ac. The tendency of the religion of Christ to remedy the evils of mankind is manifest to all that are quainted with its laws and doctrines. There is not a troublesome passion in the heart of man which it does not subdue; there is not a mischievous practice in all the varieties of human conduct, which it does not destroy. It takes away all hardness of heart, cures all selfishness of feeling, unites the soul in love and gratitude to God, and fills it with restless and unbounded charity to man. It teaches men to love as brethren, to be pitiful and courteous; to make kind words the universal language, and kind deeds the universal business. It gives assurance to the penitent that God will pardon him, and that in answer to his prayers he will bestow his Holy Spirit, to enable him to live a life of holiness. It cheers him in his sorrows, gives him courage in his conflicts, consoles him in affliction and bereavement, and yields him in the agonies of death a foretaste of the extacies of heaven. It is every thing to man. Without it the world is lost and ruined and undone ; but let it spread, and let the kind intentions of its Author be accomplished, and sin shall be destroyed, grief shall retire and leave the world, and God shall dwell with men, and men shall live in love and harmony, blessed of God and blessing one another, and heaven shall come down to earth. Hail holy Jesus; hail heavenly visitant, thou Friend and Saviour of the world, all hail. The world has watched for thy appearance, and longed for thy salvation. Thou art our hope and confidence; to thee the people of all lands are looking; they sigh and wait for thee, Deliverer of the nations, hail. Help of afflicted man, friend of the universe, all hail. Though all mankind should hail with joy and gratitude the birth of Jesus Christ, the poor should sing the loudest. He came especially "to preach good tidings to the poor," and the poor had especial need of such a friend. The poor have always been ex posed to wrong, and they have seldom met with one to plead their cause or to assert their rights. The statesman has neglected them, the ministers of false religions have affiicted them, and the philosopher himself has passed them hy as lost without redemption. Before the birth of Christ the poor were cast aside or trampled on in every land. They were most regarded among the Jews, and even here, as the writings of the prophets show, they were often wronged and seldom found redress. Even in those states renowned for freedom, there was but a handful free; the great majority were slaves. Harrassed on earth, and strangers to a hope of heaven, their lot was hard beyond endurance. But lo! their Father and their Friend in Heaven sends them a deliverer. Jesus comes, and tells them of a world where all are free, and where the poor on earth may gain a kingdom and a crown. He lives among the poor, he heals their sicknesses, he teaches them the will of God, he takes on him their sorrows, and he bears their shame, and after having spent his life to serve them, he dies that they may live for ever. The obligations of the poor to Christ are infinite, and their thankfulness should know no bounds. He lifts them up from wretchedness on earth, and places them on thrones in heaven. The That we may spend our Christmas days in a way suited to the event we commemorate on them, let us employ them in works of mercy and of piety. Let us first rank ourselves on the side of him who came to save us, and then let us strive together to promote the universal triumphs of his cause. mirth and revelry of sin, the unholy joys of sensual feasting are a stain and a dishonour on the day. The carnal-song, the dance, the intoxicating draught, are an affront to God. If there be a feast, let it be for the poor, the lame, the aged and the blind, that ye may imitate the tenderness of Him whose birth we celebrate. Let the song be holy, and sung for holy purposes. Let prayer ascend to God, for the benighted and unhappy nations where the tidings of the Saviour have not yet been heard, and for the thoughtless and neglected in our own land. Let our conversation be of Jesus, and let us labour to instruct each other in the truths he taught, and to encourage and assist each other in our efforts to promote his cause. Sacrifice to God by giving to the poor, and testify your joy by making others glad. Form plans of usefulness, renew your purposes to live for God and for the good of men; you will thus secure peaceful and approving conscience, you will please your God and Saviour, you will put the intemperate and ungodly customs of our land to shame, and contribute something to the reformation and salvątion of the world. a QUESTION. N SIR, The last Sermon but one W preached in this village, he said, " brethren, every circumstance in your life and mine, was predestinated by Jehovah before the world was." In the last Sunday morning's Sermon JB said that "God was the Author of all our troubles, and that every ingredient in our cup of sorrow was put there by His hand." Is there any difference in the doctrine of these two sentences? Yours, SAMUEL SCHOFIELD. J. BARKER. ANSWER. If one man should say to a child that was corrected for his disobedience, It is your Father that chastises you, and he does it for your good, to prevent you from disobeying his commands for the time to come; and another should say to the child, Your Father pre-determined your disobedience before you were porn, and pre-determined your punishment as well, ind by his influence he brought his determinations to ass ; could you not see a difference in the doctrines of the two statements? Would not one look very ike truth, and would not the other seem improbable? Would not one be likely to exert a good effect apon the child's mind, and would not the other be ikely to enrage the child's mind, and cause him to ate his Father? Would not one represent him as good and kind, and would not the other represent him as a most wicked and cruel man? That God ppointed man to toil and pain and death is plainly related in the history of our first parents; that he appointed man to sin is not related any where in the Bible. That when man had sinned God should chastise him was both just and kind; but for God first to bind man by irresistible decrees to sin, and then to punish him for sinning, would be the greatest cruelty and wickedness conceivable. God hates sin, and never predestinated any man to wickedness ; God loves man, and therefore frequently appoints him affliction, that it may be better with him in his latter end. Many troubles flow directly from men's sin, but the sins are always men's own, and the trouble the Lord's. In every case calamity is meant for the good of men, and when it is not meant for the good of him that suffers it, as in the case of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and as in the case of men cut off in a state of drunkenness, it is meant for the benefit of others. TEMPERANCE. To this a spare diet contributes much. Eat therefore to live, and do not live to eat. That's like a Man, this below a Beast. Have wholesome, but not costly Food, and be rather cleanly than dainty in ordering it. The Receipts of Cookery are swelled to a Volume, but a good Stomach excels them all; to which nothing contributes more than industry and Temperance. It is a cruel Folly to offer up to Ostentation so many lives of Creatures, as make up the state of our Treats; as it is a prodigal one to spend more in Sauce than in Meat. The proverb says, That enough is as good as a Feast. But it is certainly better, if Superfluity be a Fault which never fails to be at Festivals. If thou rise with an Appetite, thou art sure never to sit down without one. Rarely drink but when thou art Dry; nor then, between Meals, if it can be avoided. The smaller the Drink, the clearer the Head, and the cooler the Blood; which are great Benefits in temper and Business. The most common things are the most useful, which shews both the Wisdom and Goodness of the great Lord of the Family of the World. What therefore he has made rare, don't thou use too commonly Lest thou shouldest invert the Use and Order of Things; be come Wanton and Voluptuous; and thy Blessings prove a Curse. Let nothing be lost, said our Saviour: But that is lost that is misused. Neither urge another to that thou would'st be unwilling to do thyself; nor do thyself what looks to thee unseemly and intemperate in another. All Excess is ill; but Drunkenness is of the worst sort: It spoils Health, dismounts the mind, and unmans Men: It reveals Secrets, is Quarrelsome, Lascivious, Impudent, Dangerous and Mad: In fine, he that's Drunk is not a Man; because he is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes a Man from a Beast. WM. PENN. Published by I. Davis, 22, Grosvenor-street, Stalybridge; Banks and Co., Exchange-street; Heywood, Oldhamn-street, Manchester; J. Livesey, 28, Church-street, Preston; and may be had of all Booksellers. No. 2. will be published on Saturday next, January 6th, 1838. I. DAVIS, PRINTER, stalybridge, |