thee, nor to me, for his determination to punish those, who justly deserve punishment, at what time, and in what manner he pleases. Let us remember the apostolic question, and put our mouths in the dust, "What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Rom. ix. 22, 23. God himself prepared the vessels of mercy unto glory; while the vessels of wrath fitted themselves to destruction. Here are conspicuous facts, blazing with a sun-like splendour; and here are facts portentous, dismal as the midnight gloom. Fellow christian-Vessel of mercy, let us rejoice, but let us rejoice together with trembling. "Who maketh thee to differ?" "What hast thou that thou hast not received?"

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Why was I made to hear thy voice,

And enter while there's room?

While thousands make a wretched choice,

And rather starve than come !

'Twas the same love that spread the feast, That sweetly forc'd me in ;

Else I had still refus'd to taste,

And perish'd in my sin!"

THE DESOLATED FAMILY.

In the year 1738, the Rev. John Wesley received a letter from a friend in Lincolnshire, intreating him to serve the Church ofa Mr. Hume, sometime before deceased, during its vacancy. Mr. Wesley, reading the letter, enquired of one of his Lincolnshire friends, whether Mr. Hume was dead?" Have you not been informed of the calamities of that family?" (replied his friend) "I have not said Mr. Wesley; I will then (said he) relate them to you.'

Mr. Hume had four sons and one daughter. Three of the sons were educated at Oxford, and entered into holy orders; the other, went into the Guinea trade, and settled on the coast of Africa.

About nine months ago, Mr. Hume was riding out, and watering his horse at a large pond, the unruly beast plunged out of his depth, by which Mr. Hume was so wetted, that he caught a violent cold, which was followed by a fever that caused his death. Lord the patron of Mr. Hume's living, was determined it should remain in the family, as long as possible, and therefore gave the eldest son a presentation to it. Mr. Hume, the father, had

The

just rebuilt the parsonage house, before he died; the son took possession before it was dry, and the dampness of it occasioned his speedy death. The second son was then presented to the living, and he died also in a few weeks after his introduction. third son, his brother, set off from Oxford to receive the presentation. In his way, he lay at the house of an old acquaintance of his father's. The gentleman of the house, had a beautiful daughter, with whom young Mr. Hume immediately fell in love; he therefore, before he departed, begged permission to return and make proposals, to which the father consented. Mr. Hume, after his introduction to his living, returned according to his engagement; and in a few days, the marriage was completed; but in six weeks after the nuptials, the lady was brought to bed and died, and Mr. Hume soon afterwards died with grief.

The conclusion of this mournful episode should not be omitted. Mrs. Hume, soon after the death of her third son, received a letter from the only remaining one, informing her, he was just going to sail from Africa to England, with a fortune sufficient to make the whole family com fortable and in a few days after, she received a letter from the captain of a swift sailing vessel, who had been hailed by the

ship in which her son sailed, by whom she was informed, that her son had died on his passage, of a disorder which then raged in the ship. Mrs. Hume, sinking under the weight of such a complication of misfortunes, soon died of a broken heart. Miss Hume, about a month after the death of her mother, was in company with a physician, who looked stedfastly at her, and observed, "Madam, you take opium, I know it by your eyes, and I am afraid you have put it out of my power to recover you.

She

confessed that the misfortunes of her family, had so entirely deprived her of rest, that she had taken laudanum to obtain a little repose. The physician prescribed, in a fortnight she recovered her appetite, her colour, and in a good measure, her health. The physician then advised her to take a table spoonful of julap, he had prescribed for her, whenever she found herself inclined to be sick; a few days after this, she desired the servant to bring her a spoonful of the julap. She mistaking the bottle of laudanum for the julap, brought her a spoonful of the laudanum, which she drank, and soon afterwards fell asleep, and awoke no more.

REFLECTIONS.

When Mr. Wesley received information of the death of the last of the family,

he recollected a remarkable observation made by his mother many years before. He had been commending to her, in very strong terms, Mr. Hume, and his amiable family. "John; (replied Mrs. Wesley) depend upon it, that family will come to an untimely end." Mrs. Wesley was a woman so far from being given to censure, that Mr. Wesley asked, with some surprise, "Madam, why do you speak so severely of so lovely a family." "John, (said she) I will tell you why. I have observed, in various instances, in the course of my life, that where persons have grossly violated the 5th commandment, and afterwards, have been brought to the fear of God, the Lord has reversed the promise, and punished them, for their transgressions, with temporal death. Mr. Hume, and his family, lie under this censure. I remember the time, when his mother lived under his roof, he used her cruelly, he grudged every bit of meat she put into her mouth, and the whole family partook of his spirit, and, depend upon it, God will remember them for this."

Arminian Magazine, 1807.

REFLECTIONS.

Here we have a remarkable instance of the fatal consequence of filial disobedience. It presents an awful lesson to the