speak. I was taken ill the night after you were here, Monday, and now it is Monday again, and I am no better, but worse. The doctor says, if it had not been for my bad habits of living I should soon have recovered; but he is afraid it will go hard with me: but I have not much pain, except from difficulty of breathing, and I really hope I shall be better. And if it please God to spare me, I will never be drunk again, I give you my word." I said, "Oh! Thomas, I hope you may be spared to keep that promise, for your life has been very sad, both for yourself and your family." He spoke highly of his wife, and dwelt on her great kindness even when he treated her so ill. He had all provided for him, both as to food and medicine, which the doctor approved and recommended; but he died on the eleventh day of his illness at the age of thirty-four. CHRISTIAN PEACE. THERE is peace in the mind of a faithful believer, who is enabled to put his whole trust and confidence in the sacri fice of his Saviour, because he knows that that sacrifice is full, perfect, and sufficient; he knows that such is its power and efficacy, that it is all sufficient to put away the guilt of past sin, and ward off the punishment which, without that sacrifice, must have fallen on the sinner; he reads, to his great and endless comfort, that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin: and it is thus that he is at peace with God through Jesus Christ. Every faithful believer in Christ is in this state of security, though there may be times when that security does not afford all the satisfaction which a perfect assurance of it would convey. There are times when the most faithful believer may not be able to feel the blessedness of his own condition: but when, through divine grace, he is enabled to trust wholly to the forgiving mercy of God through Christ, he then experiences that peace which belongs to those whose mind are stayed on Him. The course of life, too, in which he is walking leads to peace; for the real believer is "sanctified by God the Holy Ghost," as well as "redeemed by God the Son;" 1839.] LETTER OF MISSIONARY SWARTZ. 83 and, in His course of holiness, and in his desire to serve God, he is kept from those snares which entangle the ungodly man in perpetual difficulties, and from those stings of conscience, with which God's wrath torments the man who acts in opposition to his known duty. no peace," saith the Lord, " to the wicked." "There is V. LETTER OF MISSIONARY SWARTZ, THE AGED, TO HIS FRIENDS AT VELLORE. MY DEAR FRIENDS, It is a long time since I had the pleasure of addressing you, illness has prevented me. I can hardly describe to you the nature of my weakness-so great has been my relaxation that I could scarcely stand. I felt no pain. But enough of this. Age comes on me, I have no reason therefore to wonder at weakness. If the mind be sound, all is well, the rest we shall quit when we enter into the grave; that will cure all bodily indisposition. On this subject I meditate frequently. God grant me grace to number my (perhaps very few) days. Eternity is an awful subject, and should be continually in our minds. I know and feel that I have no righteousness of my own, whereupon I would dare to depend for eternal happiness. If God should enter with me into judgment, what would become of me? but, blessed, for ever blessed, be the adorable mercy of God, who has provided a sure expedient for guilty man. The atonement of Jesus is the foundation of my hope and peace. Though I am covered all over with sins, the blood of Jesus cleanseth me from all mine iniquities, and sets my heart at rest. Though I am a corrupted creature, the Spirit of Jesus enlighteneth, cheereth, and strengtheneth me, to hate all sin; yea, and though the day of judgment approacheth, the love of God comforts me so far as to have boldness to appear before our Judge, not as if we were innocent creatures, but because we are pardoned, washed, and cleansed in the blood of Christ. O, my dear friends, an interest in the atonement of Jesus, and a participation in the graces of His Spirit, these constitute a Christian-these cheer and strengthen the heart, these glorify God, and prepare us for heaven. Let us daily come before our God through the blessed Jesus, and see that we neglect not our sanctification. Our time is short. Within some days I have sojourned in India thirty-four years. The end of my journey is at hand-may my last days be my best days! all times. Farewell, may grace, mercy, and peace follow you at Sent by F. C. ON THE FOOLISH NOTION OF AN EQUAL DIVISION OF PROPERTY. To show the absurdity of the Owenites' notion of a community of goods, let us for a moment suppose a case: -Suppose the property of any town or parish in England was sold and divided equally, into shares of 10%. a piece. Jerry Revel, and Mr. Busy-body, and James Christian receive each (say) 107.-Jerry and Busy-body soon spend their shares at the ale-house and in debauchery, and in busying themselves about any body's matters rather than their own; but James is a sober, diligent man, and soon increases his share to 157. Jerry and Busy-body are beggared, and they now cry out for a fresh division; but James Christian thinks it rather hard that idle and profligate Jerry and Busy-body should come in for a share of his (James's) 10l., and his earnings withal; and he thinks very right, you will say. In fact you must see that if this dividing plan of the Owenites were ever to begin, there would never be an end of it. The badly conducted, the lazy and the drunkard, the glutton and the profligate, would be always spending their shares, and the well-conducted would be rightly using and at the same time increasing theirs, and thus it would be dividing and dividing, till all their time for useful labour would be quite taken up with these divisions, and the people of that town or parish would become so many beggars. So much for the Owenite doctrine of community or division of goods! you are, it may be hoped, as much convinced of its folly and impracticability, as of its wrong and 1839.]*: FRAGMENTS OF SERMONS. 85 that roguery. You are, it may be hoped, persuaded the only way to get what is needful for the support of yourself and your family, and that you "may have to give to him that needeth," Ephes. iv. 28, is the way which God himself has marked out, the way of honest industry in an honest calling, seeking, and trusting to the blessing of God upon your exertion of that strength of body and mind, which He has given you; "not to covet or desire other men's goods, but to learn, and labour truly, to get your own living, and to do your duty in that state of life unto which it hath pleased God to call you." (Church Catechism.)-" Thou shalt not covet,' &c. 10th commandment: "Covetousness is idolatry," Colossians iii. 5. "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." Proverbs vi. 6. 'We hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread." 2 Thess. iii. 11, 12. "Let your conversation (or conduct) be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have." Hebrews xiii. 5. "Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing. into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out; and having food and raiment, let us be therewith content: but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. vi. 6-9. From a tract called "Socialism unmasked." 66 FRAGMENTS OF SERMONS. "Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."-Heb. xiii. 14. THE grand reason for going "without the camp," bearing the reproach of Christ, is because we want a more abiding city than this world affords-all Christians are pilgrims : this world affords them no resting place, no tower of safety, no true shelter. When the world has shown all its glory, one mortifying question makes it sicken and fade, namely, how long will it last? The philosopher, the poet, the moralist, all allow that "the world passeth away," but it is only the true believer who acts upon this truth. All allow the fact, but he alone takes it up practically, and declares by his conduct and conversation, that here there is no continuing city. He therefore goes through the world as a traveller, and as he passes on, he casts a look of observation on the things around him, but his heart and affections are not set upon them. He is content with what he meets with in his way, knowing that if the road be painful, the journey is short, and the end is sure. "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The Bible is our directory through this perishing world. In it we trace the footsteps of the flock, in it are set up way marks, to warn us when we come near danger, and as we travel on, light and strength are afforded us sufficient for our journey. The Holy Ghost shall take of the things of Christ, and shall shew them unto us. It is not enough to tumble over the leaves of our Bible, it is not enough to talk of the greatness of the promises, unless we know what part and lot we have in them. What steps does a Christian take, who says he has no abiding city here? He seeks one to come, he does not only inquire after it, but he seeks it. Two men may sit down and converse about a place the distance, the nature of the road &c., and yet never take one step towards it. But observe, religion is a seeking, a setting out, a travelling: we have warning every day of the truth of the apostle's assertion-We have here no continuing city. But we seek one to come. The eye of faith can see out of this dark world into a brighter: it has a glorious prospect opened, and looks as Abraham did for a "city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." See what a Christian, even in this world can discover! when God gives a man eyes to behold the glorious things prepared for him in a better world, he is often ready to say, (though a poor afflicted sojourner in this) "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, |