which it would have been my greatest joy to have performed in person, had Providence permitted me then to have been near him. SECT. 141. The former of those hymns my correspondent mentions, as having been so agreeable to Colonel Gardiner, I have given the reader above, at the end of Sect. 101. The latter, which is called Christ's Message, took its rise from Luke iv. 18, & seq. and is as follows: I. Hark! the glad sound! the Saviour comes, The Saviour, promis'd long! Let ev'ry heart prepare a throne, And ev'ry voice a song. II. On him the Spirit largely pour'd, Exerts its sacred fire: Wisdom, and might, and zeal, and love, III. He comes, the prisoners to release In Satan's bondage held : The gates of brass before him burst, The iron fetters yield. IV. He comes, from thickest films of vice To clear the mental ray, And on the eyeballs of the blind To pour celestial day*. * This stanza is mostly borrowed from Mr. Pope. V. He comes, the broken heart to bind, And with the treasures of his grace VI. His silver trumpets publish loud VII. Our glad hosannahs, Prince of peace, With thy beloved name. SECT. 142. There is one hymn more I shall beg leave to add, plain as it is, which Colonel Gardiner has been heard to mention with particular regard, as expressing the inmost sentiments of his soul; and they were undoubtedly so in the last rational moments of his expiring life. It is called, Christ precious to the Believer; and was composed to be sung after a sermon on 1 Pet. ii. 7. I. Jesus! I love thy charming name, 'Tis music to my ear: Fain would I sound it out so loud, That earth and heav'n should hear. II. Yes, thou art precious to my soul, My transport, and my trust: III. All my capacious pow'rs can wish, Nor friendship half so sweet. IV. Thy grace still dwells upon my heart, The cordial of its care. V. I'll speak the honours of thy name Then speechless clasp thee in my arms, SECT. 143. Those who were intimate with Colonel Gardiner must have observed how ready he was to give a devotional turn to any subject that occurred. And, in particular, the spiritual and heavenly disposition of his soul discovered itself in the reflections and im provements which he made when reading history; in which he took a great deal of plea sure, as persons remarkable for their knowledge of mankind, and observation of Providence, generally do. I have an instance of this before me, which, though too natural to be at all surprising, will, I dare say, be pleasing to the devout mind. He had just been reading, in Rollin's extract from Xenophon, the answer which the lady of Tigranes made, when all the company were extolling Cyrus, and expressing the admiration with which his appearance and behaviour struck them: The question being asked her, What she thought of him? she answered, I don't know, I did not observe him. On what then, said one of the company, did you fix your attention? On him, replied she (referring to the generous speech which her husband had just made) who said he would give a thousand lives to ransom my liberty. "Oh," cried the colonel, when reading it, "how ought we to fix our eyes and hearts on him who not in offer, but in reality, gave his own precious life to ransom us from the most dreadful slavery, and from eternal destruction!" But this is only one instance among a thousand. His heart was so habitually set upon divine things, and he had such a permanent and overflowing sense of the love of Christ, that he could not forbear connecting such reflections, with a multitude of more distant occasions occurring in daily life, where less advanced Christians would not have thought of them: and thus, like our great Master, he made every little incident a source of devotion, and an instrument of holy zeal. SECT. 144. Enfeebled as his constitution was, he was still intent on improving his time to some valuable purposes: and when his friends expostulated with him, that he gave his body so little rest, he used to answer, "It will rest long enough in the grave." SECT. 145. The July before his death he was persuaded to take a journey to Scarborough for the recovery of his health; from which he was at least encouraged to expect some little revival. After this he had thoughts of going to London, and designed to have spent part of September at Northampton. The expectation of this was mutually agreeable; but Providence saw fit to disconcert the scheme. His love for his friends in these parts occasioned him to express some regret on his being commanded back and I am pretty confident, from the manner in which he expressed himself in one of his last letters to me, that he had some more important reasons for wishing an opportunity of making a London journey just at that crisis; which, the |