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A veneration

be attended with the happiest effects. for these sacred volumes, and a pleasure in perusing them, may be excited by agreeable and interesting associations; and these impressions, thus early made, there is reason to believe, would accompany the mind through the whole of life."

Chap. ii, ver. 29, 30.-Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

Mr. Hervey, when dying, expressed his gratitude to his physician for his visits, though it had been long out of the power of medicine to cure him. He then paused a little, and with great serenity and sweetness in his countenance, though the pangs of death were upon him, being raised a little in his chair, repeated these words: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy most holy and comfortable word; for mine eyes have seen thy precious salvation. Here, doctor, is my cordial: what are all the cordials given to support the dying, in comparison of that which arises from the promises of salvation by Christ? This, this now supports me." About three o'clock he said, "The great conflict is over;-now all is done." After which he scarcely spoke any other word intelligibly, except twice or thrice, precious salvation! and then leaning his head against the side of the chair on which he sat, he shut his eyes, and on Christmas day, the 25th of December, 1758, between four and five in the afternoon, fell asleep in Jesus.

Chap. iii, ver. 14.-And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

Two British officers led their troops against a set

tlement of the enemy in America. One of them, named Butler, entering a house, the mistress of which was lying in child- bed, he ordered mother and child to be killed. At that moment, the other officer following him, cried out,-"What, kill a woman and child! No. That child is not an enemy of the king, or friend of the congress. Long before he can do evil, the dispute will be settled." He then set a guard at the door, and saved both mother and child.

Chap. iii, ver. 19.-But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, &c.

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The Rev. Mr. W- was travelling in a stage coach, in company with the Hon. Capt. Nwho, though he was in other respects as agreeable as he was intelligent, frequently indulged in taking the name of God in vain. Mr. W -, in a dignified and affectionate manner, reproved him. So far from being offended, Captain N- formed an esteem for him, which time did not destroy. And when the vicarage of T-, which was in his gift, became vacant, he unsolicitedly gave it to his faithful monitor.

Chap. iv, ver. 18, 19.-The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised: To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

The biographer of Mr. Elliot, the missionary, says of him, "He liked no preaching but what had been well studied; and he would very much commend a sermon which he could perceive had required some good thinking and reading in the author of it. I have heard

him thus express himself: 'Brother, there was oil required for the service of the sanctuary; but it was to be beaten oil; I praise God that I saw your oil so well beaten to-day: the Lord help us always, by good study, to beat our oil, that there may be no knots in our sermons left undissolved, and that there may be a clear light thereby given to the house of God!' He likewise looked for something in a sermon beside and beyond the mere study of man; he was for having the Spirit of God breathing in it, and with it; and he was for speaking those things from those impressions, and with those affections, which might compel the hearer to say, The Spirit of God was here! I have heard him complain, " It is a sad thing, when a sermon shall have this one thing, the Spirit of God, wanting in it."

Chap. v, ver. 26.-And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to-day.

Dr. Philip, in a late speech at the anniversary of the London Missionary Society, alludes to a remark made by Mr. Newton-" When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there;-the first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see-the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see-and the third, and greatest wonder of all, will be to find myself there." "I have also," says Dr. P. "seen three wonders; I have seen men of great wealth, and of great talents, who have had many opportunities of forwarding the cause of God, do nothing; I have seen many humble and despised individuals, but whose hearts were right with God, do wonders; but the greatest wonder of all is to find that so humble an individual as I am, should have been at all useful in the work. I take nothing unto myself but shame and humility before God."

Chap. vi, ver. 22.-Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

Six students were expelled the University of Oxford in 1768, for praying, reading, and expounding the Scriptures in a private house. Mr. defended their doctrines from the thirty-nine articles of the established church, and spoke in the highest terms of the piety and exemplariness of their lives; but his motion was overruled, and sentence pronounced against them. Dr. one of the heads of the houses present, observed, that as these six gentlemen were expelled for having too much religion, it would be very proper to inquire into the conduct of some who had too little. What a state must religion have been in at Oxford, that out of so many hundred students, only six should be found guilty of such a pretended crime!

Chap. vi, ver. 27.—But I say unto you which hear, love your enemies, do good to them which hate you.

A person who had done Sir Matthew Hale a great injury, came afterwards to him for his advice in the settlement of his estate. Sir Matthew gave his advice very frankly to him, but would accept of no fee for it; and thereby showed, both that he could forgive as a Christian, and that he had the spirit of a gentleman in him, not to take money of one who had wronged him so grievously. When he was asked by one how he could use a man so kindly who had wronged him so much, his answer was, He thanked God, he bad learned to forget injuries.

Chap. vii, ver. 2, 3.—And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was

sick, and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.

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I remember," says Dr. Doddridge, in bis Life of Colonel Gardiner, “I had once occasion to visit one of his dragoons in his last illness at Harborough, and I found the man upon the borders of eternity; a circumstance, which, as he apprehended it himself, must add some peculiar weight and credibility to his discourse. And he then told me, in his Colonel's absence, that be questioned not but he should have everlasting reason to bless God on Colonel Gardiner's account; for he had been a father to him in all his interests, both temporal and spiritual. He added, that he had visited him almost every day during his illness, with religious advice and instruction, as well as taken care that he should want nothing that might conduce to the recovery of his health. And he did not speak of this as the result of any particular attachment to him, but as the manner in which he was accustomed to treat those under his command."

Chap. vii, ver. 12.-Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her.

It is recorded of the late Countess of Huntingdon, who afterwards so warmly espoused the cause of God and his truth, that in her early youth, when about nine years old, the sight of a corpse about her own age, carried to the grave, induced her to attend the funeral, and then the first impression of deep seriousness respecting an eternal world laid hold of her conscience. With many tears, she cried earnestly on the spot to God, that whenever he was pleased to call her hence, He would deliver her from all her fears, and

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