Each passing stranger stopp'd to view A plant possessing charms so new: "Sweet Flower" each lip was heard to say- Of all his garden this the pride, Nor did the Rose unconscious bloom, As months roll'd on, the spring appear'd, 'Offspring most dear, (she fondly said,) The space around me-All shall be 'What though my present charms decay. And passing strangers no more say Of me, 'Sweet flower!'-Yet thou shalt raise Thy blooming head, and gain the praise ; And this reverberated pleasure Shall be to me a world of treasure. Cheerful I part with former merit, Haste then the hours which bid thee bloom, Thus had the Rose-tree scarcely spoken, Judge ye, who know a mother's cares Deep was the wound; nor slight the pain Which made the Rose-tree thus complain: 'Dear little darling! art thou goneThy charms scarce to thy mother known? Remov'd so soon!-So suddenly, Snatch'd from my fond maternal eye! What hadst thou done?-dear offspring! say, So early to be snatch'd away! What!, gone for ever!—seen no more! For ever I thy loss deplore. Ye dews descend, with tears supply Or rather come some northern blast, As thus the anguish'd Rose-tree cried, Cease, beauteous flower, these useless cries, Art thou not mine? Did not my hand Unknown, and unadmir'd I found, And brought thee to this fertile ground; But now, because thy shoot I've taken, Of me thy heart would scarce have thought, It's now transplanted, there to shine 'Nor shalt thou always be apart Be patient, then, till that set hour shall come, When thou and thine shall in new beauties bloom : No more its absence shalt thou then deplore, These words to silence hush'd the plaintive Rose, Again her wonted, grateful fragrance shed- CHAPTER IV. AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LAST AFFLICTION, AND THE HOLY AND HAPPY EXERCISES OF HIS MIND UNDER IT. EARLY in October 1798, Mr. Pearce attended at the Kettering ministers' meeting, and preached from Psalm xc. 16, 17. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. He was observed to be singularly solemn and affectionate in that discourse. If he had known it to be the last time that he should address his brethren in that part of the country, he could scarcely have felt or spoken in a more interesting manner. It was a discourse full of instruction, full of a holy unction, and that seemed to breathe an apostolical ardour. On his return, be preached at Market Harborough; and riding home the next day in company with his friend Mr. Summers of London, they were overtaken with rain. Mr. Pearce was wet through his clothes, and towards evening complained of a chilliness. A slight hoarseness followed. He preached several times after this, which brought on an inflammation, and issued in a consumption. It is probable that if his constitution had not been previously impaired, such effects might not have followed in this instance. His own ideas on this subject are expressed in a letter to Dr. Ryland, dated December 4, 1798, and in another to Mr. King, dated from Bristol, on his way to Plymouth, March 30, 1798. In the former, he says,-"Ever since my Christmas journey last year to Sheepshead, Nottingham, and Leicester, on the mission |