MEMOIR OF CORNELIUS WILDBORE. 339 not been wholly in vain; that I am not in the 'diftreffing circumstances of many around me, who have fcarcely bread to eat, or raiment to put on; for Jefus Chrift, who fuffered unto death for fin; for restraining grace, without which I had been one of the profaneft monfters in the world; for converting grace, if I may fa fpeak, whereby I have been given to fee fomething of the dreadful evil there is in fin; for a throne of grace to which there is free accefs at all times; and for the hope of glory:-for these things, Lord, make me always thankful!"-At another time, he writes thus:"Yet out of hell! O, my God, I cry out with wonder and aftonishment, who is like unto thee! O make me to abhor myself in duft and afhes, both on account of my vile finful nature, and the paft offences of my life! I fly to the Lamb of God, who takes away the fins of the world, and for his fake, O Lord, be gracious to thy fervant! Forgive, O for¬ give what is paft, and give me grace for the future !" Upon the painful tidings of his mother's death, which reached him a few months prior to his own diffolution, after he has noticed the folemn Providence, he adds, “My gourd, like Jonah's, is withered; yet I would not fay with him, I do well to be angry: no, but rather would I fay, with afflicted Job, The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away, and bleffed be the name of the Lord. I have reafon to bless him for giving me fuch a mother, and for continuing the gift fo long. What a debtor am I to God's great goodness!"-At the commencement of the year which proved his laft, he thus writes: "The longer I live, the more cause I find to admire the Lord's goodness! he fpares me yet another year, and crowns my life with forfeited. favours! O to grace how great a debtor!"On the laft anniversary of his birth, he wrote thus, as though under an impreffion of his approaching end; "I now enter upon my 20th year, but not as though it were my last; hitherto an all-wife, all-powerful, and all-glorious Jehovah has brought me; he knows what is neceffary for me, and I would hope that, whatever he shall caufe to take place, I fhall feel a holy refignation to his will and pleasure." Juft four weeks prior to his laft illness, he writes, "Infenfibility, forgetfulness, and ingratitude are ftill prevailing fins. Lord, I am a guilty hell deferving finner I implore thy mercy! I ask forgiveness, relying upon the merits of thy dear Son: this is the only plea I have for acceptance, the best I can have, or wish to obtain. Bleffed he thy Name for Jefus Chrift, the Pearl of great Price, which never has 772 been been, which is not, which never can be equalled !"-During his illness, which only läfted ten days, he experienced much affliction of 'hody, but a fweet calm prevailed in his foul; he spoke of death with a compofure of mind that evidenced the reality there is in godliness; he exhorted the young, in particular, to think feriously of their latter end; the promifes of God were his fupport, particularly Hebrews xiii. 5; and that Hymn," Guide me, O thou great Jehovah," &c. afforded him fweet confolation. Some hours before his diffolution, his fpeech left him; but while that faculty remained, he fpoke in the language of affurance refpecting his own ftate, and manifefted a great concern for that of others around him. Some of his laft expreffions were, "The conflict is fharp, but will be foon over:"-and a friend obferving, that it would be a happy release when the Lord fhould call him, he replied, " Yes, it will, I have no doubt of it;" and foon after, he entered into the joy of his Lord, April 15th, 1789, in the 20th year of his age. A funeral fermon was preached the following Sabbath, by his worthy Tutor, Mr. Buncombe, from John xi. 25, 26, to a large and attentive audience. DUTY TO AGED PARENTS. THE obligations of children to their parents, and the du ties arifing thence, are among the first of moral virtues, where they are duly discharged; but difobedience to parents is marked with peculiar infamy in the word of truth. Curfed be he that fetteth light by his father or his mother. The man that defpifeth his mother is faid to be a foolish man; and fo he is. When the apoftle enumerates the blackeft criminals, he ranks with them the difobedient to parents; and well he might, for fuch must be totally devoid of every manly fentiment, and every generous principle! Difobedience in a child, who has neceffarily coft his parents to much anxiety and painful folicitude, is a fpecies of felf-difgrace which wants a name! Rebellion and obstinacy in the earlier ftages of life are bad, but neglect of parents in their advanced years is worse. Hence the advice of Solomon, Defpife not thy mother when he is old. an aged parent, by afflictions and a variety of unforeseen difafters, is reduced to a ftate of poverty and wretchedness, it must add inexpreffible keennefs to adverfity, to be deIpifed and difowned by an own child!-a child which has When been been the object of the tendereft indulgence in years paft. Such unnatural children may expect an awful vifitation from a juft God for their ingratitude and their impiety. Difobedience to parents is rebellion against God; and an undutiful child is a monfter in nature. CLOUGHFONIO was a very different character. I faw his aged father, bending under a weight of more than ninety years, requiring every poffible aid, and his fon, his dear fon, always at hand to afford that aid; the fon feared God and loved his father; the tears of filial affection gliftened in his eye, and his attention to his aged parent was extreme. PHILOMATER regarded his aged mother with peculiar tendernets; for kindness and parental indulgence were diftinguishing traits in her character; fhe loved her children, and laid herself out for their inftruction and beneft. After losing a firft and fecond husband, ftern adverfity and the iron hand of oppreffion brought her very low. Philomater fympathized with his aged parent in these painful circumstances of adverfe fortune; he brought her under his hofpitable roof, with a full intention to render her remaining days tranquil and ferene. This was a mutual comfort and fupreme felicity. But ah! how fhort-lived is human blifs, how variable is every fublunary enjoyment! For fixteen pleafing weeks the lively rays of maternal love and filial duty cheered their focial hours; but then, diftreffing clouds gathered thick, and blackened all around; death advanced by hafty ftrides, and put an end to their mutual joys. The tender mother defcended to the filent grave. The forrows which attended her affliction and death, and the reflections to which they gave birth, may be beft feen in a paper which Philomater penned during the painful trial, and which I beg leave to fubjoin. All is "I have juft left the chamber of my afflicted mother. come 1 come me; I am overwhelmed !-Poor dear woman, her trials are great; may her confolations abound! What a mercy is a bleffed Redeemer in the hour of diftress ! May the hope of Ifrael, the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble, fuftain her fainting heart! He is the confolation of his people; his words are balm to the bleeding confcience; he is all in all.-Poor dear woman! I fympathize with thee in these thy laft moments; I feel myself happy to foften thy dying pillow. May guardian angels watch around thy bed! may the light of Heaven fhine upon thy foul! Bleffed Jefus! hear her ardent cries for mercy! Q let the joys of thy falvation abound in her experience, and let her confidence in thee be ftrengthened. Let no infernal fpirit come near her dying bed! Complete thine image upon her foul by the agency of thy Spirit, and meeten her for a place at thy right hand !-Dear Parent, with what pleasure have I feen thee fit down at my table, after a long feparation but now I fhall fee thee in thy place no more. What images rife to view, expreffive of our mutual endearments! my full heart, tears interrupt my meditations. "O for refignation to the divine will !-Indulgent mother! fhe is now gone fhe is at length released from a world of mifery and woe; her trials have been many and great; but now, I truft, fhe is at reft; there, where the widow's heart bleeds no more, and where the orphan's cries are never heard; where the wicked coafe from troubling, and the weary are for ever at reft! Now the relation of mother and fon is diffolved! The eye which looked upon me with soft complacency and delight, is now clofed till the refurrection of the juft. The hand which cherifhed my infant years, now lies pale and motionlefs; the heart, generous and grateful, which always felt for the diftreffes of others, now lies ftill, and is at reft. O for grace to improve this folemn and fpeaking providence to the beft and eternal interests of my foul !" LETTER IV. ON THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, MY DEAR FRIEND, RECEIVED yours laft Wednesday, and read it with pleasure. I am glad that you appear fo fully convinced of my kind intentions towards you from our firft acquaintance. I again affure you, that love to your faul, love to the the truth as it is in Jefus, and concern for the glory of God our Saviour, have been the ruling motives of my conduct; as much fo, fince a difference has taken place with reference to our views of the adorable Redeemer as before; and I should greatly rejoice if our views of divine truth were fuch that we could continue to walk together in Chriflian fellowship, as mutual helpers of each other's faith and joy, to eternal glory; but "How can two walk together, except they be agreed" I defire to be thankful that your last letter breathes an humble fpirit, willing, I hope, to liften attentively to the voice of friendly inftruction; and that you are led to the throne of grace to addrefs the Lord in the language of the Pfalmift, "Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my falvation; on thee do I wait all the day *" I do fill earnestly pray that the Lord, the Spirit, may condescend to inftruct your mind, and guide you into all truth. As to the eternal divinity of the Saviour, the interefting point under difcuffion, I again befeech you to review thofe paffages of the facred word of God which are quoted in my former letters. I have mentioned fome of the names which he bears, the characters which he suftains, the perfections which are afcribed to him, the works which he performs, and the honours which are reprefented as given to him by men on earth, and by faints and angels in Heaven; which confiderations lead me to conclude that he is "Over all, God bleffed for ever." I will now mention a few things which have led me to confider this truth of vaft importance in the Gospel fyftem. First, It appears to me to illuftrate and enhance the greatness of divine love, as difplayed in the falvation of finners. "God fo loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him fhould not perish, but have everlafting life. Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and fent his Son to be a propitiation for our fins." Again, " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how fhall he not with him alfo freely give us all things?" The em phafis of this love ftands connected with the dignity of Chrift.-This alfo, in a moft pleafing and ftriking manher, fets forth his own aftonishing grace, who, "though Pfalm xxv. 5. + Rom. ix. 5. Rom. viii. 32. he |