as the present author states, a delightful employment to the translator, may add some fresh stores to our collections of parochial psalmody.

THE LIFE OF SARAH MARTIN. (Simpkin.) What Mrs. Fry was in the upper circles of society, Sarah Martin was in a humbler sphere. Apparently without means, a dress-maker living by her daily toil, her ardent zeal led her to seek admission to the prison ers in Yarmouth jail; it was granted, and this humble female effected a complete reformation amongst them, instructed them, found means of supplying them with work, and was the means of rescuing numbers from a course of sin. Her memoir, (a small cheap volume well adapted for the village library,) is deeply interesting. We are struck in reading it with the powerful influence a free salvation exerted over her, she was in bondage till she fully acknowledged this, 'toiling hard,' she says, 'and reaping no fruit,' but when this truth was brought home to her, her soul was full of joy, and she longed to tell others the good news. It is thus she speaks of openings for usefulness; 'the first generous favour conferred on me,'-' my gracious God soon indulged me in this also,-the first wish of my heart was granted.' Her love to the Bible was intense. To one who complained I make no progress in my Christian course, she replied, "Take your Bible on your knees, PLOUGH into it, and you will not stand still.'

THE CLAIMS OF THE GOSPEL ON THE YOUNG. BY THE REV. J. PARKER. (Tract Society.) A plain and forcible appeal to the young to devote their hearts early to God, with some defects of style, but possessing sterling value enough to make up for a few such slight faults.

LIVES OF THE CÆSARS. (Tract Society.) A

nice little history for children, full of anecdotes. ST. PAUL'S TRAVELS. BY A LADY. (Groombridge.) will also be found useful in the school-room. READINGS FOR ADVENT. (Longman.) is a selection of Scripture passages for daily reading, in harmony with the general scope of the Church Services, from the first Sunday in Advent to the beginning of Lent. It has been prepared for the use of the Collegiate Schools at Liverpool, and will be valuable for other schools also. A Series of TRACTS ON THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH, (Seeley.) is now publishing by those who feel that to spread the knowledge of the sacredness and blessedness of this holy day, is the only means of contending efficiently with the fearful tide of Sabbath desecration that now rolls over the land. We commend the tracts to the attention of our readers.

THE PROTESTANT.

THE harvest month is past. The golden corn that waved so beautifully over our fields a few weeks ago, is safely stored in our garners. The season, ever one of joyful excitement, has this year been celebrated with more than wonted gladness. 'Praise God!' has burst from lips too long sealed in heartless indifference. Yes; let ús praise Him "who crowneth the year with his goodness, and whose paths drop fatness; we sought Him, and He heard us, and delivered us from all our fears; therefore will we praise Him as long as we live; and while we have any being, will we sing praise unto our God."

We were a rebellious and stiff-necked people, and in righteous anger God sent upon us the terrors of famine; then we humbled ourselves, and as a nation sought him with prayer and fasting: we remembered that God was our rock, and the high God our Redeemer. And, oh ! how gracious was He at the voice of our cry; He looked not at the imperfection of our repentance, He turned away His eyes from the iniquity that yet remained among us. He rewarded us not according to our merits, but according to the riches of his own mercy. That none might fail to see his hand, He has granted us no common harvest, but has showered upon us such abundance, that already corn has fallen to little more than half its former price a profusion of vegetables have brought plenty to the cottages of the poor; the wood of young trees has

borne fruit before its time, and old trees, long barren, have burst into fruitfulness. If ever a nation was called publicly to return thanks to a prayer-hearing God, it is England after this year's harvest. When we are summoned to this joyful duty, as there is every reason to hope we shall be, by the voice of our rulers, let our hearts be found ready to answer to the call. In heaven every breath is praise; each joy-and there every moment is joyawakens afresh the voice of thanksgiving; but it is not so upon earth. Here the best and holiest of men have to stir up their hearts to the duty, which, to angels, is so natural and spontaneous. Even David has to plead with his own spirit, and say, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name : Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Let us thus stir up our souls in remembrance of the mercies of the past harvest. Let us recollect the scenes of woe and starvation, which harrowed our feelings last winter; our utter powerlessness to avert still worse calamities in the winter before us our many sins, which so richly merited farther chastisement-and then, in contrast to all, the joy, the plenty which now surround us.

Yes; let the thanksgiving-day be a joyful day: let us prepare for it in holy meditation: let us pray that He, who has so largely blessed our fields and gardens, would have mercy upon the church, his enclosed garden, send a gracious rain to refresh his inheritance, and make the thanksgiving-day indeed a foretaste of the everlasting praises of heaven. The beasts of the field will rejoice in the plenty prepared for them by Him, who feeds the young ravens, and filleth everything living with plenteousness; but surely our joy should be higher, and of a different nature to theirs: the

bread we eat should not only satisfy our hunger, and give new vigour to our bodily frame; it should, especially this year, be a pledge of a Father's love, a remembrance of forgiven sin and answered prayer.

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But this joyful duty is not the only one to which the thanksgiving-day will call us. The touching parable of the prodigal ceases with his restoration to his father's favour but who, that in imagination pursues the tale, does not think of the pardoned child as striving, by every filial attention, to obliterate the memory of his past ingratitude; as delighting in the abundance of his Father's house, contrasted with the husks on which he had fed; rejoicing in full confidence of his Father's love, yet chastened and subdued by the remembrance of his past folly. How we should revolt from the picture, were we told of his once more abusing his father's confidence, and spending his goods in riotous living! How little hope we should have of a second return and a second pardon! Our nation was the prodigal son; a heavenly Father pardoned it, when he heard the cry, "I will arise and go to my Father, and say, I have sinned." But if, as a nation, we forsake God again, He

may have yet sorer judgments in store. Twice were calamities turned away from Israel, the locusts and the burning fire, at the prayer of Amos; but the people went on in rebellion, and then the Lord was seen with the plumb-line: they were measured and fell short, and the awful voice is heard, "I will not again pass by them any more."

There is too much reason to fear, that when the dread of famine is removed, and when the thanksgiving-day is over, men will feel a proper debt of gratitude has been paid, all danger is past, and everything may proceed as it did before. Oh! it is not for this the Lord smites