can indeed satisfy the heart,” and that if the experience of most of us has taught us to believe, that there is far more of conflict than of victory in the Christian warfare,—­more shadow than sunshine resting upon the path of our pilgrimage, most of the fault lies in our own wayward choice.  The child-like simplicity and serene faith of this young disciple, shall often use to rebuke our anxious fears, and charm away our disquietudes with the whisper—­“that sweet word, TRUST, tells all.”  Her early consecration of her all to the great work of advancing the Redeemer’s kingdom, shall rouse us who have less left of life to surrender, to redouble our efforts in spreading like “love and joy and peace,” over the earth, lest when it shall be said of her, “She hath done what she could,” it shall also be added, “She hath done more than they all.”

There has been no waste here,—­no sacrifice but that by which, in oriental alchemy, the bloom and the beauty of the flower of a day is transmitted into the imperishable odor, and its fragrance concentrated, in order that it may be again diffused abroad to rejoice a thousand hearts.  If any ask again, “To what purpose was this waste?”—­we answer, “The Lord had need of it.”

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We are indebted to God for the gift of Washington:  but we are no less indebted to him for the gift of his inestimable mother.  Had she been a weak and indulgent and unfaithful parent, the unchecked energies of Washington might have elevated him to the throne of a tyrant, or youthful disobedience might have prepared the way for a life of crime and a dishonored grave.

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Original.

INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG IN THE DOCTRINES AND PRECEPTS OF THE GOSPEL.

MRS. A. G. WHITTELSEY: 

DEAR MADAM—­It is among the recollections of my early youth, that your departed husband was pastor of one of the churches in the southern section of Litchfield County, Conn.  Among the distinguishing religious characteristics of that portion of country, at that period, was the soundness of the Congregational churches in the faith of the gospel:  the means for which, in diligent use, were, the faithful preaching of the gospel in its great and fundamental doctrines and precepts; and catechetical instruction, in the family and in the school.  I am not informed as to the present habits there, on the latter means.  But knowing what was the practice, extensively, in regard to the instruction of children and youth, and what its effects on the interests of sound piety and morals in those days, I feel myself standing on firm ground for urging upon the readers of your Magazine, the importance of the instruction of the young in the doctrines and duties of the gospel.  The position taken in your Magazine, on that great and important subject, Infant Baptism, is one which you will find approved and sustained by all who fully appreciate the means for bringing the sons and daughters of the Church to Christ.  I hope that in its pages will also be inculcated all those great and distinguishing doctrines and commands of our holy religion, which, in the Bible, and in the minds of all sound and faithful men, and all sound confessions of Christian faith, stand inseparably associated with Infant Baptism.