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sions, which they often made, to kidnap slaves for the Christians. They found a Guahiba woman in a solitary hut, with three children-two of whom were infants. The father, with the older children, had gone out to fish, and the mother in vain tried to fly with her babes. She was seized by these manhunters, hurried into a boat, and carried away to a missionary station at San Fernando.

She was now far from her home; but she had left children there, who had gone with their father. She repeatedly took her three babes and tried to escape, but was as often seized, brought back, and most unmercifully beaten with whips.

At length the missionary determined to separate this mother from her three children; and for this purpose, sent her in a boat up the Atabapo river, to the missions of the Rio Negro, at a station called Javita.

Seated in the bow of the boat, the mother knew not where she was going, or what fate awaited her. She was bound, solitary and alone in the bow of the long-boat; but she judged, from the direction of the sun, that she was going away from her children. By a sudden effort, she broke her bonds, plunged into the river, swam to the left bank of the Atabapo, and landed upon a Rock. She was pursued, and at evening retaken, and brought back to the rock, where she was scourged till her blood reddened the rock,-calling for her children! And the rock has ever since been called "THE MOTHER'S ROCK." hands were then tied upon her back, still bleeding from the lashes of the manaatee thongs of leather. She was then dragged to the mission at Javita, and thrown into a kind of stable. foundly dark, and it was in the

Her

The night was promidst of the rainy

season.

She was now full seventy-five miles from her three children, in a straight line. Between her and her children, lay forests never penetrated by human footsteps; swamps and morasses, and rivers, never crossed by man. But her children are at San Fernando ;-and what can quench a mother's love? Though her arms were wounded, she succeeded in biting her bonds with her teeth, and in the morning she was not to be found! At the fourth rising sun, she had passed through the forests-swam the rivers --and, all bleeding and worn out, was seen hovering round the little cottage in which her babes were sleeping!

She was seized once more; and before her wounds were healed, she was again torn from her children, and sent away to the missions on the upper Oroonoko River-where she drooped and shortly died, refusing all kinds of nourishment—died of a broken heart at being torn from her children! Such is the history of "THE MOTHER'S ROCK!"

Perhaps I might make use of this touching story to lead you to contemplate the curse of slavery; or to show you how far cruelty may fill the hearts of those who profess to bear the image of Jesus Christ : but I have a different object in view, and I mention it solely to illustrate one single point, viz :—the strength of a mother's love for her children ;—a feeling as universal as man, and a stream so deep, that nothing but the eye of the Omniscient One can see its bottom! For, wherever you find woman, whether exalted to her place by the Gospel, reduced to a mere animal by Mahomet, or sunk still lower by heathenism, you find this same unquenchable love for her children. She will cheerfully wear herself out, and go down to the grave, to alleviate the

sufferings of a single child. I have now in my mind a poor widow, who told me, at the funeral of a son, whose intellect and reason had been destroyed by fits, that for thirty-eight years she had never passed a single night, in which she did not rise once or more, and go and minister to the wants of that child! She was literally worn out, and in a few weeks followed her son to the grave.

The heart of the mother can never grow cold. Her offspring may go out one by one, and be scattered to the four quarters of the globe; but the rivers that run, and the mountains that rear their heads, and the long deserts that lie between her and them, neither lessen her love, nor loose the bonds which hold them to her heart. Time and distance do nothing towards extinguishing those eternal fires which burn in her heart. From the moment that she first gazes on the face of her babe, to that in which she closes her eyes in the slumbers of death, she never remits her care, her anxieties, or her love for him. Sermon to Mothers, by "Todd."

RUTH;

OR, THE IMPORTANCE OF DECISION IN THE FEMALE

CHARACTER.

(Continued from page 116.)

But Ruth Resolved,

"Thy

3. To avow and worship Naomi's God. God shall be my God." In the service of dumb idols I have found no delight, but from what I have heard and known of thy God, I believe him to be the only object worthy of homage and praise. I humbly take him for my God, and shall feel myself

supremely happy, if he will own me as his worshipper and child." And how is this blessedness, my dear friends, to become yours? How can you take the Lord as your God? By the same principle only which operated on the mind of Ruth:-by faith Ruth believed in God, and believed in his willingness to receive and accept a humble stranger like herself; and so must you go to God through Jesus Christ, believing that, for his dear sake, he will pardon your sins, and adopt you into his family. Oh! the felicity of being able to say, "The Lord is my God." Blessed indeed is that man, blessed is that woman, to whom this happiness is granted. Is it yours? Is it mine? If not, the fault is entirely our own, for to the vilest sinner God says, "Come and let us reason together!" By the precious blood of his son, God has provided a way for our reconciliation and adoption; and now we can say, Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God! Behold now, even now, amidst all our poverty, guilt, and defilement, even now we are the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." But finally,

4. She solemnly swears that nought but death shall separate her from Naomi, her spiritual guide. Ruth would die where Naomi died, and be buried in the same grave with her. Death alone should dissolve the connexion that now existed between them. The language employed is strong, but it is the language of affection and of religion, which is the only true source of every, kindly feeling. It is language which a worshipper of the true God alone would employ. She was taught by Naomi to believe in

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the existence of Jehovah, and His glorious attributes; in his knowledge of what she now said, and his ability to inflict the dreadful penalty which attached to her crime, if she dared go back again to her people and her Gods. Religion, my friends, is a service for life. It is not a matter to suit your present convenience, or answer a present purpose; but when once you take the Saviour's yoke, you must continue to bear it, when once you avow yourselves to be the disciples of Christ, vou must follow him even to prison, and to death. If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Under the heaviest circumstances, and when allured, tempted, and tried, you must say, "Thy vows are upon me, O God, thy Vows are upon me." This God is my God for ever and ever; he will be my guide even unto death." The engagement to be God's people is most awful, solemn, and binding; and therefore, while I should heartily rejoice to see you all, both old and young, both male and female, avow the Lord to be your God, I would earnestly beseech you to consider that the engagement is one which neither time nor eternity can dissolve! Let yours be the resolution of Ruth :

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"Now I am thine, for ever thine,

Nor shall my purpose move,

Thy hand hath loosed my bond of sin,
And bound me with thy love.

Here in thy courts I leave my vow,

And thy rich grace record;

Witness, ye saints, who hear me now,
If I forsake the Lord."

We will next consider

III. HER SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.

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