But above all, and as a sure way of fulfilling their duties we would further urge on servants, to do all as in the sight of God. This the apostle dwells on in the same direction which I have already cited; "be obedient, in singleness of heart as unto Christ: not with eye-service as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ; doing the will of God from the heart," (Eph. vi. 5, 6.) not attending to such things as you think will attract notice, and neglecting those which you may expect will pass unobserved; nor even doing what you do rightly with a simple view to please an earthly master, but doing all as "the will of God;" knowing that you are his servant; and that the rule of your obedience in all things is his will, and that he requires your hearty will and obedience; and doing all as to Christ, "with good-will doing service to the Lord, and not to men," knowing that whatever you do as his servant, and for his glory, will be acknowledged. by him; that not the least or the most insignificant duty which you fulfil in any relation of life, as from regard and love to him, will be forgotten in that day when the faithful servant, and the faithful master will be equally accepted by him.

"AT EVENTIDE IT SHALL BE LIGHT."

Rebecca C. was one of the most rosy and healthful looking young women in our parish. Her character stood higher than that of many of her neighbours. As a single woman she had conducted herself with modesty and propriety, and as such was married to a young man of our parish about half a year before I became resident. But with all this commendable moral conduct, she, by her own afterconfession, was living completely as without God, and without a gospel hope in the world. The account she often, in her latter days, gave of herself was, that she

considered herself good enough, or at least much better than many; and that as to repentance towards God, or faith in or knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, she really knew nothing. She had no manner of concern about her soul, or a future state. She felt the necessity and duty of maintaining a decent character in the world; but as to maintaining a humble walk before God, she never once employed a thought on the subject. She went most Sundays to church in the afternoon, but neither understood why she went thither nor what she heard; but as she generally sat in the gallery, she told me, with much simplicity, how earnestly she watched the clergyman turn over the pages of his sermon book, and how glad she felt herself when the blank in the page bespoke the conclusion of the discourse and of the service near at hand. When I one day asked her why, in such a state of mind, she went to a place of worship at all? she said that some how or other she did not feel satisfied if she staid entirely away; yet by the time the service had lasted a quarter of an hour, she got so weary and so anxious to be away, that she always kept her eye on the sermon-book to watch the appearance of its concluding page." The remainder of the sabbath was then spent in walking about, or in visits to her neighbours; and as to the whole of the week between the sabbaths, she gave that entirely and exclusively to those thoughts and labours which were to provide for the body. Such was her account of herself when the Lord had made her a new creature. And here let us pause one moment to notice how much this account would describe the state of thousands of our more decent and moral

young women. Should any such ever cast an eye on these pages, let them learn from Rebecca C. that it is possible to maintain a fair character in the world, to conduct themselves with modesty and decorum among men, and even to appear every Sabbath at the house of God, and yet all this while to be utter strangers to that know

ledge of themselves, of Christ Jesus, and of the way to escape eternal wrath, which alone maketh wise unto salvation. May the Lord open such readers' eyes, and give them to see, that there is but a step between their souls and everlasting death.

To return to the subject of these remarks. It was but a very little while after I came to her parish before the Lord directed the Word home with power to her heart, and, to use her own words, "it seemed now quite a different thing. All the week long she reckoned on the Sunday and the Thursday evening services; and she thought the time so long between them, that when at church she was as much afraid of the signs of concluding the service as formerly she had been anxious to find it drawing to an end; for she now wished it to last all day and all night too."

For several months I was a stranger to her state. I now and then saw and conversed with her on different occasions in a general way, but did not discover the hidden workings of her mind. For a long while her desire had been to speak to me on this subject, and more than once or twice she thought that she had summoned sufficient resolution to do so; but whenever an opportunity offered, her heart failed her, and she returned to weep and to shut up all her sorrows and distresses within her own bosom. These conflicts afterwards appeared to have been very great, as well as of long duration. From week to week it pleased God to deepen the work of conviction of sin, and to shew her more and more of her utter lost and helpless condition, both by nature and by practice. All that she read and all that she heard, at present, served only to shew her the dark side of her own character, so that she was often in bitter agony and distress. What served to augment her affliction of mind was, that she found in her husband an opposer in her path of Christian duty, as well as a man void of those tender and endearing affections which she once thought he possessed. It was her

earnest desire to attend the church on every occasion, but this unhappy man would seldom permit her; so that, in addition to the conflicts of a sin-burdened conscience, she had very often to sit at home and weep under his unkind restraints, while she heard the distant sound of our bells, and saw her neighbours striking off from different cottages towards the place where her very soul longed to be. To thess trials of mind it pleased the Lord soon to add a large portion of bodily afflictions. By removing into a new-built and undried cottage just before her confinement she caught a rheumatic fever, and this was succeeded by a progressive, long, and painful consumption, which increased until death terminated all her pains and sufferings.

As long as she was able to reach the village, she never failed to attend the house of God whenever her husband would permit; and when indisposition had quite confined her to her house I saw her more frequently, and found that by degrees she summoned courage to converse, and

relate more and more of her load of sorrows of heart and fears of mind under a sense of her sins. The pastor's duty and mode of proceeding were here self-evident. His was the office to endeavour to bind up the broken-hearted, by pointing to that Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. As to drawing her attention to the probable approach of death, and setting before her the duty of taking leave as it were of the world and the creature, before she was summoned into eternity, this was unnecessary, because she saw and felt it all herself. It was, however, nearly half a year from the time of her being quite confined to her cottage, before her dark and troubled spirit could obtain light, or rest, or peace. No portions of Scripture, nor any hymns or psalms, seemed to strike her mind or fix her attention, but such as proclaimed the righteous vengeance of an insulted and neglected God. And hence for all that time she sat and wrote bitter things against herself. At length, however, the peace of God

was vouchsafed her. She who had been bound as in misery and iron, was set free; and a blessed state of tranquil peace, scriptural hope, and evangelical faith, were her happy earnests of that future and complete, that eternal and inconceivable rest which remains for the people of God. Nor did the Lord wait until almost the last sand was run through her glass; she was biessed with this truly happy state of soul for several weeks before her death. These weeks were not passed in vain, for in them she exhorted all who came near her; and from her sick and dying bed taught her aged mother the doctrines of the gospel, and urged and encouraged her to seek the Lord while he might be found. As to those Christian friends who now visited her, they will not soon or easily forget either her placid and sweet temper, her deadness to the world, or her spirituality of soul and conversation; much less will the pastor forget what God did for this once thoughtless, but afterwards almost despairing sheep of his flock.

In the natural world, we not only sometimes see a dark and stormy day concluded by a cheering evening, but we now and then behold the western sky illuminated with such bright splendour, and clad in something so like the hues of heaven as the sun goes down, that we cannot but gaze and express our delight. So it was with Rebecca C. Having received information that she was much worse, I rode to her cottage, and found her somewhat revived, and preparing to take a little refreshment; but evidently hastening to her last hour. It was Saturday; and I told her that I thought she would keep the next Sabbath, near as it was, in heaven; to which she agreed in opinion, and conversed on the happiness that lay before her. Not willing to fatigue her, and wishing much to proceed to some distant cottages, I rose to depart, promising that I would call again as I came back. I did, indeed, expect she would spend her morrow in a better world; but I quite calcu