a song of words, but only the spontaneous out-pouring of a pure and rapturous life. Perhaps angels have a key to it; for surely none less pure than they, might hope to interpret all the mysteries of the infant's heart. But however this may be, one thing is not matter of conjecture; we know that this soft buzzing of childhood soliloquizing in its play is most distinctly audible there, where the shouts and clamors of striving multitudes and warring hosts never reach; and that it mingles much of sweetness in the swelling symphony that rises up perpetually from nature's choir, and from holy and happy beings throughout the illimitable clusters of rejoicing and adoring spheres.

Delight and wonder shine in his roving eye and on his glowing cheek; and a smile of confidence and reality, that has never yet been shadowed by the black wing of one ill-omened doubt, plays on his peaceful brow. All is new and charming to him, as he comes forward through the gateway of life. This is the first summer that he has noticed the beauty of the flowers, and even the pebble that sparkles at his feet is more to him than the sun to many an older mind. The summer-house at the bottom of the garden seems to him a great way off; and the wall that encloses the paternal acres, to his satisfied soul, embraces all fulness, and seems like the boundaries of being.

Occasionally he pauses, as if the Spirit of GOD were gently whispering some message of love to his soul, or some celestial vision were flashing across his unruffled mind, like the sudden gleam of a meteor on the mirror of the placid lake.

I almost weep as I trace his tiny foot-prints on the soft ground; for the thought comes over me, that even as I am watching him, some elder brother once took reverent note of me, when my angel beheld the face of my Father who is in Heaven, and when my every pulse kept time and tune with the Perfect Will.

But now his father and mother, soon missing him when he is absent from their sight, come out arm-in-arm to meet him; leading along his younger sister, just learning to walk; and he, clapping his little hands, and uttering a shout of joy as he sees them approaching, darts forward to meet them, and is soon folded in their loving embrace. So, thought I, should my soul rush toward the open bosom of its heavenly Parent. And so, doubtless, do fly to his embrace the myriads of little children, who speed away from our lovely tabernacles, with a haste that seems so cruel to us who are left behind. Have they not caught a glimpse of His smile, and said in spirit, 'Let me leave this lower world untried, for be it as beautiful and good as it may, my Father, I had rather dwell with Thee;' till God has heard their cry and taken them home? Then, their being knows no night. But it is otherwise with those who stay. And yet I know not which is to be preferred; to live on through the Night to a New Morn, or to have our first Dawn sealed to immortality.

II. THE NIGHT.

Ar the close of one of the golden days of autumn, a Sister and Brother, clad in deep mourning for both their parents, who had died within the year, ascended, hand-in-hand, an irregular and rocky eminence, that rising abruptly from the road-side directly opposite to a neat white cot

tage, which they called home, commanded an extensive and enchanting view. Having gained the summit, they stood in affectionate embrace, leaning against the bars of a rude old fence covered with lichens, which had formerly been the boundary of their twilight ramble, intently watching the splendid pageant that was preparing in the western sky.

To say that the former was beautiful, would be leaving the greater part untold. Hers was all the rich bloom of perfect health; yet as delicate and pure as that which flushes the sweet-briar rose, which feeds upon the dew and assimilates by sacred processes the purest nutriment from the bosom of nature. As to her countenance, no one marked whether the features were regular and finely turnéd, for they were all alive with soul; nay, the spirit seemed to come out and gleam and play upon the surface, like a transparent veil of auroral light; and this, rather than any lines of her face, gave one his impression of her beauty. She was evidently younger than the brother, upon whose shoulder her cheek rested, who could not have long passed the boundary between youth and manhood, but yet was pale and dejected; and trode the earth like a disappointed and weary traveller, who finds the way of his pilgrimage a desert of deep sand, whose springs are dry.

'Behold, dearest brother,' whispered a voice like the linnet's, 'how majestically the setting sun gathers about him the broad floating mantle of his glory, as he sinks, sinks, sinks behind those distant hills! And see how the host of clouds circle around his retiring chariot, to wave adieu with their fleecy banners, and gild their wings in his parting smile, as they crown him king of this splendid day! Come, beloved, and let us together taste, as we used to do, the luxury of silent adoration at eventide, on this mountain-altar of our youthful devotions. Let me feel, once more, that thy whole heart is flowing out with mine, to mingle in sweet sympathy with this peaceful glow of nature, and become absorbed for a blissful hour in the loving spirit of the Universe. Come, brother, give free wing again to that gay fancy that once kept equal pace with my own, and let our souls fly on and on, even to the Heaven of Heavens, through the celestial gate that the Lord of day has opened before us into the region of the Blessed. See! see! there are those same fairy islands, in that calm, yellow sea, to which you used to point my eye in those happy days, when father and mother were with us, and before you had left our humble roof for the mighty world. Come, and let us launch to-night our spirit-barks with the adventurous confidence of God's innocent children, and pay angel-like visits to their peaceful shores. That bold and towering headland be your place of pilgrimage: Yon little Archipelago I will explore. Away! away! before the illusion has vanished, and let us describe to each other what we see in our imaginary tour.'

Nay, sweet sister, you must to fairy-land alone to-night. But go, and Heaven with all its bright visions attend you! Those Eden-like pictures which you describe, I have now no eye to see. In the press of the world my soul has lost its wings. Joy and peace, and a confiding faith once mine, as always yours are now but a dim memory in the past, in the future a dimmer hope; while gloom and doubt and a double-self are my realities. And yet, thank God! one reality that

has in itself much of heaven and of childhood, I press to my heart in thee !'

As he spoke, he kissed her forehead, and a tear dropped unnoticed upon her glossy ringlets.

.

But I would not ruffle thy affectionate bosom with even the mention of my care. Suffice it, sister, for thee to know that my heart is not shut nor cold to thyself. But seek not to descend into the dark prison-house of my mind, to explore its gloomy secrets. They are not for such as thou art to read. Seek not to lighten my melancholy by sharing it, but rather to lead me out of myself by the continual sunshine of thine own joy. Be thyself still, and so do the kindest office thou canst do for me.'

Indeed, brother, I know not the meaning of your strange words; and yet I will try to do as you desire. Only I hope it is not REMORSE which makes you thus unhappy; for that I have heard is terrible, terrible indeed to bear. But that it cannot be with thee. I know nothing of the world into which you have been for seven years so weary to me; but I do not believe it has seductions strong and cunning enough to have drawn your feet aside from the narrow way. Remorse? Oh no, it is not that! But look abroad yet once more; even if it be the consciousness of wrong that embitters thy spirit; and see, see! how insignia of love, and forgiveness, and promise, illuminate the whole sky, and gild the whole earth; and even, my brother, are reflected from thine own anxious brow, as a sacred sign that thou too art sprinkled with the universal baptism of the Creator's mercy. Hail, the beautiful omen! GOD smiles his evening smile on thee, on thee- as on me, as on all. Open thine eye to see and thy heart to feel, for if He indeed smiles upon thy soul, be its darkness what it may, it will speedily give place to the serene and fadeless Light of Life!'

'Sister, the tones of an Angel of Mercy are in thy voice; and while thou hast been singing this psalm of Heaven in my ear, a dim vision of the Eternal Love has passed before me, for the first time these many months. But it is gone already gone. Peace and this bosom are no longer as one. But pray for me, beloved; and let this be the burden of thy prayer; that the faith of childhood may come back to me—that my soul may be born again."

But now the sun had set. Beautiful Night was calmly unfurling her spangled curtain before the splendid scenery of the west; and slowly and silently the orphans went down to their home.

The Boy of the garden was the Man of the mount.

The story of his twenty-two years there is no need to tell. Alas! that it should be a history so often read as to require no chronicler. Even while under the shelter of the vine and fig-tree of his birth-place, the serpent had beguiled him; but a mother and a father watched over him prayerfully, and he did not fall. A few more summers shed their sunshine upon his heart, and strewed their blossoms beneath his feet, when the day arrived on which he must step forth from the influence of his early home, to be tried and buffeted by a cold and traitorous world. Then he heard a language which he understood not; strange and wild desires and imaginations crept into his breast; passions burned, lusts brooded, doubts haunted; and in the excitement and confusion, the

crown of innocence dropped from his brow; the seal of Heaven faded from his forehead, the light of his soul grew dim; and behold it was NIGHT. The death of his parents, who bequeathed to him and his sister a sufficient estate, and the care of that sister, recalled and kept him from the scenes of his business and the influence of his thoughtless companions in the city. In retirement and sorrow, and in the pure society of that lovely being, who was now dearer than ever to his heart; his thoughts naturally turned inward; the injuries which his character had suffered were revealed to him; the unworthiness of his recent career filled him with regret and shame; and his spirit, as we have seen, dwelt in darkness.

AUTUMN had given place to winter. The last day of the year 17. was Saturday. It was marked by storm and excessive gloom, which, together with the sobering influence of the season, operated to produce general feeling of depression, which very few possessed sufficient elasticity of spirits to resist. It seemed as if Nature had put on mourning, and taken up the bitter wail for the final flight of hours big with eternal consequences to the destiny of man: or, as if she were mourning over the dark record to which the Recording Angel was about to affix his irrevocable seal.

Night suddenly leading in her shadowy armies, easily overpowered the languid train of retreating Day, and too soon invaded his lawful dominion. At early evening total darkness would have reigned in the town of B, but for the faint rays that gleamed from fifty humble fire-sides; which, from a benevolent regard to the comfort of the wayfarer, were allowed to stream unobstructed through every pane; and so shining, seemed like a cluster of stars. A very little way from the village, one could have discerned only so many sparkling points; and yet would have argued undoubtingly that there were minds to kindle and feed these lights; and comfortable hearths and domestic groups. Who then shall forbid the soul of earth's weary traveller, as he looks up at the stars, to seek there also intelligent and loving beings, and to be assured of pleasant and peaceful homes?

Of all these village fires, none shed its light upon a lovelier scene than that which angels, well-pleased, contemplated as they encamped round about the orphan's dwelling. The sister and the brother were kneeling side by side at their evening devotions. A large family Bible lay open upon the table. Two portraits, whose gilded frames touched each other, and of which, but for their more youthful expression, the two worshippers might have been taken for the originals, hung against the wall. The voice of the brother only was audible. His words were, from first to last, but the breathing forth of thankfulness, deep, heart-felt thankfulness for countless precious gifts; but most of all, that the darkness of his soul had passed away, and the sweet beams of the heavenly DayStar risen upon it.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,' said he, with all the rich significance of Israel's Psalmist, whose experiences were not alto

Thou hast brought
Thou hast visited

gether unlike his own, then Thou knewest my path. me up out of an horrible pit and out of the miry clay. me with Thy marvellous loving kindness; Thou hast blotted out all my transgressions; Thou hast restored unto me the joy of Thy salvation. We will sing of Thy Mercies forever. We will sing praises unto God, even our own GOD, so long as we have any being.'

THE Sabbath sun arose upon a scene of surpassing splendor; which, by the ministry of yesterday's dark and tempestuous night, while human hearts had been oppressed with gloom, a kind Providence had been preparing to delight his children on the morning of the New Year. The trees and shrubs and stones shone as if they were of crystal. The ground was paved as it were with burnished steel. The whole earth was sparkling like a bride in diamonds. None could resist the exhilarating influence of the brisk air. The blind strove to imagine the glory they could not see. And even those who are habitually indifferent to the various beauties of the wonderful creation, in which, by a more wonderful mercy they are suffered to live, looked out and lingered, and looked out again, and involuntarily opened their cold lips to exclaim, 'How glorious!'

Seldom has the altar in the small and neat village church of B— been encircled with a larger or more devout company of worshippers, than on the morning of that New-Year's Sabbath. And the venerable pastor, whose pure white locks, with their silvery lustre, harmonized well with the brilliancy of the winter landscape, and seemed to designate him as a proper priest to minister in such a scene, never uttered his gracious and solemn message with more impressive eloquence. And when, at the close of the sermon, he invited all who loved their REDEEMER to remain and partake together of the table which was spread before them, and extended his arms to embrace all his flock in his fervent benediction, his voice was tremulous with excess of love, and a tear fell on the record of the Saviour's death.

Few had the heart to turn away, and many staid that day who had never staid before. Among them were a youth and maiden, upon whom the eyes of the pastor rested with an expression of intense interest. He called them by name, and arm-in-arm they stood before the table. He raised his eyes to. Heaven, and they meekly bowed their heads, whilst he prayed that the Dove of Peace would hover over them, and smile upon their sincere profession, and accept their living sacrifice. Then he sprinkled the pure water upon their foreheads, and laid his hands upon them, and twice, ay thrice, pronounced a blessing.

And now, behold, the crown of childhood's faith and love, that the world had stolen, CHRIST restores; but inwoven with new graces and joys that can no more be taken away: while all who look upon the countenance of the young man behold a radiance bright and holy as that which shone on the face of the Boy of the Garden; and his own heart, with deep gratitude, feels that it is gilded by the joyous beams of a NEW AND AN EVERLASTING MORNING.

Now the great mystery of life is made plain to him. He had lost himself in the wilderness, but CHRIST has sought after him and brought