deal of meaning in what fell from my lips; for I had the authority of the word of God, for what I said was true: and this I will now more fully explain.

I said you were surrounded with danger: now, I read," Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour," 1 Pet. v. 8.

I told you that a letter had been sent to you. Now, if you look at this blessed book, you will find that many letters have been sent to you. All the Epistles are letters

written by the Holy Spirit, to teach us; and you will do well to read them more attentively than you have done.

I said that you would meet with trouble, because the Bible has said the same thing before me: "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward," Job v. 7.

I warned you that you had a deceitful friend, and so you have: "The heart is deceitful above all things," Jer. xvii. 9.

I said you were about to do a foolish thing; and my reason for thinking so was, because "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child," Prov. xxii. 15.

I said you did not know enough of your best Friend, and I said right; for the Bible declares, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me,” Isa. i. 2.

Did I not tell you that you had not been treated as you deserve? The Scriptures say, God "hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities," Psa. ciii. 10.

Did I not say, you must not expect to remain long in this habitation? Alas! the longest life is short; for, "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down," Job xiv. 1, 2.

I mentioned that one dwelt near you, ever ready to assist you. What says the word of God? "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth," Psa. cxlv. 18.

I spoke of your secret enemies; these are the world, the flesh, and the devil. I said that a Friend had suffered much on your account; this Friend is the Saviour, the Friend of sinners: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed," Isa. liii. 5.

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I said I hoped you would conquer all your enemies; and I trust that, through Christ, you will be enabled to do this: for the apostle Paul says, in the midst of trial and persecution, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us," Rom. viii. 37.

I told you you would go a long journey; and so you will, and how soon you cannot tell. You will pass from this world to another; and happy will it be if you can say with the apostle, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better," Phil. i. 21, 23.

I said you would be summoned on a trial; and the Scriptures say, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," 2 Cor. v. 10.

Lastly, I spoke to you about coming to high honour; and this all the followers of Jesus Christ, redeemed by him from all iniquity, shall receive. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory," Col. iii. 4.

And now, my dear children, having given you such good authority for all that I have advanced, you will perhaps pay the more attention to my concluding remark, which is, that the word of God is the only source of true knowledge respecting future events. The gipsies know no more of what will happen than yourselves. Among human follies, there is scarcely a greater one than the folly of fortune-telling; while hardly can you do a better thing than to search the Scriptures, and listen to the word of God.

SAY what you will, but there are sad mistakes made in judging of the character of young people. A quick, sharp, shrewd, clever girl often gets a great deal more credit than one that has double her humility, treble her diligence, and ten times her uprightness and integrity. If you have never heard Mary

Vale's account of her old schoolmistress, you shall hear it now; and that will set what I have said in a clearer point of view than before.

"I am going to tell you," said Mary Vale, "about my old schoolmistress, Mother Barnes, as we used to call her, who kept a day-school, and who, at the age of seventy years, could see everything that was done around her, and hear every word that was spoken. Never, sure, had an old lady so quick an eye and ear; and then she would never pass over a single fault.

"It was a common saying among us, 'Drop a pin in a corner, and Mother Barnes will see it, and hear it, and make you pick it up again.' She used to sit at a table, raised on a little stage, almost under the skylight; and being very tall, wearing a high cap, and being seated above us, in her great arm chair, she frightened every new scholar, and kept in order every old one.

"It seemed as though her very spectacles could see; for, whatever she might be doing, if any of us stirred from our places, or giggled, or made faces at each other, which sometimes we were naughty enough to do, we were sure to get a lecture from Mother Barnes. Some Iwould have it that she could see as well behind her back as before her face; and I will tell you the reason why they said so.

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