use of those persons who, according to the words of our Articles, "having been called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season, have through grace, obeyed the call and been justified freely"—persons who, knowing themselves to be sinners, have seen the need of an entire change of heart; who having cast away all self-confidence, and been led to put their whole trust in the merits of Christ, are enabled to use with the heart as well as the tongue, the language of the Church, confessing themselves miserable sinners, and appropriating to themselves all the comfortable promises and assurances of salvation interspersed throughout our Liturgy.' "The language of our Common Prayer-Book,' continued Mr. Berrington, 'is the proper language of the children of God. The ordinances of religion are intended for their comfort only; and that peculiar service on which we are meditating, may, from its very name, be understood only as an office for strengthening and confirming those who are already in the right way. The proper preparation therefore for confirmation, should consist in a serious examination of our actual state, especially as it regards the following points: viz. whether we have already been called to Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost; whether we are regenerated, or have received a new nature; and whether by our holy lives we give the requisite proofs of this our renewal unto holiness.'

"Amazing, Mr. Berrington!' I said, in the plentitude of my folly; 'did any one ever hear such sentiments as you have just uttered?"

"Madam,' said he, with his usual composure, 'I have said nothing but what our Liturgy and Articles will fully confirm.'

"Will they,' said I, 'confirm your assertion, that none but the saints, the converted, and the pious, have any business at church?"

"Mr. Berrington pleaded, that he had made no such assertion; but had simply said, that, as the prayers of the Church, and its other forms, speak the language of converted men, those who are not so should be informed of this circumstance, lest by a confident application of

the promises contained in that ritual, they should thereby appropriate to themselves those consolations which belong not to their condition.

666 'And pray, Sir,' asked I, 'who is to judge what individuals in a congregation are fit to apply these consolations to themselves, and who are not?'

"No man,' replied Mr. Berrington, 'is competent to form this judgment; and of this our reformers were so fully aware, that they prepared their Liturgy under the supposition that all who make a part of the visible Church are members also of the invisible.'

66 6 'Well, Sir,' I said, 'these opinions are perfectly new to me; neither do I see the need of troubling my daughter with them at this time.'

"Consider, my dear Madam,' he replied, 'that your daughter, being judged by the Church of a proper age to take upon herself her baptismal vow, ought at this time to be led to a serious review of her spiritual state: and inasmuch as I am convinced that many young people have been misled by the very circumstance of their being continually addressed by their ministers in the congregation as believers, I have taken some pains to explain to Miss Howard that, although the minister is obliged to address her in public, with the rest of his people, as a child of God;-that although, when baptized, thanksgivings were made on her account in these words; "We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit;"-and that although she has been taught to repeat this sentence of the Church Catechism; "In my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven;"—yet, notwithstanding all this, that it is still possible she may be an unchanged character, and no otherwise a Christian, than in name and outward circumstances.'

"I was going to speak, and with no small degree of heat and probably of insolence, when Lydia gave me one of those beseeching looks, which, harsh and imperious as I was, I often found irresistible.

"Excuse me, Madam,' said Mr. Berrington, 'if I may seem to be searching my pupil too deeply. But I ask

her no questions; I desire to hear no confessions; I am only anxious to lead her to a close self-examination. The period of confirmation is a golden opportunity given by the Church to young people for serious consideration, and I am desirous that Miss Howard should make the best of it.'

"I confessed so far, that this ceremony ought not to be passed lightly over, but added, that I did not like the idea of divine calls and vocations; fully convinced that such fancies led to enthusiasm and all manner of absurdities-that I myself had never experienced any thing of the kind-and that I believed the church had not many more faithful members than myself.

"Mr. Berrington bowed. It was impossible to answer this argument. But I thought Lydia sighed; and firing at this idea, I instantly added, 'I hope, Mr. Berrington, you have not led my daughter to suppose that no one can be a Christian who has not been miraculously called, by dream, or vision, or some other such conceit."

"By no means, Madam,' said Mr. Berrington: 'but I wish Miss Howard to understand, that if she has not been made sensible of her lost state by nature, of her utter inability to help herself, and of her extreme need of a Saviour, she has not as yet experienced that change which in Scripture is described as a new birth.'

"Another tender glance from Lydia here checked me: but feeling rather angry at being so checked, I suddenly desired Mr. Berrington to return to his usual studies with my daughter, assuring him that enough had been said on these subjects, and that there could be little doubt of a young person, brought up like Miss Howard, being at all times fit for confirmation.'

"From that time, I do not recollect that I had any particular conversation on these subjects with Mr. Berrington, who nevertheless, as I before hinted, had the address, during the course of his other instructions, to give my daughter such views of religion as he desired. For, after all, it is not so much long discussions on the doctrines of religion, which form the principles of young people, as the general tendency of their daily instructions; and, on the contrary, evil is often insinuated in the same way, not by formal addresses, but by subtle

remarks, made upon such subjects as daily occur: and hence the amazing importance of placing young people under proper instructors.

"I found no difficulty, as I had foreseen, of procuring a ticket for the confirmation of Miss Howard; so having presented her with this token of her proper qualification, I had the pleasure of seeing the bishop lay his hand upon her head: after which I returned home fully satisfied that every thing regarding this affair had been duly performed.

"Where a mother is extremely busy, clever, and somewhat overbearing, the characters of her children are often not easily understood. A great deal of the art of education consists, I have of late years been persuaded, in gently drawing forth the character under the parents' roof, and encouraging young people to exert their powers while still blessed with a parent's superintendence. My daughter was, however, so remarkably modest and timid a character; and my manner towards her was so decisive, so distant, and, in a word, so overbearing, that I had little opportunity of knowing her real disposition while she remained under my control. Nevertheless, the modesty and extraordinary unobtrusiveness of her conduct, which were no doubt the effects of grace, could not but strike me, and I was even at times, angry at seeing her take so little upon herself; not unfrequently saying, 'Lydia, what will you do when you come to be at the head of a family ?-when you go out into the world? -when possessed of your estates? I suppose you will not even choose yourself a carriage, or scarcely a cap, without asking mamma's opinion. Well, when you are married, I must come and live with you, and help you to manage your table and order your household." She commonly smiled when thus addressed, and would frequently say, 'I hope you will always find me obedient to your will, my dear Madam, and thankful for your advice.'

"On Lydia's reaching the age of seventeen, she was emancipated from the control of a governess, and it was intended that Mr. Berrington's lessons should then cease; but she made the request that he might still be permitted to direct her studies; which I the rather agreed to, as

we lived in great retirement, and his conversation was so agreeable, that it would have been a piece of self-denial on my part to have banished him our society.

“On the birth-day subsequent to my daughter's having attained her eighteenth year, she was presented at court, where her appearance produced a sensation even beyond my most sanguine hopes. The consequence of her appearance was, that immediately afterward I received a visit from my friend the duchess before mentioned, who informed me, that such was the impression that Lydia had made on her son, that she believed her perfections were almost sufficiently strong to induce him to think of matrimony, against which she had strenuously declared for some years past.

"I am ashamed to think how much I was elated with the idea which now first suggested itself of seeing my daughter in so elevated a rank, although she were to purchase it by marrying a man who was far from what might be wished in a son-in-law; the nobleman in question being a person of excessive pride, bad morals, and as bad a temper. His mother, however, had long wished him to marry; though it seems that he resisted all her solicitations on this head till he had seen my daughter at court; on which occasion, he told his mother, that if ever he married, it should be to Lydia Howard.

"As soon as the old lady had sounded me on the subject, and found that I should look on the alliance as an honour, she proposed a short visit to me in the country within a few weeks; adding, that she hoped she should have influence enough to bring her son with her. "This matter being settled, I returned with my daughter to our country habitation, where, to my utter amazement, she appeared presently to have forgotten all she had seen and heard in town, devoting herself again, with renewed ardour, to her former employments; so that, while receiving her instructions from Mr. Berrington, she seemed entirely to have lost sight of all the pageants of the court, and to think only of her music, her pensioners among the poor, her bees, her flowers, and her books. Thus we were situated, when the duchess wrote to inform me that she was actually coming to visit me, and that her son had entered into the proposed scheme