sank, and when her father reached her, as she came up, was so exhausted, that she could make no further effort to sustain herself.

Once more on the bottom of the boat, her father held her by the right arm, and kept her head above water, but was unable to prevent the surf beating continually over her. Her hope of rescue departed from her, and she looked upon death as inevitable. "Father, do I not love you," and, "I want to go to heaven," were her last expressions before she became insensible. The cry for help was heard on board a schooner, which was going at that critical hour out of the harbour. A boat was instantly dispatched from the schooner by Captain Frisbee, and in a short time the father and daughter were relieved from their perilous position, taken into the boat, and brought to Newcastle. The father, sitting on the side of the boat, laid his apparently lifeless child across his knees, with her face down, and as the boat proceeded she vomited, and revived so as to speak before reaching the land. And notwithstanding the perils she had undergone, her attachment to her father led her to choose to return with him to his post of duty, that afternoon, rather than remain with strangers, separated from him.

THE USEFUL EPISTLE.

Not long ago, writes a gentleman, in 1833, as I took some coffee at a house of refreshment, a gentleman who was reading the newspaper entered into conversation with me. Among other things he

spoke of the Christian Sabbath, when he thus expressed himself :

"Though there is, doubtless, much of ungodliness in England, yet, when compared with the Sabbaths on the continent, a Sabbath here is a delightful season. No one can truly value that blessed day until he has been deprived of its enjoyment. When in the army, I felt this deprivation; we had misery in every shape,-for, in the Peninsular War, toil, danger, disease, and death, were continually around us and among us. The nearer the men appeared to be to eternity, the farther off their thoughts seemed to be from God. The thousands that had been slain were disregarded; neither the dead nor the dying seemed to excite a serious thought in the minds of the reckless soldiers. In such circumstances, how grateful would have been the peace, the refreshment, the consolation, the joy of a Christian Sabbath!

"It was on the Sabbath day that I received a letter from an affectionate daughter, then in England; it alluded to the uncertainty of life, especially to a military man. It pressed on me the consideration of eternal things, and pointed me to Him who, in peace and in war, in health and in sickness, in life and in death, is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Every word made a lodgment in my heart. Folding up the letter, and putting a book of prayer in my pocket, I walked out to a distance from the camp, until I came to a solitary ditch; in that ditch, on my knees, I poured out my

soul before God, and there, in peace, I spent my Sabbath day."

This anecdote shows that, with God's blessing, the faithful and affectionate remonstrance of a pious child will affect the heart of a parent, though he be a soldier in the camp, and surrounded with evil examples; and also, that when the soul truly hungers and thirsts after the bread of life, and living waters, it will, under the most unfavourable circumstances, find out a way of holding communion with God.

A FAMILY MADE HAPPY.

A GENTLEMAN residing in the western part of the State of New-York, a few years since, had sent two of his daughters to Litchfield, to be educated. While they were there, God was pleased to bless the place with a revival of religion. The news of it reached the ears of their father. He was much troubled for his daughters-" apprehensive," to use his own words, "lest their minds should be affected, and they be frightened into religion."

Alive, as he thought, to their happiness, and determined to allay their fears, and quiet their distresses, he sent a friend to Litchfield, with positive orders to bring them immediately home, that they might not be lost to all happiness and hope, and consigned to gloom and despondency.

The messenger departed on this errand. But they had already chosen Christ for their portion, and had resolved that, whatever others might do, they would serve the Lord. They looked at both

sides of the great question-they looked at the world and the pleasures of the world, and they thought of God and the glories of immortality; and, with an eye full fixed upon heaven, they determined to live for eternity. They saw their chief happiness to consist in loving and serving the Lord. They discovered that

"Religion never was design'd

To make their pleasures less ;"

that it commends and approves every rational enjoyment which the world can afford, and adds others of a higher and more exalted nature, which the world cannot give, and which it cannot take away.

They returned to their father's-not overwhelmed, as he expected, with gloom and despondency, but with hearts glowing with gratitude to God, and countenances beaming with serenity and hope. Indeed, they rejoiced in the Saviour.

They told their father what the Lord had done for their souls, that they were pilgrims here,-that they were keeping in view the bright fields of promise as they traversed this desert of sin, and were looking for that city which hath foundations.

Soon after their return home, they were anxious to establish family worship. They affectionately requested their father to commence that duty. He replied that he saw no use in it. IIe had lived very well more than fifty years without prayer, and he could not be burdened with it now. They then asked permission to pray with the family them

selves. Not thinking they would have confidence to do it, he assented to the proposition.

The duties of the day being ended, and the hour for retiring to rest having arrived, the sisters drew forward the stand, placed on it the Bible; one read a chapter-they both kneeled-the other engaged in prayer. The father stood; and while the humble, fervent prayer of his daughter was ascending to heaven, his knees began to tremble; he also kneeled, and then became prostrate on the floor. God heard their prayer, and directed their father's weeping eyes, which had never shed tears of penitence before, to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world.

Happy family !—a believing father, and believing children!-whose God is the Lord!

RESULTS OF DECISION AND PERSEVERANCE On the banks of the Hudson, opposite New-York city, there resided, a few years ago, a family in affluent circumstances. It consisted of Mr. and Mrs. A., and their only child, Emily.

Situated as they were, contiguous to the metropolis of fashion, gayety, and dissipation, possessing the means of gratifying the pride of life, and destitute of religion, it is not surprising that they should bow down to the god of this world, become infatuated with its vain pageantry, and be willing to comply with its arbitrary and preposterous exactions, after the folly and caprice of the votaries of pleasure. Emily was the idol of her parents, and, as might