as if they were coming into a common house; they go into their pews, say a very short prayer, and then stare about the church to see who is there, and talk to one another, sometimes about the bonnets and gowns of those near them, and sometimes about other things. Now, I will tell you what I saw in London a few weeks since, which perhaps may teach them a better lesson. I went to a church there to attend the daily prayers, and was in church about a quarter of an hour before the service began. There were about twenty persons in church, all of them on their knees apparently engaged in devout and earnest prayer. In this way they remained until the service commenced. You cannot imagine, sir, unless you have witnessed it, how delightful such a sight as this is: oh, so very different from the usual appearance of our churches before the commencement of divine service. On the next morning, I took good care to be in the above-mentioned church again a quarter of an hour before the time for service, and was glad to follow the example set me by the worshippers there. The same : persons were there again, and again on their knees praying I did the same, and when I arose at the beginning of the service, felt myself able to enter into the spirit of the prayers then offered up, in a much better way than I have ever done before. Dear sir, will you forgive me, for asking you to mention this to your readers, requesting them to try the same plan. At all events, beg them to keep quiet when they are in church, that if they do not choose themselves to offer up their private prayers in the House of Prayer, at all events they will not prevent others from doing so. Your obedient servant, W. D. To the Editor of the Christian Magazine. SIR, I wish you would advocate in your papers the cause of that very valuable society, the Additional Curates' Aid Society. It is strictly a Church Society, and has a fair claim for support upon every member of the Church. If every reader of your pages would give his Parish Priest only one shilling a quarter in aid of this society, much would be done will you suggest this? This society has just issued a statement of their proceedings last year. Three hundred and sixtythree Incumbents have applied for aid through their respective diocesans, and of these one hundred and seven are now enabled, by the help of the Society's grants, to obtain additional Curates, and establish additional services in their populous parishes and districts, comprising an aggregate population of more than a million and three quarters. The Society has made grants in aid of endowments, and has contributed assistance to the amount of £4,850 to sixteen parishes. These grants invariably promote or accelerate the erection of new churches, by providing in part at least, a settled endowment; they tend to secure the benefits of a resident parish clergyman to a poor population, and avert the evils which are always consequent upon his maintenance arising from precarious local resources. I remain, sir, very truly yours, B. W. [We have great pleasure in recommending the above Society to all our readers, and hope that as many as are able will attend to the valuable suggestions in the above letter.-ED.] THE OLD CHURCH CLOCK. (Continued from page 310.) CHAPTER IX. Would that our scrupulous Sires had dared to leave And usages, whose due return invites A stir of mind too natural to deceive; Giving the Memory help when she would weave Killing the bud o'er which in vain we grieve. WORDSWORTH. "I am afraid, sir," continued the old man, as we resumed our walk and our conversation, that you will begin to think my tale of things gone by both tiresome and unprofitable. To me it is interesting, because, as I tell my story, my mind goes back to the days of my youth, and the early feelings, both of joy and sorrow, return to my heart as my narrative calls them up, almost as freshly as when the scenes were acting before my eyes. But that the task is unprofitable, I cannot help sometimes confessing to myself, however pleasing it may be to my feelings. Walker, and all that concerned him, are gone to the grave. The world has marched on with wonderful strides since his day; his clumsy spinning wheel is now rendered useless by machinery; and even in his own little vale, a child's hand can, in one short week, produce a greater quantity and a much finer quality of well spun yarn than he, poor man, twisted together during the long and laborious years of his whole life! Why, then, should one look to him, and not to that child, as a model? I feel CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE, NO. XV. D D that it would be absurd to take the latter rather than the former as an example, yet I confess I cannot assign the reason for it: and thus it is, that when I am told that the present age is in advance of the last, and ought rather to be my guide than the ways of antiquity, I am often driven into a difficulty, though never convinced ;— what think you of the matter ?" 66 Your difficulty," said I, seems to arise from confounding progress in arts and sciences with progress in morals and mental power. The one is as different from the other as possible, nor does the existence of the one at all imply the presence of the other. The child you have referred to as being able to spin so much better than Walker, - Could it reason like Walker? would it act and feel like him? By no means; and so neither may an age, distinguished for mechanical progress, excel one of darkness with regard to such matters, and yet devoted to pursuits and studies which call forth the powers of the mind, and exercise the best qualities of the heart. Shakspere and Milton might have made sorry cotton-spinners; no farmer now would plough, like Elisha, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, yet where is the farmer who would surpass the prophet in zeal, and eloquence, and devotion to his Master's service? Never fear, then, my friend, that the example of good Mr. Walker can grow old and useless; we can easily cut better peats than he did by the help of better tools, but when shall we surpass him in shrewd observation of the face of nature, in industry, in devotion to GoD, in kindness and good-will to Hear what is said of him by a great-grandson, who may well be prouder of being a descendant of Robert Walker, than if he had come of the purest blood in Europe : man! 666 'His house was a nursery of virtue. All the inmates were industrious, and cleanly, and happy. Sobriety, neatness, quietness, characterized the whole family. No railings, no idleness, no indulgence of passion were permitted. Every child, however young, had its appointed engagements; every hand was busy. Knitting, spinning, reading, writing, mending clothes, making shoes, were by the different children constantly performed. The father himself sitting amongst them and guiding their thoughts, was engaged in the same operations. * "He sat up late and rose early; when the family were at rest, he retired to a little room which he had built on the roof of his house. He had slated it, and fitted it up with shelves for his books, his stock of cloth, wearing apparel, and his utensils. There many a cold winter's night, without fire, while the roof was glazed with ice, did he remain reading or writing till the day dawned. He taught the children in the chapel, for there was no school house. Yet in that cold damp place he never had a fire. He used to send the children in parties either to his own fire at home, or make them run up the mountain's side. * "It may be further mentioned, that he was a passionate admirer of nature; she was his mother, and he was a dutiful child. While engaged on the mountains, it was his greatest pleasure to view the rising sun; and in tranquil evenings, as it slided behind the hills, he blessed its departure. He was skilled in fossils and plants; a constant observer of the stars and winds. The atmosphere was his delight: he made many experiments on its nature and properties. In summer, he used to gather a multitude of flies and insects, and, by his entertaining descriptions, amuse and instruct his children. They shared all his daily employments, and derived many sentiments of love and benevolence from his observations on the works and productions of nature. Whether they were following him in the field or surrounding him in school, he took every opportunity of storing their minds with useful information. - Nor was the circle of his influence confined to Seathwaite. Many a distant mother has told her child of Mr. Walker, and begged him to be as good a "Once, when I was very young, I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing that venerable old man in his 90th year, and even then, the calmness, the form, the perspicuity of his sermon, sanctified and adorned by the wisdom of grey hairs, and the authority of virtue, had such an effect upon my mind, that I never see a hoary-headed clergyman without thinking of Mr. Walker. * He allowed no dissenter or methodist to interfere in the instruction of the souls committed to his care: and so successful were his exertions, that he had not one dissenter of any denomination whatever in the whole parish.-Though he avoided all religious controversies, yet when age had silvered his head, and virtuous piety had secured to his appearance reverence and silent honour, no one, however determined in his hatred of apostolic dissent, could have listened to his discourse on ecclesiastical history and ancient times, without thinking that one of the beloved apostles had returned to mortality, and in that vale of peace had come to exemplify the beauty of holiness in the life and character of Mr. Walker. * * * * * * * |