listened to from time to time, without any such effort, the emotions gradually become weakened, and that moral condition is produced which we call selfishness or hardness of heart. It is on the same principle that we account for the hardness of heart, as it is commonly and properly called, of persons who have once, or oftener, had deep religious impressions, and then relapsed into their former indifference. Their convictions and emotions were not followed by the effort which the truth and their situation demanded, and they soon and naturally sank into moral insensibility. All convictions of duty-all emotions excited by the truth, if not followed out by appropriate action, are worse than useless;they desolate the heart-they paralyze the moral powersthey leave the soul a barren heath, a fearful waste. And it seems to be the fact that the subsequent apathy and hardness are in proportion to the degree of sensibility or emotion that existed and spent itself for naught.

This principle is of vital importance as affecting the formation of Christian character. Many of the common difficulties experienced by professing Christians, spring from overlooking it. How many attempt to keep up a healthy state of the affections without engaging actively in the duties of religion, and then wonder that they feel so little and enjoy so little the religion they profess, forgetting that religious feeling is valuable only as it leads to religious action, and that it cannot be long maintained without such action. Whoever would be a thriving Christian must be a working Christian. If he would feel a deep and lasting concern for the honor of God, he must exert himself to promote that honor; and so of every other desirable feeling, if he would cherish and deepen it, he must seek employment for it, must put it into action. Depravity of heart is confirmed and strengthened by depraved action; and holiness of heart must be confirmed and strengthened by holy action. The least saint, by throwing what little he has of pious feeling into appropriate religious effort, would set his graces to growing, and in due time would be found among the eminently pious. The mul

titudes who do otherwise never come to anything honorable or useful. Spiritual dyspeptics, lean, languid and wo-begone, they live to no purpose.

But the chief use to which I wish to put this subject at present is in its application to parents and Sunday school teachers. I have known a great many of both, who, if they could only get the children excited and make them cry, thought they had done great things. But if this is all they have attempted, they have done mischief. These little cryings and excitements, if not carried out into the surrender of their hearts to the Saviour, will harden them in the end into adamant. If you have succeeded in rousing some emotion in these children, great is your responsibility to see that matters do not stop there, nor anywhere short of a sound conversion. Better not disturb the child's feelings, if you are not prepared to struggle with him and with God, with all your heart, to secure the renewal of his nature. I am afraid of those teachers and children, who have their frequent crying spells and never get any farther. VISITER.

Original.

BE FAITHFUL TO YOUR CHILDREN,

FOR you may live to be old. Their sympathies for you, then, will depend much on your fidelity to them now. It will be consoling then to see them walking in the ways of virtue and piety. How it will cheer the otherwise melancholy evening of your life! Oh! who can estimate the comfort to an aged pious parent, which arises from the practice of religion by his child, now grown to manhood, and engaged in the active duties of life? On the other hand, should he, in consequence of your unfaithfulness, become irreligious and immoral, how will it sadden your last days. A recollection of his unfaithfulness, connected with a report of its results upon his wicked sons, caused the death of the ancient

His dying And as you

prophet Eli. How many, when they seek support in the counsel and sympathy of their children, lean upon a broken reed, and go down unsustained and with sorrow to the grave! Be faithful to your children, for they may be taken from you. You may have but a little time in which to benefit them spiritually, ere they go to the spirit land. They may be removed from your tuition, young. As you stand by their dying bed, will it not be comforting to remember that you did what you could, to lead them to the Saviour? Would you not treasure it up as a precious memento, could you then hear them say in the words of a dying child, " Millions of worlds would be nothing in comparison with my hope in him! blood, how precious! It is all, all to me now." drop a tear upon their fresh grave, would it not soothe the rising agitation of your bosom, could you say, "What I could I did to prepare them for heavenly mansions." What parent would not feel, as he surrenders his child to death,it was my Saviour's call," Suffer him to come unto me." I suffered him, and he has gone before, to make the pure society of heaven dearer to me. O be faithful to your children, for you may be taken from them. What legacy would you prefer to leave them? Treasured instruction in the ways of wisdom and the impressions of your consistent life and ardent prayers, would be worth more to them there, than a princely fortune. So instruct them, that should your eyes fade in death, as, in childhood or youth, they wept by your dying couch, you might leave them fortified against the world's temptations, and with a prospect of meeting them in a kindlier clime. Be faithful to them, for you will meet them at the judgment. That child will stand with you, at the same bar. It will then be seen, how great are parental influence and responsibility. It will there be known whether you have been faithful. God and angels will know it. And you may be cheered by the voice of the Judge, pronouncing, "Well done, good and faithful," or terrified and saddened by words of condemnation. O be faithful to your children, for you will dwell with them eternally, or be separated from

them for ever. The consuming fires of the last conflagration, and the rolling of the heavens together as a scroll, affect not your existence or theirs. Parent and child are immortal. Whether you, Christian parent, shall dwell with your children, in the bright world above, eternally; or be separated from them through uncounted ages, depends much on you. Connected with fidelity to your children are many precious promises. What parent will not labor and pray, while prayer and labor may avail for those, who shall shine resplendently and eternally, in the moral firmament of heaven, or be merged for ever in the darkness of hell? Havana, N.Y.

M. H.

Original.

NURSERY LESSONS.

(CONCLUDED FROM PAGE 310.)

A SWEET little girl was one night asked by her mamma tò repeat a text and verse of a hymn, as she was in the habit of doing, before going to sleep. The verse suggested by her

mother was, that beginning with

66

“I lay my body down to sleep,”

when she came to the second line,

"May angels guard my bed,"

she hesitated, and seemed unwilling to proceed; her mother' inquired the cause, and she replied, "Mamma, I would rather ask God to take care of me than the little angels." Her mother asked her reason, and her reply was-" because God has power to do everything." The line was immediately altered to

May Jesus guard my bed,"

with which she appeared much pleased.

A few days afterwards, this little girl heard her mamma singing Dr. Watts's hymn, beginning,

"Hush, my dear, lie still and slumber,
Holy angels guard thy bed;"

she immediately said, "not holy angels,-mamma should not have forgotten so soon." But since then, she has tried to remember to alter it, as she did the one before mentioned.

The agency of angels is a delightful subject, and the ministrations they have been entrusted with towards mankind, even from the beginning of the world, cannot be doubted; but whether a child should be taught to seek for protection from them instead of from God, appears to me very questionable. These little incidents may convey a useful hint to mothers, in choosing hymns and texts for their children to commit to memory; and may remind them, that it will be sometimes necessary even to anticipate the doubts and difficulties that may arise in the mind of a thinking child.

"Oh, thank you, thank you," said a delighted little one, who had just been put in possession of a gift far beyond her expectation. "May I keep it for my own self, for ever?"

This expression seems common to all children. Anything merely lent to them they seldom prize. It must be their own; and they must have permission to keep it always, or it will soon cease to give pleasure.

What a delightful subject is thus forced upon the attention of a reflecting mother! Those dear little immortals to whom eternity is an unknown word, thus unconsciously add an additional proof of its existence; even the infant mind cannot be satisfied with present enjoyment; it looks forward to something future-something that knows no end. But while the mother listens to her little one talking a language unknown to itself, she is reminded of an everlasting home, of an inheritance that fadeth not away; of those who shall be pillars in the temple of the Lord, to go no more out; and of a time when those who have finished their course, and kept the faith, shall be ever with the Lord.