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SINGING.

For why? The Lord our God is good;

His mercy is for ever sure;

His truth at all times firmly stood,

And shall from age to age endure."

Perhaps, you will smile at an old man singing this psalm by himself, as it is more suitable for public worship. Well! well! Let an old man have his own way: it reminds me of old times, and makes me happy. My voice may not be very melodious; but I try to sing with my heart: as the apostle says, "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also," 1 Cor. xiv. 15.

BAMBOROUGH CASTLE,

IN

NORTHUMBERLAND.

As I love to speak well of a poor man, so do I love also to speak in praise of a rich one when I have the opportunity. Whether the object of my praise be clad in lawn or linsey, is of no consequence whatever. One word, then, of the Bishop

of Bamborough Castle.

Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, to whom Bamborough Castle belonged, has been slumbering in the house appointed for all living, more than a hundred years; and all that I know of him is this, that he was the founder of a noble charity at Bamborough Castle for the succour of shipwrecked seamen, the education of children, the healing of the sick, and the relief of the poor.

At Bamborough Castle are kept blocks and tackles, warps, cables, anchors, mooring chains, kedges, pumps, and other articles, for the use of

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BAMBOROUGH CASTLE.

stranded vessels, and there are also storehouses for such goods as may be saved. Rooms are kept neatly furnished for the accommodation of shipwrecked seamen ; and, in order that vessels in distress may be seen, two men patrol the coast for eight miles day and night in stormy weather. When a fog comes on, a bell is rung at the Castle at intervals, and every quarter of an hour a gun is fired as a warning to seamen, and a guide to fishermen in making for the land.

Within the Castle-yard are granaries to store corn this corn is ground into flour at a mill standing on the cliff, and the poor have it at the cost price they have groceries, too, on the same terms. At the Castle is a dispensary to supply the poor with medicine, free of all cost, and a surgeon is paid to attend to the ailments of the afflicted. Lastly, there is a library for the use of all within ten miles of the place; twenty girls are boarded, clothed, lodged, and educated, until they are old enough to go to service, and schools are established for the remaining children of the poor.

Now, is not this a noble charity? Tell me not that the see of Durham is the richest of all sees, and that the Bishop of Bamborough could well afford to do all that he did while he was alive, and all that was done by his desire after his decease. I

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know it well; but I know also that we all have power to be charitable to the bodies and souls of our fellow-beings, and I am afraid that we are much more given to call in question the kindly deeds of others, than we are to imitate them according to our ability. Is there no such a thing, think you, as setting up a Bamborough Castle of our own, on a small scale? Remember the two mites of the poor widow cast into the treasury. It is not the amount, but the motive. Do we do what we can? I know not how you feel after what I have told you of the noble charity above recorded; but for myself, though its founder, as I told you, has been slumbering in the grave for more than a century, I feel a kindly spirit gathering round my heart, and a sincere and cordial respect for the memory of the Bishop of Bamborough Castle.

M

UPRIGHTNESS IS TRUE

PROSPERITY.

It is a thought worth spreading widely abroad, that of all kinds of work idleness is the hardest ; and of all trades, successful villany is the least profitable. No thief plunders another of half the amount of which he robs himself; no men are so poor as the ungodly rich; and none are such errant fools as the worldly wise.

The shrewd, calculating, money-getting miser over-reaches himself; for his wealth, when attained, will not purchase the peace that is enjoyed by the meanest follower of the Redeemer. He gains disquietude, and loses repose; he sows the wind, and reaps the whirlwind; and he spends money for that which is not bread, and labours for that which satisfieth not. "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked," Isaiah xlviii. 22. Well might David exclaim, "I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to