of noble ancestry, or bears not upon her brow the lofty lineament of the daughters of Judah. True, the land of her birth lies desolate; true, the moss has carpeted and the bittern inhabited the palaces of her fathers, but she still retains in her possession the title deeds to the inheritance; an inheritance of which neither the odium of her present servitude, nor the evil will of her persecutors can deprive her.

But the time when it shall revert to her again has not yet arrived, and in the interim the oppressor counts her as his lawful property. The great man fattens on his prey; he grows rich upon the vitals of hundreds of his brethren. And there is a wide path between them. They delay not the roll of his carriage wheels; they take up no place at his laden board; they disturb not the slumbers that attend his luxurious couch. And he in return troubles not himself with them; neither his business nor his pleasure ever call him into their crowded and unwholesome neighbourhood; he does not care to trust their dark and often dangerous stairs; he is not by when the stale unsavoury crust is broken, which appeases for a while, but fails to satisfy hunger. He enjoys the society of his friends, the prattle of his children, the refreshing forgetfulness of balmy sleep; for he has never watched the trembling fingers, mechanically, yet nervously dispatching the dull task, nor looked upon the sunken eye, ever-strained to procure his luxuries; he has not seen the pale cheek, nor heard the deep-drawn sobbings of the broken heart within.

Yet they shall once meet-they who have never met before-so closely have they been connected, although unknown to each other, that they shall meet, (unless these cruel practices shall have been followed by fruits meet for repentance) the one as a witness, the other as accused at an awful tribunal. And who for the gratification of a few passing hours would treasure up for himself the eternal portion of Dives in hell?

"Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work," Jer. xxii. 13.

We have made no untrue statement; there are always books to which we can refer. Few of these poor creatures, if any, are able to write themselves, but they show us their books in which the entries are regularly made, stating so many dozen, the amount of money paid for them, and the date.

We have one family employed in this way who have moved in great respectability, having had at one time. a good business at the west end of the town. The father afterwards failed, since which time both parents are dead, and the poor orphans have been descending lower and lower till they are reduced to the greatest extremity of want, living in a garret in one of the most miserable parts of the town; two only out of the four are able to work, and, although very industrious, they cannot pay their rent, clothe, and support themselves by their work; but through the liberality of our kind friends they have been constantly supplied with money and respectable clothing, for which they are truly grateful, and often declare that if it had not been for this society they must have perished.

Another, very profitable, as it regards their employers, but shamefully oppressed class, are the trowsers makers. It is a well known fact that tailor's work fetches a high price, and no doubt these men obtain a great increase to their profits by employing poor women, who will receive the lowest amount of wages rather than be without work. This description of goods are certainly more properly the work of men, being composed of cloth, and even much thicker materials. But these they execute very neatly, and receive only 10d. per pair for some, and but 1s. 2d. for those which are lined.

We feel much interested for two poor creatures of

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this class who are getting very infirm, and have a sister entirely helpless and dependent upon them; and we trust that we shall enlist the sympathies of our Christian friends in their behalf, when we inform them that the three are inquiring, with the disciples of John, "Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?" May they also be amongst those blessed indeed who are not offended in Him.

We have, as we said before, several engaged in the shirt-making department; these receive the same price for their work which the others do, viz. 2 d. and 3 d. each article; and although not containing so much hard work, it is poor pay, and falls far short of maintaining even the individuals, much less their families, by their utmost diligence. This is not as it should be, "the labourer is worthy of his hire," and those who indefatigably occupy their time and strength in the service of others, ought to receive a sufficient recompense for the same to enable them to live themselves. Two of these are widows, the one with three, the other with five children; and, as in the former case, the funds of this society have for a long time supplied their deficiencies in money and clothing.

We mention no other cases this year, because these seem to us to be the most destitute and worthy of attention, and because we wish to give that exclusive prominence to them on the present occasion which the unparalleled circumstances seem to demand. In them we bring before you the widow and the orphan. "Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child; if thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless," Ex. xxii. 22-24.

They say to us sometimes, "Ours is a beautiful law." We heartily concur with them; it is a beautiful law; so much so, that we never take up its valuable

books without finding fresh beauties at every perusal. And we would plead with their persecutors, in words imitative of its touching language:-"Ye know the heart of a bondsman, for ye were bondsmen in the land of Egypt. And ye know what it is to have to fulfil the tale of bricks, the same as when ye had straw; ye know what it is to be obliged to accomplish the task, and to furnish the materials for it, when ye know not where to procure them. Oh! it savours so much to our minds of Egyptian task-masters, that we never expected to meet with it in the tents of Jacob. We marvel not so much at the persecuting edicts issued by the kings and emperors of the earth, for they know not the God of Israel, and care not for his children; but we do marvel that ye should oppress one another. Are ye not brethren, the children of one Father? Brethren in the curse, in dispersion, in exile, in persecution, in torture, in death; brethren in a ruined temple and a desolated home; brethren also in the blessing, in restoration, renewal, and glory, in the prospect of a better temple, in the promise of a brighter home! But see that ye fall not out by the way.'

Our earnest prayer and constant endeavour, as it regards this interesting people, is to remove from their minds the prejudices against Christians which many years of oppression have naturally inspired, and by walking in and out, performing acts of kindness amongst them, to convince them that we love them, and seek only to act a kind part towards them. We look not upon them as upon other nations, as foreigners, as strangers and aliens; they are our brethren; we listen to "the voice of Jacob" as to the cry of a brother in distress; we sympathise with him in his exile; we look forward with him to the fulfilment of all the bright visions of the prophets with regard to his restoration, and feel an interest in all that concerns him. We cannot see any of the people oppressed, as

many now are, without endeavouring to ease their uneasy shoulder from the burden.

Will you not, dear reader, join us in our endeavour to assist these poor creatures? The trifle spared from your superfluities will not only be a great treasure to them in their comfortless condition, but will be returned a hundred fold into your own bosoms by Israel's God.

But feeling the utter weakness of all our arguments, we would return to the solemn charge, leaving it with its burden of weighty responsibility to make its own impression-" Occupy till I come. We often think of the words; would that we thought on them more! Would that each bird on the wing might warble them as we stand listening to its liquid music; that each morning's sun might weave them into its flowers while we trifle away our precious moments in its shining ray; that each wave of the sea might picture them forth as, all entranced, we loiter by its silver sheen; for these, as they pass by us into eternity, leave less than they found our remnant of time.

Occupy till I come!"-It is a wide spreading charge; it allows of no spare minutes, no hours of idleness; it leaves no time to busy ourselves with other men's matters; it leaves scarcely time enough to set our own house in order.

Occupy till I come!"-It speaks of a coming when it will be too late to climb to a higher seat, to wrestle for a nobler prize, to struggle for a brighter crown!

A DESIGN FOR A PICTURE.

TRIAL and Affliction taking away a purse of gold, and leaving in its place a bag of diamonds.