for that too, and tells you that it is God who both puts in our minds good desires, and enables us to bring the same to good effect *"

T. Why, William, you seem to find out every thing that is good in the Prayer-Book.

W. There is every thing good, Thomas, to be had from Him who is the "Author and Giver of all good things."

T. Why, that is from the Prayer-Book again.

W. Yes, it certainly is. The Prayer-Book helps us to pray. We there offer up our prayers to the Father, through the Son: and we are encouraged to hope that he will send us every spiritual gift and blessing.

T. Why, you have shewn me already something exactly y suited to my case. I stand in need of pardon for past sin, and I ought to lead a pure and holy life, and I want good desires.

W. Yes, you want those very things which the Gospel teaches you that you ought to have. And the Gospel promises you that you shall have them, if you ask rightly and the Prayer-Book puts you into a way of asking rightly. The Gospel contains "glad tidings of great joy," and the Prayer-Book teaches us to pray that this joy may be made our own.

T. Well, then, I see that the Prayer-Book is made according to the Bible, and so a man cannot despise the Prayer-Book without despising the Bible too. Now, I know several people who care nothing about the Prayer-Book, and sometimes even make game of it.

W. Yes, Thomas, and they make game of the Bible too. We have seen a great deal of this in our own times. Such people are against the Bible and the Prayer-Book, because the Bible and the PrayerBook are against them. Poor souls! But the Prayer-Book shows me how to pray for them. "O merciful God, who wouldest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live, have * Collect for Easter Day, † Collect for Seventh Sunday after Trinity.

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mercy upon all infidels (unbelievers), and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved *:" and I would beg of the Lord that he would "make them a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within them :" that, instead of spreading about wickedness and sin as they do, they might "teach His ways unto the wicked, that sinners might be converted unto Him." But, whatever other people may think of these matters, Thomas, if you and I go to church, and wish to be good Christians, we should try to get all the benefit we can from the prayers; we should seek to have our minds fixed upon what we are doing.

T. To be sure we should. But, for my part, William, I cannot say that I understand much about the Church Service. I wish you could explain to me a little about the meaning of it.

W. Why, Thomas, I think you might have asked many a better man than me; but, however, I shall be willing to do the best I can.

T. Why, neighbour, I do not ask you to explain the meaning of every one of the prayers, but only just to give me a sort of notion about them, that I may know a little what I am doing when I am in the church: for, to tell you the truth, I know very little about the matter. I hardly can tell when I am to kneel down, or when I am to stand up, or when I am to sit; and I want to know all about it.

W. Why, Thomas, there are a great many little tracts about the Prayer-Book that explain these things a great deal better than I can. And there is one, at the beginning of many of the Prayer-Books, that I have learned a good deal from.

T. What is it called?

W. "Directions for a devout and decent Behaviour in the public Worship ‡."

Collect for Good Friday.

But pray, Tho

But

Fifty-first Psalm.

A Tract bound up with the Prayer-Books which are circulated by the "Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge."

mas, did you never read the rubrics themselves? Those rubrics tell you all about it; and, if you were to read them, you could not well make a mistake about the proper time to kneel, and stand, and so on.

T. Why, to tell you the truth, William, I do not know what you mean by the rubrics.

W. O, don't you? well, then, I'll tell you. The rubrics mean those directions that you see, in the PrayerBook, commonly printed in a different sort of letters from the rest. Italic letters, I think they call them.

T. O, then the rubrics are the directions, are they? Well, then, if they are directions, they must direct me what to do. But why do they call them rubrics?

W. I think I have heard say, that rubric is a kind of old Latin word that means red letters: because, in former times, these directions were printed in red letters.

T. Well, then, I must study these directions. But, nevertheless, William, I should like to hear you explain a little besides : for I may perhaps understand rather better from your plain way of talking.

W. Well, I will do the best I can the next time we have half an hour to spare towards it; but I must be going now; my wife will be expecting me home to dinner by this time.

T. Yes, it must be about the time now. I suppose your wife has been staying at home to cook your dinner.

W. O no; she went home by the other road, and so you did not see her. No, Thomas, it would not be so easy a matter as you suppose, to keep my good woman away from church: and, to tell you the truth, I should not feel comfortable at my prayers myself, if I thought that she had not the same privilege as I had. Besides, I think my dinner somehow would not taste half so good, if I thought it kept either of us from worshipping God.

T. Well, but what are you to do for your Sunday's dinner, if there's nobody left at home to cook it?

W. O never fear that, Thomas: we shall not go without our dinner, I dare say. A few potatoes will boil without any body to watch them; and my wife cooked something yesterday, and we shall have that cold to-day.

T. I think my wife would like to do as your's does, for she is very fond of going to church: but she cannot go now, at any rate; she must stay, and take care of the little children; for they cannot walk, nor take care of themselves, poor things!

W. Why, no, Thomas; where there is a family of little children, it is a different matter: the poor babies must be looked after. But, however, we will have a little more conversation about these things another time, if we can find an opportunity.

T. Why, William, I suppose you are going to church this afternoon.

W. To be sure I am.

T. Well, then, cannot you call in at our house as you go? You can come about half an hour before the bells begin to chime, and then we can talk about these things, and, after that, we can walk to church together.

W. Well, then, Thomas, it shall be so.

T. But, William! before you go, I wish you would just tell me when the Prayer-Book was made, and who made it; I mean, who put the prayers together. W. O, we can talk about that this afternoon: and so, good bye for the present.

CHAPTER II.

William, Thomas, and their Wives.

William. WELL, Thomas, I am come according to my promise; and I have brought my wife with me.

Thomas. So much the better. My wife and I are glad to see you both. Come, sit down; and we can have a little more discourse on what we were talking about this morning.

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Mrs. Brown, Ay, pray do, neighbours; for I shall be glad of an opportunity of hearing a little about these things myself. My husband seemed to be pleased with what you said to him this morning, William and he tells me he is going to church with you this afternoon. I wish I could go too; for, somehow, I cannot feel half as I should do, if I stay away from church. However, there is no such thing as leaving home where there are little children to take care of. :

Mrs. Walker. Why, no, neighbour, they cannot be left alone, to be sure. I remember, when I had little ones myself, I sometimes used to take it hard to be kept at home so much. However, if we have a family, it is our duty to look after it, and we must not repine. Besides, it becomes us to be diligent about our home duties, as well as our church duties.

Mrs. B. Why, that is certainly true. But then many people make an excuse of that sort for neglecting their church; and, being wonderfully busy about their matters at home, they talk a great deal about their duty, and their industry, and so on; whilst all the time, they are wholly neglecting the worship of God. Now, neighbour Walker, I cannot think that these people are right.

Mrs. W. No, nor I either; I often think of what our blessed Lord said to those who were for this halfand-half kind of service: "These things ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone." Besides, neighbour, I know this very well, that, if we keep away long together from a place of worship, we are apt to grow careless and indifferent about good things and so I have always tried to get to church if possible. When I had a baby, I sometimes used to carry it with me, if I thought it would be still, and not in