notice, and shrunk from applause, it may be given in an extract from the Rev. Dr. Randolph's letter to her bereaved mother. "The papers before me, not only serve to increase my admiration of your beloved child, but convince me the more I read them, that she who is gone, ought to live in universal remembrance-that over such a grave, grief should not be dumb, and that the world, deprived by her death of one of its brightest ornaments, has a claim to every memorial of her exalted worth and talents, to shew the unthinking crowd what may be done, and to hold forth an example of what has been done, even in so short a space of time, by fulfilling the duties of a Christian life, and the purposes of rational existence." This imperfect sketch of an excellent character, cannot be better closed than by the following remarks of Miss More, an authoress who can never be named without exciting in the minds of the good and pious, mingled sentiments of respect, veneration and love. "Against learning, against talents of any kind, nothing can steady the head, unless you fortify the heart with real Christianity. In raising the moral edifice, we must sink deep in proportion as we build high. We must widen the foundation, if we extend the superstructure. Religion alone can counteract the aspirings of genius, can regulate the pride of talents. And let such women as are disposed to be vain of their petty attainments, look up with admiration to those cotemporary shining examples, the venerable Elizabeth Carter, and the blooming Elizabeth Smith. I knew them both; and to know, was to revere them. In them, let our young ladies contemplate profound and various learning, chastised by true christian humility. In them, let them venerate acquirements which would have been distinguished in a university, meekly softened, and beautifully shaded, by the gentle exertion of every domestic virtue, the unaffected exercise of every feminine employment." On the Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany. THE propriety of praying for the conservation of the Church in God's true religion, must be evident to all who reflect upon the subject. When its origin is considered-when the constant opposition which it has encountered, and the approaches which it has sometimes made to annihilation, are contemplated, its present existence can only be attributed to the exertion of the divine power. Like a spark kindled and kept alive on the surface of the boisterous sea, it exists by a continued miracle.Earth and hell have been, and are, intent on crushing the broken reed, and extinguishing the smoking flax; yet the former still rears its puny head, and the latter still emits a sufficient vapour, to prove that it is ig nited. God has placed his Church upon a rock, and has engaged that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That the danger of the Church, independent of divine care, is imminent in our day, is manifest. For infidelity threatens to crush her; heresies inflict dangerous wounds on her vitals; schisms rend her members piecemeal; lukewarmness chills her blood, and the decay of discipline exposes her to these, and a thousand other evils. If ever there was a loud call on the faithful, to be earnest in prayer that "God would keep his Church and household in his true religion," "False it is at the present moment. doctrine, heresy and schism, hardness of heart, and contempt of God's word and commandment," spreading all around us like a deluge, concur in enforcing this important duty. But what is the specific object of our petition in this Collect? What is true religion? The word religion expresses the obligation by which man is bound to God, as his Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer. It is the " acknowledgement of the truth which is after godliness, according to the hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began". Tit. i. 1, 2. If it be required, what religion binds us to believe, we may safely refer to the Articles of our Church, as containing an epitome of the doctrines of the Bible. Let these be compared with the Scriptures: Let the example of the noble Bereans be followed, and the Scriptures be searched for the purpose of determining whether these articles be true; and it will be found that they contain the truth, and nothing but the truth; and likewise by implication or expression, all that is necessary to be believed in order to salvation. If a further question be asked, what religion binds us to do-a reference may be made to the ten commandments; and these may be summed up in two comprehensive duties, love to God, and love to man. For "the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."....1 Tim. i. 5. From this brief definition of "true religion," it will appear, that when we pray for the preservation of the Church therein, we beseech God to maintain in his household, an orthodoxy of belief, and holiness of conduct-that he would guard it from heresy and schism-impiety and superstition, which are the grand enenies of "true religion;" that His VOL. I. No. V. 18 Church may be "like a tree planted From the Episcopal Magazine. From Mrs. Thayer's Letters. A short account of her own religious experience. "POSSESSING a taste for literature, with opportunities to cultivate and improve it, surrounded by tender friends, early introduced to a circle of polite and fashionable company, caressed by my friends, and flattered by my companions, what was there wanting that I could not be happy? But death was in the world, and I could not be happy. If I looked into the volume of nature, I saw mortality inscribed in staring capitals on every page. This, I reflectAnd will ed, is the state of man. my existence end with this transitory life? If so, why was I formed, to drag ont a few moments of anxiety and pain-then sleep for ever? "If there is an hereafter, And that there is, conscience, uninfluenced, speaks, Then it must be an awful thing to die." Vainly I endeavoured to obliterate this idea in scenes of fashionable amusement. In the midst of the mirth and hilarity of the ball chamber, the solemn thought pursued me like a phantom, till disgusted with the frivolity and insipidity of the scene, I returned to my books, and sought in scientific acquirements to rid my mind of its uneasiness. I studied languages, poetry, rhetoric, dipped a little into philosophy, botany, and chemistry; but alas! the perversity of unrenewed nature. I never learned to fear or serve my God. Though I hurried from volume to volume, and studied with the zeal of a recluse, I found it was not in science to unfold the scenes of subsequent existence; and though I had learned the fashionable cant of infidelity, and would laugh with Voltaire at the credulity of mankind, yet often did my heart sigh for something it possessed not, though I did not rightly comprehend the deficien cy. My mind experienced a kind of Often in my secret hours of retirement, was death, with all the accu→ mulated horrors of endless wretchedness, or total annihilation, presented to my mind, and the agony of my feelings on this occasion surpasses description. I knew not how to distinguish be- speare, they would have taught me Mrs. T. relates the manner in which conviction was at length brought to her heart, and she was enabled to see that "Jesus Christ tasted death for every man." And while I felt I had been abusing that grace, that had been freely offered to me in the gospel, my sensations were almost insupportable. Yet, in assenting to the truths of Christianity, I felt an emotion to which my heart had been a stranger. Gloomy and dark had been the night of skepticism, and the beams of gospel truth were sweet to my soul. Though deeply distressed with a sense of my unparalleled offences against a Being of infinite purity, my exercises were not unaccompanied by hope. The serpent infidelity, though bruised in the head, yet retained some remains of life, and writhed and struggled in my heart; but a serious perusal of some excellent books in defence of revealed religion, gave the finishing blow to this hydra-headed monster, and my understanding became rationally convinced. But though my external conduct was reformed, I had not yet learnt to "walk by faith, and not by sight." I found my heart sometimes bitterly rising against God. For nearly four months I struggled with my vain propensities, sometimes fervently beseeching God to strengthen me for his service, and sometimes captivated by my besetments, until it pleased God, (I have reason to be lieve,) in answer to the prayers of some of his dear children, on my behalf, to bring conviction so home to my heart, and so to show me my perishing condition, destitute of a Saviour, that I became in good earnest willing to "count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ." The vanities of time and sense faded in my view, and my heart unceasingly cried "God be merciful to me a sinner." "Glory to God, he was not slow to hear, nor impotent to save."-One Sabbath afternoon, I walked into the fields to indulge my sorrows alone. The load my broken spirit sustained at this time, was almost insupportable. It appeared that heaven and earth were conspiring against me, and I was deservedly wretched. No reed of hope to grasp. The past was sin, the present wretchedness, and the future, I scarce dared to look upon; it was verging to despair. "O which way," cried I, "shall I turn! I will go to my God, and if I perish, it shall be at his feet." With a kind of desperate resignation, I fell on my knees—"Lord, I yield, I submit." At that moment, a sensation of peace visited my heart, and the following words soothed my agitated feelings" Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Had the weight of a mountain been removed from my guilty head, it could not have produced a greater alteration. My soul at that moment found power by faith, " to lay hold on the Son of God." I felt the merit of the atoning blood applied to me in particular, as though there were not another sinner in the universe, and I exclaimed aloud, "here is one Saviour Jesus, for one sinner Caroline." I arose, and looked around, but how was the prospect changed! I had of ten admired the romantic banks of the Saco, but never did they appear so beautiful as at the present. I felt a calm sink into my soul. God was all around me, and within me, and I stood and worshipped in silent rapture. O! Julia, could I but make you feel this happiness-could I but make you feel what it is to hold communion with God, you would look with contempt on the honours, wealth, and pleasures of the world, and "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ." The vacuity in my mind was now filled, and that indescribable something, I had long wanted to make me happy, I now found to be the re ligion of Jesus. The day-star of salvation had dawned upon my heart, and I was happy. I can never be enough thankful, that my attention has been called to the interests of my immortal spirit. I can never enough adore the long suffering goodnest of that God, who so long bare with his refractory creature, who, pursued by his Spirit, amidst scenes of multiplied transgression, brought me at last by a way I had not known, to the enjoyment of his beatific presence here; to a blessed foretaste of that happiness I had hoped to share with his faithful followers in that world, where I shall see Him, as He is, and mine eye shall behold Him." It is but reasonable, that the residue of my days should be the Lord's; and O! my amiable friend, will you not be persuaded to try "the narrow way ?" Remember that one thing is needful, and pray to God to assist you by His Spirit and grace, to make suitable improvement of his mercy. Before her marriage, the accomplished Miss S. was considered the standard of dress in the circle of her acquaintance. Though she possessed a vivid imagination, and spright ly genius, her progress in useful literature was but small. We married about the same time, and our acquaintance for a season was interrupted. On my last visit to preparatory to my leaving New-England, I called on my old acquaintance, and found her still immersed in the pseudo pleasures of the fashionable world. Tea parties, the toilet, and the superb ornaments of her parlour, divided her attention. Though she received me with all the hospitality due to an old and intimate acquaintance, yet I could plainly perceive an air of chagrin and dissatisfaction, which all the gaiety of her apparel could but ill conceal. "Tell me, Susan," said I," amidst all the splendour that surrounds you, are you happy?" Happy!" she replied, "by no means; I am torment ed with cares and anxieties, I am as miserable as a demon." While I tarried at a typhus was epidemic in the vicinity, and she was among the victims of its merciless ravages. I visited her in her illness, and found her anxiety to be in fashion, still continued. With the sentence of death upon her countenance, her heart appeared to be totally unconcerned about futurity. In her intervals of ease, she conversed about an elegant house that was prepared for her reception, and regretted that her apartments were not more spacious. She was attended by a young physician, an infidel, who had strictly forbidden her attendants to inform her of her danger, for fear of depressing her spirits, and constantly assured her that she would do well, About midnight she was seized with severe spasms, and for the first time since her illness, expressed a fear that she would not recover. The experienced and respected doctor M. was now called to her bedside, to administer relief. He was a sensible and worthy man, and I have reason to believe, a sincere Christian. "Your pangs," said he, "are the pangs of death." And while her fond husband earnestly entreated that something might be given to prolong life, the good doctor exhorted her to look to the Lord. "Doctor," said she, in a feeble, dying accent," can you do nothing for me? Can you not reprieve me but one day longer? Alas I am unprepared to die. I have lived twenty-six years, and never seriously thought of death before." The horrors of dying unprepared, rushed upon her mind, and she shrieked in agony. Despair gave her strength, and she raised herself without assistance in the bed, and conjured all present to be warned by her example, and seek the salvation of their souls. "For me," said she, "I am going, I know not where. Heaven is not my place, I am unprepared |