her hands, and looked so happy, and then she died."

This was every thing the pastor could desire, and it was far more than the poor woman once dared to hope for. The back door was open; I went out into the meadow for a few minutes, for I felt it best to be silent and alone. When I had a little collected myself, I reentered the cottage. We ascended the old stair-case, and for the last time I gazed on the countenance of my once sorrowful neighbour, and blessed God that she was then beholding the face of Him who loved her and gave himself for her, and who had now redeemed her soul, and glorified it with a mansion in his father's kingdom. On descending, I met a poor, old, worldly-minded person, who yet seemed affected, when I reminded him of the short period he had to live, and of the blessedness of dying" in the Lord." May Omnipotent Grace subdue his aged and callous heart, and fit both him and his partner to follow Betty Sanders from their humble dwelling on earth to a city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens! And

may the experience of this woman more deeply establish in our hearts the consoling declaration, that,

though weeping may endure for a night, yet joy cometh in the morning." Yes; and even if it should please our heavenly Father to lead us through a dark and gloomy day, we have another blessed promise: "Behold it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." This passage recurred with some force to my mind as I was returning homeward from the widow's cottage; and though in its primary application it refers to far greater events than the happy deaths of individual believers, yet feeling that it might be fairly accommodated to such a case, I endeavoured to improve it on the Sunday after the poor widow's interment, by bringing forward one or two other instances wherein the gracious dealings of the Almighty had passed before our eyes. At some future time, perhaps, a sketch of what was then advanced, in addition to the widow's case, may follow this statement.

ALIQUIS.

I FEEL thankful to a kind Providence for having at length enabled me to relieve my conscience, and supply my lack of service to you, by adding to my own the labours of a faithful brother and fellow-servant in the Lord.

I have long been deeply sensible of the heavy responsibility resting upon me as minister of this large and populous parish: and, though I humbly hope I have not been altogether unfaithful to my charge, yet have I often lamented, with an aching heart, how insufficient were my single labours (and these not exclusively given, as you are aware, from the claims on me as a precep

tor of youth,) to the spiritual wants of my numerous and widely scattered flock. I bless God, however, that under all deficiencies he has not left me wholly without seals to my ministry. Some, to whom I have been privileged to preach the word of life, have fallen asleep in the Lord; and some remain, (and long may they remain!) living proofs of the power of divine grace on the heart and life. But still, still I have painful evidence, that a large proportion of those, whose spiritual welfare I am pledged to promote, are yet unaffected by the preaching of the Gospel, and unconcerned about their never-dying souls. I see it in their profanation

of the sabbath; in their neglect of divine worship; in the careless, and worldly, and irregular lives of many around me. Either they refuse to hear, or they hear, alas! in vain.

O let me indulge the hope, that the joint testimony of two will be more availing than that of one! You will now be more frequently visited by my fellow-labourer or myself at your respective homes; the invitations of the blessed Gospel will follow you to the distant hamlets of the parish: and those who would not hearken to my voice, may be induced to listen to his; and while one plants and the other waters, a gracious God may give the increase.

but

Believe me, we seek not yours you. We ask not your gold and silver, but we ask you to give your hearts to God. We solicit your earnest attention to the truths we bring before you: we beg you to search the Scriptures, and see whether these things be so; we implore you, ere it be too late, to accept salvation, so freely proffered, though so dearly bought.

But whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear, a dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto us and we are bound to admonish every one; "The kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the Gospel, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation! O flee unto Jesus, the hope and refuge set before you! Forsake all other refuges; renounce all other dependences; give up all excuses; and apply to Him without delay for pardon through his blood, and sanctification through his Spirit. On the clearest evidences of infallible truth, we affirm, that there is no forgiveness but through his atonement; no acceptance but through his righteousness; no redemption but through his blood;

no salvation in any other name under heaven!"

Brethren, pray for us! Ye, especially, who have tasted the good word of God, and know the value of a Gospel ministry, pray for us; that the influences of the Holy Spirit may so accompany our preaching, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified in awakening sinners, in reclaiming backsliders, and in comforting and edifying those who through grace have believed!

But we claim not only your prayers, but your personal exertions: we challenge you to come to the help of the Lord, and join your efforts to ours in winning souls to the Saviour. Do you ask whether we require you to quit your farm, and your shop, and your plough, in order to become preachers of the Gospel? No, my brethren, by no means: on the contrary, we caution you not to touch, with an unauthorized hand, the ark of the Lord! No-we wish every man to remain in the vocation whereto he was called, and therein to glorify God and serve his generation.

Do not say, your influence is confined to a narrow sphere? Yon little taper is not a sun, yet observe how bright it shines, how far it spreads its rays in the dark night! Hide not then your light, whatever it be, under a bushel; nor keep your talent, because it is a single one, wrapped up in a napkin. Of this I can assure you, that if you adorn the Gospel by a holy conversation, you will give light to some who sit in darkness, and prove a blessing to your relations, friends, and neighbours. You will preach to the eyes what we preach to the ears. You will be living epistles, known and read of all men. And can you hesitate to plead His cause before men, who is ever pleading yours before his Father in heaven? Can you con

tinue silent, when you see so many profaning his day, slighting his word, forsaking his house, and blaspheming that holy name, whereby you are called? Can you remain at ease, when numbers round you are blindly straying in the paths of the destroyer, and approaching that precipice, from which if they fall, they fall to rise no more!

Have you forgotten the admonition which says, "Thou shalt not suffer sin upon thy neighbour?" Do you not bear in mind the gracious promise," He that converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death?" and "those who turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars for ever and ever?" And do you not eagerly long to share in that blessed work, which shall swell the number of the redeemed, shall diffuse new joy among the angels of heaven, and add fresh trophies to the Saviour's glory? If you refuse to lend your aid in promoting the great end of our ministry, where is your love to Christ? where is your affection for those ministers, whom you acknowledge as your fathers in Him? As you value the salvation which Jesus offers-as you prize his tears, his labours, and his death, O pass not another day without praying for those who will not pray for themselves; without making some affectionate attempt to do good to the souls of others, by dropping at least a word in season which may be, in the hand of God, the turning point of a sinner's salvation!

But if it be the duty of every one to consult his neighbour's good to edification, how much more binding is the obligation on those who stand towards each other in the endeared relations of life.

Are you a parent? Can you look upon your children, that heritage and gift that cometh from the Lord, and not breathe out a fervent prayer-0 that they may live be

fore thee? Remember, you are entrusted with the care of immortal beings, and it will mainly depend on your precepts, your prayers, and your example, whether they will be the heirs of eternal bliss or eternal woe. O bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! in that holy course of discipline and instruction, which God is usually pleased to bless, and which will fit them either for earth or heaven. Lose no time in sowing the seed; you know not how soon the opportunity may be closed. Keep evil out of their minds by storing them with good-with Gospel principles. But be sure they be principles of the Gospel; not that meagre thing which the world calls religion-worshipping God one day in the week, and worshipping the world all the rest: but that religion which humbles the sinner, which sanctifies the heart, which gives the Saviour the supreme place in the affections, and which is, in fact, the kingdom of heaven begun within us. Make them familiar with the Bible; bear them often on your hearts before a throne of grace; pray for them; weep for them; and though for a time you may perceive no fruit of your pains, your prayers, and your tears, depend upon it, sooner or later, it will be found that “ your labour for your children has not been in vain in the Lord."

Are you a husband or a wife? Remember, you have promised before God and man, to love each other with peculiar affection; fail not then to show this affection by endeavouring to promote a work of grace in each other's heart. Take sweet counsel together, and walk in the house of God as friends. Watch over each other's souls; daily suggest some useful hint; bear each other's burden; strengthen one another against temptation; encourage one another to bear the cross, which all must bear that desire to follow Christ. Pray for

each other, and pray with each other. Live continually as heirs together of the grace of Christ, and then you will enjoy a happiness, both present and in prospect, far beyond what the most affectionate pair ever yet enjoyed, whose affections were bounded by the pre

sent life.

Are you a master, holding authority, having servants and labourers under you, saying to this man, "Go, and he goeth;" and to another," Do this, and he doeth it!" O bear in mind, that you are entrusted with this authority, not merely for your own accommodation; but for the protection, the instruction, and the salvation of those that are under you. In furtherance of this object, let me earnestly recommend to you family religion. Establish, without delay, morning and evening worship at home. Read the Scriptures to your household. Ask, in devout prayer, the mercies and blessings of which you mutually stand in need; and beg for grace to perform your respective duties as unto the Lord. And when the sabbath comes, fail not to conduct your dependents to the house of God; you cannot command a blessing upon them, but you can place them where the blessing usually is vouchsafed. Be not satisfied, either for yourself or for them, with a half attendance on divine worship; remember the influence of example; and think it not much to come twice to His house one day in the week, who comes daily, nightly, and hourly with comforts and blessings to yours.

Have you weekly labourers to pay? I beseech you, pay them early on the Saturday, or, what would be better still, on the Friday; that they may have time to make their needful purchases, without encroaching on the day of the Lord, and be enabled to prepare both body and mind for the service of the sanctuary.

O that I could prevail on all who are engaged in trade amongst us, to leave off the unhallowed practice of selling goods on the sabbath day! It is breaking, they must know, the laws both of God and man; it is unfitting both buyer and seller for the peaceful and pious observance of the day of rest; it resembles the unsanctified traffic, which our Lord so severely reprobated, in the courts of the temple; and it entails upon hundreds, throughout the week, the curse of a broken sabbath. I rejoice to perceive (and I sincerely thank them for it) that some of my neighbours have set the salutary example of shutting up their shops on the sabbath, and have resolved, on a priuciple of conscience, to forego custom and profit, rather than thus trespass any longer against the Lord.

And you, my friends, who get your bread by selling that liquor, which in moderation refreshes and strengthens the poor man, but which in excess poisons and destroys him; O take heed, that you do not seek your profit in the intemperance of your guests. If you encourage, or if you allow them, to add drunkenness to thirst, and to squander in drink those earnings, which should feed, and clothe, and comfort their wives and children at home; then your house becomes a moral nuisance; and you dearly purchase your gains. You become in the sight of God accessary to that wretchedness which prevails in the drunkard's family; to those diseases which destroy his bodily health; and to that awful ruin which awaits his soul!

I thought I had done; but I feel I cannot lay down my pen without a word of tender encouragement to those dear children who have for some time been the objects of our public care, and whom we seek to bring up as sound members of the church of England-that apostolic portion of the church of Christ.