From Wigan, John Ollara removed to Bolton, and afterwards to a village near his native place; and here it pleased the great Disposer of events to visit him with sickness. At the commencement of his illness, he was as thoughtless as ever; but when he saw week after week pass away, and the prospect of his recovery become more remote and doubtful, he began to be restless and fearful. Conscience, which had long been silent, began to speak out, and he was most wretched indeed. It was at this time that he began to read some of the publications of the Religious Tract Society, which in the season of health he had not only despised, but tried to turn into ridicule and contempt. The Bible, that blessed book, which had often been the object of his scornings, next was enquired after, and became the companion of his solitary hours. The refuge of lies, which in a time of health had been his trust, had failed him, and to his sorrow he felt that infidelity may do for a time of prosperity, but not for a season of adversity; that in health men may vauntingly speak of its powers, but that in sickness they find something more is wanted, to nerve the mind, than either deism. or the world can give.

Deeply affected, and fully convinced, he saw and felt that he was a sinner; he ventured to pray, nor were his supplications without strong cries and tears. His was the sighing of a contrite heart. He was desirous to have the visits of a Christian minister, that his mind might be informed as to the way of peace and salvation. The minister no sooner heard of Ollara's wish than he called upon him. On his first visit there was a degree of reserve. On further intercourse that, however wore off; and John, without hesitation, made him the confidant of his feelings and state of mind. His convictions were deep; he had been no common sinner; his contrition, so far as the eye of man could reach, was sincere, and his repentance without disguise. The minister preached to him Christ, and him crucified, as the way of a sinner's justification before God, and made known unto him the

consolations of the gospel of the grace of God;
and it was not long before he seemed to have found
the peace resulting from believing in the Saviour. He
now became most anxious to undo the mischief which
he had occasioned by the propagation of his infidel
sentiments, and for that purpose sent for several of
his fellow-workmen, whose minds he had endeavoured
to mislead by his principles. When he saw them he
was deeply affected, and for a time was unable to ad-
dress them; but at length, after a copious shower of
tears, in a firm and composed tone of voice, and with
something very solemn in his manner, he said, "I have
sent for you, that I may tell you that I have seen my
errors, and deeply bewail them. The principles which
you have often heard me advocate, I believe to be false
and delusive, and have therefore renounced them.
The gospel contains the ground of my hope, for the
Lord Jesus is my salvation." He added, "You have
often heard me say when in health, that I would not
die a hypocrite; believe me then, upon the testimony
of a dying man, that what I have said is true, and the
real emotions of my soul in the near prospect of eter-
nity." Speaking of his illness to them he said, "You
may think it strange, but I give God thanks for it. It
has been a hard and trying time, and has now been of
fourteen weeks' duration; but it has been to me a
season of mercy as well as a season of suffering; and
I feel that I never can be so grateful to the Divine
Being as I ought, that he has not only given me time
and space for repentance, but a disposition to im-
prove it."

It was not without many tears and exhortations to them that he took leave of his old companions: and it is to be hoped that the impressions of that season will not soon pass from their minds.

His death was calm and tranquil; his hope was based upon the Rock of Ages. He seemed indeed to be a brand plucked from the burning, and that too at a time when it was hardly to be expected. Thus died

г

John Ollara, in the thirty-first year of his age, a singular monument of the grace of God.

THE OLD SHEPHERD.

To the Editor of the Friendly Visitor.

REV. SIR,-The following is "a true story." If it meet with your approbation, I shall be glad to see it inserted in your excellent little work, which I constantly circulate in a Parochial Lending Library.

In this aged Christian 1 beheld a living witness of the truth so plainly declared in the Bible, that God reveals, by his Holy Spirit, to the soul all truths which are essential to salvation. From his earliest years the old man, who is the subject of this paper, has followed the occupation of a shepherd. On the Wiltshire Downs the attendance of the shepherd is constantly needed, so that, unless the owner of the sheep keeps several shepherds, who may take turns in watching the flocks, the Sabbath as well as the week day must be occupied in this work.

The old shepherd has often expressed to me his regret that this occupation had prevented him from attending the house of God. He was not one of those who would without any just excuse have refrained from the services of the sanctuary. His father, he told me, was a shepherd before him, and many of his family bred up to the same employment, so that in all probability he would have been unfitted for any other mode of gaining his daily bread; and I doubt not that the God, who "is a Spirit," and, unconfined by the limits of a temple made with hands, listened to the prayers of the shepherd, which he offered up beneath the great temple of heaven, and graciously answered them, even as he answers our prayers when we utter them with unanimous voices in the great congregation.

The shepherd informed me that his father was wont to carry his Bible with him, when he repaired to the charge of his flocks, and that he did the same, taking with him likewise other religious books. He was enthusiastically fond of his calling. He exclaimed one

day, when I talked to him about his former pursuits as a shepherd, "Oh! beautiful! I gloried in the sheep! I took great delight in them!" He was particularly interested when I read to him any of those beautiful passages in the Bible in which Christ is compared to a Shepherd, and his people to sheep. On reading to him that passage in the 10th chapter of St. John's Gospel, "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand;" I remarked, that the similitude in one part of the passage appeared to hold good rather with respect to the eastern shepherds, than with those of our own country. It is related, that the shepherds of the East, to this day, call their sheep by name, and they hear their voice, and follow them. My old friend replied, that his sheep actually knew his voice, heard his call at a distance, and followed him! From the shepherd's illustration of the passage, I learnt that the similitude does indeed hold good: and that as the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd, and follow him, so the true believers listen to the voice and the commands of Jesus, and "follow him whithersoever he goeth." "No body (said the old man) can imagine the sense they've got toward the shepherd!

Oh! let the reader learn from this simple remark of my aged parishioner to make the enquiry, "What sense, what feeling of love have I toward the good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ ?" If the Shepherd of whom I have been reading could say, "I gloried in the sheep! I took great delight in them!" oh! who can fathom that Saviour's love, whose "delight was with the sons of men;" whose delight it was "to seek and to save" me when I was "erring and straying from his ways like a lost sheep." Oh! that I may strive (let this be the desire of every reader of this story) to love and obey him who manifested his unspeakable love, in dying for us, while we were yet sinners," in laying down his life for the sheep."

CLERICUS RUSTICUS.

(To be continued.)

HOLY ASPIRATION.

There is no surer mark of a child of God, than longing after God. There is no more certain sign of declension, than a diminution of those desires. How can it be that the fire of heaven shall not burn upward? that love shall not seek its object? that a soul whose home is in the skies, shall not desire its home? The child of God hath had wings given him to bear him to his Father's abode; and shall he never use them? Shall he never say,

"From low delights and mortal toys,

I soar to reach immortal joys.”

Alas! with how many of us is it far otherwise! Instead of stretching forth after God, our desires fasten upon the dust of the earth. Instead of bathing our souls in the pure atmosphere which surrounds the throne of God, we are content to breathe the gross vapours of sin and pollution. How far are we from being able to say with David, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God,

for the living God."

Yet, shall the carnal heart aspire after the miserable illusions, the vain shows of earthly good, and shall the sanctified heart not aspire after its God? Shall the miser thirst for gold, and the ambitious man for power, and the man of pleasure for sensual delights, and shall the child of God find nothing to excite his desires for those pure and substantial joys which are adapted to the wants of his spiritual nature?

O Christian! awake, arise! Contend not with the men of the world for their portion, but look upward and behold thine inheritance. Look at the throne and at Him who sits upon it, till, borne on the wings of strong desire, thou rise to that throne and find thy native element. O what blessed moments are these when the soul, thus winged, thus aspiring, seeking, finds—and finding, still seeks its God, its portion, its rest: when the very desire is bliss, and the desire satisfied but awakens more; when the soul "is filled with all the fulness of God," and in becoming full, dilates to receive a larger measure!

Christian, would you know such blessedness? Turn your eyes from earth, and fasten them upon heaven. It is by looking at God that you learn to aspire after him. When you can say with Da