by a pious mother, he clandestinely left
home at the age of ten years, and since that period--he was now forty,
or more--had been wandering over the earth, regardless of the claims of
God or the worth of his own soul.

"In Philadelphia he was taken with a dangerous fever, and was brought to
the place where I met him. There, on that bed of languishing, the scenes
of his early childhood clustered around him, and among them the image of
his mother was fairest and brightest, and in memory's vision she seemed
to stand, as in former days, exhorting him to become the friend and
disciple of the blessed Savior. The honeyed accents were irresistible.

"Through the long lapse of thirty years--though she was now sleeping in
the grave--her appeal came with force to break his flinty heart.

"With no living Christian to direct him on that bed of sickness,
remembering what his mother had told him one-third of a century before,
he yielded to the claims of Jesus."

Here the power and faithfulness of a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering
God were exhibited. Here was a mother's influence crowned with a
glorious conquest.

* * * * *

EXCERPTA.

AN AMERICAN HOME.--The word Home we have obtained from the old
Saxon tongue. Transport the word to Africa, China, Persia, Turkey or
Russia, and it loses its meaning. Where is it but in our favored land
that the father is allowed to pursue his own plan for the good of his
family, and with his sons to labor in what profession he chooses and
then enjoy the avails of his labor? The American Home is the abode of
neatness, thrift and competence, not the wretched hut of the Greenlander
or Caffrarian, or under-ground place of Kamschatka. The American Home is
the house of intelligence; its inmates can read; they have the Bible;
they can transmit thought. The American Home is the resting-place of
contentment and peace; there is found mutual respect, untiring love and
kindness; there, virtue claiming respect; there, the neighbor is
regarded and prized; there, is safety; the daily worship; the principle
of religion.

Ten thousand good people noiselessly at work every day, making more firm
all good felt at home or abroad, and fixing happiness and good
institutions on a basis lasting as heaven.

CHRISTIAN UNION.--In "D'Aubigne's Reformation" we find a short,
beautiful sentiment on the subject of Christian Union. He says: "Truth
may be compared to the light of the sun.