"No sooner did my father return than he saw at once that something was wrong. Never shall I forget that look, which showed the affection of his soul, when he learnt that his hitherto happy home was saddened through my disobedience to my mother. With the tenderest affection he tried to convince me that I had not only dishonoured and wounded my parents, but offended and grieved the Spirit of God. And, oh! how earnestly he prayed for me, and entreated me to seek mercy at the hand of a forgiving Saviour! He did not chastise me; he did more, he wept over me. But, alas! I was hardened-so hardened that the tears of a

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father, flowing from compassion and love, could not move me. My heart was at once obstinate and proud; no kindness could humble and subdue it,—no affection soften and win it. I begun to look on my parents with indifference and coolness; my habits occasioned a feeling of distance between us, which gradually grew, as years passed away, into a deep and impassable gulf.

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True, I lived in the same house with them,-knelt with them at the same family altar,—and went with them on the Sabbath day to the same house of prayer; but their thoughts were not my thoughts, and the things they took delight in had no charms for me. Their company, alas! became so irksome, that I found relief in escaping their society, at the very time when I knew they would have willingly laid down their lives to render me happy, and to see me pious. I had become acquainted with a number of young persons, thoughtless as myself, and took every opportunity of associating with them, at the fearful cost of incurring my parents' displeasure,-offending God, and ruining my soul. This, my friend, I confess was the cause, as in thousands of instances, of my undutiful conduct, and of all the miseries that flowed from it.

"At length I gave up every semblance of obedience, threw off all restraint, and resolved to be my own master, and pursue the amusements and pleasures to which my companions allured, or my inclinations led me. My course was gradual, but rapid. At first, I occasionally walked in the counsel of the ungodly, then stood in the way of sinners, and, finally, sat in the seat of the scornful. Everywhere in the neighbourhood I was known as the ringleader of the vicious. No mischief was perpetrated but my hand was in it, no crime committed but it was laid to my account. If there was a pleasure-party on the Sunday it was not complete without me. If a difference took place among my companions, usually it originated with me. If a quarrel arose in the village, invariably it was taken up by me. Alas! it is painfully true that even the ungodly around me were shocked at my wickedness. I saw how my father hung down his head whenever my name was mentioned; I saw how my mother fretted over my misconduct, and was all but heart-broken with grief, and yet I was unaffected at the sight.

"This, my friend, is a faithful representation of my character and course in my eighteenth year. Thus was I hastening down the broad road to destruction, and treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, when God in mercy stopped me, and turned me in the way of life.

"One Sunday evening I had promised to go to the house of my socalled friends, with many of my profligate companions, to celebrate a wedding. It was in the month of January. Heavy rains had fallen for several days, and when I was ready to set off a terrible storm came on, accompanied with sleet and snow. My parents had for a long time found it useless to speak to me about my vicious habits; but on this evening my

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mother entreated me with tears for once to stay at home, and placed herself at the door, to prevent me going out. Poor thing! she was wasted almost to a skeleton with grief and care on my account. She gave me a look so full of tenderness and pity, that she seemed more like a spirit from another world than a living being in this.

"My dear Charles,' she said, with a sweetness that almost staggered me, do not go out to-night, let me beg of you.'

"God, forgive me! I rudely thrust her aside. 'Go I will,' was my unfeeling reply.

"Then I will spend all the time you are away in praying for you, she said, in a tone so gentle, I shall never forget it.

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Oh, what a heart I must have had to resist such grief and love! To wound the feelings of so excellent a mother! Her tenderest entreaties made no more impression on my mind than the snow flakes on the rock they fell on close by.

"In order to reach the place of our meeting I had to cross a mountain brook that, in consequence of the steepness of the heights down which it flowed, was always rapid, and sometimes furious in its course. In the day-time, when the water was low, you could pass over without much danger; but in the night, especially when there was a flood, you might easily miss the stones, and in case you lost your footing, you were sure to be carried down the stream. When I came to the torrent that evening I found that the recent rains had so swollen it that it overflowed its banks. The wind roared as it blew through the branches of the leafless trees,-dark masses of clouds chased each other across the face of the wintry sky; not a star glimmered in the heavens to break the gloom that hung around me, while the torrent rushed down with headlong violence, as though it would rebuke the madness of the man who would attempt on such a night to ford its waters. I stood a moment, doubtful what to do. To go forward seemed certain and immediate death. A short distance below was the watermill, where the stream threw itself with terrific force into the deep pond beneath, and there, but a few days before, one of the villagers had lost his life. If I turned back I felt I should be laughed at by my companions, and looked on as a coward, and this was more than I could bear.

"Certainly if I had gone a few miles round I could have passed over in safety, but this would have taken up too much time, and have rendered me too late for meeting my friends, so I determined to make the attempt at the point where I stood. It occurred to me, however, that there were some horses in a stable not far off. Thither I went without delay. I took one of them out with the halter on its head, and mounted it without saddle or bridle, for I wished to make the owner believe it had broken loose, and strayed of its own accord. It was not without difficulty that I could induce the horse to take the stream. Poor creature, it long refused, for it was

much more prudent than its rider. After repeated attempts, however, he plunged in, and struggled to reach the opposite shore. It certainly had to put forth all its strength to withstand the force of the torrent, and keep itself upright. Hardened as I was, I could not help feeling for a moment alarmed lest the horse and its rider should be swept away. After we had passed the bed of the river, where the stream was the deepest and most furious in its course, my fear subsided; I felt myself safe, and almost imagined my companions congratulating me on the success of my perilous adventure. But, stop. As I sprung from the horse, on the opposite side, I lighted on a smooth stone, my foot slipped, and I fell backward into the water.

"How I retained my senses has always remained to me inexplicable, but I never once lost my presence of mind. I felt myself carried headlong down the stream, and strove in vain to resist the force of the current. When all my efforts failed, and I gradually became powerless, I recollect how terrible was the conviction that in a few moments more I should be hurled down the mill-stream, and then all would be over.

"You have, no doubt, heard from persons who have narrowly escaped death by drowning how lively is the imagination at that fearful moment, and how varied are the feelings that are awakened in their breast. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, at that instant, the one thing that flashed more vividly across my mind than aught besides, was the assurance of my mother, that all the time I was away she would spend in prayer.' As I floated down the stream to what I felt to be certain death, without being able to lay hold of anything to stop me in my hurried course, my mother's chamber rose in lively colours before my view. I saw her kneel there as clearly as I saw her that afternoon when, for the first time in my life, I disobeyed her; the tears streamed down her cheeks, while in the fervent wrestling of her soul, she stretched forth her hands to heaven as if she had really seen my perilous situation.

From the

"All this, my friend, I saw as clearly as I see you now. depths of my heart I sent up a cry for mercy-not that my life might be saved; for at that moment I heard louder than the roar of the wind, and the rushing of the stream, another sound,—and my heart died within me as I heard it,—the hollow sound of the waterwheel as it turned round, and round, and round. I gave up all for lost; it seemed as if I were already hurled down the fearful whirlpool, and torn limb from limb."

The old man covered his face with his hands, and shuddered at the recollection of that terrible moment. Then he proceeded :

"I was just losing all consciousness, when my hand came in contact with something, which I seized with the convulsive grasp of a drowning man. And, oh, what joy! I found it strong enough to bear me up against the force of the stream. Emblem of the cross to which the perishing sinner clings! that which I had laid hold of was the branch of a tree