shall best conduce to his eternal happiness in the world to come-which is indeed the only great concern that we ought at all times, and above all things, to think of.' Bishop Bull.

"All this I most steadfastly believe, and on the goodness of my heavenly Father in Christ, I most firmly depend. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee-He will not suffer the righteous to be removed.-Trust in the Lord, and' be doing good, so shalt Thou dwell in the land, and verily Thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee Thy heart's desire.— Commit thy way into the Lord-trust in Him, and he shall bring it to pass. The desire of my heart, O Lord, Thou knowest, is, that I may be the blessed instrument of establishing a Church to Thy glory; and my trust, O Lord, is in Thee, that Thou of thy goodness wilt bring it to pass. Even so, blessed Lord, for Jesus' sake. Amen."

"In whom, O Lord, is my hope, while here below? Truly my hope is even in Thee-my joy and trust is in Thy mercy alone. Thou art my desire, and my portion-therefore unto Thee do I I pour out my supplication-my sighs and my prayers ascend continually before Thee--for Thou alone art my hope, my trust, and my only comforter. Thou art the end, the sum, and the source of all good—and trust in Thee is the only firm support which Thy servants can have, under the miseries of this mortal life. To Thee, therefore, lift I up my eyes, O Father of mercies, and God of all comforts-O Thou lover of fallen man, comfort my soul in trouble, and purify it with Thy grace,

that it may be a clean and holy habitation, such as Thy glorious majesty may not disdain to dwell in. Look upon me after Thy great goodness, and after the multitude of Thy mercies, hear the prayers of Thy poor servant, now wandering in a desolate wilderness. O keep my soul and deliver me; lead me through this vale of sorrow and danger; and conduct me, by the way of peace and holiness, to my own home, even my heavenly country, the land of promise, the presence and eternal fruition of my God. Amen, and Amen."

Feb. 18th, 1823. "See an excellent Sermon on the death of Dr. Compton, Bishop of London, by Dr. Cockburn, on Rev. xiv. 13. The place of the blessed, immediately after death, factorily made out."

clearly and satis

Feb. 22d. "The means to be made use of to invite the Holy Ghost to us, are those in which the Holy Ghost is particularly concerned—namely, prayer, the word, and the sacraments-and where these fail in producing their intended effect, it must be from some fault in the parties concerned.' Bishop Andrews."

March 1st, 1823. "My dear wife has now been dead several weeks-yet, thank God, she is still alive to me, for I think upon her continually. I can in truth say of her, what Bishop Middleton was wont to say of his companion—that she was 'Particeps omnium consiliorum meorum, et pro viribus Adjutrix.' But she is gone to her place of rest-and God grant that I may be in a condition

to follow after her-the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

No. XL.

On Death.

April 23d. "There was a pale horse, and his name that sat upon it was death--and he had power to kill with sword, with hunger, and with the beasts of the field.

666

“But now, he doth not kill us, he doth but stagger and fling us down, to rise again and tread him under our foot-and by the power of an ever-living Saviour, to be the death of death itself. Death was a king of terrors-and the fear of death made us slaves-brought us into servility and bondage all our life long-made our pleasures less delightful, and our virtues more tedious than they are-made us tremble and shrink from those heroic undertakings for the truth of God. But now, they in whom Christ lives and moves and hath his being, as in his own-dare look upon him in all his horror, expeditum morti genus, saith Tertullian, and are ready to meet him in his most dreadful march, with all his army of diseases, racks, and tortures— and as man before he sinned, knew not what death meant, and Eve familiarly conversed with the serpent; so do they with death; and having that image restored in them, are secure, and fear it not. For what can this tyrant take from them? Their life? That is hid with Christ in God. It cannot

cut them off from pleasure, for their delight is in the Lord-it cannot rob them of their treasure, for that is laid up in heaven-it can take nothing from them, but what themselves have already crucifiedtheir flesh-it cannot cut off one hope, one thought, one purpose-for all their thoughts, purposes, and hopes, were levelled not on this, but on another life. And now Christ hath his keys in his hand, death is but a name, it is nothing, or if it be something, it is such a thing, that troubled St Augustine to define what it is- -we call it a punishment, but indeed it is a benefit, a favour, even such a favour, that Christ, who is as omnipotent as he is everlasting, would not abrogate the law, by which we are bound over unto death, because it is so profitable and advantageous to us —it was threatened, it is now a promise-for death it is, that lets us into that which was promised. It was an end of all, it is now the beginning of all

it was that which cut off life, it is now that through which, as through a gate, we enter into it. We may say it is the first hour and moment of our after eternity for it is so near to it, that we can hardly sever them-for we live, or rather labour and fight, and strive with the world, and with life itself, (which is itself a temptation) and whilst by the power of our ever-living Christ, we hold up and make good this glorious contention, and fight and conquer, and press forward towards the mark, either nature faileth, or is pressed down with violence. We die-such is our language, but in the language of the spirit, we sleep, we are dissolvedour bodies are separated from our souls, and we from our miseries and temptations--and this living,

ever-living Christ, gathers us breathes life and eternity into us, and reign with him for ever more. tation of a very old Divine.”

together again, that we may live

Amen.' Medi

No. XLI.

Jan. 1823.

On Divine Decrees.

"The position, which the maintainers of divine decrees challenge, namely, that God can see no sin in his elect--and that sins are pardoned from ever-lasting, before they be done, and that God shall not judge by our works, but by His own unconditional decrees, is downright heresy."

On the same.

"It is a thing prodigious and deplorable to consider that they who would be reformers of the Church should (according to the cant phrase of once saved, always saved) think a state of Gospel grace, to be a state which cannot be forfeited by sin. As if, because without daily sin, no Christian liveth, therefore reconcilement with God is no reconcilement, because it may become void, by gross and heinous sin. But until that which is said, of that faith which alone justifieth, be destroyed, there can be no pretence for so dangerous a doctrine. That which is granted upon a condition, faileth with the condition. Therefore, when St. Paul is persuaded that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in