down, the Rev. J. Adey's. When her health was better, I have known her, rather than she would be absent from school, to sacrifice a part of her breakfast. Of a truth, she dearly loved the Sunday-school. One teacher says, 'While she was in my class, which was extending over a period of three years, I do not recollect that I had ever to speak to her of bad behaviour. The Quarterly Address, by Mr. Adey, she much enjoyed, and always most attentively brought home the parti culars. She was greatly interested, and would strive to get so near that she might hear all. The missionary penny of a Sunday she must have, before she left home. She would ask surprising questions at times. From her manner and gentleness she gained the respect of all her schoolfellows and others, young as she was, which has appeared since her death.' "During her illness she did not say much to lead us to think that she had any idea of soon leaving this world. She continued in this way till within a few days of her death. Her teachers and others having come to see her on the Friday before she died on the Tuesday following, she said to her mother, 'I shall not live, but die; I am going home.' I went to her, and asked her if she was afraid to die, and told her to look to Jesus. She instantly replied, 'I see him on the cross; and, referring herself to the Scriptures, she said,Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow;' and cried, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!' She confessed to her mother of two little acts of theft which we were not aware of, and was truly repentant; and, at night, she had all her books and other things brought to her bedside, when each book and gift was arranged; teachers and schoolfellows, and every one was remembered by her. Her last money, which she had saved (3s. 6d.) was for the missionary cause, which she gave herself to Mr. Adey. She continued getting weaker, her breath being at times very bad; yet all who saw her and spoke to her were rejoiced to find one so young so happy, so resigned. Once, when in great pain, she cried, Come, Jesus, come quickly.' I reminded her that Jesus, when in great agony, prayed, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; but, if not, not my will, but thine, be done.' Ever afterward, we heard her often say, 'Come, Jesus; if it be thy blessed will, come quickly!' but no murmur. "On Monday, thinking we were near, she called us to the bedside, and exhorted each one, separately, to love the Saviour, and turn to him. She continued through the day, saying many times, I am going home to be with Jesus.' About five in the evening, she commenced singing in the most beautiful voice, several times over, 'Soon I shall be with my Jesus,' and wished us to sing; and, at eight o'clock, her teacher being in the room, she wished to be sung the 125th hymn in the Union Schoolbook, in which, as well as her breath would allow, she joined. "Once during her illness, she said to her mother, I have a request to ask of you: will you forgive your enemies? for I cannot feel happy to think of my being in heaven without you; for you see that God has forgiven me;' and begged of her mother to forgive those who had done her wrong; and, at another time, said, 'Pray for those who despitefully use you.' We come to her last act, which was within an hour of her death. She wished to see her sister, older than ferself; and, when she came to the bedside, she said, 'Sarah, leave your evil ways, and turn to the Saviour!' and would have an answer. She never spoke again; but died at three o'clock, Tuesday, November 13th, 1855. She was buried on the Monday following, at Nunhead, November 19th, 1855, three of the teachers, and six of the class in the school, and others, attending to the last duty. Mr. Adey gave an address; but, the weather being very bad, the number of persons was less than it otherwise would have been." Such is the closing history of a lovely girl, who will be long remem- | she had sought Jesus Christ, and she had found him. bered by all who knew her. We have much pleasure in recording the facts, and hope they may be the means of awakening many a thoughtless soul. Her closing words to her sister form the most affecting thing of the sort we ever read. She counsels-she interrogates-she expires before she can receive an answer! Holy example! Happy child! WHO IS THE HAPPIEST GIRL? BY REV. J. C. RYLE. DEAR CHILDREN,-Would you like to know who was the happiest child I ever saw? Listen to me, and I will tell you. The happiest child I ever saw was a little girl whom I once met travelling in a railway carriage. We were both going on a journey to London, and we travelled a great many miles together. She was only eight years old, and she was quite blind. She had never been able to see at all. She had never seen the sun, and the stars, and the sky, and the grass, and the flowers, and the trees, and the birds, and all those pleasant things which you see every day of your lives; but still she was quite happy. She was by herself, poor little thing! She had no friends or relations to take care of her on the journey, and be good to her; but she was quite happy and content. She said, when she got into the carriage, "Tell me how many people there are in the carriage. I am quite blind, and can see nothing." A gentleman asked her if she was not afraid. "No," she said, "I am not frightened; I have travelled before, and I trust in God, and people are always very good to me." But I soon found out the reason why she was so happy; and what do you think it was? She loved Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ loved her; I began to talk to her about the Bible, and I soon saw she knew a great deal of it. She went to a school where the mistress used to read the Bible to her; and she was a good girl, and had remembered what her mistress had read. Dear children, you cannot think how many things in the Bible this poor little blind girl knew. I only wish that every grown-up person in England knew as much as she did. But I must try to tell you some of them. She talked to me about sin; how it first came into the world, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and it was to be seen everywhere now. "Oh !" she said, "there are no really good people. The very best people in the world have many sins every day, and I am sure we all of us waste a great deal of time, if we do nothing else wrong. Oh, we are all such sinners! there is nobody who has not sinned a great many sins." And then she talked about Jesus Christ. She told me about the agony in the garden of Gethsemane-about his sweating drops of blood-about the soldiers nailing him to the cross about the spear piercing his side, and blood and water coming out. "Oh!" she said, "how very good it was of him to die for us, and such a cruel death! how good he was to suffer so for our sins!" I asked her what part of the Bible she liked best. She told me she liked all the history of Jesus Christ, but the chapters she was most fond of were the three last chapters of the book of Revelation. I had a Bible with me, and I took it out and read these chapters to her as we went along. When I had done, she began to talk about heaven. "Think," she said, "how nice it will be to be there! There will be no more sorrow, nor crying, nor tears. And then Jesus Christ will be there, for it says, 'The Lamb is the light thereof,' and we shall always be with Him; and, besides this, there shall be no night there; they will need no candle nor light of the sun." Dear children, are you as happy and as cheerful as she was? You are not blind, you have eyes, and can run about and see everything, and go where you like, and read as much as you please to yourselves. But are you as happy as this poor little blind girl? Oh! if you wish to be happy in this world, remember my advice today-do as the little blind girl did"Love Jesus Christ, and he will love you; seek him early, and you shall find him." THE YOUTH THAT WAS THE sheriff took out his watch, and said, "If you have anything to say, speak now, for you have only five minutes to live." The young man burst into tears, and said, "I have to die. I had only one little brother; he had beautiful blue eyes, and flaxen hair, and I loved him; but one day I got drunk, for the first time in my life, and, coming home, I found my little brother gathering strawberries in the garden, and I became angry without a cause, and killed him at one blow with a rake. I did not know anything about it until the next morning, when I awoke from sleep, and found myself tied and guarded, and was told that, when my little brother was found, his hair was clotted with blood and brains, and he was dead. Whiskey has done it. It has ruined me. I never was drunk but once. I have only one word more to say, and then I am going to my final Judge. I say it to young people, Never never -nevertouch anything that can intoxicate!" As he pronounced these words, he sprang from the box, and was launched into an endless eternity. HONESTY. A little boy in America, whose sister was sick, and the family in want, found a wallet containing fifty dollars. The temptation was great to use the money; but he resolved to try to find the owner, and his mother strengthened him in the resolution. When the owner found it, and learned the circumstances, he gave the fifty dollars for the comfort of the family, and took the boy to live with him. That boy is now a prosperous merchant in Ohio. WORDS AND THE HEART. GOD hears the heart without words, but he never hears the words without the heart. A FACT VERSIFIED. Around a grave three little boys Above this calm and simple spot Some feeling hearts had wept, "I wonder," cried one tiny lad, With something of a sigh, "Where people go when they are dead: 'To heaven,' little Ellen said; She seem'd to long to die. "She fear'd not death; and yet to me The thoughts of little Ellen's fate Had caused his heart to weep; Big with emotions new and strange, And once they saw him smile. And when they gazed into his face, He neither spake, nor breathed, nor The Cabinet. SPIRITUAL DECLENSION. THERE is such a thing in religious experience as leaving first love, such a thing as having run well, but being hindered. And there is such a thing as unconsciousness of spiritual weakness and declension, notwithstanding its existence and increase. As it was with Israel, so, alas! it is oftentimes with the Christian professor: "Strangers," God said, "have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not; yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not." He is in a state of decay without being aware of it. This, to some, may appear strange, but it is not the less true. Declension is gradual, "so gradual as to be perceived only by a comparison of distant periods-an exercise which the backslider is rarely disposed to carry on. He goes back step by step. He first loses the glow of holy affections, then the spontaneousness of spiritual thoughts, then the tenderness of an enlightened conscience, and then the consistency of religious conduct. Private prayer is neglected, then family devotion, and, lastly, social religion. From neglect of duties he goes on to the commission of sins. Yet he was, at the first, quite unaware of any deterioration.” But how important it is that declension should be at once detected and remedied. Many and varied are the tests which have been supplied in order that professors may know where they are and what they are. Andrew Fuller, in his valuable work on the Backslider, has, with a master hand, laid bare the nature, symptoms, and effects of religious declension. Mr. James, also, in his "Christian Professor," has very efficiently presented the subject of religious declension and backsliding. These works are well worth the frequent perusal of Christians who are anxious to have an intelligent and scriptural view of the nature and indications of spiritual decline. But this is a subject of such deep and solemn interest to all professors that it claims not only to be frequently considered, but also to be presented in those varied points of view which may meet the variety of temperament and condition which obtains among Christians. And, moreover, it is very desirable that professors should have at hand those tests which may at once detect spiritual decline, and thus arrest attention and prompt to earnest and well-directed efforts for restoration to the vigour and joyfulness of God's salvation. We do not propose in this paper to enumerate even the many tests which have been supplied for this purpose, but simply to suggest, for the serious consideration of professors, two symptoms or indications of spiritual declension, which may be used as tests of spiritual condition with advantage. Spiritual declension is indicated by vague and general confessions of sin.-A lack of perception and of sensibility of sinthat tenderness of conscience which is peculiar to a high state of spirituality-is, in a state of decay, exchanged for dulness and deadness. Thus sin is not seen distinctly, and consequently is not felt deeply; and therefore there cannot be specific and solemn confession of sin. It cannot, in such a case, be acknowledged and deplored as the burden, the grief, and the anguish of the soul. True, there may be the general confession, “All we like sheep have gone astray;" but that is a confession that does not isolate and individualize. A man will readily confess sin in common with mankind, who would shrink from the confession of his own particular sins. And thus it is that the professor, who had bent low before God, acknowledging with deep anguish of soul, " Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil;" when he has declined in spirituality, will only recognize himself generally as a sinner in common with others; and while admitting that all are sinners, and have come short of the glory of God, he will not be disposed to unveil his own personal and individual sins-his individual impenitence, unbelief, worldliness, enmity, and carnality, omissions and commissions; but vaguely and generally will make acknowledgment before God. Be assured, O professor! if you do not fasten upon particular sins; if you do not drag them into sunlight before God; if they do not produce weeping, lamentation, and confusion of face; but if you speak of sin before the Lord in general terms, that might be used at any time and by any person, then you are in a state of spiritual defection. It is high time for you to awake and to be humbled. You have lost that quick, keen penetration that detects sin in relation to this and that requirement of God. You have lost that holy susceptibility which feels the slightest approach of evil, and instinctively shrinks from it. You have |