year; who was to have been one of the Confirmants from this parish at the approaching visit of the Bishop; and, with a view thereto, was attending the instructions of a Clergyman of the place, Chelsea, where he was a pupil at the Proprietary School. He had been confined to his bed a few days, having left his place at school the preceding Tuesday *. But it was not till the day on which I saw him, that it was known that he was labouring under active inflammation of the lungs. He then felt

* During these few days, the kind friend referred to, the Rev. Thomas Vores, Minister of Park Chapel, Chelsea, added to his many pastoral labours, that of repeating, by the bedside of his sick catechumen, the substance of the Lectures which he came from addressing to his class of young persons.-To that Gentleman, and to his predecessors at Park Chapel, the late Rev. Henry Vaughan, Vicar of Crickhowel, and the Rev. John Harding, now Rector of St. Ann's, Blackfriars, who successively took an affectionate interest in the spiritual welfare of his son, a grateful father avails himself of this opportunity of making a public acknowledgment. May he also be permitted most respectfully to say to all his Brethren in the Ministryto those, especially, who are engaged in the work of tuition"Be not backward to speak, as spiritual instructors and advisers, even to those young people who might be presumed, from their connexions, to stand less in need, than others, of personal admonition"?—That the subject of this Memorial, though not previously uninstructed, owed much to the above-named Gentlemen, and to his kind and able Tutors, he was himself forward to acknowledge.

himself to be, as he was, very ill; but not so distressingly ill as on the next day, when the respiration became so difficult, that it was deemed necessary to procure immediate relief by opening a vein. After that, he was able to converse collectedly;— and never was his understanding clearer. I did not think it necessary, or desirable, to state to him the extent of my own apprehensions respecting the dangerous character of the disease; nor, indeed, did I at that time abandon hope. But his own observation and feelings suggested to him, I believe, a correct view of his actual state. He had always invited communication from me on religious subjects, by the most respectful attention and teachableness; but at this time, and to the last, his confidence in me appeared to be unbounded; so that, I believe, he concealed nothing from me of his real feelings. In reply to a hope which I expressed that he was enabled at that time to commit himself without fear into the hands of God, he said,

66

Certainly, I should prefer to live; but I trust I am prepared to die." I told him there was nothing sinful in the wish to live;--and I prayed with him, that, if it were the will of God, He, who alone gives skill to the physician and efficacy to medicine, would bless the means used to his restoration.

I endeavoured to keep alive in him the hope of recovery, so long as it was possible: but, after a while, he needed not any one to tell him that, humanly speaking, the disease could not be arrested; and never, excepting that one time, did he intimate a wish to live. On the contrary, as his love to his Saviour increased, which it manifestly did every hour, and as his perception of the excellence of heavenly things grew clearer, he repeatedly expressed a longing desire to depart and to be with Christ. "Oh," said he, "to be with Jesus! I long to be at the fountain of life!"—At another time: "I long to be with Him, to be with Jesus! I long to be at home-Jerusalem, my happy home!"

When questioned respecting the ground of his hope toward God, it appeared that he was resting simply on the promise of the free remission of sins through the atonement made by the Lord Jesus. He said he "had prayed to God to forgive him all his sins for Jesus Christ's sake; and he believed that He would."

The Hymns to which he occasionally referred, and which he requested might be repeated to him,

were chiefly those which set forth the sufficiency of the Sacrifice made for the sins of the whole world*. The delight with which he listened to these Hymns, and to the Scriptures on which they are founded, brought vividly to my recollection an occurrence, of which I know not whether he retained any remembrance, but which impressed me I too deeply ever to be forgotten. When he was about four years of age, he had been betrayed into the sin of falsehood-a sin which, in the education of my own children, as formerly of pupils, I have never suffered to pass without correction. After he had been punished, he was standing by my side in tears. I perceived his lips to be in motion, and said to him, "Francis, what are you saying?” After a little hesitation, he replied, "I was saying, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' -Oh! the delight, the tears of joy, with which I heard from the poor little offender that blessed sentence, so opportunely applied to his own case! I had before felt that Name to be as ointment poured forth upon my own soul; and now its healing virtue was descending, to restore and bless one who had inherited from me the seeds of evil. I thanked God and took courage; and prayed that

* See the Hymns at the end of this Sermon, pp. 295, 296.

he might be one of that happy company who "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."-The other passages, both of the Scriptures and of Scriptural Hymns, on which he dwelt with most satisfaction, were chiefly those descriptive of the blessedness of the Redeemed in heaven*.

It was to me, I must confess, a matter of wonder, as well as of delight, that he should so early have attained to that clearness of perception of the sufficiency of the atonement for sin made by our Lord Jesus Christ, and to a realizing apprehension of the blessedness of the Redeemed in heaven; and to the corresponding spirit of adoption and love to God, as his reconciled God and Father; and of love to others, accompanied by humility and gentleness, and entire resignation to the will of God.

There was indeed, during his illness, a remarkable disclosure of spiritual views and Christian graces, previously formed, but imperfectly developed, which I could compare to nothing so illustrative of it, as what we are now witnessing during this late but delightful vernal season-the rapid expansion

* See the Hymns, pp. 297, 298.