his soul than in his body; and affectionately recommended him to the good Physician. He was prevailed on to go to hear a person preach in one of his master's fields; where he found out both his soul's disease and remedy. It may deserve mention, as an awful circumstance, that a gentleman's servant, who, violently opposed this minister, was soon after seized with the frenzy-fever, and died insane. We should not be hasty in pronouncing such cases instances of divine judgment, but we have often occasion to remark, that the same word which is made the savor of life to one person, is the savor of death unto another, through their rejection of its blessings.

While our young shepherd lived at Imber, which was before he married, after he had done work in the evening, he used to walk about eight miles to meet the people of God at Sceend; and return again the same night to be ready for his business early in the morning: an admirable example of prudence, industry, and zeal united. More than thirty years was he employed as the shepherd upon one farm. A long life of rural occupation must afford many materials for reflection; and his particular employment gave him much leisure for it. Besides, David conversed daily with his Bible, and always found matter there for his meditation; while every object in the field, the sheep, the pasture, the surrounding horizon, and his own occupation, had all a tendency to bring to his recollection a psalm, a prophecy, a parable, or some other blessed portion of the Scriptures.

Notwithstanding his humble situation and scanty means for supporting a family, David Saunders married. He did not reason as many do, who seem to consider the increase of wealth as a grand object in entering upon this state: he considered the lilies of the field, how they grew; and he saw how the birds of the air were fed. God blessed him with a most excellent wife and a numerous offspring: he had sixteen children born, all baptized at the parish-church; and twelve of them at one time, were" like olive-branches round about his table." It is not to be supposed that a poor shepherd, with such a family, could be without his difficulties, especially as his wife suffered much from sickness: but she was a most pions, notable woman; and all the children were brought up in carly habits of industry. When trouble used to prey upon her spirits, her constant micthod was to repair, with cries and tears, to her husband's large Bible, which he used to keep in the thatch of his cottage; and there, as her daughter has since informed the writer, she always found something to comfort or support her.

Her husband, good man, fled to the game resource in all his trials: his salary being but 6s. 3d. weekly, out of which he was sometimes obliged to pay a boy for assistance; but when umes of peculiar necessity occurred, God always raised him

up a friend. Dr. Stonehouse (afterwards Sir James) repeatedly assisted him; and sometimes his good neighbours, in humbler life, united to supply his wants. In one of his letters, in his old age, he thus writes, with much Christian simplicity: "As for my part, I am but very poorly in body, having very sore legs; and cannot perform the business of my flock without help. As to the things of this world, I have but little share,having my little cot to pray and praise my God in, and a bed to rest on so I have just as much of this world as I desire. But my garment is worn out; and some of my Christian friends think they must put their mites together and buy me one, or else I shall not be able to endure the cold in the winter: so I can say, Good is the Lord!-- he is still fulfilling his promise, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee *!"

At one time, having been obliged to apply to the parishofficer for assistance, he was cruelly repulsed, under the pretence that he was a preacher, and got money by hus preaching. David was compelled to summon the officer before a magis trate, where he made the same plea; but the good man denied the charge. He acknowledged, indeed, that, on a Sabbathmorning, before he went out to attend his sheep, he used to read his Bible, and sing and pray in his family; and if any of his neighbours came in to unite with him, as sometimes many of them did, they were very welcome; and he did not know that he offended any law. The worthy magistrate, struck with the good man's simplicity, reproved the unfeeling overseer; telling him, he had better mploy himself as well; and ordered him to give all the relief desired.

Good David Saunders was remarkably spiritual in his conversation; and though worldly business sometimes necessarily engrossed his attention, when that was done, he would say, "Now let us have something profitable," or he would ask his Christian friends, " Is it agreeable to spend a little time, in prayer?" When Mr. Stedman went to the neighbouring vil lage of Cheverill, to settle as curate there to Dr. Stonehouse, the first person he met in that parish was our shepherd, who told him, in a conversation he had with him some time afterwards, that, taking the stranger to be the minister expected there, he could not help repeating to himself these words of St. Paul, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad udings of good things! The same clergyman adds, that he had acquned a surprizing knowledge of the Scriptures, readiness in prayer, and spiritual conversation." By "reading" his Bible and prayer, he seemed to keep up a constant communion with God †."

* See a Letter from the Shepherd, in the Evan. Mag. for 1803, p. 476. Letters from the Rev. Job Orton and Sir J. Stonehouse to the Rev. T. Seedman, vol, i, p. 22, note.

This good man was a happy instance of the attractive power of true religion: wherever he went, he was admired and beloved; even when he visited distant parts with his master's sheep for their wintering, the good people all around used to caress him, and delight to hear his pious and simple conversation; and when, about a year before his death, the loss of sight totally incapacitated him for his pastoral office (as it may be called) the neighbouring farmers invited him to visit them for a month together. It had been his constant prayer that the Lord would not let him long struggle with death, or lie long ill, to be troublesome to his friends; and the Lord granted his request.

Being on a visit to one of his friends at Wyke, the dear aged saint united, as usual, with the family in prayer; and was afterwards heard to pray with extraordinary fervency in his own room he slept with the son of his kind host; and after he was in bed, began to open to him the things of God, and talked to him of the blessed Jesus till he fell asleep,-to wake no more till the resurrection of the just; for in the morning he was found dead! At the joint expence of his friends, and as a mark of their particular respect, his remains were conveyed to his own parish, where they were interred with more than usual solemnity, about the middle of September, 1796, and in the eightieth year of his age. Thus was he, as a shock of corn fully ripe, gathered into the garner of the Lord!

Miss More's admirable tract, before referred to, contains a just delineation of this extraordinary person; and tho' for many of the incidents we are, doubtless, indebted to her elegant and inventive pen, the reader will peruse it with new interest, when he finds the outlines to be faithful, and the conversations recited in perfect harmony with the real character of the man; for though "simple and unlearned," as the world would call him, he possessed uncommon natural abilities; and, what is far better, was endued with a large portion of that "wisdom which is from above, - pure and peaceable!"

THE SCHOOL OF JUDGMENT.

THE judgments of God are now abroad in the earth! That scourge, with which the Almighty lately afflicted Holland, Italy, and Switzerland, is now laid upon Germany, with a heavy hand. From the reports that have reached us, armies have been almost annihilated, cities taken, villages abandoned, the wise frustrated in their councils, and the valiant have let those weapons fall from their hands with which they hoped to defend their country. Judgments, long threatening Britain, have, for the present, fallen upon Germany; but have we any

assurance that they will be there exhausted? Who can tell, but before the storm is entirely spent, through a sudden turn of the winds of Providence, it may be directed to our own land? But, be that as it may, we have another warning,-a longer season is granted us to repent, reform, and learn righteousness. The finger of God is now writing his will, and our warning, instruction, and duty, in those calamities which are inflicted upon other nations. The cup of his wrath has already been handed from country to country: they have pledged each other therein, with a kind of intimation, that it was to pass from hand to hand till the contents should be exhausted. Thanks be to God, it has not yet come to us; but, while we rejoice, we tremble, recollecting, that the nearer it comes to the bottom, the more bitter the mixture will be found. "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof, at the wicked of the earth shall wring them. ont, and drink them *.” Let us, therefore, listen to God's warning voice, and place ourselves under his wise instructions, that, as individuals we may not only find profit, but prevail for the happiness of others, adopting as our own those words of the prophet Isaiah (chap. xxvi, ver. 9)" With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early; for, when thy judginents are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." From these words, the following instructions are held out to

us:

1st, That righteousness is happiness. The revealed will of God, as Governor of the Universe, is, that it is his pleasure to lead men to happiness by the way of righteousness; and all his secret influences and operations upon the human mind, tend to the accomplishment of this grand and gracious design. Sin is properly the misery of a creature, whether we view it in its principle, its operation, or its effects. All the misery expe. rienced by fallen man, or apostate angels, whether present or future, on earth or in Hell, during time or for eternity, is to be traced up to this bitter fountain; as, on the contrary, all the felicity of saints upon earth, or of the spirits of just men now in Heaven, is the proper fruit and effect of rigineousness. By righteousness, we are to understand all the happy effects of a soul's union to Jesus Christ; comprehending the way in which it is constituted and considered righteous before God, as Judge; as also gradually sanctified, so as finally to be made meet to enjoy Him as its portion. a order to a guilty fallen creature being made righteous, sin must be pardoned, a righteousness not his own placed to his account, and both of them conveyed in a way which will not infriuge upon one

* Ps. lxxv. 8.

:

of the divine perfections, but glorify them all. He must be made a partaker of the spirit of faith and of supplication: -a faith which more than assents to the propositions of divine truth, by entering into their very spirit, and thence deriving influence to subdue sin, sanctify the powers of the soul, and enable it to bring forth the fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ. Such are justified by faith, stand in grace, work by love, are sanctified through the truth, and, finally, perfect holiness in the fear of God. But without the shedding of Christ's blood, there is no remission of sin; without remission, no acceptance before a holy God; without acceptance, no participation of a divine nature; and without holiness, no seeing of God to the creature's happiness. Thus is the principle confirmed, that righteousness is happiness. If further evidence be thought needful, we behold it confirmed in Adam, while he remained in the state in which he was created. Created in righteousness and true holiness, he was happy in his union to God, and communion with him. While the law of God was in the heart, he stood firm on the foundation of his created righte ousness: his mind in unison with the will of God, in full subjection to him, and happy in his dependence on him he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and wholly separated for God. So long as he continued in this righteous state he was happy. The experience of all those who are brought to believe in Christ unto righteousness, in some measure, confirms the same. "Being justified by faith, they have peace with God, through the Lord Jesus Christ *." In him they find righte ousness, refuge, and rest. Accepted in him, who is the beloved of the Father, grace is glorified; God is their friend. O what a privilege! Their Father, what an honour! Their portion, what a goodly heritage! Once he was angry with them; but now his anger is turned away, and he comforts them he is reconciled to them after all they have done unto him! To learn righteousness then, is to learn the only way to be happy! If from individuals we turn our attention to whole communities or nations, it is sin that debases and gradually sinks a people into ruin; as, on the other hand, it is righteousness that exalts them to honour. "Righteousness," says Solomon, "exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people +." It must, therefore, be the greatest reproach to that people who have the means, the invitations, and the encouragements to become righteous.

Secondly, Of this lesson the inhabitants of the world are generally very ignorant. They have to learn righteousness, for, by birth, there is none righteous; no, not one. The miseries of men, as individuals, and of whole communities, arise either from their ignorance of righteousness, or from their aversion to it. Happiness, indeed, is the desire of all; but their ideas