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of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. They are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God."

Sin, my worst enemy before,

Shall vex my eyes and ears no more;
My inward foes shall all be slain,

Nor Satan break my peace again.

"We know not what we shall be; but we know, that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." He frequently repeated, perfect peace!

"In the night he had some refreshing sleep, and awoke in great calmness. This,' he said, 'is heaven begun; I have done with darkness forever-forever. Satan is vanquished. Nothing now remains, but salvation with eternal glory-eternal glory.'

"On Tuesday morning, March 27th, he appeared dying, and suffered exquisitely. O,' he said, 'it is hard work. Death is a new acquaintance; a terrible one, except as Christ giveth us the victory, and the assurance of it. My flesh and my heart seem as if they wanted to fail, and could not. Who can tell what that tie is which binds body and soul together? How easily is it loosened in some, what a wrench and tear is it in others! Lord, loosen it if it be thy will-I hope it is not wrong to pray for a release. If it be, God forgive me! Yet if it be thy will that I should wait for days and weeks, Thou art righteous!'

"Through the whole of Tuesday afternoon he was calm, and talked delightfully. He seemed to unite the cheerfulness, clearness of thought, and force of argument of his former days, with the extraordinary tenderness, humility, meekness, and love, of his present situation. On his second son's entering the room, he said to him,

'Who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed; feed the flock of God that is among you,' &c., (1 Pet. v, 1-4;) and proceeded to converse in a most interesting manner about his own past ministry. He had a blessed consciousness of having been faithful, which was a source of gratitude to him.

Seek and

You may

May you

"To his grandson: God bless you! I have often preached to you, and sometimes talked to you; but I have prayed for you a hundred times more. serve God. Religion is all that is valuable. think it does little for me now; but it is all. be a blessing to your parents, to your brothers and sisters! You are the eldest; should you outlive your father, be a father to the rest. I have always particularly wished you might be a minister of Christ: but this I must leave. God's will be done!'

"One thing is not to be forgotten concerning these benedictions which he continued to pronounce upon his grandson, that, though he much longed that he should be a minister, he yet solemnly warned him not to take the sacred office upon him, unless he was conscious of a heart devoted to the work of it. Rather,' said he, 'make forks and rakes, rather plough the ground, and thresh the corn, than be an indolent, ungodly clergy

man.'

"Wednesday morning, March 28. He had slept a good deal, and was calm and cheerful, though in great suffering. This,' he said, 'is my last day. Still I have the last struggle to pass, and what that is, what that wrench is, who can tell me? Lord, give me patience, fortitude, holy courage! I have heard persons treat almost with ridicule the expression, Put “underneath me the everlasting arms." But it is exactly what I want-" everlasting arms" to raise me up; to be "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner

man." I am in full possession of all my faculties; I know I am dying; I feel the immense, the infinite importance of the crisis: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Thou art "all I want;" "None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good." Blessed be God, there is one Saviour, though but one in the whole universe. Had any other done what Christ has for us-raised us from such a deplorable, lost, wicked state-shed his blood for ussent his Spirit to quicken us; would he not be greatly affronted if we were to doubt his perfecting his own work? And yet we are apt to doubt Christ's love. God forgive us that, with all the rest of our offences! "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?""""

In much the same state he continued till his death. His mind was clear to the last moment; he had been peaceful and happy for several days, and in the end, with perfect composure and a heavenly smile playing upon his countenance, he sank down into the arms of death, and without a sigh or a struggle, without even a discomposed feature, he sweetly slept in Jesus.

Thus terminated the sufferings and trials of this eminent servant of Jesus, proving by his last conflict, that though the valley of death is frequently beset with terrors at its entrance, yet the victory remains certain to every child of God. Nature indeed shrinks from the hand of death, and the mind itself trembles at the thoughts of eternity; but the rod and staff of Omnipotence yields courage and strength, and turns the eye undaunted on the dark valley through which lies the road to endless bliss. He died on Monday, April 16th, 1821, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

13. RICHARD CECIL.

"He taught us how to live; and O! too high
A price for knowledge, taught us how to die!"

MR. CECIL'S mother laboured to impress his mind with
Divine truth. She furnished him with Janeway's Token
for Children, which at an early age much affected him.
Afterward he broke through all the restraints of a pious
education, and became almost an infidel. Yet his mo-
ther's admonitions, which he affected to scorn, were not
lost. They fixed themselves in his heart, and would
draw tears from his eyes as he passed along the streets,
from the impressions left on his mind. Lying awake
one night, he contemplated his mother's case.
"I see,"
said he, within himself, "two unquestionable facts.
First, my mother is greatly afflicted in circumstances,
body, and mind, and yet I see that she cheerfully bears
up under all, by the support she derives from constantly
retiring to her closet and her Bible. Secondly, that she
has a secret spring of comfort of which I know nothing;
while 1, who give an unbounded loose to my appetites,
and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never find
it. If, however, there is any such secret in religion, why
may not I attain it as well as my mother? I will im-
mediately seek it of God." He now rose in bed and be-
gan to pray, but was soon damped by recollecting how
he had ridiculed the Saviour. He, however, persevered
in inquiring for the way of life, and at length happily
found it.

When about twenty-eight years of age, he entered on the ministry of the Gospel. He laboured in various places, but the principal scene of his exertion was St. John's chapel, Bedford Row. There for many years he was employed in dispensing the word of life.

"Faith,"

he observes, "is the master-spring of a minister. Hell is before me, and thousands of souls shut up there in everlasting agonies-Jesus Christ stands forth to save men from rushing into this bottomless abyss-He sends me to proclaim his ability and love; I want no fourth idea!-every fourth idea is contemptible !-every fourth idea is a grand impertinence!"

In the latter part of the year 1798, he was attacked by a severe illness. During its continuance he found the Saviour his only support. He said: "If God should restore me again to health, I have determined to study nothing but the Bible-all-important truth is there, and I feel that no comfort enters sick curtains from any other quarter. I have been too much occupied in preparing to live, and too little in living. I have read too much from curiosity, and for mental gratification. I was literary when I should have been active. We trifle too much. Let us do something for God. The man of God is a man of feeling and activity. I feel, and would urge with all possible strength on others, that Jesus Christ is our All in all."

On one occasion he said to a friend: "It has been a night of great pain, but it was a night appointed me by Jesus Christ, and sure it must be a good one that he appoints! Had I laid down my life for you, your good nights would have been my anxious care." At another time: "I have great peace-not a ruffled breeze, night nor day; and this is all grounded on the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Give up that and I should have no sleep to-night. All is pitch darkness without it-dark as a Socinian-dark as a moralist. There is no light but what Christ brings."

To one who spoke of his illness, he said: "It is all Christ. I keep death in view. If God does not please to raise me up, he intends me better. I know whom I have believed; I find everything but religion vanity. I

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