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in view, to one nearer than a sister, she said " Do you love me?" And then added" Do you love Christ more than me?" A question, in such circumstances, that did most emphatically express how precious to her soul was the love of Christ; and that showed the sentiment of his unrivalled pre-eminency to be strong in death. And because he loved her, he came and received her unto himself, that where he is, there might her ransomed spirit likewise be, in everlasting rest.

When one so greatly righteous and merciful is taken away, ought we not to notice the dispensation on the general grounds formerly laid down? And if any have been relieved by her bounty, comforted by her counsels, or edified and encouraged by her example, let them particularly lay the dispensation of her removal to heart. Surely there hath perished from our view a righteous and a merciful person;-one, that having been born in the parish, and spent her first years in it, continued to take a most tender interest both in your temporal and your spiritual good; concerning which, she did most anxiously inquire to the last, watching for instances of conversion, and often expressing grief that such instances so rarely

occurred. Yet hath she perished! and with respect to us, prematurely, for we calculated on a longer sojourn.

But do we say perished? Blessed be God, we can attach to the word no idea of the soul's loss. She hath not perished from the presence of the Lord, for "whosoever believeth on him, shall never perish." The earthly house is dissolved, but she had a building of God," a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;" in the full persuasion of which, she died a gracious death, in faith, resignation, and the hope of glory; in which her released spirit now doubtless walks amid other joys than those of time. Taken away, in the prime of life, from earthly good of the highest interest and value-from a fulness of affluence wherewith to have done good on the largest scale-from friends that valued her, and from a conjugal relation of the most suitable and congenial character, which had only subsisted for a few fleeting monthsin fine, removed from a confluence of earthly blessings, that flowed together as if to satisfy her soul with good, though they could not without the River of Life, she hath been an infinite gainer by the transition from an evil world to the land of uprightness. And

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could we be solaced with one short view of her present blessedness, instead of dejection for the bereavement, nothing would be heard but praise. In praise, we have learned, those who are most nearly interested in the event, do feely exercise themselves; let us sympathize with them, and also give thanks unto God. And let it be the care of each of us so to live, that when we die, not only men may remember our righteousness and mercy, but that God himself may graciously acknowledge his own work in us, and receive our spirits to walk in bliss.

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