that a letter might be written to her, requesting her immediate presence.

Mrs. Garston was at this time too old to undertake so long a journey: but Mrs. Nevil (formerly Miss Garston) determined instantly to obey the summons in the place of her mother. Accordingly, leaving her younger children under the care of that dear parent, she, with her husband and eldest daughter, a lovely child of nine years of age, hastened to visit her still dear Constantia. The meeting was a very painful one on both sides: Mrs. Nevil was much shocked at the state both of mind and body in which she found her old friend; and Constantia's regrets at the entire ruin of her earthly prospects were renewed in their utmost force, when she looked at the still youthful and habitually placid countenance of Mrs. Nevil.

The afflicted Constantia took the first opportunity of opening her heart to her friend, giving her a full account of her early disappointments and subsequent melancholy life: neither did she fail on this occasion to exhibit those feelings of bitterness, which she entertained against her indiscreetly indulgent parent and aunts.

Mrs. Nevil heard her throughout with all the patience and tenderness which might be expected from a person of her affectionate and Christian character; nor did she wait long for an opportunity of pointing her afflicted friend to the only source of comfort in all the trials of life.

"Speak not to me of religion," replied Constantia, peevishly; "I have again and again endeavoured to draw consolation from that source, and have only found an increase of anguish. No! no! religion has no solace for me! I am miserable, and have been made so by the cruel and selfish indulgence of my relations, who, to spare themselves the trouble of contending with me, allowed me to run headlong into destruction!"

"O! Constantia! dear Constantia !" said Mrs. Nevil, "is this right? or can you expect to find comfort in religion while you persist in laying the blame of your own faults upon your affectionate relatives? Rather, pray that you may be enabled to feel and acknowledge that stubbornness of will, which rendered it necessary for you to be exercised by these severe afflictions; and entreat

that such a blessing may be poured upon these afflictions, that you may come forth from them as gold tried in the fire."

Mrs. Nevil then spoke somewhat largely on the duties of patience and resignation; remarking, that these must be possessed before any real religious comfort can be obtained: "since we are informed," added she, "that tribulation, when divinely blessed, worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; even that hope which maketh not ashamed."

Constantia heard her throughout with impatience, and then remarked, with some heat, that it was easy for one surrounded with every earthly blessing, as Mrs. Nevil seemed to be, to preach patience and resignation. "But if it is hard," added she, with a bitter smile, "for the martyr to triumph at the stake, it is equally difficult for me to look back on the past, or forward to the future, without such a feeling of despair and anguish as I cannot describe."

"Then," said Mrs. Nevil, with unaltered sweetness, "look neither forward to the future, nor backward to the past, my beloved Constantia; but look on Him who, for your sake, underwent such afflictions as no mere man could endure. Look on Him; compare your trials with his; behold his tears, his bloody agonies, his wounds, his bruises, his endurance of the divine anger; and then ask yourself, if he who loved you so well as to bear all these things for your sake, would have afflicted you, had he not seen that afflictions were needful in your case. My beloved mother, in our happy days, often spoke to you of that change of heart which must take place before we can enter the kingdom of heaven. Mere afflictions are indeed powerless in effecting this change; but they are often rendered instrumental, by the divine blessing, in softening the heart, and so facilitating this great work: and many there are now in heaven, who have been brought thither through much fiercer and more fiery trials than those to which you have been condemned, my beloved friend. But their anguish is now no longer remembered, and all tears are wiped from their eyes. Clothed in their garments of salvation, and dignified with an unfading crown, they praise without ceasing, that blessed Redeemer

through whose grace their short afflictions, which endured but for a moment, wrought for them such an exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

While Mrs. Nevil spoke, Constantia shed tears—a relief which of late she had seldom been able to obtain; and taking Mrs. Nevil's hand, "O my Harriet!" she said, "O that I were as good as you!-then, indeed, might Í look forward with hope to those joys of which you speak in a world to come. O! had I but half your merits—” "My merits!" repeated Mrs. Nevil, shaking her head; "what are the merits of the most perfect of created beings? Not capable, depend upon it, of removing or expiating the smallest sin that ever was committed. No! throughout all creation, not one being was ever found capable of making an atonement for fallen man. Hence the dreadful mistake of those who trust to their own good works to counterbalance their evil actions. Were my good qualities such as you suppose, or ten thousand times more excellent, I would not depend on them for salvation: no, my friend, the Scriptures hold out to us a better hope; and this is the hope I would wish you to embrace."

Constantia wept again, and, wringing her hands, replied, "What can I do, confined as I am to this wretched room, without comfort, without power, without the means of doing any good? O my friend, I can do nothing! I am lost! I am undone! I am without help!"

"Man," returned Mrs. Nevil, "must ever remain a stranger to the exercise of divine hope till he can say from his heart, 'I am lost; I am undone; I am without help:' and this is the state to which your heavenly Father meant to bring you, when he laid upon you this severe and long-continued affliction."

Mrs. Nevil then, seeing that Constantia was listening attentively to her, proceeded to mention several of the most important truths of our holy religion; many of which had been laid before her by Mrs. Garston, while the unfortunate young woman resided in Berkshire, but which, never having been admitted by faith into the heart, had been easily driven from her head by other matters. She stated to her, in the first place, all that is known of the nature of the Trinity in Unity, together

with the mighty work of man's salvation, as planned before the creation of the first man, or ere this mighty earth had commenced its wondrous course. She pointed out the completeness of this work, and how, in instances more numerous than the stars of heaven, or the sand of the sea, it is begun, continued, and finished, for the benefit of individuals, in a way altogether beyond their conception, and frequently where the will rises against it in the most furious opposition. She then proceeded to say something of the distinct characters and offices of the three Persons of the Trinity; enlarging upon the love of the Father, the sufferings of the Son, and the operations of the Spirit: observing how this last deals with the souls of men, breaking down the strong holds of self, and constraining the individual to cry out, "I am undone; I am without help;" thus laying him in the dust, in order finally to raise him up and set him with Christ Jesus in heavenly places, where he is appointed to shine as the firmament for ever and ever.

This conversation was greatly blessed to Constantia, who often took occasion to renew these subjects; and before Mrs. Nevil had been many weeks with her friend, she witnessed such a change in her as could be attributed to nothing less than a divine influence.

The first apparent effect of grace in Constantia, was an apology which she made to her friends for the many hasty expressions she had used towards them, and especially concerning the management of her in youth. She laid the blame of all her misfortunes on her own hasty temper, and confessed that her afflictions were far less than she deserved.

This change in the poor distressed Constantia was evident to all around her, and became a subject of much wonder to those who could not comprehend the power of grace over the human passions. In the mean time, as her soul continued to advance from strength to strength, and to ripen for glory, her body became weaker and weaker: nevertheless, owing to the removal of the complaint from the head, shortly before her death, her features and complexion recovered in a great measure their former appearance; affording her friends the unexpected satisfaction of once again beholding that very face and

countenance, upon which they had formerly gazed with so much delight. Neither was it a small consolation to Mrs. Nevil, to see the countenance of her dying friend embellished with every touching expression of divine love and holy hope.

Some of the last words uttered by Constantia, were an expression of thankfulness for those afflictions whereby her path had been hedged to the right and to the left, and she had been prevented from plunging into those destructive pleasures which would have ended in spiritual death,

I am happy in concluding this story, to be enabled to say, that the society of Mr. and Mrs. Nevil, together with the death of their beloved Constantia, were in some degree blessed to Mrs. Kitty and her sisters, who from that period renounced those light amusements with which they had hitherto beguiled so large a portion of their time, and devoted themselves much to the duties of serious reading and benevolent attention to the poor.

Here the lady of the manor closed her book, and, as the story of Constantia had occupied a longer time than she expected, the young people, after a short prayer, were obliged to disperse in haste.

A Second Prayer for Assistance in the Regulation of the Will.

"O HOLY Lord God, forasmuch as, by the influences of thy blessed Spirit, we have been led to see that the will of the natural man is ever rising in opposition to thine, we humbly supplicate thee to shed upon us the graces of that Blessed Spirit, which alone can enable us to conform our desires to thy pleasure, and to devote ourselves without reserve to thy service. Enable us, O heavenly Father, on every occasion, and in every circumstance of our lives, to say, "Thy will, not ours, be done.' Teach us to observe the indications of thy will: and as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so may our eyes wait upon thee, our God. Lead us into a happy imitation of those saints,