He did, I grant, select an extreme case for his illustration: but I am most deliberately of opinion, that the principle itself is correct; and that many grievous errors have crept into the church of God, from a disregard to its truth and importance. This persuasion was far enough from crippling his mind in the investigation of divine truth. He brought to the inquiry, indeed, none of that daring hardihood which sacrifices every canon of fair interpretation to the preconception of what a revelation from heaven ought or ought not to contain: for, having once become fully satisfied that the scriptures are from God, he sought with ardor, and he sought with a devotional spirit, the whole will of God; nor did he seek in vain. He was familiar, from his childhood, with those "holy scriptures," which made him "wise unto salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ." They bore him up honorably in the path of life, and they sustained him in that dread moment, when heart and flesh and life failed him.

WE MADE HIS SABBATHS ALWAYS DElight

FUL, by contriving to indulge him with such lessons and such engagements as should associate the idea of pleasure with those holy days. His opinion on the subject is preserved in one of those essays, (to which a more distinct reference will be made hereafter) written at the age of eleven, and entitled, "The pleasures and advantages of a religious observance of the Sabbath." Time and experience only strengthened the opinion of his earlier days. His exercises at the close of the public services were of peculiar importance to him; and they produced an effect equally salutary on his understanding and his heart. From the age of five, his mother was wont, on the Sabbath evening, to take him, alone, upon her knee, to cause him to repeat what he could remember of the sermons which he had heard; and to pray over what he had recollected. He then said that hymn from Dr. Watts, "Lord, how delightful 'tis to see," &c. The prospect of this evening engagement insured his attention at the place of worship; and the success with which he would, when so young, recapitulate almost every leading sentiment

and himself.

he had heard, gratified both his dear teacher These exercises he continued almost till his beloved mother's death; and never shall I forget the manner in which, when a great boy of nearly fifteen, he would sit upon her knee and repeat his hymn, while his arm was round her neck, and his head leaning on her bosom, precisely as they had been when the practice' commenced in his childhood. Often have I entered their room at the close of these exercises; with rapture embraced them both, and enjoyed, in our ardent, holy, mutual affection, all but Heaven. At these, above most other moments, we felt ourselves truly united, and, as forming part of" the whole family of heaven (and earth." Religion alone could so sublimate our domestic bliss. And William ever looked back on these scenes as the sweetest and most profitable hours of his life.

It was also our custom OCCASIONALLY TO RETIRE WITH HIM-especially on his birthdays for the purpose of making him the almost entire subject of our thanksgiving and

prayer; imploring also for ourselves that divine assistance which should enable us to discharge aright our important duties as parents. The effect of these retirements was great and salutary. They rendered us, if possible, dearer to each other, by bringing us into more immediate contact with our common Father in heaven, and with our everlasting home. They raised within us a livelier sense of our obligations to Him, and of our duties to each other. I used, at these seasons, to enter into his circumstances and ours, with a minuteness which would have been improper at our family devotions; and I have good reason to believe that he derived lasting benefit from these engagements. His aunt, scarcely less dear to each of us than his mother had been, made up our trio, after the melancholy day that took from us "the desire of our eyes with a stroke." When it pleased God to remove her, in 1818, we daily met, till her interment, by the side of her coffin; and, hand in hand, knelt and wept, and prayed together, as we had been accustomed to do in other and happier circumstances. This prac

tice of retirement we three continued, at meeting and parting in May and October, when William left us to prosecute his studies at Glasgow, till the last solemn evening we ever spent together. That night-never to be forgotten by me-after the family devotions were closed, and before we retired to rest, his beloved aunt, and he, and I bowed together before the throne of grace-mingling our joys and sorrows for the last time. Oh! had we known, or even conjectured as, in the slightest degree, probable, what events were to follow so soon, and in such rapid succession, what had that meeting been! Could I have borne it? Could they? Thank God, the Father of mercies, for our ignorance of futurity! They are gone, and they will not return unto me; but I shall go to them. Our next meeting, I confidently hope, will be before the throne of God and the Lamb; where all tears shall be wiped away.

In a letter of exquisite tenderness, written under circumstances almost more affecting than imagination could create, is the following language, which perfectly harmonizes with the tone of my own feelings.

"On