persons. But by changing I into we, &c. they may occasionally be made to serve for family prayers; so that, if there be no better at hand, this Number of the " "Visitor" may serve for a Family Prayer

Book.

V.

A MORNING PRAYER.

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, I do not presume to come before Thee trusting in my own righteousness, but in Thy manifold and great mercies.

I have erred and strayed from Thy ways-I have followed too much the devices and desires of my own heart, and there is no spiritual health in me; but Thou, O. Lord, have mercy upon me, miserable offender-create and make in me a new and contrite heart and grant, for Jesus Christ's sake, that I may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name..

Thou hast safely brought me to the beginning of this day, defend me in the same by Thy mighty power, and grant that this day I fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger, but that all my doings may be ordered by Thy governance, to do now and always that which is righteous in Thy sight.

Bless my native country, and all its Governors in Church and State; bless my dear relations and friends-bless even my enemies and turn their hearts, and may it please Thee to have mercy upon

all men.

These, and all other things which, for my blindness, I cannot, and, for my unworthiness, I dare not ask, vouchsafe to grant for the worthiness of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father, &c.-The Grace, &c.

AN EVENING PRAYER.

MERCIFUL God, who are accustomed to give more

than either we desire or deserve, receive my humble petitions.

Thou seest that I have no power of myself to help myself. Do Thou keep me both outwardly in my body and inwardly in my soul, and, by Thy great mercy, defend me from all perils and dangers of this night, from all adversities that may happen to my body, and all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt my soul.

Give me, O Lord, true repentance, forgive me all my sins, negligences, and ignorances, and endue me with the grace of Thy Holy Spirit to amend my life according to Thy Holy Word.

These, and all other blessings, for myself and all whom I should remember in my prayers, I humbly beg, in the name, and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Our Father, &c.-The Grace, &c..

LETTER FROM AN APPRENTICE BOY TO

HIS FATHER.

March 2d, 1823.

MY DEAR FATHER,

I AM very much obliged to you for writing so often: to me, and for sending me the history of the Kings of England. You cannot think how much amusement I find in reading your letters, and I assure you I take pains to remember all the kings, as well. as the times when they began to reign. I am glad to tell you that some of the other boys here are trying to remember such things, and the practice does us good, and finds us something to think about and talk about, and so keeps us out of mischief and prevents a great deal of idle talk. What you say is very true, that "knowledge is no burden," and I am sure that, if every poor boy were taught to read

and improve himself, there would be a very different way of going on among the poor from what there is now. I don't mean that reading alone will make a person good; but, it will enable him to read what is good; and, in schools, we generally find bibles and prayer-books, and other good books put into children's hands, so that this seems the likeliest way, with God's blessing, to teach people what they ought to be.-Besides, what strange things people do from ignorance! things which it seems impossible that they could do if they had any sort of knowledge or instruction. There is a man here that earns about twelve shillings a week, and he spends every day about a shilling at the ale house,-another man that lives here, a very hard working man too, seldom spends less than eighteen-pence,-others spend every day something, and all these people complain that they are poor. Now, I think, if they could do a sum in common multiplication, and just ask themselves how much a shilling a day, for instance, would come to at the year's end, they would like rather better to have eighteen sovereigns and a few odd shillings, in their hand, than nothing; and, if this money was carried to the saving bank, every week, for a few years together, a little calculation would shew what a great sum it would soon amount to. Four shillings a week, in seven years, will come to eighty-two pounds, two shillings and ten-pence. Two shillings a week, in five years, will come to just twenty-eight pounds, three shillings and three-pence. One shilling a week, in seven years, will come to twenty pounds, ten shillings and eight-pence. Then, again, I can learn a good deal from the histories which I read. Many poor people are always grumbling at their lot, and think that, if they could but be rich and great, they should be happy;-for my part, I think history seems full of the miseries and distress which belong to the great, many of which, we poor people are wholly free from.-To be sure,

great people have many privileges in this world that poor people have not, but they have many temptations too; so that, taking things altogether, I am sure we have all great reason to be thankful for the blessings which are bestowed upon us, and to see that, as far as happiness goes, there is no such great difference as many people suppose.

I can see that, in reading history, there is many a good religious lesson to be learned, if we mark it properly. In the account which you gave me of king William the Conqueror, I thought he was very cruel in destroying whole villages to make the New Forest for him to hunt in, and it seemed to me something like a judgment against this act, that William Rufus, his son, should be killed whilst hunting in the very same forest. I have read a little book since, which tells me that William had another son who was killed by a stag in the same forest, and a grandson besides. This seems strange! however, I think we ought not, generally, to look upon things as particular judgments in this world, because the Scripture teaches us that the Almighty's dealings with us are always to be considered with a view to another world; yet, He surely does sometimes shew us examples here which may prove to us his anger against what is wrong, and his approval of what is right, that we may thus be led to honour and to fear him.

In your account of battles, I cannot help being glad to hear when the English win; nevertheless, I cannot help thinking that, it is far better to be at peace, if we can. I cannot see what all the warrior kings got by their fighting. Edward the 1st got great power in Scotland, but his son, Edward the 2nd, lost it again; then, Edward the 3d recovered it, and got great possessions in France besides; but, these seemed almost all lost again, even in his lifetime; and I have heard that, very soon after his death, the whole was gone. But, perhaps, you will`

tell me, in your next letter, how this was. I have been told too, that Henry the 5th, some time afterward, gained a wonderful deal of power in France; but, that it was all lost again in the time of his son. But you will come to this in your letters in good time; it certainly, however, does seem that, wlien a great deal has been done by an ambitious ruler to increase a nation by war, Providence sends a peaceful king afterwards, or works in some way, so that all this power is lost again; and thus, so much blood has been shed for nothing. What good did all the wars of Buonaparte do to the French? his great power seemed to come to pieces all at once. They may talk of great men :-for my part, I am very thankful that I am a little man, and am very glad to be Your dutiful Son,

THOMAS STEADY.

ANSWER.

March 16, 1823.

MY DEAR BOY,

I WAS very happy to receive your letter, and am very glad that you seem to pay so much attention to the accounts which I send you. This is a great encouragement to me to go on. I told you, in my last letter, that Edward the Black Prince died before the king, his father; so that the heir to the throne was the son of the Black Prince, a boy of only eleven years old, called Richard. This Richard the 2nd being too young to govern, the affairs of the kingdom were managed by his uncles, the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester. The wars, in which the late king had begun, were so dreadfully expensive, that very large taxes were obliged to be raised to carry them on. In our days, taxes are so contrived, if possible, that but little of the burden of them may fall upon the poor: but, in this king Richard's