ght be the
humble instrument of leading me to my Heavenly Father, and that He would
be pleased to pour down upon me His Holy Spirit, so that I might by
faith in Christ, be accepted, and become a child of God and an inheritor
of eternal bliss.

There was something so novel to me and so beautiful in her fervency of
prayer, that the tears came into my eyes, and about a minute after she
had finished, I said--

"I now recollect, at least, I think I do--for the memory of it is very
confused--that my mother used to kneel down by me and pray just as you
have done. Oh, how I wish I had a mother!"

"My child," replied she, "promise me that you will be a good and
obedient son, and I will be a mother to you."

"Will you? Oh! How kind of you. Yes, I will be all you wish; I will
work for you day and night if it is necessary. I will do everything, if
you will but be my mother."

"I will do my duty to you as a mother most strictly," replied she; "so
that is agreed upon. Now, you had better go to sleep, if you can."

"But I must first ask you a question. Why did you thank God for the
seamen having left us here, instead of taking us with them?"

"Because the boat was overloaded as it was; because the men, having
liquor, would become careless and desperate, and submit to no control;
and therefore I think there is little or no chance of their ever
arriving anywhere safe, but that they will perish miserably in some way
or another. This, I consider, is the probability, unless the Almighty
in His mercy, should be pleased to come to their assistance, and allow
them to fall in with some vessel soon after their departure."

"Do you think, then, that God prevented our going with them on purpose
that we might not share their fate?"

"I do! God regulates everything. Had it been better for us that we
should have gone, He would have permitted it; but He willed it
otherwise, and we must bow to His will with a full faith, that He orders
everything for the best."

"And you say that God will give us all that we ask for in our prayers?"

"Yes, if we pray fervently and in faith, and ask it in the name of Jesus
Christ; that is, He will grant all we pray for that is good for us, but
not what is not good for us; but when we ask anything, we do not know
that we are asking what is proper or not--but He does. We may ask what
would be hurtful to us, and then, in His love for us, He denies it. For
instance, suppose you had been accustomed