CHAPTER VIII.

My sister had not long left us, when Mr Bradford was seized with a distemper, that threatened to put a speedy end to his life. A physician was called in from the nearest town, and all proper assistance was afforded. But it speedily appeared that the disease was too strong for the power of medicine to baffle; and its virulence was such, that in a few days it put an end to the life of this venerable and innocent being. In one of those intervals which afforded him a comparative degree of composure and ease, he caused me to be called to his bed

side. He desired me to sit near him; and he took one of my hands in his.

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My dear Charles," said he, " in the solitude in which we have lived, you have been for years the principal subject of my anxiety. Your parents you lost early by the most dreadful calamity; the state of your uncle's health and spirits have long incapacitated him from supplying their place; Providence seemed to have cast you entirely on my care. I have done my duty according to the best of that light that was afforded me; and I am thankful that I have been spared so long for that purpose. It is now the will of the Lord, that I should be taken from you; and it is not given to me to foresee what will be your destiny, when I am no more with you. All that remains is, that I charge you, in the sight of God who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ,' that you hold fast the truth that has been committed to you. I foresee that great trials are yet reserved for the people

of this unhappy land. The power of Antichrist is not at an end; and the cup of his enchantments still retains all its pernicious ingredients. There shall come a falling away and an apostacy, even in this chosen land of Great Britain. But be you fast in the faith. Eschew the persuasions of the

scarlet whore that sitteth upon the mountains.' Let not your soul come into her secrets, neither be you a partaker in her blasphemies.

"For myself I go to the blessed few, whom Christ has chosen out of the world. I go to the little flock of his saints, whom he shall bring with him in his glory. There I shall see my excellent namesake, who when threatened with the flames, defied the power of the evil one. There I shall associate with the glorified spirits of Wishart and Hamilton, who amidst the pangs of death, with pious fervour predicted, the one the assassination of his judge, while the other summoned his accuser to meet him

without delay before the judgment-seat of Christ. Where I am, no pope, nor cardinal, not one member of the vast Antichristian hierarchy shall ever come.

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"But I do not so far rejoice in the glory that awaits me, my dear Charles, as to make me in any degree unmindful of whatever appertains to your welfare. have endeavoured to do my duty by you; but at this awful moment, when I am compelled to review for the last time what I have done, I am filled with apprehensions and fears, lest, with the sincerest anxiety for your good, I may at any time have chosen erroneous means. I may have assumed an undue authority; I may have mistakingly awakened evil passions in your bosom. If I have done so, I ask your forgiveness. We are all of us fallible creatures, and ought at all times to fear the errors we may commit. Do not then, my sweet Charles, remember these things against me; treasure up only those truths I have de

livered to you for your everlasting benefit. Remember me as your friend; and let the eye that looks upon my tomb, and the tongue that I have taught to repeat the lessons of human and divine learning, continue to bless me!"

My heart melted at the ingenuous confessions and the earnest affection of this venerable man. I recollected all the displeasure and the animosity I had felt against him, and I was ashamed. The eye that had darted at me glances of reproach, was now closed in death; the tongue that had overwhelmed me with sharp rebuke and bitter homilies of reproof, was silent for ever. I shed a torrent of sincere tears over his remains. I accused myself of a perverse and a wicked nature, that where all was meant so sincerely, I could have harboured such stormy resentments.

This good man, the friend of my earliest youth, did not many hours survive the last admonitions and expressions of kindness he