served only to render more obdurate the heart of the wife, was the means of melting the heart of the niece; of destroying those affections for the world which menaced her utter and eternal ruin, and thus giving opportunity to the germ of spiritual life to revive and put forth afresh new blossoms in the returning spring.

This dreadful death of her uncle struck terror into the heart of Mary, revived all her former convictions, and filled her soul with unspeakable distress. So agonizing were the visitations of her conscience, that for a time it almost filled her with despondency. She feared now that she should in like manner be forsaken by God. To her it seemed as if she had committed the unpardonable sin, and that there remained for her now nothing but "fearful looking for of wrath and fiery indignation, which should devour the adversary." She indulged in the most bitter self-reproach; she reviewed her former days with regret, and wished that it were with her as in months past.

Yet in the midst of this anguish did she not abandon herself to despair. Some glimmering of hope yet dawned upon her mind, while with earnest prayer she betook herself unto the throne of mercy. She read her Bible, and

thought of the prodigal whose return was welcomed with such kindness to the paternal roofof Peter, whom the Saviour so graciously pardoned; this encouraged her. And she resolved at all events she would not rest till she found some token of reconciliation with her offended God.

Thus her convictions and distresses proved ultimately to be beneficial. These thorns and briers hedged up the way in which she was going, and prevented her falling into perdition. These bitternesses of heart proved medicinal to her spirits; her anguish and convictions were the paternal voice of her father in heaven calling unto her and saying-"Know therefore that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God."

There is no distress of spirit greater than that of the backslider who is filled with his own ways. Painful as is the anguish of the sinner when first he discovers his ruined state, and feels the terrors of the Almighty falling upon him, it is by no means comparable to that of the soul which is awakened and arrested in its backslidings from God. For then the conviction of former guilt is aggravated by the idea of his treason and infidelity, his greater danger and

deserts, together with the fear lest God in anger should say, "I will not be your God. You have chosen your own ways, I also will choose your delusions."

Mary found it to be so. Long was she the subject of great inward conflicts; but these conflicts were beneficial. They served to show her the insufficiency of all earthly good-the evil and malignancy of sin, which will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder. These inward convulsions served like the storms in nature, which, while they shake the welkin, purify the atmosphere from its floating and poisonous vapours, and while they shake the tree and strip it for a season of its leafy honours, cause it to strike its roots more deeply and firmly in the soil.

At length, by reading the blessed word and waiting upon her God, Mary again found rest and peace for her soul. She met with consolation in reading that tender expostulation— "Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings, saith the Lord;" and her heart responded-"Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God."

Thus taught the danger of tampering with the world, she broke off from all its vain and

sinful amusements; and being made sensible of her own impotence, she vowed and resolved now only in dependance upon divine grace. Her conscience had become tender; her jealousy of self more alive; she was strengthened, settled, and established in the ways of God.

Many were the trials she had to endure in thus acting, and in the family of her aunt maintaining a decisive stand for piety; but through divine grace she was enabled to persevere. She had deliberately chosen the God of her pious parents and sister for her God, and under the influence of a grateful heart, felt she could never do enough to evince her grateful love to that kind Providence, which in the case of her sister and self had so faithfully redeemed his word, that in "Him the fatherless findeth mercy."

Indeed, the whole of this narrative is a striking illustration of the fidelity of God and of his superintending providence. It calls upon us to settle it in our minds that the Lord reigneth; that all things are subject to his guidance and control, and that all "our times are in his hands." We wonder and are delighted with the overruling power of Divine Providence, as recorded in the histories of Joseph and

Moses, and the other patriarchs; but Jehovah is the same God still. The dispensations of his providence in the present day are not less wonderful than in former times, but we neglect to observe and study them. What lessons and solace should we obtain, if we only carefully watched the procedure of the dispensations of the universe! We should find the truth of the quaint observation of an old divine, who said, "He that will eye providence shall never want providence to eye."

True it is, that its procedure may sometimes be dark and mysterious, since God's ways are not as our ways; but that renders it far more interesting, for as we never quarrel with the poet for the dark and perplexing scenes in his drama, because we know that the more the plot thickens, the greater the pleasure when all is unfolded-as we do not find fault with the composer, because in his piece of music there are some notes which are harsh, since they serve to heighten the melody of the whole; so, neither should we be dissatisfied with the divine procedure because there are dark and intricate scenes therein, since we find at the last, that "to the upright there ariseth light out of darkness."