C HEAP REPOSIT ORY. Sunday Reading. THE TROUBLES OF LIFE; O 11,. T II E GUINEA and the SHILLING. Sold by. J. MARSHALL, [W inter tothe Cheap Repository, for Moral and Religious Tra£b,) No. 17, Queen- treet, Cheapfide, and No. 4, AJdermary Church-Yard, Bow-Lane, and R. WHITE, Piccadilly, London. [By S. HAZARD, at Bath /and by all BookfeMers, y Newfmenand Hawkers, iijuTcnvn and Country. \ Great Allowance until be made to Shopkeepers and Hawkers Price id. each, or 6s. to.--- • T H E TROUBLES OF LIFE. Being a familiar Defcription of the Troubles Of the Poor Laborer, Of the, Little Shopkeeper. Of the Great Tradefman. Of the Sick Man. Of the Difappointed Lover. Of the Unhappy Hufband. Of the Widower who has lately loft his Wife. AND LASTLY, Of the Child of Sorrow. Who has met with Trouble upon Trouble, and is without Hope in this World. TO WHICH IS ADDED, The Story of the Guinea and the Shilling.. Being a Cure for Trouble in general. TOETHER WITH Suitable Chriftian Comfort under each of the Cafes afcovementioned. C 8 ) THE TROUBLES of LIFE, &c. ^ Ti/TA N is horn to trouble CIS t fis [parks fly., upward" It is not ' every one however that believes this melancholy truth. Young people efpe- ; cially are apt to imagine that the world is full of plcafure and enjoyment; their hearts beat high with expectation as they enter into it; they truft that all their fchemes will aniwer, and they feldom calculate on trials, laffes, and difappointments. I. propofe here in the firft place to prefent to my young an i A z iknguine 1 « ( 4 ) fanguine Readers the piclure of a few of the chief troubles of life which are of- ten too much concealed from them. The view of thefe may ferve perhaps to cool a little the wonted ardor of youth; and to prepare the inexperienced mind forfcenes which it may by-and-by chance to fee realized. But now in what way fhall I enter on the vaft field that is before me? for when I take up human Sorrows as my fubjecl, mcthinks I fee a thoufand forms of mi- iery prefent themfelves before me. I will begin with one of thofe forts of mi- fery which are the mod common. I mean thofe which great Poverty brings with it. The POOR LABORER. Reader, thou art one, as I will fup- pofe, who heretofore by dint of hard work didft provide thyfelf with bread. ( 5 ) and didft even lay up for a time fome trifling ftore; but now thy family has grown large; thy wife, dear woman! hath brought thee twins laft year : thine own health alfo has begun rather to de- cline, fo that as thy charges increase thy means of living grow fmaller and fmal I er : thou art not yet reduced to ac- tual want, but thou art in dread of it, for the (lender flock which thou hadft got together, is now wafting day by day; already Poverty begins to ftare thee in the face : already thou haft pawned a fpoon or a piece of iefs ne- ceffary furniture, or perhaps a Sunday Coat, and in another week thou mult part with thy wife's cloak, and perhaps an upper blanket alfo: thou doft hope indeed to redeem the more needful ar- ticles, but it is very doubtful whether thou wilt ever doit; thou feemeft to be descending gently by the fame way that many have trod before thee down into the workhoufe; or if fome friendly hand forbid not, perhaps into a dreadful jail. We will now draw a Pifture of that diftrefs to obtain a living which is com- mon in a little higher life, 9** - %.6 ) the LITTLE SHOPKEEPER, .f It may be thou art one, who having married a year or two ago, didft then fet out merrily in the world in fome little mop fitted up on the occafion, and every pound, as thou didft then cal- culate, would produce by this time an- other pound by due diligence in thy calling, The little fab flan ee which thy deceafed father left thee, and thy wife brought thee, were put together for a capital, from which were to a rife thefe ample profits of the fliop;— but, alas! th e war has happened; trade is srown dull; thou has gone into it at a wrong time, or haft choferf a wrong branch of commerce; thou didft turn dealer in Silks juft when the fiik trade began de- clining, in Gauzes which, went out of fa- fhion fhion in the fame year, or in jrair povr- der, and now the life of it is taxed : or thou haft hired perhaps a large hollfe for the fake of having, with it a better , - fbop, meaning to let a part in lodg- ings, and to live with thy little family in one fnug corner of it ; but thou haft failed in getting lodgers ;. thy cuf- „ tomers alfo pay but ilowly, fo that thou art no longer punctual in fatisfying thy own engagements : thou waft oblig- ed the other dav to borrow a fmail fum of an ©Id truffy friend: but un- der promife of fecrecy, left it fhould hurt thy credit; and yefterday thou,didft apply to a fecond. friend in like man- ner, but he was low in purfj, he was borrowing at that time himfeif, or he was engaged juft then; in fho.t,- /ie did not care to truft thee-— then mini try a third friend to-day, and it nip fails thee thou muft .break perhaps to-mor- row:, thou, haft been going on for months in- the fame daily dread of bankruptcy, and yet thou are counted to live in - comfort-, for thou carrier! about with* thee a cheerful look; in thy face {its fmiling plenty, and eafe, .aj^d comfort, and, Jatislaction, and thy fliop- ( 8 ) {hop /nines with it's ulual Uiftre ; for it is thus thou flriveft to uphold thy .credit, fo that thou dorr hear thy part with many others, in fpreading over the world an outward fhew of happinefs and profperity, but at the fame time there is grief, and pain, and gnawing care, and fear and confternation in thy heart. ; Nor ought we to think that all thole even are free from keen anxiety about the means of living who feem to be placed out of the reach of real poverty, and yhofe bread at leaft, comparativeiyYpeak.. ing, is very lure; for let it be remem- bered, that imaginary wants may be the caufe of Real Mifery. ' ; The GREAT TRADESMAN. Observe that great and once thriving trader, he had laved awhile ago -ten thoufand Hi f$$| Y, thoufand pounds* but in the fa ft year foe has gone a little back in the world; fome new patent has been invented; fome cheap fliop has rifen up; fome unex- pected rival has entered the town; he has been fo long ufed to a large ^in- come, and he has formed all his plan* on 10 certain an expectation of it's con tinuance, that he feels almoft as iri|ich at the dropping off of his trade as if he was differing with actual hunger. To be thrown, as he calls it, out of his former bread, to fee the downfal of his once reputable and thriving fliop, to part alfo with his pleafant Country Box ; and to fell his new Horfe and Whifky ; at the fame time to reduce his. whole fcale of living, and to change the plan of edu- cation alio for his Children, and to re- tire in fhort with only eight or ten thou- fand Pounds in hand initead of the ex- peeled twenty, is one of the molt hard and trying cafes, as he gravely tells you, that ever was experienced. But let us draw another pi6ture of Human Mifery. The f tlO } ■'The SICK MAM. Thou art one perhaps on- whom money flows in apace, but thou art of a -very 'fickiy conititution. Alas! all thy wealth cannot purchafe for thee a healthy' body. : it cannot foothe thy pain or flop the courfe of thy diforder; Phyficians are called in but it is in vain: they do but fend thee "from place to place in fearch of health — thy fchemcs in life too are all now broken, for thy life itfelf .is in danger. O nee thou clid ft hope to fee many days, and to marry fome woman of thine ac- quaintance whole image is'ftill haunting thy imagination, and to ; be the "joyful Parent of Children, but this fad difor- der has dafhed all thy hopes to pieces: though rolling in wealth and in the prime of life, though bleft with friends who .might K ii ) might be very ferviceabla, and though fecretly loved by her on whom thy own affeftions have been fixed^ yet all thefe bieffings only ferve to give a fharper edge to thy difappointment, for in the moment of attaining every thing which thy fond bcart could wifh, the cup of happinefs is fnatched from thy lips, and thou art driven away to an untimely grave. But let us tun^to another cafe of mi~ fery. The DISAPPOINTED LOVER. Thou art one perhaps that is croffed in love; with warm, and eager, and im- patient affe&ions thou purfueft one who neglecls, avoids,, or even defpifes thee— perhaps fhe loved or Teemed to love thee oijcc, but flic has lately jilted thee; or perhaps r « ) perhaps fhe loves thee ftilh but pru^. dence forbids the match; friends have interfered ftrongly with their authority; and the obedient girl has kindly though refblutcly entreated thee to take leave of her for ever. Thou art confident ne- vcrthelefs in thy own mind, that if fhe were partner of thy lot thou couldft bear any ftate of life with pleafuie; po- verty would be no poverty, pain ltfejf would lofe it's nature in her beloved fo- ciety ; bat without her, life is infupport- -able, and that Death which others dread is become the very object of thy gloomy wiflies and expeclations. The UNHAPPY HUSBAND. But now to reverfe ihz pi&ure, thou art one perhaps who in the fondnefs and eagernefs of youth haft married the very obied of thy choice,, O what a happy ( *3 ) man ! what an enviable lot is thine f But let us wait a year or two and obferve the iffue. In a little time the charm is broken: Beauty loon fades ! a horrible temper alfo, quite unperceived at firft, is broken out. She whom thou didft look up to as an angel is become a very fury : quarrel? diftraS thy family day by day; and the very partner of thy . life is become thy grief, thy fhame, and thy torment; thou muft now pay the forfeit of thy imprudence by bearing this worft of burthens for all thy remaining days. Nay, thou muft alfo bear it in fi- lence, left thy. fhame mould be published fo much the more, and left thy wife's ill temper fhould be worked up even to frenzy if thou fhouldft make the fmallcfi: complaint. But whv will you defcribe human life fo gloomily ? Perhaps fome Reader may reply : very great happinefs is indeed uncommon, but the bulk of mankind do not meet with any fuch miferies as thefe, for inftance, how comfortable am I! I am bleft with a very tolerable degree of health, my trade alio on the whole fup- * ports me decently, and I have many friends ; I have at the fame time a B pleafing ( *4 ) pleafing family growing up around me, and the partner of my lot inftead of being fuch a woman as you have painted is rnoft exemplary, and affectionate, and kind. Is this then the ground on which all your happinefs is relied ? We will now ^[raw another picture of human calamity. The WIDOWER. Obferve that wife, fo pleafing in her perfon, fo cheerful alfo in her temper, fo valuable as the induftrious and clever parent of her many children, and fo at^ tentive and affectionate alfo to her huf- band. Early love united them, unreferved intimacv has endeared them {till further, and a long connection has rendered them now quite needful to each other ; the hufband's life is bound up in that of ( *5 ) his wife in a degree of which he is hardly yet aware. See her begin to ficken and to grow a little pale. At firft the difeafe is trifling ; fhe has walked out in the de.wy. night and caught a cold, but the cough, has increafed, and it is now three months fince that unlucky day. The tender hufband begins to be alarmed. Love, indeed is apt to be anxious, and flie herfelf begs him therefore not to be fo much afraid. Another month piaffes off and the cough is not removed. Her pulfe grows quick, her fleep forfakes her, and many dreadful fymptorns enfue. What are now the feelings of this once happy hufband ? He walks with a me- lancholy look and in a negle&ed drefs over the houfe, and he thinks his own life already too great a burthen to be borne. As the danger of her death begins to appear his ft ate of fufpenfe alfo is affe cling beyond rneafure,. His hope rifes high with each little fa~ J. o vourable change, and in a clay or two after he is half frantic with fear. In the mean time his own health through long watchmg begins materially to fail. And now her end draws near. That face once fo beautiful begins to be deformed Bt by. C «6 ) by a ghaflly hue, the lips; are turned pale and quivering, the tongue is parched, the very reafon fails her, fo that (lie knows not the voice of her hufband though he calls her by her name. At Jaft a cold fweat is obferved to be paff- ing over her limbs, her eye is fixed, the laft agony arrives, and fhe expires in his arms, O what a dreary fcene does the world now prefent to this hufband, who a few months before was boafting of his happinefs, and to this once enamoured lover ! And here- let it be remarked that this fort of event is one that is by no means uncommon. It is one which every fa- mily has to witne fs. Let every loving iiband remember (we mall fpeak here- after of the ufe to which the remem- brance may be turned) that he has to fee -the day when he fhall be thus feparated from his wife, or elfe that the wife has to endure a like feparation from her huiband. Let him reflecl that it often happens alfo, that in proportion as the pieaiure in each other's fociety has been great, and the love ardent, the parting pang is found to be fevere. Scenes of a like kind are to be expected alfo again and ( 17 ) and again in life. At one time a beloved parent is in the courfe of nature re moved ; at another a much honoured uncle or patron, who had become a fe~ cond father, is carried off in his turn. Now a brother or fifter, or a dear friend and companion is torn away, and now a blooming hopeful and perhaps an only child is hurried into an untimely grave. And fo quickly does death oftentimes repeat his ftroke, that perhaps the mourn- er has fcarcely wiped away his tears for one beloved relative or child, before fome other tender connection is alike torn from his embraces, and is buried in the fame tomb. The CHILD of SORROW: But let us ipeak now of thofe who- fbeifr to unite in themfelves a vail variety o» griefs, and who therefore may be called ( 18 ) t 7 > v;>Cz emphatically the Children of Sor- row. ; There are fome perfons who feera to have every thing make againft them ; tSiey: have had neither the fuccefs in fyjiinefs, nor yet the health of other men, and they have experienced alfo their full fliare of aiTe&ing deaths in their family. Some there are alfo of thefe children of affli&ion who experience in the evening of their days fome additional and aggravated calamity, whereby their grey hairs are brought down in forrowto the grave. There are fome mothers alfo, of whom, befides all their other griefs, it may be remarked, that though they have many children, yet they never fuc- ceed in rearing them. Imagine to your- felf a mother who is now poor and help- lefs and a widow woman alfo, who has brought forth a large family of children, and has fucceffively indulged the hope of rearing everyone of them. By the time that fli e has reached old age me is bereft at length of them all ; broken down with age and adverfity, the lamp of life feebly , burning, fhe may be likened to the fhat- ; tered trunk of an ancient tree, the root of which has ftill a little life in it, though fhe ( *9 ) the lightening has deprived of all it's once ilourifhing branches. But to put a ftill more deplorable though not uncom- mon cafe. We fometimes hear alfoof the Tingle furvivor of ten or fifteen child- ren, and if we enquire we perhaps find that this extraordinary mortality is to be accounted for by there having been a taint in the blood of the family, of which taint this furviving child alfo has partaken, and has already fufFered much pain trim it, though it's death is not yet arrived. How comfortlefs as to this worfld is the condition of fuch a perfon ! " an untimely birth," methinks 46 is cc better than he;" for if this life only be considered, nothing, methinks can be more forrowful as well as defperate than the lot of fuch a fickly, perhaps deformed, and though in fome fenfe pitied^yet at the fame time negle&ed being ; it feems only to have lived to bear the anguilh of it's diforder, and to witnefs the mortality of it's family. But it is time to break off from this melancholy fubjeft, and to fpeak of the relief which religion brings to the fevera! calamities of life. ' -We i ( 20 ) We have hitherto avoided introducic,^ any thing religious into the characters we have drawn, became we wiihed to paint the mifery ftrongly, which we could not have done if the comforts of chrif- tianity had made a part of the piclure. We will endeavour to explain ourfelves in the fir ft place by the following familiar ftory. TJbe GUINEA and the SHILLING. It happened once that a per ion was travelling on foot a long way from home, with exactly a guinea and a milling m his pocket; as he walked by the fide of a hill, in taking out his purfe one of the pieces dropt out through an unlucky hole which there was in it; it proved, '-however, molt fortunately to be only the Shilling: He looked around him for the pieqe A f 2» ) piece which was loft with fome care, but whether it had got hid in the long grafs on his right hand, or whether it had rolled off a long way down the hill to the left, or whether it had even tumbled into the river at the bottom, is what he never could difcover. He fpent about half an hour in looking round and round after it, 'till he began to think that he was lofing more time and trouble than the piece of money was worth, fo he proceeded on his day's journey, comforting himfelf as he went that he had his guinea fafe in his pocket, and that he had loft no- thing but the milling. Let u? apply the ftory; Reader thou art one that haft met with fome of thofc loffes, troubles, or difappointments, which have been juft defcribed, but thou art neverthelefs one of thole happy per- fons who, having embraced the Gofpel of Chrift with their whole heart, are made partakers of it's infinite and un- fpeakable blefhngs ; thou haft loft, as I will fuppofe, thy wealth, thy health, or thy deareft earthly relatives : Nay, thou haft loft every thing that can be dear to thee in this life. Be comforted — thou haft only loft thy {hilling; it is merely thy temporal ( 22 ) temporal comforts that are gone from thee : the Bleffings of the Gofpel ftill re- main, Heaven is thine, Eternity is thine, confolations which the world can neither give nor take away are dill in thy poffef- lion, and thou art an heir of ever! a it in g life. Thefe immenfe riches continue with thee, and are like the Guinea in hand, on which thou mayeft ftill caft an eye of complacency, when all earthly things have flipt from thee like, the mil- ling, and are no where to he found. I grant the lofs is not altogether to be made light of : it may become thee to ufe for awhile thy belt diligence to re- pair thy lofs, juft as the traveller fpent half an hour in fearching for his milling, but lofe not the whole day of life in looking for that which is utterly va- nifhed, but rather purfue thy journey, comforting thyfelf that thou haft not loft thy Guinea. But now to be more particular, let us fhew what a new charafter Religion gives to each of the cafes we were fpeaking of, and firft. let us again addrefs The { *3 ) The POOR LABORER, Know then thou that art finking through poverty, that the greateft of all the evils that can befal thee is hardnefs of heart. Now it is certain, that although ex- treme Poverty may bring many trials, yet great Riches bring many more. It is Ri ches that harden the heart. How hardly, fays Chrift, jhall they that art rich enter into the kingdom of heaven. While on the other hand God often chufes the Poor of this world to be Rich in faith, and heirs of the. Kingdom of heaven. How does this thdught at once reverfe all the common notions on this fubjecl. The firfl Chrijlians took joyfully the /poll- ing oj their Goods, knowing that they had in Heaven a better and more enduring fubflance. And the Chriftian of the pre- fent day, whether he be a Labourer, a Shopkeeper, or a more considerable Trader, Having the fame treafure in Heaven, will, under all his Croffes, feel a meafure of the fame comfort. Hav- ing food and raiment, faid the apoftle, let us therewith be content. I have learnt, faid he, every where and in all thiugs : both ( n ) fo be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to fuffer need, 1 can do all things through Chrijl that Jlrengtheneth me. fo need- ful- ia the cafe of all the fe individual troubles of life, how much more fo .rauft it be when affliction is added tfe arFliclion, and when a thoufand trou- bles meet together ? Ye unbelieving men who put from you the hope of a fu- ture world, and. the bleffed confoia- lions of the Gofpel^ come now and con- template with me the cafe of thafcperfcn who is oppreffed with poverty,, worn down at the fame time with ficknefs, and and utterly defperate as to this world Behold that miferable objeft, that wretch deformed in perfon as well as defli- tute of friends, that Lazarus who lies at the Gate full of Sores, and is begging a few crumbs of bread! Go now and comfort him with thofe confolations which Infidels have to offer to the af- flifted; I fuppofe you will bid him hope for a little better health, and will re - commend it to him to take the medi- cines proper for his diforder. But, alas! medicine cannot help him, for the Phyfician has told him fo. You will ft ill perhaps encourage him to ox- peel;, however, in one way or other, lome more happy turn in his fortune. But his cafe is defperate; the friend's who once took care of him, and whom he tenderly loved, are dead; his pain alfo is daily growing upon him, and his difeafe is mortal. Well then as it is a cafe of neceffi'ty you advife him to be refigned'; but refigned to what ? Refined to want and ficknefs, and to the iofs of all things ? Refigned to rhx- fery as long as he lives, and after this refigned to a gloomy and hopelcfs death? you give him no ground for Refigna^. dovu ( 32 ) don. Refignation on your plan is contra- ry to reafon! you boaft of your reafon, but you are of all men moft unrea- fonable if you pretend you can fupply I the miferaWe with comfort. , No, you i muft own the cafe is beyond you, and like the Levite, you muft turn your face another way, and leave him in the ditch till feme Ciiriftian comes, like the good Samaritan, and pours in to his wounds the oil and wine of the Gof- pel. And you alfo, O ye gay and thoughtlefs ! who though you dare not deny the truth of the Gofpel yet neg- ^ lecl: it, and even defpife the more fe- rious followers of it, . own that at leaft the Gofpel has it's ufes here, and that there are fome perfons, in the world to whom even the moft lively hope of immortality may, without offence, be declared to be a thing moft ardently to be deli red: for what is a mere or-, dinary profeflion of Chriftianity to fuch perfons ? it is only through a deep and heart-felt experience of the great Doc- * trines of the Gofpel, that any real re- lief under thefe heavy afflictions is to be in the leaft expected; if troubles then arife and increafe upon us, it is ( 33 ) by ftill more exalted views of Chrif- tianity that we mull feek comfort under them. But let us now {hew how thefe heavy af- flictions may not only be made tolerable, but how they may be made ufeful, and turned even into bleffings. Ah! how many araihere who at fetting out in life have been favoured with much worldly happi- nefs, yet during all this time no thanks have been excited to God who was the giver of it, no prayers or praifes have afcended to the great Father of Mercies, f and none of the wealth or talents be- llowed upon them has been laid out in his fervice: but by-and-by troubles have come, and as thefe troubles' have in- creafed the heart has begun to be fatt- ened; difappointed and defperate as to this world, thev have now turned their thoughts to a better: Worn down with grief, overwhelmed with loffes, or tor- mented by keen anguifti in their bodies, they have call a longing look towards that world where " there is no more fid- nefs, nor for row, nor pain, and where God Jliall wipe away all tears from our eyes" " Behlod," fays the Prophet in the name of God to the Israelites. '<* / have ( 34 )) have chofenihee in the furnace of affile* Hon he called thefe Ifraelites in the midft of the afflictions of Babylon, as he had their fathers in the afflictions of Egypt. St. Paul obferves to the ThefTa- loniaws, " and ye became followers of as and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliftion, and with joy of the Holy Ghofiy Some there are who feem to have parTed through trouble only that they may be brought to a ftate of peace and joy in believing: they owe that cheerfulnefs which you now fee in them, to fome former gloom. Once they were gay and thoughtlefs, as fome of our Readers may now be, and their joy was then as the crackling of thorns, which was foon over, but now there is a new foundation for their happinefs. Now they truft not in riches or health, in wife or children, for they have found all thefe to be but as a broken reed, on which if a man leans it {hall furely fail him. They have learnt to " truft there- fore in the living God," and in the fure mercies of a Savipur : being weaned from the world, they now have learnt that holy art of ufing it fo as net to abufe it, knowing that " the time is » (hort 5 ( 35 ) c: fiiort, and that the fafhion of this " world paffeth away," Come life, come death, Come ficknefs, poverty or dif- grace, Come lofs of friends, Come trou- ble of whatever kind, they (land rea- dy. " None of thefe things now move them, fo that they may jinijh their courfe with joy" They are now meafuring h e value of every thing by it's tendency to promote their eternal good, and under whatever circumftances tbey may fall. They are therefore comforted by that ali- fufficient promife, that all things /kali work together for good to them that lovs God, to them that are called according to his purpofe. What a new view then does the Gof- pel give us of the affii&ions of life ? It leffens fome of them, and it turns others even into joy, and it teaches us to confider every one of them as ap- pointed by that wife and merciful Beino;, who knoweth our nature, and who while he feems to vifit us in judgment, is per- haps only fhowering down his bell bJe-ff- ings upon us. THE E N P, On the tfl of June was publiflied, The Shepherd of Salifbury Plain. Part IL— -The Beggarly Boy, a Parable,— and Wild Robert, a Ballad. On the if of July, The good Mother's Legacy'.— Daniel in the Lions 1 Den,— and the Newcaftle Collier, a Ballad. On the if Anguf, Hints on the prefent Scarcity. --The Happy Wa- terman. — The Riot, a Ballad,-— and the Plow- boy's Dream, a Ballad. On the if of September, Noah's Flood. — Tom White, Part II ; or, the Way to Plenty,— and Dame Andrews, a Ballad.. On the iji of Oclober, The Two Farmers, Part I. — Harvefl Home — « and the Honeft Miller, a Ballad. On the 1 ft 1 of November, The Parable of the Vineyard. — The Two Far- mers, Part II. —and the African Woman's Lamentation, a Ballad. On the if of December, The Troubles of Life, or, the Guinea and the Shilling,— and the Merry Chriitmas, or Happy New Year. And other Pieces on a fmilar Pla% cw the lfl oj every Month,