of death. If I spoke to him of his sins, "they were too great to be pardoned;" if I spoke of mercy, "there could be none for him;" if I told him of the hope laid up for the worst of sinners in the Saviour, and of the glories of heaven which might yet be his, his exclamation was, "that he could not believe," that the "pains of hell had already seized him." Anxious as he had been to see me, and unwilling that I should quit him, yet, strange to say, he would not suffer me to pray. And even when I breathed forth a few brief ejaculations for mercy as I stood over him, they were often mingled with his own execrations and blasphemies. Such was the general result of repeated visits during the five days which he lingered; and, with the exception of repeated professions that if he could live over again he would sell no more cursed gin, the only language which fell from his lips. was a mixture of remorse, and despair, and blasphemy, and frightful levity. He is gone; and his account will be rendered to Him who judgeth righteous judgment.

It is only necessary for me to add that the individual alluded to was in perfect possession of his intellects to the very last. His medical man assured me, that so robust was his natural constitution, that had it not been for the habit of drinking spirits (latterly to the extent of a quart of brandy per day), he never saw a frame more calculated for longevity.

THE CONTRAST, OR THE DEATH OF JOHN J***, A SCOTCH PEASANT*.

FROM Various little circumstances which he mentioned to me, I have reason to believe that his mind had been brought under the influence of Christianity in early life. He told me, indeed," he did not remember the time when he was without the fear of God." How far it was allowed its just and practical influence upon him through life, I am not able to determine. I remember one or two little incidents of his early life, which he repeated to me, and which, if they exhibit the deficient power of right and conscientious principle, serve at the same time to evince the presence and operation of grace in his soul. On one occasion, he broke through a garden hedge to steal gooseberries, but ere he had completed his transgression, conscience resumed its power,

• Communicated by his Pastor.

and he drew back his hand already stretched out to the tempting bush. His own words were, "Restraining grace held my hand, and I went back the way I came without touching a berry."

Another instance of the sins of his youth I may mention, for the sake of showing how unhappy he was in sinning. A companion of his being about to leave the parish on the Lord's-day, he was prevailed on to accompany him into an inn by the way-side to take a parting glass. He had no sooner yielded to solicitation, however, than he was filled with remorse and shame. "I could not look the people in the face whom I met going to church, I was so ashamed," said he; and from that day to the last hour of his life, he steadily avoided all such profanation of the Lord's day. It is, alas! but too evident, that in our day such conduct is not so feared or shunned by multitudes of both sexes. The suburbs of our cities are thronged with young people, who spend great part of their Sabbaths in the taverns, and who meet the returning worshippers unabashed. Alas! their steps take hold on hell. They stand on the brink of a steep and dangerous descent, and are ready to fall into deepest ruin. O that they had more of that tender watchful conscience which would give them no rest until they were recovered out of the snare of the devil. O that they had more of that resolved purpose, which would embolden them to say to all who would seduce them to such profanation of the holy Sabbath,-" Depart from me, ye wicked men, for I will keep the commandments of God."

While it appears from the incidents just mentioned, that this man feared the Lord from his youth, I am disposed to think, that his years of trouble, the last four years of his earthly life, were the season of his most signal progress in the life of grace. During this time he was relieved from labour-his sole occupation was reading the Scriptures, and storing his mind with their precious truths; and indeed I have seldom seen a man, who might with so much truth have adopted the words of the Psalmist, "O how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day." When he began to speak on this theme, it was as the letting out of water. allusion to a Scripture text often gave occasion to the repetition of an entire chapter, with a propriety, and pathos, and unction which only a deep experimental sense of its

An

meaning and preciousness could produce. And indeed, there was a consistency and a finish about his simple character, which showed that the Gospel had come to him not in word only, but in power, and that his whole man was cast into and formed upon its pure and elevating truths.

During his last illness, he exhibited a fine instance of the triumph of faith over the severities of bodily pain, and the terrors of approaching death. Though he suffered much, there did not one word of complaining escape him. On one occasion, his wife said to him, "You seem to suffer greatly;" he replied, "But I suffer not from the hand of man; when I suffer much, much comfort comes on the back of it, for the hand of my Friend in heaven is laid upon me, and straikes strokes) my wounds." In speaking to me of his losses and afflictions in his family, he at once appeared to lose sight and feeling of them; and with tremendous, yet triumphant accents, exclaimed, "Children die-friends die-comforts die-I die; but the Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted." Speaking to me of his poverty, I said to him, "You, John, know what this means; I know thy poverty, but thou art rich."—" Yes," said he, "and it is all through Him, who, though rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be rich." Speaking of his prospects, he assumed the language of the apostle, "I know that when the earthly house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, I have a building of God, eternal in the heavens ;" and as if catching the spirit of triumph from the expression of his confidence, he proceeded to give utterance to it in these other words of Paul, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave where is thy victory!" I asked him if he used this language to express his own experience, he said, “he did."—" Like Paul, then, you must be willing to depart ?"-"Yes, Sir, to tell you my mind, I am at this moment more willing to depart and leave the world, than I was ever willing or anxious about anything in the world; for, blessed be His name, He has reconciled himself to me as my Saviour and my friend, and why should I desire to linger here?" This blessed confidence was not the feeling of a moment, strong when death seemed distant, feeble when it drew near. It was the unshaken, and almost uninterrupted state of his mind. One morning when I asked him how he felt, he answered, "I am wading among

thorns and briers; but there is light above, and soon shall I see face to face, and shall behold His glory." But though he had an hour of conflict, he had not one moment of distrust or terror. Even in the depth of his trouble he held fast his confidence and hope. While he lay in this state of assured confidence and joyful hope, the gable of his house fell down, and threw the family into great consternation. Notwithstanding his great nervous debility, he felt no disquiet nor alarm. "We need na fear," said he to his wife, who was much flurried by the accident,- we need na fear, we are under the shadow of the Ye hae strong confidence, John," said she. 'Na, Mally," said he, "I hae a stronger tower." It is not easy to find, as it appears to me, a more beautiful specimen of the self-renouncing spirit of the Christian than this language manifests. It is as if he had said, Don't admire my fortitude; consider rather who sustains and protects us, and wonder rather it is not greater both in you and me. In this state of mind he continued to the end. "How poor would I be to-day," said he, on one of the last days of his life, "without Christ. Blessed be He who has revealed his glorious Gospel to me." I shall not soon forget the last articulate words I heard him speak. On my asking him once again the ground of his hope for eternity, he summoned up his little remaining strength to a last effort, and his voice swelling into animation and pathos, which gave a character of sublime and most melting eloquence to his words, he replied, "Christ is my hope,. I have no righteousness of my own; blessed be He, for the fountain opened in his blood. On Him I depend for my salvation. Through Him I look for justification at the Father's judgment-seat. From Him I trust to have a place among the spirits of the just in the New Jerusalem, where I shall sing for ever and for ever the new song, 'Worthy is the lamb that was slain, to receive honour and blessing, and glory and praise.""

On the morning of this day, as his wife informed me, he had asked the day of the week. On his being told it was Friday, he said, "Then I hae now but two days and little more to suffer, before I shall be at rest." It fell out according to his presentiment. On the evening of the Sabbath, John entered into rest. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."

[The Scottish Christian Guardian.]

GROWTH IN GRACE.

GROWTH in grace manifests itself by a simplicity, that is, a greater naturalness of character. There will be more usefulness, and less noise; more tenderness of conscience, and less scrupulosity; there will be more peace, more humility. When the full corn is in the ear, it bends down because it is full.-CECIL.

A VISITOR'S ENCOURAGEMENT TO

PERSEVERANCE.

OUR Saviour bids us "to pray always, and not to faint;" but we (too forgetful of His commands) become fainthearted at the slightest difficulties, and neglect to be instant in that prayer, which overrules such difficulties, by bringing down a blessing from on high. Never did I more deeply feel my sinfulness in this respect, and my want of faith, than in the sequel of the history of a poor woman in my district. I visited Mary * * * for about three years; during which period, her husband, who was a carpenter, became more and more a victim to drunkenness, and to the train of evils which necessarily accompany such a course. She was herself very sober, clean, and industrious; in the depths of the greatest poverty her room was always in order, and herself and children very tidy. She was likewise so just and honest, that the little sums given her for needlework she immediately divided with her landlady, to defray as far as she able the debt for rent; while the other half was scarcely a day's supply of bread and firing for her young family. This interesting fact was related by the landlady herself. One single shilling was often thus shared; the remaining sixpence being laid out in-2d. for coals, and a half quartern loaf. It was indeed sad, that such excellent qualities should be devoid of the grand vital principle of action-religion, and consequently of that solid consolation to herself, which pious feelings and Gospel truths are able so richly to bestow. Trial succeeded trial, and privations increased; but they all failed to lead her to the great source of peace and joy, or to raise her fading earthly hopes of happiness to the sure glories of heaven. No solicitations could prevail upon her to attend public worship. She considered her shabby dress