"Blessing she is; God made her so:
And deeds of week-day holiness
Fall from her, noiseless as the snow,
Nor hath she ever chanced to know,

That aught were eaiser than to bless.

"On nature doth she muse and brood,
With such a still and love-clear eye,

She is so gentle and so good,

The very flowers in the wood

Do bless her with their sympathy.

"She is a woman-one in whom

The spring time of her childish years,

Hath never lost its fresh perfume,

Though knowing well that life hath room
For many blights and tears.

"And youth in her a home will find,
Where he may dwell eternally;

Her soul is not of that weak kind
Which better love the life behind,

Than that which is, or is to be."

Go out, my daughters, in the light of Christian knowledge, and in the strength of Christian grace, to be, in meekness, gentleness, and purity, in holiness, and charity, and piety, such women as this picture shows; such as St. Peter would have commended for that "ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great price;" such as St. Peter's Lord would have attracted to Him, as He did the two who dwelt in Bethany; such as were latest at His Cross, and earliest at His grave. It is so that will carry

you

out, into its fair result, the good work you have here begun. It is so that you will justify the care and pains of tender parents and kind friends. It is so that you will overpay our utmost efforts for your good. It is so that you will realize on earth that beautiful expression of the Psalmist, as the "polished corners of the temple;" and so that, through the precious purchase of the Son of God, incarnate, for our sins, you will forever grow and shine as living temples in the heavens.

"Mere human energy shall faint.

And youthful vigor cease,

But those who wait upon the Lord,
In strength shall still increase.

"They with unwearied step shall tread

The path of life divine;

With growing ardour onward move,

With growing brightness shine.

"On eagles' wings, they mount, they soar
On wings of faith and love;

Till, past the sphere of earth and sin,

They rise to heaven above."

III.

THE THIRD ADDRESS,

*TO THE GRADUATING CLASS AT ST. MARY'S HALL.

THE SPIRIT OF LITTLE CHILDREN.

My daughters, you are come to-night, to hear my last instructions, and to receive my parting counsel. You come, as children to a father, and I speak to you, as a father, to dear children. "Why did you not call us, your children?" said one of you to me, when I had inadvertently addressed you, as "young ladies." It was a question to my heart; and even yet its pulses tremble to the echo.

It is not true, though Shakspeare's selft has said it, that "a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet." You would not be to me what you have been, by any other name and if, as I well know, your hearts have knit themselves to mine, in love's electric chain, "this is the only witchcraft I have used."

This little word, the elemental tone of nature, which

* September 29, A. D. 1846.

Rather, his Juliet; for he knew better.

attunes its inmost strings, and sways the pulses of their joy or grief, contains and comprehends all I design or hope for, from God's blessing, on the work of education. I would as soon sit down, with royal Canute, on the sands of the sea-shore, and hope to bid the waves roll back, and be obeyed, as come to you, to win your hearts, and do them good, by any other term. Did I not mean to be a father to these little ones, that sit about my feet; did I not hope that they would be my children, I would send them off to-morrow, and shut up these halls; and still, at once, the hammer and the saw. Why, God Himself attempts not our salvation, upon any other terms. His revelation of Himself to us, is, as our Fa ther. His claim upon us, for our good, is, as His children. When His beloved only Son, had purchased for us, with His blood, the hope of pardon and eternal life, we must come to it, through the second birth, in Holy Baptism; and become as little children, if we hope to be with Him, in heaven. It is the one relation, which all human kind must own; for all, as parents, or as children, have confessed its power: and it contains all others, as the bloom and fragrance of the rose blush into beauty, and distil, in liquid odour, from the bursting bud. There is no limit to the power of this relation. It is adequate to all emergencies. It will sustain all trials. It can never fail. It springs, immortal, from the heart; and gathers, as it goes, in beauty, truth, and power. I plant myself upon it, with unfaltering foot. I am impregnable, while I stand there. My very standing-place is victory. Nature must change, and God Himself must

VOL. IV.-7

fail, before that charm can lose its power, or virtue cease to come from it.

And now, my daughters, that I have confessed to you, as that strong man of sacred story, the secret of my strength, let me, in the few words which close this parting hour, commend to you its undecaying, and incalculable worth. Seek-as my latest counsel, with my parting benediction-to be the comfort and the charm of life, to be your fitness for eternity, and foretaste of its joys, THE SPIRIT OF LITTLE CHILDREN.

"Lord, forever at Thy side,

Let my place and portion be;
Strip me of the robe of pride,
Clothe me with humility.

"Humble as a little child,

Weaned from the mother's breast,

By no subtleties beguiled,

On Thy faithful word I rest.”

i. The spirit of little children is a spirit of dependence. That it might be so, God made them helpless. They die, if they be not cared for. Is it so much less so with ourselves? Is not man's breath "in his nostrils"? Is he not "crushed before the moth"? Can he foresee the issues of an hour? Can he ward off the shafts of death, the effluvia of disease, the cloud of sorrow? When his best beloved is attacked with typhus, or with hectic, is he not helpless to relieve? When the fire has undermined the sleeping-room, or the sea gains upon the wreck, is he not helpless to deliver? And