gracious;" "his Spirit is striving;" his word and his providence declare that "the time of visitation" is rapidly passing; "that now is the accepted time; now the day of salvation." Pardon, peace, and all happiness, are now to be found in Christ for the asking; for he says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

Alison could say, while walking through the valley of the shadow of death, that she knew she had sought the Lord early; and she realised the preciousness of the promise in which, in secret prayer, he first revealed himself as a Saviour every way suited to her "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out."

What would her youth, her personal beauty, her amiable dispositions, her fascinating manners, her manifold accomplishments, which secured to her the love and admiration of a large circle of attached relatives and friends, have availed her, had she not known the Lord, in whom she believed, 66 as the portion of her soul," when, at the early age of twenty-two, she was unexpectedly, and when absent from home, summoned to meet the last messenger? Though surrounded by every thing that was likely to attract the youthful mind to present things, she hesitated not to obey the call, and found, when standing on the brink of eternity, the world, with all its transitory concerns, dwindle into emptiness, before the opening glories of immortality. Her bodily

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distress served only to render things unseen more bright and desirable, so that not one lingering look was cast behind, nor a single wish felt or expressed to remain longer amid the conflicts, temptations, and sins of this world. The attractions of the eternal world raised her affections above this, and made her long to depart, as she looked to a reconciled Father, —a Saviour, once crucified but now exalted,-holy angels, and the company of the redeemed, all waiting to welcome her to everlasting habitations, to put into her hands the palm of victory, and to place on her head the unfading crown of righteousness.

All that was lovely in Alison while living, and all that was peaceful and happy in her when dying, was the effect of sovereign grace, equally needed by all her young friends, and equally free to each of them.

Let the voice from the early tomb of Alison be listened to as it says emphatically, "Be ye also ready. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure; redeeming the time;" and then, as was the case with her, "the day of death will be found to be better than the day of birth."

CHAPTER VIII.

The bereaved mother, sorrowful yet rejoicing-Her bodily exhaustion-Commencement of her illness-Its progress — Her death-bed-Strong faith, and triumphant hope-Reflections on her death, and that of her daughter-Estimate of her character-Concluding remarks.

MRS JOHNSTONE, upon the death of Alison, "though cast down, was not destroyed." Deep called unto deep, and all the waves and billows of a mother's keenest anguish passed over her while she realised the pangs of separation from the child of her love. Yet this afflicted one, tossed with a tempest of feeling, known only to such bereaved mothers, refused not to be comforted. In the midst of the storm she listened to the voice, "Be still, and know that I am God;" meekly responding, "Our God is in the heavens, what pleased him he hath done." Hence

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was, that before she sought any rest for her exhausted frame, she joined with her remaining daughter, and the other members of the household where she was residing, in pouring out a heart deeply humbled under the chastening that had come from a Father's love; thus turning to him that had smitten, who "maketh sore and bindeth up," who

"woundeth, and his hands make whole;" acknowledging his sovereign right to dispose of her, and of all dear to her, as seemed good in his sight, and full of adoring thanksgiving for the signal display of mercy and grace vouchsafed to her beloved Alison.

On the 11th November, the second day after Alison's death, Mrs Johnstone returned to Willow Park; and, on her arrival, she met, in her usual calm and subdued spirit, her sorrowing domestics, and the family of her departed sister, who glorified God because of the grace exhibited in her submission to the Divine will, and in the whole of her deportment.

The remains of Alison arrived on the evening of the 12th. Even at that trying time, the composure of Mrs Johnstone was that of christian resignation and heavenly hope. She felt that though her daughter would no more reciprocate the smile of love, yet she enjoyed what was far better-the smiles of the beatific vision.

It was the Sabbath that followed; and it was found to be a day of rest and refreshing to Mrs Johnstone, in which she had a renewed sense of the blessedness of union to Christ Jesus, "the resurrection and the life," and of communion with the Father and Fountain of life through him.

She sought to catch some of the notes of that new song to which the harp of her beloved Alison was tuned. But while this was the case, she was not unmindful of the duties she owed to the members of

her family still with her; spending part of that hallowed day in endeavouring to improve, for their benefit, the solemn circumstances in which they were placed. Having long experienced that "it is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting," she was full of anxious concern, that each individual under her roof, as well as her surviving children, might be instructed in every lesson the Lord designed to teach them by the visitation that had removed one of their number, so justly dear to them all, and that, in her unlookedfor departure, the voice of God might be heard saying, "But the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."

Monday came, the day appointed for committing to its lowly bed all that was mortal of the lovely Alison; and Mrs Johnstone, wishful to bear testimony to the gracious dealings of her heavenly Father, though far from well in body, rose that she might perform the duties connected with the solemn occasion, and receive the relatives and friends expected from a distance.

All who saw her perceived that the spirit she breathed was, "Father, nevertheless not my will but thine be done." She had faith's eye upon her Saviour, Jesus Christ, "who hath abolished death," and who by having lain in the grave, has made it a sweet resting-place for the bodies of his people, till "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the