and

to give the finishing polish to her attractive charms; had she possessed this a few years ago, she might still have been, what she once was, the glory of her father's house.

"About four years ago, a young gentleman of rank and fortune, but of dissipated habits, got introduced to her; an intimacy was formed, which soon ripened in her unsuspecting breast, into an ardent attachment. Her parents, who ought to have guarded her against the cruel monster, did all in their power to encourage his visits; and, on one occasion, when I ventured to suggest that I suspected the purity of his intentions, they were offended. But the veil of deception which he had thrown over his professions, was very unexpectedly rent asunder; and with a levity and insolence of manner, which rarely occur in the annals of human crime, he tore himself away from her, leaving her the dupe of her own credulity, and the victim of her own grief. Abandoned by one she loved, and thrown as an orphan on the world, even while her parents were still living, she withdrew from society; and like the stricken deer, sought a tranquil death in a distant shade.

"Her health gradually declined; and it was thought proper to try if a change of air and of scene would not become the means of restoring it. She went, with a younger sister, to Teignmouth, to spend the winter; but on her return we all perceived that she was hastening to the tomb.

"I called to see her a few days after her return, and was not less astonished, than delighted to find, that, during her residence at Teignmouth, she had given almost undivided attention to the momentous claims of religion. "Though, Sir,' she said, 'I have had the privilege of attending on your ministry from my earliest infancy; and have had my mind at various times, most powerfully impressed by the truth, which I have heard from your lips; yet I never understood the plan of redemption, till recently. I used to admit the importance of religion; but now I feel it; and though I cannot say, that I have attained to any high degree of eminence in knowledge or enjoyment, yet light has broken in upon my understanding, and I am permitted to indulge a good hope through grace. How astonishing! I was sent to Teignmouth for the recovery of my health, which I have not obtained; but there I

found the pearl of greater value. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!'

"As the spring advanced she grew better; the influence of religious principle moderated the violence of mental anguish; her spirits regained their native vivacity; and she again mingled in society, which now became more select. We all flattered ourselves, that the fatal disease had received a check; and that she would yet live, to bless us with her presence and her example. But, alas, her disorder which we thought subdued, was silently diffusing itself through her whole frame, and having taken cold by walking rather later than usual, in

"The calm retreat,'

it attacked her with great violence, and within the space of three weeks, our lovely Emma was taken from us. At my last interview with her, which was only a few hours before her decease, she said, 'I am not afraid to die. The subject has long been familiar to me. It is divested of all terror. 'I know that my Redeemer liveth.' I en joy his presence this side the Jordan, and doubt not but the waters will divide when he calls me to pass through.'

"On seeing her mother weep, and her father retiring from the post of observation,' darkening every hour; she said with great composure, 'My dear parents, weep not for me. I shall soon, very soon, be released from all my pain, and see Him, 'whom having not seen, I love; in whom, though now I see him not, yet belieying, I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' 1 Peter i. 8. I leave you in this vale of sorrow, to ascend the mount of bliss; and I hope you will follow me. And oh, that He who has been the cause of my early death, may obtain mercy in that day, when we must stand together before the judgment seat.' She spoke but little after this; and at seven o'clock, the same evening, she said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Smiled,—and expired.

"Since her death, her parents, who are virtuous but not religious, have been inconsolable; they reproach themselves in the bitterest terms for the inducements which they threw in the way of the murderer of their daughter,

and the destroyer of their happiness; and though they had no doubt of her present felicity; yet, being ignorant of the nature of that felicity, and having no animating prospect of attaining it themselves, they sorrow as others who have no hope. I have visited them twice since the dear deceased left us; but grief has taken such an entire possession of their mind, that the words of consolation seem to aggravate its violence, and I fear, unless mercy interpose to prevent, that the yawning grave will soon open to receive them."

"Nothing," said Mr. Stevens, "gives such buoyancy to the mind, in the season of affliction, as communion with God. This holy exercise induces resignation, as well as submission to his will; raises up the soul above the conflicting elements of sorrow, into the tranquil regians of peace; and, by associating it with the unseen, yet not unfelt, realities of the eternal world, makes it unwilling to look for permanent and substantial happiness, amidst the fleeting possessions of earth."

"I was present," said Mr. Stevens, "when my dear sister, Mrs. Lewellin, lost her Eliza. She wept as she followed her remains to the tomb; but she did not repine. She said to me after the rites of sepulture were performed, as we sat together in the room in which the poor girl expired, If it had been the will of the Lord to have spared my child I would have received her back with gratitude; but as he has taken her to himself, I can bow and say,

I welcome all thy sovereign will:

For all that will is love;

And when I know not what thou dost,
I'll wait the light above.""

"Religion," said Mr. Ingleby, “has a fine effect on the mind in the day of prosperity, but its excellence is most visible in the season of adversity;-then it shines with peculiar radiance, demonstrating its super-human origin, by the omnipotence of its power, in moderating the intensity of grief, and inspiring the soul with a hope full of immortality."

W. Tyler, Printer, 5, Bridgewater Square.

[No. 9.

"As we sat enjoying the interchange of sacred thought and feeling, almost forgetting that we were inhabitants of a world which had fallen from an original state of purity and bliss, I observed an interesting looking stranger advancing towards us; and was not a little delighted on being informed that it was the Rev. Mr. Guion, of whom I had previously heard."

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS COURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE.

VISIT TO THE RECTORY.

"At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorn'd the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray."
GOLDSMITH.

WE took tea in a moss house which the venerable rector had constructed, and very tastefully adorned with his own hands. It stood on an eminence, which gave us a very extensive view of the adjacent scenery; while the trees and shrubs, which grew around it, screened us from the observation of others. The sun, which had been pouring down his scorching beams during the greater part of the day, was now gradually descending the western horizon, gilding the heavens and the earth with his rays. The birds were warbling their evening songs of praise to the Author of their being, the bees were pressing into their hives with the collected stores of the day; the plaintive voice of the turtle-dove fell softly on our ear, which, intermingling with the occasional cawing of the rooks, who were returning to their young with the fruits of their toil, gave to the evening a melancholy charm which the crowded haunts of fashionable life never. possessed.

As we sat, enjoying the interchange of sacred thought and feeling, almost forgetting that we were inhabitants of a world which had fallen from an original state of purity and bliss, I observed an interesting looking stranger advancing towards us; and was not a little delighted on being informed that it was the Rev. Mr. Guion, of whom I had previously heard.

This clergyman had passed through the University of Oxford with great eclat, was a most accomplished scholar,-possessed of a very superior understanding, -an admirer of polite literature in all its branches, and inherited a large fortune, which his father bequeathed him; but, when he entered on the discharge of his sacred functions, he was an entire

PRINTED BY W. SEARS, 45, GUTTER-LANE.