little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."

If you, O man! of Death are bound in dread,
Come to this chamber, sit beside this bed;

See how the name of Christ, breathed o'er the heart,
Makes the soul smile at Death's uplifted dart.

The air to sense is close that fills the room,
But angel forms are waving through the gloom;
The feeble pulse leaps up as 't would expire,
But Christ still watches the Refiner's fire.

Life comes and goes, the spirit lingers on:
'Tis over!- no, the conflict's not quite done;
For Christ will work till of life's sinful stain
No spot nor wrinkle on the soul remain.

He views his image now: the victory's won;
The last dark shadow from his child is drawn;

The veil is rent away. Eternal grace!

The soul beholds its Saviour face to face.

Is this Death's seal? Th' impression, oh, how fair!

Look, what a radiant smile is playing there!

That was the soul's farewell, the sacred dust

Awaits the resurrection of the just.

Call not the mourners when the Christian dies,
While angels shout him welcome to the skies;
Mourn rather for the living dead on earth,
Who nothing care for his celestial birth,

Death to the bedside came his prey to hold, All he could touch was but the earthly mould: This to its native ashes men convey;

The freed soul rises to eternal day!

CHAPTER V.

THE POWERS, DUTIES, AND PRIVILEGES OF THE MOTHERS OF MANKIND.-THE TRAINING OF THE CONSCIENCE TOWARD GOD THE FIRST DUTY, BOTH FOR PARENTS AND THE STATE.-ALL LAWS AGAINST SUCH EDUCATION ARE

BLASPHEMOUS.

WHEN

WHEN we consider the qualities of character requisite in heart and mind for the successful instruction of children from infancy,— the gentleness, tenderness, patience, forbearance, sympathy, depth, and fervor of maternal love; the purity and delicacy of taste; the wisdom of experience, and the worth of the habit of self-sacrifice; the sense of justice, truth, and impartiality; the accuracy of observation and judgment in the early development and treatment of character; we find a multitude of elements, the possession and wise exercise of which would be a perpetual source of happiness, making the whole life of the little ones an opening into Paradise. Nothing can be considered more delightful.

It was this that made such an existence, in the merciful providence of God, a conscious joy, almost as that of guardian angels. If we might

conceive of a pure, deep fountain of living water in the desert, every drop of which possessed a self-consciousness of the happiness, the beauty, and freshness of the life it was the means of creating and sustaining, the verdure, the fragrance of the flowers, and the refreshment and invigorating influences upon the thirsty travellers, and the gratitude of so many hearts lifted up to God the Giver of all such good:-there could be no extravagance in such a picture. It would be something like a life portraiture of our Blessed Lord's infancy and childhood, and of the perfect blossoming traits of maternal wisdom, anxiety, and love from the moment when, with wondering ecstasy and gratitude, the happy mother saw her infant in the arms of Simeon, and heard his words of Inspiration and Prophecy in the Temple, and thenceforward laid up all those words, and the uttered thoughts of the child Jesus, in her heart.

From Eve downward, such another mother could never have been known on earth, nor any one so happy in the exercise of all the maternal perfections of wisdom, truth, and love. What a blissful life those parents must have led almost up to the day of the Crucifixion. The exercise of such powers of beneficence might be as great in

their own happiness, as the fruits of such examples, witnessed in the lives of those around them.

We do not think enough of these lessons, nor of their beauty and power, if all men were willing, in training the whole human family in households that might become, not poetical pictures merely, but realizations, let down from Paradise, as examples for us to imitate, even outside of Eden. For such might be still the blessedness on earth of all the families of mankind; foretastes of the Christian Socialism inculcated in the rule of Love, the bliss of that Heavenly world, where not only God is Love, but they who dwell in Love dwell in God and God in them, and their angels do always behold the face of their Father who is in Heaven.

If these three gifts of the Divine glory in Christ, Faith, Hope, Love, abide in us till we die, then dying will be indeed but going home; home to our God and Saviour, and to all the dear ones, that, as Christ's dear children, were so intimately entwined in the purity of our dearest affections.

God be praised for the gracious beauty of the example of such a life! There was nothing ever formal or unnatural in any part of it, but all was as artless and involuntary as the growth of the lilies of the valley that our Blessed Lord taught his own disciples, in their morning and evening