all involved in their non-conformity, and that they followed in the course of many good and great men of the age. It would have been unjust to them, and not quite truthful to others, had I not called attention to this portion of ecclesiastical history. CHAPTER III. NARRATIVE. WE will proceed at once to the narrative of Matthew Henry's life. There is at this day about one mile from the town of Whitchurch, in Shropshire, an oldfashioned farm-house, containing many relics of a past age, and some of the comforts, if not many of the elegances and refinements of the present. In this house-called Broad Oak*Philip Henry took up his abode at Michaelmas of the year 1662, about five or six weeks after his ejectment from the Church, because * Broad Oak is really in Flintshire, although in the north of Shropshire. North Salop contains an isolated part of the county of Flint. he would not conform to the requirements of the Act of Uniformity; and in this same house, on October 18th, 1662, it was his happiness to see an increase in his family in the person of his second son Matthew. Among the many blessings that fall to the lot of children, the one most to be desired is the care and affection of pious parents; and among the many methods by which fathers and mothers may become benefactors to unborn generations, the most pleasing and certain is, to give their children the benefit of a holy example and affectionate prayers to God on their behalf. This greatest of children's blessings was enjoyed by young Matthew, and this honoured privilege of parents was exercised by his parents. His father was a man of enlightened intellect, of sweet, placid disposition, of regular habits, and of undoubted devotion; and, from what we can learn of his mother, she was one who walked with God, brought her piety to bear upon the details of domestic life without making it obtrusive, and often with maternal tenderness prayed for her offspring. The domestic arrangements of the family werę of such a nature as would exert a good influence on the growing mind of the youth. In those days of severe trial the family of an ejected Nonconformist was, in a great measure, cut off from many opportunities of associating with others. With the exception of a few who appreciated their moral worth, they had no intimate acquaintances; and, moreover, the strict morality of their lives, and the great prominence given to religion in all their intercourse, were in striking contrast with the corrupt tendencies of the Court and the general effect produced by the Book of Sports. Means of communication with friends at a distance were few and difficult to obtain. Nor were the young people amused and instructed by a cheap popular literature; while we all know that the exciting effect of a brisk Polką or a rousing March was never produced by young ladies exercising their musical powers and digital muscles on the keys of the pianoforte. Although we may think that they suffered some inconvenience for want of variety in household amusements and comforts, yet there was this advantage, it bound their hearts more closely together, it made home a sacred place, and threw them back on their parents for instruction and pleasure. And a happy thing it will be for England, if we retain the private and domestic character of our family circles. Long may the day be distant, may it never come,-when our young people lose taste for the sobrieties of the fireside by acquiring a taste for midnight amusements at the ball and the theatre; and give up the cheering smiles that enliven the family table, for the formality or familiarity, as the case may be, of the continental Table d'Hôte, or forsake the winter evening's laugh, talk, or work for a round of endless gaiety abroad. If the bulwarks of England are her ships, if her white cliffs are better than an |