THE MOTHER'S DREAM,

ON THE DEATH OF HER FIRST-BORN.

BY W. M. HETHERINGTON, A. M.

Author of "Scottish Pastorals."

SHE slept;-for sorrow wanes away
Before the might of sleep,

The pain, the sighs, the tears of day
Lay hush'd in silence deep.

She slept; and o'er her slumbering mind
The murmurs of a dream

Swept, like the rustling summer-wind,
The rippling summer-stream.

The music of a little tongue

Went thrilling thro' her breast; Sweet as the lays by angels sung, That lull the good to rest.

Soft kisses fann'd her cheek and eyes,
Like melting dews of May;

Light touches gently still'd her sighs,
And stole their pain away.

Again, that little voice's swell
Woke its sweet melody;

And on her ear those accents fell-
"Weep not, weep not for me!

"If from thine earthly coronet
Is fallen its earliest gem,
Look up, look up! behold it set
In heaven's own diadem!

"Thine earthly harp has lost a string, Unjarred by one false tone;

Oh! list! new strung its full notes ring For aye before the throne!

"The rose-bud from thy topmost bough Is cropp'd, unblown, away;

In Paradise its beauties now

Expands in endless day.

"One life-germ from thy heart is wrung, And keen the pang may be ;

Rejoice! in heaven that germ has sprung To immortality!"

Peace to the Mother's yearning breast,
And chastened joys were given,
Then back returned, the vision blest,
To its own home in heaven.

EPITAPH ON AN INFANT.

PURE is the dew-drop on the thorn,
It melts in light away;
Bright is the star of early morn,

It dieth into day:

Purer than dews, my little One!

Brighter than stars wert thou,

The Day that ends not round thee shone,

Heaven's glories hide thee now!

W. M. H.

NONCONFORMITY

TO THE WORLD.

A CHAPTER FROM "THE EARLY

CHRIS

TIANS; OR, THE ASPECT AND SPIRIT
OF PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY."

BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE PASTOR OF BLAMONT."

Ir is true, that an abandonment of the peculiar maxims and manners of the world bas been inculcated and practised by different sects and individuals; that from Diogenes in his tub to the mendicant Brahmin with all his contorted positions, a certain opposition to the tenets and practices of the multitude has ever been exemplified. But it is no less true, that the principle influencing

the conduct of every nonconformist to the world, except the Christian, has been infallibly that of self,-it is this which has constituted the mainspring of all their singularity, this the orb around which their motives have invariably revolved.

Christianity, however, whilst it enjoins an estrangement from the popular sentiments and appearances of mankind, in its present degenerate aspect, has a far different centre of evolution, and is directed by far purer and loftier motives. Its votaries, by their abstraction from the habits and spirit of the world, neither pay homage to themselves, nor demand its being rendered to them by others. On the contrary, the Christian's conduct, in this particular, is an evidence of allegiance to a sovereign whose kingdom is not of this world,-whose empire, instead of being characterised by oppression and discord and sensual gratification, is one of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: it is an acknowledgment of the absolute supremacy of another power than that which has usurped Įdominion on earth,-a mark of submission