There they sing a new song of praise to God and the Lamb; their notes will still be new to all eternity,'-adding, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. They all cast their crowns at his feet. Oh, I would far rather get into heaven by Christ, the second Adam, than by the first, though it were possible.' Oh! I do not know whether I be in Christ's arms, or he in mine. Christ, my beloved, is mine, and I am his. Oh, the love, the loveliness of Christ! Heart cannot conceive, tongue cannot utter how lovely he is. Oh, that I had all the parish here to tell them how lovely he is! Oh! he is the salvation of God; he saves from sin, satan, the world, death, hell, the grave, trouble, pain, sorrow; he saves from all evil; he is manifold salvation "She expressed a fervent love to all friends to my soul. We are not only enemies natur-about her, and an earnest concern for their ally, but enmity itself. But oh, the love of salvation. Oh,' said she, that you would Christ! When I was a mass of enmity all come to Christ! If you saw his loveliness, itself, he loved me, and with his love he broke and knew his love as I do, you would come to my enmity, and conquered my heart. him, and he would make you all happy. Do not say Christ will not receive you, though you should think of coming.' "Oh, how good has the Lord Jesus been to me! He took an early and gracious dealing with my soul; when I was a child he took me by the arms, and taught me to go; he led me in the way I knew not; he drew me with the cords of love, and allured my heart to himself, when I scarce knew that it was he that was dealing with me.' Among other things, she said, 'Oh, the benefit and profit of this everlasting gospel, this pure gospel!-when others were wavering and running away from it, I was even fed, and led on, and feasted at it.' "One who came to see her, asking her how she was, she answered, 'I am healthier than any of you; I feel no pain or sickness at all in my body, no more than if I were on a bed of roses. Is this what they call death, the pains of death? This is not death, but life; it is life to my soul.' "One offering her a drink, she said, 'Oh, no! I have the water of life to drink, living waters.' One bidding her spare herself, and telling her she would quite exhaust her natural strength and spirits, and hasten her death by speaking so loud and so long, with such fervour and vehemeney, she said, What serves this body for but to be spent in the service of Christ? If I should hold my peace, the very stones would cry out. It is not I that speak, it is not I that live; no, it is not I, but the Spirit of Christ speaking in me; it is not I that live, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I have lived in the flesh has been by faith in the Son of God.' And lifting up her eyes with great reverence, she said, God is love. Oh, the love of God, the love of Christ! Oh, if ye knew the love of Christ!' and turning her eyes to one beside her, she said, 'Thou knowest this as well as I. He is altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand:' and turning to the company, she said, 'Has any of you seen his glory, and tasted his goodness? Oh, if ye knew how lovely Christ is, how excellent and matchless!-oh, if ye saw his glory!-oh, if ye saw that heavenly company, saints and angels, with his glory shining on them as I do!--if ye saw his glory, it would ravish your hearts, you would think nothing of the world. Oh, his love has a height, it has a depth, it has a length, it has a breadth that passeth knowledge. Oh, what will it be to be filled with all the fulness of God! Oh, the happiness of the glorified company above! There his servants shall see his face, and serve him without wandering, weariness, or interruption, or any sin for ever. "One said, 'Do not waste yourself so fast with speaking; you will have an eternity in heaven to praise, admire, and adore him.' She replied, 'Aye, but I will not have an opportunity there to extol and commend him to this company here on earth. He has bestowed much on me, and I have not laid it out as I ought in communicating to others. David says he would praise him, continuing all day long, and I have not praised him half a day; yet death is at hand, and I must lose no time from magnifying him.' "Another said, 'You are not afraid to die now ?' She answered, 'No, not now; the terror of death now taken away from me through Christ's dying for me, but I know not how it may yet be with me ere I get through death, for all this. Oh, the love and loveliness of Christ! Oh, if I could praise him! I cannot praise him according to his loveliness. I cannot praise him at all; I have not a tongue to praise him; I have not strength to praise him. All his works praise him, and his saints bless him. Ye angels that excel in strength, praise him! Oh, see the glorified company about the throne! I cannot express the glory that shines forth in their faces, but the sun shining in his strength is not to be compared with it. Oh, the comeliness that Christ has put upon them and upon me!-he has made me comely by his comeliness put upon my soul.' "And now, feeling herself to be fast adying, she called her relations and friends present to come to her one by one, naming them, and tenderly embracing them, took her leave of them. One mentioning, indirectly, the near view she had of an earthly marriage, but saying she was unspeakably more happy in her spiritual marriage to Christ, she said "If that dear man were here, (meaning the person to whom it was designed she would have been married in about a month after this), I would tell him how lovely Christ is.' "Then she called for the young women, members of that meeting for prayer with whom she used to join weekly, and desired them one by one to come to her and kiss her, which they accordingly did. Hearing some of them weeping at her taking leave of them, she said, 'Weep not for me, but for yourselves.' In giving them her last advice, she said, 'Ye used to complain at your meetings, some of you, that ye are all sin, full of sin; but fear not ye, fear not ye, (frequently re kind and compassionate looks to the company, she said, 'Oh, my heart is pained for you all, when I think that ye have all these pangs of death I am under to go through.' peating those words), ye seek Jesus; oh, beware of frothiness and lightness; beware of worldliness and carnality. Oh, dreadful carnality!' 'To be carnally-minded is death.' 'Forsake not the assembling of yourselves to- "She sometimes cried out, 'Oh, vile sin; gether.' 'If ye go forth weeping, bearing oh, to be cleansed from all sin; oh, to be freed precious seed, ye shall rejoice, bringing back from this body of death!' When she turned your sheaves with you.' 'Weeping may en- very low, and was expressing her desires to be dure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn-away, one said to her, "Christ now says, Being.' 'In due time ye shall reap, if ye faint not.' "In this time of great bodily pain, nothing of discomposure appeared; patience seemed to have had its perfect work, as far as this imperfect state can admit. She now and then, amidst her pains, dropped several weighty and edifying sentences. One said, Oh, that is a sweet word, and I doubt not you have known, and just now knowest, much of the meaning of it, Whom having not seen, we love; in whom, though now we see him not, yet believing in him, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.' She said, Yes, I have known the sweet meaning of it. But now I am suffering-oh, you do not know what I am suffering.' One said, 'Remember that word, that once was made so sweet to your soul: "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed She said, 'It is true-but that glory is out of my sight now; oh, the pain I feel! The other said, 'Your light afflictions are but for a moment, and they will work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory your sufferings are sharp, but they will be short.' At another time she said, 'O, but these old companions, the soul and body, are loth to part! Oh, what pain at the parting!' in us."' "Amidst these pains of death, she desired a portion of a Psalm might be sung, and named the 73rd,-25th verse, and downwards; in singing of which she bore a part now and then cheerfully, and no doubt joined fervently in the short prayer put up to God at her desire; immediately after singing that psalm. One "Under the great pains of death, she said once, 'Some doubting thoughts arise.' said, 'Oh, why will ye doubt? you were a little ago rejoicing in God as your God, and could say, God had made with you a wellordered and sure covenant, and that this was all your salvation and all your desire.' She replied, 'Yes, I can say that yet, but I cannot hinder these doubting thoughts from breaking in. 'Oh, the pain I feel! Oh, if the pains of death be so sharp to me, though I can lay claim to a covenant-interest in God as my God, what will these pains be to the wicked, -to all that are out of Christ? How will they be able to endure them? They will be the beginnings of hell to them. Oh, sirs, ye may see the evils of sin, even in a temporal death. "The wages of sin is death." But that is but small wages.' Again, she said, 'He hides his face a little, but he has said "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Afterwards she said, 'I see clearer now, I know whom I have believed; rather, I may say, who has enabled me to lieve. Sometime after, looking up with or hold I come quickly.' She replied, Even so, come, Lord Jesus; into thy hands I commend my spirit.' And at several times, at some small distance of time, she said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' "Some little time after this, her pains abating, she first fell a slumbering, and then composed herself for sleep, and slept on for about an hour and a half, and was not observed by those about her to awake again, except that about two o'clock in the morning she lifted up her eyes once, and in a few minutes after one had prayed, she expired without any struggle or sign of uneasiness, and sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."" THE GOLDEN CITY. THERE is a Golden City Shall live in joy for ever. Its gates high evangels, Come to the Golden City And share the bliss of angels! Within the Golden City Our white robed friends are walking: On earth all things deceive us, Our singing turns to sighing. Of our own Golden City. And so each shape of beauty, But tells us not to love it, Because it veils the something More beautiful above it. On earth in tears we wander, And all our best loves grieve us: In the Golden City yonder, They'll love us, and not leave us. O friends I must be going; E. P. HOAD. THE FRIEND THAT LOVETH AT ALL TIMES. thought that our long tale must carry an evil influence with it, to our surprise, the smile remained, and the welcome look told us that we had room for hope. When we had done, he pointed us to his brow, and there we saw the imprints of nails once driven through. He pointed us to his side, and there were the marks of the knotted whip. He pointed us to a cross on Calvary's mount, on which once he had shed his vital blood, and as we gazed with astonishment and awe, he declared, "I suffered thus that you might live." We saw then that though our sins might be deep,-deeper, deeper still, was the Redeemer's PRECIOUS BLOOD. We saw then that though black as hell, we could be made white as heaven. We saw that though we might be full of demerit, there was merit enough in Jesus and his blood to carry us right on to the land of glory. We saw then, that though heaven's arches rung with the praises of the heavenly host, still that did not prevent him bending his ear to listen to the heartfelt cry of the poor and needy. O, how this encouraged us! What consolation for our weary souls! There was a friend indeed-a friend for time, and a friend for eternity. There was one who would never leave us; one who would be with us in this world, and also in the world to come. It was what we wanted, and we were happy. A FRIEND THAT LOVETH AT ALL TIMES."-Prov. xvii. 17. BUT such a friend can seldom be found. In sins were our burden, that our case was the days of prosperity, when the sun shines, black, and our hope had well nigh perished. and no dark cloud obscures the horizon, it is We confessed our sins of omission as well as easy to find friends. They gather then our sins of commission, and told him that we thickly around us-they join hand in hand could not find language strong enough to exwith us they cannot do too much for us-press our vileness. But still, though we they cannot give us too many manifestations of their regard. But, by and bye, the heavens become dark and lowering the thunder rolls over our heads-the storm falls, and the tempest rages-and we seek some shelter from the terrible blast-then where are our friends? This is the hour of trial, and we seek, therefore, for sympathy and consolation; we want help; where shall we fly? We try our friends, and then we find how much their friendship is worth. They who would have gone with us to prison and to death, when neither appeared in view, now stand aloof when most we need their aid, and favour us with a frown, when most we need their smile. How often has not this been the case? How often have not those whom we have thought to have been our best friends in the day of prosperity, given us the hard word and the callous countenance in the day of adversity? At first this surprised us we could not understand it-it seemed not to be according to the order of things; but ere long we learned what it was to trust in an arm of flesh, and this led us to look for true friendship somewhere else. And where was that? Where did we look ? Ah! reader, we looked above man looked above every thing earthly-we looked above the sainted spirits, or the angelic throng; none of these could suit us. With the eye of faith we gazed above, and saw ONE seated on the throne in majesty and But, reader, this Friend-this great, might. Before him fell the mightiest arch- heavenly, lasting Friend-loveth at all times. angel, and cn him every ministering spirit If he loves you now he will ever love you. waited for commands. Sinners washed in He is engaged never to leave or forsake you blood, and clothed in raiment pure, worship-earthly friends may, but Jesus never they ped at his feet, and sung hosannas to his name, and as they sung their immortal songs, heaven's arches reverberated again and again with their melody of sovereign grace. All eyes were directed to one object, and that was to "him that sat upon the throne," whom they acknowledged to be "King of Kings and Lord of Lords," and in whose smile they found their heaven. We gazed upon the face, and found that it beamed with mercy and compassion, and therefore were encouraged to draw near unto him. As we drew near, trembling and fearful, lest we should be turned away, he smiled upon us, received us with open arms, bade us be of good cheer, and welcomed us to his table. We told him that we were unworthy, that our we who have trusted in him have never been confounded, and they never will be. When earthly friends have turned their backs upon us, Jesus has still shown us his face; when earthly friends have left us completely, Jesus has stood by to cheer and help us; when earthly friends have broken their promises, Jesus has always proved faithful, and in the hour of need has supplied us with all our wants. Thus he proves himself to be a Friend that loveth at all times: when the sun shines or the dark cloud gathers; when we stand on the mount or be in the valley; when we sing the song of praise, or hang our harps upon the willows; when prosperity gladdens our days, or adversity saddens our nights; when we are in health, or in sicknes same His name shall cheer and warm my heart; and pain; when we are rich, or when we are Friend, crowned heads may envy you; and poor; when we have friends, or when we the great and the wealthy may long for your have none-Jesus has always remained the lot; for though a little trial and conflict may e-the Friend that loveth at all times-fall to your share while travelling here below, the Friend that cannot change. When we it will not matter; for your home is in could not pour our complaints into a fellow heaven, and your Friend is on high. Let creatures ear, we have gone to Jesus, and whatever may happen, he will never forsake found him ready to listen; when we have you; because his faithfulness is sure. Why, not dared to look for sympathy in any mortal, then, should you flee to anything of an we have looked for it in Jesus, and have earthly or transitory nature? Is Jesus not never looked in vain. Jesus, and Jesus alone, enough? Rather join with the poet, is the Friend that loveth at all times, and "Ah, no, though life itself depart, therefore in him alone we hope. With such a friend we have no cause for fear: with the eye of Omniscience he can detect all our foes -with the arm of the Almighty he can guard us from every attack-with the strength of the Omnipotent, he can bear us safely through our journey-and with the compassion of Infinite love, he can bear well our frailties, and comfort us in our sorrows. What then will it matter if the world may oppose us? What then will it matter if earthly friends forsake us? What if all the powers of the vast universe should be united against us? Jesus, our glorious Friend, is stronger than all, and therefore we shall not despair. To have Jesus ever standing by us, through all the changing scenes of this eventful life, is a mercy indeed, for then we have always at hand a ready and willing Friend, whose friendship cannot fail, which is without beginning and without end. H. W. MARGARET BRUCE; WE have felt a holy pleasure in receiving Then, reader, there is the hour of death; and at that period we shall need a friend. If it were possible for our earthly friends to remain true to us in every changing scene of this life, death will come at last, and part us, and then their friendships will be of little avail. If Jesus is not our Friend, then all beside will do us no good. But Jesus, who manifests his love to his people in life, forsakes them not in the hour of death; but stands by them when heart and flesh faileth. When attendants shall wipe the death dews off the brow-when the countenance shall wax paler and paler-when the voice becomes weaker and weaker, and the breathing shorter and shorter-when the spirit struggles to burst the trammels that bind it to the clay tabernacle, and longs to soar on high, Jesus will stand by his people, and watch and support them all through the painful process, and prove their never-changing Friend. And when death is past, and the last struggle over, and the spirit finds its way to God, and the body mingles with the dust, Jesus will still be their Friend, to plead for the spirit's entrance to the world of light, and Another piece or two from the record of will not be satisfied till body and spirit, re- this peasant we here subjoin. Mark, reader, united, shall rest for ever in the mansions of this one thing. Stop! before you dash into peace. O, what a Friend is Jesus! With a scene so sacred. We have one thing to such a Friend we have hope in life-hope in say. If you only know the truth by a certain death-and hope for the life to come. He stereotyped phraseology, then, with Margaret lifts up our heads with joy; we fear not what Bruce you cannot walk; but if you can shall come to pass. Reader, if Jesus is your recognize the life of God-let that life breathe Oh, what are cold controversies when compared with such warm and welcome oozings out of a heart pressed close to the Saviour's breast? We are glad when good men earnestly contend for the faith-but the unpremeditated, the unbiassed, the unadorned breathings out of a spirit baptised in the love, blood, truth, and unctious knowledge of a Three-One Jehovah, are more to us than all the folios of sermons, the quartos of commentators, the philosophical duodecimos of modern times, that ever this world did possess. "One Sabbath, about the beginning of of February, 1742, I found myself much more dead and hard-hearted than I used to be for some time, and after I went home, going to secret prayer, I could not for a considerable time get any liberty or access to God in that duty; but continuing, I at length got great freedom and enlargement in it, and going on, I greatly urged and pressed after assurance of heaven; but while I pressed earnestly and too importunately after this, without due resignation to the will of God, I immediately found myself deprived of that freedom and liberty I had attained, and I came away from that duty much dejected. Next Saturday I got, through grace, a very desirable frame, and was made to long after the Sabbath; but, alas! when it came, I awoke with my thoughts running after vanity; and notwithstanding all my attempts at duty that morning, I could not get free of them. I went to church, hoping matters would be better there, but found myself disappointed. I returned home in great uneasiness of mind, and essayed secret prayer, and other duties of God's worship, but still my bad frame continued: and I was beginning to question whether I had ever met with a saving change or not, and my doubts and fears were increasing upon me, when that word, as I sat by the fire, came into my mind with power, Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.' And immediately my heart was changed from sorrow to joy, and love to Christ, being made to believe in him, and to know that I had believed in him before, and was resting on him as the alone foundation of my trust and hope. "I continued in this frame till next Thursday night, when the great awakening broke out at Cambuslang. That night, when I heard of it, I fell a trembling, hearing so many were crying out. I knew not what to think of it, having never seen anything of that kind, but on thinking further of it, I was exceedingly glad of the news. I had long been praying for the outpouring of the Spirit, but could scarce hope that ever I would see such glorious times. When I heard of such deep convictions and distresses, and of such outgates, joys, and comforts they were getting, I took my Bible and searched if I could find anything of that kind there. I trembled at one time for fear, and rejoiced at another in hope, fearing I was not in the right way, and yet hoping it might prove a gracious work of God. And I could scarce eat, work, or sleep, for two days, through anxiety about it. Next day, being Friday, I went to Cambuslang manse, and saw a great many in deep distress there, which greatly affected my heart. I was made frequently to burst out into weeping, partly through joy and partly through sorrow and fear. When I saw what great distress many of them were in, I was greatly afraid that all was wrong with myself, since I had never had such strong and piercing convictions as they; and yet, apprehending they were in the right and promising way, I was made greatly to rejoice, and my secret joy was increased by seeing and hearing the behaviour and speech of those that had got outgates from their distress. Saturday, however, proved a good and comfortable day to me, partly by seeing the good effect of this work on others, and partly by God's dealing graciously with my own soul; and that night I went home rejoicing, and my sleep was sweet to me. Next day being Sabbath, in the morning I fell under doubts and fears that nothing was right with me, and that I had not yet been born again, because I had not felt the pangs of the new birth in such a way as those I had seen at the manse the day before, and this continued with me all along as I came to the church, and as I drew near it, I was ashamed to be seen among those I had been talking with the day before at the manse. And that word, 'The fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone,' seemed for some time as levelled against me. But I was supported against that by that other word, 'God hath not cast away his people whom he did foreknow,' &c. A minister preached that day on these words, 'You who were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled." In his first sermon on that text, he insisted on the former part of the words, concerning our natural alienation and enmity against God. During all that sermon I was in the greatest confusion and distress, apprehending myself to be cast out of God's sight, and in deep darkness. Sometimes I thought I had an interest in him, but that he had hid his face from me, and sometimes I lost sight of my interest in him altogether: a sense of my misimproving the Gospel, and sitting with a wandering heart under the ordinances, was very heavy upon me. And by the time the sermon was done, I was like to despair altogether, and I thought some one whispered me in the ear, "Thou mayest give over that work, for which thou wilt never be the better.' But while I was hearing the next sermon, he preached on the latter part of the text, Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh, through death.' I felt every word of that sermon clothed with power; He going to bring me out of all my difficulties; new and heavenly light sprang up and shined brightly, like the sun breaking through the clouds (I know not of a better comparison), and dispelled my fears, doubts, and darkness. I looked up to the sun, and thought, oh, that is a dark, lowering thing, compared with the Sun of Righteousness that is now shining in my heart with the light of the knowledge of his glory. My heart was as it were overcome with the love of Christ. I felt also a most fervent love to all the people of God, and even those among whom I was a little before afraid and ashamed to appear. Now my heart was drawn out towards them, so that I thought I could put them all in my bosom. That glory, which was as the sun shining in his strength, shined more brightly into my heart than the natural sun did on my body, and, which I thought was just love, so filled my soul that a |