"And do you recollect, Mr. Baring,” said Mr. Dalben, "what I said to you respecting that period which is promised when the world will again become as a blooming and fertile garden?"

"Ay, sir,” said the gardener, “I have not forgotten it. The time you allude to is, when Christ shall reign over all the world; when the wicked will be destroyed, and none but the holy and beloved of the Lord will be left to dwell upon the face of the earth."

"Had man never sinned," said Mr. Dalben, " the whole earth would have been as one blooming and fertile Eden; and when Satan is bound, and the wicked destroyed, then will the wilderness blossom as the rose; then will the field be joyful, and all that therein is; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box-tree together, to beautify the place of his sanctuary."

"O sir," said the gardener, "since it first pleased God to put it into your mind to show me how I might improve myself, by the many emblems which nature supplies in an extensive garden, I have been brought to make a thousand comparisons between the natural and spiritual world; and I have set myself to consider what may be learned from trees, and plants, and herbs, and have discovered many things which have, I trust, proved profitable to me. Why, sir, it appears to me, in Scripture, that both good and wicked men are often compared to trees; for the Psalmist says, ' The godly shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruits in his season' (Psalm i. 3); and John the Baptist says, 'The axe is laid to the root of the tree; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire' (Matt. vii. 19). And having thus thought, sir, when I see an unfruitful tree in my garden, and am preparing to cut it down, it makes me feel many a twinge in my own heart, for I think, if all worthless trees were to be thus cut down, what, sir, would become of me? And then, sir, when I see a tree growing kindly, and bringing forth fruit in abundance, there again is a lesson for me; who am, as it were, so worthless and barren."

"There is another lesson to be learned from trees, Mr. Baring," said Mr. Dalben," which I think I never pointed out to you, at least I am sure I never did to this little

man here; and therefore, if you please to lead on towards the trees you graffed last year, I will take the occasion to point it out to him."

"Ah, sir," said the gardener, smiling, "I think I have some little notion of what you are going to say."

The gardener then led the way through a long grass walk, bordered on each side with parterres of flowers; and while they went slowly forward Mr. Dalben thus spake to Henry.

"My dear Henry," he said, "I have spoken to you, times without end, concerning the wickedness of man's heart, and the necessity of his becoming a new creature before he is admitted into the kingdom of heaven. This new nature, which he must receive if he is to be saved, is called regeneration, or the new birth, and is thus spoken of by our Lord Jesus Christ; Unless a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.' It is God the Holy Spirit who changes man's heart and makes him a new creature; and this change is compared in Scripture to the effect produced by the graffing of trees."

"What is that, uncle?" said Henry.

"Come on a little farther, young gentleman," said the gardener," and I will try to explain it to you. There, sir, do you see before you a patch of small trees, some of them being loaded with fine apples, and others only bearing a few, being too young to supply nourishment to much fruit? It was from one of these trees that I just now gathered the apple which I gave you. You remarked how sweet and good it was, and full of juice. Now, sir, the time was when all those little trees which bear this sweet fruit were no other than crabs, producing such fruit as you could not eat without setting your teeth on edge and making you sick. Now one would think that such trees were only good to be cut down and burnt; but, instead of destroying them, we lopped off their upper branches, leaving nothing but the stem or trunk, and opening a small place at the top of this trunk, we inserted a branch of fruit-bearing apple, and covering the place over with thick clay, we left the new branch to grow and incorporate itself with the old stock; and thus the barren and useless tree became a valuable and fruit-bearing plant. And in this manner, my young master, as your good uncle laid it out to me years ago, our old nature, which is barren and full of

evil, must be cut down and a new nature graffed in, and thus we shall be enabled to produce good and holy works acceptable unto the Lord." The gardener then turned to Mr. Dalben, and said, “My good sir, I never graff an old stock in a good branch, but this which you have told me concerning the need of a new nature being put into us comes into my mind."

"You cannot have a better thought," replied Mr. Dalben; "only you have failed to tell little Henry Milner what I nevertheless trust you have not forgotten yourself; that this new nature which must be put into us is the divine one. Christ is the branch to which we must be united if we are to be saved; for the Lord says, 'He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing.' And this was what my little boy experienced last night, for he went out, Mr. Baring, yesterday, not doubting his own strength, and not depending on help from above; and he was like one of your crab-stocks, he produced no good, but plainly showed what a poor worthless, helpless thing a little boy is who depends on his own strength to do well."

"Indeed!" said the gardener; "but we must hope that Master Milner will never again trust in his own strength."

Mr. Dalben then took leave of the gardener, who was so kind as to give Henry two or three more apples before they separated, and the little boy took them home to divide them between himself and his beloved uncle. Neither did he forget to put one apart for Mrs. Kitty.

CHAPTER XIII.

Giving an Account of Henry Milner during his eighth Year; with the History of the green Bag.

I HAVE now related to you many events which took place in the life of little Henry Milner, when he was between six and seven years of age; and I hope that you have been profited by some parts of these accounts, and amused by others.

When Henry entered his eighth year, he could read English very well, he knew something of the outline of geography, was acquainted with the names of the planets, and had some notion how they moved round the sun, and how many moons attended each planet. He had endeavoured to draw many plans of the solar system, that is, of the sun, with the planets and their moons, on his slate.

He knew all the pretty stories in the Bible, and had learned many chapters of the New Testament by heart. He could repeat most of Watts's Hymns, could do sums in simple addition, and had begun to learn to write. He had also obtained a good idea of general grammar; and by means of constantly conversing with his uncle when walking out, had acquired a great deal of knowledge, for such a little boy, of plants and animals, and other such things as people meet with every day in their walks, but often pass over disregarded, because they are either thinking of nothing at all, or of those kinds of subjects which are of no use.

Mr. Dalben was very well satisfied with what little Henry had learned; and he was also rejoiced to find that his temper daily improved, and that he did not set up his will, as formerly, against his uncle; neither did he show such irritation as he had formerly done, when disappointed or vexed by any accident.

I promised you that I would give you an account of a certain green bag, which Mr. Dalben was so kind as to allow Henry to keep in the closet in the parlour.

This green bag was the general repository of Henry's treasure; and one would have thought that there could be no fear of its being stolen, because the bag, together with all its contents, would never have fetched any thing like the value of a silver sixpence. The bag was made of a part of an old green baize floor-cloth, put together with infinite labour by Henry himself; and the contents were an extraordinary assemblage of nails, string, snailshells, scraps of paper, sticks, old phials, and bits of broken plates, which Henry used as pallets and paintingstones.

It happened one day, soon after Henry had attained his ninth year, that Mrs. Kitty threatening a thorough cleaning of the study, and a general dusting of the books, Mr. Dalben, after several ineffectual expostulations on the subject, made his escape immediately after breakfast

accompanied by Henry, intending to spend the morning in the woods, and to dine and drink tea with a clergyman who resided in the neighbourhood.

As soon as Mr. Dalben was clear off the premises, Mrs. Kitty began her operations; being aided by Thomas, Sally, and the old woman of whom mention was before made, on occasion of Henry's being concealed in the cupboard.

Who shall presume to give an account of the clouds of dust which were now excited, and of the violent concussions and agitations which took place, while Mrs. Kitty and her coadjutants turned chairs, tables, carpets, cushions, rugs, and sofas out of the window?

Every thing, however, went on successfully, till Mrs. Kitty, in an unfortunate moment, cast her eyes on Henry's green bag, which lay in a corner of the light closet and there she beheld a large snail crawling upon the outside of the bag, with its shell on its back, and its horns erected in a most formidable manner.

It happened, that Henry had been the day before in quest of snail-shells, and, though often warned to the contrary, had brought home one or two with their inhabitants still alive and well, and in high preservation, within them. He had not done this with the actual intention of being disobedient, but through carelessness, which is next in degree, with respect to criminality, to intentional disobedience. Let, however, this be as it may, the sight of this snail filled Mrs. Kitty with almost as much horror as if she had seen a serpent coiled up in the corner of the closet; and such was her indignation, that she took up the bag with the tongs, and threw it out, together with all its inestimable contents, into an ash-hole in the yard, muttering as she went and returned, "I wonder master will allow such rubbish and vermin to be in the parlours. Master used to be so particular, and would not allow a dog even to walk over the carpet; and now he suffers the child to litter the house from top to bottom. It is downright impossible to keep things clean and wholesome while such doings are permitted."

Notwithstanding the unfortunate circumstance of the snail being found on the green bag, Mrs. Kitty had finished her operations, much to her own liking, by eight o'clock in the evening, when Mr. Dalben and Henry returned.