water is "the outward and visible sign," and "put into a state of salvation through Jesus Christ” (Church Catechism). By this holy sacrament of baptism he is "grafted [or joined] into the body of Christ's Church" (Baptismal service), His invisible and spiritual Church; that is, the whole body of Christians, of which He is the Head, and which is likened in the Bible to an holy building or temple of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone (Eph. ii. 20, 1 Cor. iii. 9, 10, 1 Peter ii. 5); and as soon as he is old enough, he makes one of the congregation who meet together on every Sunday, (and in some places daily,) to offer up public prayers and praises in His holy church to Him who has said, " Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." As soon as the child is old enough to understand the promises which his godfathers and godmothers made for him at his baptism, he is brought to church to renew and confirm them in his own person, acknowledging himself bound to believe and to do all those things which they did then undertake for him, and the Bishop lays his hand upon him and blesses him. This service is called Confirmation; and as soon as the child has been confirmed, he is admitted to the holy altar, and allowed (and even commanded) to receive the most holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. When this child is grown up to be a man, if he marries, a service is performed in the church, the minister "joins him and his wife together in holy matrimony," and blesses them in the name of God; if he is ill, prayers are offered up for him in the church, and thanksgivings when

he is restored to health; and when it pleases God to take him from this life, and to call back his soul to Himself, his body is taken into the church, the clergyman performs the funeral-service, and he is laid in the churchyard, to rest, till Jesus Christ shall come with all His holy angels, and the dead shall arise and stand before Him.

Thus you see that the whole life of a Christian is connected with, (that is, joined to) the Church, and it is also an emblem or sign of heaven. May you and I, and all whom we love, my dear Godson, learn so to worship God in His holy house on earth, that we may hereafter sing His praises in heaven with all the holy angels who stand around His throne. I think I have said enough to shew you with what love and respect you should look upon the church, and how seriously and reverently you should behave when you are in it, because it is the holy place in which God is pleased to be especially present on earth, and where His appointed ministers perform the most solemn duties of their holy office.

And now, my dear little Godson, I must finish my letter, and wish you good-bye. I hope you are not tired of reading it, though it is longer than I meant it to be when I began to write it.

me

Give my love to your brothers and sisters; and believe very affectionate Godmother,

Your

A HYMN.

1.

THE glittering grass, with dewstars bright,
Is all astir with twinkling light;
What pity such a fair array

So soon is meant to melt away!

2.

Yet hath God given those drops a power
To raise the grass and cheer the flower;
All the hot noon their grace shall bide,
And fresh shall fall at eventide.

3.

So, day by day, O Lord, renew
The grace of my baptismal dew;
Let its sweet power be with me now,
As when it sparkled on my brow.

4.

And evermore that gift bestow,

While in Thy garden here I grow ;

That still to heaven my growth may tend,

From whence those blessed dews descend.

From "Poems by REV. THOS. WHYTEHEAD."

I STROLLED forth one hot day in June, and laid myself down to rest under the shade of a lofty elm-tree. Sweet sights and sounds were around me; and while I watched the sheep quietly browsing in the green fields, and listened to the carolling of the lark as he rose higher and higher among the clouds, I fell asleep; and as I slept, a vision was presented to me.

I seemed to see, in a far-distant land, a sheepfold situated in the midst of a vast plain, well shut in and closely guarded by porters at every gate. I drew near to it, and craved leave to enter from the venerable porter at the

western gate; but he told me that none could be admitted therein, unless he were signed with the sign which marked those who belonged to the Great Shepherd and Owner of those sheep; but he gave me leave to look through the gate which guarded the entrance. Then I saw that all the sheep were marked with a red figure or sign, but in all it was not equally bright. At first I thought, "Surely age has dimmed the brightness of that mark; in the youngest lambs it shines most brightly, and their fleeces are white as snow." But no; when I looked again, in some of the most aged sheep it shone still brighter. So I asked the reason; and the porter told me that the mark had been made equally bright upon all, but in some it had faded from their neglect of their fleeces. They had not cared to wash them frequently in the clear spring-water provided for them by the Great Shepherd, but had rolled themselves in the dusty paths, and had soiled them, and left some of their wool on the hedges by the way-side. I asked when the mark was put upon them; and he said that all the lambs who were born within the fold were marked while they were yet weak and helpless, and some soon learned to keep their fleeces white and clean, while others grew careless of them, and soiled them, and thus caused the brigh ness of the red mark to fade.

66 Can, then, none be of the fold," I asked, "but those who are born within it?"

"Yes, if they come to the Great Shepherd for protection, and learn to know His voice and to follow Him, He will kindly receive them into His fold, and they are marked by His shepherds with His mark, and become His sheep."