"nearer, My God, To Thee."

I lus language was toe litart utterance ni Mis. Sarah FTower A.datn. wbo was boro in Cambridge, Bngland, inFebruary, 1806, and whose bistory bas been bal veryslightly known to the greal pablic, who hve oberisbed ber b'j mna ooe "f il" r inosl saercd treasarea tor nearly balf ;i oentury. Hor fut her ma tue editor uf a weekly Caín bridge paper. Hot nwthöï wa a nmi ol flnc gifts and enaltare, aod r-rn; herwlf wan the youngesl obild. Sbe iraa noted in ear ly liii' for the taste she manifested in literature, and iti eaaturer yeara Por KTcal teal aud earniestoegs in ber toligioua lire. Sbe I eontrilnucd prosu and verse to the perlodicals ol' tlic day, aml her art oritioisms were valued. Marricd at an early ac, aod of Prail oonttitution, sbe atill, amid man ily sufforini-'s, kept her peo bvasy, bet tuougntsaod writmga always teoding apwavds. At wbal time and amid whal oircuiDhtancessliccaught the inspiratioo i'roui which was cvolvcd that wopderful hymn wlncli Jia." ever since echoud round and round the globe, is DOt known, bat it was probably during ome pcriod ot' peealiar trial, wlii-n ber spirit waa uplifted ihrougb sorrow alruost above ite eartlily büly. 8he little dreauied that her hymn, liku thoseof Toplady, Charlotte Klliott and Kay Palmer would bc hoard through the ages. It was first published in 1841, in a volume of' sacred lyrics issued by ;i Mr. Fox of Kngland, just oiglit years bef'ore the death of' the gif'ted anthoreas, who only lived to tito age of 44 and thusnever koew the fame whiuh was to attaeh toher hymn and her nanio. The hymn soon bean to appear in va riouseolleetions, and it ma every where received with delielit. It wascivon the tum; " Bethany " wbich beOBBM vcry popular in tuis country. Evcrybody who has grown up ina Christian land knows it by heart, and in maiiy oountries whioh do not float the banner of Christ it is almost cqually familiar. "Lastyear," saya Dr. Cuyler, in his "Heart Life," lJrots. Smitb, Hitohcock and Park, as they wouud their way slowly down the f'oot hills of Mount Lebanon, carne in sight of i group of fif'ty Syrian students, stauding in a line, siogióg in chorus. They were the Btodenta of the new college of Beirut at Abieh, and thoy were sitiiriii!: in Arabic to the tuno of " Bothany. " As the prooeasioa drew near the sublime word; " 'Neurer, my ijod, to thee Nearer to thee, KVn thougli lt be a BI' OW That raiseth me, stlll all my songshall be, Niurer, my Ood, to thee, Nearer, my Ood. to tl Nraivi' in Illce.' " l amnot much riven to tbc ireepiog mood,' said Pruf Hitohcock, wlicn describing the tbrilliug .ccue ; ' but, whcn we rode (ürougb the ranks of thosu Syrian yovths, Icoofess my oyes we re a little damp." " If it be peroiitted tbe ioptttea ieoplo of God," continuos Dr. Cuylor, " to witnessthc tnowetiom of oarthi we may imaino witb what raptare the glorificd spirit ol Sarah Flowcr AdaaiK heard her heartsongthus cbanted in the l;ind of sucre. I story.