pourtray on their imagination, the closing scene; and though in some favoured moments they hope to come off more than conquerors through him that loved them, yet they are driven back by their fears into a state of bondage, and live in sorrow and in grief.

"One says, how shall I pass that awful moment that introduces me into the presence of a holy God, when I know not whether I am clothed with the righteousness of his Son, or no-whether I shall stand the test in that day! I dread that solemn, that important hour that shall put me into an unchangeable state of misery or of blessedness. How shall I, that am a sinner, stand before that tribunal and that judge, in whose sight no mortal can be innocent? I have abused my mercies! slighted the admonitions of his word, and spirit! cherished dispositions and feelings contrary to the purity of his nature! misimproved my religious privileges! pursued the fading honours of the world with too much eagerness! have done but little to glorify him, and that little has sprung out of the influence of corrupt motives! Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me! My evidences for heaven are so dark and cloudy, that I cannot read them: they have been often sullied with fresh guilt; and I doubt whether I have ever passed from death unto life. And if when the moment of decision arrives I should then find, that I have

E

been deceiving myself, that mistake can never be rectified.

"Another, of a stronger faith but of a timorous temper says, "How shall I endure the agonies and pangs of death? I am not afraid to enter eternity; but I dread dying; I have no doubt of a final victory, but I feel my nature recoiling in prospect of the contest with the king of terrors. I can take a view of my promised inheritance from off the top of Pisgah, but I dread the swellings of Jordan through which I must pass before I can possess it.”

"Another is terrified at the thought of death because he knows not how to part with his relations and friends. The husband presses to his bosom the desire of his eyes and weeps when his imagination attires her in the widow's mourning. The mother throws her arms around her child, and heaves the deep groan, at thought of parting." If I were solitary and alone in society I could die with cheerfulness; but while such ties bind me to earth, I cannot anticipate death but with terror."

And yet how often are those who are the most timid in prospect of death, the most calm when the eventful hour comes. The chains of their captivity are knocked off, for days-for weeksfor months before they are led out to die; and under the ineffable manifestations of divine love, have then been heard to say, "Lo this is our

God; we have waited for him, and he will sav e us; this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."*

The ties of nature which have bound down, the conjugal, the parental, and the social affections. so strongly to earth, have been loosened so softly and so gradually, that the captive spirit has gained her liberty, 'ere conscious of her freedomshe has been startled into surprise, by the fact of her deliverance: and has felt a sublimity of bliss in prospect of a separation from those she loved, which has been unspeakable and fall of glory. The death-bed scene of the dying Christian, has presented to the eye of the spectator, a faint vision of future glory; and he has felt, when gazing on it, itselevating its enlivening and its transforming power.

But this is always a solemn scene; for though the departing spirit may exult in prospect of leaving a body of sin and death, and making an exchange of the toils and sorrows of the trials, and disappointments of earth, for the perfect parity and blessedness of heaven; yet who can witness its departure without feeling the shock which is given to the sweet relationship of life? Who can enter the chamber where the good man theets his fate," without feeling under the

* Isa. xxv. 9.

dominion of very strong and peculiar impressions. When we see the restlessness of the tottering frame-when we feel the chilliness of death extending over the body of the friend we love-when we behold the vigour of his intellect-the ardour of his passions-the active power of his virtues about to cease their operation on earth; can we help deploring the entrance of sin which has entailed such a scene of humiliation and misery on man? and when we reflect on the awful solemnity of that hour, which ere it elapses will usher the immortal spirit into the presence of the Holy One! can we avoid bowing down at the throne of grace, and praying that the Lord would be pleased to grant to his servant an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

As nothing strikes the human mind so forcibly as facts; the author in the work which he now ventures to submit to the eye of the Christian public has collected from different sources, the dying experience of many who have departed in the faith of Christ; under a hope, that it will prove an acceptable companion to the Christian, in prospect of entering the dark valley. In perusing these brief sketches of the last hours of departed worth, the intelligent reader will perceive some slight shades of difference; but on a close inspection, he will discover one uniform principle, governing and animating their minds.

A principle, on whose operations a scoffing age pours the odium of its contempt: but which displays a strength in the season of weakness, and a glory amidst the deepest humiliations of nature, that unite to demonstrate its divine origin, and its consequent superiority to all the boasted prowess of sceptical reason. This is faith in the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. Go boasting reason and see how thy disciple expires: and when thou hast witnessed bis sullen apathy, or heart struck terror when thou hast listened to his idle jokes, or his dreadful imprecations when thou hast beheld the indifference with which he gives up a life, on which so many relative interests depend-or the dread which he feels in anticipation of its cessation; then enter the chamber of the dying Christian, observe his calmness or extatic joyhearken at the chaste, the sublime, the elevating language which falls from his lips-mark the holy, yet unforced submission with which he surrenders his spirit to God his Redeemer: and the confidence with which he expects a state of endless bliss, and say, whose situation is the most enviable. But this, thou hast long since placed on record, when from the mouth of the disobedient prophet thou caught the fervent prayer. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

It is worthy of remark, that notwithstanding