year with the resolution of Edwards, so worthy of his exalted and pious mind:-" Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good profit and pleasure, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or ever so many millions of ages to come." - AN ORIGINAL LETTER OF THE LATE REV. JAMES HERVEY. Dear Mr. W. Weston, May 30, 1741, 'Tis late, midnight drawing on, and the Sabbath approaches, But I must snatch a few minutes to tell my dear friend the good news. My father is made whole; quite freed from his pains; quite cured of his disorders, and almost in a new world. With the utmost propricty he may use the exlamation of the Psalmist, "O what great troubles and adversities hast thou shewn me! yet didst thou turn and refresh me, and brought me from the deep of the earth again." Deep indeed was his distress; grievous his affliction. But now the clouds are over and gone, and the voice of joy and health is restored to his dwelling. Now, therefore, I am free: I have no engagement here. My father, 'tis true, offers me a curacy; but if Mr. N. chuses it, and my dear people think it may contribute in any measure to their spiritual benefit, nothing hinders but I may return to B-.* Return, and address them much in the same strain as Peter bespoke the impotent man: "Eloquence and oratory, learning and accomplishments have I none, but such as I have, in the name of Jesus, give I you."-We have had great rejoicing on account of Admiral Vernon's success. Every peasant talks of him, and children lisp out his name. He is the darling of our nation, and stands first and brightest among our men of renown. Happy for us if all that admire the instru ment, paid proportionably greater honours to the Supreme Agent, But we are apt to forget that the battle is the Lord's. * * * * * * * * * * * I hope you will not forget, in the most respectful manner, to enquire after ***** From your affectionate friend, J. HERVEY. Biddeford, a town where Mr. H. had formerly been curate. ANECDOTES. AN intimate friend of the infidel Hume, asked him what he thought of Mr. Whitfield's preaching; for he had listened to the latter part of one of his sermons at Edinburgh. "He is, Sir," said Mr. Hume, "the most ingenious preacher I ever heard. It is worth while to go twenty miles to hear him," He then repeated a passage towards the close of that discourse which he heard. "After a solemn pause, he thus addressed his numerous audience: The attendant angel is just about to leave the threshold, and ascend to Heaven. And shall he ascend and not bear with him the news of one sinner, among all this multitude, reclaimed from the error of his ways?' "To give the greater effect to this exclamation, he stamped with his foot, lifted up his hands and eyes to Heaven, and with gushing tears, cried aloud, "Stop, Gabriel! Stop, Gabriel! Stop ere you enter the sacred portals, and yet carry with you the news. of one sinner converted to God." He then, in the most simple, but energetic language, described what he called a Saviour's dying love to sinful man; so that almost the whole assembly melted into tears. This address was accompanied with such animated yet natural action, that it surpassed any thing I ever saw, or heard in any other preacher." Happy had it been for poor Hume had he received what he then heard "as the word of God, and not as the word of man!" THE late venerable Mr. Beddome, minister of the Baptist Church at Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire, being on a journey, stopped at an inn at Wotten Basset, a small town in Wiltshire, where he was quite a stranger, to take refreshment. A widow woman who then kept the house, concluding from his appearance that he was a Clergyman of the Establishment, anxious to please her guest, said, after serving him obligingly with every thing he called for, "Sir, the inhabitants of this place are a very happy people." I am glad of that, said Mr. B.; but for what reason are they so happy? added he. “Why Sir," answered his hostess, "we have but one Dissenter in the town, and he is a Roman Catholic; and you know, Sir, they are the best of them!"" The good man, not willing to confound her, pleasantly passed off the matter, without making himself known. A Baronet, of the last century, whose mansion was in York shire, was supposed to be dead; when the following conversation took place between his jester, or fool, and his servants: Serv. Our master is gone! Fool. Ah! whither is he gone? Serv. To Heaven, to be sure. Fool. To Heaven! no that he is not, I am certain. Fool. Why! because Heaven is a great way off; and when my master was going a long journey, he used, for some time, to talk about it, and prepare for it; but I never heard him speak of Heaven, or saw him make any preparations for going; he cannot, therefore, be gone thither. The Baronet, however, recovered; and this conversation being told him, he was so struck with it, that he immediately began to prepare for his journey to that Country "from whose bourn no traveller returns, MRS. SOPHIA KITT, of Plymouth Citadel. Obituary. MRS. SOPHIA KITT, wife of Lieutenant Kitt, and daughter of Dr. Smith, an eminent physician in Bath, exchanged time for eternity on Tuesday morning, 27th August, aged 45. In early life she received a genteel education, and was introduced into the gay circles, and pursued, with great avidity, all the fashionable amusements. She has since that period acknowledged, that she felt a strong aversion from every thing of a religious nature, an enmity of heart against every godly character, and often spurned at the reproof of the serious and devout. In this career, of what is styled Pleasure, she continued for many years, until, about fifteen years since, it pleased the Lord to call her by his grace. She then soon beheld those scenes in a different light, and laboured to withdraw herself from them as much as possible. About two years since, her health began to decline; and her constitution became greatly debilitated, by frequent fits of the gout. Evident symptoms of a consumption appeared, which, at length, by steps, slow and certain as the flowing tide, removed her from earth to Heaven. She had been confimed to her chamber, and chiefly to her bed, for eight or nine months; and frequently endured great pain. But in general she experienced many tokens of the love of God, and a lively hope of an interest in Christ. As she approached the confines of glory, her evidences became more clear, her confidence more stable, and her joys more abundant. Thus, while her friends beheld her gradually sinking into the arms of death, they were consoled by the wonderous expressions which dropped from her dying lips. After she had fain a considerable time, her eyes fixed, with every symptom of a speedy dissolution, she feebly said, "Sweet Jesus, I am ready, come, come, come; his chariot is just, just arrived; I have nothing to do but to step in." 66 After a long pause and motionless, she cried out in eager accents, “ Now it comes! but my beloved Jesus comes to display his condescending love to such a guilty, worthless, helldeserving sinner as I am." Addressing herself to her minister, she grasped his hand, and said, "My dear friend, tell the congregation with whom I have often enjoyed sweet moments, O tell them what I now enjoy! tell them that that which I now experience, is worth going thro' a Hell of torments to possess! tell what a death-bed you have seen! what it is to die in the smiles of Jesus!” “Religion,” she added with a peculiar energy, and a placid smile, Religion is not a cunningly devised fable; no, no, 'tis a reality; I feel it. As for myself, I am now persuaded, that I could suffer ten thousand racks, tortures, and agonics unknown to mortals, to enjoy what I now do; and I should consider it a cheap purchase!" After a short pause she exclaimed, "But all this eternal weight of glory is already purchased for me by the blood of Immanuel." These efforts to express the overflowings of her joy, had nearly extinguished the quivering flame; but after a long silence, she added, "O my dear minister, preach, O preach faithfully, affectionately, ardently! ---- fear not the face of men; go on, and God bless you abundantly! Yes, I know he will:- go on to preach Christ, and Him crucified. This is my theme; it is my only refuge, it is now my only consolation, my only foundation, even now while struggling in death. Charge Christian professors especially! charge many of the members of the church; tell them that I love them! tell them that it is my dying charge that they indulge not in conformity to the world, to the gay and fashionable amusements of life !” She then exclaimed, with tears, "Ah! my dear Sir, how guilty have I been in this instance! Often has my conscience stung ine when I have OBITUARY. been a spectator (and she was never more than a spectator) of the insipid circle of a card-table. Ah! how unworthy an engagement for a member of a church of Christ! how dishonourable to the cause of that Jesus who shed his blood for us! O how strongly did she express her grief at her cowardly conduct (as she termed it); and then exclaimed, as powerfully as her voice, now tremulant in death, would admit, "Oh, Christian friends! O ye disciples of Jesus, burn, burn every card in your house, lest they tempt you to wound your conscience, and dishonour religion. O, blessed Redeemer, how art thou wounded in the house of thy friends! You know not, Christian friends, what bitter pangs these foolish amusements will give you in a dying hour. The theatre and the card-table are bad preparations for death! O could the gay and wicked world experience but one thousandth part of what I now do, they would soon abandon the toys of life, and contend who should die first to possess the eternal fulness." On Saturday morning, very early, she endured a great fight of afflictions, and was sorely harrassed by the fiery darts of Satan. Frequent attempts were made to persuade her that all her former engagements were a mere delusion. O (said she) what have I this night endured!' Soon after, however, the serene and joyful state of her mind returned, when she desired to bid a last adieu to her busband and her child. When they drew near, she clasped them to her breast, and said, "God bless you both; be ye followers of God, as dear children. Remember, and conscientiously attend to the serious admonitions of a dying parent and friend; then shall I meet you in yonder better world. Farewell!--- When the physician (who had just at this instant entered the room) on feeling her pulse, observed, in reply to a question from Mr. Kitt concerning her state, "It has nearly ceased;"---she, hearing what was said, instantly replied, "Yes, blessed be God, it has: my dear Redeemer knew there was no more need of it." While fainting, and nearly expiring, and the last feeble ray of life shot trembling through the breaches of the clay-tenement, she attempted to MRS. MARTHA HAMILTON, late of Brighthelmstone. It was the unspeakable privilege, of Mrs. Hamilton to descend from eminently pious parents and ances tors: a privilege which she highly valued, not as a substitute for per sonal godliness, but as one of the strongest incentives to it. Her grandfather, on the mother's side, was the well-known and truly excellent Mr. Joseph Williams, of Kidderminster, extracts from whose Diary, published many years since by the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett, unfolded to the religious world the influences of divine truth on a serious mind, in different stages and circumstances of life. Her father was that judicious and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, the Rev. Richard Winter, B. D. for nearly 40 years pastor of the church in New Court, Carey Street, London. In a very early stage of her journey, she appears to have profited by a religious education, and to have been made a subject of renewing grace. At the age of thirteen years and a half, she entered into a solemn covenant-engagement to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose name she had been baptized. Of these she bas left a valuable written record, which indicates not merely a fervent devotion, but an acquaintance with divine truth, and a maturity of judgment greatly above her years. From that period, she frequently made valuable additions to the Diary, of which the engagement just mentioned formed the commencement. They exhibit such an union of firmness, perseverance, and deep humility, as has rarely been equalled. In her eighteenth year, together with her sister, a year younger than herself, she became a member of her father's church; and through all the progressive scenes of her life was uniformly attached to the truths and the holiness of the gospel. The relative duties of each station which she filled, she was enabled habitually to perform. To her parents she was dutifully and eminently at tentive; and of her father, in his advanced years, bereaved of his beloved wife, and of his other children, she was the affectionate, consoling, and devoted friend. Filial piety never ap peared with more dignified gracefulness than in Mrs. Hamilton. As a wife and a mother, she was likewise what in these relations a Christian should be. Her bereaved partner, the Rev. Fred. Hamilton, of Brighton, and her five dear children, deprived of a mother's cares, when to a human eye they appeared peculiarly necessary, in the foss which they have sustained, deeply feel the high qualifications for the discharge of relative duties, with which the deceased was endowed. In eivil and religious society, she acted under the commanding influence of the best of principles; as a friend, those who shared her confidence, and were edified by it, know that her worth is not easily appreciated. A mind at once vigorous and retired; clearness of perception, delicacy of taste, fervour of afection, diffidence of her own powers, stability of attachment, and an habitual sense of religious obligation, rendered her, through that grace by which she was what she was, a friend of no common worth. A person more generally, more justly beloved in every circle in which she moved, never descended to the grave. A consumption, the fatal messenger also to her mother, her sister, and her brother, gradually fulfilled the last commission of the Almighty respecting this invaluable woman, For more than a year, though willing to try all suitable means, yet she entertained no prospect of her recovery; while her anxious friends and she had many who dearly lovell her) flattered themselves that she fight yet be restored, and even in hope believed against hope, she frequently cautioned them against such expectations, and spoke with the utmost composure of her approaching deparẻ ture. In a letter to a friend, dated Oct. 30, 1804, she says, "I have great reason to be thankful on my own account; that I trust I may now say I am considerably better; yet I feel still that I carry an enemy within, which, though its strength is weakened, is lying in ambush ready for exertion on the first opportunity. But I hope my desire is, that this foe to nature may prove a friend to my most important interests." This is one among many proofs, still remaining with her correspondents, that death was both an expected; and a subdued enemy. She was therefore concerned to set not only her house, but her soul in order. It was apparent to those who were familiar with her, that she increased more and more in spirituality, and was daily getting ready for a better world. She died daily. Her conversation was in Heaven; and when, at length, her Heavenly Father said, "Come up hither," it was evident to all around her, that she was no stranger to the place, the bus siness, or the joy. She told Mr. Hamilton, that she was thankful that God had conducted her thus far out of life, and that she had no desire to retrace one step; that all was calm and blessed within; that she had often solemnly given herself up to God, as a covenant God, and thankfully accepted the gospelsalvation; and that, though she had not those lively joys which some experience, yet she could not entertain a doubt that he had received her graciously, and loved her freely. She spake with much pleasure of that description of the divine character, "The Lord, the Lord God, inerciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth," When that restlessness, which often precedes dissolution, came on, she seemed much afraid lest faith and patience should not hold out; and beg ged Mr. Hamilton to pray that these graces might be increased The prayer was heard. She spoke of that season with pleasure; and was enabled, all the days of her appointed time, to wait till her change came. She said, |