enemies of the believer's salvation mighty? there is one mightier than them all, even Jesus the great Captain of his salvation, he is present to nerve with fresh vigour his sinking arm, and animate with renewed courage his drooping spirit, so that he becomes more than conqueror at the last. Once more, does the Christian tremble in the view of expiring nature, and the great change which awaits him at death? there is one who has trod the darksome valley before him, and conquered the King of Terrors himself. When the moment of dissolution approaches, Christ whispers in the believer's ear, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee." This gracious assurance imparts hope and confidence to the believer's soul, so that he is enabled to break forth into the language of the holy Psalmist, and say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Or in the triumphant language of the Apostle, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." C. R.

EPITAPH,

On Richard Owen, a Young Gentleman who died at Stafford.

WHEN life is drawing to a close,

Just ere eternity begins,

'Tis then the sinner fully knows
The vast demerit of his sins.

He felt it whom this stone records,
And trembled like one tempest-riven:
'Saviour forgive,'—his last faint words;
He asked in faith, and was forgiven.

Reader! to you that hour will come :
Reflect-repent, believe, and love:
So stingless death will take you home,
Prepared for endless joys above.

R. H.

EPITAPH,

On Miss. E. Hill, of Stafford.

COULD youthful sprightliness, could virtue save
From the dark confines of th' insatiate grave,
This frail memorial had not asked a tear
O'er dear Eliza's relics mouldering here.
Through lingering months of lassitude and pain,
She counted earthly loss eternal gain.
Affliction felt; but knew the chastening rod,
And him who had appointed it,"her God.
His word she diligently searched, and there
Learnt sorrow's uses, and found strength to bear.
In the dread struggle of departing breath
She looked to him who conquered sin and death.
While bathed in life's last damp and agony,

"Tis light,' she said, 'Oh! He sweat blood for me;" And calm expired. When, O! joy conquered pain, Upon her lifeless cheek sweet placid smiles remain. Rd. HUGHES.

In the above engraving you have an Old Man before you with a heavy bundle of sticks, which he had just thrown down, and a skeleton form, which is meant for Death, coming up to him. There is a fable of Æsop, an ancient writer, which it illustrates; and though he was but a heathen, there is much that the subject may teach us, especially when we avail ourselves of the superior information we enjoy through the light of Revealed Religion. May the Lord of light and life give us wisdom to understand and profit by it.

THE FABLE

'An old man that had travelled a great way under a huge burden of sticks found himself so weary that he cast it down, and called upon death to deliver him from a more miserable life. Death came presently at

his call, and asked him his business. "Pray, good Sir," says he, "do me but the favour to help me up with my burden again?" Now in the English edition of Esop, from which we quote (1714) there is a moral drawn from this that may be subjoined. "Men call upon Death, as they do upon the Devil→ when he comes they're afraid of him."

But there are other considerations on the subject that will suggest themselves to a Christian mind. What right have we to seek thus to cast off our burden of care and trouble before the Lord's appointed time? What ideas of eternity, and what ground of hope, can he have who tries to get rid of it in this way? And are there not to the believer in Jesus abundant supports provided, whereby he may find his burden itself lightened, and be enabled to wear it contentedly, so long as the Lord shall lay it on him?

1. Now as to the first of these questions, what right we have to cast off our burden before the Lord's appointed time, it will readily occur to the Christian mind, that being the creatures of the Almighty, and being purchased in addition by the blood of his only-begotten Son, we cannot be justified even in murmuring, still less in endeavouring to resist what his wise and gracious Providence may order. It may be consistent enough for those who think the government of the world is left to chance, or those who acknowledge none but their own wisdom to which they are indebted for their happiness; but they who believe with the Apostle, (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20,)" that they are not their own, but bought with a price," will rather turn back to the multitude of their undeserved mercies, and will say with Job, (chapter i. 21,)

"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." There is an ancient story of a slave, whose master gave him a bitter melon commanding him to eat it up. The slave ate it without a murmur. The master, in amaze that he could chew and swallow such a nauseous substance so readily, inquired how it was. And the reply was, that having received so much kindness and indulgence from his master for such a length of time, he surely could not refuse to swallow one unpleasant meal. Oh that the Lord's people, in the disappointments and crosses they occasionally meet with in their spiritual trials, or in the bereavement of relatives or friends, would but sometimes think of this!

2. The inquiry also suggests itself, What ideas of eternity, and what kind of a hope can he have, who, under a fit of impatience, calls on Death to relieve him of his burden? Does the gamester, maddened by his losses, who in the hurry of the moment seizes a pistol to terminate his existence, recollect, that "we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad?" (2 Cor. v. 10.) And what can be said of those poor and infirm persons we so often meet with, who exclaim they wish they were out of their misery,' or ask God to have mercy on them and take them,' than that it is to be feared they have never yet seen their state as sinners in the light of God's holy law, or fled to the appointed refuge for salvation?

There is an eternal world, brethren, (may it never be forgotten by the writer or the reader of these lines,) into which Death will usher us, where we shall