and united to Jesus Christ by a lively faith, you are every moment in danger of perishing for ever in jeopardy of hopeless and inconceivable misery. From this dan ger and jeopardy I urge you to flee, as knowing that the flight is for the life of your souls: And I point you to the Saviour as the ark of safety, and tell you that if you truly and perseveringly look for his grace and aid, you shall not fail to find them, and be led by them to safety and salvation. Young as you are, you have no time to lose in attending to this great concern. Some of your companions, whose hold on life was as firm as yours, you have seen sinking suddenly to the grave. You have, therefore, proof incontestable and alarming, that your youth affords no security against the immediate arrest of the king of terrors: And if it did, the continuance of life without true religion, could never be desirable. If terminated without it, the space afforded would only be to you the opportunity of "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath." Or if saved at last, as "brands plucked out of the fire," you would have incurred much anguish in this world, and a diminution of happiness in the next; from the whole of which early piety would have been your complete preservation. Now, therefore, I beseech you-by every tender and by every awful consideration, I beseech you-yield yourselves, "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." True religion, lovely in all, is most lovely in the young. So let it eminently be in you. Recommend it in your example, by all its powerful attractions, by all its native charms,-that as far as possible you may engage others to think favourably of it. Associate it with every generous and manly endowment and enterprise-with improvement in knowledge, with courtesy of demeanour, with emu lation and activity in business, with inviolable integrity in every office in life. Shun, as a pestilence, the society of the wicked; be watchful against the thousand seductions to vice and misery which surround you; be moderate and guarded in your pleasures; your pleasures; "flee youthful lusts;" be obedient to your parents, docile to your teachers, respectful to your superiors, kind to your inferiors, benevolent and just to all-Thus, if you shall be spared in life, you will be preparing to pass it with happiness and honour; and at whatever period you shall be called hence, you will assure to yourselves the reward "of the good and faithful servant." Nothing now remains but to commit myself, and you, my people, to Almighty God our common Father O most merciful God and Saviour, who hast condescended to make known, and to endear thyself, to thy church and people, by styling thyself "the Shepherd of Israel;" graciously vouchsafe to receive from thy unworthy servant, whom thou hast been pleased to honour with the office of an under pastor in thy church, the resignation of the charge of that flock, of which he has been from his youth an overseer-Called, as he believes, by thy providence, to another station, he resigns into thy merciful hands, whence he received it through the ministry of his brethren, this important and precious trust, which thou hast favoured him so long to hold-And oh! through the blood of the everlasting covenant-through the prevalent intercession of the great Advocate on high-through the infinite and effectual mediation of his adored Saviour-he earnestly prays, that thou wouldst freely pardon all his ministerial sins; and not less that thou wouldst forgive the transgressions of this dear people, since they have been under his pastoral care. Sustain and bless thy servant still, in the ardu 66 ous duties which may be before him. Make him faithful unto death, that he may receive a crown of life. And may this people be ever thy peculiar charge. May they recollect and regard the instructions and exhortations which they have received, from any of their pastors, whether living or dead. May thy special blessing rest on the endeavour now made by thy servant, that they may have their duty always in remembrance, after his decease." May he who is still their pastor, be abundantly prospered and succeeded in his publick labours, and abundantly comforted in his own soul. May this people never want pastors "according to thy heart, who shall feed them with knowledge and understanding." May they ever hold fast the truth in the love of it-the truth as it is in Jesus. Save them from all heresy and error: Save them from barrenness and unfruitfulness under the cultivation of thy hand: Save them from hardness of heart and blindness of mind: Save them from all discord and dissention. Make them an example of all Christian excellence. Pour out upon them copiously the influences of thy most Holy Spirit, that many may be born and taught of God; that converts may be greatly multiplied; that thy church may be greatly enlarged; that thine own people may be greatly comforted; -yea, O Lord, if it be thy holy will, that not one of this flock may be wanting, in the day when thou shalt make up thy jewels. And when "the chief Shepherd shall appear," may they and their pastors receive his plaudit, and be permitted to rejoice together forever, in the kingdom and glory of their Lord. Grant these things, O most merciful Father, for the sake of thy best beloved Son Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, one glorious and eternal God, be praises forever. Amen. STORY FROM THE MISHNA OF THE RABBINS. During the absence of Rabbi Meir from his house, his two sons died, both of them of uncommon beauty, and enlightened by the law. His wife bore them to her chamber, laid them upon the bed, and spread a white covering over their bodies. When Rabbi Meir returned, his first inquiry was for his sons. His wife reached to him a goblet-he praised the Lord at the going out of the Sabbath, drank, and again asked, "Where are my sons, that they too may drink of the cup of blessing?" "They will not be far off," she replied, and placed food before him that he might eat. He was in a gladsome and genial mood-and when he had said grace after the meal, she thus addressed him: "Rabbi, with thy permission, I would fain propose to thee one question." "Ask it then, my love," replied he. "A few days ago, a person entrusted some jewels to my custody, and now he demands them-should I give them back to him?" "This is a question," said Rabbi Meir, "which my wife should not have thought it necessary to ask.-What! wouldst thou hesitate or be reluctant to restore to every one his own!" No," she replied, “but yet I thought it best not to restore them without acquainting thee therewith."-She then led him to their chamber, and stepping to the bed, took the white covering from the dead bodies." "Ah! my sons, my sons!" loudly lamented their father," my sons! the light of my eyes, and the light of my understanding. I was your father-but ye were my teachers in the law." 66 The mother turned away and wept bitterly. At length she took the husband by the hand and said "Rabbi, didst thou not teach me that we must not be reluctant to restore that which was entrusted to our keeping? See, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord!" "Blessed be the name of the Lord!" echoed the holy man; "and blessed be his glorious name forever." APRIL. "Thou hast caused the day spring to know its place." Capricious month of smiles and tears! 'There's beauty in thy varied reign: Emblem of being's hopes and tears Its hours of joy, and days of pain. A false, inconstant scene is thine, Changeful with light and shadow deep: Oft-times thy clouds with pure sunshine Are painted-then in gloom they sleep. Yet is there gladness in thy hours, Frail courier of a brighter sceneThou fragrant guide to buds and flowers, To meadow fresh and pastures green! For as the days grow few and brief, Yes, though thy light is quenched oft, Are lingering richly in thy train; And soon the many clouds that stay Lo mark them now!-they break- And over earth, in one broad smile, Looks forth the glorious eye of DayWhile hill, and vale, and ocean isle, Are laughing in the breath of May. Type of existence! may'st thou be Through all whose trials we may see The emblem of the Christian's race The calm and heaven enkindled eye, The faith that mounts on ardent wing; That looks beyond the o'erarching sky, To Heaven's undimmed and golden spring. Keview. From the "Presbyterian Review and Religious Journal," of Edinburgh, for the month of March, where it appears under the head of "Critical Notices," we select the following interesting articlethe rather, because we expect that the work to which it refers will shortly be republished in this country. A MOTHER'S FIRST THOUGHTS. By the Author of Faith's Telescope. Edin. Waugh & Innes, 1832. It is much to say-yet we say it with equal sincerity and pleasure -that the expectations with which we opened this little book have been more than realized. From her former publication, we had known the authoress as a person whose genius, happily associated with all that is most respectable and amiable in Christian principle and sentiment, entitled her to take a high place among the religious poets of the day. We had been delighted, in common with every reader of Faith's Telescope, and the minor poems that accompanied it, with the inspiration, caught from both Parnassus and Zion, and were prepared to expect, in that breathed through the whole; and were prepared to expect, in any production of hers, a display of the same poetical powers. This expectation her present work, although one of little apparent effort, will not disappoint. But it derives an interest, from the circumstances in which it was written, which the mere display of powers the most exalted and successful could never impart. It is a "Mother's First Thoughts," the first breathings of a pious female's heart, at that interesting period when a new-and the sweetest fountain of affection is opened up in it, and when the recollection of the anxieties and fears of a time of peculiar danger, gives a deeper tone of earnestness and gratitude to the devotion with which it turns to the Giver and Preserver of life. In these "first thoughts," effort would be misplaced and unnatural; but the evident absence of effort only excites the higher admiration of the mind, from which they spontaneously emanate. It is a mind of high talent, richly stored with valuable knowledge, breathing piety as its vital spirit, and elevated with that Christian generosity which is eager to communicate to others the faith and hope by which itself is blessed. Passages of scripture, which naturally occurred to such a mind, in the circumstances to which we have alluded, are the themes out of which these thoughts arise. On each passage we have a meditation, and a short prayer, and either on the same or some kindred passage, a hymn. Of her motive in publishing them we must allow the authoress herself to speak. After adverting in her preface to the wonderful adaptation of the Bible to all classes and all circumstances of its readers, she thus proceeds: "The aim of the following pages has been to develope, of this gracious fulness in the oracles of God, some meditations suitable to mothers, both as such, and more particularly in their character of professing Christians. At a period when the heart is excited by new and pure emotions; when gratitude to a merciful Preserver is usually experienced in a very high degree; when the world is necessarily much shut out, and the nearness of eternity often borne in powerfully on the soul, by the possibi lity, if not the certainty, of peril;it does not appear unreasonable to hope that the still small voice of heavenly truth will be more readily listened to than at other times. And though it be but too certain that in many cases any salutary impressions thus made will prove evanescent or inefficient, yet, if the Lord vouchsafe his blessing, in some at least they may be deepened, enlarged, and brightened into a lasting record of eternal mercy. But by those mothers who are already awake to spiritual things, these meditations will perhaps be recognised as embodying some train of feeling and association, or illustrating some scripture symbol drawn from the early nursery, which has often occurred to their own minds. To them, therefore, as possessing the best clue to its meaning and intention, this little work is affectionately dedicated,” &c. We are much tempted to present our readers with one of these meditations entire, and we might take it at random, as a specimen of the accomplished writer's manner. But as this might exceed the limits which we must prescribe to ourselves in such a notice as this, we must content ourselves with a few shorter quotations. Where all is excellent, we really feel at a loss to select; but our first quotation shall be from the meditation on the passage," And they brought little children to him," &c. The following sentences exhibit a view of the certain salvation of children who die before contracting personal guilt, as orthodox as it is pleasing, and well calculated to afford consolation to many a sorrowing mother, on a point in regard to which they are apt to be harassed with the most afflicting doubts. "Revelation's luminous hand clears up many obscurities in the Book of Nature; and this gracious declaration of the Redeemer concerning the admissibility of in fants to privileges which they cannot appreciate, is most valuable as a sure testimony of his disposition towards them, when removed, at a period incapable of individual sin, from the present life. That infants should suffer and die, would be very inexplicable on the principles of mere natural religion. The Scriptures alone give us any insight into the cause death having passed upon all men,' in consequence of their universal connexion with one who incurred it as the known penalty of his own act; but the words of the Lord, ' of such is the kingdom of heaven,' do more than this-they show us that their sufferings are but temporary—a point in immeasurable space, that such death is but an entrance into life. Where no deed of personal disobedience has re-forfeited the once retrieved inheritance, they direct us to consider the obedience of the second Adam, as having availed to blot out, on behalf of his posterity, the darkly recorded guilt of their 'First Father.' The sap of the whole human tree is indeed envenomed; but when broken off in its earliest spring, the evil has not so circulated into the newly germinated twig, as to show even the buddings of the natural fruit. Of ten does an unseen and beneficent hand, after divesting it of all its latent poison, by a sure and efficacious, though silent process, take it away and engraft it into a rich and fertile vine, to bloom and bear fruit in never-fading glory. In stead, therefore, of melancholy regrets and murmuring cavils at the mortality incident to those who have never personally sinned, the Christian sees ground for admiration of the great mercy of God, who has reaped to himself a rich harvest from the fields of destruction, by suffering the little children, whom Jesus hath redeemed, to come unto him in all ages, and Ch. Adv.-Vol. XI. from all nations, tongues, and kindreds."-Pp. 140-142. We cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of another quotation from the last meditation. The theme is the death of Rachel, after the accomplishment of her fond wish in the birth of her second son. "And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni, the son of my sorrow," &c. Gen. XXXV. 18. The vanity of human wishes, and the ignorance of those who impatiently murmur when the gratification of them is withheld, were never more forcibly illustrated than in the history of Rachel. The moment when her longcherished hope received its accomplishment, was the same which deprived her of all enjoyment from its completion. "Give me chil dren, or I die!" A second son is granted; his mother lives to embrace him; but it is as the son of her sorrow, not of her joy. "Her soul is departing!" Better surely were the sickness of a hope deferred, than the fulness of desire vouchsafed, and frustrated thus in its very fulfilment. And is it not still thus with short-sighted man? Walketh he not still in a vain shadow, disquieting himself to little profit? Alas! how large a portion of human life is spent like that of Jacob's beloved wife, in painful longings for supposed good; in virtually exclaiming, Give me this, give me that, or I die. And when the darling aim, the long-sought object of many years' endeavours, is at last within grasp, we seize it, and the stroke of the torpedo is in its touch! The attractive brightness which occupied our thoughts, which roused our exertions, was but the glittering hue of the envenomed serpent; or it existed only in our own deceived imagination-it is gone, and forever. There is something exquisitely pathetick and affecting, 2 F |