my doom was about to be sealed. I listened very attentively to hear him describe the vulture; and when he had finished, I said in my mind, I am not a vulture; I am too great a fool to be that; for, as to head knowledge, I have none. Then I listened to hear what he would say on the wayfaring man. O what a blessed time I had! He described my pathway so clearly, that my chains fell off; and O, what a love I felt for that dear man! When I came out of the chapel, a young person said to me, 'You have got a blessing, for I saw your countenance beaming with joy; but soon after you came in I thought you were going to have a fit, you shook, and looked so ill.' I said, "The Lord has blessed the ministry to my soul.' I got away as soon as I could, to be alone, for I wanted no other company. I felt as the Spouse in the Canticles, 'I charge you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my Beloved, till he please.' What sweet communion I had with the Lord all the way home; and for a long time the sweet savor abode with me. How I begged the Lord he would prolong the life of that dear man, for his own glory and his people's good. Though I have never spoken to him, he has been in my heart ever since, and I know that I shall die with him there, and shall meet him in heaven. Another time I heard him from 2 Cor. iii., respecting the glory of the two covenants, but the new covenant excelled in glory. I had been led into the majesty of the Lord under the law in a most tremendous manner. If I viewed the works of creation, I felt his awful majesty. When I looked up to the sun and moon, and contemplated what that Being must be who made these glorious orbs, and that I had sinned against him, such fears seized me, I sometimes thought the earth would open and swallow me up. "When I view the heavens, the work of thine hands, Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?' I followed Mr. P. when he spoke of the first covenant, but when he came to the glory that excelleth, O what a union of soul I felt to him! I prayed to the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth many such laborers into his harvest."

Knee's path was a conflicting one throughout. At one time, seeing him in such great agony, I suggested, that as he could not rest himself by lying on his back, there should be a contrivance for him to lie forward, and one or two other things I proposed, to all of which he said, "No, it would hasten his death; and as he knew that to be the case, it would be self-murder. I do not know what the Lord is about to do with me," he said, "I am afraid of myself." I believe he had great soul conflict at that time. I said, "Think it not strange that you are so afflicted, for we read in the word of God, that some of the most eminent of the saints of old were sorely afflicted. What must Job have felt, when he said, "Am I a sea or a whale?" "Yes," he said, and again, "They were sawn asunder.”

I think it was the next day I called on him, and told him I had a sermon of Mr. P.'s, on Heb. iv. 4, 15: “For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He wished me to read it. He told me afterwards that the text and

several parts of the sermon occurred to his mind during the night, and it was comforting to him, and another portion with it, (vii. 7, 26): "For such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners."

He related another instance of the matchless love of God towards him. He said, "The happiest time I ever experienced, was during the life of my first wife. We could walk together in divine things. The Lord was pleased to take her. I remember coming home full of the goodness of God, after hearing Mr. P. preach," (he spoke of four sermons he heard from Mr. P., three at Allington, and one in Devizes, under each of which he could read his title clear to mansions in the skies. I do not know to which he referred at this time,) "when I forgot I had a wife lying dead at home; but the moment I put the key in, to unlock the door, the stench of death came into my nostrils (natural death, I suppose he meant). Hard thoughts of God possessed my mind, and I remained a long time in a rebellious state. 'The rebellious shall dwell in a dry land.' But when I came to myself, I felt I had sinned against so much goodness, and the enemy suggested that I had sinned against the Holy Ghost. I begged, I entreated of the Lord, if he could have mercy on one so vile, he would show it me. I said, 'Lord, if there is one of thy dear children who has sinned as I have, and it be recorded in thy book, show it me.' The words came, 'Call me not Naomi, call me Mara,for the Lord hath dealt bitterly with me.' blessedly I did walk with that dear old woman "Naomi."

O how

It was truly blessed to hear him recount the many bedewings of the love of God to his soul during his thirty years' sojourn in the land that led to rest. I have tried to restrain him from talking so much, for fear he would feel ill effects from it; but while the oil ran, he felt constrained to let it flow. He called to remembrance an event that occurred many years since, which I must not pass by. His work lay several streets from his dwelling, and as his breath was bad, instead of going home, he used to take his dinner to a room occupied by the late John Pearce, a gracious man; and whilst at dinner they used to converse on heavenly things. He one day said, "John, I fear I am a trouble to you coming here so often." John replied, "It would be more trouble to me if you stayed away."

Walking one day," said Knee, "this portion darted into my mind, Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is my strength.' I said, 'Lord, do not I trust in thee? Lord, if I do not trust in thee aright, teach me how to trust thee.' I called on John and asked him to look into his Concordance, (for I believed it to be scripture,) and told him my fears. John found it in Isaiah. He said he did not view it in the light that I did; and did not think it a reproof. I said, 'What do you think of it? The word of God,' he said, 'is deep and mysterious, and we cannot understand it till revealed, but in time the meaning may be known.' The next day I took a walk with him. On our return, I was taken very ill, and with difficulty reached home. My wife hastened to get me some warm tea; but as soon as I had drunk it, I broke a blood

vessel, and threw up a quantity of blood. The doctor came, and I was put to bed in an exhausted state. John remained with me all night. I was dreadfully dark in mind, looking up to the Lord, but could not get a ray of light. A deathlike feeling came over me, and I did not know but that I was about to be launched into eternity. I thought I would give a last look towards the Lord, when the words came again, 'Trust in the Lord for ever,' &c. I gave John a look.. He came to me, and put his ear to my mouth. I said, 'Trust in the Lord;' John finished the sentence, and burst into tears."

At another time he was very much cast down; the consolations of the Lord were withdrawn, and he was bemoaning his desolate state, when these words, he said, came with power, "O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me." I said, "Lord, if that be scripture, help

me to find it.'

At another time he said, "I have been in company with that good old woman again (Naomi.) It strikes me that she had not a, "Thus saith the Lord" for moving into that heathen country. A famine being in her own land, she, as well as her husband, was mistrustful of the providence of God, left her own people and sought worldly advantage; but she was disappointed in the thing she sought. See what befel her. She lost her husband and her two sons, and was compelled to return again to her own land with this lamentation, "I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home empty again. Why then call ye me Naomi?" Knee said a great deal more upon the subject, but I cannot remember it.

A lady once sent him some beef tea. "It was very kind of her," he said; "but, you cannot think how my mind was exercised about it. I thought, now she will be coming to read her prayers to me; for I understand she is a mighty zealous woman in her church way. I fear she will be wanting me to sell my birthright for a mess of pottage."

and one from

I called on him the second day after he had received two half sovereigns from two friends, when he said, "a marvellous thing has occurred since you were here last. I have received two half sovereigns; one from To think that their hearts, who live at such a distance, should be open to such a vile creature! O how it broke my heart to think how mistrustful I had been of the providence of God!"

-.

Knee could not seem to lay himself low enough, nor exalt the Lord high enough. "I was asked," he said, "what portion I should like for my funeral text. I do not want anything said in commendation of myself (or words to that import.) I was born a sinner, I have lived a sinner, and I shall die a sinner. The most appropriate text for me would be, 'And as he was yet a coming the devil threw him down and tore him;' for that is as I have always found it."

August 28th. After a dreadful night of suffering, and great darkness of mind, "my head was so affected," he said, "I could have no conception of the Deity. I said in the morning, Lord, dost

My

thou intend that I shall go down to the grave in this state? boy brought me a cup of warm tea; I took it in my hand, and these words came, "Since thou wast precious unto me, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee." That was enough, I put down my cup of tea, and said, "What I, Lord? Such a wretch as I honorable!" I soon saw where my honor lay; it was in the dear Redeemer. At another time he said, "My prayers are very short now, they are chiefly 'Mercy, Lord, mercy!""

30th. He said, "I do not live much now by sense and feeling, but I live by promised love and covenant grace. I was thinking how it would be with me in the Jordan of death, and it struck me

'Here at thy cross my dying God,

I lay my soul beneath thy love;
Beneath the droppings of thy blood,
Jesus, nor shall it e'er remove." "

Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, was the last time I saw him living. I took him in a florin which was given me for him by a friend. He said, "May the Lord return it fifty-fold to my friends, both in spirituals and in temporals. This is my prayer. Temporal things are good; but I want light, life, and liberty, and an expansion of soul."

On the following Thursday morning, a little after 10 o'clock, he finished his course. He was not aware that his end was so near till within a few minutes of the time. Spasms seized him in the back, then in the arm, and lastly in the chest. He said, "It will soon be over;" and fell asleep, aged 61.

He joined the Old Baptist Church, Devizes, about the year 1828, and was baptized by Mr. Dymott, of Hilperton. Mr. D. had some conversation with him the night previous to his baptism; and said of him, that “he had witnessed a good confession." He was reading to himself from the Gospel of Matthew, "Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water;" and he said to his wife, "Jesus was a Baptist!" I believe that was the first time he thought about the ordinance of baptism.

Devizes, Sept. 13th, 1856.

E. B.

Afflictions take us out of company; they gather our thoughts home; they serve to turn our eyes inward; they bring the child of God to books; they cast a damp upon earthly enjoyments, and wean the affections from a vain world; they lead to self examination and to consider the one thing needful; and they often humble the mind, meeken the spirit, encourage faith, awaken fear, and perfume the soul, and make it more unctuous and savory; they lead to watchfulness on the handy works of God, and to thankfulness where his goodness appears.—Huntington.

WE regret that the length of our Annual Address in the present Number has compelled us again to defer the continuation of the Review of "Calvin's Calvinism" as well as Answers to "Inquiries;" but we hope D.V. to attend to these matters next month.-ÉD.

POETRY.

"AGNUS DEI. LAMB OF GOD.".

With believing eyes methinks I see
A spotless Lamb hang on a tree,
All rent and torn with agony.
I too can hear that piercing cry,
"My God! my God! O why, O why,
Hast thou forsaken me?"

And thus I see him bleed and die.

I hear him, 'midst his cruel woes,
With humble spirit pray for those
His bitter and most cruel foes;
To whom, while they their victim slew,
His parting soul no hatred knew.

"Twas, "Father, them forgive,
For, O! they know not what they do."
But whilst this mighty Victim bled,
(Glory and honor crown his head!)
The Sinless in the sinner's stead,
A malefactor doom'd to die,
Whose crimes had lifted him on high,
Sin smitten, thus was heard
To supplicate with mournful cry:

"Remember, O remember me,
A sinner vile as vile can be,

When thou thy kingdom com'st to see!"
At once the Lamb of God replies,
In answer to his dying cries,

"To day thy soul shall be
With me in yonder Paradise!"

O wounded Lamb of God, I see
'Midst all thy grief thy blood flow'd free,
To cancel man's high penalty!

"Blot out my sins," O Lamb of God,
And wash them in that purple flood;

"This brand pluck from the fire!"
And quench it with thy dying blood.

S. W. K.

I have observed that some men are as afraid of a broken heart, or that they for their sins should have their hearts broken, as the dog is of the whip. Oh! they cannot do with such books, with such sermons, with such preachers, or with such talk, as tends to make a man sensible of, and to break his heart, and to make him contrite for his sins. Hence they heap to themselves such teachers, get such books, love such company, and delight in such discourse as rather tends to harden than soften; to make desperate in, than sorrowful for their sins. They say to such sermons, books, and preachers as Amaziah said to Amos: "O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophecy there, but prophecy not again any more at Bethel, &c.-Bunyan.