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quest, returned to Babylon in triumph, leaving the people of Judea spoiled, dégraded, and afflicted, but neither humbled for transgression, nor disposed to deprecate succeeding judgments by penitential sorrow for their former sins.

MR. L

(To be continued.)

A SISTER'S TALES.

No. IV.

had, in his youth, given much of his time to Drawing. There was scarcely a scene of his early days, of which some sketch might not be found in his portfolio. He sometimes allowed his children. to look over his collection; and as it was a favour seldom granted, it was much valued by them. They had been enjoying it, one dull November day,finding in pictures the beauty and brightness that seemed vanished from the earth,-when their attention was fixed by a painting, which, after the sunny landscapes and smiling faces of the others, appeared peculiarly delicate and interesting. It was the representation of a young man lying on a sofa. His form was thin; his face was very pale, and on it were depicted the languor of sickness, and the weariness of suffering. It did indeed "a ghastly contrast bear" to the dark-brown hair that surrounded it; yet over all the features there was such a sweetness and composure, that the L-s agreed they had never seen a healthy countenance look half so lovely.-Under it was written, "RESIGNATION."—" Was that his name?" asked SARAH." No, my dear," replied JANE;"his name was MR., my father's most intimate friend ; and I will tell you the meaning of the word "RESIG NATION," by relating some parts of his life.

He was not always the faint wan figure you see there. His eyes were once as gay, and his cheeks as flushed with health and vigour, as any of yours.Indeed, he was very handsome; but th was his least grace : his mind was active, his affectrons lively, and his temper amiable. He had an ardent love of all that was deemed high and honourable; and early he thought virtue and science the highest and noblest of earthly objects. For the attainment of these, he exerted his freshest energies. At school, he was the first in every thing; his superiority of intellect was too evident to be disputed, and too much blended with kindness to be envied by his school-fellows. After leaving school he was sent to college. He entered the university with very serious and scientific habits, at nineteen ; joyfully anticipating the fair prospect which, as he fancied, lay before him. He looked upon its sacred solitudes, as the school for future life, from whence he hoped to come forth, like JoHN THE BAPTIST from the deserts of Judea, "a burning and a shining light." Having formed in his mind the noblest plans of usefulness, he diligently sought the qualifications which were most likely to ensure success. In wisdom and knowledge, he was particularly solicitous to excel; and to the ceaseless pursuit of these he gave his heart, his time, and (as in the end it proved) his life. When he had been for some time thus engaged, and was in expectation of grasping the first distinctions of his college, he was taken suddenly ill with a disorder which, if not induced, was greatly aggravated by his intemperate indulgence in study, and from which he never recovered. For several weeks his life was despaired of; but at last he was sufficiently better to return home, though still in a very weak state. He

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then relapsed again, and continued, occasionally reviving and sinking, for three years, uncertain whether the end of the struggle would be a recovery to health, or a depi ure from this world. It proved to be the latter. It was in his state of lingering weakness, that this picture of him was taken; but who would suppose that the serene and quiet countenance you behold was his, who, in the midst of youth, and life's gayest days, was thus prevented from all mental and bodily exertion? In the fore-ground of the painting, you see, there are some broken mathematical instruments, and a few books covered with dust; to intimate that his favourite pursuits were now thrown aside. His eye is looking to heaven; his Bible lies near his heart; and that tells you how it was that he could smile in such an apparently hopeless condition. He had felt that "one thing is needful;" this he had sought and found; and this it was that made him patient and "joyful in tribulation." Yet religion had not quenched his thirst for learning, nor destroyed either his sense of the worth of such distinctions as might have been the means of usefulness, or his na tural attachment to what is truly valuable in this life. Whenever he saw any of his old books or com. panions, the tear of regret fell from his eye, unased to weep, especially for itself; and once he said, "Ah! by this time I might." Here he stopped, and only added, "It is a mercy that I am not debarred from still higher and heavenly things. 'Not my will but thine be done."" This, SARAH, is the meaning of that word RESIGNATION. It refers to

MR.

-'s giving up his own will to that of his FATHER in Heaven, not only because he was obliged to do so, but VOL. VI.

M

because he saw it was for the best.-As I have told you before, he was our dear father's friend; and you may imagine what a trial his death must have been to him. But I have heard, that whenever MR.

was spoken of, he appeared rather to rejoice in his happiness, than to mourn for his own loneliness. He did indeed often weep and sigh, but it was rather that he might go to him, not that his friend might be restored to earth; and he always acknowledged, that his greatest affliction was no doubt his greatest mercy. This too was RESIGNATION. None of us have had to go through such sorrows as these, and therefore we have not had occasion for Resignation in the degrees which I have described; but have we not, young as we are, to give up favourite plans, cherished hopes, and expected pleasures, almost every day? When we do this in submission to the will of an earthly or heavenly parent, this also is RESIGNATION. 0.

PARENTAL ANXIETIES.

"MR. HEY said, that nothing would more certainly have shortened his days than the grief of seeing any of his children living in a state of rebellion against GOD. I can cheerfully part with them,' he added,

by death, when they die in the LORD; but I could not support the sight of their living in open sin.’And, in one of his letters, he writes, "I would rather bury all my children, than see them departing from the way of truth and righteousness, though in the highest prosperity.'"

These sentiments, quoted from MR. PEARSON'S "Life of WILLIAM HEY, Esq. F.R.S., of Leeds," are common to Christian Parents in general. They

PARENTAL ANXIETIES.

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are copied into this work, in the hope that they will operate on the ingenuous minds of our juvenile readers as an additional motive to serious and decided piety. It is only by an early and entire surrender of themselves to GOD, through JESUS CHRIST, that their honoured and beloved parents can be delivered from the most painful anxieties.-And if any young readers of this article be conscious of having already wounded and distressed their best earthly friends, by forsaking the Guide of their youth, and turning aside from the holy commandment delivered to them into the paths of vice and folly, let them be induced to consider their ways, and turn their feet to GOD's testimonies. Thus their parents will yet "have joy of them in the LORD;" and instead of blighted hopes, and the anguish of disappointed cares and efforts, will rejoice in the blessed harvest resulting from that "precious seed" of truth which was sown in their youthful minds, and has been watered by many tears and prayers.

PARENTAL ADMONITIONS.

MR. RICHARD HEY, the father of the late Mr. HEY, of Leeds, was in the habit of warning his sons, specifically, against three things:

1. The being involved in Debt. When he said to a son, "I do not owe ten pounds in all the world," he spoke it with a cheerful consciousness of rectitude, to be envied by him who revels in luxuries at the cost of his creditors.

2. Intoxication. On this he so expressed himself, as to inspire a horror of a drunkard.

3. Concealment of your affairs from those to whom it is your duty and interest to open them. He had,

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