her; she talks about the faults of other neighbours, and hinders me in my work. It was replied, But does she not talk about the Saviour to you? No,' was the answer,

she has never said a word to me of that sort.' Now these are the every-day failings which it is our duty to watch against. An indulgence in foolish conversation, and unholy tempers, not unfrequently renders those of whom we hope well backward in trying to do good to the souls of their neighbours. This is a great evil, and if we wish to have a revival in the Church of Christ, it must begin in our hearts individually, and there the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit must be cherished and brought into constant exercise ; then the fruits of converting grace will be seen first at home. Our servants, children, and apprentices will perceive the influence of religion and will begin to enquire what that grace is which pro

duces such fruits. Oh let there once be the fervour of prayer, the continued epistle of a holy consistent example, united with a fervent importunate solicitude for the souls of Our families-let our entreaties to them be confirmed by our general sympathy with their state, not merely from the transient impression of a sermon, but an every day anxiety for their deliver

ance from nature's darkness; and then we may hope that God will be gracious; that he will build up his church from the families of his people; and from them continue a numerous race to call him blessed, and to shew forth his praise and glory in the world.

Let such bright and glowing prospects fill us with a holy emulation and desire to be found faithful-to be found consistent-to be found prayerful and watchful. The life of a believer is a life of conflict with inbred sins and outward troubles, and sinful temptations; as well as with those enemies of God who oppose his truth, and “take his holy name in vain." On all these accounts it becomes us to "take the whole armour of God:" to watch, and "pray without ceasing," and, like the helpers of Nehemiah, "to hold a weapon of defence in one hand, and to labour with the other." Blessed be God he has promised to be with us, his grace is able to abound to us in all things; and "whatsoever we ask in prayer, believing, we shall receive." Let us watch against our easily besetting sins, and bring our tempers, words, and daily conduct into subjection to his word and will, and thus glorify God who hath called us with a holy calling to shew forth his praise,

R.

A PAINFUL call of duty had sum. moned me into the city of BOn my way I had asked myself, What shall I find to be the state of things in that highly privileged, and, at the same time, deeply guilty city? The Lord hath come out of his place to punish the inhabitants for their iniquity, by the dread angel of the pestilence. Doubtless his own children, whether

"strong in faith, giving glory to God," or 66 I weak in faith," and trembling when they ought to be trusting, are thankfully availing themselves of their opened refuge, and obeying the voice of their God. -"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy door about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." But what will

be

be the conduct of "the mixed multitude?" Shall I observe an evident awe resting upon the minds of men? Will they be acknowledging, that this is the finger of God?" Will they be listening to his voice, and abasing themselves in contrition of soul before the altar of atonement and the throne of grace, in prayer, that their sin may be pardoned, and that the plague may stayed? Will the towering temples of Jehovah, which meet the eye in every direction, be thronged with devout multitudes, fervent in supplication, and eager to hear of the grace and power of the Physician of souls ? These mental queries were soon answered. Not a few of the children of Zion had fled in various directions, and with little less, if not with more terror than those who know not God. Others, whom imperative circumstances detained at their homes, were obeying the call of their divine guide in the path of duty, but followed him trembling." Some were calmly and cheerfully pursuing their accustomed way, looking unto Jesus," and leaning on the staff of his word. Psalm xci. These did not appear to be a numerous class, but they were enough to shew the faithfulness of God, his presence with his people, and the honour wherewith he honours them, who in faith and patience honour him. The houses of God were not filled. They were even thinly attended, notwithstanding that several were closed for cleaning and reparation; things which it would have been more wise and seemly to have attended to, while the city was yet healthy, and the plague at a distance. It is no time for closing the doors of the physician, when disease and death are abroad with more than common activity.

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A loss of energy, an indecisive system of deliberation, if not a paralyzing panic seemed to pervade all ranks, checking the tide of com

OCTOBER 1832.

merce, impeding the footsteps of benevolence, and throwing a kind of partial slumber over the activities of religion itself. The dreadful cholera was there, in its most malignant form, though not invested with unlimited power. Its ravages were speedy and terrific, especially in one public establishment-the last earthly refuge of the poor. But the people manifested nothing like a softened state of mind. Those who were the most exposed to the sword of the destroyer, were the most inclined to brave its terrors, to mock its fearful works, and to spread far and wide its contagion. The messenger of divine wrath was caricatured by the pencil of the scorner, was the theme of the ballad-hawker, the

song of the drunkard, the sport of children lisping out their blasphemies in the streets, and the source of merriment in circles, where education and politeness ensure respect and honour to all but to God. I could have sat down and wept at every gate-in every street of the city.

Words can give but a very defective picture of some scenes that passed before my eyes. Medical skill and Christian pity were doing their all in the Hospital: but to little purpose. The dead were many. The law of the land, and the dictates of prudence, and of humanity towards the living required, that these should be consigned to the grave without delay, and not within the boundaries of the city. But the constituted authorities had provided no new burial ground, and the dead were necessarily interred in the church yards of the respective parishes. The passage from the chamber of death to the tomb was now awfully short. It was no seven days' journey, during which, as in other cases, surviving relatives might again and again water the silent dust with their tears, and learn those lessons, which make it better to go to the house of mourn

ing, than to the house of feasting. In less than twenty-four hours, the burial followed the last breath. One might reasonably expect that there was more than enough in the rapid succession of deaths, and the alarming bulletins of the Board of Health, to strike dumb the mouth of the profane, and to throw the garb of at least a decent solemnity over all. Ten funerals followed each other into the field of death, surrounding the house of God, where I was preaching the word of life on the Sabbath afternoon. The mourners were going about the streets in every direction to the other numerous cemeteries of this populous hive of commerce.

A spirit of malignant incredulity began to spread itself through the lower orders, as to the treatment of the patients. The medical gentlemen, who were gratuitously and labourously toiling by night and day, were suspected and accused of systematic cruelty, and even of murder. They were consequently exposed to the most violent outrages. But this was not all. The repose of the dead was violated, and the city was thrown into confusion, which tended at once to augment the terror and the virulence of the plague. As I was occupying the post of an afflicted relative on the Tuesday, by attending five bodies to the grave, the self-infuriated multitude in great numbers rushed into the ground. No authority or reasoning could resist their barbarous rage. Amidst shouts, and yells, and direful curses they seized the coffins, burst them open, tore off the shrouds, and exposed the blackened and infectious corpses to the brutal gaze and violent hands of wretched beings, whose every feature and every action proved, that humanity had no share in their inspection of the dishonoured dead. It was a full hour before the earth hid in her dark bosom these her wretched offspring, and sheltered them from

further insult. With some difficulty, and with a heart torn by conflicting emotions, I read the burial service.

The pestilence made no pause. The madness of the people increased its rage, and its victims were more numerous on every side. At the request of the magistrates, the clergy agreed to bury in the night. At two o'clock on Thursday I proceeded to the same spot. It seemed to be in a different world, when I compared it with the scene of thirty hours before. A watchman at the entrance turned the creaky gate upon its hinges. A boy led the way, the clerk went next with a lanthorn, and I went behind followed by the sexton's daughter. The fair moon, now full, shone coldly and brightly on our way, but the walls of contiguous buildings shaded off her beams from the yawning earth, and the long grass, where I stood to read, waved green and full of life, nourished by the ashes of many generations. It was an overwhelming moment. The spirit of the pestilence seemed to be spreading his dark wings over the spot in awful silence, a silence broken to my soul by a still small voice, that appeared to say from heaven, "I am God. I will be exalted in the earth." The bodies were already in the grave. friend, no relative, not even a bearer was there, or a spectator besides ourselves. Never before had I performed the service under such affecting circumstances. At the bottom of that grave lay a child of God. She was an aged saint, whom I had well known in former years, from whose deep and long experience of the things of God many have loved to derive instruction and encouragement. She had long been dependent on parochial charity for her maintenance, and an inhabitant of the work-house. Her worn-out frame was now at rest, and her soul had joined her spiritual father, the Rev. William Romaine, before the throne of God.

No

The apocalyptic voice seemed to be re-echoed from her tomb, "Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours." The service ended, we retraced our steps. The only word that was uttered was an exclamation, which burst from my own labouring breast, What is sin!' At the next midnight six more dead were given to the devouring grave. I was on the ground just as the last corpse was brought in. There were a few attendants, and among these was a poor maniac, a tall man, dressed in light apparel, and with a staff, who walked at a solemn pace between myself and the body, every now and then giving utterance to his feelings in a wild and mournful manner. I read, I prayed, I affectionately exhorted the byestanders, and retired to my chamber, I trust thankful for my knowledge of Him, in whom my life is

hid. An evening or two before I had preached on our Lord's memorable words, John vi. 40, and I now felt their inestimable value to myself, as standing amidst the dead, the dying, and the living-"This is the will of him, that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day." Familiarity with death, in all its varied and most fearful forms, led believers, in the first ages of Christianity, to an equally close familiarity with the glories, which are opened up to the eye of faith in the grand doctrine of the resurrection and Messiah's second advent. May the spirit of God take of these things of Christ, and reveal them unto us, for our support, consolation, and joy in these days of terror ! VIATOR.

gious conduct, which the subject of this memoir so completely over

came.

I had no personal acquaintance with Mrs. D. till she became a wife and mother, and very little till she became a widow; but have been informed by those who are the most capable of attesting it, that her parents were respectable, and that she was trained up by them to the observance of all the outward means of grace; and that she was, at a very early age, a pattern of dutifulness to her parents and superiors, and of kindness and benevolent feeling towards all among whom she lived. She was also very energetic in whatever she undertook; and her disposition was of the most mild and placable kind. We have here as it were, the germ of all moral excellence, and certainly we shall see in it the seeds of that character and conduct, which, in after-life, she so steadily maintained. But

of the world and its allurements, and temptations, she had had no experience. She lived only among those who loved and praised her, and there was an inward principle yet wanting to give permanency to these moral qualifications, and to lead her to refer them all to Him, "from whom every good and perfect gift cometh;" and to enable her to use them to His glory, and not to her own praise. She appears in this stage of her progress to have exemplified the encouraging declaration of our blessed Lord," If any inan will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." John vii. 17.

At eighteen she married, and immediately after entered upon the arduous duties of conducting the domestic part of the business of a large inn; first at M, afterwards at H, where she remained till her death.

Even

At an early age, she was left a widow with eight children, after passing through some bitter trials, besides that of the loss of an affectionate husband. It was now that her mental and bodily powers were brought to their full proof; and we cannot wonder that for several years she looked very little beyond her own domestic concerns. attendance on public worship was in a great measure suspended, though, it may be presumed, from the habits to which she had been trained, that private duties were not altogether laid aside. But the time was approaching when she was to "worship God in spirit and in truth"-when a new heart was to be given her, and a new spirit put within her-when she was to live to another life as well as to the present, and when she was to be enabled to glorify God by the graces and virtues he had implanted in her; and prepared for that fight of afflictions she was to undergo, and through which his mercy was to be seen in sustaining her. But this was attained to by slow degrees.

She loved much" before she saw the extent of her obligations so to do; or had a clear view of that salvation which so pre-eminently demands it. But at length all clouds were dissipated, and she saw and felt what was due to him who thus made" darkness light" before her, and "crooked things straight"-through which she saw her obligations to the Saviour of the world, and that he demanded equally her love and her obedience. She was now, truly, "a new creature," not so much to outward observation as in the motives and principles which governed her conduct. She now felt that "one thing thing" was especially "needful” -that in all things God was to be glorified-that her benevolence must take a higher character-even the "cup of cold water" was to be given in the name, and for the sake of Him through whom every good Iwas derived which she herself enjoyed. That all the virtues and graces of her character were to be exercised because her profession of the Gospel of Christ demanded it of her, and because she had "nothing but what she had received." And all this gave a stability to her conduct which outward circumstances could not shake, and which no lower principle of action can bestow.

By degrees the inn was as regularly ordered as a private housefamily worship was established twice a day, and attended by as many of the domestics as could be spared from the company. All opportunities were seized with eagerness to inculcate the care of the soul, and the obligations of religion. Assistance was given by subscriptions, and personal attention, to various religious societies. The poor and the sick were in every way objects of marked attention. Caudle and soup regularly dispensed, and prepared under the superintendance of Mrs. D. herself, often with much personal inconvenience. And even