Conversation with Ann.

came to accomplish. This was followed by reading some of the offers of mercy and pressing invitations, addressed to sinners in the gospel.

Making some remarks by way of explanation upon each passage as I went along, I concluded by saying:

"Do you think what I have been reading has any relation to you?"

"I think it all relates to me," she replied.

"Well, which of these passages gives you most comfort?"

"That Christ has come into the world to save sinners," was her immediate reply.

"Do you then think that you are a sinner, and that you can be saved only by Jesus Christ's coming into the world?"

"I do. I know that I am a great sinner, and I have sometimes thought I should never be happy again; for the recollection of my past wrong doings rises up so before me; but when I remember what is said about Christ's coming to die for sinners, I hope he will have mercy upon me."

"Do you feel willing, Ann, to give yourself up to God; are you ready to acquiesce in whatever he determines concerning you?"

"I trust I am."

"Then you are willing to die ?"

"I wish to die," was her answer.

"You should look up to your heavenly Father, Ann, continually for pardon and grace. He hears children when they pray-He will blot out their sins for the sake of his Son-He will make them every way resigned to his holy will."

I then kneeled down by her bedside, and prayed: she repeated with me the Lord's Prayer, and appeared deeply affected by this devotional exercise.

As I left the room, Ann begged of me that, if it would not be too much trouble, I would call again.

The widowed mother.

Her widowed mother followed me out of the door, and, with eyes full of tears, said, "Ann is indeed an altered child. She used to be fretful, and easily irritated; but now, she is as meek and patient as a lamb. O, sir, you cannot think with how much patience she bears all her pains; and she is talking constantly about religion. Last night, as I was lifting her up in the bed, she said, 'Dear mother, I expect I shall die, but I hope we shall meet at God's right hand.''

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The mother was not professedly pious. Like hundreds of others in our large cities, who seldom attend upon any place of public worship, though the streams of earthly happiness were dried up around her, she was still looking to the broken cisterns of earth for relief. The Lord saw it necessary to lay the rod of affliction upon her again and again. One and another were taken, till she was a childless widow. These multiplied afflictions, it is hoped, led her to the fountain of living waters.

Contrast between Socrates and Christ.

CHAPTER III.

EVIDENCES OF A WORK OF GRACE.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench. From the twelfth of St. Matthew.

SOCRATES would not permit any to enter his school who were not thoroughly acquainted with geometry. Jesus Christ condescends to teach the poorest child that lifts up its feeble cry for help. The poor, the ignorant, and the dying find him ever attentive to their supplication. Though Ann lived for several months, she was gradually wasting down to death, and had very little relief, at any time, from pain. She was visited by a number of pious females during this period; and, after her decease, I requested one, whom I knew had seen her frequently during her illness, to send me, in writing, the substance of any conversations that might be deemed interesting or useful. This request was kindly granted, by the following communication:

"MY DEAR SIR,-As it is a great gratification to me to comply with all your wishes, I was resolved to make the attempt to do so in the case of little Ann. And upon recurring to scenes I witnessed in her sick room, I find impressed upon my memory expressions of hers, which are interesting to me now still more than they were when first uttered, as they afford the consoling hope that she is now near that Redeemer whom she had learned to love while on earth.

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Conversing with Ann, one day, I asked her, what event it was that happened to all?

Ann's view of the office of Christ.

"We all must die,' was her answer.
"What becomes of our bodies?'
"They are put in the grave.'

"Do our souls also die?'

"No, they go to another world.'

"Do you think that all those who go to another world are happy?'

"O no-only they who are good.'

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"I asked her what she meant by being good? She was silent a moment, and then said, 'Those who love God and pray to him.'

"Because he made us, and sent his Son Jesus Christ to redeem us.'

"How did he redeem us?

"He left heaven, and came into this world, and died for sinners.'

"Was it necessary for any one to die for us?'

"Yes, because we had sinned against God, and he was angry; but he punished Jesus instead of us.'

"You say that he came into the world to save sinners-does he save every sinner?'

66 6

No-only those who are sorry for their sins, and go to him and beg him to forgive them.'

"Do you feel yourself to be a sinner?'

66 6 O, yes! I know that I am.'

"Why do you think so? you are but a little girl.' "Yes-but I know that I have done a great many wicked things.'

"Have you felt sorry for your sins?'

46 6 Yes,' said she, with much feeling, very sorry.'

“Then what do you do?'

"I pray to Jesus Christ that he will have mercy upon me and forgive me.'

"And do you think he hears you?'

"Yes-for my minister says he always hears those who are in earnest for what they ask.'

Office of the Holy Spirit.

"A few days after, I called again. She received me with a sweet smile, saying she was glad to see any one who would talk with her about her soul. 'Our minister,' said she, has been here, and he read the Bible to me, and told me what it meant, and prayed for me:-was it not very kind?'

"My dear little girl, your minister loves to visit the sick; but let us now think of those things that we were speaking of the last time I saw you. You said that you had done many things that were not right. Now, let me ask, why you did them?-why have you not kept God's holy laws?'

"She made me no answer.

"What kind of a heart did you come into the world with?' “With a sinful heart,' she replied, and that must be the reason why I have not done as I ought to have done― is it not?'

66 6

"Yes, Ann-it is because our hearts are wrong, that our actions are so too. If our hearts were right, we should love God, and delight to think of him, and do every thing to please him. But we are unholy and depraved, and love the things of this world more than the things of God. But do you think that we can enter God's heavenly kingdom with unholy hearts?'

"O no.'

"Then what must we do? What does your catechism teach you that the Holy Spirit does for us?'

"The Holy Spirit sanctifies us.'

"What is the meaning of sanctify?'

“ · To make holy.'

“Well, this means that God's Spirit must change your heart to make it new and holy. Therefore, when you pray to your Saviour to forgive your sins, what else should you pray for?'

"For his Holy Spirit to change my heart; and this I will and do pray for.'

"The next time I saw her she looked very ill, and was