comforted the mourner, and bound up the wounds of the bruised, he reproached the Pharisees with their hypocrisy and avarice, and threatened them with the vengeance of God. Such bold invectives, she apprehended, would make him enemies. She feared, what in truth took place, that he could not long escape the effects of their jealousy and malice. She was exceedingly terrified, when she heard him declare, that he was going up to Jerusalem, where he should be betrayed into the hands of his implacable persecutors, who would inflict on him a cruel and shameful death; for though he added, that on the third day he should rise again, yet it is evident that she understood not the meaning of his words. Were then all her hopes to be levelled with the dust? Was he not the promised Messiah, who was to restore the kingdom of Israel? Was she to be deprived of a beloved son, and her country of its deliverer?

Accompanying him to Jerusalem, she soon saw him, as he had predicted, in the power of his enemies. He was betrayed by one of his chosen companions, and forsaken by all the rest. Adjudged guilty of death by the great men of the Jewish nation, he was delivered over to be punished by their masters, the Romans. She beheld him passing through the streets of Jerusalem, his temples pierced with a crown of thorns, and bearing his cross, but so exhausted with fatigue, that he was not long able to support it alone. Having arrived at the place of execution, the soldiers rudely stripped off his clothes. With anguish of soul she saw the nails forced through his hands and feet: she heard the sound of the terrible hammer: * she beheld the blood streaming from his wounds:

* On entendit les coups des terribles marteaux. Télémaque, II.

she looked on the deadly paleness of his countenance : her ears were smitten with his terrific cry: the spear thrust through his side, and her own soul was pierced through also. Was it then any consolation to her, that her son, still cherishing to the last his tenderness for his mother, and forgetting his own anguish amidst his anxiety for her safety, committed her to the care of the beloved John? She was indeed to be deprived of him forever, if another protector was necessary. She heard his dying groan; and with it all hope expired.

With pleasure I turn again to the joys of Mary. The terror and the anguish of her soul were extreme, but happily of short duration. On the third day Jesus, as he had foretold, rose triumphantly from the grave. He appeared to her and explained the nature of his kingdom; and she now comprehended that it was not of this world, Every mystery was unfolded, and all her doubts dispelled. She understood that the Messiah was sent to redeem mankind from sin and death, to establish the dominion of righteousness, to exalt his faithful followers, not to earthly but heavenly thrones, to manifest the glory of the Supreme Being, and to proclaim peace and reconciliation between God and man. During the period of forty days, she had the happiness of seeing and conversing with her son; and when he ascended gloriously into heaven, to sit down on the right hand of his Father, she was present with the disciples, and looked at him with exultation, till a cloud concealed him from her sight. With a heart filled with gratitude for the salvation bestowed on her and the world, she probably passed the remainder of her days in tranquillity, under the protection of the benevolent John, expecting that blessed hope,

even the manifestation of the glory of the great God, and of her Saviour Jesus Christ, once her humble and obedient son, but now her exalted sovereign and lord.

Such were the joys and sorrows of Mary. Every pious woman, every affectionate mother, must be interested in her story. Every daughter of Adam must rejoice in the glory conferred on her sex, in that a woman was chosen to be the parent of the Messiah. But mothers are frequently called to walk in the path, which Mary trod before them as they have similar blessings, they are also afflicted in a similar manner.

1. They have similar blessings. The satisfaction of being a mother undoubtedly exceeds any other, which this earth affords. When a child is born, there is produced that exquisitely contrived animal, the glory of the creation, whose eye looks to heaven, who stands erect on the earth like a cedar of Lebanon, who is sublime in manhood, and beautiful in infancy. We are accustomed to the beauty of young children; it makes therefore little impression on our senses, except when it is eminent in degree; but the truth is, it is possessed by all infants, as we may be convinced by comparing them with the most beautiful of the inferior animals. For are not the round limbs of a child to be preferred to the angles in the legs of a fawn; his smooth skin, to the fleece of a lamb, or the plumage of a dove; and the dimples of his cheeks and elbows, his soft lips, and delicate fingers, to the bony head, hard bill, and sharp claws of the most elegant bird? These charms, which adorn a child, are discerned by the eye of the mother, and the contemplation of them affords her ineffable delight.

In the most helpless period, even before the glimmerings of reason are perceived, an infant is lovely but when the first dawnings of attention appear, when he can move without a support, when his lisping tongue begins to utter the first sweet articulate sounds, what new pleasure does the parent feel! When she surveys her family of young children, bounding with agility, gay yet innocent, simple and sincere, full of ardent curiosity, and making daily rapid progress in knowledge, watching with eagerness for her smiles, and bending toward her with looks of love, how does her bosom swell with joy! The spectacle is interesting even to strangers; but to the eye of a mother it affords the most perfect image of paradise.

If anything can exceed this pleasure, it is the happiness of the mother, who has successfully conducted her son from infancy to youth, and whose enraptured eye now contemplates him in the bloom of life, enlightened, wise, and discreet, brave yet gentle, honorable, generous, and religious, rising with reputation in the world, and emulous to benefit his country by his talents and exertions; yet still making his mother next to God, the first object of his attention and love, and valuing little the praises of others, if he cannot obtain her approbation. Speak, ye mothers, who have the happiness of possessing such a son, speak, for ye best can tell, what transport thrills through your heart, and with what fervor do ye return thanks to God for the inestimable gift!

2. These are the blessings which a mother enjoys: divine Providence has graciously vouchsafed to throw into her cup many sweet ingredients; but alas! she is frequently compelled to taste the drops of bitterness.

There are sons, who fill the breasts of their mothers with shame and sorrow. Ignorant of every branch of useful knowledge, corrupt in their principles, dead to all moral sensibility, and plunged into low and infamous vices, they pierce the hearts of their parents with unutterable pangs. But these representations belong not to my subject: I dismiss them. Children, who, are not corrupt, who are innocent, and even virtuous, inflict sufficient pain.

The feebleness and numerous maladies, to which an infant is exposed, are a source of disquiet to an affectionate mother. She consumes many wearisome days and sleepless nights in watching over the bed of sickness, endeavoring in vain to assuage pains of which the cause cannot easily be discovered, her ears all the while pierced with pitiable cries. She laments the distress of her child, and fears that he will die. When he is in health, and out of her sight, she is alarmed with apprehensions that mischief will befall him. Mischief does befall him: he is killed by a sudden blow. The limbs, just now warm with life, become cold. She hangs over his innocent form, still lovely in death, and finds that the most difficult lesson which she has to learn is resignation to the will of Heaven. Should he escape these accidents, constant care and laborious vigilance are necessary, to sow in his mind the seeds of virtue, and to pluck up the weeds of evil, which are scattered by the vicious who surround him, and against whose baneful example she cannot always guard. When he grows up to manhood, ill success sometimes attend him: for notwithstanding all the precautions of his foresight and prudence, he meets with misfortunes, which compel him to pass his days in poverty and obscurity. Her fond hopes are disappointed; and