powerful influence urge him to what is sinful; while he himself, possessing no resources within his own heart, becomes as it were the spirit of every sin.'

This affecting account is, indeed, altogether on the subject of the awful influence and propagation of sin; but, by analogy, we may derive a powerful lesson on the subject of the influence of gracious dispositions, and sentiment, and practice, when spiritual motions are stirred up in the mother, instead of sensible and carnal objects engrossing her thoughts. Although the gift of grace is purely and entirely from on high, and is the work of divine power, yet the sovereign Disposer of every good thing we know uses the instrumentality of the creature; and though the Spirit, as the wind, bloweth where he listeth, yet he is pleased to give this heart-affecting bond, in the associations of his people, as to make them the ministers of the word of grace, and to appoint unto them the duty of interceding prayer in their behalf; and He who loves to hear the prayer of faith, and to behold the labour of love, will not frustrate the one nor deny the other; but, delighting to give more than we can ask, and even before we ask is ready to answer, will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. What more ardent prayer could be breathed, than a mother's for the fruit of her body? What more constraining object for her soul's entreaty than for the child to which she is about to give birth? If this be the desire of the mother's heart-this the occupation of her soul--this the object for which her maternal eye is uplifted, will not the state be an earnest of grace prepared? and will it not be permitted her to impart the same impressions on the unborn infant, as are upon the brain and heart of the mother.'

I have thought it right to preface my little narrative with these serious and important considerations, in order to prepare the mind for the evidence of the truth I advance, and to afford the most constraining argument, by the witness this babe of grace exhibits, that it is no speculative theory, but practical positive evidence. And with this purpose let us now look into the history of a three years' pilgrimage of Annie I-.

[To be continued.]

THE REDEEMER THE ROCK OF AGES.

O THOU the Rock of ages! still

My soul shall seek thy mighty aid,
Nor fear that aught of sin or ill

Can conquer, when beneath thy shade.

Loudly the storms of life may beat,
Deep, deep the waves of sorrow roll;
But, lowly prostrate at thy feet,
They cannot whelm the contrite soul.

For holy is the ground, and far

From Thee recoils guilt's stormy sea;
Safe is the soul beneath thy care,
That trusts in Thee, and only Thee.

M. F.

TO M. B. G.

My little flower-my tender flower;
Watched, cherished many an anxious hour;
A youthful bud in sweet estate,
Pale, drooping, fragile, delicate.
My little flow'ret-even so-

I mourn to think it-thou must go-
And other eye and hand than mine
Must watch and guard that form of thine.

Lamb of the Saviour's precious fold—
Bought not with silver nor with gold—
Once lost, astray, but sought and found,
And on the Shepherd's shoulder bound;
I cast thee on His changeless love
High as the heaven is earth above-
In His green pastures may'st thou lie,
Watched, guarded by His hand and eye.

I cannot write as poets write,
Deep feelings broken words indite,
And tears far more than words may tell
The anguish of the word-Farewell!
Yet fare thee well! we still may meet
My loved one! at our Saviour's feet;
And joined in Him-one soul--one heart,
We are not severed-cannot part.

M. A. S.

L

REMINISCENCES OF THE VENERABLE

MOTHER.

[Continued from Vol. III. page 347.]

WHEN last I had the pleasure of being introduced into the apartment of the venerable mother in the company of my usual companion, Mrs. Selby, I found her in a cheerful mood, and looking unusually well. She seemed, however, to have forgotten the subject of our last discourse, till I had assisted her memory, by begging to hear the result of the intimacy which she was beginning to form with the elegant Miss Sockets, under the auspices of Monsieur Bigot. She smiled at the mention of these names, and laying her hand (which was partially covered with an old fashioned black lace mitten) on my arm, she replied, 'Well, my dear, you shall be satisfied, if you will promise not to be too deeply affected by the doleful consequences of the adventure. After I had lost my lovely mamma,' said the old lady, 'it was long before I formed another friendship,—that is two or three years; which is long in comparison with the extent of the character of our school days. At length, however, a little girl was sent to school, nearly about my own age, and an orphan like myself; her name was Elvira; she was the daughter

per

of a military man, and was born abroad, hence, haps, her foreign name. It was generally under- . stood in the house, that the means of this little girl were narrow, and that there was a necessity that economy should be attended to in her expenditure; but as she was a genteel child, I never heard that any slur was cast upon her, on the suspicion of her poverty, by any person residing in the family. I cannot say that Elvira was a pious child, at least an enlightened child; but she was certainly a child to whom the desire of doing right, as far as she knew what was right, had been imparted ; and if she were not one who could have led me on in the way in which my own sweet Lucelle had set me, she was willing to go on with me as far as the strength of my principles would have carried me. But, alas! alas! as months and years rolled round after the death of the lovely Miss Barnevelt, the impressions she had been permitted to make upon my young mind seemed to have been becoming weaker, and the worldly principles, daily impressed by my elders, to be making deeper and still deeper traces on the apparently yielding surface. I was, therefore, very deficient as a guide to Elvira, in that which was right in a religious way; whereas she, from a strength of judgment, and sense of propriety somewhat peculiar in one so young, was a particularly safe and useful leader to me, in all worldly matters. In the case of such a character as my dear Elvira's,' continued the venerable mother, 'where every natural quality seems to be so nicely balanced as to leave no inconsistency which even the ill-natured can take hold upon; of such a character,' repeated Mrs. Latifear, 'it is most difficult to form a judgment, respecting