F. Perhaps they be meetingers. T. A good many. But you know they wouldn't think of religion. Meetingers or church, 'tis all the same. If you turned them out of work they'd only play.

F. Yes. And as to my men. They'd only laugh at it. Better attend to our work, and get an honest living, and " 'do our duty in that state of life to which GOD calls us."

But then I say, what do Ascension mean? Why that day of all others to stop work?

T. Why, as far as that goes, I must say that it certainly is in the Prayer-Book. It comes some short time, forty days, I think, after Easter. First, as our Parson told us last Sunday, there are Rogation days-Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then comes Thursday or Ascension Day; and all these he says ought to be observed, and especially Thursday, as a great day of the Church. Rogation Days for prayers for the harvest, and Ascension for a great Holy Day, when no work should be done.

F. All I know about it is, the boys come round beating the bounds, and in some places there be a great to do, but I never heard of prayers or church. What good be that? We shan't get a better harvest for that. I say this, let a man work. Let'n go to the plough, and mind the beasts-never mind prayers.

T. Well. I cant say go so far as that. There must be some good in prayers, or else why do we go to church on Sunday.

F. That be another thing altogether. 'Tis week day prayers I mean. There be too much on it by half. To go to church on a week day! Who ever heard of it?

T. Still prayers are prayers, and worship is worship. Won't GOD hear us on any other day than on a Sunday?

F. Lord bless ee. You'd better stand behind the counter, and attend to the customers. If they want a thing or

two on the Thursday, and find you a prayin, why they'll go somewhere else I'm thinkin, and what good will your prayers do then?

1. Yes. It certainly is the customers. There is the difficulty. I can't say anything against the prayers; but it is just this as I said before," I can't afford it."

F. So it is with I. "I can't afford it," Time's money-precious money; once lost never to be got back again.

T. Still; though I can't quite see it, there must be something in going to worship and prayer. And this Ascension if it be anything at all, it is certainly a great wonder.

F. A great wonder! Oh yes, no doubt; but what be that to us?

T. Well; I suppose as He was born, and came into the world, and lived and died, and rose again, so He must have had some end, else He would be here now. F. Who be talkin on?

T. JESUS CHRIST. I say He must have had some end.

F.

What be that to us.

T. He must have had some end. He must be alive somewhere now, and if alive now, where? and why did He go away? and what is He doing now that He is gone away. 'Tis most certainly a wonder. Ι suppose this is the creed, "He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty"

F. Be goin to turn Parson? All I can say is, I must do my work and so must my men. And so must you; you must mind the till; I must mind the plough; Parson must mind the prayers; Ascension Day must take care of itself.

T. I can't say I shall keep it; because as I said before," I can't afford it." No. 'Tis impossible; but there must surely be something in it. Our Parson says it is just like Christmas Day.

F. Oh. I understand Christmas Day well enough. Roast beef, and plum pudding, and a good can of ale. But for the prayers and Church, that's another thing: to my mind you might as well let them alone.

T. I can't agree with that. At any rate, you farmers surely ought to know the value of prayers. The Rogation Days are for the blessings of GOD on the fruits of the earth, and Ascension Day is the great time which tells us how our prayers

shall prevail There's no doubt but it's all in the Bible. That's what our Parson says, and at any rate you ought to think of it.

F. If we didn't mind the plough better than the prayers, there wouldn't be much of the fruits of the earth, I take it.

T. The weather; the weather: don't you want rain? Don't you want the sun? Don't you want the wind, the snow, and the dew, all in their turns. I suppose your work don't make all that? He sendeth the springs into the rivers, which run among the hills."

F. That be preachin. But come now, two can go at that trade. If you be so fond of it, why don't you shut up shop and keep Ascension Day, and go to church yourself.

T. I've told yon. Because I can't afford it: I should lose all my customers.

F. Why, you've just been preachin to me about the rain, and the sun, and the springs of the little valleys; and how all my work at the plough and the sowing can't bring the harvest, without them. Maybe, that be all true; but be'ant it the same with trade as with farmin ? T. I do not understand. F. Take it this way. There's wife your there, and the little ones, andthe boys at school, and there's yourself; suppose they fall sick, then there's the doctor's bill. Suppose your house takes fire, what becomes of you all? Suppose you get a bad debt, and a man runs off to America and doesn't pay; how will your account book stand then? Suppose you run into some foolish speculation, and be outwitted by some clever rogue in business; how will you look in the Bankruptcy Court then? Or suppose; what indeed is sure to come at some time, you fall sick yourself, and can't attend to business: then comes slowness of trade; customers fall off; you can't attend to them; then another rises up against you, and gets away all your business. What's the end? Why, don't you see that all that is the wind, and the rain, and the sun, and the little springs of the valley, just as much to you as to me? No, no, it won't do to make any difference betwixt us; we be all pretty much alike; and if Ascension be a wonder, it is a wonder to us all just the same, first one and then the other.

T. Perhaps you're right. It might be

a saving in the end if we trusted in GoD a little more, and less to ourselves.

F. "Penny wise and pound foolish." 'Tis a good proverb. Let's think of it.

ASCENSION DAY.

"This same JESUS Which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven."-The Epistle.

LORD, on earth I dwell in pain;
Here in anguish I must lie;
Wherefore leav'st Thou me again,
Why ascendest Thou on high?
Take me, take me hence with Thee,
Or abide, LORD, still in me;
Let Thy love and gifts be left
That I be not all bereft.

Leave Thy heart with me behind,
Take mine hence with Thee away;
Let my sight an entrance find

To Thy Heaven whene'er I pray.
When I cannot pray, Oh! plead
With Thy Father in my stead;

Thou, Who sitt'st at God's right han,
Help us here, Thy faithful band.

Help me earthly toys to spurn,

Raise my thoughts from things below; Mortal am I, yet I yearn,

Heavenly like my LORD to grow;
That my time through faith may be
Order'd for eternity;

Till we rise all peril o'er,
Whither Thou hast gone before.

In due season come again,

As was promised us of old;
Raise the members that have lain,

Gnaw'd of death beneath the inould.
Judge the evil world that deems
Thy sure words but empty dreams;
Then for all our sorrows past
Let us know Thy joy at last.

NEUMANN, 1770. From the Lyra Germanica.-Catherine Winkworth.

It is the usual plea of poverty to blame misfortune when the ill-finished cause of complaint is the work of our own forging. I will either make my fortunes good, or be content they are not worse. If they are not so good as I would they should be, they are not so bad as I know they might have been. What though I am not so happy as I desire, 'tis well I am not so wretched as I deserve.-WARWICK'S SPARE MINUTES.

Duties are ours: events are GoD's. This removes an infinite burden from the shoulders of the miserable, tempted, dying creature. On this consideration only can he securely lay down his head, and close his eyes.-CECIL.

THE CONFIRMATION.

"Draw Holy Ghost, Thy seven-fold veil,
Between us and the fires of youth;
Breathe Holy Ghost, thy freshening gale,
Our fever'd brow in age to soothe.'

These were the words of Caroline Mordaunt, as she stood by the window of a large London schoolroom, on a gentle summer's evening. She looked out on the church near the house; the first she had ever seen, in which the rules of the Catholic Faith were truly and efficiently fulfilled. It was adorned as it was fit that the House of the LORD should be adorned by his loving children; and there was the old churchyard too, where, in many instances, the holy sign of Redemption, was beginning to be substituted for the shapeless monument of the past generation. No wonder Caroline loved that church; yesshe loved it as few who have not, from their earliest years, been accustomed to such things, can imagine; but it was a mournful love, for though year after year beholds more earnestness in the cause of the Church; though weekday service, fast and festival, are not unknown; yet many towns and villages now only hear of such things through report; and many, who have been baptized and confirmed in the ordinances of the Church; who attend her Sunday services and sometimes her Holy Communion, still refuse to acknowledge the divine authority by which alone those ordinances are charged with any blessing.

"A penny for your thoughts Carrie!" said a laughing girl, who with two or three others, came just then to the window where Caroline was standing. "I can scarcely see your face now, it is so dark, but I am sure it is dreadfully serious."

"Do you know, Carrie; mamma has just sent my Confirmation cap ;" continued Lizzie Mayne, " and I am longing to put it on. Bella thinks it is sure to suit me, I have such a childish face. I wonder whether a cap would suit you, Carrie; do you think it would ?"

Lizzie was one of those, who, as a modern writer observes, "have a smattering of controversy in their heads, but their hearts remain where they were. Obedience, selfdiscipline, self-denial, holiness, soberness, and the practical parts of the Church have no charms for them."

"But really," said a girl who had not before spoken, "talking of caps and veils ; I knew a young lady who looked so beautiful in her confirmation veil, that a gentleman who saw her then for the first time, married her a few months afterwards. By the bye," continued Emma Mayne, "shall you take the Sacrament, Carrie ?" "Yes," said Caroline, "at least I hope ." It was evident that the irreverent gossiping conversation pained her.

80.

"So shall 1," said Emma; "but I am not sure if Mamma will let Lizzie, she is so very giddy."

"Oh how unkind, Emma," exclaimed Lizzie.

I do not"... began Caroline, but she stopped. She did not exactly know how to explain what she meant; besides she was not sure, if it were right, to allow herself to be drawn into a discussion concerning such holy things.

I do not, what? interrupted Emma.

"I do not think" continued Caroline "that it is right for us to talk in this way. We have heard what Mr. Hartwell our clergyman has told us, and we shall hear again what the Bishop will say. But it does seem to me that there is very little meaning in Confirmation, unless it be directly followed by our first Communion.

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Yes," rejoined Lizzie, "abroad, you know they make a great fuss about their " premiere communion," and all the girls go with tapers, and in white dresses. We saw it once at Paris, didn't we Emma? And I thought how very pretty it was.

"It meant," said Caroline," that they were giving thomselves, in their first Comunion, to GOD, and so fulfilling their Confirmation vow."

"I wish" said Emma "they could make something like that for us. I shall ask mamma. It will be very pretty, and we shall look so nice. It will be quite a scene.

"But" interposed Caroline, "that would not be quite a right motive for going to the Blessed Sacrament. It ought not to be for looks or sights.

There is a vow-our Confirmation vow

-how shall we keep it? Perhaps, that Blessed Sacrament may be the very thing to help us to keep it.

"Fresh from th' atoning Sacrifice, The world's Creator, bleeding lies, That man His foe, by whom He bled, May take Him for his daily bread. O agony of wavering thought, When sinners first so near are brought; It is my Maker-Dare I stay? My Saviour-Dare I turn away ?” * The young girls passed on; hushed into more seriousness by Caroline's manner, and perhaps influenced by the sight of the beautiful moon-lit Church, in which they were, to-morrow, to take on themselves the vows begun for them in holy Baptism. They passed on; the words just said, forgotten may be, as soon as uttered. Yes, forgotten by them, but registered in heaven, for good or for evil; for how full of good or evil, must every word spoken on such a subject be. We are told, "Out of the fulness of the heart, the mouth speaketh;" and so to a greater or less extent, it was with those young girls.

If Lizzie's thoughtlessness remained unchecked by the regular discipline of life which might be imparted to her by the Church; would it grow, until the spirit of submission and trust should be choked, and her heart, so capable of loving and acting, should either content itself with half-formed resolves and a life of nothingness and carelessness; or unsettled and unsteadied, would it be blown about by every wind and doctrine, and end in unbelief.

And Emma too, with the cold spirit which made her readily and unsorrowfully, condemn her sister. Duty, her only rule of life. But not such duty as the Church teaches, not gentle, faithful and submissive, but doing her duty where she saw fit, and where she approved the Church's principles but not otherwise.

But Caroline was far from faultless. When she heard the others talking lightly of the Confirmation, when the indignant colour rose in her cheeks at the way they gossiped of Church ordinances and even of the sacred Supper of the LORD; then in the proud spirit of the Pharisee, she would almost thank GOD that she was not as they were; forgetting how far, far beneath His holy Saints, in every age, she was in thought and action. But the presump

* Christian year.

tuous thoughts were checked, and she resolved, oh! how earnestly, as she stood gazing from the window, that she would devote herself to the LORD. She wondered, when she heard an elder girl near her, speak crossly to her sister, how anyone who had been Confirmed could do so. It seemed impossible, to take the solemn oath, to renounce" the devil and all his works;" and still, feel "anger, hatred malice, and uncharitableness;" to vow" that you will keep GoD's holy will and commandments;" and still, to "leave undone those things which we ought to have done; and to do those things which we ought not to have done;" and still, day after day, Sunday after Sunday, to kneel before the LORD and say we are "miserable offenders." And yet so it must be. The Bible told her so; the Prayer-Book told her so; and the book of hymns which she held in her hand, echoed the same sorrowful doom. But when her heart sank within her, at the thought of what must be; of the broken vow, of the commission of the old sins of pride, censoriousness, selfishness and many other faults; still there gleamed forth the bright star of hope, and she knew that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church would be "a sheltering rock in a weary land;" and "in quietness and confidence, would be her strength."

The next day-the sun was streaming into the chancel, and forming a glory round the heads of the twelve holy Apostles on the east window, and tinting the walls with amber and red, whilst the birds sang in the brightness of the summer morning. The sun shone on the kneeling people; it shone on the white-robed priests; on the gentle faces of the little choristers, and on the earnest girls who knelt by the Altar railing. The words of blessing were pronounced; words, that would, indeed, bring "a blessing or a curse." A curse upon those who, in that solemn moment, if told by a prophet from GOD, of sins which they should commit in after life, would have said: "Is thy servant a dog that she should do this thing?" but a blessing, a true blessing upon those who, kneeling in humility and faith before the cross, trusted not in themselves, but upon Him alone whose sign it was. It was a glad sight, and yet an anxious one. Did not each face speak of a high and holy purpose; and many of a heavenly

stedfastness and resolution.

The vow had been spoken from hearts bounding upwards to their GOD. The vow had been spoken, but who knew how that vow would be kept? None could look into the deep futurity. Then followed the laying on of hands, the dedication, the Apostolic blessing. Lizzie, Emma, and Caroline, knelt side by side, and near the latter a pale girl, whose countenance spoke more of death than of life, but on whose pure brow you could fancy you saw the Baptismal Cross still shining with undimmed brightness. Mary knew that she had not much longer to live, but she thanked GOD that she had been permitted to be confirmed, and should now partake of the Holy Communion, before she passed hence and should be no more seen. What a moment it was. How charged with a thousand awful thonghts! Who can but remember it.

"When kneeling at the sacred rail,

We hid our eyes and held our breath;
To Thee how strong, ourselves how frail,
And longed to own Thee to the death."

It was over, and those who had thus met together in the House of the LORD separated, never all to meet together again. They went on their different paths through the world. The business, or the work, which had been dropped for a week, a day, or an hour, was resumed. From some hearts the words of blessing melted, "fast as evening sunbeams from the sea;" some, who had vowed to become the soldiers of CHRIST, went forth to battle in the world and for the world; others, to fight a glorious crusade, and therein to die.

TEN YEARS AFTER.
"My heart is full of doubts and fears;
My steps how weak they are!

My eyes are dim with bitter tears;
And Heaven is very far.

LORD, give me strength to bear my cross,
And humble trust, to see

Earth's dearest joys are only loss

To that calm rest in Thee."

The sun of a bright summer morning was shining into a small room, where sat a lady with two or three little children, the eldest of whom was reading to her. It was after ten, but the breakfast things were not yet cleared away, for Lizzie had never learnt to rise early. "It really required so much resolution."

Yes, the weather has been most unfortunate, and we could not think of having the new cloak spoiled, after all the trouble and expense we have had. Bnt really you must not interrupt. I have to finish baby's hat, and to see about the party to-morrow.'

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Why don't you give the school children a feast, as you did when Ada was was christened ?"

"Oh! it was very expensive, and then I wished baby's dress to be as nice as Mrs. Maun's little girl's was. And you know I have to get a new ball-dress for Wednesday."

"Mamma dear, do you know Mary Ballard said her mamma was not going to that ball, and that she thought it was because Mr. Bainton asked her to subscribe to the pretty window that is to be put in the church, and her mamma gave so much that she could not go to the ball."

"Mrs Ballard is a very good lady my dear! I hope you will be like her some day: Now Ada dear go on with your lessons, for there will not be time to read the Psalms to-day"

And this was Lizzie, who, this day ten years before, had knelt to receive the