eternal felicity, is entirely unattended to. Persons in this awful state are used by Satan to corrupt others; these scoff at every thing sacred, and bid, as it were, defiance to the Almighty: the company of such as these is to be shunned as much as possible. I would recommend to you to have no communication with them more than merely on business. tian war it is sure, for St. Paul says he fought not as uncertain, or as one that beat the air: he knew, and all Christians do, that the arm of Omnipotence is always stretched out in their defence. We are more than conquerors (says the same Apostle) through Him that loved us. Our trust is not in ourselves, but in Jesus the living and life-giving God. I observe you say, Mr. was in fear respecting the safety of the ship, having much property on board. This, no doubt, is of consequence in its proper place, but of small importance when compared with the value of the soul. The Christian is always peculiarly anxious about its interests. You add, a gentleman came in, and speaks of the ship being in the fleet; and afterwards you mention her having actually gained port. Happy circumstance! had she foundered, or been captured, how greatly would the minds of all concerned have been agitated! Yet this is but a faint representation of the awful condition of all who are not sheltered in Him who is ordained a hiding-place from the wind, and covert from the tempest of divine wrath. 'Tis probable you have much intercourse with persons of superior rank, or who have riches, which give them a degree of consequence. This will expose you to danger. The fear of man worketh a snare, therefore we have need to trust in Jesus (God-man) to deliver us from it. What an awful picture lies daily in your view! Africans enslaved by Europeans-Europeans infinitely worse enslaved by Satan; human nature, once the fair semblance of Deity, lying in total ruin! Reason, understanding, conscience, memory, will, and affections so depraved, that scarcely a trace of original purity can be found; and though this is evidently the case, yet fast in spiritual slumber; wholly absorbed in sense; God, eternity, and every thing important, or that tends to present peace or While I admire the zeal you have expressed on my account, I must remind you of the high honour, privilege, and happiness of copying after Him, who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but patiently submitted to Him who judgeth righteously. If you read St. Paul's epistles, and particularly that to the Colossians, first chapter, you will see how solicitous he was to know how it was with them concerning their faith. The possession of this grace is like Sampson's mystic locks: while he wore these he dealt destruction to his enemies all around; when deprived of them, he became their sport. While Peter enjoyed this heavenly gift, he could draw his sword in defence of his blessed Master; when it was suspended, the breath of a girl blew him down: the want of this occasioned the carcasses of a great multitude to fall in the wilderness, while Caleb and Joshua survived, and lived honourably, and long, in Canaan. The want of this peoples Tophet, and occasions the destruction, the eternal destruction, of multitudes; for it is written, "He that believeth shall be saved." There is efficacy sufficient in the blood of Christ to save the whole world; but without the application of it to the conscience no benefit can be derived. I FEEL my mind often much affected on account of your exposure to temptation, lest you should be insensibly allured and drawn away from the fountain of happiness, to drink at the cisterns of certain pollution. The world is very ensnaring: Satan is vigilant and powerful, and our hearts deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Though the Lord has been very gracious in preserving you in your journey, voyage, and when encompassed by wasting sickness, which are mercies I am enabled to return daily praise for; yet my great concern, I trust, is for your precious soul. When God gives children, he seems with them to give the command, "Take this child, and nurse it for me;" and though I could no longer retain you with me, yet with Miriam (Moses' sister), I must still look after to see what will become of you and as Abraham concerning his Ishmael breathed out this pathetic wish, so I am daily saying as it were, O that my son might live before thee; O that he may be brought back to his native country, to Goshen, to see Gospel light and truth again! Mean time may the Divine Spirit quicken you from day to day, that you may delight in searching and meditating upon the Scriptures, still pursuing, in subserviency to them, your other studies, Learning being ever esteemed a good handmaid to Religion. The injury you mention done to your books leads me to adore the goodness of God in not suffering the tooth of time (the Rev. Mr. D. C.'s expression) to destroy the Scriptures, notwithstanding all the impious attempts that have been made to effect it. This, with many others, is a convincing proof of their being a Divine Revelation; search them daily, my dear -, you will find them able to make you wise unto salvation. A few days ago I forwarded a chest of apples to be sent you; I hope they will arrive safe, and be a pleasing regale for you. May your mind be spiritual, and advert to the sad consequence of Adam's eating the forbidden fruit, and to the blessings resulting to those who eat of DECEMBER 1822, the tree of life! As in the former all die, in the latter shall all be made alive. The important question then is, Am I in Christ? Few, very few, even in England, are his, judging by their fruit; much less where his adorable name is not heard of properly. His kingdom of grace and glory, his righteousness, atonement, his mightiness to save to the uttermost, his love infinite and inconceivable, his wonderful assumption of our nature, his great debasement, and glorious exaltation, dominion, and power; these are topics you have had the happiness of hearing descanted upon often. Through rich grace you have been trained up in the way you should go, and I trust you will never depart from it. I constantly feel for you, who are destitute of Gospel ordinances, and hope you lament the want of them: if you do, it indicates the Lord is with you of a truth, and will satisfy your desires by making up the loss, by the teaching and influence of his blessed Word and Spirit, without which the choicest means will be ineffectual, as you well know, having witnessed many who attend the preaching of the Gospel, but are quite unmoved, quite unaffected. How should the consideration of this humble us before God, if he makes our hearts soft and tender, so as to receive the word, even as the parched ground drinks in the rain; and how should we pray, whenever we hear the word, that it may have this blessed effect; and if deprived of outward means, the more diligently and constantly apply ourselves to such as remain. Prayer, reading the Scriptures, self-denial, watchfulness against sin, separating ourselves as much as possible from the company of the ungodly; thinking much of the person, work, sufferings, and love of Christ; his twofold nature, God and man; the depths of his humiliation; the height of his exaltation; his advocacy, intercession, 3 P and final coming to judge the world: such contemplations and meditations as these, and such means conscientiously used, you need not fear the Lord will make effectual to keep the soul alive, happy, peaceful, and serene. You are never forgotten by me in my prayers and praises: and as Jacob was permitted to set his eyes upon his beloved Joseph; so may I be spared to set mine on you. I daily bless God for preserving you in health, and from the peculiar dangers you have been exposed to at sea, as well as from a climate so different from your native country. O that you may be blessed with the blessings of salvation, a sense of the full and free remission of your sins, through the atoning blood and obedience of the adorable Redeemer! May you be daily much in prayer to God for his grace, guidance, and direction; that you may know the felicity of God's chosen in time, and finally join the glorious throng who will eternally surround the throne of Jehovah, and praise Father, Son, and Spirit, in lofty and unceasing strains. This is Christmas Eve, a season set apart by our Church for more immediately commemorating the Highest's wonderful assumption of our nature, in order to obey and suffer for sinful man-a mystery which angels desire to look into, but which is little regarded by heedless mortals, though their eternal happiness or misery entirely depends upon their receiving or not receiving the Saviour by faith, cordially into their hearts. May you and I most thankfully receive this unspeakable gift and life by the faith of Him! this will make us happy in time, and inconceivably so in eternity. DEATH. OCCIDENTALIS. FROM HERBERT'S POEMS. ATTEMPTED IN MODErn verse. DEATH, thou wast once a hideous sight; What we beheld in thee, Was tuneless chords, extinguish'd light, A bare anatomy. For we but saw thee as thou art, All life and feeling gone; We saw thy flesh to dust depart, To dryness every bone. Thou wast the shell th' imprison'd soul had fled, Dry dust demanding tears thou couldst not shed. What our Redeemer since hath made, O Death! we see thee now, In grace and gaiety array'd, We see thee as we soon shall view, When old things shall become as new, And worlds shall pass away; Then shall thy bones wear beauty's hue, And bloom succeed decay. Wherefore in sleep or death alike, we trust, We make our pillows either down or dust. J. S. ACCOUNT OF THE LATE MRS. MURCOTT. MRS. Mary Murcott was born of respectable parents, at Birmingham, in the year 1741. Her mother, being a pious member of the Church of England, trained up her children in the fear of God; and hence we understand, that Mrs. M. from a very early period, highly esteemed and loved the word of God. It was not, however, until some years after, that her mind was suitably impressed and affect ed; and, in consequence, she always considered her real conversion to have taken place under the effectual preaching of that eminent ly holy and devoted man of God, the late Rev. John Riland, at that time minister of St. Mary's Chapel, Birmingham, and for many years Rector of Sutton Coldfield. About the same time, it pleased God to deprive her of a most affectionate husband; by whose decease she was called, with a numerous family, to encounter many difficulties, and pass through deep waters of affliction. Her mind also was deeply exercised with convictions of sin, and with many doubts and fears concerning her state, until at length, while walking in the street, meditating upon spiritual things, and lifting up her soul to God in prayer, she was enabled to attain that encouraging view of his promises which at once relieved her from the burden of her distress, and enabled her to go on even to the end of her course with almost uninterrupted confidence and peace. She felt those words of the Prophet strictly applicable to her own case, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the righthand of my righteousness." During this period, her daughter speaks in the highest terms of the kindness and the tenderness with which that excellent minister, Mr. Riland, fulfilled his pastoral office in visiting the fatherless and the widow in their affliction; and of the comfort and edification derived by the deceased from his affectionate discourses, and from the powerful preaching of his successor, the Rev. Edward Burn. While Mrs. M. was thus receiving instruction and consolation herself, she was not unmindful of those who were called to suffer affliction. Being naturally possessed of a tender and benevolent disposition, she sympathized deeply with the distresses of others, and made it her constant study, as far as Providence had placed it in her power, to relieve the needy, to instruct the ignorant, and to comfort those who were cast down. Until the last five years of her life, she was engaged in business; and in consequence made a point of rising early in the morning, that she might secure an uninterrupted hour for the reading of the Scriptures and for private devotion. The effect of this regular and self-denying habit was, that her mind became richly stored with divine truth; she was eminently a Bible Christian, and experienced a very great degree of lively hope and abiding consolation. Oh how did her conduct reprove the sloth of many indolent professors of Christianity, who, free from the entanglements of business or the cares of a numerous family, are yet reducing their seasons of religious retirement to a few scanty minutes, and justifying their negligence by various commonplace excuses. But, verily, they have their reward. The leanness of their souls-the mournful nature of their complainings-the doubts and fears with which they are exercised-the cloud which often veils their departure when contrasted with the life, and peace, and assurance, and triumphant departure of Mrs. Mur cott, all testify the unspeakable blessedness of following the Lord fully. The returning sabbath was especially delightful to Mrs. M. On that day, with a mind relieved from the cares and anxieties of business, she enjoyed in an especial degree communion with her God. She was glad when they said to her, Let us go up to the house of God, and worship in his holy temple. She loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; and she continued to enjoy the inestimable privilege of worshipping in the great congregation till within a short period of her removal to the courts above. Mrs. M. was blest with a considerable share of health until the last nine months of her life. She was not, however, favoured with that degree of rest during the hours of the night which many experience. But far was she from very complaining of this privation; on the contrary, when her daughter condoled with her on having had a restless night, she would often reply, "I did not sleep well, but I enjoyed more than I can tell you of; I was musing upon the good things of God; my heart was in heaven." "I never knew her," says her daughter, "to wake in the morning, but her first moments were employed in returning thanks to that God who had preserved her while she slept; and while dressing, she always repeated some sweet ejaculation, hymn, &c. I have frequently heard her in the night season, during her sleepless hours, praying, and praising Almighty God. Yet, amidst all this warm and lively piety, while enjoying much of the divine presence and labouring unweariedly in her master's service, she was eminently distinguished for humility; ever regarding herself as a guilty sinner, and placing her whole trust and dependence on the merits of her great Redeemer." During the last nine months of her life she experienced a gradual diminution of her health and strength; but as her outward man decayed, her inward man was renewed day by day; her faith and her hope were invigorated, and she was enabled to declare, When my flesh and my heart fail, God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Often would she express the feelings of her mind in such language as the following: "I love the Lord; he heard my cries, "I'll praise my Maker while I've breath; And when my voice is lost in death, Praise shall employ my nobler powers; My days of praise shall ne'er be past, While life, or thought, or being last, Or immortality endures." 66 While thus exercising holy affections and ripening for glory, death arrived with unexpected rapidity, Mrs. M. being confined to her bed only one week. She did not in the first part of the week suffer much pain, and often expressed her gratitude to God for this great mercy. "O how good," she would say, is God to me, in that I have no violent pain!" and she diligently improved this merciful dispensation by conversing with her numerous friends on the Saviour's love; by exhorting sinners to seek the Lord in the season of health and strength, and not put off their repentance to a dying hour, saying often, "What should I do now without my God?" and by entreating her children to give themselves up wholly to God, to make sure work of their salvation; not to mourn for her, but to seek unto God, and rely upon him to be their strength and support in the trying hour. In conversing with the Rev. Mr. Burn a few days before her death, ́she reminded him of the first sermon |