ied, in his own language, to repeat the sentiments
of that solemn act of Dedication. Never was a boy more sincere
and earnest than he.

How long he prayed he did not know; but when he rose and looked
round him, the sun had long passed its meridian, and the shadows
of the trees were cast towards the east.

There was a delicious, joyful calm in his soul. All doubts of
God's willingness to pardon and receive him had gone. A veil
seemed to have been removed from the character of God. He
thought of God as he had never thought before,--not as a stern
and unrelenting Judge, but as a forgiving, loving Father. He
saw, as he had never seen before, how sinners could be adopted
as children of God, for the sake of the sufferings and sacrifice
of Jesus.

His spirit was very calm, but O, how happy! He had solemnly given
himself to God, pleading the merits of Jesus as the reason for his
acceptance, and he believed that God had received him, pardoned his
transgressions, and accepted him as one of his own children. Again
and again did he throw himself on the greensward, and pour out his
soul in gratitude and in prayer. It was the happiest day his life
had ever known.

The whole aspect of nature seemed changed in his eyes. The
gloomy shroud, that seemed to envelop it in the morning, had
passed away. The smile of God seemed reflected from every
sunbeam that played upon the green leaves and danced over the
distant waving meadow. There was sweet melody now in the songs
of the birds, in the rippling of the brook, in the hum of the
bees, and in the sighing of the soft breeze. All seemed to sing
of the goodness and grace of the adorable Creator. "_Old_ things
had passed away, behold all things had become _new_."

That lad was the RODNEY ROVERTON of this little volume. That
change was wrought by the regenerating grace of God. It was the
"peace of God, that passeth all understanding," diffused through
all his soul. Where "sin had abounded, grace did much more
abound."

Rodney Roverton yet lives. He has been, for many years, a professed
disciple of Jesus Christ, and an honored and successful minister of
the Gospel.

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