"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee," &c.

At other times she gave expression to her feelings by repeating those well-known lines of the Rev. Charles Wesley :

"Jesn, Lover of my soul,

Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high:
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life be past;
Safe into the haven guide,

O receive my soul at last!"

On Christmas Day, at her express desire, all her children being gathered around her, she and they partook of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It was a memorable and solemn occasion; and her own ejaculations were fervent and touching. She looked with inexpressible emotion upon the little assembly in her chamber, and her responses to the prayers offered in their behalf were audible and

earnest.

During one of the visits paid to her by one of her pastors, she said, "I am here yet. O what a blessed season I had last night! I seemed to be in heaven, and thought all was over. When I awoke this morning, I was surprised to find myself still on earth." She lingered a few days longer, and then "the mortal affliction was past." She died without a struggle, and gently entered into rest, on the morning of Thursday, January 12th, 1865, aged eighty-one years; and her remains were interred in the new cemetery on the following Monday.

We have now traced the Christian experience of Mrs. Shepherd through a life protracted much beyond the ordinary term of human existence. We have seen her in affliction and in health, in solitude and in society; when blessed with all the comforts of married life, and when passing through the sorrows of widowhood. We have seen her in her prime; have observed her in the maturity of her strength; and have marked her as she finally sank beneath the weight of fourscore years; and when, ripe as a shock of corn for the garner, she was gathered to the mansions above. And through this long series of years we have seen the same steadfastness of purpose and the same steadiness of pursuit. Her whole life, from the time of her conver sion to the day she passed to heaven, seemed to say, "This one thing I do." And the great effect of the whole is to show the value and preciousness of true religion: not a mere profession, but a power which renews the heart and rules the life; a religion which ever guides the perplexed spirit in "the dark and cloudy day," and

supports the fainting soul when all human helps fail. A few words more, however, may be necessary to complete this sketch.

The selections we have made from her diary unfold the source and progress of her hidden life; her conscious interest in the blood of the Atonement; her high and holy enjoyments; her daily walk with God. Her attention to the practical duties of godliness also requires a brief notice. On this subject much might be said; for she was a woman "well reported of for good works," who had "brought up children," who had “lodged strangers," who had "washed the saints' feet," who had "diligently followed every good work." For many years she was a Missionary collector, and gathered considerable sums for the evangelization of heathen lands. She rendered effectual service to the Dorcas Society, in providing clothing for the poor; and she had the pleasure of receiving a testimonial from the ladies of that Society for the aid she had afforded to it. She also assisted the efforts made to reform the drunkard and to reclaim the most depraved, When misfortune overtook any whom she knew, as it sometimes does even the most provident and careful, Mrs. Shepherd was always ready to lend a helping hand; and what she could not supply from her own resources, she solicited from others. In this way she has often soothed the sorrows of the aching heart, and furnished food to the hungry, and a home to the destitute. The extent of her labours of love is not known here; but her record is on high, and "the day will declare it." She was a Methodist from conviction and choice. The class-meeting was highly valued by her, and she treasured up her Society-tickets with scrupulous care. As tokens of her long and unbroken connexion with the Church of God, they had, to her, a peculiar charm and value. They brought vividly to her remembrance the privileges of other days, and were a cherished proof of her union with those who loved the Saviour, a union which she wished to be perpetuated for ever. The name of " Mary Shepherd" inscribed upon each of them brought to her mind the eminent men who had had the rule over the Church, "who had spoken unto her the Word of God, and whose faith" she was anxious to "follow, considering the end of their conversation: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Thus loving the ministers of the Lord Jesus, she was ever ready to attend them in affliction; and had the happiness to cheer the last hours of some whose names and memories are still gratefully preserved. For many years she made it a matter of duty to meet the new preachers on their arrival in Derby; and, when required, her house always afforded them a hospitable home. Now that her day of labour is ended, and she has entered into rest, her memory will not soon perish. Her pious deeds will live, and the effects of them will be long felt. "The memory of the just is

blessed." Mrs. Shepherd seems to have adopted, from the outset of her Christian life, the resolution of the Apostle Paul, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." This was the basis of her consistency, and devotion, and eminence. She was a woman of indomitable energy. What she did, she did "with her heart, as unto the Lord." Many testimonies to her excellencies have been borne by the ministers who knew her, from which we select the following, as specimens of the rest. "She had great force of character," says one;" and her decision for God was happily come to in early life; and through many long and eventful years that followed, that decision never faltered, never changed. She went on her way rejoicing; and well and diligently did she fulfil the various duties which, as a parent, a Christian, a member of our Society, and an officebearer in the Church, she was called to perform. Like her Master, 'she went about doing good.' Her light was not a fitful gleam, but a bright, steady flame, shining more and more unto the perfect day."" "She was eminently a mother in Israel," says another; "a Christian of rare integrity and uncompromising fidelity; blended, however, with warm affection and condescending kindness towards all. She bore a testimony for Christ, never dubious, never fitful, never heartless, but certain, unchanging, ardent." And now that she is passed away, a voice from heaven proclaims, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

OF "A GOOD CONSCIENCE."

A GOOD Conscience has justly been considered an inestimable blessing. But what is a good conscience?" It would be a great mistake to suppose that a good conscience is merely a quiet one. It must not be presumed that because the monitor within is silent, therefore all is well; that because it says nothing, it has nothing to say. When conscience is enlightened and awake, when it is neither perverted by false principles, nor unduly influenced by passion or biased by self-love, its voice may be regarded as oracular, bespeaking the delegated sovereignty of heaven. But what is more common than an ignorant, stupid, insensible conscience? How often is the heart hardened through the deceitfulness of sin! How often is the judgment biased! How unwilling are we to know the worst of ourselves! How partial are we in our own cause! how ready to deceive ourselves, or to be deceived by others! "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the

priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so : and what will ye do in the end thereof ?"

There is a twofold inquiry to be made; a twofold question to be answered :

I. What is conscience? and,

II. What is implied in having "a good conscience ? "

1. Conscience may be called the moral faculty, that faculty in man by which he recognises the distinction between right and wrong, and feels himself to be the subject of moral obligation by it he is enabled to estimate the moral character and desert of his own conduct, and to anticipate its future consequences.

Man is not only distinguished from the inferior creatures by the structure and upright position of his body, but still more by the faculties of his mind. And of all the endowments which have been bestowed on him by the Creator, that must surely be of the highest importance which constitutes him an accountable creature, the subject of moral government; thus mauifestly connecting his destiny with superior beings, and with a future and invisible world.

The faculty of conscience appears designed to guide and stimulate us in the performance of our duty; to be a monitor always at hand, with authority to direct our conduct, and to control our passions and appetites; and, if we refuse to be admonished, with power to chastise our delinquencies. When we go astray, this voice calls us back to the path of duty, and whispers, "This is the way, walk ye in it." And if we still refuse to listen to its counsels, it pursues us, like a chastening angel, with its lifted scourge; compelling us at length to exclaim, "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear ?"

1. We have spoken of conscience as a faculty of the mind; and it is often regarded as a single faculty, distinct from all others, if not independent of them. The mind, however, is not made up of parts, like the body, but is one and indivisible, although possessing and exercising various powers. Thus conscience is the power which the mind has to pass judgment on itself. It is indeed the regal faculty in human nature; and poets have described it as a guardian angel, ever present; the vicegerent of heaven; the oracle of God.* But as a king could not reign without subjects, whose services he may often have occasion to employ; so the existence and exercise of this faculty must imply the existence, and comprehend the exercise, of several faculties, usually regarded as distinct. Thus conscience is intimately

"Yet still there whispers the small voice within,
Heard through Gain's silence, and o'er Glory's din ;
Whatever creed be taught or land be trod,

Man's conscience is the Oracle of God."

connected with the understanding. Those creatures which are destitute of understanding are, for that reason, without moral responsi bility. Conscience implies the ability to perceive, not objects only, but relations, especially the relation in which we stand to our fellowcreatures and to the great Creator of all, and the duties which arise from that relation. This capacity, which the inferior creatures are evidently without, mankind possess; and hence mankind alone are subject to the control of conscience. It is in the understanding that the foundation of human responsibility is laid, and here the operations of the moral faculty properly begin.

2. But these operations also imply the exercise of judgment. In the process of conscience a comparison is made between our actual conduct and our supposed or acknowledged duty. Some standard of duty, more or less correct, exists in the mind, whether formally acknowledged or not: and to this standard appeal is made, and with it our character and conduct are compared.* The comparison may not be voluntary, the process not slow. The mind is often conscious of thoughts and operations over which the will has no direct control. The thought will sometimes intrude, "Thus ought I to have acted; but how differently have I acted!" The conviction of our misdoing may be sudden and irresistible as lightning bursting from the electric cloud; and, awful as the pealing thunder, the sentence is heard as from heaven, and echoed in the most secret recesses of the soul, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."

3. The memory is also concerned in the process of conscience. The retention and continuance of that knowledge which has once been gained, is what we call memory; without which no instruction could be of any avail: for no rules of conduct could guide our practice, or assist us in forming a judgment of ourselves, unless they could be remembered; nor could our actions be the subjects of such judgment, unless we were endowed with this faculty of retrospection and recollection. A consciousness of guilt implies a remembrance of the past; and one of the greatest scourges of the wicked is the remembrance of their evil deeds, and the self-reproach, the shame, and the remorse, with which, sooner or later, such actions are sure to be followed. Fain would the transgressor forget; but he finds it impossible. Neither the effort of his own will, nor the lapse of time, can confer

'Conscience," from the Latin conscientia, and the Greek word ouveldnois, “implies the knowledge of two or more things together;" (Wesley, Sermon cv. ;) the knowledge of our conduct, and of the law, or standard of duty, with which we compare it. "For conscience never commands or forbids anything authentically, but there is some law of God which commands or forbids it first. Conscience (as might be easily shown) being no distinct power or faculty from the mind of man, but the mind of man itself applying the general rule of God's law to particular cases and actions."-South, Sermon on 1 John iii. 21. Vol. ii., p. 449.