not be calculated on as its success when it now appears as such a large thesaurus of the opinions and sentiments of many eminent divines and eminent poets? It must be a morbid heart indeed, which will resist the influence of its diversified appeals, and continue to brood in fear that its deceased infant may have perished. How admirable are the ways of God! The death of that promising child appeared at the time mysterious; but from the manner in which it induced her father to commence and proceed with the collection and publication of the contents of these interesting pages, it has proved the means of life to many hearts already, and is destined, I am persuaded, to do the same for a great multitude more. It affords a good illustration of a remark of an eminent contributor to this volume: "There are in this world those whose sorrows all spring up into joy for others; whose earthly hopes, laid in the grave with many tears, are the seed from which spring healing flowers and balm for the desolate and the distressed.'

"And yet, in proportion to its excellence, there is for some minds a dangerous influence in the book. When, in former ages, infant spirits were to such an extent ignored, on calculating the glory of the kingdom of the Redeemer, there is in our age a tendency to idolize them. Are there not many for whom the principal, if not only attraction, of that kingdom is the company of their restored children? And this book, consisting as it does, from its nature, of Words of Comfort to the bereaved, and therefore especially

engaged with disclosing to the imagination these beatified children, may, unhappily, foster the idolatry. I therefore conclude these remarks with a preventive sentence of warning. The Psalmist says of God, 'There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee,' speaking evidently, comparatively, and signifying that among many objects desired, God received the supreme place. This is a subject of familiar illustration. But David said something before that- Whom have I in heaven but Thee? Ah, let the bereaved mother be admonished. If the vision of her child in heaven be more frequent, and more endeared to her heart than the vision of the child's Saviour; and much more, if the vision of the former so engross her heart as to exclude the vision of the latter altogether, I must assure her that heavenly-mindedness such as this will not promote that heavenly meeting on which her hope is set. Her first object of admiring contemplation in heaven must be her own Saviour; and her great hope must be, meeting with Him, and seeing Him in his glory, before any meditation on the present happiness of her deceased child be of a sanctifying character; and before any hope of meeting again with that child in heavenly bliss be a hope not to be disappointed. I would express myself tenderly, when it is a bereaved mother's heart which is addressed; but would it be genuine tenderness if it were delusive, flattering unfaithfulness? Hope first in Christ for yourself, and then hope, not for your child's salvation-that is secure, but that you shall enjoy companionship with him in glory." GLASGOW, May, 1869.

BRIEF NOTICE OF A SHORT LIFE.

THE history of the little girl, whose somewhat sudden death was the moving cause of collecting the contents of the following pages, is soon told. Sophia, only daughter of William and Janet Logan, was born at Bradford, Yorkshire, June 12th, 1851, and died at Abbotsford Place, Glasgow, May 1st, 1856, at the tender and interesting age of four years and ten months. Towards the close of March, 1856, she accompanied her mother to Keir-mill, Dumfriesshire. About two months previously, Sophia's faithful nurse had been buried in the churchyard there. The child gave her mother no rest till she took her to the beautiful old sequestered burying-ground, on the banks of the Scarr. She soon stood beside, what she affectionately designated, whilst the tears trickled down her cheeks, "My Mary's grave!" The child was deeply affected, and would allow no one to touch it with a foot, but gently pressed with her little hand the tender grass which covered it. She then went, of her own accord, to a greener spot in the burying-ground, plucked a "forget-me-not," and put it in at the head of what she repeatedly spoke of as "My Mary's grave!"

Early on a Monday morning, which was one of warm sunshine, after wishing "good-bye" to a pious friend

on her death-bed, she, in company with her mother and grandfather, walked to Thornhill. Passing along the romantic banks of the Nith, she was greatly delighted with the gambols of a number of lambs, and, with child-like simplicity, entreated "Grandpa" to assist her in catching one of them. On returning home, she referred with great glee to this part of the visit; and little did her parents then imagine that in about five short weeks their friends, in consolatory letters, should be referring to herself as a "safely folded lamb!" How impressive and suggestive the words of the Psalmist "Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known." And how soothing to a confiding heart the well-known lines of Cowper—

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain ;
God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

Sophia was seized with gastric fever, and for three weeks was chiefly confined to bed. On the last Sabbath but one of April, she was able to be out of bed and relish

a little food. For a few days she seemed to improve, and on the following Saturday was up during most of the day, and enjoyed herself much. After running nimbly across the room floor, she said, playfully, to a beloved friend and "mother in Israel," "You see,

Grandma, that I can run yet.'

This was her last little earthly journey! Before retiring to rest, the writer said, "Shall we ask Jesus to take care of us?" To which she promptly replied "Yes!"-at the same time gently folding her hands. On the Sabbath morning, on being asked to repeat a favourite passage of Scripture, she did so; but, in a lower and peculiar tone of voice, quoted Proverbs viii. 17, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me,” adding, after a pause, and in a whi-per-"The Lord's my Shepherd!" On Monday evening it was evident that the solemn messenger, Death, was approaching. In the morning, her father, when alone with her, said, "Will Sophia give her papa a kiss?" She instantly clasped her hands around his neck, and with all the earnestness and pure affection of a loving child, embraced him! The voice of an all

* Both loved ones now sleep together in the same grave, in the Glasgow Necropolis; the one having died in her fifth, the other in her eighty-fourth year. It may interest young readers to know that Sophia's Grandmother had been for about seventy years a humble, sincere follower of Christ, and died in the firm faith and hope of going to heaven. Her last Bible utterance, suggested by one of her oldest and beloved ministerial friends (the Rev. Dr. Wm. Anderson, Glasgow), was the following:-"There remain th, therefore, a Rest to the people of God." May the young, like her, give their hearts lovingly to Jesus!