P. S. Will you be so kind as to forward the inclosed to ******* I shall, if God permit, pass over Lake Champlain when it is free from its icy chains, and, if possible, shall spend a day at your house.

Dear Friend,

LETTER VIII.

Montreal, Canada, March 30, 1841.

Accept my thanks for your excellent letter.

Those

cases you relate are indeed awful. I was much struck with the following verses the other day,—

"From sudden unexpected death,

Jesus thy servant save;

Nor let me gasp my latest breath,
Unmindful of the grave.

Unconscious of the yawning deep,

And death eternal nigh,

O do not suffer me to sleep,
Till in my sins I die.

And summoned to the mountain top,
Without a lingering sigh,

Render my ransomed spirit up,

And to thy glory die.

Wise to foresee my latter end,
With humble loving fear,

I would continually attend

The welcome messenger."

I have lately received a most affecting letter from Quebec, giving an account of a dreadful fire, and the loss of four lives. As I knew one of the sufferers, I feel the more deeply affected.

One night during the

But

revival in Quebec, as I was walking up the aisle, one of the brethren said to me with great earnestness, "Do you see that old gentleman with the bald head ?" "Yes." "Well sir, he was once a member of our society, but has long since left us, and what is worse, he is a miserable backslider; go and speak to him." His words came with power to my mind, and with some difficulty I got to him. He seemed very attentive to what was going on, but without any apparent concern about his soul. I was struck with his respectable and venerable appearance. After a few words were spoken to him, a remarkable influence came upon my soul. Words were given me such as I cannot repeat. For a time he remained firm; at last the word came as fire, and as a hammer to break the rock in pieces. He became greatly agitated. My inmost soul yearned over him. I felt such a burning love to his soul, that I could have taken him in my arms, and have carried him to the altar. he would not move, although he trembled in every limb. I told him I could not leave; go to be prayed for he must. I urged-entreated-conjured. Had some polite and fashionable christians been there, I am sure they would have charged me with overstepping the bounds of propriety in attempting to drive the man to be saved. Ah! there is much in that advice of Jude:-" And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." At last God helped me to prevail. With a faltering step, and almost overpowering emotion, he walked to the altar. It was full of penitents, but he fell down near it, and in about one hour, God had mercy upon him, and healed all his backslidings. At the close of the meeting, there were great rejoicings over him and many others; among whom was one of his own apprentices, who obtained salvation the same evening.

A letter brought me the sad intelligence, that one night, about ten days after I had left Quebec, he, his wife, servant girl, and two apprentices, having retired to rest―towards morning, a fire broke out in one of the lower apartments of the house; and although an alarm was given; such was the fury of the flames, that before an attempt could be made to rescue the inmates, all had perished, except the elder apprentice! "The fumes of their burning bodies made a part of the awful column of smoke which spread itself, like the pall of death, over our deeply-excited city!" The youth who was saved, is a member of our church. His escape was truly miraculous. He was awakened out of a deep sleep by the smoke, and some indistinct cries of fire; he tried to awaken his companion, but the heat increasing, he rushed to the window almost suffocated. Just then the fire blazed all around the room, and he sprang from the fourth story, and alighted on the frozen street; yet, not a bone was broken, and he sustained but very little injury. He says, that a little before he leaped from the window, he heard the voices of the old couple in another part of the house. Alas! they must then have been surrounded with smoke and flame. I was informed that on Christmas morning very early, the old lady attended the Methodist Chapel, in deep anxiety about her soul. She said afterwards,-" I went to the chapel with the intention of going forward to be prayed for, but there was no invitation." Oh! how necessary to be "in season, out of season," in our efforts to save assembled sinners. She did not come again to the chapel while I remained in Quebec. Perhaps God, who had begun a good work in her soul, completed it before that dreadful night. Here I leave it; but with a grateful heart, I adore that God who enabled me on the night referred to, faithfully and perseveringly to attempt to save the soul of her hus

band from the fires of the second death. Had he left the chapel that night without decision, or converting grace, he might have been eternally lost. Now, I believe, he is among the redeemed in heaven. None of the millions who know him there, will refuse to say, " is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" The eternal salvation, even of these two souls, (for the young apprentice who lost his life, had been converted also during the revival) is worth the labour and expence of my whole tour, although it should not result in the salvation of any others.

An awful event, which lately transpired in this city, has also made a deep impression upon my mind. I have just received the facts from one of our leaders. A young man who landed in this country from England, last summer, was spending part of Sabbath the 14th inst. in a house in **** street, in company with a person who came out with him in the same ship. While there, he took offence at something, and in his passion, wished that God might strike him blind, and dumb, and dead, if he ever entered into that house again. He and another companion then proceeded to a dram shop, and had something to drink. Under the influence of liquor and the devil, he returned to the house, where only one hour before he had uttered the dreadful imprecation. On Tuesday the 23rd inst. while employed in front of a house in St. Paul Street, a heavy body of snow came down from the roof, fell upon him, and knocked him down with such violence, that before they could get him from under it, he was dead. Thus," says the leader, "his impious wish was granted; he was struck blind and dumb, so that he could neither see nor call for assistance, and he was dead before he could be released." The Psalmist might well say of him who ruleth in the heavens, 66 Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth." St. Peter also, tells us of a

66

certain class of sinners who " swift destruction."

bring upon themselves

About the time of my arrival here from Quebec, there was another death in which I was deeply interested. The following is the history of the case. When I was here in 1837, there was a powerful revival. One Sabbath night I was led to take that text, Rev. xx. 11-13. During the reading of the text, a man began to tremble in a manner he could not well controul. He attracted the attention of two or three praying men, and they kept their eye upon him, hoping to have him forward for prayer; but as soon as the sermon was over, he made an effort to get out, and succeeded. He gathered strength in the fresh air, and ran for his life. These swift-footed servants of Christ started in pursuit of the wounded sinner. At length he reached his house and darted in, not without having been observed by his pursuers. In a few moments they knocked at his door, and were admitted, but he had disappeared. They inquired of the wife for her husband. "He is in that room," was her reply. "We must see him." She conducted them into the room where he had thrown himself upon a bed. When he saw them he burst into tears. They pressed the truth of Jehovah upon his conscience, at the same time urging him to arise and call upon God. He did so, and they wrestled in prayer till midnight, when he professed to have found salvation. Alas! he did not long walk in the way to heaven. His old besetment, intoxicating drink, got the better of him, and he fell from God.

When I was here last autumn, he avoided the chapel with great precaution, but, before I returned, a fatal disease had seized upon him. His distress of mind and body was very great. Some hopes, I believe, were entertained of his salvation before he breathed his last. The previous new year's day was