holy piety; and what more calculated to disenchant the young imagination, and to disencumber it of those false estimates which it forms of human grandeur, than to see the “vain shew" of mere outward things, the tinsel and the gewgaws of a throne, or the scanty limits of that great theatre of wondrous acts-the House of Commons! Here, if any where, it is obvious, that "mind-mind alone" contains the living fountain of all intellectual grandeur; that the soul alone is the true seat of all moral splendor: and if Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed "like a lily of the field," what is mere earthly magnificence, or all the pomp and pride of life, in comparison with the simplest production that springs from the creative hand of God! From such a scene also, where we are naturally led to reflect on the various gradations of rank in society, which in the wisdom and beautiful arrangement of God constitute the order of this world, and consider that not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called to any higher inheritance, the humble become satisfied with their lot, and rejoice that they do not occupy the slippery places of the earth. It also raises the thoughts to that celestial hierarchy of thrones, princedoms, and dominions, which constitute the order of heaven ;-above all to Him who sitteth upon a throne high and lifted up, whose train filleth the temple! To the glories therefore of that upper sanctuary may we all aspire; and as on earth those who are the objects of a nation's adulation are they who excel in wisdom, in counsel, in arts, or in arms, so in heaven they who are supreme in meekness, in purity, in lowliness of heart: they who are poor in spirit, the persecuted, the peacemakers, for them is reserved a rank amid the blessed, higher than all the princes of the earth can confer, for their's is the kingdom of heaven. They shall see God; they shall behold the glory of one greater than Solomon; they shall be called the children of God; yea, they shall be kings and priests unto God, and shall for ever abide in his presence. If, then, my beloved readers, any of you are among the weak things of the world, or the base things of the world, or the things that are despised, mourn not; a career of glory is open before you, in which none ever failed of success who sought it with full purpose of heart. Seek then the kingdom

of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you; for then shall ye be sons of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.”

REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF CONVERSION,

M. G.

(Effected instrumentally by the Scriptures) exemplified in the tate M. I. L. Monod, of Nyon, in Switzerland, who died April 12, 1825, aged 27.

(Extracted from the 12th Annual Report of the American Bible Society.) "ESTIMABLE for a disinterested character and irreproachable manners, he lived in the bosom of a respectable family, who ardently desired that he should partake the sentiments which influenced their minds. During an illness of six years, he resisted the solicitations of his friends and the zeal of ministers, who endeavored to destroy the fatal impressions made on him by the study of merely worldly knowledge, and the reading of philosophical works opposed to evangelical opinions. What they were unable to effect was accomplished in a few days, by the reading of the word of God. In the last month of his life, he still denied the necessity of a Saviour, as incompatible with the moral state of his soul and the perfections of his God. His sister had, when alone with him, made another attempt, in the last progress of his disease, to persuade him to seek the intercession of the Saviour, and to meditate on the holiness of his life and the love of his sacrifice. "Dost thou not believe on him?" said she, with a tender solicitude. "No, I do not believe in him," replied he, almost suffocated th sighs. "I know that I must soon die; I believe in God, I pray to Him often as Saviour; but I shall never believe in a Saviour who is made man; the Almighty had no need of us to send one of us to the earth for the purpose; therefore, speak of it no more." Shortly after this, he had a more threatening crisis than any that had preceded. For the first time, he felt the approach of death, and the danger that, that very day would terminate his existence. His family saw him weep and raise his supplicating hands to Heaven.

Some days after, he, for the first time, evinced an earnest desire to read the gospel, deploring his having deferred an attentive examination of it. Many of his relations offered to

read portions of it; this he refused, on account of his weakness, and because he wished to stop at every expression that required meditation. He even caused a frame to be fixed above his bed, to hold the book open before him at the places that he chose. During these readings he had not strength for any conversation; his hearing and his voice began to fail. Sometimes such remarks as these would escape him: "How strong and penetrating is this! What sublimity, yet what simplicity!" On Friday, April 7, 1826, when all but the sick retire to rest, after having read the gospel with more calmness, he expressed his desire of praying with the family and one of the clergymen of the parish. The minister prayed, and shortly after, the dying man thus addressed his afflicted relatives, My dear friends, do not afflict yourselves, I die a Christian, it is Jesus himself who has made me so; what thanks should I render to that God who came to seek me; I have done nothing to make myself acquainted with Him; it is He alone has drawn me. What favor has he shewn me? I shall go then to join all my true friends; we shall all be reunited; I see already my Saviour extending his arms to me. The Father sent a trial upon me, I was ready to murmur, but my murmurs are changed to thanksgivings. How shall I thank thee, my God, for giving me a foretaste of this eternal happiness! No, I shall never be sufficiently grateful! I am about to quit this earth to inhabit that abode where all is bliss."

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The day following, he asked forgiveness of his tender mother, for the impatience he had manifested during his illness, and exhorted the younger part of the family to read, every day, a chapter in the Bible. He afterwards intreated the domestics to seek in God, and in His word, their support and their comfort.

A friend of the family, who had known him in the time of his infidelity, heard the account of his conversion, a conversion so surprising and so quickly developed had never come under his view. He understood that some persons of the village associated with it, the idea of the uneasiness of imagination in one weakened by strict diet and sufferings; that amongst other suppositions, they attributed this change of opinions to the influence of his nurse, a pious Christian, but who, as was

known to all the family, had never spoken to him of religion. The friend repaired to him with gladness; he beheld a young man seated on the bed of death, his head and back were bent by suffering, his livid features deeply sunken, but his eyes opened every instant, brightening with hope and gratitude; his mouth passed frequently from the painful efforts of agony to the complacent smile of happiness. The visage had the flesh of a corpse, but the expression of a saint. The dying man thanked him for his affection during his illness; he comforted all who wept around him. “You have," said he, Christian son, a Christian brother; yes, the Son of God has made himself my brother; how blessed, how glorious is this! My happiness is so great, I can scarcely sustain it, and it is augmenting; I shall see God face to face, with ever growing light! how shall I support it! But Jesus will be there, to lead me by the hand, to present me to my heavenly Father; he will teach me to love him more and more."

a

The night previous to his death, he requested the minister to speak to him of the sufferings of the Lord, and the persons present, proposed his reading a discourse on that subject, but the minister, convinced that the words of Scripture alone would have sufficient force to calm and fortify him, read to him from the Gospels, the sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus, making various applications to the situation of the dying man. He beheld him suffering, agitated, frequently interrupting his reading, to ask his prayers, until he had read to him, and applied to the temptation which agitated him, these words, (Luke xxii. 31, 32) “Behold Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." The dying man, who had already lost the use of one eye, desired that they would place his finger on that passage; he soon appeared calm, and thanked God, that he had restored to him the joy of his salvation. Five days after the declaration of his conversion, he breathed his last, April 12, 1825, aged 27."

To this interesting account his sister subjoins the following: "I regard it as impossible, that any pen can render, in their full force, the edifying and affecting scenes which I witnessed, during the last five days of my brother's life; his sublime

words, his affliction, and his exhortations to my children, will never be effaced from my memory. In reading these details, I acknowledge the truth of them; but the more than earthly expressions of the dying man are wanted; the tone of his voice is not heard; his look, his smile, is no longer there.”

What an encouragement to circulate the Holy Scriptures! What a stimulus to read them! they are able to make us wisewise unto salvation; for they are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction; that the man of God may be perfect. May every reader of this Magazine, in perusing the preceding statement, not only admire the grace of God, so strikingly displayed, but also determine in divine strength to bind the gospel to his heart. R. C.

ON DOMESTIC INTERCOURSE.

A SHORT time since, I received an invitation to spend a few days with a family, whose literary and religious character I had long held in high estimation. Opportunities of intercourse with the intelligent and pious part of society, are very advantageous to the young, and are generally embraced with eagerness. Being youthful myself, I shared in these feelings, and with lightsome and buoyant spirits, and very sanguine expectations of pleasure and benefit, I accepted the offer of joining them, and became for a season one of this domestic circle,

The family consists of a father, a mother, and several young people, between the ages of twelve and twenty. Of the heads of the family, I shall only remark, that they were all that report had described them. The young persons, of whom, (as I write for the young,) I chiefly design to speak, had received a superior education-many of them were accomplished and well informed, they were all active and benevolent, and of more than one of them there was reason to hope, that they had chosen their parents' God as their guide. They were agreeable, good tempered, and obliging; they seemed to aim at honouring God, and at improving the talents committed to their care, and yet there was ONE, bestowed upon them all, of the waste, or rather, the misuse of which, they seemed to take Jittle account-although the improvement of it is repeatedly