his tender looks, and my own sin, all rushed upon my own mind. And as I gazed upon his cold, pale face, and saw his eyes shut, and his lips closed, could I help thinking of his last words: "My little boy will see his father suffer great pain for the want of that medicine!" I could not know but he died for the want of it.

"In a day or two he was put into the ground and buried. There were several ministers at the funeral, and each spoke kindly to me, but could not comfort me; for alas! they knew not what a load of sorrow lay on my heart. My father was buried, and the children all scattered abroad, for my mother was too feeble to take care of them.

"It was twelve years after this, while in college, that I went alone to the grave of my father. It took me a good while to find it; but there it was, with its humble tombstone, and as I stood over it, I seemed to be back at his bedside, to see his pale face, and hear his voice. Oh! the thought of that sin and wickedness cut me to the heart. It seemed as if worlds would not be too much to give, could I then only have called loudly enough to have him hear me ask his forgiveness; but it was too late. He had been in the grave twelve years, and I must live and die, weeping over the ungrateful falsehood. May God forgive me.'

MARCH 10.-THE COVENANT WITH

NOAH.

SUBJECT: GOD'S PROMISE.

Dr. Watts and the Promises.-The faith of Dr. Watts in the promises of God was lively and unshaken. "I believe them enough," said he, "to venture an eternity on them." To a religious friend, at another time, he thus expressed himself: "I remember an aged minister used to say that the most learned and knowing Christians, when they come to die, have only the same plain promises for their support, as the common and unlearned; and so," continued he, "I find it. The plain promises of the Gospel are my support; and

I bless God that they are plain promises, which do not require much labour and pains to understand them; for I can do nothing now but look into my Bible for some promise to support me, and live upon that."

MARCH 17.-THE TOWER OF BABEL. SUBJECT: PRESUMPTION AND IMPIETY. "I Dispose as well as Propose.”When Bonaparte was about to invade Russia, a person who had endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, finding he could not prevail, quoted to him the proverb, "Man proposes, but God disposes;" to which he indignantly replied, "I dispose as well as propose." A Christian lady, hearing the impious boast, remarked, "I set that down as the turning-point of Bonaparte's fortunes. God will not suffer a creature with impunity thus to usurp his preroIt happened to Bonaparte just gative." as the lady predicted: his invasion of Russia was the commencement of his fall.

The Fatal Crown.-One of the most singular and remarkable deaths of the violent opposers of Christianity occurred at a meeting of the "Deistical Society," instituted by Blind Palmer, in the city of New York. The Society had been in a flourishing condition for some time, and its test of merit now consisted in transcendental blasphemy, and he who could excel in this fearful qualification was entitled to the presidential chair. On a certain occasion, one of the members, a hoary-headed old sinner, had exceeded the rest, and was conducted to his dear-earned seat of distinction; but as his companions in guilt were on the point of placing on his head the coronal of impiety, he fell lifeless on the floor!

The Society, astounded at the event, disbanded; and the author of this anecdote, himself a member, and an eye-witness, renounced infidelity and embraced Christianity. The above fact is so well authenticated, that there can be no reasonable doubt of its substantial correctness.

MAR. 24.-JOB'S AFFLICTION AND RE

sentence interested his companion, who requested to know his history.

SIGNATION.

OF IT.

Bad Weather.-A merchant was one day returning from market. He was on horseback, and behind him was a valise filled with money. The rain fell with violence, and the good old man was wet to his skin. At this he was vexed, and murmured because God had given him such bad weather for his journey.

He soon reached the borders of a thick forest. What was his terror on beholding on one side of the road a robber, with levelled gun, aiming at him, and attempting to fire! But the powder being wet by the rain, the gun did not go off, and the merchant, giving spurs to his horse, fortunately had time to escape.

As soon as he found himself safe, he

said to himself, "How wrong was I, not to endure the rain patiently, as sent by Providence. If the weather had been dry and fair, I should not, probably, have been alive at this hour, and my little children would have expected my return in vain. The rain which caused me to murmur, came at a fortunate moment, to save my life, and preserve my property." And thus it is with a multitude of our afflictions; by causing us slight and short sufferings, they preserve us from others far greater, and of longer duration.

MARCH 31.-CHRIST'S EARLIER
DISCIPLES.

SUBJECT: INVITING OTHERS TO CHRIST.

A Young Man brought to Jesus.-A few years ago, on a voyage to the West of America, a young man, sauntering on deck, observing one of the sailors more sedate than his companions, stepped up to him, and abruptly asked him, George, are you not a Christian?" His countenance brightened up as he replied, "I trust that I am; I think I can testify to the goodness of God in giving his Son to die for me." The manner in which he uttered this

His

"I have always been a sailor. My father was a sailor before me. My mother was a pious woman; and whenever I went on shore to see her, she used to say a great many things to me about my soul. I paid no attention to them, but lived as though I had no soul. I was a fool; for 1 said in my heart. 'There is no God,'-and boldly did I profane his name. Thus I went on from year to year, till I entered a ship that was under a pious captain, who did much for the good of his crew. He read the Scriptures to us, and prayed with us; and after some time I began to tremble. The Word of God convinced me of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. I felt my danger, my sins came up before me, and appeared as mountains that must for ever separate me from peace and happiness; I was a miserable man, and thought 1 must always be so. At last I opened my heart to the captain; who felt for me, and told me of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and, with tears in his eyes, directed me to behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.' My heart was broken; tears of penitence ran down my cheeks, and my faith took hold on the Son of God!"

At this time the young man who had elicited the narrative was not truly religious; but the narrative, given with simplicity and deep emotion, went to his heart, and brought him to the feet of the Saviour, and soon afterwards he publicly professed his faith in Christ.

There is much sound theology among unlearned Christians, who have studied Divine truth only in the Bible and in their own hearts. The following dialogue took place among some Africans on leaving church one Sunday. While some were criticizing and finding fault with the sermon, and others with the singing, there were three women walking together in the same direction, who

seemed to converse on the service in a very different spirit. They were reproducing the sermon to themselves, and revolving its doctrines in their minds. At length one of them said, in allusion, doubtless, to something which the preacher had said: "That's rightthat's just right: take holt on Christ— dat's de true doctrine." In reply to this, another of them said: "Well, I feel dat Christ must take hold of de sinner fust, or else he won't be saved. Anyhow, I know dat Christ took holt

THE

of me, and I know he must keep holt of me, or I am lost for ever." To this the third replied: "Well, de best way of all is for boff to take holt togetherChrist, he take holt, and de sinner he take holt too. Dat's de best way-dat's it." These Christians had probably never heard discussions on theology-never studied the relation existing between the theology of the feelings and that of the intellect, and yet did they not understand a good deal of theology?

In this manner, with very little interruption, continued to pass the days and evenings while Douglas remained at the Lodge, as Mr. Hanbury's seat was called; and Jane's letters to her friends in her native village, though they did not express absolutely how happy she was, breathed nothing but happiness; one of them was as follows:

"You say, my dear friend, that you should think, but for the style of my letters, that I must pass my time very heavily at the Lodge, shut up, as you phrase it, with two old people, and a young man who is notoriously proud, and never talks. But I assure you, you are quite mistaken; and I sometimes think that it is very wicked in me to be so happy as I am. It seems as if I had forgotten my poor father; but indeed I have not; I often think, fine reader as he was himself, how he would have enjoyed hearing Mr. Douglas read. It is very strange how one's opinions alter! I used to be so fond of an autumnal morning, and love to walk out, and try to paint the varied and warm tints of the falling leaves; but now it is quite otherwise, I long for evening, and its cheerful fireside; my mornings are entirely filled up with attention to domestic concerns, and even, would you believe it, to cookery and making

T. D.

pastry! Mrs. Hanbury likes that I should make myself useful, and you can't think what pleasure I take in it.

"To do Mr. Douglas justice, he is not at all difficult to please, though he has been used to College living; but I have found out his favourite dishes, and I take care that he shall have them-I am sure he deserves this attention from me, by reading to us while we work. Once he obligingly declared that the sweets were the best he had ever tasted; and I could not help blushing, for I thought Mrs. Hanbury was going to tell him that I made them; but she did not, and I was so glad that she did not! at least, it certainly was as well that she did

not.

"After dinner both Mr. and Mrs Hanbury go to sleep in their arm-chair, and I sit meditating, looking at the fire, and anticipating the comforts of the tea-table and the closed curtains; while sometimes, but very rarely, Mr. Douglas comes down, and sits meditating too; but an hour before supper, he always comes down, and after supper he reads till bed-time. Oh, my dear friend! blest be the hour when my kind protectors sought me in my misery, and gave me a home with them!"

In this manner did Jane continue to write during the time of Mr. Douglas's

stay at the Lodge. But at length term time arrived, and the once eagerly anticipated evening hour became as joyless to her as the lately neglected autumnal morning; and her letters to her friends were so unfrequent, and so full, when she did write, of indications of weariness and melancholy, that her correspondents took the alarm, and earnestly begged to know whether the discontent now so visible in her letters proceeded from a change in the conduct of the Hanburys to her.

Jane, distressed and astonished, answered this letter by return of post, and expressed her wonder that anything in her letters should have occasioned suspicions so false and injurious, for that "she was sure she never was happier, at least she was very sure that she was very happy."

CHAPTER III.

When the Christmas vacation came, which Douglas usually passed in London, his guardian was surprised to receive a letter from him, saying that he should pass the whole of it at the Lodge.

"So, so, my dear," said Mr. Hanbury, nodding very significantly at his wife, "Douglas never did this before; do you not think he finds our house more attractive now than it used to be? You understand me?"

"I do, Mr. Hanbury," replied Mrs. Hanbury, gravely, "but I am by no means sure that your suspicions are just; and I earnestly conjure you not to drop a hint of such an idea, even in joke, to Miss Vernon; she has great sensibility and great delicacy; the former might lead her to repay the supposed gift of Douglas's heart with the real gift of her own, and the latter would make her unable to support his presence without a downcast eye, a blushing cheek, and a consciousness truly distressing."

"Well, and what then? She would only look the prettier; I must have my joke, wife, I must, indeed!"

"Not at the probable expense of a young girl's peace. Believe me, my

dear, that I would as soon plant a dagger in the heart of a young woman as endeavour to persuade her that an amiable man beheld her with partiality, unless there was no possible doubt of his intentions towards her, as I know that women commonly love because they are beloved, and gratitude in a well-disposed mind is the foundation of passion. So promise me, my dear husband, that you will not, for the sake of a little pleasantry, run the risk of exciting in Jane's feeling mind an idea, which she may learn to dwell upon with too much delight."

"Do you think, then, she is already disposed to like our ward ?"

"Is it possible that anyone can know him, and not be disposed to like him? At present, I am sure that Jane's regard for him does not exceed the bounds of esteem; but if she thought that his for her was of the nature of love, who knows how soon her pure heart might reflect the feeling which she was told she might attribute to his ?"

"Well, well, my dear, what you say is very reasonable, and I will behave as well as I can."

And he did behave well; for, when he told Jane that Douglas was coming, he did so without a comment, or even a significant smile; the smile, indeed, Jane would not have seen; for surprise, joy, and a feeling as yet undefined even to herself, covered her cheek with blushes, and fixed her eyes on the ground, while, making some excuse to leave the room, she bounded like an antelope through the hall and up the staircase, and, rushing into her own apartment, stood panting there with breathless yet pleasurable emotion.

"He is coming, and we shall have no more long evenings," said Jane to herself; and unconsciously, perhaps, she recollected that she had heard it was not usual for him to visit the Lodge at Christmas. The next day and the suc ceeding one did not appear very tedious to Jane, because she was employed in making preparations for Douglas's arrival; and on the third day he actually

arrived. But though Jane had been clandestinely watching for his arrival at the hall window, no sooner did she see him approaching than she fled into her own apartment, too much fluttered to stay and receive him; nor did she venture downstairs till Mrs. Hanbury came up to chide her for not being in the way to welcome Mr. Douglas.

After the first emotions of pleasure, on seeing his friends again, had subsided, and the usual questions and greetings were ended, Douglas's manner became more cold, and his countenance expressed even greater absence of mind than ever; and it was evident that study was even more than usual the idol of his soul, while the supper hour, and the hours succeeding it, instead of being, as formerly, enlivened by Douglas's own pleasantry, or his taking the trouble of reading the pleasantries of others, were passed by him in alternate fits of reverie and cold efforts to talk; and by the rest, in that sort of languid disappointed silence which is often caused by the marked taciturnity and abstraction of one person in a small circle.

Bed-time at last arrived, and Jane, who sat leaning her head on her hands some time before she undressed herself, thought how excessively tired with his journey Mr. Douglas must be, and hoped, with a sigh, that he would be better the next day. But morning brought no change with it in the conduct of Douglas ; and Mr. Hanbury, seeing by his manner to Jane that it was not on her account that he visited the Lodge at that unusual season of the year, asked him at breakfast why he preferred visiting them to a visit to London. Douglas immediately answered, without the slightest embarrassment, that he felt the necessity for increased application to his studies grow stronger in proportion as the goal for which he panted appeared in view; therefore, as several of his College friends were gone to London on a scheme of pleasure, and would necessarily make him join in their amusements, if he was of their party, he thought it

himself out

more prudent to put of the reach of any temptation to sacrifice to pleasure that time which he wished to devote to a better purposenamely, to the close application requisite to ensure him the honour of being senior wrangler.

When he had said this, Mr. and Mrs. Hanbury and Jane felt assured that he spoke truth; and the latter said no more during the day, but was graver and paler than usual, nor was her countenance at all enlivened when evening arrived; for Douglas did not come down till supper was on the table, and he retired to his own apartment at ten o'clock, without once offering to read out as he had formerly done. Nor did he relax from this strict attention to his studies till the last week of his stay at the Lodge, and till Jane had learnt to be satisfied with being near him, and able to see him every day. One hour in a morning, and one only, he devoted to walking, but even that hour was not unemployed by Douglas. He was well known in the abode of the poor and the industrious in the neighbourhood; and Jane having learnt that Mr. Douglas's arrival at the Lodge was eagerly looked for, not by her alone, but that in the cottage of the peasant "his presence made a little holiday," she had no difficulty in believing that the pleasure which she derived from gazing by stealth on his fine countenance, and listening to the impressive tones of his voice, was merely a tribute which duty exacted from her as due to superior virtue and superior abilities.

But, contented as Jane had learnt to be with the mere presence of Douglas, she was as much charmed as ever when he allowed himself to relax from his application, become the cheerful companion, and read out to them as he had formerly done, and the evening hours fled again with the rapidity of lightning. But the time of Douglas's departure arrived, and Jane's letters to her friends resumed their gloomy character; nor did they impress on her correspondents the reality of the happiness which she