" and fearing that he was too great a sinner to be pardoned, yet he had a glimmering hope of salvation. He then told Mr. Witty that on Wednesday evening he had gone out with a determination to cut his throat, and had taken a razor with him for that purpose. So great was his horror of mind, that he wished to be in hell, that he might know the extent of the misery which he expected, ere long, to realize. On the Sunday morning, he said to his wife, on returning from St. John's Chapel, "I feel much more comfortable, but I have not received much food this morning." In the evening he was at chapel again, and when he got home, said, "I am so happy; I have fared sumptuously to-night; the sermon must have been made for me.' He then said to his wife, "I will now have my supper, and go to bed." Before he went to bed, however, he desired his wife to join in singing the hymns which had been sung that evening at St. John's. After this, he asked her to unite with him in prayer. He then knelt down, and after praying some time for himself and his wife, he said, in the most importunate and energetic manner, "O Lord God, bless Mr. bless Mrs. (one of the District Visitors), bless St. John's, and bless the District Visiting Society." He then got into bed, when a succession of fits came on, and in a few hours he peacefully breathed his last, without uttering another word. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. this a brand plucked out of the fire? Is not this a sinner saved at the eleventh hour? and does it not add another to the many who have been saved through the means of District Visitors, and afford additional proof of the blessed results of District Visiting Societies? Is not VARIOUS RECOLLECTIONS. I'll tell them of thy mercy's store, JOSHUA and Caleb, when returned from their search of the earthly Canaan, testified to the people, "The land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us." They had seen that land, and therefore they could speak; they had beheld its beauty, they had tasted of its fruits. And O, could one ransomed spirit now casting the crown at the feet of the Redeemer, leave that blessed place, and come among us, how glowing would be the description we should then have of heaven. The description given by Joshua and Caleb, "The land is an exceeding good land," even the emphatic original, “A good land, very, very!" would be faint and cold. It is dearly purchased, but it is freely given glory. Oh, to get safely to that land ourselves, and to help others on the way, this indeed is blessedness. Yet, after all that has been done for the poor, I believe many persons are little aware of the deplorable ignorance remaining. I am going to mention one instance, in the hope of impressing on myself as well as on others, the lesson to work while it is called to-day. In one of the steep lanes leading from the hill to the river's side, is a cottage; on entering the door of which I saw a poor woman, more than eighty years of age, kneeling by the bedside, and attempting to pray. She was very deaf; and from her answers to such inquiries as I was able to make her hear, it seemed that she who had lived in a Christian country for eighty years, did not know the name of Jesus. She did not know when asked who died for sinners; and when, after having told her, I inquired, "Now what did Jesus Christ do for sinners?" "I don't know,” she answered. "Did he die for them?" "Yes." "Who was it, then," I said, "who died for sinners ?" "God knows," she answered, "I cannot tell." Yet she knelt before God in prayer; and, it may be, she was one of those to whom it might be said, "Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." Her age This case reminds me of poor Joanna Mand great infirmities often caused her to answer with much apparent ignorance; and yet there is great hope that, in reality, she knew and felt the two transcendently important truths, that she was a great sinner, and Christ a great Saviour. If the account of Joanna's age had been remembered correctly from year to year, she sojourned on earth one hundred and six years. Her appearance gave no room to doubt this account of her age; she looked like a link between the living and the dead. For two years before she died, she was confined to her bed; but until that period she had been in the habit of walking a considerable distance-from her own dwelling to the vicarage-house, where she found a kind welcome. She was rather deaf, but with this exception, her senses were continued to her. Her house was a miserable hovel, indeed; it consisted of only one apartment, the door opening immediately at the head of her bed. She had twice become a widow; what her first name was, I never heard, and have heard it had escaped her memory. Some things, however, she knew-things that men cannot teach-things that accompany salvation. Doubtless she was "converted from dead works to serve the living God;" but at what period her conversion took place, I cannot tell. I saw her once look round her habitation, every object in which bespoke deep poverty, and with tears starting from her eyes, she exclaimed, "How great is the goodness of the Lord! I want to praise him more.' When some dear companions and myself took leave of her, she left the side of the bed on which she had been sitting, and followed us to the cottage door; one of my companions begged her to go back, and lie down. "I will," she said, "when you are gone, when I can see you no more." Very frequent were her humiliating expressions of her own worthlessness. She declared herself to be a sinner, and trusted to the mercy of God in Christ. Once, when the conversation was concerning the all-atoning blood of Jesus, she exclaimed, with simplicity and earnestness, "Ah! that's the talk I want to hear;" and praised the goodness of God in sending some one to say a word of comfort to her. She felt great pleasure in having some one to pray with her; and till the time of her being confined to her bed, always knelt, though it was with much difficulty; she evidently joined in the petitions offered; and when the Lord's Prayer was repeated, she uttered it loud, always saying with great emphasis, "Deliver us from all evil." She was often enabled to express a firm hope of heaven, through the Lord Jesus: though, at times, she felt a remaining dread of the last enemy. About a year and a half before she died, I told her what then seemed highly probable, that I did not think she would have long to suffer: her answer showed a child-like submission and confidence. "O we must not call it suffering; it is all in good part from God." This poor patient sufferer did not receive from her relations the kindness and attention they ought to have shown her. Once she complained feelingly on this account, and used this strong expression, "They have not a spark of good ness in them." She was reminded that none of us have any goodness of our own; and she answered instantly, "We must have God Almighty's goodness." This was a striking manner of expressing her knowledge of the blessed doctrine of imputed righteousness;-she felt that which she could not have explained. For many months before her death, she was in a state of second childhood; it was humiliating to see a fellow-creature reduced so low. Her memory was so impaired that she could scarcely remember the most important truths from one minute to another: at least, she could not remember them so as to express them. I have shuddered when she could not answer this question, "What has Jesus done for sinners?" And when I have said, "He died for us;" she exclaimed with great surprise, "Did he?" To this constantly-repeated question, “What has Jesus done for us?" her usual answer was, "You have told me often, but I forget." Once, however, after she was reduced to this awful state of mental weakness, I asked, but fearing lest she should not be able to answer, "In whom do you put your trust?" and had the satisfaction of hearing her answer immediately and distinctly, "I put all my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ." And now it is over. All her doubts are at an end; all her ignorance is removed; her darkness is become light. She scarcely spoke during the last day of her life, but she was sensible to the last. A friend having prayed with her, she said, "Pray again." The last words she was heard to say, were Come," three times repeated. A short time before sher death, she was requested, if she was happy, but could not speak, to lift up her hand, which she did triumphantly: she #felt the blessedness prayed for in this beautiful verse,— 66 While I draw this fleeting breath, Let me hide myself in Thee. In a few days, her corpse was laid in a humble grave, close to the western entrance of the church. No stone will cover that mound; no inscription mark where she is laid; but she will, doubtless, be among the first who shall arise. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." This is honour and distinction enough. Those who have the same hope as she had, could indeed, as they stood by her grave, say with sincerity, "We give thee hearty thanks for that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our sister out of the miseries of this sinful world." On a rising ground, commanding a view of the distant city, and some beautiful woods, stands a little dwelling; one of its poor inhabitants was an old man, who loved to see the foot of a Christian friend cross the threshold, and loved to hear the Gospel record, that "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." He did not know whether he had ever been baptized, and said one day, that if the register of his baptism could not be found, though he was an “old man, more than eighty, and gray headed," he would come and be baptized. It was affecting to see this aged man, with a tall commanding figure, and a countenance on which time and labour had left deep traces, weep like a child, when he heard of Him who saves to the very uttermost. I well remember the impression made on me by his saying, in allusion to his loss of sight, "The left eye is quite gone; the right is going, and I am going too. I am going," and he pointed upward, "to the Judge of quick and dead." With tears he added, “A great change must take place, and it must all be done hereI must be born again." When he was spoken to of Jesus, he said, "Often when I am on my knees, I see him before me, nailed to the cross with his arms stretched out. O, they used him very ill, when his blood streamed down-but he is safe above now; he is gone to prepare a place above for you and me, I hope." He freely acknowledged the sins of former years, and solemnly added, "But I must come out and be separate." At another time, he said, “O, if the Lord take me to heaven, what a sinner will be there! What a sinner I have been upon earth! The Lord fix it on my heart, and help me to cry for mercy, mercy, mercy!" Again, he said, "I must be made clean; I want to be separated from my soul. cleanse me in his blood that flowed on Calvary. Jesus will not cast me out." The Lord His strength declined gradually. A short time before his death, he desired that his son would come to him, and said with solemnity and composure, "I shall die to-night." The last words he uttered were, "My Jesus, my Jesus," looking upward. |