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tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."" "Can you mention another?" "Yes; 'By the grace of God I am what I am."" On further inquiry, I found that these passages did really embody the convictions of her mind and the feelings of her heart. I then said, "My dear, I know you pray; will you tell me what you pray for?" "Yes; I pray that my sins may be pardoned, that my heart may be made right; and that, if it be the will of God, I may be restored." "Do you always pray for your recovery in submission to the will of God?" "Yes, because his will is best."

The day after that on which this conversation was held, by the advice of her medical attendant, we set out on our way home; but we could not get beyond Tunbridge. There we stopped; and there our beloved one, after passing a most restless night, in the presence of only her mother and myself, sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, at the Rose and Crown Inn, in the fifteenth year of her age. It had been her custom for some days, in consequence of extreme weakness, to have her Bible in bed, and a little time to herself before she was dressed; and even on the morning of her death, and within an hour of that event, she wished us to retire that she might be alone. Of course we could not do it. We knew what was about to occur, and waited, that, as the spirit departed, we might commend it to its God and Saviour.

On returning home we were pleased to hear from one who had been in close attendance on Susan from her earliest days, that the dear child seemed to have been living many months in anticipation of death. On one occasion, in the winter, when bidding this faithful attendant good night, she fixed her eyes, with a peculiar gaze, upon her, and said, "Charlotte, I do not know how it is, but those words, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,' are always in my thoughts, I can scarcely think of anything else:" and about two months ago, when a present, made to her and her sisters by one of their kind uncles, arrived, she said,

after expressing her admiration of it, "Charlotte, I have no interest in that instrument-I shall have no need of it." This young person often stayed at home with dear Susan on the Sunday evenings in the winter, and says it was delightful to hear her talk of divine things, and play and sing spiritual songs. Among the hymns she always chose were the following: "There is a land of pure delight," &c.; " When thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come," &c.; "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds," &c.; "There is a fountain filled with blood," &c.; "Let me but hear my Saviour say," &c.; "Why do we mourn departing friends," &c. Surely a spirit thus exercised was being gradually and effectually trained for the employment of heaven. We feel, and I am sure you will not charge us with presumption, that our child is now in her appropriate sphere. Our loss is her gain: "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord."

A few words of encouragement to parents and of admonition to children, and I shall have done. To parents I would say, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it;" for I feel confident that if the precept contained in this passage be obeyed, the promise connected with it will be fulfilled. How can I doubt this, when I know that my own beloved mother endeavoured to obey it, and had the happiness of living to see her six children openly avow themselves the followers of Christ? and when, in addition to this, I know that one still more nearly related to me has the happiness of seeing two out of four connected with the church on earth, and of being able to believe that a third has joined the church in heaven? Oh, "be not weary in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not."

Turning to you, my young friends, I cannot but remark, that you have had to-night a proof of the truth of His word who has said, "I love them that love me; and they that seek me early shall find me." On opening the desk in which our dear child was accustomed to keep the objects she valued

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most, I found a little book which she had put aside with special care; it is entitled, Early Piety." This book, I find, she highly prized. I do not wonder, because it described what she had felt to be the greatest blessing to her soul-the medium of her sweetest pleasures. The last walk she ever took was

on the sabbath-week before she died, and that was to the house of the Lord. The last treat she ever asked for was to be carried to the sanctuary, and this was within twenty-four hours of her decease. Amidst all her privations she was never depressed, but always cheerful-never impatient, but always resigned. On one occasion, after she had spent a great part of the night in coughing, her mamma said to her, "My dear, how tiresome your cough is;" she replied, “No, mamma, not tiresome, only troublesome."

the affirmative. He then said, "I was once a pupil of yours." Surprised at such an announcement, for I had not the most distant recollection of his person, I rather hastily rejoined, "When, and at what place were you a pupil of mine?" " Many years ago, sir, I was a pupil of yours at Y-." I then remarked, "If you were ever a pupil of mine, you must have been in the Sunday-school at Y-." He anthis opportunity of presenting my heartswered, "I was; and I readily embrace felt thanks for the kind attention you showed me there, and the pains taken for my instruction;" and then, with his utterance almost choked by his feelings, he said, "I have never lost the impressions I received in that school; they have been of unspeakable service to me in my way through life; and they continue, I trust, to maintain an ascendancy in my mind.' He was proceeding to express himself in ringing of a bell called him from the room. this pious and grateful strain, when the After a few minutes he returned, and, recurring to his former conversation, he She had long been concerned for the said, "I will, sir, with your permission, salvation of souls, and was ever anxious mention a circumstance or two which I to give a little tract as often as she had am sure you will be gratified to hear of, the opportunity to any one whom she as they will prove I have been able to sethought it would benefit. I am, there-lived with my first master ten years, and cure the approbation of my employers. I fore, sure that, if she could address you was obliged by his decease to leave the individually to-night, she would say, as family. I soon after entered the service the inspired writers have always said, of a clergyman, with whom I continued "Seek the Lord while he may be sixteen years. On my quitting his serfound," "Remember thy Creator in vice, he said to me, 'You have given to the days of thy youth;" my service sixteen years of the best of "Believe in your time: I feel, in common with my the Lord Jesus Christ, and even thou family, greatly indebted to your praiseshalt be saved;" for he said when on worthy conduct, and cannot suffer you to earth, "Suffer little children to come depart without some mark of my respect.' unto me, and forbid them not; for of And I have now in my possession, sir, a such is the kingdom of heaven."-Fu-in language the most affecting, attributed substantial proof of his regard." He then, neral Sermon.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO SUNDAY

SCHOOL TEACHERS.

St. Columb, Cornwall, Sept. 8, 1846. SIR,-If you deem the annexed narrative to be suitable for insertion either in the WITNESS or the CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE, it is at your service. Sincerely wishing you enlarged success in your work and labour of love,

I am, Sir, yours respectfully, GEO. OKE. About three weeks since I was waiting at an inn for the arrival of the mail, in company with two of my brethren in the ninistry, when my attention was directed to the conduct of the waiter, who, having eyed me for some time, at length said, Will you excuse, sir, the liberty I take: is not your name O?" I answered in

the satisfaction he had given to his employers to the influence of sabbath-school instruction. Adverting to the situation which he now fills, he observed, "I have been here, sir, but a short time; the situation is not one that I should prefer; I wish to be differently engaged, and to have more time at command to devote to things of higher moment." I then gave him such advice as his condition seemed to require, and with feelings of mutual esteem we parted.

The impressions produced by this interview are more readily conceived than expressed. I think I felt at the time something of what was present to the mind of the apostle when at Appii-forum he thanked God and took courage. And although thirty years have elapsed since I exchanged the services of a Sundayschool teacher for the more onerous duties of the ministry and pastorate, yet the

incident forcibly recalls former scenes and We earnestly commend this wise associations, and throws around my early and wholesome counsel to our young exertions an interest which they never appeared to possess before; and its pub-readers. The subject is one of great molicity is now given with the hope that it ment, as involving, in no small extent, may, under God, encourage those who do their best interests, both for time and not, in their work and labour of love," meet with desired success. "Be not eternity.-EDITOR. weary in well-doing, for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not."

KIND HINTS TO OLD SCHOLARS. Dec. 18, 1846.

DEAR SIR,-Could anything be said in the PENNY MAGAZINE to warn the young people of our congregations against that kind of apparently harmless intercourse between very young men and women, which is so often found to be productive of evil, especially among the poorer classes? A few of the elder boys and girls, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, from the higher classes of a Sunday-school in which I am deeply interested, (some of whom, a short time back, appeared very hopeful,) lately left the school, to the surprise of many, stating that they felt themselves too old to attend. All, however, were most regular in their attendance at public worship, and as members of the weekly Bible classes of our minister: but the motive of their withdrawment from the school was a mystery to me until a few days since I found that their sabbath afternoons, the hours of their greatest leisure during the week, are spent in each other's company; and though I fervently hope the time is not all consumed in idle gossip, such a preoccupation of thought and interest must be a bad preparation for the services of the evening; and I have reason to fear that in one instance, at least, false pretexts have been resorted to to gain permission to leave home, which would not otherwise have been granted.

I should not have troubled you with such a detail, but that it might explain that the evil to which I refer, is not what can be strictly called improper companionship-since we must be glad that these young people have chosen the outwardly well disposed for their associates-but merely that present dissipation of mind and future unhappiness which is too often the result of such early partialities.

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used to gather sweet wild flowers,
Wet with the morning dew,
And in the pleasant summer hours
That little grave bestrew.

When hot and wearied with my play
I sought the hallow'd sod,
And happy thoughts would o'er me stray,
Of earth, and heaven, and God.
At twilight, too, when all was still,
Save the low murmuring breeze;
Fancy my chasten'd heart would fill
With landscapes such as these:

A flowery vale-with running streams,
O'er which the sun shone bright;
And Angel forms, like those in dreams
We see sometimes at night,
Walk'd there; and little children, too,
Play'd all the live-long day
Where buttercups and violets grew,
As if 't were always May.

And happy voices sweetly sang,
And music fill'd the air,
And through the flow'ry valley rang,
For sorrow dwelt not there.

And one there was who seem'd to speak;
I thought he said, "Sweet brother, seek
He smiled, and waved his hand;
To reach this happy land."

I see not now that little grave,
For we no longer dwell
Where I can visit it as once,
And yet I love it well.

I doubt not that many others are in- My playmates, when in childish glee,

jured in the same way; and, perhaps, an
earnest and plain, but affectionate, appeal
in the PENNY MAGAZINE might reach
many young hearts who have never
thought of the evil springing from such
apparently harmless intimacies.
I am, dear sir,
Yours, with much respect,

N. O.

Ye to the churchyard go, If ye have ever loved me,

Think who lies there so low.

Oh, tread not on my brother's grave,
Or pluck in wanton mood
The daisies that so sweetly bloom,
In that loved solitude!
Tuxford.

CHARLOTTE

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"And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart."-Exod. xi. 10.

THESE words have not a little perplexed many a reader of the Bible. God is often said in Scripture to do what he only permits to be done. For example: "The Lord said unto Shimei, Curse David"meaning he permitted Shimei to curse David. "Is there evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it"-and the Lord hath not permitted it. Nor is this a style of speaking wholly unpractised by ourselves. How common it is for people to say of an over-indulgent parent, "He [she] ruined the children!" How? Not restraining; as the result, though not inevitably, the children ruined themselves. So, not softening Pharaoh's heart, the Lord hardened it; Pharaoh doing really what the Lord only did consequentially. Hence, Pharaoh's obduracy is frequently attributed to Pharaoh himself. See Exod. viii. 15—32; ix. 34, 35. To this explanation, however, two objec tions will be raised. First, that if Pharaoh did only what he was permitted to do, how could he, in equity, be punished for it? This objection is untenable, because it takes one of two things for granted, which remains to be proved: either that the Lord was under obligation to prevent Pharaoh, or, that the Lord permitting, necessitated Pharaoh to do as he did;-both which we deny. That the Lord is under no obligation to his creatures is self-evident. For, as sinners, we have forfeited all claim to his favour. He might, therefore, leave us to the bias of our own depraved nature, as we believe he left Pharaoh. Nor would he by so doing be chargeable with injustice. On the contrary, he would only be dealing with us according to our deserts; consequently there can be no obligation. And so far from the Lord's permission necessitating Pharaoh, that surely is against all reason. A parent permits his child to have his own way; does the parent necessitate the child to take his own way? Necessity, it should be understood, does away with free-agency; and if you do away with free-agency, you do away with responsibility. That no necessity was used appears clear from two things. 1. From the express language of an apostle: "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed," James i. 13, 14. But he must have tempted if he necessitated Pharaoh. 2. From Pharaoh's own language: "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go," Exod. v. 2. Does he speak like one necessitated, or free? "Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the Lord, that he

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may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice to the Lord," Exod. viii. 8. Would he have said, "I will," if he had been coerced? See also Exod. viii. 28; x. 16, 17. From these premises, then, we are shut up to one conclusion,-viz., that the Lord was under no obligation to prevent Pharaoh on the one hand; that Pharaoh was under no compulsion on the other: therefore, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. The second objection is, that the Lord “raised up" Pharaoh to do as he did. See Exod. ix. 16; Rom. ix. 17. But neither does this objection militate against the conclusion at which we have arrived; for God's "raising up" Pharaoh refers not to his creation but preservation. Pharaoh fell down under Divine judgment, and the Lord "raised him up ;" i. e., permitted him to stand or continue the adversary of his people. And is there aught in this to exonerate Pharaoh, by shifting the cause of his rebellion from himself to God? God did not make Pharaoh rebellious; he only forbore to make him obedient: giving him up to his own wicked heart, so that he became more and more hardened, until he was destroyed. And "is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?"—in a way of justice as well as mercy? "He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment," Job ix. 32. "Be still, and know that I am God." Recognize his uncontrollable, unimpeachable, most righteous sovereignty. Acknowledge your own position as one not of innocence but of guilt. Dread self-abandonment. Implore, through Jesus Christ, the interposition of mercy. Repent of sin, and live. Persist in sin, and you die. See Pharaoh sinking like lead in the mighty waters! And what awaits the finally impenitent, but " a fiery deluge, fed with ever-burning sulphur unconsumed?" W. ATHERTON.

Bingley, Dec. 14th, 1847.

AN ADDRESS.-READ IT!

No apology can be necessary for ad- rarely read their Bibles, and as rarely dressing you on the all-important sub-pray; and never retire for these purject of religion; a subject neglected by poses, and for communion with God? so many around you, and perhaps by yourself.

What numbers never attend a place of worship; and of those who do attend, how few go regularly! Many take no further notice of the sabbath than to make it a day of ease and idleness, of visiting, feasting, and pleasure. And is it not to be feared, that even of those who visit the house of God, some

The following remarks, suggested by the consideration of this sad and sinful state of things, are prayerfully commended to your notice:

Think now, and think seriously, of the value of the soul. It is of more value than the sun, and moon, and stars; and to see all these drop from the heavens and perish, would not be so awful as for one soul, your soul, the

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