"We cannot go, Betsy; but your best friend, your Saviour, will go all the way with you; and his presence will lighten up the valley quite through." She said, "Oh, yes." Soon after this a temptation presented itself, and she said, "Go away, Satan, I do not want you; Jesus is here, and he is never far off." nister," Are your hopes still firm on Christ?" she would say, "Oh, yes! I am willing and waiting for him to take me whenever he pleases." She frequently said to her aunt, "I am going to glory, and Jesus is here waiting for me; don't you see him, aunt? Oh! he is so beautiful, so beautiful!" On another occasion she said to her aunt and uncle, "I see Jesus by my bed, and little James" (alluding to her aunt's little boy, who had been dead about three years); "they are clothed in white," please thank all my friends, and and look so beautiful. I am going tell them I am happy. I am going to glory! Uncle, will you come?" once more to chapel, for this poor A day or two after she called a little body to be laid under the turf, and girl, a cousin, to her, and gave her a then I shall be in glory." I thought, book, and told her to be very obe- when looking on the peaceful coundient to her parents, and to love tenance, Surely this is the gate of Jesus and to love her Bible. Indeed, heaven; and of the lines of Young: the name of Jesus was at all times a "The chamber where the good man cordial to her. meets his fate The last time I saw her was two days before her death; and thinking that she was just about to cross Jordan's streams, and too weak to converse, I repeated the hymn beginning, "Jesus, lover of my soul," when she revived a little, and said, in broken sentences, "Sing that at chapel when I am gone to glory, and Title clear,' and Vital spark; and ask Mr. W- to tell the young people, and all the people at chapel, that I am gone to glory; and I hope they will meet me there." She then became quite exhausted, and we thought her going; and as I moved towards the foot of the bed, she said, "I should like you to go with me;" and, looking round upon her aunts and grandmother, she said, "I should like you all to go with me." I said, She then requested me to call on Miss L-, and give her love, and thank her for all her kindness, and Is privileged beyond the common walks Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven." Mr. W- called early the next morning, and as he entered she was exclaiming, "Beautiful! beautiful! more beautiful than ever!" And though she was labouring as usual from shortness of breath, she desired to be raised during the devotions, after which she continued peaceful and calm through the day and night, and early the next morning she said to her grandmother, "I am going, I am going, I am going." She said, "Where are you going, Betsy?" "I am going to glory." After which some hours of extreme bodily suffering came on; and when a little relieved, she said, "Raise me, uncle;" intending, no doubt, to give her last testimony of confidence in the Saviour; but as soon as she was raised, her happy spirit took its flight to the realms of glory on the 18th of November, 1857, in her twenty-second year. Dear reader! will you not seek that Saviour who was so kind to this poor orphan? You cannot tell that you will be so long in the school of affliction as she was; you may, like the mother, be taken away in your sleep; and if such should be the case, can you say that you are ready to depart and be with Christ? If you cannot, then seek the Lord at once, for he has promised that they who seek shall find. A pious young man from a neighbouring village visited the deceased on her death-bed, and, on his return, said, "I have learned a lesson which I shall never forget." Then, I beseech you, let not this lesson be lost upon you, but give your heart at once to the Saviour, and all will be well for time and eternity. Wheathampstead. J. W. in humble life. He was a baker by In He enjoyed religion. He belonged to the Independent connexion, but Christ was his head. With him, Christianity concerned not merely the outward appearance, but, first of all, the heart. He deeply felt himself a sinner, went to Christ for mercy, and, trusting in his blood and righteousness, found pardon, peace, and purity. Constantly feeling his need of "more grace," and continuing in the exercise of prayer and faith, he was enabled to say, THOMAS MUSKET. THE little town of Olney, in Buckinghamshire, has long been distinguished for its religious privileges. Here Newton preached, Cowper wrote, Gauntlett and Hillyard laboured, and the fruits of their endeavours are clearly seen even to the present day. "Blessed are the dead" The inward man is renewed day that die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." In this highly-favoured place the subject of the following sketch lived. Thomas Musket was a Christian by day." In his earlier years he suffered much in his business, probably from an unlawful anxiety to get and to do too much; but in his distress he cried unto the Lord, and found abundant support; and by this experience he was taught to declare afterwards, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." With him, wisdom was the principal thing, and he regarded every secondary agency according "to the law and to the testimony." He believed in the Divine power of religion as the grand regenerator of society, and valued all social reforms in proportion as they pointed to Christ, the fountainhead of holiness. This was his song: "Eer since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die." He was regular in his attendance at Divine worship. In this respect he was a model to church members. Would that they were all like him! He readily sacrificed bodily comfort to spiritual health. Whenever practicable, he was found in his place in the house of God. The prayermeeting was his especial delight; to him that was the grand service of the sanctuary. He was a prince who had power with God, and prevailed. The Lord abundantly multiply the seed of Jacob! He loved plainness. Often has he cheered his young pastor's heart, after the public rebuke of some inconsistency, by saying, "That's it, sir; never dress the word up for anybody; the truth will always last longest." At a time when plain dealing is at a great discount, such a testimony is doubly valuable. The truth must be spoken, and in simplicity. Woe to the unfaithful watchman! The blood of immortal souls shall be required at his hands! Hearer of the word! you are listen were overpowering. There were many that night who individually said, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." In his illness, which immediately followed, he found the answer of his prayer. He was raised above the fear of death. He enjoyed an unspeakable peace. His unvarying testimony was, "My only hope and dependence is the finished work and righteousness of Jesus Christ." Characteristic of his life, he selected as the foundation of his funeral discourse, Eph. ii. 8, 9, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Surely professors of religion may take a lesson from this short history. "It is high time to awake out of sleep." What is your life? What is your hope? What is your enjoyment? Do you use the means of tell. You are a sinner needing grace in connection with the hope of heart, and you will soon be able to glory? Mark! your hope without the means is not worth anything. Are you growing in grace? Do you cheer your minister by the consistency and regularity of your walk and conversation? It is high time for you to inquire. It is high time that professors were adorned with the beautiful garments of salvation. Beware, lest you lament your lukewarmness and formality in the depths of hell! Ponder Christ's awful words, 66 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven," Matt. vii. 21. Unconverted friend! we love your soul, and desire to point you to peace and joy. You will want something to cheer your dying hour. What kind of reflections should you die with at the present moment? Closely examine your past life, remembering that God searcheth the mercy. Christ is the Saviour of "There is a fountain fill'd with blood, Lose all their guilty stains. 'Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood The Fragment Basket. GOD HIS PEOPLE'S STRENGTH. Early in the present century, when evangelical religion in eastern Massachusetts was all undermined, and many churches had forsaken the old paths, two Baptist churches in Boston sustained a united prayermeeting. This meeting dwindled and thinned, and congealed in spirit, till it became a question whether it had not better be discontinued. A meeting was held to consider the question of its suspension. Its supporters had grown almost hopeless of success, and were ready to yield their ground and retire from the conflict. It was urged that it was vain to maintain the form of godliness when the reality was wanting. At this juncture an aged negro woman, once a slave in Carolina, arose, and looking the reverend speaker in the face, inquired, “Is God dead?" These words touched many hearts. The thought-God yet lives-the same-almighty to save-breathed new life into their souls. They went forward, and soon a glorious revival made them sing for joy. Let the Christian reader inquire of himself whether his feel ings of discouragement and despondency do not sometimes tacitly assume that "God is dead." Are they not such as can be justified on no other assumption? THE PASSING AWAY. Life wanes: we are passing away. The ringing, whistling engine upon the railroad track rushes over a fellow-mortal, and he is no more. The lightning's shaft strikes down one here and another there; the explosion of the boiler of some gigantic manufactory makes fearful destruction of human life, while the ocean-world of waters swallows its scores and hundreds. On every hand we see weeping parents, brothers, and sisters. Love's tie is sundered. The smiling infant and the venerable guardian, the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the oppressed and the oppressor, all are laid side by side, all are passing away. Like the daffodil, which decays so soon," as Herrick says: "We have short time to stay as you; We have as short a spring, As quick a growth to meet decay, As you or any thing. We die, YOU WROTE THAT FOR US. The most awful portrait of the natural man is drawn by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. The natural tendency of the heart is still the same; and a constant impulse from above, and a continual effort from within, is needful, or we should be as far as those described by the apostle were from glorifying God, or retaining him in our knowledge. When Dr. Wade returned the first time, a friend asked him if the heathen had any consciousness of sin and guilt. He answered, "Yes. They know it is wrong to steal and to lie, and yet they are constantly in the habit of doing both." He further stated, "I once read Rom. i. to a group of Burman's, when one of 66 them said, 'You wrote that on purpose for us.' He saw his own character, and that of his people, as the apostle saw and described it." RELIGIOUS DEPRESSION. The best way to dispel the fears for the salvation of others. Proof our personal safety is to labour fessed Christians often get into a morbid state of mind about their religious prospects. They are afraid they shall not be saved. Perhaps they will not. If that is their chief anxiety, they do not deserve to be. It is very selfish always to be thinking about their own future happiness, and, in their terrible fears, they low ambition. But let them go are paying the just penalty of their out of themselves, and try to secure the salvation of others, and all their fears are gone. Then they are doing God's work, and they have no doubt of his love." THE BRITISH MINISTER A SABBATH KEEPER. A commodore in the American navy not long since called at Lord Napier's residence in Washington on the Sabbath. The servant who came to the door informed him that his lordship did not receive visitors on Sunday. "But I am Commodore replied the visitor. "It makes no difference, sir," said the servant," he will not receive you." "But go and tell him Commodore has called." "I'll do so, sir, if you insist upon it; but I know he'll not receive you, for it is not his custom to receive visitors on Sunday." The finale was, that the commodore had to depart without seeing the minister. AN ALLEGED MIRACLE TURNED TO PRACTICAL ACCOUNT. Dr. Duff states, that a few years ago a company of ascetics having lighted their sticks of dried cowdung where veins of coal were out |