of

has purchased for all who believe in Him. Do not think that you presume too much on the power the infant mind, in reckoning upon its apprehending the truths of the Gospel. Remember, that these little ones, as well as yourselves, will live for ever. How soon they become morally responsible to God, it is not for me to decide; but I believe that their responsibility commences early, and that fearful guilt rests upon those, who withhold from them instruction in that blessed Book, which prescribes the only remedy for the disease of our fallen nature, and the only antidote against the fear of death. You know not how soon any one of them may be struggling in the waves of death, and how a sense of sin may then press upon the terrified spirit. Oh, let not your child then have the way of salvation through a Crucified Saviour-the only way of salvation--to learn, when he may be incapable of apprehending any thing new, and when he will need all the support to be derived from habits of prayer, and dependence upon God, previously formed!

When, at the point of death, the beloved child, of whom I have spoken, was asked, “Is your Saviour present with you now?" he replied softly,

Then,

but unhesitatingly, "Yes." Oh! had he not been early taught that there was a precious Saviour, who said, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not," how different might have been his sensations on being asked that question !—how different mine, on hearing his reply to it! instead of raising a trophy-as I am permitted to do-to the glory of that Divine Redeemer who bought him with His precious blood, and now sees in him of the travail of His soul and is satisfied; I might have been bowed down under intolerable sorrow; conscious that I had inflicted on my child irreparable injury; and that I had despoiled the crown of my Redeemer, and his, of a precious jewel which now adorns it.-To Him be glory! Amen.

IN compliance with the above-mentioned request, the small sum of money found in the purse of the deceased was forwarded to the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Letter addressed on that occasion to the Secretary has already appeared in the Society's "Monthly Extracts of Correspondence"; but, as it expresses sentiments respecting that noble Institution, which the writer

is desirous of recording, he here subjoins it, in the hope that, if it should meet the eye of any friend of his who has hitherto refrained from co-operation in furtherance of the only and strictly-defined object of the Association-viz. the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, the written word of God, without note or comment, throughout the world— he may be induced to reconsider a question on which he may not, perhaps, have bestowed the attention to which it is entitled. The object is one, the importance of which the humble individual who writes this, now estimates, if possible, more highly than ever; observing, as he does, with sorrow, the tendency indicated by some persons to forget the grand peculiarity, by which the Protestant Church of England and Ireland is distinguished from the apostate Church of Rome;-viz. the pre-eminent and exclusive authority, in essentials, which she attributes to the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments.

There are few connections-he begs leave to say -on which he reflects with more thankfulness, than that, by which he has been permitted to share in the triumphs of the Bible Society - a Society which, he believes, has directly or indirectly

brought into circulation the greater part of the copies of Divine Revelation, in vernacular languages, now existing in the world. He made his decision in favour of the Society early in life, along with many, his fathers in the University of Cambridge-Milner, and Simeon, and Farish, and Jowett, &c.; names which he highly honoured, and under which he was happy, as he still is, to shelter his own approbation; but which he never felt to be necessary to fix his determination. After long acquaintance with the working of the Society, though not insensible to some accidental evils, arising, perhaps, out of its constitution-evils, however, he verily believes, fewer than would have arisen out of any other constitution in the present day— his attachment to it is unabated. He still regards it as the most effective instrument for extensive good, that was ever devised by human wisdom;the noblest trophy ever won, by Christian love, from human-he had almost said, from Christian, selfishness and he feels himself conscientiously bound to continue to contribute to it all that he has to offer, to the glory of that Divine Redeemer by whose grace alone it has been won.

The following is a Copy of the Letter above referred to:

FROM THE REV. M. M. PRESTON, TO THE REV. ANDREW BRANDRAM, SECRETARY OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

Vicarage House, Cheshunt, July 12, 1836.

I HAVE the melancholy satisfaction of remitting to you the inclosed Offering to the British and Foreign Bible Society, from a beloved son, who bore my name, and who terminated his short but interesting earthly pilgrimage on the 5th of April 1836, in the thirteenth year of his age.

This lovely lamb of Christ's flock highly prized that blessed Book, whose enlightening and sanctifying efficacy, as applied by the Spirit of God, he had himself experienced. He had committed to memory, with perfect accuracy, large portions of the Holy Scriptures, frequently employing himself in that way before he was permitted to rise in the morning; and had for some years contributed, through your Society, from his little stock of pocket-money, to the communication of the same treasure to others. He was naturally timid; but, by the invigorating power of the Divine word, he was delivered from the fear of death, through which many persons are "all their life-time subject to bondage." A few months ago, when he was in perfect health, he modestly said to a brother," that he thought he should not be afraid to die, for that now he could trust Jesus Christ." His faith was soon and unexpectedly put to the proof. About ten days before he died, he was affected as with a common cold: the disorder, however, turned out to be inflammation of the larynx, under which he sank. A short time before he died, when it became manifest that his end was near, he was asked: "Matthew,