a dreary and tempestuous night, the rising sun breaks forth in glorious majesty, chasing away the darkness, dispersing the clouds, and cheering the heart of the mariner by the discovery of the wished-for port; so arose in cloudless splendour the "Sun of Righteousness," dispersing all her fears, and filling her soul with unutterable serenity, and ineffable delight. By faith she beheld the dazzling glories of the celestial city; and then in rapturous ecstasy exclaimed, as in the language of the poet :—

"I long to behold Him array'd

With glory and light from above;
The King in his beauty display'd,
His beauty of holiest love:

I languish and sigh to be there,

Where Jesus hath fix'd his abode :
O when shall we meet in the air,

And fly to the mountain of God !"

It now became evident that the period of her departure was near at hand. Her countenance already beamed with the glory of an inward heaven, while her spirit triumphed in the assurance that very soon she should

"Range the sweet plains on the banks of the river,
And sing of salvation for ever and ever."

In this happy frame of mind she continued,

till on Sunday, June 22d, 1828, her purified spirit was admitted into the company of those who have "washed their robes, and made them

white in the blood of the Lamb."

On the following Sabbath, the solemn occasion of her death was improved in a sermon preached by the Rev. Benjamin (now Doctor) Andrews, from Revelations ii. 10, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

141

MISS EMMA BROWN.

"When sorrows wept, she dried the falling tears,
And kindly soothed the grief she could not heal;
Strove to allay the agonizing fears,

Nor heard unheeded misery's appeal."

HERRING.

MISS EMMA BROWN was descended from parents, who moved in a respectable sphere of life; her father having been, for many years, a Magistrate in the city of Salisbury, where she was born, and where she spent the greatest part of her life.

Her juvenile years were passed, without being marked with any particular circumstance to attract observation. As she grew up in life, she invariably evinced a ready obedience to the claims of parental authority; and unceasingly studied to promote the happiness of all her connexions. Her family were devout admirers of those forms of religion which distinguish the Establishment of this country; hence she naturally imbibed a very strong attachment to the

views and opinions, in matters of religion, which she was accustomed to see exemplified among her friends; and which she was taught to consider of the utmost importance, in order to please God.

That attention to religious ceremonies, and those modes of religious worship, in which we have been nurtured,—and which we may have been instructed to regard as the most important, if not the only necessary, means of salvation,-are not easily laid aside. The mind, having been regularly disciplined, by an unvarying routine of moral duties, assumes, by degrees, an attitude of ease and security; and looks with jealous eye upon whatever attempts to sound the unregenerate heart; unless it be attended with all those accompaniments, which, in its estimation, longestablished usage has rendered sacred. Nor is it easy, wholly to lay aside prejudice in this affair, than which, nothing can be more detrimental to our honest enquiries after truth.

It was prejudice that hurried on the wicked Jews, mad with zeal for ancient usages, to crucify their Lord; because they were thwarted in their expectations of his assuming worldly pomp and magnificence, in order to vindicate and support their legal ceremonies.-He meekly endeavoured to lead their minds from those shadows, to the

heart-felt enjoyments of gospel blessings, by declaring, "Blessed are ye poor; for YOURS is the kingdom of God." Or, as the Apostle has more largely shewn, "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." And since that period, whilst bloody sacrifices have been presented at the shrine of prejudice, what wars and contentions has it occasioned ! What animosities and divisions in families and among friends! Ought these things so to be? Do the scriptures of truth inculcate such a doctrine? When will the various sections of the Christian church exhibit the spirit which glowed in the bosom of the blessed Jesus, when he discountenanced a narrow mind in his disciples? On that memorable occasion John said, "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us, and we forbade him; because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not," &c.

But while the extreme consequences of such an intolerant spirit are to be deeply deplored, countenance is not to be given to that rage for change into which too many fall. These, in order to avoid one extreme, run into another; which frequently unsettles religious principles for ever, and reduces the individual into a species of religious weathercock. The conduct of