"What is it? Do not be fearful of mentioning it." A tear rolled down
her cheek--a slight blush coloured her countenance. She lifted up her
eyes to heaven for a moment, and then, fixing them on me with a solemn,
affecting look, said,--
"May so young a poor child as I am be admitted to the Lord's Supper? I
have for some time wished it, but dared not to mention it, for fear you
should think it wrong."
"My dear Jenny, I have no doubt respecting it, and shall be very glad to
converse with you on the subject, and hope that He who has given you the
desire, will bless his own ordinance to your soul. Would you wish it now
or to-morrow?"
"To-morrow, if you please, sir;--will you come to-morrow and talk to me
about it? and if you think it proper, I shall be thankful. I am growing
faint now--I hope to be better when you come again."
I was much pleased with her proposal, and rejoiced in the prospect of
seeing so young and sincere a Christian thus devote herself to the Lord,
and receive the sacramental seal of a Saviour's love to her soul.
Disease was making rapid inroads upon her constitution, and she was aware
of it. But as the outward man decayed, she was strengthened with might,
by God's Spirit in the inner man. She was evidently ripening fast for a
better world.
I remember these things with affectionate pleasure; they revive my
earlier associations, and I hope the recollection does me good. I wish
them to do good to thee likewise, my reader; and therefore I write them
down.
May the simplicity that is in Christ render
"The short and simple annals of the poor"
a mean of grace and blessing to thy soul! Out of the mouth of this babe
and suckling may God ordain thee strength! If thou art willing, thou
mayest perchance hear something further respecting her.
PART IV.
I was so much affected with my last visit to little Jane, and
particularly with her tender anxiety respecting the Lord's Supper, that
it formed the chief subject of my thoughts for the remainder of the day.
I rode in the afternoon to a favourite spot, where I sometimes indulged
in solitary meditation; where I wished to reflect on the interesting case
of my little disciple.
It was a place well suited for such a purpose.
In the widely sweeping curve of a beautiful bay, there is a kind of chasm
or opening in one of the lofty cliffs which bound it. This produces a
very romantic and striking effect. The steep descending sides
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