pile brows around the locks of youth were woven have borne the fatal ordeal and betrayed no sign of shrinking from the fiery blast and voices whose sweet tones were once the natural of happiness and love have been ib to herself the writer mast here in of the poetry of religion how forcibly she is � with what some would call the of the task she has undertaken because this subject necessarily brings under serious observation the all important for which we ought to be either to live or die as duty may require and before which all considerations even that of poetry itself vanish into she would however hope that her task may be pursued without and that she may point out the poetry of religion with a feeling of its and more essential in the same way that a may upon the architecture of a cathedral without reference to the for which the building was originally and to which it la still appropriated heard above the embers and the shouts of brutal to heaven the pure melodious strains of a joy fresh from the of domestic peace young innocent have been torn to and in the centre of the fire and trembling with the last of mortal agony have borne their testimony to the of their faith the cry of an parent bursting from the surrounding throng may have reached the sufferer in the flames the eye that was once the of his hopes may have glanced upon him through the dense and smoke and thoughts dear as the memory of early love may have rushed upon his soul even there bathing it in the tenderness of childhood and melting down his high resolve which but for that and zeal would yet have sent him forth a worthless wreck upon the troubled ocean of life after the promised haven had been in sight the pilot near and the anchor of eternal hope ready to be cast for ever into the foundation which no storms can shake yet even here his faith remains and he shakes off the lingering weakness of humanity his joyful spirit already the unbounded of its promised felicity let us contemplate the scene one moment longer the excitement has subsided the cry of the merciless spectators is heard no more the smoking pile becomes one universal ruin and the living form so lately quivering with the intensity of quickened and sensation is mingled with the silent dust are there not footsteps lingering near that fatal spot are there not looks too wild for tears still fixed upon the white ashes with which tlie idle breezes are at play are there not hearts whose inmost depths are filled with bitterness and thoughts of vengeance and dreams of daring and fierce bold scrutiny of the ways of providence and questioning if these are the tender of the most high yes such has ever been the effect of persecution upon the mind and never is the so firmly fortified against conviction as when he the wrongs and the wretch the poetry op life which man with a blind and superstitious zeal his brother we turn from this scene of horrors to the aspect presented by religion under a form of persecution or rather under one whose influence is more remote and we follow a httle company cf faithful to their m tne where their is the sky and their altar the rude rocks of the wilderness ij on the summit of a precipice a keeps watch and while he looks to the sombre woods the hollow or the dim and distant heights if he may discern the movements of an enemy hymns of praise and adoration are heard from the congregation in the valley as echoing from to the deep full of devotion rises on the evening breeze then the devout and prayer is up that the true shepherd will to look down upon and visit the scattered remnant of his flock that his voice may yet call them into safe pastures and that he will pour out the waters of eternal life for the support of the feeble the refreshment of the weary and the consolation of the sore distressed it is in such scenes and circumstances that the followers of a persecuted faith become indeed brethren in the fellowship of christ in a common cause the same danger and led on by one purpose the vital bond of the society extends and lives through all its members discord enters not their communion for the world is against them and they can stand imder its cruelty and oppression by no other compact than that of christian love jealousy not its into their hearts for they are hoping to attain a felicity in which all are ambition not the seeds of selfishness amongst them for their reward is one that admits of no � of which all may partake without the portion of any and this pure and simple worship how sacred how fervent is the farewell of the brethren on separating for their distant home some have to trace the sands of the sea beaten shore some the lonely sheep track on the mountains and some the hollow bed of the wintry torrent whose thundering waters have worked out themselves a rugged pathway down the hills but all are accompanied by the same deep sense of danger and internal peace � all have the same bright to light them on their silent way and the same spiritual help to support their weary steps they know not but the homes they are seeking may have become a heap of ruins but they have learned to look for an everlasting habitation where the may not come they know not but the sword of persecution may have severed the chain of their domestic but they feel that every link of that chain can be in a world of peace they know not but the of destruction may have fallen 