his language is a perfect model for sacred instruction; and this, my dear friend, is rather a weighty argument: but I have done. May the vast importance of the character you sustain, and the station you fill, be ever deeply impressed on your heart! May you honour Him, whose ambassador you are, by faithfully and affectionately delivering his commission, and, in every respect, standing in his stead! and may you make it manifest, that your only motives for preaching the gospel, are, an experimental conviction of its infinite importance and excellence, an affectionate desire that others may become partakers of the same blessing, and a zeal for the glory of God! My regard for you induces me to seek a further ac. quaintance with you; as there are very few, of my own age in this place, with whom I wish to associate. If you feel a kindred sentiment towards me, let me now and then hear from you, when you can spare time from your studies. I want such a correspondent; and I hope I shall have to acknowledge, that your communications have been instrumental to my growth in grace, and in the knowledge of my Lord and Saviour; which I am sure will afford you pleasure.

I remain, &c.

ANECDOTES.

DEATH OF MR. AVERY.

Gon is sometimes pleased to grant a wonderful strength and vigour of faith to his people; and he does so, especially as they draw near to an eternal world. When Mr. Richard Mather was crossing from Britain to America, in 1635, the ship was tossed by a dreadful storm, which proved fatal to many others. In that vessel there was a minister, whose name was Mr. Avery. Every moment, expecting that the next wave would be a wave of death, he lifted up his eyes to Heaven, and said, Lord, I cannot challenge a promise of the preservation of my life; but, according to thy covenant, I challenge Heaven! He had no sooner spoken these words, than a wave came and swept him away. Thus he was indeed quickly wafted to Heaven. Dr. Gillies's Coll.

Happy they who are thus prepared for a sudden call into the world of spirits. Sudden death is, in this case, sudden glory!'

THE KING'S BIRTH-DAY.

THE late Rev. John Brown, in his last illness, hearing the Haddington bells ring longer than usual, on the 4th of June,

1787, asked what it meant. A relation hinted, it was the King's Birth-day; upon which he said, with peculiar emotion, O when will that glorious solemnity arrive, when all the artillery of Heaven shall be let off! that day of Jesus, when angels and saints shall join a general shout to his honour! Then fires shall be in the heavens and fires on the earth, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.' Sometime after, observing the bells continuing to ring, he said, 'Oh! blessed be God, however worthy our Sovereign be, we have a better King's Birth-day to celebrate. Unto us was born, in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord! On account of that event, the gospelbells have been sounding for ages past; and they will ring louder and louder still! O, a Saviour!-the Son of God, our Saviour! Oh, his kindness, his kindness! A Saviour, a husband to sinners and to me!

VICTORY OVER DEATH.

MANY of the Lord's people are, through fear of death, all their lifetime subject to bondage. This was, in a very painful degree, the case of a person who died some time ago. He lived in the house of a pious friend, to whom he often communicated his distressing apprehensions. He was not so much dismayed with doubts concerning his interest in Christ, as terrified with the thoughts of dying; and has said, he thought he should need three or four persons to hold him, if he apprehended death was at hand. His friend proposed scriptural antidotes to this unreasonable dread; and encour aged him to expect, that as his day, so should his strength be. After several years illness of a consumption, the time of his departure evidently approached; and he often said to his friend, he wished he could always be with him. Finding him. self dying, he sent for his friend to pray with him: he did so; and returned to his business: he sent for him a second time, when he prayed with him again. He felt uneasy; and said, Satan whispers that I have been a deceiver, and shall die a hypocrite. He begged him to pray a third time. After which he cried, The Lord is come! Praise God, praise God!' He then lifted up both his hands, which, through extreme feebleness, he could scarcely raise before, and repeated many times, Victory, victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb and expired with the unfinished word Vic-- on his lips.

A feeble saint shall win the day,

Though Death and Hell obstruct the way!"

Evangelicana.

BACKSLIDING REPROVED.

A SERIOUS Christian once asked a great backslider, whether be really had found more satisfaction in the indulgence of his lusts, and the full swing of carnal pleasure, than he before had done in the profession of the gospel, and in the hours he had formerly spent for God. He honestly replied he had not; and that, so far from being happy, he was not even untormented, except in a state of intoxicated dissipation. It pleased God to restore him again, but not without such bitterness of soul, as all the mad pleasures he had pursued were but a poor compensation to him. Hora Solitariæ, vol. 2, p. 18.

Ar the Council of Constance (which was held about a hundred years before the Reformation begun by Luther) where John Huss was unjustly condemned to be burnt as a heretic, there were present his Imperial Majesty, several ambassadors, 3 electors, a great number of princes, 3 patriarchs, 28 cardinals, 155 bishops, besides divines and civilians from all parts of Europe; and yet, by such an august assembly of great personages was truth condemned and innocence oppressed! - There is no judgment to be formed of the good or evil of any measure, merely by the rank or numbers of those who support it.

ON PRIDE.

Or all the evils of our corrupt nature, there is none more connatural and universal than Pride: it was certainly a principal ingredient in the first sin. St. Augustine says truly, That which first overcame man, is the last thing he overcomes.' Some sins, comparatively, may die before us; but this hath life in it sensibly, as long as we live. It is in the heart of all, the first living, and the last dying; and it has this advantage, that whereas other, sins are fomented by one another, this feeds even on virtues and graces, as a moth that breeds in them, and consumes them, even in the finest of them, if it be not carefully looked to. This hydra, as one head of it is cut off, another rises up. It will secretly cleave to the best actions, and press upon them; and therefore is there so much need that we coatinually watch and fight, and pray against it.

Apb. Leighton on 1 Peter v. 5.

JUVENILE DEPARTMENT.

THE HAPPY CHILDREN.

Intended for the Benefit of our very Young Readers.

The eldest is

Two boys and two girls, the happy children to whom we refer, are now living in a little cottage, in the county of Lancaster. not quite eight, and the youngest but little more than four years of age. They have such kind parents, such a good governess at their well-conducted school, and are making such improvement by these means, that we call them The Happy Children; and we earnestly wish that the dear little ones who may read, or hear this account, may be like them, that they may be happy also.

These children are very dutiful to their parents; for that nothing gives them so much pleasure as when they do those things which please them. Sometimes, when their mother has been poorly, they have behaved so Kk

XVIII.

kindly, that she has said it has quite done her good, and almost made her well. A great deal of pains has been taken with them, to show them bow much they ought to love and obey their mother; and they are all very sensible that these two things are closely connected, The youngest (a boy) has often said, entirely of his own accord, My dear mother, I do love you, and I will obey you.' When their father has been from home for some time, on his return he always asks," Have you obeyed your mother while I have been away?" This practice has caused the duty of obedience to be deeply impressed on their minds; and if he finds any thing in their behaviour like disobedience to their mother, he talks to them about it till tears of sorrow flow from their eyes. Sometimes, on these occasions, they ask their mother to forgive them; at other times, they pray to God to pardon their sins; and always p omise to do so no more. One of them, a little while ago, when his mother had been seriously talking to him of the evil of sin, turned away from her, and, with much concern, fell upon his knees to pray, and said to her when he arose, I have told God, that if he will spare me a little longer, I will be a better boy.'

They love to sing and pray. In the first of these pleasing exercises, they frequently unite together; and in the latter, they not only join, but often do it where none but the eye of God sees them; and they know very well that he always sees them. One day, two of them retired to the same room to pray; and it appeared, on enquiry afterwards, that one of them chose the darkest corner in it, thinking that it would be most proper because it was most private: the other prayed near to a window, which she set open, because she had heard that Daniel did so. They have often been much struck with the history of that eminent saint, and frequently request their parents to read it at family worship. If their father sits a little longer than usual after dinner, one of thein is almost sure to reinind him that thanks have not been returned. A short time since, one of them said, Father, I wish you would pray a long prayer, God is so good to us; and about the same time, another observed, I think we should pray two prayers, when we have pudding and meat too.'

They take delight in going to the house of God. Sometimes they are overheard talking together of what they have heard and seen this is particu larly the case when the Lord's Supper has been celebrated. They are very much surprized that so few come to the bread and wine,' as they express it, because they know that Jesus Christ commands all who love him to do The two have often said, 'We wish we loved God, that we might come to the bread and wine. To know whether they love God, frequently gives them much concern; and their father is at times much at a loss how to talk with them in a suitable manner on this interesting subject. The eldest, after such conversations, sometimes says, I think I do love God; but I am not sure whether I de or not.'

So.

On the Lord's Day their conduct is such as would put some grown people to the blush. To play on that day is truly shocking to them. If any one of them is too trifling, one of the others is almost sre to ask, Have you forgotten what day it is? The Lord's Day is a sacred sound to them. We think that the children who may read or hear this account, would be much pleased to hear them talk about the dear Saviour of sinners. His love and sufferings astonish and affect them very much. A few months since, when one of the sisters was reading of what Jesus suffered, her little brother stopped both his ears, signifying, by that expressive action, that he was so affected he could not bear to hear any more.

For the present, I will only add, that they delight to talk about Heaven. This has been particularly the case since God took a little brother to that happy world. The feeling manner in which they frequently speak of their brother since his departure, has at times almost overwhelmed their parents-Lest this article should be too long. I will conclude, hoping that some of our young friends may be profited by this plain account of these kappy children.

W. S.

Obituary.