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will be, to increase all our innocent pleasures, and to preserve us from all that are not innocent; to fill us with joy and gratitude for all the blessings we receive from Him; to teach us to dispense all such blessings as are within our power to those around us; to instruct us, that our benevolent Father is ever watchful for our good, and can produce to us lasting benefits as surely out of present suffering as out of present pleasure.-Memorials1 of a Departed Friend, p. 9. (Sent by a Correspondent.)

Although the goodness of God, and his rich mercies in Christ Jesus, are a sufficient assurance to us, that he will be merciful to our weaknesses and infirmities, that is, to such failings as are the effects of ignorance or surprise; yet we have no reason to expect the same mercy towards those sins which we have lived in, through a want of intention to avoid them, through the want of a sincere intention of pleasing God in all our actions, falling into such irregularities of life as by the ordinary means of grace we should have power to avoid.-Law's Serious Call.

As a good Christian should consider every place as holy, because God is there, so he should look upon every part of his life as a matter of holiness, because it is to be offered to God. All things are to be used, and all persons are to act in their several states and employments for the glory of God. (1 Cor. x. 31. "Whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.") Things may and must differ in their use, but yet they are all to be used according to the will of God. Men may and must differ in their employments, but yet they must all act for the same ends, as dutiful servants of God, in the right and pious performance of their several callings.-The same.

Most of the employments of life are in their own nature lawful; and all those that are so may be made a substantial part of our duty to God, if we engage in them only so far, and for such ends, as are suitable to beings that

1 A most valuable selection from the private papers of a truly practical Christian (if we may judge from her beautiful and admirable reflectious on daily events and circumstances of her life), first printed for private friends, but now to be had of Messrs. Swale, 51, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury; "the profits, according to their amount, to be given to one, or to two charities, which she particularly favoured."

1834.]

CAUTION TO WRECKERS.

383

are to live above the world, all the time that they live in the world. This is the only measure of our application to any worldly business, let it be what it will, where it will, it must have no more of our hands, our hearts, or our time, than is consistent with a hearty, daily, careful, preparation of ourselves for another life. We must devote not only times and places to prayer, but be every where in the spirit of devotion, with hearts always set towards heaven, looking up to God in all our actions, and doing every thing as his servants, always worshipping Him, though not with our lips, yet with the thankfulness of our hearts, the holiness of our actions, and the pious and charitable use of all his gifts. We must not only send up petitions and thoughts now and then to Heaven, but must go through all our worldly business with a heavenly spirit, turning an earthly life into a preparation for a life of happiness in the kingdom of heaven.-Law. (Slightly altered and abridged for the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. By a Correspondent.)

CAUTION TO WRECKERS.

Ar the Liverpool Quarter Sessions, on Friday week, five boatmen were found guilty of stealing from the wreck of the Grecian, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. The cargo of the vessel was worth above £20,000, scarcely any of which has been recovered. The prosecution was under the 7th and 8th Geo. IV. c. 29. sect. 18:

"If any person shall plunder or steal any part of any ship or vessel which shall be destroyed or wrecked, stranded or cast on shore, or any goods, merchandise, or articles of any kind, belonging to such ship or vessel; every such offender, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon. Provided always, that where articles of small value shall be stranded or cast on shore, and may be stolen without circumstances of cruelty, outrage, or violence, it shall be lawful to prosecute and punish the offender as for simple larceny." Subsequent sections of the act declare, that persons found in possession of property so secured, or offering it for sale, may be dealt with summarily before a justice, compelled to restore the goods

to the owner, and to pay a fine not exceeding 201. over and above the value of the goods.

MR. EDITOR,

THE DRUNKARD'S WILL.

IN the Cottager's Visitor for July, 1830, is a "Lay for Drunkards," containing the toasts which such unhappy men do in effect drink to their families, their wives and children, and to themselves. Untouched by the misery they cause around them, and having nearly arrived at the end of their short career, they may be supposed to conclude with some such declaration as the following.

I, William Tipler, beginning to be enfeebled in body, and fearing that I may soon be palsied in mind; and having entered on that course of intemperance from which I have not resolution to flee, do make and publish this my last will and testament. Having been made in the image of my Creator, capable of rational enjoyment, of imparting happiness to others, and of promoting the glory of God, I know that I must give an account of my conduct; yet such is my love of drinking, and my utter unwillingness to resist temptation, that I give myself up entirely to intemperance, and its associates crimes and vices, and make the following bequests. My property I give to dissipation; knowing that it will soon fall into the hands of those who have furnished me with the ruinous liquor. My reputation, already_tottering on a sandy foundation, I give to destruction. To my beloved wife, who has cheered me thus far through life, I give shame, poverty, sorrow, and a broken heart. To each of my children I bequeath my example, and the inheritance of the shame of their father's character. Finally, I give my body to disease, misery, and an early dissolution; and my soul, that can never die, to the disposal of that God, whose mercy I have abused, whose commands I have broken, and who has warned me, by his word, " that no drunkard can inherit the kingdom of heaven."

In the hope that some among your readers, or their acquaintance, may be induced to revoke their will before it be too late, I remain, Sir, your constant friend.

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HEVER CASTLE, IN THE COUNTY Of kent.

THE ruins of old castles and abbeys are often to be admired for their splendid beauty; and many of them derive particular interest from the history with which they are connected. Hever Castle is less of a ruin than the buildings of the same date usually are. It cannot be called splendid, but there is much in it to make it interesting; and the annexed picture, which gives us a view of the principal front, is an agreeable specimen of the domestic architecture of the fourteenth century. The castle is surrounded by a moat, over which is a bridge, as an approach to the great gate; for, in former days, every great person was obliged to have his house defended against the attacks of an enemy; and there was generally a drawbridge over the moat: there were frequently battles and sieges between neighbouring lords, who ought to have lived in peace and harmony. But these were bad times. We hear people complaining of the present times; but, if they knew the wretched state in which the people lived in former days, and the miserable condition of the poor especially, they would see that they had reason to be thankful for their present condition, and would feel how light, in comparison, are the grievances of which they now complain. When the great barons went to war, or quarrelled with one another, all their tenants, and all the working men on their estates, were obliged to attend them; and their lives were in constant danger; and their houses might be pulled down or burned down, and their wives and children exposed to all the violence of a furious

enemy.

Hever Castle was built in the time of King Edward the Third. Those of our readers who have attended to our little history of England, will remember that this great King began to reign in the year 1327, and died in the year 1377, having reigned just fifty years. This castle was built by William de Hever; but it afterwards fell into the hands of the Bullens; and Sir Thomas Bullen, the father of Anna Bullen, lived at this castle, at the time when this fair lady was unfortunate enough to attract the notice of King Henry the Eighth, whose second Queen

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