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of love. From this consideration she seemed to derive some comfort, but was unable to speak more.

On the preceding day when some of her friends came to her bed-side, one of them (untaught in the right doctrines of the gospel of salvation) reminded her for her comfort of the goodness of her life, and such like. She answered with some vehemence,My goodness! my purity! oh no! it is all Christ; and then roused almost to anger, replied by reference to the Holy Word, that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I might easily enlarge such

statements, but I wish to be brief. She seemed to feed on, and rest entirely in the precious promises of God. We all greatly grieved at our loss, though well convinced it was her gain. It made a void in our little company. I may however add, that severe as was the trial, we have since had reason to feel, that towards the departed there was especial mercy in the dispensation, the righteous having been taken away from evil to come. She bore to the grave the honoured name of my best Sunday School teacher.

M. M.

DEAR FRIENDS, -Accept this offering of pastoral affection and anxious solicitude for your souls. Although separated from you by distance, and disabled by debility and sickness from declaring to you the grand scheme of redemption through the atonement of the ever adorable Redeemer, yet my heart still yearns over you; still "I long after you in the bowels of Jesus Christ;" still," brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for you is, that you may be saved; " and never, never shall I cease daily to make mention of you in my prayers," so long as I shall be in this tabernacle of clay, and feel the weight of those ties which nothing but the cold hand of death can dissolve or disunite.

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in the world," for "to be carnally minded is death." Yes, beloved, death to your peace, death to your enjoyments, death to your comforts. If while you have a name to live you are indulging a worldly spirit, you have need for deep humiliation and watchfulness; for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his." Ah, how dangerous and besetting is the spirit of the world! Tremble, my beloved brethren, lest you again come into bondage thereby; "watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation; -" watch and be sober, for your adversary the devil goeth about, seeking whom he may devour." Watch and be diligent, that you may be found of your Lord in peace, that if he come suddenly you may be with your lamps burning and your loins girt, ready for his service, whatever it may be. Time is short, my beloved brethren, improve it well, be active and alive in the best of causes. Your obligations to the Saviour are very great; if you are redeemed from hell it is by his precious blood; if you have a title

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to heaven, it is that he hath "loved you and given himself for you;" if you enjoy peace in believing," and a "good hope" good hope" of glory, it is through him who died, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God:" forget not that you were once without hope, "dead in trespasses and sins; "enemies in your minds by wicked works," and "children of wrath, even as others." Such was your state, beloved: oh, be thankful for the difference grace hath made, and as Christ hath so loved you, remember so ought you to love one another. Yes, love Christ supremely, and then his saints for his sake. And then, O pity the thoughtless ignorant multitude that are yet as you lately were; they have a claim upon you; their lost and pitiable state, on the brink of ruin, on the verge of hell, call loudly for your expostulation, expostulation, pity, and exertion; rouse all your powers, dear brethren, to help forward the cause of God among the ungodly; think of your neighbours, your friends, your kindred: you live among them, you converse with them, you love them, the ties of nature bind you closely to many of them, but ah, the stroke of death will make an eternal separation; can you bear to think of this, and not rouse every faculty God has given you on their behalf, to warn, exhort, beseech, intreat them to be reconciled to God? If indeed you have been backward in this way, to show your love to God and your neighbour, let this address from the sick-bed of your pastor do what his voice has failed to excite you to do; and from henceforth give yourselves no peace, till by your pleadings with them, and before the Lord on their behalf, you are clear from their condemnation, and by "the meekness and gentleness of Christ," by the influence of his love and teachings of his Spirit you have commended yourselves to each of their

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consciences," and pointed them to the only Deliverer from the wrath to come. Persevere, dear brethren, take up the cross, if it be one; be not ashamed of it in this way; and then great shall be your reward in heaven, when at the right hand of the Judge you shall meet a neighbour, a kinsman, a friend, thither brought through your instrumentality of faithful intreaty and

exhortation here below.

But to you, my dear friends, who are yet without evidence of a change of heart, and meetness for heaven, to you I must also give an affectionate address; and I would do it with all that solemnity and sincerity that a sick-bed and the prospect of eternity are calculated to inspire. Oh that my voice may not be raised in the judgment to add my Amen to your condemnation! Oh that the gospel I have attempted to deliver may not prove a savour of death to any of you, for whose salvation I have longed, and for whom I have laboured, wept, and prayed! Dear friends, can it, shall it be that one of you will perish? What! one for whom your pastor feels the sanctified yearnings of spiritual affection; one for whom he has wept and prayed in secret; with whom he has pleaded in public and in private; one to whom he has offered the glad tidings of mercy, and held up the Lord Jesus as a Deliverer, a Saviour, a Refuge from the condemnation of a broken law, and an offended God. Oh, my friends, my beloved friends, lay these things to heart. Consider, I pray you, how impossible it will be for you to escape if you neglect the great salvation; let me remind you, that if you continue to "make light of the gospel-feast, you will be left without excuse when God shall call you to account for your privileges here below. Oh, I must again tell you, that a slighted, neglected gospel, will add bitterness to the pains of eternal death ;

and while the ignorant and untaught heathen shall through the riches of sovereign mercy unite in the rapturous song of praise to the Redeemer, those nominally Christian, will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power. Oh the misery of those who "love darkness rather than light," and who under the very sound of delivering grace, sink into the regions of unutterable woe !

Dear hearers, let me exhort you to flee at once from the dangerous precipice on which you are standing; and while by this address you are once more told of your danger, and of a way of safety, look up with a humble, broken, teachable spirit, to the Lord in prayer, that he would pour out upon you the Holy Spirit, and honour the means now employed to lead you to the Lord Jesus for eternal life and salvation. You must, beloved hearers, "be born again, or you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven;" and oh, remember, that while you are helpless of yourselves, grace and strength is offered to you, and in addition to the many times the living voice of your pastor has told you of it. He now sends you this faithful testimony from a sick-bed, and beseeches you by the love he bears your precious souls by the love of the Saviour he offers to you; by the work of that Divine influence he implores for you; by all your desire after peace in the hour of death, and of acceptance in the judgment, and a seat at the right hand of God-that you will implore for yourselves, with all the earnestness and promptitude which the worth of your souls demands, that promised gift of a new heart and a right spirit, "without which

you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."

Farewell, my beloved brethren in Christ. We shall meet in heaven if this sickness should be unto death. Farewell, my beloved hearers, we shall certainly meet at the judgment; but whether with joy or grief will depend on the reception you give to the gospel, and the Saviour. I shall then give an account of my preaching and labours amongst you; and you in that account will either be condemned or saved. My hearers, it is not a trifle. I have preached for eternity, and you have heard for eternity, and eternity will soon decide whether you have heard in vain, or heard to profit. Oh, may God Almighty grant the most enlarged desires of your pastor's heart on your behalf, that "in that day" we may meet with joy, and not with grief, and together at the Redeemer's feet, cast our bloodbought crowns, and unite with redeemed millions in ascribing the glory of our salvation to him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Then, my Christian brethren, shall we abundantly rejoice in the riches of sovereign grace, and look back on the trials we passed through here below-with surprise that we felt them so much, and that we did so little for the Saviour; let these considerations quicken our pace, and encourage our faith, and make us to abound in every good word and work. Time is short, we shall soon be dying; O let us not then neglect our invaluable opportunities, but give diligence to make our calling and election sure, to work the works of him who hath sent us, and to promote his glory, who died that we might live.

X. X.

SIR-The careful student of the inspired volume will often be led to observe, that a very large proportion of its contents consists of historical information; and may, perhaps, thence infer the importance of endeavouring to communicate religious instruction by example and warning, as well as by precept or prohibition. This posiThis position, however, though generally recognized in theory, is in the present day very much disregarded in practice. We abound indeed in instructive tales and historical novels, and attempt often to supply the neglect of fact by the cultivation of fiction; the consequence is, that many of our young people become so occupied with romantic ideas and imaginary adventures, as to lose all taste and interest for the common every-day concerns which are the subjects of real history. They have far more vivid ideas of Elizabeth and James, of Cavaliers and Courtiers, of Roundheads or Republicans, than can be acquired from Clarendon, or Hume, or Rapin, or any other voluminous and sober historian; but they are too often grievously deficient in plain matters of fact, and almost totally ignorant of those practical lessons which the faithful narrative of past events is calculated to afford. Few persons will advocate the proscription of all works of imagination, but the extent to which they are carried in the present day, appears exceedingly injurious to the cause both of literature and religion.

It has long since been observed, that unto a Christian man there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable than the knowledge of Holy Scripture; forasmuch as in it is contained God's true word, setting forth his glory, and also man's duty.'* And it has *First Homily.

ever appeared to me a subtle device of the great enemy of souls, by which Christian people, who themselves love the Bible, have been persuaded to withhold it from the hands of their tender offspring, under the idea that by being accustomed to use it as a school book, their children would imbibe in after life an aversion to its contents. The very reverse is the case. Keep the Bible from the young, they will hate it when they grow old. Let it be the book of their counsel from the day they can spell out a verse, and they will hold it fast to their dying hour. It is only God's grace which can convert the soul; but he hath said,

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My word shall not return unto me void," and while teaching its sacred truths to our offspring, in obedience to his command, we may humbly seek for, and expect the fulfilment of his promise, "I will pour my Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspring.'

Never let us lose sight of the grand distinction between sacred and profane history; the one is divine, the other human. "Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." The sacred records, therefore, are truth without any mixture of error. The facts they relate may be fully depended on. The principles they state are absolutely and invariably correct. We may entertain doubts, perhaps, as to the exact interpretation of certain passages, but the statements themselves are unquestionably true, are unreservedly to be received.

The question has often been asked, whence did the sacred historians derive their information? How did they themselves become acquainted with the facts which they record? Such inquiries are more curious than important. They

were taught of God; they were inspired by the Holy Ghost; it is this divine teaching and inspiration which affords the foundation for implicit dependance on their declarations. Many of the sacred writers were indeed " eye witnesses and ministers of the word;" they were themselves engaged in the events which they record; "That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled-that declare we unto you." In other cases the statements were received by the sacred writers from the most competent witnesses, and attested by the most indisputable authority. Thus for instance, the history of the creation, the fall, the death of Abel, and all the earlier events might be communicated from Adam to Shem, with only the intervention of Methuselah, and from Shem to Moses, through Abraham, Joseph, and Amram; that is, the history of two thousand five hundred years might be communicated to Moses through the intervention of only six persons, each of whom was so long cotemporary with his successor, as to communicate the narrative repeatedly, and thus obviate the danger of any serious mistake. Thus even on the supposition that the art of writing was not known prior to the giving of the law, there could be little danger of any material error intruding into the Mosaic narrative. Yet let it ever be remembered, our dependance on the accuracy of this narrative must rest on its divine inspiration, and not on any human conjecture as to the means by which its information was derived.

That divine authority of the sacred volume is established by the most irrefragable proofs; by the testimony of antiquity, the fulfilment of prophecy, and the powerful effect produced on the world at large by its declarations. The writers of the sacred volume could not themselves be deceived; they

had no interest in deceiving others; on the contrary, they delivered most obnoxious truths, with great personal danger, and much actual suffering, and yet they invariably assert their divine commission. In many cases their messages were accompanied with surprising miracles; their deeds were not done in a corner, but before multitudes of intelligent and hostile spectators; and the whole Jewish nation adopted painful rites and peculiar

ceremonies in remembrance of certain surprising events which took place before the eyes of their astonished progenitors; while the progress which Christianity has made, in opposition to the power, wealth, learning, and passions of an ungodly world, affords a continually increasing evidence of the divine authority of that book, in which its truths are revealed.

That inspired volume commen→ ces in the most sublime and impressive manner-" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The world was not from everlasting; it was not produced by any fortuitous concourse of elements; it was the work of a divine artificer, even the Lord himself. Jehovah Jesus, our adorable Redeemer; he, the eternal Son of the Father, was indeed the creator and former of all things; for as

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by faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear," so are we clearly informed in the volume of revelation, that by him, even the Lord Jesus Christ, "were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him and for him.”*

Plain, however, and intelligible as this declaration is in itself,

* Col. i. 16.