raise a turbulent disposition in our breast against the hand of God when laid upon us.

True, Madam, said Mrs. Lee, but there are circumstances in my affliction which give a long range to my reflections. Mr. Lee and myself have enjoyed the marriage life more than fifty years, and our affections for each other were so strong, that it could not fail to make the parting more severe when the sad moment came.

I must confess, Mrs. Lee, that this should dictate to you a strong reason for submission, and a grateful acknowledgment to the God of your mercy, who spared you to live together so very many years. In the history of your life, you have known many young people enter into marriage, and before the year expired, the nuptial bed was exchanged for the bed of death. When you were in the meridian of life, with the cares of the world, and your tender offspring around you, God might then have called your husband away, which would have given your widow's weeds a deeper tinge. That the Lord should have spared you together to see your children so honourably settled in the world, and bless you together in peace and comfort to such an advanced age, all these should demand your submission, and excite your gratitude.

Mrs. Stevenson, I dare not contradict your observations; they are just, and perhaps I should use much the same arguments to any other person I

might visit in a situation like my own. At present my mind is so dark and agitated, I find it hard to think, and harder still to submit. The Lord did indeed spare us together much longer than falls to the lot of thousands; and the remembrance of this, however strange to say, serves to drop another grain of wormwood into the cup of my affliction. My earthly comforter is gone, and I am left alone in feebleness and age, with little ability to help myself.

Mrs. Stevenson took occasion to remind Mrs. Lee that the knowledge and enjoyment of God, through Jesus Christ, by the influences of the blessed Spirit, was the only source of real happiness to Christians in this life, and forms the ground of their hope for eternal felicity. I appeal to you, my friend, whether this has not been the fountain from whence you have derived your peace and consolation for very many years past, and from which it is your privilege now, under your bereavement, to draw your support and refreshment, to cherish your depressed mind! I presume you will say, This is true. You will give me leave to say, that among the many characters or relations in which God has revealed himself to you in the Bible, there is one you could not have experimentally known until you lost your husband. It is that of a husband to the widow. Isaiah liv. 5, Jeremiah xlix. 11. Although you may have read such passages while your husband was alive, it is certain you then had no need of them.

But now I

hope that relation of the Lord, as the widow's God,

will appear to you as expressly designed to comfort you in your present widowhood. Look, therefore, Mrs. Lee, to your heavenly Husband, by faith take hold of the arm of his power for your support, and be assured, that you have a share in the compassion, kindness, and love, of his heart; and thus you will happily finish the remainder of your journey upon earth, and eventually find that God can make up your loss a thousand fold!

I hope, my dear friend, Mrs. Stevenson, that I can say, the Lord has taught me, as a sinner, the knowledge of himself as he is in Christ, my Saviour and my friend; and while I have publicly professed this hope, I have not been without some of its consolations in my own soul. But still I must confess to you, the stroke which fell upon my husband, found me in a dark state of mind; I had wandered too far in my affections from the Lord, and therefore unprepared to meet the event. What you have said on the widow's God and Husband, I hope I shall find to be true; but I must confess that I had never thought of it as you have now stated. I have known and felt continued need of the Lord, but not as a widow. This is a new subject, both for my faith and my improvement, and I hope I may enjoy the benefits of it the few days of my pilgrimage which yet remain.

How strange is it, Mrs. Lee, that we can sentimentally believe the necessity and advantages of communion with God, and yet practically neglect

the privilege; and our foolish hearts wander after. other objects, to our own disappointment and sorrow! It is too true, we condemn the perfidious conduct of the Israelites in departing from their God, and committing idolatry, while we may be acting the similar part ourselves. It is not, therefore, a subject of so much surprise, if you were off your guard when death visited your family, that it should create so painful an alarm.

Perhaps, Mrs. Stevenson, you did not hear that my kind husband died so suddenly in a fit of appoplexy. After breakfast he took a walk in the garden to enjoy the fragrance of the flowers. On his return he took a seat in his easy chair, and soon after I perceived that he reclined his head, which I thought was the effect of his walk. I spoke to him, but he did not answer. The fatal stroke was given, and my servants aided to convey him to his bed. Medical aid was instantly called, but it was in vain ; and, in twenty hours afterwards, he breathed his last. O how I grieved, and do so still. I repeatedly asked him if his hope in Christ was firm, if he was resigned to depart, and if the Lord granted him his smiles; but he was speechless, and could only cast his eyes wishfully towards me, and then he sunk in death! One charming word from his lips would have been a cordial to my trembling heart. At this Mrs. Lee wept profusely.

Soon as Mrs. Lee had recovered herself, Mrs. Stevenson asked her, If she had any doubts of her

husband's interest in the salvation of Jesus? Your departed friend, said she, was believed to be a man that knew, and enjoyed the virtues of the grace of God; loved and served his Lord in meekness and sincerity; he bore his public profession without ostentation; and his church, his family, as well as the neighbourhood, are witnesses of his pious deportment, charity, and good-will, to all around him. Now, Mrs. Lee, although it might have given you great satisfaction to hear his last testimony of hope in Christ, and of joys to come, still I must confess that his many years continuance in the service of the Lord, is a more substantial testimony to me than a mere death bed confession. How great would the difference have been, both to him and to you, if he had lived and died a proud pharisee, or a thoughtless old sinner! Therefore, though by the nature of his death, God did not permit him to give you an assurance of his confidence in the Lord, and bid you farewell for a season, let the testimony of his pious life satisfy you; and be assured, that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, let the time when, or the manner of their death, be what it may.

away.

Certainly, my good friend Mrs. Stevenson, I ought not to dictate to my Almighty Father, how, husband nor when, he should take my I do believe he was a gracious good man. Grace in Christ was not only the rest and joy of his soul, and the subject of his conversation, but it was his grief when he heard any speak of salvation, when grace