If she has done This she can do,

never placed an obstacle in the mother's way. this herself, then she herself must remove it. and this she must do, or abide the only alternative, and remain in awful doubt and uncertainty about the eternal destiny of those she so dearly loves. 'Tis a very easy thing to take the precious trust that God has carefully committed to our keeping, and, before the altar of God, listen to the name of the sacred Trinity as pronounced over it by his ambassadors, and promise with the lips to "train it up" for God, but it is quite another thing to have our own souls touched with the "fire" of the Holy Ghost, and deeply in our hearts to receive the precious promise, "I will be thy God, and the God of thy child, for ever" to feel the witness of the Sacred Spirit in our souls, that our "vows" "to give him unto the Lord all the days of his life," are registered in heaven, and that God accepts the of fering we have made.

Oh! when a mother does this, angels in heaven are not indifferent spectators to the scene; and if angels could weep, methinks there would be tears in heaven, when such a mother forgets her vows.

Now we believe there are many such mothers, and that they expect their children will "some time or other" be converted. Still, day after day, and in some instances year after year, rolls away, and they remain as they were--no, not as they were, for every day's continuance in sin but hardens the heart, and renders it less susceptible of receiving divine impressions. If such a mother has not forgotten her "vows," she must have forgotten the obligations they impose upon her, or else she must have greatly erred in her manner of communicating truth to the mind of her child-though so much has been said on this subject by those who learned "wisdom" by experience, that a mother's ignorance here is hardly excusable.

It may be the child has not been taught to pay due regard to this command-" Children, obey your parents in all things"-and without a habitual, practical obedience here, a mother need never expect to exert a very powerful, or a very salutary, influence over the mind of her child. Again, the mind of a little one soon wearies, and she may have been long and tedious,

when she should be short and explicit-thus making those daily exercises a task for the child, which should ever be its delight or she may in some way lead the child to view its Maker as an austere being, rather than a God of love, but who must be strictly obeyed, because his commands are always right.

I do believe, that when the feelings and faith of a mother, as above described, are kept in lively exercise in the heart, and she searches for the promises of God in his word, as for "hid treasure," and seeks the blessing of God as earnestly and diligently upon her labors for her child, as the men of this world seek for gold and silver, that she will soon see the image of Jesus formed and living in his heart. It cannot be otherwise, for the Lord God is a faithful God, keeping covenant and mercy with them that love him, and that walk in the ways that he has commanded"-they are his own words. Before we can see more conversions amongst children, we must see mothers more holy. There must be a deeper and more thorough work of grace in her own heart; there must be holy and fervent outpourings of soul before God, and wrestlings with the "angel of the covenant." She must "travail in birth again" for her child, until Christ be formed in the soul. In proportion as this spirit prevails amongst mothers, in the same proportion do I believe we shall witness the conversion of children, and in no other.

If a mother has long prayed for, and expected, the conversion of her child, and yet this desire of her heart is not granted, she may perhaps learn the reason at the foot of the cross. If her eye of faith be strong enough to look "within the veil," she perhaps may discover that the honor and glory of him who sits upon the throne, has not been sufficiently prominent in her mind when seeking the conversion of her child; but the happiness of the child alone has filled her heart. She has had

less faith than feeling.

I would that I could place you in the chamber of a dying child where once I stood, and you might see the mother with her tearless eyes raised towards heaven, crying, "Save, O! save my child." I knew that mother well. In her youth she chose the Lord for her portion, and she felt that God was her God. She had breathed fervently the "baptismal vow" over

her babe, before the altar of God, and since that period she had wept in secret places for her child, and prayed and longed for her conversion. Often, she says, when kneeling in my closet, my child, from the time she was a year and a half old, would come and kneel silently beside me, and there remain till I told her she might pray; and when teaching her infant lips to call upon God, O, how my heart has yearned over my child, and I longed for her conversion with an inexpressible intensity of feeling; "but," she continued, "feeling is not faith. The Lord has taught me that, and I now see that I did not with a living faith receive the covenant promise of God in my heart, and in the exercise of that faith plead at his footstool his own promise, and his own faithfulness." Now I see nothing peculiar in the experience of this mother, for I believe thousands learn when 'tis too late, that " feeling is not faith ;" and though in this case the mother felt that mercy was extended to her child through the covenant faithfulness of an unchangeable God, yet I have often seen her walk the room in apparent anguish of spirit, when speaking of her want of intelligent spiritual faith in the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, and her consequent unfaithfulness both to God and to her child; and she once told me at such a time, that she was oftentimes obliged to walk while praying, for her distress was such that she could not kneel.

Oh, that mothers would be wise now--that they would "stir themselves up" now" to take hold upon God"--that they would now "bring the tithes into the store-house," and "prove God," and see if one "jot or tittle" fails of all he has promised. Let a mother but labor as diligently to have her child robed in Christ's righteousness as she does to have it dressed according to the fashion of this world, and see if her labors are not abundantly rewarded. Let the child SEE DAILY that the beauties and glories of the blessed Saviour have fixed the mother's heart in heaven, and that she "loves not this world, nor the things of this world," and think you he will be satisfied with this world? O no, no. Let her but lead the way, and the child will follow. She may point, and point, and point in vain; but let her own gaze be rivited on the Saviour, and the child too will "look and live." Mother, do you believe this? and will you make the trial now?

S.

ON THE EVIDENCE OF EARLY PIETY.-(Continued.)

BY T. H. GALLAUDET.

IN connection with the deep interest which children almost universally take in sensible objects, and their fondness for playthings and amusements, the thoughtlessness and volatility which are so common at that period of life, are to be well considered in forming a due estimate of their religious character. Where this is constitutional, we make great allowances for it even in adults, and how much more should we be ready to do so in the case of those happy, little beings, in the morning of their days, who are yet free from the cares and anxieties of riper years; whose animal spirits are full of spontaneous life and activity; and to whose unsated eye all that surrounds them is a constant panorama of what is fresh and bright, curious and wonderful. Objects the most common and stale to us, have to them, in their forms and colors, their construction and uses, something new and interesting. Is it at all strange that, amid such a variety, their attention should often be allured and distracted, and their minds, like the butterfly, be perpetually on the wing, roaming from one delight to another?

Religious objects, let it be recollected, are addressed to our faith. In contemplating them, even those of adult age, and who have made some progress in the divine life, are often harrassed with the intrusion of the things of this world, and have a great struggle to maintain against this intrusion. Something seen, or heard, breaks up the train of spiritual meditation and

feeling, and quickly calls back the soul to the objects of time and sense. In the case of children, then, we should not be surprised, or discouraged, to find this difficulty existing in a vastly greater degree, and we should treat it with proportional candor and indulgence.

The wants of children are all provided for. The planning for their comfort is done by the parent. It is only very gradually and imperfectly, and, at first, with reference to their own little concerns, that they are led to exercise foresight. We must not wonder at their thoughtlessness. Divine grace, it is true, will produce a temper of heart, a sense of duty, an obedience and docility of mind, most favorable to the cultivation of thoughtfulness and prudence. But we must allow time for the growth of these traits of character, and not set down to a want of right feelings, or to intentional misconduct, in this respect, what may often seem to conflict with genuine youthful piety.

Instances are continually occurring among the most carefully trained, and best disposed children, illustrative of these truths, especially where the constitutional tendency is to great playfulness, to volatility, and to a want of forecast.

A young child, whose mother dares to hope that the Spirit of God has sanctified his heart, has just been kneeling by her side, and uniting in her fervent supplications at the throne of grace. He has done this tenderly and reverently, with a sweet confidence in the Savior. He rises; he looks around him; some inviting object attracts his attention; his animal spirits are in full play; he bounds forward with delight-he sports—he frolics-he gives vent to his joyful feelings in the vociferations of merriment. It would have been vastly better, doubtless, had he kept his mind sedate and serious a little longer. He ought to be checked and reminded of this. He should be led to see and feel the propriety of not thus passing so rapidly from an act of devotion to his pastimes. But his sportiveness was spontaneous, and probably irrepressible. There was in it no intentional irreverence. Do not frown severely upon it. Do not let it be regarded as casting any doubtfulness over the evidences of his youthful piety which you daily think you discover in the general tone of his feelings and conduct.