was once a Shepherd, whose tender pastoral care was over his flock night and day. One sheep would neither hear his voice nor follow him. He took up its little lamb in his arms—then

that sheep came after him."

66

A SENSIBLE QUESTION. Mamma," ," said a child, "my Sabbath School teacher tells me that this world is only a place in which God lets us live a little while, that we may prepare for a better world. But, mother, I do not see any body preparing. I see you preparing to go into the country-and aunt Eliza is preparing to come here. But I do not see any one preparing to go to heaven. If every body wants to go there, why don't they try to get ready?".

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

BY T. H. GALLAUDET.

If, in forming an estimate of the religious character of children, we omit, in addition to those allowances which have been mentioned, that of their deficiency in the power of self-control, we shall be liable to judge them too strictly. The mind and heart must be long trained and disciplined, in order that this power may exist in such a degree as to produce a state of wellbalanced thoughts and feelings, desires and purposes; and that the will, under the influence of an enlightened conscience, may be prompt, decided, and energetic in choosing the good, and refusing the evil. Divine grace is, indeed, the only efficacious source of that self-control which will bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, but it acts in accordance with the laws of the mind, and through the instrumentality of truth and motives; and time is employed in this action. The new birth of the soul may have taken place,-the heart may be reconciled to God,-the great leading purposes may be right,— the conscience may be enlightened and tender,—the will on the side of truth and holiness, and yet the conflict between nature and grace continue, and be a severe one. The complete mastery of the soul over all its moral movements is, as every experienced Christian knows, an attainment of tremendous difficulty, and which is seldom, if ever, reached in this life. How much he has to contend with constitutional peculiarities, with early associa

tions, with habit, with the whole host of internal corruptions and external temptations. How many irregularities within, and how many provocatives without, tend constantly to disturb the moral balance of his soul; and how is he compelled, day after day, to exclaim with the apostle :-"I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?"

If this was true of Paul, who had such vigor of intellect, and decision of character, and power of motives, and communications of divine grace, how much should we regard with all proper allowance the similar struggle which manifests itself in those little ones for whom we venture to indulge the hope that they are among the true disciples of Christ. Young as they are, they have their constitutional infirmities to contend with; their peculiar temptations; their easily besetting sins; while, as yet, they have but little energy of mind, and have been trained in the school of experience to a very partial exercise of self-control.

The case sometimes occurs that a mother, who hopes that she has been making progress for years in the divine life, and sustains in the circle of her religious acquaintance the reputation of devoted piety, has an irritability of the nervous system, which, at times, is exceedingly distressing, and almost uncontrollable. Occasionally, it leads her to say and do things, that afterwards cause her deep mortification and regret. She prays and struggles against it, but after all, she has to acknowledge her weakness, and to throw herself on the candor of her friends, and the forbearance of her God. Now and then, she would fain persuade herself that it is merely a bodily disease, and that, like other such diseases, it is a part of the animal, and not at all of the moral system. But, then, she considers that the moral should gain the ascendency over the animal,-that grace has often enabled her to do this,-that she must pray for more grace, and make more effort, and not give over the struggle, however imperfect as yet her success may be. Her friends, in the mean

while, kindly give her every consolation that the peculiarity of her case needs; bring to view her numerous excellences; extenuate her defects; make all due allowances; and rejoice at the progress she is gaining, slowly perhaps, yet perceptibly, in the power of self-control.

Let the same mother, -let all mothers, treat gently the irregularities of temper, nay, the very out-breakings of uncontrollable feeling, that sometimes mark the conversation and conduct of the young disciples of Jesus Christ. They, too, have their bodily ailments; their derangements of a nervous system full of life and exquisite sensibility; their peculiar temperaments, and constitutional obliquities. One was fretful when an infant. Ill health or bad management made it so. No wise means were employed to remedy the evil, as the child grew older; and the habit remained, though the original causes producing it were almost, if not entirely removed. The habit still remains. The child is sensible of it. He regrets it. He prays to be delivered from it. He strives against it. Do not demand too much of him. Self-control in such a case is a difficult attainment. Time is necessary for its consummation. Make all due allowance for the occasional misconduct which results from this infirmity. Do not judge him severely. Let him see that you do not; and encourage him in the work of reforming an evil which your own neglect or indiscretion has been instrumental in producing.

Another has a strong sense of the ludicrous, and is easily excited to laughter. The solemnity of the occasion, and the injunctions of the parent do not restrain him. He says he cannot help it. In some cases, this may be strictly true. In others, a harder struggle with his risibility might have checked it. But in all, the power of self-control is exceedingly difficult of attainment, and time and the force of habit are essential to a complete victory over what appears to be a want of reverence for sacred things, disobedience to parental authority, and an excessive levity. Before such a trait of character leads to decidedly unfavorable conclusions with regard to the piety of the child, all the circumstances of the case should be well understood, and care taken not to charge to wrong feelings, or a sinful intention, what arises wholly from the want of self-control.

From the same cause there proceed various other exhibitions of character which tend often to make too discouraging an impression, if they are not traced to their true source. Listlessness of attention to the instructions of parents and teachers; the want of prompt and punctual obedience; neglect of the rules of good breeding; fickleness of purpose; bursts of temper; indiscreet expressions; with errors and sins of a similar kind, are among the constant inconsistencies of early piety. More allowance should be made for them than for the same defects in Christians of maturer years and larger experience. And yet we, too often, make less allowance; forgetting the simple truths which it has been the object of these remarks to illustrate, that self-control is least to be expected in the morning of life, and that while it is but imperfectly established by the force both of conscience and of habit, we must look for deficiencies of character without losing our confidence in the reality of early piety. If there is no appearance of a wicked and fixed intention of doing wrong; if the individual in fault is accessible to instruction and reproof; if conscience seems to be faithfully doing its work; if sorrow for sin is habitual and sincere; if prayer for divine strength is unremitting; if the struggle for self-control is evidently going on and gaining a little daily,-the older and stronger members of the household of Christ should bear the infirmities of the younger and weaker. Parents and teachers should encourage and confirm the power of self-government in the little ones who they hope have gone to the Saviour with penitence and faith, by letting them see that they are to be dealt with tenderly and kindly, and that those who are their spiritual guides can truly say, as did Paul, we are gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.

For the Mother's Magazine.

THE SELFISH LITTLE BOY.

MRS. MORTON had two sons, named William and Henry.— William was a generous, kind-hearted little boy, and would