perfect blessedness, perfect purity, perfect holiness, an eternal separation from sin. I think, mother, I can see this place at a little distance. I know that my Redeemer liveth there. I can see through his promise, my God and my Redeemer, surrounded by holy angels and glorified spirits of just men made perfect." Her mother asked her on what foundation she rested her hopes of salvation? She replied, "I have no hopes but from the Word of God, and the merits of my Redeemer, and that alone is the ground of my hopes." "Mine iniquities," she continued, are very great; but great as they are, he hath washed them all away in his own blood, because he delighteth in mercy." About a week before her death, a beloved friend called to bid her a last and long farewell. Her mother, observing that she was very cheerful, said, "Can you part with so dear a friend without a tear?" "O yes! mother," she said, "you are my dearest friend, whom I love as myself, and yet I trust I can part with all my friends, and with you also, for the love of Christ. I have a desire to depart and be with him, which is far better." Her mind at times became completely absorbed when the love of God was the topic of conversation. She would burst out in ejaculatory prayer, "O my God and Father! O my kind and loving Redeemer! thy will be done on earth, as the angels do it in heaven." Being asked whether she would not wish to recover, her answer was, that she had no wish it should be otherwise than according to the will of God; that his time was the fittest time to live, and bis time the fittest time to die; in this she was satisfied and happy. On the Monday before her death, she said to her mother, "I have many friends that will not be here when I die, but I wish you to tell them all that I have no wish to recover, no wish to live longer in this world of sin and pollution; I have nothing of this world's goods to leave to you or to them, but I leave it as my last will, and dying wish to you all, that you may be followers of Christ, as dear children walking in the truth, ever studying to promote the interests of the kingdom and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. On Wednesday, she became exceedingly weak, and spoke little. The shadows of death were now gathering thick around her; the dew damps of death began to appear on her pale, but lovely countenance; and when heard to utter a word, it was about the love of Christ to her soul. It now became evident to all that her departure was at hand : "The angel of the covenant Was come, and, faithful to his promise, stood On Thursday, the 13th June 1839, Elizabeth Faulds Hislop, in her fifteenth year, breathed her last, and her immortal spirit winged its way to her God and Saviour, in the mansions of glory. Her mortal part was committed to the dust, where, in union with Christ, it will rest in peace till the blessed morning of the resurrection, when the grave shall burst asunder, and the righteous come forth unto life eternal. This narrative is well fitted to impart both a solemn warning, and an important lesson to the young. The Word of God gives no countenance to the opinion, that all who die in childhood will be saved. On the contrary, it declares all mankind to be born in sin, and heirs of condemnation, and that there is no salvation, but through the atoning blood and imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. And when we reflect on the multitudes that are snatched away in early life, oh! what need to make an early application to that peace-speaking blood, which cleanseth from all sin. The young have no security of life for a single day, more than the man of three score years and ten, for God "Plants his flowers when he thinks fit, And plucks at any age." We would have the young also believe, that preparation for death will not bring it a moment sooner. Consider, then, the life and the death of Elizabeth F. Hislop, and be ye followers of them who, through faith and patience, are now inheriting the promise, " And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labour, and their works do follow them." Weep not for her! she is an angel now, The vestal joy's of Heaven's eternal year: Weep not for her! her memory is the shrine Of pleasant thoughts, soft as the scent of flowers; Sweet as the song of birds among the bowers; Weep not for her! there is no cause for woe; And from earth's low defilements keep thee back: ON CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESS. CHRISTIAN Watchfulness, so frequently recommended in Scripture, hath in general two objects at which it aims. These are the avoiding of evil and the attainment of good. The expression seems to be borrowed from the custom of soldiers in a garrison who are appointed to watch in the night season, lest it should be suddenly attacked by the enemy, or taken at an unawares; or from the practice which often obtains in great cities of appointing watchmen during the night, for the better security of the inhabitants against any sudden and unexpected danger. The Christian, while he is in this world, is surrounded by enemies on every hand. He has not only to contend with Satan and the world, but with the plagues of his own heart; and as double vigilance is necessary in the case of watchmen in a garrison or city, where they are not only exposed to danger from external enemies, but also from the discontented and malicious among themselves; so that confederacy which obtains between sin in the heart and the believer's external enemies, makes this duty doubly necessary to his spiritual safety. Indwelling sin is ever ready to take the advantage, to seize the opportunity of opening the gates of the affections and the avenues of the heart, for the admission of Satan's temptations and the world's allurements, to the commission of sin; and one unguarded moment, leading to one unguarded action, may be productive of the most direful consequences. Though it cannot frustrate the Christian's eternal salvation, yet it may, in a great measure, imbitter his spiritual peace through life, and bring him down to the grave mourning. In the scriptural expressions on this subject, there may also be a reference to the custom of those who wait, or watch, for the attainment of some promised or expected good. In this sense, waiting or watching is frequently to be understood when predicated of the Christian in the word of God. Hence, the Psalmist, David, in reference to his deliverance from deep souldistress, and in prospect of renewed manifestations of the Divine favour, says, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning; I say more than they that watch for the morning." And our Lord frequently inculcates the duty of watchfulness, in view of his coming at death and at judgment, to put his people in full possession of all the blessings exhibited to them in the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel. "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." But though Christian watchfulness has a double object, or may be viewed in a twofold aspect, yet both are inseparably connected in the Christian's exercise. He waits for promised or expected good in the way of watching or guarding against prohibited evil. As he is an expectant of that glory which shall be revealed at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so he gives all diligence that he may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless, at his coming. Christian watchfulness is principally to be exercised about the heart. Keep thy heart, says Solomon, with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Take heed, says the apostle Paul, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We are called to watch against temptations to sin from Satan and the world; but unless the plagues of our own heart are mortified and subdued, all our attempts to ward off the fiery darts of the wicked one will be in vain. Internal corruptions, when unsubdued by the Spirit and grace of God, will seize hold upon, sooner or later, in some channel or other, the occasions of sinning presented by external temptations; and it is only when these external temptations are allowed to communicate with internal corruption, that persons are drawn by them into the commission of sin. Every species of wickedness is conceived in the heart. External temptations to sin are only the fuel, while internal lust is the fire; and it is in consequence of these two coming into contact that those abominations are committed that stain the life and conversation. "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a man.' This being considered, it is plain that Christian watchfulness must be exercised principally about the heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it." This description of the heart is not only applicable to sinners, but also to saints, in so far as their hearts are not renewed by Divine grace. Of this the Psalmist David was duly sensible when he said, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." How necessary, therefore, the solemn admonitions of the Word of God regarding watchfulness as it respects the state and exercise of the heart! For want of attention to these admonitions, many of God's people have lapsed into sin, and that grievously. For example, had David, in the strength of promised grace, guarded against the admission of the external temptation to which he was exposed into his heart, or even suppressed the first motion of criminal desire there, how much sin might have been prevented; but he cherished the temptation in his heart, and the consequences were awful. It issued in the heinous crimes of adultery and murder. How David, when by sin deceived, His eye on Bathsheba once fix'd, So from a spark of fire at first, Had Peter, in like manner, attended more to our Lord's admonitions about Christian watchfulness as it respects the heart, he must have known more about its natural pride, and would not have fallen such an easy prey to the temptation to deny his Lord and Master. Christian watchfulness must also be exercised about external temptations to sin, in guarding against and shunning them, and using the best means of evading their baneful influence. External temptations and internal corruptions operate mutually upon each other. As internal corruptions make external temptations the occasions of sinning, so external temptations are like fuel to internal corruptions. We are to watch against the temptations of Satan. By these we mean his more secret temptations, which are immediately darted into the mind without the instrumentality of second causes. Satan has a great influence in forcing those temptations to sin which are thrown in our way by wicked men in the world; for they are actuated by him not only in the commission of sin themselves, but also in laying snares for others; but he also tempts men to sin in a more immediate way, by throwing in evil suggestions into the mind. We cannot explain the manner in which spirits act upon one another in general, or how Satan acts upon the minds of men by his cruel temptations in particular; but that he often does so act upon them, we think is evident both from Scripture and experience. To what other cause can we ascribe many of those sudden blasphemous suggestions which are frequently thrown into the mind when its train of thought has been directed towards objects of a quite opposite nature, but to his secret and immediate influence. This does not only happen in the |