she could no longer refrain from shewing to the world that she would follow her Lord. She now attended Protestant service when performed at Roundstone, and met with insult and persecution. But her mind was fixed on God, and she feared not the wrath of man. One day, in returning from drawing water, she was waylaid by a man, and so dreadfully beaten (she believes with stones in his fists), that she was not expected to live. But for near four years has the Lord left her upon her bed of pain, to declare that his compassions fail not, and that mercy and truth have followed throughout her life. She can forgive her enemies, and pray for her persecutors. How earnestly did I long that she had the consolations of a minister's visits! May the Lord feed her, and comfort her with the comfort which he reveals only to his children?' The day following this Sabbath in the wilderness, one of the little flock put into our friend's hand these simple and appropriate stanzas:— 'Amidst the wilds of Erin's isle A feeble flock were left to stray; Could these poor wanderers pray! Their mountains form'd a barrier rude, At length a pitying stranger came, Blest be that gentle Christian's name, No longer feeble, faint, and few, Without a home or guide! God's courts shall soon our strength renew, His mercy shall provide. But He thro' whom these gifts were sent, Memorials1 of his visit here Our grateful hearts shall prize; Roundstone, Cunnemara, Sept. 2, 1839. 1 Books given by W. P. NOVEMBER, 1839. 2 G NOTES ON GENESIS. THESE notes, written for the use of an only son, then in childhood, were undertaken under the impression that religious writers in general are too much guided by authority; and in the consequent desire to derive every idea solely and exclusively from the word of God. Commentators, of course, have not been consulted; and hence it is probable that some ideas may be here put forth with hesitation as original, when perhaps they have been generally received, or perhaps examined and rejected. GENESIS-CHAP. I. Some philosophers have taken upon themselves to contradict the account Moses gives of the creation, because they calculate that it is impossible that the elements and heavenly bodies were created in the order of succession he assigns to them. However just may appear the arguments on which this opinion is founded, I hope my beloved child already knows which to prefer the word of God or the vain reasonings of man. And that the Bible is the word of God is established by evidences too strong to be shaken by arguments and assertions which have again and again been brought forward in different forms, and have as often been ably refuted. Some objections have been urged against its authority, which betray the weakness of the cause they are intended to support, being such as I hope you would even now be able to answer satisfactorily, and most of them arising from the habit too many people allow themselves of reading the Bible in detached parts, instead of studying it as one connected whole, by which means they lose the opportunity of perceiving the mutual dependence of one part on another, which would explain and illustrate all. Whenever any objection you meet with excites a doubt in your mind, I entreat you, with all the earnestness of a mother's love, to consult some pious, sensible Christian, who will be able to direct you to such arguments or books as are calculated to remove it. As to the objection here alluded to, Moses is giving an account of the creation of this world, and not of the universe at large, so that whatever bodies might have previously existed were created, with respect to this world, only when they became visible to and connected with it. 1, 2. It appears that the earth was created before (we have no means of judging how long before) “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," and commenced fitting up the world for its intended inhabitants. 3. Light existed before it was rendered visible to this world in a compact form or body. 16. Thus Christ was the Light of the world before he made himself known to it in a bodily substance, or in a clear and distinct Revelation. John i. 5-10. 11, 12. This law of nature which we find so universal in the material creation is by no means confined to it. Every thing in the moral world, the invisible, but strongly-felt course of causes and effects is marked by the same invariable rule, each producing "seed after its kind." The cause, in every instance, produces some correspondent effect which, in its turn, becomes a cause, and re-produces an effect which, again becoming a cause, carries on the chain to eternity. Thus, love of any object produces a desire to obtain it; the indulgence of that desire produces a desire of more indulgence; continued indulgence produces habit; habit, by degrees, wears out the sense of enjoyment; a higher indulgence of the same passion is sought, begins the same round again, and thus goes on ad infinitum. Whether the desire be for the gratification of ambition, avarice, pride, vanity, revenge, sensuality, or any other that can be named, this round of producing and re-producing cause and effect will invariably be found to be the natural course of things. This was the source of the tears of Alexander, when, having conquered the world, he wept that he had no more worlds to conquer. This observation goes much deeper than may at first appear, since in it are involved considerations of the highest importance. First: We should here see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. If every deviation from right, may, like a path which at first gently sloping from another, leads to an opposite direction, thus lead us to destruction of which the first few steps afford no warning, how narrowly should we watch every erroneous idea, every wrong desire, every minute seed of any thing that might, in its fullest developement, tend to evil. Secondly: We should learn to judge things, as our Lord directs, by their fruits. The seed may be almost imperceptibly small, its evil nature may sometimes escape even the quick eye of holy watchfulness, but " by its fruits ye shall know it." If any action or word, however trivial, naturally tends to stir up evil in your own breast, or that of another, |