Christian Life and happy Death.

the reflection on his mercies is my sole and unspeakable comfort; and in his love I already taste something of the bliss I expect. Influenced by that love, and by a sincere (though, alas! most weak) faith in him, I have laboured most diligently to act in conformity to his will; and though conscious of a thousand and ten thousand infirmities, though in my best services utterly unprofitable, though in all less than the least of his mercies, yet I have an unshaken confidence in his all-sufficient merits, and fully relying upon them, I commit my soul to him, with all the satisfaction and serenity of calm and well-grounded hope. He is a rock that can never fail us: the cross of Christ promises the sinner every thing which Repentance can presume to ask."

Much more passed between us; some things far too tender to be committed to paper; and it will not be any wonder to the serious reader to be told, that a sickness of some weeks was borne by a man of such faith, with all the cheerful resignation and consummate patience which are peculiar to the true Christian.-Nothing would be more instructive, perhaps, than many of the discourses which he held with his friends, during

Christian Life and happy Death.

the scene of trial.-A few hours before he died, he took a solemn leave of his wife and children, to whom he had delivered at large his dying advice and perfectly sensible of his approaching dissolution, some minutes before he expired he was heard to say, "Oh Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of Death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.-But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And, having said this, he fell asleep, with a composure perfectly lovely, with a peace infinitely desirable.

Love of our Offspring.

CHAPTER IV.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows.

MATTHEW, X. 29, &c.

Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive,

and let thy widows trust in me.

JEREMIAH, XLIX. 11.

Few passions are more strongly implanted in the human mind, than the love of our offspring; to be devoid of which degrades the human far beneath the irrational creature; through every species of which the wonderful influence of parental instinct is discernible. The wisdom of the great Creator is immediately obvious in this gracious

Love of our Offspring..

provision for the helpless young; and it is certain that his powerful affection in the human species may be rendered productive of the most excellent effects.

Too commonly, indeed, it is grossly abused; and the honourable claim of parental regard is made the pretence for an unworthy and mean attachment to the pursuits of the world, and the love of this life. Many men cheat themselves under this specious delusion; and while they conceive that the spring of their actions, and the cause of their singular attention to earthly desires, is the laudable purpose of providing for their families; they are, the mean while, but following the bent of their own inclinations, and treading in a track which they would continue to tread were they not influenced at all by the motive which they fancy engages them in it. Frequent experience hath manifested this; but it was never seen more evidently, perhaps, than in the case of AVARO, who lived only for his children, as he constantly avowed, and on that account denied himself every reasonable gratification ; when, as if it were to falsify those pretences, as well as to awaken him, if possible, to a more ra

Love of our Offspring.

tional conduct, the Sovereign of Heaven deprived him of his children in a short compass of time; and lo, he remains the same groveling earthworm, though he hath none to share that inheritance, which he purchases at the price of his soul.

If any truth be fully revealed in the sacred oracles, if any hath the sanction of the soundest reason, it is the belief of a wise, good, and superintending providence, of an universal Father, who tenderly watches over, and graciously cares for the concerns of those beings whom himself hath created and placed in their several stations upon earth a truth of an aspect the most benign, and of an influence the most important to all the affairs of men: to forget and disregard which leads to all the folly of self-seeking, all the madness of self-dependence, all the bitter anxiety of self-corroding care: to remember, and live under the constant persuasion of which, induces all the sweetness of a serene conscience, all the fortitude of a resigned soul, all the comfort of an unshaken hope.

And to this, were we to judge by the rules of right reason or religion, that parental affection,