blood, and given her a little water to drink, she recovered a little; but her nose, and one eye, and her lip, were terribly swelled, and two of her teeth were out. It was well they were her first teeth, and that she had others to come, or else she would have been without her front teeth all her life.

When Emily was a little recovered, John placed he in a little chair by the kitchen fire; and he took his blue pocket-handkerchief, and tied Lucy and Henry to the kitchen-table, saying, “You unlucky rogues! you have given me trouble enough to-day-that you have. I will not let you go out of my sight again, till master and mistress come home. Thank God, you have not killed your sister! Who would have thought of your loosing the swing?"

In this manner Henry and Lucy and Emily remained till it was nearly dark; and then they heard the sound of the horses' feet coming up to the kitchen-door, for Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild were come. John hastened to untie the children, who trembled from head to foot.

"Oh! John, John! what shall we do? What shall we say?" said Lucy.

"The truth, the truth, and all the truth," said John; "it is the best thing you can do now."

When Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild came in, they thought their children would have run to meet them; but they were so conscious of their naughtiness, that they all crept behind John, and Emily hid her face.

66

Emily, Lucy, Henry!" said Mrs. Fairchild, “you keep back; what is the matter?"

"Oh! mamma, manima papa, papa!" said Lucy, coming forward and falling on her knees before them; we have been very wicked children to-day; we are not fit to come near you."

66

"What have you done, Lucy ?" said Mrs. Fairchild. "Tell the whole truth, and pray to God to forgive you for his dear Son's sake. These are the only things which children can do, when they have been naughty, to make their peace with God and their parents."

Then Lucy told her papa and mamma every thing which she and her brother and sister had done: she did not hide any thing from them. You may be sure that Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild were very much shocked. When they heard all that Lucy had to tell them, aud saw Emily's face, they looked very grave indeed.

VOL. II.-D

7

"I am glad that you have told the truth, my children;" said Mr. Fairchild: "but the sins that you have committed are very dreadful ones. You have disobeyed your parents; and, in consequence of your disobedience, Emily might have lost her life, if God had not been very merciful to you. And now go all of you to your beds; and there think upon your sins, and entreat your Heavenly Father to pardon you, for that blessed Saviour's sake who bore your sins upon the cross."

The children did as their father bade them, and went silently up to their beds, where they cried sadly, thinking upon their wickedness. The next morning they all three came into their mamma's room, and begged her to kiss them and forgive them.

"Oh! mamma, mamma!" said Lucy," we have been very wicked but we have prayed to God, and we hope that he has forgiven us, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Therefore we hope that you will pardon us."

"I have committed many sins myself," said Mrs. Fairchild," and hope to be forgiven, through my dear Saviour therefore, I cannot refuse to pardon you, my children. But, indeed, you made me and your papa very unhappy last night."

Then the children looked at their mamma's eyes, and they were full of tears; and they felt more and more sorry to think how greatly they had grieved their kind mother: and when she kissed them, and put her arms round their necks, they cried more than ever.

"Oh, mamma!" said Lucy, "I cannot think how I could behave so ill as I did yesterday: for I had resolved in my own mind to be very good-indeed I had. And when I did wrong, I knew it was wrong all the time, and ated myself for doing it; and still I did it."

66

And do you wonder, my dear child," said Mrs. Fairchild, “what it was that made you behave so ill? It was sin, my dear; the sin of your heart; the sin which is ever present with us, and which, when we would do well, is always preventing us. People talk often of their sinful hearts; but there are very few people know how wicked their hearts are. There is something within us that is always pressing us forward to sin; and that so strongly, that we have not power to stand against it. The fear of pain or shame in this world, or even of everlasting fire in the world to come, is not enough to frighten us from sın; and for this reason, that it is our

nature to sin. Therefore, my child, our natures must be made regenerate by the power of God the Spirit, before we can in anywise cease from sin. When we wish

to do well, we must not say we will be good: but we should go into some private place, if possible, and there, falling upon our knees, we should confess to God our weakness and sinfulness, and ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the help of the Holy Spirit to enable us to do well."

"Then," said Lucy, "if we ask for the Spirit of God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, will it be given to us, mamma?"

"Yes, my dear child," answered Mrs. Fairchild : "for the Lord Jesus Christ says, 'If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.' John xiv. 14. But this does not mean that God will at once give us power to overcome our wicked nature. No, my dear, this will not be. Our wicked hearts will contrive to torment us till we die. Then, if in this world we have loved the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be entirely set free from sin, and that for ever and ever."

"Oh, mamma!" said Lucy, "how very happy we shall be when we have no more sin in our hearts! for the sin of my heart often makes me very unhappy when I have nothing else to vex me. Sometimes, when you give me leave to play, mamma, and I have every thing to make me enjoy my play-my brother and sister's company, Emily's pretty doll, and all my playthings -yet I cannot be happy, but feel cross and ill-natured."

Mrs. Fairchild. This, my child, I have no doubt is very true and hence it follows, that, if you were to be placed in heaven itself with your sinful heart, you would not be happy there: and this shows that nearts must be changed before we can go to heaven.

Then Mrs. Fairchild knelt down with her children, and prayed that they might be delivered from the power of sin; and this prayer, with the change of a few words only, I will put down here, for the use of any little children who may hereafter feel and be sorry for the sinfulness of their hearts.

A Prayer for a New Heart.

O Almighty Father! how apt am I to boast, and to

say, "I have been good to-day, and I was good yesterday; I have done this thing well, and that thing well: and I am a good child!" when it would be more proper for me to cry out, "O Lord, have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner! O Lord, I humbly confess that I am altogether evil: there is no good in me: I can do nothing well; I cannot even think one good thought without the help of thy Holy Spirit, O Lord!" The fear of my father and mother, and of being punished, often keeps me from breaking out into open sins; but, if my parents and teachers were to be taken from me, and I was no longer under fear of punishment, then, O Lord, I should break out into open and shameless wickedness; and be no better in appearance (as I am no better in heart) than the poor little boys and girls in the street, who are left entirely to themselves.

O Almighty Father! let me not be puffed up with pride, or think well of myself, because I am kept from very great sins by the care of my friends; for my heart is altogether filthy and evil, and if I were to be left to myself I certainly should come to open shame.

O dear Father! O beloved Saviour! O Holy and Glorious Spirit! thou blessed Three in One! have mercy on a poor, weak, and wicked child! Leave me not to myself; leave me not to my own wicked heart: but be thou my Teacher and my Ruler. O Lord Jehovah! give me a new heart, that I may obey thy commandments, and walk in thy fear all the days of my life.

O grant this the prayer of a wicked child, for the-sake of him who bled and died upon the cross; for him, even the blessed Lord Jesus: to whom with God the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all glory and honour for ever and ever. Amen.

“Our Father" -n.

HYMN X.

Far from the world, O Lord, I flee;
From strife and tuinult far;

From scenes where Satan wages still
His most successful war.

The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree,
And seem by thy sweet bounty made
For those that follow thee.

There, if the Spirit touch the soul
And grace her mean abode,

Oh! with what peace, and joy, and love,
She communes with her God!

There like the nightingale, she pours

Her solitary lays;

Nor asks a witness of her song,

Nor thirsts for human praise.

Author and Guardian of my life!
Sweet Source of life divine!
And, all harmonious names in one,
My Saviour! thou art mine.

What thanks I owe thee, and what love!

A boundless, endless store

Shall echo through the realms above
Till time shall be no more.

STORY ON THE SECRET SINS OF THE
HEART.

SOME days after these things had happened, of whicn I told you in my last chapter, Mrs. Fairchild called Lucy to her, and said:

66

My dear child, it is now a week since your papa and I went out, on that day when you were so naughty. Do you think that you have been good since that time?"

Lucy considered a moment-" Why, mamma," she said, "I am almost afraid to say that I have been good at any time. To be sure I have not done any very bad things this week; such as I did the day that you went out; but, then you have been with me always, mamma, and have watched me, and have kept me in order. Perhaps, if you had not been with me, I might have been as naughty as I was that day; for I think that my heart is the same: I don't think that it is any better."

Mrs. Fairchild. What you say, my child is very true: your heart is the same: and it is only because I am with you, watching you, and taking care of you, that you seem to be better than you were that day. Those poor children who have not good fathers and mothers to take care of them, do many very wicked things, because they have no one to restrain them. You do not do so many openly bad things as they do;