He instantly raised his face, his eye beaming with that look of solemn energy which generally preceded any remarkable expression, "No, my son, not literally, but in the mind's eye-it is coming, it is coming!" Do you fear it, father?"

He instantly answered, with remarkable emphasis, and with a strength of tone which produced astonishment, "No, no, I have no reason: does not He live?"

To one of his daughters he said, "You now see your father in the swellings of Jordan. God is dividing the waters to form a passage for me-and beyond is the promised land, into which I am about to enter."

A few minutes before his departure he said, "Hope!" His now bereaved widow added, "As an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil."

He replied, "Yes, yes," and immediately expired.

37. BISHOP BEDELL.

MR. SIMPSON introduces, by way of contrast to the death-bed scenes of Chesterfield, Voltaire, Rousseau, and other such unhappy characters, the death-bed scene of the learned and excellent Bishop Bedell, whom he calls the scourge of ecclesiastical corruption, a pattern for prelates and clergymen, and the glory of the Irish hierarchy.

After a life spent in the most laborious service of his Divine Master, when he apprehended his great change to draw near, he called for his sons, and his sons' wives, and spake to them, at several times, as he was able, the following words:

"I am going the way of all flesh: I am ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand. Knowing, therefore, that shortly I must put off this

tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me, I know also, that if this my earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens—a fair mansion in the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. Therefore, to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain; which increaseth my desire even now to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better than to continue here in all the transitory, vain, and false pleasures of this world, of which I have seen an end.

"Hearken, therefore, unto the last words of your dying father. I am no more in this world; but ye are in the world. I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God, through the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ my Redeemer; who ever lives to make intercession for me, who is a propitiation for all my sins, and washed me from them all in his own blood, who is worthy to receive glory, and honour, and power, who hath created all things, and for whose pleasure they are, and were created.

"My witness is in heaven, and my record on high, that I have endeavoured to glorify God on earth; and in the ministry of the Gospel of his dear Son, which was committed to my trust, I have finished the work which he gave me to do, as a faithful ambassador of Christ, and steward of the mysteries of God; I have preached righteousness in the great congregation-lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord! thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation of mankind. He is near that justifieth me, that I have not concealed the words of the Holy One; but that the words that he gave me I have given to you, and ye have received them.

"I had a desire and resolution to walk before God in every stage of my pilgrimage, from my youth up to this day, in truth, and with an upright heart, and to do that which was upright in his eyes, to the utmost of my power; and what things were gain to me formerly, these things I now count loss for Christ: yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things; and I account them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ-the righteousness which is of God by faith; that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death. I press, therefore, toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

"Let nothing separate you from the love of Christneither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword; though, as we hear and see, for his sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter; yea, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us: for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature, shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus, my Lord. Therefore, love not the world, nor the things of the world; but prepare daily and hourly for death that now besieges us on every side, and be faithful unto death, that we may meet together joyfully on the right hand of Christ at the last day, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, with all those that are clothed in white robes in sign of innocency, and palms in their hands in sign of victory, who came out of great tribulation, and

have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They shall hunger no more, nor thirst, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Choose rather, with Moses, to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, which will be bitterness in the latter end. Look, therefore, for the sufferings, and be made partakers of the sufferings of Christ; to fill up that which is behind of the affliction of Christ in your flesh, for his body's sake, which is the Church. What can you look for but one woe after another, while the man of sin is thus suffered to rage, and to make havoc of God's people at his pleasure, while men are divided about trifles, that ought to have been more vigilant over us, and careful of those whose blood is precious in God's sight, though now shed everywhere like water. If ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye; be not afraid of their terror, neither be ye troubled; and be ye in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For to you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. Rejoice, therefore, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. And if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye-the Spirit of glory and of Christ resteth on you; on their part he is evilspoken of, on your part he is glorified.

"God will surely visit you in due time, and turn your captivity as the rivers of the south, and bring you back again into your possession in this land: though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, yet ye shall reap in joy, though now

you sow in tears: all our losses shall be recompensed with abundant advantages; for my God will supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus, who is able to do exceeding abundantly for us, above all that we are able to ask or think."

After that he blessed his children and those that stood about him, in an audible voice, in these words:

"God of his infinite merey bless you all, and present you holy, and unblamable, and irreprovable in his sight, that ye may meet together at the right hand of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Amen. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course of my ministry and life together. Though grievous wolves have entered in among us, not sparing the flock, yet I trust the great Shepherd of the flock will save and deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in this cloudy and dark day; and they shall be no more a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beasts of the land devour them, but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation! I have kept the faith once given to the saints; for I know in whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day."

After this the good bishop spake little more. His sickness increased, his speech failed, and he slumbered the remainder of his time away, till his discharge came. Let incredulity itself say, if this was not an admirable close of a laborious and useful life.

One may defy all the sons of infidelity to show us an example among their brethren of a life so useful, and a death so great, so noble, so glorious as this of the good bishop.