little trials with
which his cup was mixed, are not without their influence in mingling a
melancholy with the pleasing reminiscences of the past. Much has been
said on this principle of association, and truly much remains unsaid on
the subject. Scarcely is there a green sod, or a purling brook, a shady
forest-tree, or a smiling flower, an enchanting and fairy landscape, or
a barren and desolate heath; scarcely an object in nature, or a work of
art, which does not awaken some gratefully pleasing, yet painful
recollections of the past!

It is to this principle I attribute much of the good which results from
Sabbath-schools. Often has the pious teacher to return from his onerous
duties in the school, and retiring to his closet, to mourn on account of
the fruitlessness of his efforts; and Satan never fails, at such seasons,
to fill his mind with discouraging thoughts, which weigh down his
spirits, and lead him almost to decide on retiring from the work. To
such, let the precept and promise of God's word,--"Cast thy bread upon
the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days,"--be a source of
never-failing encouragement. How frequently, in after life, has it been
found, that the instruction of the Sabbath-school, though it may have
lain dormant for a time, has not been annihilated; but, through some
circumstance, or by some object, it has been resuscitated in the memory,
and it germinates, blossoms, fructifies, and brings forth glorious fruit,
which has cheered the hearts and upheld the hands of many thousands of
the most self-denying and arduous laborers in God's vineyard.

James, the eldest of the three lads mentioned, was a youth of
considerable promise. He had one of the most retentive memories I have
ever met with. Having reached the age of seventeen, his parents placed
him with a Methodist in a neighboring town, as an apprentice. For twelve
months after his removal, he stood aloof from all connection with the
Church and people of God; after which period, as he remarks in a letter
to his brother, "at the request of the superintendent of C---- school, I
became a teacher in that school, and for four years remained as such."
James continued as a teacher in the school for about twelve-months
previous to his becoming a member of society; at the expiration of which
time, he was induced, by the persuasions and invitations of his
fellow-teachers, to meet in class. From this period he became a steady
and devoted follower of t