he happy truth, that even in the
worst of circumstances the Lord does make a kind provision for the
support of his creatures. The front aspect of the cottage was chiefly
rendered pleasing by a honeysuckle, which luxuriantly climbed up the
wall, enclosing the door, windows, and even the chimney, with its twining
branches. As I entered the house-door, its flowers put forth a very
sweet and refreshing smell. Intent on the object of my visit, I at the
same moment offered up silent prayer to God, and entertained a hope, that
the welcome fragrance of the shrub might be illustrative of that
all-prevailing intercession of a Redeemer, which I trusted was, in the
case of this little child, as "a sweet-smelling savour" to her heavenly
Father. The very flowers and leaves of the garden and field are
emblematical of higher things, when grace teaches us to make them so.
Jane was in bed upstairs. I found no one in the house with her except
the woman who had brought me the message on the evening before. The
instant I looked on the girl, I perceived a very marked change in her
countenance: it had acquired the consumptive hue, both white and red. A
delicacy unknown to it before quite surprised me, owing to the alteration
it produced in her look. She received me first with a very sweet smile,
and then instantly burst into a flood of tears, just sobbing out,--

"I am so glad to see you, sir!"

"I am very much concerned at your being so ill, my child, and grieved
that I was not sooner aware of your state. But I hope the Lord designs
it for your good." Her eye, not her tongue, powerfully expressed, "I
hope and think he does."

"Well, my poor child, since you can no longer come to see me, I will come
and see you, and we will talk over the subjects which I have been used to
explain to you."

"Indeed, sir, I shall be so glad!"

"That I believe she will," said the woman; "for she loves to talk of
nothing so much as what she has heard you say in your sermons, and in the
books you have given her."

"Are you really desirous, my dear child, to be a true Christian?"

"Oh, yes, yes, sir; I am sure I desire that above all things."

I was astonished and delighted at the earnestness and simplicity with
which she spoke these words.

"Sir," added she, "I have been thinking, as I lay on my bed for many
weeks past, how good you are to instruct us poor children; what must
become of us without it!"

"I am truly glad to perceive that my ins