advanced in the school in which St. Paul was taught contentment, you will rise above all this; and you should endeavor to do it now..........

"Tenderness of conscience (a healthy state) degenerates, in many instances, into a morbid sensibility, so that the consciousness of rising sinful thoughts and desires mixing with more pure motives, while it ought to produce humiliation, proves also the source of dejection; as if there were any saint on earth, or ever had been, who was wholly delivered from these things: or as if it could be otherwise, than that the keener our vision, the greater our watchfulness, and the deeper our hatred of every sin, the more quick must be this sensibility, and the more acute the pain which attends it, till all sin be extinguished.........We must not stop at the words, O wretched man that I am, but adopt the apostle's thanksgiving also, and so accompany him to the end of the chapter, and forward into that which follows it........We may expect too much from our intercourse when we meet, and thus, through the partial disappointment, fail of the comfort and benefit we might otherwise receive. It reminds me of Mr. Newton's remark: 'If, when we meet together, we expect good from one another, and not from God by means of one another, we resemble empty pitchers attempting to fill each other.'-As to myself, I am a poor creature, at best; and it cannot be long that I shall be able to communicate evea counsels, or words of encouragement, to you. You must look above me and all others, to the Lord alone. Trials and temptations must be struggled through by frequent, fervent, wrestling prayer. You must say, Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation. (Psalm lxii, 1, 2, 5-8.) When Mr. Newton left Olney, I seemed to have lost my counsellor: but, carrying my difficul ties immediately to the Lord, I believe I was eventually no loser."

A few months after, he was called again to address his northern correspondent on a melancholy occasion,—the death of a married daughter. He expresses deep sympathy with her, but deeper still with the bereaved husband: yet excuses himself from writing to him. “I always," he says, "look upon the loss of a beloved and suitable wife, as one of the greatest afflictions that can be endured upon earth. Were he therefore ever so nearly related to me, and acquainted personally, I should find more difficulty and incompetency in writing on the subject, than on almost any

other..........Even faith, and prayer for submission, will not produce their full effect, in calming and reconciling the mind, till time, gliding on, has, so to speak, abated the irritation of the painful wound........I am obliged to you for your particular account of your children, as it is suited to direct my prayers for them: but I must not engage in any fresh correspondence........They have the means of grace, &c..........Prayer, connected with occasional converse with them on the concerns of their souls, (not too frequent,) with a general tenor of discourse and conduct impressing their consciences that you deeply mean all you say, are your part. My children generally say, that what I spoke to others, in their presence, on religious subjects, impressed them more, than when I directly, as it were preached to them.-The Lord has been very gracious to you in respect to several of them: while you thank him for them, it will encourage prayer for the others; and at length you may perhaps live to see the last brought home: or you may join with the inhabitants of heaven in rejoicing over the repentance of that one or more, whom you wept and prayed over, as unconverted and impenitent, while you lived on earth. I feel considerable interest in your family and connexions. These seem a plantation in a far country, springing up from seed which I was the instrument of sowing at Weston-Underwood; and which I have since done but little to tend and water. I have great cause for thankfulness in this and very many respects, that God hath made, and is making me, an instrument of good to others. Pray for me, that I may finish course with joy, for I am still a poor, weak, sinful creature."

my

His only surviving sister, Mrs. Webster, was now far advanced in years, and laboring under increased infirmities; which drew from him repeated portions of letters, strongly expressive of sympathy, and adapted to her situation.

"December 8, 1815. It is of little use to retrace the past, except for the purposes of exercising humiliation for what we have done wrong, and gratitude for God's unmerited and numerous mercies: and, amidst all our pains, and sorrows, and infirmities, comparing all the Lord's dealings with us with our own deservings, we must still say, Surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life: and, if we can add, I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, we may well say, It is enough: I have waited for thy salvation O Lord! The apostle, who had his full share of tribulations from every quarter, exhorts the Thessalonians,

no doubt from the feelings of his own heart, Pray without ceasing; in every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. As to the past, except as the effects of it remain, and the account must be given, it has no existence. Like an uneasy night, it is over, and the uneasiness with it. As to the future, it may never arrive, and all our cares and contrivances about it are vain. It is true that we must die, and, at our time of life, and with our many infirmities, it must be ere long: but all the preceding and concurring circumstances are wholly unknown to us, and we ought not, for a moment, to be solicitous about them. What we at present suffer, or enjoy, or hope for, with every alleviation or aggravation of suffering, is all which belongs to us. The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself: sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. The whole is in the hands of Him, who hath loved his people, and redeemed them to God with his blood. He hath the keys of death and the unseen world. Precious in his sight is the death of his saints. May we be numbered among them in glory everlasting! Let us only aim to be ever ready, and give diligence to be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless; and then, when death comes to remove us, we may hope, as it were, to hear the Savior say, It is I, be not afraid."

He

Sentences like these, from one who was then daily walking on the borders of the dark valley, and has since passed through it, acquire a sort of consecrated character. was himself in the circumstances, against which he endeavored to support a beloved sister: and hence what he utters carries with it a force, which the same words from the lips of a mere theorist could never possess.

To the same, January 15, 1817. "I have no special advice to give: and it is only the old over again, to preach patience, meekness, &c. Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. All our comforts, alleviations, and hopes, are mercy: all our sorrows far less than we deserve, Why then should a living man complain? As Mr. Newton used to say, A sinner has no right, and a saint has no reason- for all things are working together for his good. And God has a right to correct us by what rod it pleaseth him. Submission, unreserved submission, is not only the most reasonable thing imaginable, but the most calming, consoling state of mind in this vale of tears; and produces the happiest effects on ourselves and all around us; especially when accompanied with daily.

earnest prayer for those, in particular, whom we regard as most instrumental in occasioning, or causing, our trials...... May God bless you and all your's. As it seems now decided that we shall see each other no more on earth, may we be daily more ready for a joyful meeting, very soon, in heaven!"

In the autumn of 1816, he speaks of having made arrangements for more vigorously prosecuting his Index and Concordance, at the request of the proprietors of his Commentary: and in March 1817, after mentioning his second letter to the Rev. Peter Roe, on religious establishments, (which was noticed above,) he says, "I have finished my new edition of the Remarks. You will, in the concluding sheets, see, that I have undertaken to publish a translation of the Articles of the Synod of Dort, and all that respects them. I scarcely ever read more sound divinity: yet too much is aimed at. I shall annex a few notes and references; and point out what I judge to be right, and what wrong, in. the whole business.-By the way, the Sylloge onfessionum, printed at Oxford, is a book well worth reading throughout."

Three months afterwards he says again: "I hope to form a multifarious and useful pamphlet on the Synod of Dort. I mean to make it a vehicle of my sentiments on a variety of subjects on which I should never otherwise have spoken out." The proposed work was completed in the spring of 1318, and published in a small octavo volume.

The month of November, 1817, will be long remembered, as having inflicted upon the heart of the whole nation a deeper pang of disappointment and regret, by the death of that illustrious princess in whom all our hopes had centered, than was perhaps ever felt on any like occasion. This event claims to be noticed here, not only as having drawn forth another publication from my father's pen,-a funeral sermon entitled, "The Voice of God to Britain,”—but for the fresh discovery which is made of the tenderness of his heart, and his lively interest in the public welfare. I shall transcribe two short extracts of letters on this subject.

"December 1, 1817. Your father preached on the Sunday a very affecting sermon from 1 Pet. i, 22-25; and shed more tears in the pulpit, than ever I saw him do before.... On the Wednesday (the day of the funeral) we had a very crowded congregation, and he preached again, from Micah vi, 9, a sermon which is now in the press.”

December 12, from my sister:-"I never saw my dear father so overwhelmed by any calamity, nor so ready to anticipate evil. His spirits are however now revived in some measure, and he seems gratified by the manner in which the nation at large has received the chastisement.....His sermons on the Sunday after he received the news were the most affecting," (more so than the printed one, preached on the day of the funeral)-"distressingly so indeed. He was so overpowered by his feelings, that it was with the utmost difficulty he proceeded.-They say age chills the affections, but this is not the case with him. He is all tenderness and sympathy-daily, indeed, becoming more like Christ. I sometimes feel alarmed at seeing him ripen so fast for glory. Oh that we might catch some portion of his spirit before he is taken from us!"

The commencement of the year 1818 introduces us to what furnished the principal employment of his remaining days-the preparation of a new edition of his Bible, to be printed in stereotype, and therefore to receive his last corrections and improvements. He thus writes, March 3d: "I have gone through the winter months (which have been remarkably mild,) better than I could have expected. I have had but little fever: one Sunday I was laid by; but I was better in a short time. I am however very infirm, and in almost constant pain, though not acute, in my teeth and elsewhere: yet I am still as fully employed in my study as ever; and am able to preach at my church, I hope not quite in vain......I wish to explain to you what has been done, and is doing, about reprinting the exposition of the Bible. As I was not employed about the last edition, I had no expectation that I should have any more to do with another, and only hoped that my rather corrected copy would be taken to print from. Nor was I aware that a new edition was in present contemplation." He then states that another was proposed, to be brought out in the course of two years and a half; that a young man, long an inmate with him, had been applied to, to conduct it through the press; and that he himself, judging that, "for an edition which should be the standard of the work as long as it may exist, it was highly desirable that he should, as far as life and mental powers were spared, superintend the revisal," he had been induced to undertake this service. "Since this was settled," he proceeds, "the partners have come to a determination to stereotype the work; which certainly is gratifying to me."