APPENDIX.

To the original pieces, of which this little work is composed, are here added a few passages, chiefly from writers of celebrity, and composed either under circumstances of severe personal affliction, or for the consolation of their friends in bereavement. The number of such selections might be greatly extended. In the few however to which the compiler has preferred to confine himself, he is happy in uniting the names of authors, whose speculations on other subjects might widely differ from each other and his own; not only as the passages in themselves will be found unexceptionable most of them indeed are entitled to a higher character-but as à pleasing evidence, that in the sacred offices of consolation, as in any work of practical utility, christians of different names and parties may cordially unite. In casting his eye over the collections which, however defective, have been made for this purpose, he could not but perceive, how little have the subjects of a disputed theology to do with the work of consolation; how much they are overlooked, even by those who on other points would deem it necessary to press them as essential to an acceptable faith. The beautiful little piece by Dr. Wardlaw of Edinburgh, after the death of his child, and the truly christian letter of Dr. Balfour, a late eminent clergyman of Glasgow —

for both of which the writer is indebted to the kindness of a friend - with the address of Mr. Danforth to his flock after the loss of three of his children, may be taken as an evidence, if any such were wanted, that when the heart is truly touched, and the best affections are in their genuine exercise, the doubtful things of religion are involuntarily forgotten. And through the "darkness and the shadows," that rest upon them, the soul of the afflicted and the spirit of the "son of consolation," whatever may be their diversities of speculation, ascend together and at once to the pure heaven of truth, even to those grand but simple principles, which it is the glory of the gospel to reveal; and which, to every sincere believer and every submissive sufferer, are their only assurance of the hope full of immortality. Of such truths as these, - the paternal character of God, and of his perfect providence; the mission of Christ Jesus as the resurrection and the life; and the glorious doctrine of immortality, — we may say as did the earnest disciple to his Lord, in words already illustrated: "To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

The reader will remark, that most of the extracts in this selection are with particular reference to that form of bereavement, for which it has been a leading object of this book to supply consolation, the deaths of children. May they help those who are thus afflicted to remember, that

They are not lost,

Who leave their parents for the calm of heaven.

F. P.

Memoirs of John Evelyn, Esq.

Extract from the Diary of John Evelyn, Esq.,* recording the deaths of a promising son and daughter.

"Jan. 27, 1658.- After six fits of a quartan ague, with which it pleased God to visit him, died my dear son Richard, to our inexpressible grief and affliction, five years and three days old only; but at that tender age a prodigy for wit and understanding; for beauty of body, a very angel; for endowment of mind, of incredible and rare hopes. To give only a little taste of some of them, and there

* John Evelyn, Esq., the author of "Sylva," was a gentleman of distinguished character and influence in the reign of Charles II, and of the two subsequent reigns. He was in habits of close intimacy with the most distinguished individuals of his time, both in church and in state; the friend, as may be seen, of Dr. Jeremy Taylor, and was held in high esteem, not only for his fine taste and elegant accomplishments, but for his piety and irreproachable manners. In his journal, he records with much feeling and interest his domestic history, as well as the great public events of his day. The two children, whose death he so tenderly laments, must indeed have been remarkable for their early endowments and virtues. And though something may be allowed to the fondness of parental affection, yet no one, we believe, can read the little history he has given of them, without some emotions of sympathy for a parent thus bereaved.

by give glory to God, who out of the mouths of babes and infants does sometimes perfect his praises. At two years and a half old, he could perfectly read any of the English, Latin, French, or Gothic letters, pronouncing the three first languages exactly. He had before the fifth year, or in that year, not only skill to read most written hands, but to decline all the words, conjugate the verbs regular, and most of the irregular. Strange was his apt and ingenious application of fables and words, for he had read Æsop; he had a wonderful disposition to mathematics, having by heart divers propositions in Euclid, that were read to him in play, and he would make lines and demonstrate them.

"As to his piety, astonishing were his applications of scripture upon occasion, and his sense of God. He had learnt all his catechism early, and understood the historical parts of the Bible and New Testament, to a wonder. These, and the like illuminations, far exceeding his age and experience, considering the prettiness of his address and behavior, cannot but leave impressions in me at the memory of him. He would of himself select the most pathetic Psalms, and chapters out of Job, to read to his maid during his sickness, telling