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long been apprehensive that she was consumptive, and frequently remarked, that it would be impossible for her ever to fall into the fond mistake which persons in that complaint have so frequently adopt ed; for, having (as she said) so minutely marked the progress of the disease in her four daughters, and being so perfectly aware of the manner in which its subjects were so often deceived, she was effecually guarded against any such misconception. About six weeks, however, prior to her dissolution, she formed a most decided opinion that her case had been completely mistaken, not only by herself, but by all the medical gentlemen she had consulted, some of whom were among the most distinguished of the profession. So powerfully did this sentiment operate upon her mind, that, though she was apprehensive that the termination of her pilgrimage was at no very remote distance, she seemed to consider it as absolutely certain that she was speedily recovering from her present indisposition. This opinion did not appear to have any unfavourable effect upon her mind, in reference to divine things. 'Death,' as she herself expressed it, was far from being a subject of dread to her. She had, under a most humBling sense of unworthiness, solemnly committed her soul into the hands of the blessed Redeemer, built her importal hopes upon his atoning sacrifice, and was thas always encouraged to think and speak of her dissolution with the utmost complacuney, and sometimes with evident delight. The last time she united in worship, with the church on earth, was on the first Sabbath in last November, when she also sat down at the table of the Lord. It appears to have been to her a memorable period; and repeatedly did she speak in a most affectionate manner of the sweet solemnity of spirit, and of the holy joy which she experienced on that day. frame of her mind, indeed, thenceforward appeared tranquil, submissive, and happy; and thus she continued till she quietly and insensibly fell asleep.

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Mrs. S. was well known, to a numerous circle of friends, as a very distinguished and interesting character. She possessed strong mental powers, had the advantages of a superior education, and combined the elegancies of polished manners with the superior charms of unaffected piety. It was, however, in the Christian character that she appeared to the greatest advantage. Amidst her almost unparalleled trials, her spirit was serene, her carriage mild, and her submission exemplary. She was ordinarily cheerful, but never overcome by undignified levity; truly serious, without yielding to the influence of despondency; and strictly consci

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entious, without the ostentation of pharisaical parade.

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On the Lord's Day evening after her intermeni, a sermon was delivered by Mr. Lowell, not exclusively in reference to the death of Mrs. Stapleton, but in relation also to Samuel Tillett, a poor man, a member of his church, who, a few days before, left the world in the triumph of faith. The service was thus rendered doubly interesting; and the text selected upon the oc casion was, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.' That every reader of this little narrative may die the death of the righteous,' is the affectionate and cordial prayer of him that writes it; and who, amidst all the losses sustained by the removal of Christian friends, is consoled with the hope that he may, through the exceeding riches of divine grace, be permitted to embrace them in another and a better worid !'

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MISS SARAH MEEN.

MAY 23, 1809, died, aged 24 years, Miss Sarah Meen, of Wetherden, in the county of Suffolk. She was in infancy deprived of an affectionate mother; but enjoyed the advantage of religious instruction, under the inspection of her surviving parent. Her temper and disposition being naturally lively, as her years advanced, she eagerly sought those fascinating pleasures which a gay and dissipated world

readily presents to thoughtless youth.

Her first religious impressions of an abiding kind, were received under a sermou preached by the Rev. C. Atkinson, of Ipswich, where she was then on a visit. These impressions were followed by a train of serious reflectious, which produced a deep conviction of her fallen state as a sinner, and the need of a better righteousness than her own for justification. She began to see with new eyes, to hear with new cars, and to understand with a new heart; to feel delight in divine ordinances, in reading, meditation,

and prayer. Her worldly com

panions were forsaken, and her mind received a new bias, which engaged all its energies;-her desire now was to win Christ, and be found in him. This renovation of soul produced an outward change, which could not be concealed. Her former levity and gaiety of disposition gave way to habitudes of serious, yet cheerful piety.

In a few months she made a pub lic profession of her faith, and was admitted, with great satisfaction, a member of the Congregational Church at Wattesfield, under the care of the Rev. W. Hickman, where her family statedly worshipped, and under whose ministry her soul was greatly replenished. Situated, how ever, at a distance of several miles from the house of God, she was deprived of that intercourse with her fellow-members which it was her desire to have enjoyed; but she found, in the retired residence of her father's house, sweet intercourse with Heaven. She spent many hours in devotional exercises, on which, she conceived, the life of religion much depended. The influence of religiou appeared very conspicuous in her temper, her conversation, and her correspondence; yet her religion was neither visionary nor enthusiastic on the one hand, nor bigotted or presumptuous on the other; but what she professed and enjoyed was a steady, scriptural, evangelical hope, loving all who loved Christ, and those best who possessed most of his Spirit. Though a sense of divine things was

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uppermost in her heart, it did not take off her attention from domestic duties, being not slothful in business, yet fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.' She was of a delicate constitution, and the subject of many bodily affi ctions; but, in such seasons, her consolations abounded. As she thus lived and walked near to God, so the work of grace made rapid progress in her soul. From the time she first put on the Christan armour till she undressed for the grave, a period something short of five years, she seems to have enjoyed an encreasing delight in com munion with God, and an happy anticipation of future and perfect felicity.

The disorder that ended her days was an inflammation in the brain, which occasioned the most exquisite pain; but, under this severe afflic tion, she manifested the utmost patience and resignation.-To one, who was sympathizing with her sorrows, she said, 'My sufferings are great; but they are mingled with so much mercy, that I cannot com plain.'

On the Saturday preceding her departure, she conversed freely on the probability of an approaching change, and said to one of the family, My dear brother, Do you

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not think that death is come?' being answered there were some fears of it, she cheerfully replied, 'I am glad of it; for I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Pray for my death, for I long to be with Jesus!

'Jesus can make a dying bed Feel soft as downy pillows are." I have done with the world now, with its pleasures, its cares, and its sorrows! Come, Lord Jesus! take me from this body of sin and death O, Death! where is thy sting? -0, Grave! where now is thy victory? Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

On the Lord's Day morning, she said, 'On this day I hope to exchange earth for Heaven, and to begin an eternal Sabbath! To a younger sister, for whose salvation she bad long been earnestly wreet3 H

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ling with God, she addressed herself in the following language: Let my God be your God, and you will find him a faithful, a merciful, and a gracious God! love him, serve him, and obey him, and you will And that pleasure and delight there in which I have found! O, Matilda! I hope you will follow me, as far as I have followed Christ, and that you will make a profession, both in private and public! You see the Bncertainty of all things here, they are fading and dying! Ia reading the Scriptures, in prayer and meditation, there is to be found real pleasure! To love Christ, to seek him, and to commune with him, is the greatest pleasure a Christian can enjoy! I hope you will commune with the church below, and then follow me to the church above!

A feeble saint shall win the day, 'Tho' Death and Hell obstruct the way.'

About the middle of the day

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considerable change was visible in her countenance, and likewise in ber own feelings. She then ex. pressed a desire that all ber near kindred might be called into the room; when, as if taking her last adieu, she addressed them to the following effect, in a strain of liar solemnity: My dear parent, my dear brothers, and my dear sister, I commend you all to God! Let others do as they will, may it be your resolution to serve the Lord! He is a good, a compassion ate, a kind, and a gracious God! ! may you all be followers of Christ, and the Lord prosper every nep you take! Make it manifest that you are bought with a price, wot with such contemptible things as silver and gold, but with a Redeemer's blood! May you be supported on my being taken from you-May it impress your minds with the uncertainty of time !-May every one of you know, every soul experimentally know, what it is to be made meet for the inheritance of the saints in glory, that when the bour of death shall come, you may be prepared to be with Jesus, which is far better! May the Lord prosper this family, that every mem.

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ber of it may appear as a burning and shining light!' After this she became much exhausted, and re clined, as if nature was dissolving faintly adding, Come, come, Lord Jesus! receive my spirit into thy hands I freely resign it! Why are thy chariot-wheels so long in com ing

The violence of her pain hav. ing now subsided, every symptom announced an almost immediate change; but the hour was not yet arrived. On the Monday morning she appeared desirous of speaking again to those whose welfare lay so near her heart; and, though not without great difficulty, on account of extreme weakness, said, in ans wer to an enquiry how it was in her mind, I am hastening on to a better world; and I hope that every one of you, my dear relatives, will be prepared to follow me! and may the Lord support you on a dying bed with that fortitude with which

she spoke but little, and the followbe has supported me!' After this ing day she sweetly fell asleep in

Jesus. Thus terminated the mortal life of this amiable young Christfan. Her work was finished at an early hour; but the spirituality evinced a mind ripe for the enjoy of her temper and conversation doubt but she is gone to receive a ment of Heaven; "and we have no crown which fadeth not away.

A very suitable and impressive discourse was preached on the oc Lord's Day, from Psalm xxxix. 7; casion, by Mr. Hickman, the next and which, according to her desire was addressed to young people.

RECENT DEATH.

The Rev. Archibald Bell died June 9, 1809, at Epping, where be had resided for some time. He was formerly a minister of the gospel at Cheshunt, then at Wellingborough, and since at Sheffield; where, about four years ago, he was seized with a paralytic stroke while preaching on Luke xiii. 7. The last words he attempted to utter were, Christ is precious!' He was interred by the Rev. Mr. Muston, who preached his funeral-sermon on the Lord's Day following.

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REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS, &c.

Four Sermons, preached in London, at the Fifteenth General Meeting of the Missionary Society, May 10, 11, 12, 1809. By the Rev. James Peddie, Edinburgh; John Clayton, Jun. London; J. R. Richards, Hull; and J. K. Mar. tyn, Jun. M. A. Pertenhall. Also, The Report of the Directors. 8vo, price 38.

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In our Magazine for June, we inserted a brief analysis of these discourses. Our present object is, therefore, only to give our opinion on the theological and literary character of each sermon. To the considerate reader, it will not afford surprize that we find so much to approve and to admire, and so little that even captious criticism, with out gross injustice, could rebuke. When men of sound piety, sanctified feeling, and approved talents, are engaged in a service which relates to the most grand and exalted theme that can occupy the soul of man, and under circumstances eminently calculated to kindle the sacred passions, and raise to higher warmth and brightness all the pative ardour, something considerably above mediocrity is with reason expected.

It strikes us as an observation not unworthy of being made, that the distinguishing features of the religious denominations to which the preachers belong, respectively appear in each discourse. The rich ness of well-digested theological sentiment, and the philosophie profundity and accuracy of views on the constitution and affectious of the human mind, which distinguish the evangelical clergy of Scotland, are manifest in the first of the sermons. The second is marked with

fe habit of illustration, and the method of exact arrangement, which predominate in the English Dissent ing School. Zeal and love, honest, fervid, and awakening, though they may be less regular in consecutive order of thought, are generally understood to mark the sermons of nisters in the late Countess of

Huntingdon's connection; and these are the characteristics of the third discourse. In the last we recognize the easy flow of sentiment, and the chaste simplicity of manner, which we have been led to consider as a very general characteristic in the pulpit productions of the serious clergy in the Church of England.

The first sermon is founded on Psalm xlv, 17, and is appropriately entitled Jehovah's Care to Per petuate the Redeemer's Name.' It is indeed a most instructive and gratifying display of genius, knowledge, and the benignant spirit of true Christianity. We would cite the beautiful exordium, had it not already appeared in this work, as an introduction to the account of the last General Meeting of the Society. We cannot, however, forbear to quote another excellent passage,

Nor let it be supposed that the name of Jesus at present survives in consequence of any of those happy accidents, or of that labore ious research by which ancient monuments have been recovered, and names of great eminence restored to the admiration of man. kind. At no period was the name of Jesus altogether forgotten. Dark ages intervened since the publics. tion of it by his apostles, agas darkened by rudeness of manners, and ignorance of the sciences and arts which adorn human life; but darkened more by a thick cloud of superstition, which partly concealed and partly distorted the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, but, in the periods of greatest darknes, when Ignorance and Superstition spread their deepest and broadest shades over the nations, the lamp which God has ordained for his anointed' continued to burn, and spread some feeble rays of knowledge of the name and doctrines of Christ around the favoured spots in which it was placed. At the revival of learning, in the close of the fifteenth, and the reformation of religion in the beginning of the six leentury, the nam cof Chri зна

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was not re-discovered, after having been for ages lost. The rubbish indeed was then in part removed, and the darkness dispelled which had concealed much of its glory from those who knew and sincerely loved it. It was brought forward more fully and advantageously to view, and exhibited with more of its native splendor and grace than in any preceding period since the deccase of the apostles, to the faith and love, to the worship and obedience of mankind; but in all the, generations witich preceded, as well, as in those subsequent to the reform, mation of Luther, the name of Chris was remembered. There has been no moment of time of which it can be said that Christianity was extinct. To bowever low a state religion was reduced, some were still found who with the heart believed in the name of Christ, who confessed it with their mouths, who honoured it by their conversation, who published it in their ministry, and who sealed their testimony with their blood."

The second sermon is on The Final Triumph of the Church over her Enemies, an Encouragement to the Zealous Exertions of her Friends,' from Isaiah xxix. 8. In this wellcomposed and animated discourse, the enemies of the Church of Christ are enumerated: the Powers of Darkness, Idolatrous Nations, Infidels and Sceptics, Persecutors,

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and the Licentious and Profane. The malignant expectations of Zion's focs are forcibly described as imaginary, confused, transient, and fallacious. That the church shall enjoy a final triumph, the preacher from the Power of her argues Saviour and Protector (styled, with evident impropriety, her illustrious ally-the Extent of her Resources, the Force of her Ams, and the Frophetic Representations of her Destiny. The eloquent preacher then concludes with an energetic exhortation to hope, confidence, perseverance, and firmness in missionary undertakings. Our readers may form a conception of the tone of sentiment and the style, from the following passage :

Stronger consolation cannot be

conveyed to the friends of Zion than that which is supplied by the subject which has now passed under review. Even in times of public degeneracy and alarm, you may dismiss your fears respecting the perpetuity of the church. In spite of all that Satan and his agents can effect, every succeeding age shall produce characters who will espouse her hoy cause; nor shall the godly remuant be ever cut off from the earth. The political commotions too, which agitate states and empires, so far from proving detri mental, shall actually become subservient to the promotion of her interests. Christians! we have done with the cry, The church is in danger! Faith in the perfec tions of God, and in the care of her living head, enables us to triumph over the timid apprehensions of nature, or the pusillanimity of a sectarian spirit. The Lutheran Church may totter, the Episcopa, lian Church may tremble, the Presbyterian Kirk may fall, and the name of the Dissenting Church may be forgolten; but the true church, extracted from each, and composed of all kindreds, nations, tongues, and people,' can never sink into God is our refuge and sirength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ;' and as it was one mark of a good Roman citizen, never to despond of the fortunes of the Republic, so Chris tians should never despair of the safety and prosperity of that kingdom, whose foundations are immovable as the basis of the Eternal's throne.'

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(To be concluded in our next.)

A REPLY to the Pamphlets lately pub lished, in Defence of the London Female Penitentiary; with fur ther Remarks upon the Dangerous Tendency of that Institution. By W. Hale. Svo, Price 2s. 6d.

Ir grieves us to find that the author of this diffuse Reply is so carried away by prejudice against the

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