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 clergyman.' 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 pa. tience, 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 us— sent 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 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 mother'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 I, 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 immediately seek it of God." He now rose in bed and began 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. 1 am ready even on this sick bed to preach to preachers. I ask myself, What is my hold and support—what will remain with me when everything else is washed away? To recollect a promise of the Bible-this is substance. Nothing will do but the Bible." After this severe attack he in some measure recovered, and several years were added to his life. He again pursued his great work, and still experienced his heavenly Father's care. He often used to say: “I set out with nothing but dependence on God, resolving to do his work, and leaving all the rest to him. I know that he will take care and provide for me.” A considerable time before his death, illness again removed him from the field of active labour, and in August, 1810, he was called to his eternal rest. As he drew near to death, Jesus Christ was his only topic. His apprehensions of the work and glory of Christ, and of the unspeakable importance of a spiritual union with him, grew, if possible, more distinct. He spoke of his Saviour with the feeling and seriousness of a dying believer : "I know myself to be a wretched and worthless sinner, having nothing in myself but poverty and sin. I know Jesus Christ to be a glorious and almighty Saviour. I see the full efficacy of his atonement and grace; and I cast myself entirely on him, and wait at his footstool. I am aware that my diseased and broken mind makes me incapable of receiving consolation; but I submit myself wholly to the merciful and wise dispensations of God." He often repeated, with the martyr Lambert, “None but Christ-none but Christ;" and a short time before his death, he requested one of his family to write down for him in a book the following sentence: "None but Christ, none but Christ, said Lambert dying at the stake; the same, in dying circumstances, with his whole heart, |