the time when the accident occurred. The Indians rely for a cure chiefly on certain roots and herbs.

Who can view these beautiful but formidable creatures, without standing in awe of the power of that Being, whose SPIRIT garnished the heavens, and whose hand formed the crooked Serpent. And may we not also see the peculiar goodness of God, not merely in providing for any who are wounded the antidotes to their poison, but also in so remarkably restraining their powers of motion as greatly to facilitate the escape of those who are threatened. The most formidable of them is so slow and sluggish in his motions, that a person may have time to avoid him, and the other is made to give timely warning of his presence by his rattle. Still, however, care and vigilance are necessary. Whoever travels in this part of the world must proceed with caution, lest he meet with a Serpent in ambush, or a Snake in the grass.

THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD EXEMPLIFIED.

"The Triumph of the Wicked is short."

AT a village in K, there lived a farmer who, like too many others, was without GOD in the world; and though his heavenly FATHER caused the dew to descend, and gave rain to moisten the earth, that it might yield "seed to the sower, and bread to the eater," yet this unhappy man continued, through a long succession of years, more ignorant than the beasts of the field by which he was surrounded.

On the introduction of the Gospel into the village where he lived, although many came to the light, he rebelled yet the more, and derided every thing sacred. Amongst other things, he possessed a lime-kiln, which, in derision, he used profanely to call

his little Hell." One evening, whilst his religious neighbours were holding a prayer-meeting in a friend's house, they heard a loud and distressing cry for help, and, on inquiry into the cause, discovered the wife of Mr. in great agony, for her husband had approached too near "his little hell," his foot had slipped, -and it is no less remarkable than true, that he was so completely reduced by the intense heat of the kiln, that not a vestige of him could be found! "Verily he is a GOD that judgeth in the earth." (Ps. lviii. 11.)

Mr., of the same village, discovered a great enmity to GOD and godliness; and, living next door to an active follower of our SAVIOUR, endeavoured to show the opposition of his heart in many different ways. At one period, (not long before his death,) in order to ridicule this pious neighbour, he dressed

up a figure in the clerical habit, and placed it at the outside of his door, kneeling before a chair, as if in the act of prayer, and then stood by it, on purpose to call the attention of those who passed that way: but even the unthinking part of the inhabitants of the village were shocked at his conduct; and finding that his end was defeated, and that the shame was all his own, he removed it into the house.

One night he was taken suddenly ill; and, in his extremity, sent for that friend whose way and character he had before despised. He went immediately, to counsel him and to pray with him; but in a few hours he was called to stand before "the JUDGE of quick and dead.

On returning from the house, the friend saw the figure above alluded to placed behind the door. Surely such a one reminds us of those awful words, "The candle of the wicked shall be put out:" (Prov. xxiv. 20.) "The wicked shall be silent in darkness." (1 Sam. ii. 9.)

D, Sept. 1821.

THE GRACE OF GOD MANIFESTED.

MEMOIR OF MRS. RATCLIFFE,

BY STEPHEN DREW, ESQ., OF JAMAICA.
(Concluded from page 760.)

O.

On the 8th of January, 1817, after a pleasant voyage, MR. and MRS. RATCLIFFE arrived at Morant-Bay, and in the course of eight or ten days, went to reside at Spanish-Town, where MRS. RATCLIFFE took charge of a respectable class of Brown females, instructed a number of children, and otherwise helped on the work of the LORD. It may here be observed, that although Spanish-Town, being the seat of Government, is the centre of much dissipation, yet the small society in that place, who have escaped the general corruptions, are remarkable for being a very simple-minded, plain, pious, and affectionate body of Christians. It fell to MR. RATCLIFFE's lot to open the newly-purchased Chapel in Spanish-Town; but the obstructions which had shortly before prevailed in some other parts of the Island were never experienced there; so that they passed through their allotted period in peace and quietness. They were removed from thence to Kingston; where MRS. RATCLIFFE was the Leader of two Black classes, and of a class of children, and was enabled to visit the sick, and attend to such other works of piety and mercy, as that enlarged field of usefulness placed within her power. During the three years of their stay in that city, the Society greatly increased; * 5 B2*

and they had the happiness of seeing their labours so crowned with success, that a second Chapel was opened there by MR. RATCLIFFE before their departure.

In the middle of 1818, MRS. RATCLIFFE having spent a month with my wife, I had a continued opportunity of observing the regularity of her progress in Christian holiness, and of deriving great advantage from learning the particulars of her wellgrounded experience in divine things. As I was the Leader of my small domestic class, (in which, during her stay, MRS. RATCLIFFE always met,) I had frequent occasions of entering with her into a free and unrestrained discussion of many of the most important points of religious doctrine, and I feel a happiness in reflecting that on one of those occasions, (the 29th April,) when considering at her request the meaning of the word "elect," and of those words "many are called, but few are chosen," I was made an humble instrument of explaining those words in such a way as gave peace and satisfaction to her mind. She certainly had, at that time, no more doubt of her own individual acceptance than she had of her own existence, nor of the boundless offer of free grace and mercy, through CHRIST, to all mankind. But her earliest religious impressions having been made by the instrumentality of those who held the doctrine of Reprobation, it might very naturally happen, that after she was emancipated from that error, she would from time to time remember some of their favourite explanations, and take pleasure in hearing them refuted. She remarked, that she had once been much troubled in spirit on that subject, owing to her having received her first convictions of sin under the instruction of a Calvinistic ministry; so that "the good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people" had not proved to be tidings of joy to herself, but had, on the contrary, (while she was in bondage to those opinions,) been regarded as the dreadful denunciation of fiery indignation; so that she became more subject to the fear of death than ever. On her making this declaration, I explained the terms x evocati, called, and exλexto, electi, elect, or chosen; and showed, by ancient authors, that they had no manner of reference to the subject of Predestination, but were words well known at the time they were used, and taken from the Roman Military Discipline ;the first signifying those in general who were called out for en rolment; the other designating those who were selected out of the evocati, or called, in consequence of having attained a higher degree of military accomplishment and capacity; certainly im plying free choice and grace, both in the Calling, and in the Election, but equally implying the performance of duty, as well as an incitement to that duty, in the person "called," and in the person "elected;" for the purpose of which incitement it seems to have been always used by our SAVIOUR. The first word,

therefore, bears a very near affinity to the common expression of a nominal, and the other to that of a real and experimental Christian; and perhaps they present, in other words, only this idea to our mind, that not the barely nominal Christians shall be saved, who are merely, by the form of Baptism, initiated into the Christian Church, but those only who have the Baptism of the SPIRIT, those only who "have the signs that follow" this spiritual Baptism, and who are by faith made perfect in love. The satisfaction of mind which this explanation brought to MRS. RATCLIFFE, gave an undoubted proof, though her creed had been settled before, that there were passages which she had been desirous of having further cleared up; and her subsequent reference to it in the prayer which she offered up, left no doubt on the subject. While on this topic, it may not be untimely to observe that she had a gift of prayer the most peculiarly grave and impressive;-her voice became, in that exercise, as it were solemn and awful; and her words, and whole deportment, showed a mixture of calm confidence and deep humiliation. I have also heard that she had the gift of exhortation, in a very eminent degree; but that she thought it right to refrain from using it publicly, in submission to those words, "Let your women be silent in the Churches."

It may easily be supposed, that when MRS. R. was removed from Kingston, she and the numerous Society there parted from each other with mutual tears; but much more would they have sorrowed had they known that "they should see her face no more." However, it pleased God that MR. RATCLIFFE should, early in 1820, be appointed to Morant-Bay, the Chapel-house at which place is certainly situated in a most unhealthy, swampy spot. Every successive Missionary had suffered more or less from this cause; and it was a circumstance calculated to inspire MRS. RATCLIFFE with the gloomiest apprehensions, that their fellowmissionary, the REV. MR. HARTLEY, (the only one who continued in that extensive Circuit,) was then in the house, hopelessly confined to his bed by malignant fever, and that within two days after her arrival in it, that zealous young servant of CHRIST expired. Under such alarming circumstances she could not but feel; the LORD, however, was preparing her to pass purified through the fire of affliction, and enabling her to say in all things, "Thy will be done on earth," preparatory to his calling her to "come up higher."

One of the most necessary things to the security and increase of solid happiness is a careful observance of, and pious submission to, the providential government of Gon, whose ways are always just and good, though frequently hid in mystery. We cannot always penetrate the intentions of the divine conduct in relation to nations, families, or individuals; and frequently our own

domestic circumstances take such sudden and afflictive turns, that the brightest prospects are succeeded by the most gloomy, and when we recover a little from the general catastrophe, we can only behold "the tomb of our departed joys." Such is the path in which the LORD sometimes leads those whom he loveth; but the consciousness that "justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne" silences the murmurs of unbelief, and throws the rays of christian hope on the path of the humble believer in JESUS. As there is sin in the world, there must be sorrow; yet this gives us cause rather for joy than complaint; because afflictions, if well managed, yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and the light afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared with the exceeding weight of glory that is prepared for those persevering and victorious souls, to whom belongs the promise of sitting down with CHRIST on his throne, even as He sat down on the throne of the FATHER. Still, however, while we hold this heavenly treasure in a vile house of clay, the flesh will tremble for fear of Gon, and the holy soul will cry out, "I am afraid, because of thy judgments." But the ever-present and consoling SPIRIT of our merciful REDEEMER enables it in the very instant to acknowledge that the JUDGE of all the earth has done right, and to say, "What I know not now, I shall know hereafter."-As the health of MRS. RADCLIFFE's two children was generally good, she began to hope that they had passed through the period of probation most dangerous to infants within the tropics, and that, in succeeding years, she should have marked the progress of their opening minds, and been happily employed in communicating to them the knowledge of their covenant-GoD. But, alas! (as their afflicted parent remarked on the occasion,) "a blast from the desert laid them low; and the beam of youth set in the shadow of death." As they were lovely in their lives, so in death they were not divided; the eldest dying on the 2d, the younger on the 3d of September, and both being committed to the dust together. It was some consolation, that this bereavement excited great sympathy in the community around Morant-Bay, where some of the most respectable of the gentry offered those kind attentions, which did honour to their own hearts, and made an indelible impression on those of the mournful parents;-who could only pray that HE, who has promised that a cup of cold water, offered to a disciple in the name of a disciple, shall not go unacknowledged, would give to them a hundred-fold reward at the resurrection of the just.

That MRS. RATCLIFFE felt most acutely the loss of her two children, is naturally to be assumed; and that this bereavement had some unfavourable effect upon her own health, is more than conjectural. However, she bore all with an expression of meek submission to the will of God; and was fitted for the