de up their minds that she should not become a Christian,
and tried every way they could to discourage her notions about religion.
At last they thought they would get up a large party--thus with gayety
and pleasure win her back to the world. So they made every preparation
for a gay time; they even sent to neighboring towns and got all her most
worldly companions to come to the house; they bought her a magnificent
silk dress and jewelry, and decked her out in all the finery of such an
occasion. The young lady thought there would be no harm in attending the
party; that it would be a trifling affair, a simple thing, and she
could, after it was over, think again of the welfare of her soul. She
went decked out in all her adornments, and was the belle of the ball
Three weeks from that night she was on her dying bed. She asked her
mother to bring her ball dress in. She pointed her finger at it, and,
bursting into tears, said, "That is the price of my soul." She died
before dawn. Oh, my friends, if you are anxious about your soul, let
everything else go; let parties and festivals pass.

The Two Fathers.

Whenever I think about this subject, two fathers come before me. One
lived on the Mississippi river. He was a man of great wealth. Yet he
would have freely given it all could he have brought back his eldest boy
from his early grave. One day that boy had been borne home unconscious.
They did everything that man could do to restore him, but in vain. "He
must die," said the doctor. "But, doctor," said the agonized father,
"can you do nothing to bring him to consciousness, even for a moment?"
"That may be," said the doctor; "'but he can never live." Time passed,
and after a terrible suspense, the fathers wish was gratified. "My son,"
he whispered, "the doctor tells me you are dying." "Well," said the boy,
"you never prayed for me, father; won't you pray for my lost soul now?"
The father wept. It was true he had never prayed. He was a stranger to
God. And in a little while that soul, unprayed for, passed into its dark
eternity. Oh, father! if your boy was dying, and he called on you to
pray, could you lift your burdened heart to heaven? Have you learned
this sweetest lesson of heaven on earth, to know and hold communion with
your God? And before this evil world has marked your dearest treasures
for its prey, have you learned to lead your little ones to a children's
Christ?

What a contrast is the other father? He, too, had a l