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TO A MOTHER ON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD.

GOD only knows who is the greatest sinner; but every humbled sinner will think that he is the man.

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MY FIRST YEAR'S MINISTRY.

NEAR the close of my theological study, when the question, Where shall I settle in the ministry? first presented itself to my mind, I looked toward the populous cities, and large towns and villages, and was inclined to ask, Why may I not pitch my tent in some one of these? But remembering that the poor need the gospel as much as the rich, and the hedges as much as the highways, I resolved to labor wherever Providence should seem to call me. Learning that the town of T, N. Y., was in a sad condition as to religion and morals, I concluded to labor among them. Upon going there I found the shell of a meetinghouse large enough to seat five or six hundred people. It was inclosed, glazed, and floored, with loose boards for seats. The church numbered twenty-five menbers, most of whom were females. As might have been expected in such a place, there was much intemperance, profaneness, and Sabbath desecration. If ever a people needed a faithful minister and a thorough reformation, this was that people.

To perform all that needed to be done, would require the strength of a giant; but I was a mere stripling, just come from school, and, withal, prostrated so thoroughly by dyspepsia, that I usually kept my bed a part of each day. My eyes were in such a nervous state, that to look upon a book or manuscript filled me with distress, and almost horror.

I had not a scrap of a sermon suitable for this people, and if I had had fifty, I could not have read them. What could I do? I asked counsel of my Master, and spent Friday and Saturday in selecting texts, and arranging thoughts for my first Sabbath's preaching. After I had formed the plans of my sermons, I went out into a wood a quarter of a mile from my boarding-house, and preached, not to the dry bones, but to the forest trees. I felt encouraged by the silence and apparent attention of my hearers.

Sabbath came, and as I saw the people wending their way to the house of God, I breathed out the earnest prayer, once, and

again, and again, that the Lord would help me, and enable me to promote His cause and glory, and make me the instrument of saving souls. I was under such nervous excitement all the morning that I could hardly keep myself in one position a minute at a time. Now, I was on my knees in prayer-now, prostrate upon my pillow-now, in one place, then in another. All my animal system was in a state of agitation. When the hour for public worship arrived, I went, as calmly as I could, to the sanctuary. Here were assembled some forty or fifty people, of all ages, to see the young preacher, and hear what the babbler had to say. My sling and stone were a small Bible and its sacred truths. My pulpit was the back of a chair. In the forenoon the text was, "God is love ;" tempt was to show what a benevolent being God is. the afternoon, this text, "I have a message from thee." The subject was made personal. I addressed the aged, the middle-aged, the youth, the child, the profane man, the intemperate, etc. During the sermons, I observed tears come into some eyes, and felt encouraged thereby. Some persons, who were received into the church during the year, traced back their first awakening to that day.

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Three mothers in Israel, belonging to this church, who had consecrated their children to God in the ordinance of baptism, claiming the promise made to the Father of all them that believe, that God would be the God of them and of their seed, agreed to go alone at eleven o'clock every morning, and unite their prayers for their households. They did as they agreed. It was my privilege to board with one of these mothers at this time. The cause of Christ was dearer to her than any thing else. The burden of her conversation and prayers was a revival of religion and the conversion of souls. She had faith in the Abrahamic Covenant. She staggered not at the promises of God. While she endeavored to do her part, by a life of consistent, every-day piety, by storing the minds of her children with divine truth, by leading them regularly to the house of God, and by offering unceasing prayer for their salvation, she confidently expected that God would do His part-the part He has covenanted to do—and make her offspring His spiritual children. The other two mothers engaged in this concert, were,

also, devotedly pious, and eminently praying women.

Not many weeks after this concert commenced, several of the adult children of two of these families were found to be anxious about their salvation. And soon, one after another of them became the happy subject of renewing grace.

On the last day of January, 1827, I was ordained an “Evangelist," by Rutland Association, in Rutland, Vt. The first Sabbath in February of that year, the Sabbath after my ordination, is a day which I shall never forget. Then it was that, for the first time, I administered Baptism and the Lord's Supper. It was in the district school-house on Mount Hope. was full, and apparently as solemn as the last day. unspeakable pleasure of introducing nine happy converts at that time into the church, among whom were two sons of one, and two daughters of another, of those godly mothers who established the concert.

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During the next summer and autumn there was a very interesting and somewhat powerful revival affecting the aged and the young, though the majority of converts were youths from fifteen. to twenty-five years of age. Within a year from the middle of October, 1826, thirty-five members were added to the church in T-, increasing it from twenty-five to sixty. Among those admitted to the church were the husband and four sons of one of those praying mothers, and four daughters of another—all their adult children.

We have, in the above narrative, a fresh witness for God, that He is a faithful, covenant-keeping God to those who sincerely consecrate their children to Him, and look to Him in faith and prayer for His blessing. The great difficulty with many parents who profess to give up their children to God and have them baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is, that they do not look after their covenant-vows. They do not suitably realize the duties which these vows devolve upon themselves, of training up their offspring "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," of setting a godly example before them, of restraining them from those scenes and employments which are calculated to lead them to forget God, and of praying with and for them the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous. They have no realizing faith in the substantial benefits, which they have a

right to claim for their children, if they are faithful on their part. Well for ministers to study and understand what is implied in the Abrahamic Covenant, and what relation baptized children stand in to the Church, and then enforce duty and obligation upon parents and children, with all the energy of a true believer in the Covenant. In my apprehension this subject will have much to do with the introduction of the millennium, the ingathering of the Jews, and the conversion of the Gentiles. CLERICUS.

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HOW OUGHT CHRISTIANS TO BEAR TRIALS?

WE are told by Him who can not err, that "God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men," and that "All things work together for good to them that love God;" also, that "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth." How, then, does it become the Christian to bear the trials and afflictions with which his Heavenly Father sees fit to visit him? This question can be easily answered in words; but ah! to feel and realize its importance, how does it often call for that faith which none but God can bestow! At times, when wave after wave of sorrow seems to come over us, and we look up with tearful eyes to Heaven and say, "O Lord, how long ere thou canst remove this thine heavy hand?" if we could feel, and feel from the heart, the absolute necessity of being brought to just that point when God, and not ourselves, can say, "It is enough!" trials would answer the end for which they were sent. Is there not often sad reason to fear that our submission under afflictions is not true resignation to the will of God? and can we wonder or murmur at their repetition? If we submit because it is not in our power to extricate ourselves, and submit we must, is it not kindness in Him who doeth all things well, to repeat the chastisement until we are brought to discern the hand that smites. Attachment to the world is, without doubt, the besetting sin of most Christians; and continued worldly prosperity, an unbroken