In the worship of God, while the body is upon the knee, the soul ought to be upon the wing.- Ralph Venning.

Original.

A MOTHER'S PRAYER.

BY REV. LEONARD P. FROST.

WELL has the mind, baptized in inspiration's fount, penned words of living light, to strengthen the faith of short-sighted mortals, namely, 'the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much.' And what prayer more fervent, more effectual, than hers who remembers, before the throne of the Eternal, her dear children? Heaven must be propitious to one, who, at

'Day's decline and eve's approach,'

teaches her little ones to say 'Our Father,' and points them to that happy land

'Which sorrow ne'er invades.'

The infant mind easily receives impressions of divine truth; and, unlike the impressions of after years, they are not easily effaced. The memory of hours spent with a pious mother will remain in the mind long after the voice of instruction is silent in death. Other and evil influences may affect the heart; listening to the voice of the tempter may defile it; those sunny hours of heavenly impression may appear to be forgotten; but it is not so; they exist, and the thought of those hours, the thought

'A mother's early prayers were mine,'

has often led the wanderer back to the fold of Christ. This is not inference, simply, drawn from the power of a mother's holy love, or from a full belief in the theory of prevailing faith, but practical truth, attested by thousands of witnesses.

Nearly twenty years since there gathered round the dying couch of a Christian mother, eight children; soon, too soon, (if mortals might judge,) to be left without a mother's care-a mother's prayers. In the language of those who 'judge not righteous judgment,' they were to be left, in a cold, unfeeling world, orphans — unsheltered, defenceless. True, a pious father might feel, might pray, might protect. But it would not be a mother's tender feeling, a mother's devoted prayer, a mother's unfailing protection. Such forgot that there is One' who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, and hears

the ravens when they cry;' One, who, by the word of inspiration, saith, 'cast thy bread upon the waters and thou shalt find it after many days;' One, who, to show the power of faith, permits the faithful, being dead, yet to speak. She who was now dying, had not only professed to love the Saviour, but had adorned that profession by a holy life. In early life she gave her heart to the Saviour. She loved religion for its loveliness, and exhibited its graces, not merely to be an example to others, but from the overflowing of the love which filled her soul and was the spring of all her actions. At the family altar, and in the social circle, her prayers bespoke a faith which takes no denial. The mention of her name here, even after the lapse of twenty years, would cause tears of sorrow to start from many an eye, and the sincere prayer to arise from many a heart, 'let me meet her in heaven.'

Her children were the objects of deep solicitude and tender prayer. As, in prattling infancy, one by one she clasped them to her breast, she made an offering of them to God. And when they first learned to speak, their infant lips were taught to speak a Saviour's worthy name. As they increased in years, spiritual food suitable for their tender minds was given them. She never sought to excite their fears by portraying to them the miseries of the world of woe. Her severest censure was, 'the Lord cannot love you now.' With a countenance always irradiated with heavenly truth, this was enough. The young hearts melted into tenderness, and sought reconciliation and favor with God.

I have said that children were gathered round the death-bed of this mother. O, what a death-bed! It was as though angels hovered round to attend the freed spirit to its eternal rest. To such as might understand a dying mother's word, she gave advice, to refrain from sin, to love the Bible, and to meet her in heaven. Others she embraced in fervent prayer, and left them with their heavenly Father. To a friend she said, 'I have not the shadow of a doubt of meeting children in heaven.' It was her faith in prayer which gave

all my

her this assurance.

Triumphant was her death! And, if life and death are evidence, abundant was her entrance to the realms of blessedness.

Years passed on, and those children were scattered far from paternal reproof and paternal love. And more than this, they wandered far from the fold of God. But amid scenes of mirth and

revelry, of riot and profligacy, a voice, speaking louder to each heart than the sound of music and dancing, louder even than the warring passions of the estranged mind, was heard saying, 'thy mother prayed for thee.' One by one the wanderers have returned, and sought the Shepherd's peaceful fold. And each, as seated at Jesus' feet, clothed and in a right mind, has said, 'my mother's prayers brought me hither.' One has gone,

'As melts fair Venus in the light of day.'

The winds of her eighteenth winter have blown over her silent resting place. Praise lingered last on her dying lips. It is well with her. Two, the only sons, minister at the altar of the Crucified, and point the lost to Calvary. The rest all hope

'To meet, a family in heaven.'

Christian mothers! in early life present your children to the Lord. The same faith and prayer will give the same assurance and the same blessed results.

Wayland, Mass., Jan., 1845.

CONSCIENCE. A tender conscience is like the apple of a man's eye the least dust which enters it, affects it. There is no surer and better way to know whether our consciences are dead and stupid, than to observe what impression small sins make upon them; if we are not very careful to avoid all appearance of evil, and to shun whatever looks like sin; if we are not so much troubled at the vanity of our thoughts and words, at the rising up of sinful motions and desires in us, as we have been formerly, we may then conclude that our hearts are hardened, and our consciences are stupefying — for a tender conscience will no more allow of small than of great sins. Bishop Hopkins.

BEAUTIFUL THOUGHT. - Childhood is like a mirror, catching and reflecting images from all around it. Remember that an impious or profane thought, uttered by a parent's lip, may operate upon the young heart like a careless spray of water thrown upon polished steel, staining it with rust which no after scouring can efface.

CHRISTIANITY.

CHRISTIANITY, like a child, goes wandering over the world. Fearless in its innocence, it is not abashed before princes, or confounded by the wisdom of synods. Before it the bloodstained warrior sheaths his sword, and plucks the laurel from his brow; the midnight murderer turns from his purpose, and like the heartsmitten disciple goes out and weeps bitterly. It brings liberty to the captive, joy to the mourner, freedom to the slave, repentance and forgiveness to the sinner, hope to the faint-hearted, and assurance to the dying. It enters the hut of the poor, and sits down with them and their children; it makes them contented in the midst of privations, and leaves behind an everlasting blessing. It walks through great cities amid all their pomp and splendor, their imaginable pride and their unutterable misery, a purifying, ennobling, correcting, and redeeming angel. It is alike the beautiful companion of childhood, and the comfortable associate of age. It ennobles the noble; gives wisdom to the wise; and new grace to the lovely. The patriot, the priest, the poet, and the eloquent man, all derive their sublime power from its influence. - Mary Howitt.

LITERARY NOTICES.

Lovers and HUSBANDS: A Story of Married Life. — By T. S. Arthur. New York City: Harper & Brothers. 1845.

MARRIED AND SINGLE: or Marriage and Celibacy contrasted, in a Series of Domestic Pictures. By T. S. Arthur. New York City: Harper & Brothers. 1845.

The author of these small, but attractive volumes, is a well-known popular writer. The style is conversational; and, although the stories are fictitious, they are faithful delineations of character, and well calculated to make a good impression. For sale by Waite, Pierce, & Co., No. 1 Cornhill.

THIRLWALL'S HISTORY OF GREECE. Harper & Brothers.

To be completed in eight numbers, of about 130 pages each. The fifth number is published, which carries the history forward to the death of Philip of Macedon. For sale as above.