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I could not enter heaven unless I was born again" by the renewing of the Holy Spirit. I was contented in my ignorance, as Catholics generally are, with outward observances, and fully believed, because our priests told us so, that I was in the path to heaven. Had not my heavenly Father had compassion on me, I should have lived and died ignorant of the only way to be saved, through faith in my precious Saviour's atoning blood.

Where I lived, after leaving my father, the bible was daily read at family prayers, which I sometimes attended; but what I heard made no impression on my mind, as I had always been told it was not a book for Catholics, they being sure of salvation, and they only. One day I had a quarrel with one of the females in the house, and was highly provoked with her for telling me I was a very wicked girl-a term which had never been applied to me before. In a day or two afterwards, the same woman was reading her bible, and when I found her with it she was shedding tears, and apparently in much distress. I asked her what ailed her, and never shall I forget her answer. It was, "O Mary, I am a great sinner! and I fear my soul will be lost for ever!" Although I had been highly provoked at her for calling me a wicked girl, yet when she confessed that she was also wicked, it astonished me beyond measure. I knew her to be more amiable than I was, and if she was such a sinner, what must I be, I asked myself.

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I could not rest until I took a bible into my room and examined it: this I continued from day to day, finding such passages as, “Ye must be born again,” John iii. 7. "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners,”—1 Timothy, i. 15. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not see the kingdom of heaven."-Matt. xviii. 5. "And are by nature the children of wrath, even as others,"Eph. ii. 3. The bible also told me, that unless I

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repented of my sins, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, I could not be saved. Having never done this, I was greatly distressed, and went home to my father and told him I was unhappy, and was anxious for the salvation of my soul. But although he was esteemed a very good man, and a rigid Catholic, he could only send me to the priest to confess, for he knew nothing of the new birth, or of the gospel way of salvation.

The priest was equally ignorant; and finding I had no deadly sins to confess, he made light of my distress, and told me I was a good Catholic, and had nothing to fear, but was sure of heaven. Still I was oppressed with a load which only grew heavier and heavier, and as he saw I was anxious for relief, he at last told me, if I wished it, I could go into the convent and become a holy nun.

Feeling there was something to be done, I asked my parents' consent that I might enter the convent. They gave permission, and soon after I entered upon what they called the life of a noviciate, intending to become one of the holy sisters; but I found nothing there to satisfy the desires of my soul-all was cold, formal, and heartless. Neither the conversation or conduct of the inmates gave me any satisfaction, and I soon obtained permission to leave them and return to my former place. I now began to search the bible, and, as there directed, I prayed to be guided aright, and prayed thus for a long time; but having no one to guide or counsel me, I became much discouraged; when one day I was reading Acts xvi., and came to where the jailer "sprang in and came trembling, and said to Paul and Silas, sirs, what must I do to be saved? and they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

When I read that, and saw how easy it was to obey this command, I threw myself at the feet of my blessed Saviour, and trust I gave him my whole heart. Imme

diately my distress was gone, and I was filled with peace and joy. I have since had evidence that God is faithful to all his promises. My confidence is firm, my hope unfading-a blessed reality. I know in whom I have believed. I went once, and but once more, to the Catholic church, to please my father. It was at the consecration of the Bishop. But now the idle ceremonies, the pomp, the incense, the bells, all were disgusting; and I left that church never more to return to it.

I then attended the meeting of Dr. S——, and some time after offered myself for admission to his church, together with my sister Betsy, who, like me, had become pious. We told our father of the change of our views, which he was already aware of, but when we informed him that we were about renouncing the faith in which we had been born, he could not suppress his feelings, but ordered us to go to the priest and inform him of our apostacy, and give him an opportunity to win us back. We went accordingly, and my sister not being so timid as I was, spoke for us both. He tried to alarm us, by assuring us there was no salvation out of the Roman Catholic Church. Finding our purpose unalterable, he began to threaten us, not with punishment here, but hereafter. He told us we should be damned if we were apostates." We assured him that we relied on the promises of God to all who truly repented of their sins, and were satisfied that we were in the right path, and had come by the command of our father, to take leave of him and of the church. He furiously said, “If you do leave the true church and join the heretics, I would not go the length of a whip-lash to save you from damnation."

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Shocked and grieved, we waited to hear no more from him, who had always, until that interview, treated us kindly. Our father was still bitterly opposed to our joining another church, and went so far as to threaten us when he knew we were to be

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baptized, declaring he would raise a body of men and rescue us, as he called it; but his employer, and others, told him he would get himself into trouble, and would be taken up for breaking the law if he committed any such act of violence.

Finding afterwards that we were still his affectionate daughters, and seeing us happy, his heart relented, so that if he could not approve of what we had done, he treated us kindly, and when he was in his last lingering sickness, all his former affection for us returned, and after reading the bible with great attention, he gave our mother a strict charge never to molest us on account of our religion.

Mary died in a hospital, whither she was removed in consequence of the violent conduct of her mother, who was a bigoted Romarist. The last scene is thus described:

One morning I called, and perceiving that her life was drawing to a close, I asked her if she was sensible that her hours were almost numbered, and if she could still look to the Saviour with confidence and hope. She said, "I lay awake many hours last night, and had delightful contemplations on the character and condescension of my precious Saviour."

In the evening I called again, and found that life was fast ebbing. She desired me to pray with her, and I asked what petition she wished to have presented. "That I may glorify God in dying, and not be left to complain of my great bodily sufferings," she replied. I commended her to the Saviour whom she loved, and bade her farewell, with exalted views of the goodness of God, in sustaining this young disciple until she had but one step more to take ere she planted her feet on the shores of the heavenly Canaan.

The next morning information was sent me from the hospital that she was released from all pain. I called on her mother to inform her of the event, and to ask her where she wished to have her body placed,

and when she would like to have the funeral. She said, "You told Mary you would see her buried with your family," and this recalled to my mind the occurrences of the evening when her mother's violence broke out in my presence. I had then told Mary I would take care of her body after her death, and have it placed by the side of my children in the beautiful cemetery at which promise was sacredly kept; and there will her remains repose until the morning of the resurrection.

On reaching the hospital, there was a placid smile upon the countenance of this departed child of God. Her sister informed me that soon after I left her, Mary fell asleep, and it was so profound 'when her pastor called in the evening, that his prayer at her bed-side did not arouse her, nor could she awake her.

They thought it the sleep of death, but afterwards she called out in a loud voice, "Betsy, I am going, I am going; praise the Lord." She then sung in her clear sweet voice the first stanza of that beautiful hymn :

"Why should we start, and fear to die?

What timorous worms we mortals are!

Death is the gate of endless joy,

And yet we dread to enter there."

Her voice then sank almost to a whisper, and she went through the entire hymn, closing with

"Jesus can make a dying bed

Feel soft as downy pillows are-
While on his breast I lean my head,

And breathe my life out sweetly there."

And with these precious words on her lips, her spirit, released from its frail tenement, took its upward flight, to see and adore him whom her soul loved, and who had washed her in his own precious blood, and to dwell for ever where "the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.”