too much enlightened with the truth of the Gospel, to be in the least moved. As soon as he arrived at the stake, the executioner put a rope round his neck, and a chain about his middle; upon which he fell on his knees, and thus exclaimed :— "O thou Saviour of the world, have mercy upon me! Father of heaven, I commend my spirit into thy holy hands." After this he prayed for his accusers, saying, "I beseech thee, Father of heaven, forgive them that have, from ignorance, or an evil mind, forged lies of me: I forgive them with all my heart. I beseech Christ to forgive them that have ignorantly condemned me." 44. HUGH McKAIL. HUGH MCKAIL, who was among the first victims in the twenty-eight years' persecution in Scotland, was executed in the twenty-sixth year of his age. His great influence and popular talents as a preacher made him an object of jealousy. He closed his powerful and eloquent speech on the scaffold, in these sublime and touching words: "Now I leave off to speak any more to creatures, and begin my intercourse with God forever. Farewell, father and mother, friends and relations; farewell, the world and all its delights; farewell, food and drink; farewell, sun, moon, and stars. Welcome, God and Father; welcome, sweet Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament; welcome, blessed Spirit of all grace, and God of consolations; welcome, glory; welcome, eternal life; welcome, death!" And having prayed a few moments, he lifted his eyes to heaven and cried with a loud voice, “O Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit; for thou hast redeemed my soul, O Lord God of truth.” While uttering this prayer he was launched into eternity. 66 45. MONSIEUR HOMEL. M. HOMEL was the pastor of a Protestant Church in France, and suffered martyrdom at Tournon, in October 1683. At his execution he exclaimed: "I count myself happy, that I can die in my Maker's cause. What! would my gracious Redeemer descend from heaven to earth, that I might ascend from earth to heaven? Would he undergo an ignominious death, that I might be possessed of a most blessed life? Verily, if after all · this, to prolong a frail and miserable life, I should lose that which is everlasting, should I not be a most ungrateful wretch to my God, and a most cruel opposer of my own happiness? No, no; the die is cast, and 1 am immovable in my resolution. I breathe after that hour. O, when will that good hour come, that will put a period to my present miserable life, and give me the enjoyment of one which is infinitely blessed? Farewell, my dear wife; I know your tears, your continual sighs, hinder your bidding me adieu. Do not be troubled at this wheel upon which I must expire; 'tis to me a triumphal chariot, which will carry me into heaven. I see heaven opened, and my Jesus, with his outstretched arms, ready to receive me; for he is the Divine spouse of my soul. "I am leaving the world, in which is nothing but adversity, in order to enter heaven, and enjoy everlasting felicity. You shall come to me; I shall never come back to you. All that I recommend to you is, to educate our dear children in the fear of God; and to be careful that they swerve not from the way prescribed to them in the Holy Scriptures. I have bequeathed them a little formulary for their instruction, to the end that, if ever they be brought into the like condition with my self, they may undergo it courageously, and be confident in the goodness of our God, who will send the Divine Comforter to strengthen them in all their straits and distresses. Prepare them for suffering betimes, to the end that in the great day, when we shall appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, we may be able to bespeak him, 'Lord, here we are, and the children which thou hast given us.' Ah! I shall never have done. Ah! why am I hindered from departing? Farewell, my dear people. 'Tis the last farewell I shall ever give you. Be steadfast, be fixed; and know that I never preached to you anything but the pure truth of the Gospel-the true way which leads to heaven." Somebody telling him that he had spoken too much; "How," said he, "have I spoken too much? I have spoken nothing but the very truth. I have neither spoken nor done anything that is in the least injurious to the sacred majesty of our august monarch; but on the contrary, I always exhorted the people, committed by the Lord to my charge, to render those honours which are due to our king. But as for our consciences, we hold them of our God, and must keep them for him." Then his judges, turning from him, ordered the executioner to do his office; which he did by breaking his arms and his legs. And being then asked, whether he would die a Roman Catholic, he answered: "How, my lords! Had it been my design to have changed my religion, I would have done it before my bones had been thus broken to pieces. I wait only for the hour of my dissolution. Courage, courage, O my soul! thou shalt presently enjoy the delights of heaven. And as for thee, O my poor body, thou shalt be reduced to dust; but it is for this end, that thou mayest be raised a spiritual body. Thou shalt see things that never entered into the heart of man, and which are in this life impossible to be conceived." Again addressing himself to his wife, he said, "Farewell, once more, my well-beloved spouse. I am waiting for you. But know, though you see my bones broken to shivers, my soul is replenished with inexpressible joys." Every limb, member, and bone of his body was broken with the iron bar forty hours before the executioner was permitted to strike him upon the breast, with a stroke which they call Le coup de grace-the blow of mercy; that death-stroke which put an end to all his miseries. 46. A NEGRO MARTYR. SOME years ago, a healthy and most valuable slave on a West Indian plantation was converted to Christianity through the agency of the missionaries. His wicked and brutal master did all he could to make him renounce his Saviour. To effect this, he at first flogged him most unmercifully. This cruelty, however, did not move the poor African youth from his adherence to Christ. The master persevered in his inhuman conduct, till at length, on one day, memorable for the perpetration of the infernal deed, he was determined to make the poor slave renounce Christ, or flog him to death! With horrible cruelty he lashed him till his flesh was torn, and it hung about him in tatters. With inhuman hardness, the master, while he was thus flogging his excellent slave, tauntingly inquired, "What now does your Jesus do for you?" The boy replied, "He helps me to bear dese strokes, massa, with patience!" And when this heroic martyr, in the act of expiring, was sneeringly asked by his wretched tormentor, " And now what has your Jesus done for you?" He immediately answered with a faltering voice, "Even dis, massa, dat me can PRAY for you, and FORGIVE you!" SECTION II. Ministers of the Gospel. 1. RISDON DARRACOTT. "The chamber where the Christian meets his fate, Of virtuous life, quite on the verge of heaven; To vice confusion, and to virtue peace."-YOUNG. THIS eminent servant of Christ was born in Dorset. shire, February, 1717; and in the same month his mother departed to rest with her Lord. Some of her ancestors had counted all things loss for the sake of Christ; and had been voluntary exiles to this country, where freedom of conscience in things sacred might be enjoyed. The seeds of piety were early sown in the heart of his orphan son by an affectionate father, who was himself a minister of the Gospel. He was placed under the tuition of Doddridge, at Northampton, and by him he was tenderly beloved. Here his religious character became established, and the piety of his heart and life assumed no ordinary cast. Wellington, in Somersetshire, was the field of his ministerial labours. In view of his zeal, eloquence, and success, Mr. Whitefield said of him, that "he might justly be styled the star in the west;" and a profane person exclaimed once as he passed by, "There goes a man who serves God as if the devil were in him." Immense audiences hung upon his ministry, and multitudes were brought to Christ. In the adjacent villages, he opened houses of worship and preached |