manner well suited to make any one, who had not taken a decided stand on the subject of religion in his family, deeply feel his deficiency. But in it there is nothing inconsistent with the highest filial reverence, and the respect due from a younger to his elder brothers.

To the letter is subjoined a long postscript, addressed to two young sisters who had not manifested any serious concern for the salvation of their souls. It contains a most solemn and affectionate warning of their danger, and entreaties that they would, in early life, devote themselves with all the heart to the service of their Creator and Redeemer. To his mother he wrote as follows, April 15, 1821, the day he was twenty years old:

"The day of my birth I hope that I shall, at all times, have reason to bless and observe with thankful remembrance. But I hope that I shall have more abundant reason to bless and triumph in the day of my death, because I trust it will introduce me into a new and glorious existence.

"O! my dear mother, how much have I cost you. In my infancy, while hanging on your breast, I doubt not that I witnessed many a tear and many an anxious sigh, although entirely unconscious of your solicitude and of my helplessness. O what tenderness was manifested to me! what care to rear me up and preserve me from every ill! How many sleepless nights have you spent on my account! Did the thought at that period ever enter your mind, that you were training up a little immortal, destined to be a servant of the Most High? Did you look on me as one whom

you might afterwards hear, as a herald of the cross, bearing the unsearchable riches of Christ, preaching a crucified Savior to guilty and dying man?

"Instead of indulging such pleasing hopes, perhaps my fond mother thought of the innumerable evils to which I might be exposed in the slippery paths of youth; or of the no less numerous dangers with which manhood is surrounded. You might have contemplated me as a companion of those who wander from the ways of the Lord, and walk in the paths of the destroyer. And perhaps in your maternal fears you sighed and said, Can it—ah! shall it ever be—that this child will bring grief to his father, and sorrow to the mother who bore him? Did you not pray that God would undertake for me, and avert the storms to which the young voyager of life would be exposed? He has heard your prayers; an answer has been sent; but not before I had done much to blast your hopes and increase your fears. O! how kind, how gracious was the unseen, but not unfelt hand, that turned me from my evil ways, and 'sweetly forced me in.' Well may I sing songs of deliverance, and shout-'a miracle of grace !'"

He then adverts to a very dangerous attack of typhus fever, which he had in his twelfth year, when every one expected that he would die; and, to heighten his feelings of filial gratitude, dwells on the great kindness of his mother, in watching by him and nursing him during his protracted illness.

It seems that his death appeared so certain, that some kind friend prepared a shroud for him. On allud

to this circumstance, he asks, with great solemni

ty, Mother," how were you exercised when taking your last look at me? Alas! had I been cut down as a cumberer of the ground-my peace was not then made with God-death would have consigned me to the 'blackness of darkness, and to everlasting despair. Who but God could have averted the stroke which was leveled at my head?

"But your son, who was once on the verge of the grave, yet lives; and lives in the enjoyment of heaven's blessing. He has been spared, and permitted to indulge the hope of being extensively useful in the church. At least, his desire is to spend his days in the cause of that dear Redeemer who gave his soul a sacrifice for sin, 'that we might not perish, but have everlasting life.' To compensate you for your sighs and tears, your fearful apprehensions and anxieties, see what God hath wrought. Out of our number it seems that he hath chosen me to be a minister of the everlasting Gospel. May I be prepared to labor in his vineyard!

"I expect to occupy my present place for two years after the ensuing fall. I expect then to enter college, so advanced as to remain there only two years. After which I shall go to the theological seminary for three years. As to my life after that, I can make no conjecture. Only I can say, that I hope to devote my life to the service of God, soul, body, and spirit. Yes, I had rather fall a sacrifice to my labors than be lukewarm and dead in his service. My whole self I would consecrate to him, in whatever sphere the Lord of the harvest may see fit to appoint me to labor; whether at home or abroad, on the land or on the sea.

"God has blessed us both, and been very kind to

us in times past-let us trust in him for time to come. The Lord has blessed you,. my mother, in permitting you to see the prospect of my entering the ministry; and he has blessed you in your other children, my dear brothers and sisters. May they, who have professed the religion of Christ, be faithful, and keep their garments unspotted from the world. And may the rest, who are yet far off, be brought nigh, and be united with us in the bonds of an everlasting covenant; may the Lord by his Spirit convince them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and make them heirs of the grace of life, that parents and children may all unite in anthems of praise in the upper sanctuary."

The letter concludes with particular addresses to the several members of the family, containing appropriate and most earnest exhortations.

"O that I could, with the humble confidence of a little child, raise my voice to heaven, and with the faith of assurance cry, Abba, Father! my Father -my reconciled Father and portion, in and through Jesus Christ. O that I could lift up my heart, haying the witness of the Spirit, and say to Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer from sin and death; my advocate with the Father, and prevailing intercessor; my prophet, priest, and king; my salvation; my all in all ! O that I could know the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, guide and comforter! But, to my shame, I do not possess that unshaken confidence which I want. I can

indeed say, that not this world, nor ten thousand more, could purchase the hope which I have. And if I know my own heart, I do think that the desire to have God as my Father, Jesus as my Savior, and the Holy Spirit as my Sanctifier, is predominant. But yet I feel that whereas I ought to be a full grown man in Christ, I am only a babe. To think that I have been now five years a professor of religion, and have made so little progress, is indeed a cutting thought. Alas, I feel myself to be far behind those who set out with me in the divine life.

'O for a breeze, a heavenly gale,

To waft me through this gloomy vale,

'That I may join the joyful band

• In Canaan's fair and happy land.'

"Since our last separation, my course has been varied. The Lord has been good. I have had seasons of enjoyment. Blessed be our heavenly Father, that I should at any season be permitted to sip of the good cup by the way. To many the water of life is dealt out more bountifully. My unfaithfulness and unbelief hinder the blessing. O how much reason have I to chide and upbraid myself for past offences.

"While we are preparing for the holy ministry, and looking forward to it, our constant desire should be to bring many sons and daughters into the kingdom: also to build up the humble believer in his most holy faith. And what a delightful task will that be to us! While we are in the school of the prophets, may the Lord impart to us a right knowledge of ourselves and of him-may he endow us plentifully with heavenly gifts -convince us thoroughly of sin-give us true, un