"tune; for he did not know that all the

poor in his parifh are the children of

every pious clergyman. Finding I had "little or nothing left me, he withdrew "his attentions."-" What a fad thing!" cried Betty" No, it was all for the best; "Providence over-ruled his covetoufness

to my good. I could not have been "happy with a man whofe foul was fet on "the perishable things of this world; nor "did I esteem him, though I laboured to "fubmit my own inclinations to those of

my kind father. The very circumstance

"of being left pennyless produced the "direct contrary effect on Mr. Simpson : "he was a fenfible young man, engaged " in a profperous bufinefs: we had long

highly valued each other; but while my "father lived, he thought me above his "hopes. We were married; I found him "an amiable, induftrious, good-tempered "man; he respected religion and religious "people; but, with excellent difpofitions, "I had the grief to find him lefs pious

"than

"than I had hoped. He was ambitious, "and a little too much immersed in

66

worldly fchemes; and though I know "it was all done for my fake, yet that did "not blind me fo far as to make me think "it right. He attached himself so eagerly "to bufinefs, that he thought every hour "loft in which he was not doing fome

thing that would tend to raise me to "what he called my proper rank. The "more profperous he grew the lefs reli"gious he became; and I began to find "that one might be unhappy with a huf “band one tenderly loved. One day as "he was ftanding on fome steps to reach "down a parcel of goods he fell from "the top and broke his leg in two places."

"What a dreadful misfortune!" said

Mrs. Betty. "What a fignal bleffing!" faid Mrs. Simpfon. "Here I am fure I "had reason to say all was for the best; "from that very hour in which my out"ward troubles began, I date the begin"ning of my happinefs. Severe fuffering, a

near

"near profpect of death, abfence from the "world, filence, reflection, and above all, "the divine bleffing on the prayers and

દ

fcriptures I read to him, were the means

"used by our merciful Father to turn my "hufband's heart. During this confine"ment he was awakened to a deep fenfe "of his own finfulness, of the vanity of "all this world has to beftow, and of his

ઃઃ

great need of a Saviour. It was many "months before he could leave his bed;

ઃઃ

ઃઃ

during this time his bufinefs was ne

glected. His principal clerk took ad• vantage of his abfence to receive large "fums of money in his name, and ab"fconded. On hearing of this great loss, "our creditors came fafter upon us than we could answer their demands; they'

66

grew more impatient as we were lefs "able to fatisfy them; one misfortune' "followed another, till at length Mr. Simp“fon became a bankrupt."

"What an evil!" exclaimed Mrs. Betty.' "Yet it led in the end to much good," refumed

refumed Mrs. Simpson. "We were forced "to leave the town in which we had lived "with fo much credit and comfort, and "to betake ourselves to a mean lodging " in a neighbouring village, till my huf"band's ftrength should be recruited, and "till we could have time to look about us and fee what was to be done. The "first night we got to this poor dwelling

વ

66

my husband felt very forrowful, not for "his own fake, but that he had brought "fo much poverty on me, whom he had "fo dearly loved: I, on the contrary, was "unusually chearful; for the bleffed change "in his mind had more than reconciled "me to the fad change in his circum"ftances. I was contented to live with "him in a poor cottage for a few years "on earth, if it might contribute to our spending a bleffed eternity together in "heaven. I faid to him; Instead of la"menting that we are now reduced to "want all the comforts of life, I have "fometimes been almoft afhamed to live

"in the full enjoyment of them, when "I have reflected that my Saviour not 66 only chose to deny himself all these en<< joyments, but even to live a life of hard"fhip for my fake; not one of his nucc merous miracles tended to his own com"fort; and though we read at different "times that he both hungered and thirsted,

66

yet it was not for his own gratification that

"he once changed water into wine; and I "have often been ftruck with the near po"fition of that chapter in which this "miracle is recorded, to that in which he "thirfted for a draught of water at the "well in Samaria *. It was for others, not "himself, that even the humble sustenance "of barley bread was multiplied. "here, we have a bed left us; I had, in"deed, nothing but ftraw to stuff it with, "but the Saviour of the world had not "where to lay his head.' My husband "fmiled through his tears, and we fat down

*See John, chap. ii.-and John, chap, iv.

See