• Did

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The Child's Guardian.

Now shall my voice prepare to praise
The Guardian of my infant days;
Who gave my little heart to heat,
Mine eyes the morning light to meet.
He taught my feet to press the ground,
Mine ear to catch the passing sound;,
And while my trembling voice was weak,
He loos'd my infant tongue to speak.
My thoughts were like the morning
light,

When first it shines upon the night:
A feeble, dim, uncertain ray,
The promise of a future day.

And first my mother's face I knew,
Turn'd tow'rds me with affection true;
Her gentle touch, her soothing voice,
Taught my young bosom to rejoice.
But soon these shadows fled away,
And Reason dawns to perfect day;
I learn to read his sacred word,
To fear his name, to serve the Lord.
Still as my years increasing roll,
And wisdom strengthens in my soul,
With growing zeal my tongue shall
praise

The Guardian of my infant days!

W. B. C.

of high Birth and great Expectations. I HOPE my dear Lady will hear

A hint of advice from a friend, Who loves her; yet cannot but fear These verses, perhaps, may offend.

he answered G. F.

The world may look pleasing and fair:
Its flatteries do not believe;
For every sweet has its spare,

And flatterers always deceive.
Earth's vanities last but a while, -

Then look for your portion above;
Felicity dwells in his smile
Whose name and whose nature is
Love!

Bid all your gay passions be still,
And look unto Jesus for rest;
Know him, and submit to his will;

And then you are sure to be blest!
His word is a source of delight

When read with attention and care; Muse on it by day and by night, And mingle your musings with pray'r. The mighty Redeemer will save

The sinner who trusts in his blood; Himself for our ransom he gave, That thus he might bring us to God. To him, my dear Lady, apply,

Without hesitation or doubt; Your suit he will never deny, -The comer he never casts out! Don't wonder to be thus addrest By one far advanced in years: Such tenderness dwells in my breast, 1 mingle the ink with my tears. While life's dearest comforts you taste, May God from all evil defend, And crown you with glory at last! This, this is the wish of your friend.

F.

MRS. MARTHA HAWKES,

OF PICCADILLY, LONDON,

died August 14, 1808, aged 63*. "I have now to notice the character, temper, and death of one, whose experience, and whose practice, for a long series of years, had furnished unequivocal evidence that she was a Christian of the right stamp; and had good ground for adopting the language of the text, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' What little I shall say about our departed friend, will not so much respect what she said, as how she walked with God, and adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour.

It was her privilege to be born of parents who knew the excellency of true religion, and who felt it an indispensable obligation to train up their children in the fear of the Lord. She appears to have been an apt scholar in regard to spiritual instruction. Her mind was well stored with Scripture, and devotional hymns; and she always spake of her early impressions with great pleasure and gratitude.-Let this encourage Christian parents to persevere in teaching their children; and let the young cherish instruc tion, under an assurance that they will reap the benefit of it through all their riper years,

What she knew of religion in early life, was not, in her, what it has been in many who have had the same advantages, merely an external acquaintance with it; but, in her, the grace and power of Jesus were abundantly discovered. Those who knew her best, bear tes timony to her great seriousness of spirit, and unreserved devotedness to her God and Saviour; from which it does not appear she swerved, either in heart or practice, during a leng profession, the greater

part of which has been spent in the metropolis, and in a state of worldly prosperity; towards which prosperity, her own persevering industry and honourable frugality, under Providence, contributed not a little.

Close as was her attention to the duties of domestic life, in the early period of her settling in the metropolis, and extensive as was her intercourse with a large circle of Christian friends, yet she was in all circumstances so sensible of the importance of closet religion, that she scrupulously watched for oppor tunities. Nor was this a mere sense of duty: she took delight in retiring to read her Bible, and commune with God and her own heart; and she appears to have been much benefited; for the more she conversed with these, the more powerfully she exemplified the temper of her divine Master. So far was she from supposing that closet-religion superseded the necessity of public worship, that if she was well, and in town, her seat in this place of worship was, of all others, I believe, most seldom vacant; and what I would especially notice is, her early attendance. In this she was worthy of imitation; for, assuredly, before one syliable is uttered in a place of worship Try the minister, the whole congregation should be in their places.

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She was not only a humble and a serious Christian in the church, but she carried religion with her into her family: every department she had to fil, she filled honourably;

aud all the duties she had to dis

charge, she discharged punctually :

all she was, and all she did there, were not only worthy of her as a Christian, but excited the esteem of every individual in a very large family. In short, among all the excellent Christian females that I have

known, I have not found any superior to her in the seriousness of her general conversation, affability to her equals, and kindness to her inferiors.

In her general intercourse with society, she conducted herself in the most honourable and beneficial manner:- she was humane to the afflicted, liberal to the indigent, and courteous to all and in all the good she accomplished (and it was not little) she suffered not to let her left band knew what her right hand did. Matth. v. 3.

The general state of her mind was so spiritual, that one might truly say, her" conversation was in Heaven." Her mind was almost always ruminating on the things of God; and she was free to converse about them. I have witnessed her

deep acquaintance with experimental religion, her great solicitude to live near to, and walk with, God; and to be fully prepared for the moment when her Lord should come and take her home to his heavenly kingdom..

Whilst at home, in the church, and in the world, she was thus ma

nifesting the power of the Gospel, and had the unanimous testimony of all who knew her, that she served the Lord in sincerity and truth, she was, the most humble and lowly of Christians-complaining of the remaining evils of her heart, her manifold defects in duty, and devoutly ascribing all she knew and joyed in religion, to the grace and power of Jesus.

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The last scenes of her mortal existence were tranquil, serious, and humble, as might have been expected. Through a long-protracted and truly painful illness, which báffled all the efforts of human skill, she invariably discovered the spirit of patience and resignation; frequently saying, The will of the Lord be done; and expressing her desire that the Lord might be glorified, whether by her life or by her death, as he should think best.

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Owing to a general impression on the minds of her friends, that although her disease might be fatal, yet that it would be extremely lingering, the many weighty sayings

she uttered in conversation were not considered as falling from the lips of a dying Christian; and, of course, were not treasured up in their memories. Seeing her departure was so unexpected, I esteem myself happy in having had a very interesting conversation with her only 24 hours before she died. In this conversation she opened her mind to me with great freedom concerning the temptations and conflicts she had in regard to death, the fear of which sometimes harrasted her; but at the same time observing, that she knew in whom she had believed: and, after expressing her present confidence in God, she quoted the following verse with great vivacity and emphasis:

A debtor to mercy alone,' &c. She did not possess, in her last illness, any elevated or triumphant calm and unshaken joy; but a confidence in the grace and atonement of Jesus, produce a strong and settled peace of mind, and a cheerful hope of eternal glory. After some more conversation about the probable issue of her affliction, and the state of her soul, during which she more free and lively spoke in a manner than usual, she closed the conversation with these excellent lines of the poet :

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm, On thy kind arms I fall; Be thou my strength and righteousness, My Jesus and my all.'

The final scene, in the morning, was as calm as that of the preceding afternoon; uttering some of the same sentiments, and repeating the same hymns. Although she had been restless in the night, yet she was not thought worse than usual; and when her friends around her had not the least suspicion of her immediate dissolution, she suddenly sunk into the arms of death (I might rather say, fell asleep in Jesus) and, without one convulsive pang, or one distressing groan, without stopping so much as to say

Farewell to her dearest relatives, she silently withdrew from our dark and miserable world, to enter upon an existence of infinite and eternal blessedness, in the presence of that

glorious Jesus, whom, through life and in death, she loved and adored as her Lord and Redeemer.-Surely, thus to die, may be said to be gain!'

JANE TALMADGE.

JANE TALMADGE, a young woman, about 27 years of age, died June 2, 1808, at Portsea. Her short his tory is an illustration of the baneful effects of ignorance, the blessing of being associated with Christians, the usefulness of distributing Religious Tracts, and the great advantage of private instruction. She was a poor uneducated girl, brought ep in a country village, where she had no one to care for her soul. Her parents, anxious only for the temporal welfare of their children, had totally_neglected to teach her to read. Prompted by necessity, and by a laudable wish not to burden her parents, she came more than 40 miles to Portsmouth, while she was very young, in quest of a situation for her maintenance. Here it was her happiness to be engaged as the servant of Mr. and Mrs. Lucas. These were elderly persons, of great piety and exemplary conduct. When they had received this girl into their service, they very properly considered that an important charge was committed to them by Him who orders the different ranks of society, and ordains that superiors should be, in a considerable degree, responsible to God for their inferiors. Her mistress, finding that she had no knowledge even of her letters, immediately began to teach her to read. She formed a resolution that her servant should not leave her house till she could read her Bible. had lived in a family for some time, as an under-servant, where, from the official character of her master, it might have been reasonably expected that some attention would have been paid to her improvement, and especially to her moral and religious character; but both of these had been totally neglected. Her ignorance was so gross, that when her mistress asked her, if she were to die, what she thought would become of her soul, she re

Jane

plied, I do not know:' but she has several times since assured me, that she did not then understand the meaning of the word soul; nor did she know that she possessed any principle distinct from her body, or that she should survive the present; state. This may teach us, that the unlettered peasant and the learned materialist, more nearly resemble each other than the philosopher would willingly admit: at the same time, it should suggest to those who instruct others, the necessity of satisfying themselves that those they teach, clearly understand the terms by which they try to convey ideas to their minds, or the time and labour of the teacher must necessarity be lost.

This young woman had a kind instructor in Mrs. Lucas; who, by the simplest means, gradually informed her mind, and taught her to road. Though she constantly attended the preaching of the gospel, nothing left any lasting impression upon her heart, till her mistress gave her a religious Tract; which, being a narrative of interesting facts, and written in a style suited to her capacity, she readily understood. By this Tract, the Lord was pleased to fix a deep and lasting concern on her soul about her salvation. After reading this, she became evidently serious. Her master and mistress watched the state of her mind, her temper and conduct, with parental tenderness; and readily afforded her such instruction as the distress of her mind rendered necessary. In a suitable time, she was, by the recommendation of her master, who is a deacon of the church, admitted to the table of the Lord. Soon after this, her mistress, on a Sabbath-day morning, while preparing to go to the instruction of the Sunday-school children, was seized with a paralytic stroke, and died the next morning.

Mrs. Lucas was one of the excellent of the earth :' a judicious woman, and a mother in Israel.' Just such a prudent, pious, friend as every young minster needs. She watched over the spiritual welfare of the society with an anxious solicitude, that prompted

her to every good work, and which
never abated. The hints she fre-
quently gave her minister, were so
respectful, kind, and suitable, and
delivered in a tone so free from dic-
tatorial authority,
that she soon
secured his confidence and esteem.
The death of such a woman was a
very great loss; especially so to
Jane but it was an event which
placed her in the situation of a
house - keeper to her master, who
was more than 80 years of age.

Soon after Jane was first taken ill, she consulted a physician; who at once perceived there was little He kindly asked hope of recovery. her what was her own opinion of her danger; and thus gently hinted to her, that he did not wish to alarm her; yet he thought it right to say, that he was apprehensive that her case was very serious. She calmly replied, ، That does not alarm me; my mind is in a good degree prepared for whatever it pleases God to send me."

In the early part of her illness she said to her minister, I feel no reluctance to die: if it be the will of my heavenly Father, I am resigned. He has done so much for me, I cannot doubt his kindness. It is an infinite mercy that ever I came to this house! 0! how much I owe to the instructions of my dear mistress, and to the admonitions and prayers of my kind master!' This should be an encouragement to pious families to be attentive to their servants. It recalls to my mind a similar instance, which I witnessed lately. When visiting a young woman, recently married, in the last stage of a rapid decline, I found her mind spiritual, wellinformed in the doctrines of the gospel, and peaceably resigning herself to the will of God. She told me, that she owed her conversion to the conversation and prayers of a Christian master, in whose house she had lived before her marriage; and which she wished ine to mention to him, with expressions of her dying gratitude.

About a fortnight before Jane died, she said to her sister, In a few days more, it may be a week, and I shall be gone. I would not be im patient: all the days of my ap

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After this she so far recovered, as to walk about the room. She then said, I know not what the Lord is about to do with me!' Being asked, Do you not now feel some hope of recovering?' she replied, "I cannot call it hope; for I have a greater desire to die than to live! This revival lasted but a short time, as the next day she grew worse than ever. To her sister she said, speaking of her pains, It is a hard thing to die;' but when a little relieved, her sister observing her lips move, asked her if she was sensible: -- she said, ، I was singing

My willing soul would stay
In such a frame,' &c.