or afflictive, either as a special blessing from the hand of God, to support and encourage His believing people, or as a Fatherly chastisement, to punish their iniquities, and excite them to greater piety and watchfulness.  ‘It pleased God,’ said Edward Winslow, in speaking of this inflict ion, ’to send a great dearth for our further punishment.’  Under this conviction, the congregation were called on by the Governor and the elders to set apart a day for special humiliation and prayer, in order to entreat the Lord to remove from them his chastening hand, and to ‘send a gracious rain upon His inheritance.’

The call was universally obeyed; and men, women, and children assembled themselves together, fasting, on ‘the Burying Hill,’ to listen to the solemn address delivered by Brewster, and to unite in fervent prayers and humble confessions to their God and Father.  The sky that morning was clear and bright as ever; and the sun walked in unclouded brilliance and majesty through the deep blue vault of heaven.  For eight hours, the devotions of the assembly continued almost without interruption; and it seemed as if ’none regarded, neither was there any that answered.’  But as the sun was sinking towards the western horizon, a cloud, ‘as it were a man’s hand,’ was seen to rise as if to meet the glowing orb; and, ere he sank, his rays were obscured by a heavy bank of clouds.  Joy and gratitude now filled the breasts of the suppliants, and the dim and anxious eye of many a mother, who had watched the declining forms of her little ones in silent anguish, was lighted up with hope, and glistened with a tear of thankfulness.  Such, indeed, had been the sufferings of the younger children, although the greatest sacrifices had been made by their parents in order to provide them with the food so necessary to their existence, that Helen had frequently poured forth her heartfelt thanksgivings to her Heavenly Father, that He had seen fit to remove her gentle and idolized Ludovico from a scene of so much distress; and had called him away to a land where want, as well as sorrow, is unknown, in a manner, and at a time, which allowed her to ensure his ease and comfort to the last.  To have seen her darling pine for food, which she could not procure for him—­to have watched that fondly-cherished child sinking into his grave from the actual want of proper nourishment, and to know that in the land they had abandoned all that was needed to prolong his precious life was teeming in profusion—­would, she weakly thought, have been more than her faith could have endured.  But Helen erred in that doubting thought.  She was a Christian: and had her Lord and Savior seen fit thus to try her, He would also have given her grace to meet the trial as a Christian; for His promise to each one of His people is sure:  ’As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.’