was rather abrupt, and on a close inspection of her countenance discontent was a most prominent expression. She was about thirty years of age. When I either read or talked to her mother, she was attentive; but it was evident her own heart remained unsoftened by the dews

of heavenly grace. Promise or threatening seemed alike to fall upon her soul. Neither the happiness of God's people, or the misery of the lost, seemed to affect her; in short, it was total indifference to every thing concerning eternity: this state continued for two or three months, notwithstanding I constantly endeavoured to arouse her from her distressing apathy. One day I was speaking to the mother of the joys of heaven and the sorrows of the lost, and urging upon her the necessity of prayer to God for His Spirit, to convince her of sin, and to lead her to Christ. In the midst of our conversation, Sarah burst into a flood of tears. It was some time ere I could understand the reason of this. I waited patiently till nature had relieved itself, when poor Sarah, still weeping, bitterly asked me, "If I did not think those in hell would suffer most torment who had known their duty and neglected it?" I answered, "Those who know their Lord's will, and do it not, shall be beaten with many stripes;' but," I continued, "the fountain is still open to all returning sinners; and if they repent the blood of Jesus is an all-sufficient atonement, and He offers an unconditional and free pardon to all who come to Him, forsaking their sins. To backsliders, also, pardon is promised, if they will turn again into the narrow way of life." The ice was now broken, the stony heart seemed replaced by a heart of flesh, and in our subsequent conversations, Sarah M. made known to me the following particulars :-She had been in service, and a pious mistress had taken great pains with her. This lady was in the habit of reading the Bible with her servants; and on the Sunday evening in particular she endeavoured to explain the word of God to them in a simple affectionate manner. At first the novelty pleased Sarah; she liked the reading, and made some resolutions to amend her life; but as these resolves were made without prayer, and in her own strength, they were soon

broken. She got tired of her place, and left her good mistress for no assignable reason. She now went far astray, and joined in all kinds of vanities and follies; but still by the restraining grace of God kept moral in conduct. At this period of her history, conscience often testified against her; she knew she was living without God; she remembered her good mistress and her Sabbath instruction; she knew no peace, and often did she bitterly regret leaving her situation and its many privileges. It pleased her heavenly Father to afflict her with fever, and now she "heard the rod, and who had appointed it." From the time she shed those tears I before mentioned, she became much distressed, and very anxious respecting her soul. Once a pious neighbour called and found her searching her Bible, to find a character like her own; but she declared she could not find one who had had her privileges, and had so sinned against light and conscience. For several months she was much cast down; she read chiefly the 51st Psalm, 1st chapter of Isaiah, and the 5th of the 2nd of Corinthians; all of which she said suited her exactly. At length this season of darkness passed away, and the Lord made her to understand His pardoning love, as revealed in the Scriptures. She said to me one day, "I do believe the Lord has heard me for His dear Son's sake; before this when I have endeavoured to pray, my thoughts wandered, and prayer itself was a burden; but last evening I was very sorrowful, and thought the Lord would never hear and pardon me, for I had no pleasure in Him; but," she continued, "last evening I could pray; I felt the love of Christ in a way I never did before. I saw all my Saviour had done and suffered for me, and now I can rejoice in the Lord." This peace of mind remained for some time. Poor Sarah's health now began to give way, and a rapid decline seemed hastening her to the grave. In this time of her weakness Satan took advantage of her, so that for several weeks she was nearly in despair. I called one day and found her in bed very ill indeed, her attendant considered her very near death, and I thought her insensible as she did not answer my inquiries respecting her health. I said, "Sarah, death has no sting or terror

for those who are in Christ Jesus."

sence.

"Oh!" she in

stantly exclaimed, "but I am such a sinner, I am such a sinner!" "Yes," I said, "I know you are, and for such sinners as you Christ shed His precious blood on the cross. "Oh," she again said, "but I am such a sinner, I am such a sinner!" I answered, "But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." I then read to her; she became calm and composed. Her minister saw her the next day, and found her in deep waters of affliction. He prayed and read with her, and again she received consolation; she fell into a sweet sleep, and on awakening told those friends who were watching round her bed that Christ was all her hope and all her trust, that He was now waiting to conduct her soul to His Father's preThus with the praises of her Saviour on her lips, she breathed out her soul and fell asleep in Him. Such is the short and imperfect account of Sarah M., who was at all times an honest, industrious, good servant to earthly masters and mistresses, who gave abundant testimony to her worth. Her parents spoke of her in the highest terms of affection; they said she was dutiful and kind to them. But when the Spirit of truth opened her eyes, what was her testimony concerning herself? "I am such a sinner, I am such a sinner!" and though Satan for a time was permitted to harass her, yet to him her God had said, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further;" for in the end she was enabled to "rejoice in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh." Let us be encouraged from this brief history to cast our bread upon the waters. The seed may long remain dormant, but it may spring up when we little think, or where we may never see it. Sarah's good mistress will in all probability never know how the seed sown by her was watered by the Spirit, and sprung up to life eternal. But the Lord will say to her, "Well done, thou good and faithful mistress, forasmuch as thou didst it unto one of these, thou didst it unto Me. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." M. B.

EXTRACT FROM MY FAMILY BIBLE.

MATT. xxiii. 34 to the end.

THE full measure of the iniquity of these wicked people is to be made up by the persecutions of Christian teachers. Some were to be killed and crucified, others beaten, others driven about from city to city, for their love to Christ. Upon the heads of the wicked hypocritical Jews of our Lord's time was to come the guilt of all the good men from Abel to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, or Jehoiada, who was killed at the commandment of king Joash, in the court of the house of the Lord (2 Chron. xxiv. 19-22). The Jews had frequently two names, which will account for the difference in the name of Zachariah's father in the Chronicles and in this place; both Jehoiada and Barachias, however, signify "praise to God," so there can be no doubt as to the person our Lord here mentions being the same spoken of in the Chronicles. In the midst of just indignation, the strongest feature in God's character breaks forth in all the beauteous lustre of Divine compassion. Amidst the many proofs that Jesus was the Son of God, the God of the Old Testament, Jehovah, I know of none more powerful than the exact likeness between His character as gathered from His words and actions recorded in the New Testament, and the character of Jehovah as set before us in the Old. Christ, my dear family, is assuredly the Lord Jehovah, the kind, tender, forbearing, and compassionate God; the same that said, "Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" and who condescended to say to that rebellious house, in a spirit of compassionate love, "O house of Israel, is not my way equal, are not your ways unequal," or unjust? Yea, indeed, He that always sorrowed over His people, is the same that now in this place sorrows over the city of His choice, whose measure of iniquity was well nigh full, and whose destruction was at hand. Even if our Lord had not told us in this place, that He had been willing to gather the Jews under His wings, and so proclaimed Himself to be God, yet must we, from the tender expressions here used towards such a rebellious place, have been quite convinced that

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none but Jehovah could sorrow thus. We must have felt that no mind of man was ever so given to compassion as to lament over a city so wickedly ungrateful; no, my family, your Saviour, who thus cries out against the ingratitude of Jerusalem, is also your God, the God you have been trained to love for His mercy and goodness to the children of men; He who has said by His prophet, that anger is "His strange work" (Isa. xxviii. 21), and that " He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men" (Lamentations of Jer. iii. 33). The wicked city, over which, as we read in St. Luke xix. 4, our blessed Lord actually shed tears of compassion, that wicked city had indeed been mercifully dealt with. Again and again would her loving God have gathered her children together under His Divine wings, as a hen gathereth her chickens, but they would not; and now, alas! she must no longer have this mercy, but be left desolate. Dear family, if our consciences are faithful, they will tell each of us, that as God our Saviour dealt with Jerusalem, so has He dealt with us, who, if we have not killed or stoned the prophets, have time after time turned a deaf ear to the preaching of His ministers, and to the warnings and promises of His holy word. We must own that His love would have had us to draw near to Him in affection like His own, and to take refuge under His gracious wings from sin, Satan, the world, and our own evil hearts, but we preferred to go abroad into the wide way of destruction, doing as we pleased, and not as He would have had us do. We are yet spared; and I trust the measure of our iniquity is not so full as to make it absolutely necessary for God to leave us desolate; and, mind you, Jerusalem cannot be more desolate than the soul of that man from whom God hath departed. Alas! for such an one! I hope, I say, we are not in a like condition yet, but if we are slighting Divine mercies, disregarding Divine love, living knowingly and wilfully against God's commandments, the time must soon come for the departure of the Spirit of Christ our God from our souls. O Lord Jesus Christ, our compassionate God and Saviour, we beseech Thee leave us not desolate, nor take Thy Holy Spirit from us; but