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TIME AND IMMORTALITY.

As breaks the bubble, rainbow tipped, Transparent, thin, and fair,

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So fit the joys of time insipid,
From infancy to age decrepid;

'Tis folly, toil, or care :

The crimson tide, once full and tepid, Grows chill, and spare.

Youth's rosy morn serenely glowing,

Impearls the buoyant spray : The sparkling tides of Pleasure flowing,

Where fancy-tufts of flow'rets blowing
Their mossy banks inlay :
Life throbs alert,-ah! little knowing
How sets its day!
Dark skies, with tempest intersected,
Man's fiercer noon invest;
Plans cross'd, hope thwarted, love ne-
glected,

Wounds from the object least suspected,

Unnerve his iron breast!
The cheat, alas! too late detected,
Too long caress'd!

Keen, shiv'ring, drear, the blast increasing,

Night's gloomiest curtain drops! The pulse of life, now fast decreasing, Shrinks from the limb; the cool heart ceasing,

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Fluctuates, trembles, stops; The brain, in icy curdles freezing, Dense, cold, inwraps!

And this is life! Ah! fleeting vapour,

!

Frail flower,-short wint'ry day! Dim, wasted, half-extinguish'd taper Stream bitter tears, and from the paper Wash the sad tale away: O! for a glimpse beyond the vapour, Of brighter day!

Then rouse, my faith,-the gloom subsiding,

Beyond this vale of tears,

In eastern skies serenely riding,
His beams, athwart the tempest gliding,
A kindly Star appears!
In this celestial Guide confiding,
Be hushi'd my fears!

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Whate'er our state of life may be,
Or poor, or rich, or bond, or free,
Still our warm hearts shall turn to thee,
blest Bible!

Here then, while round affictions rise,
To every heart we'll bind the prize,
Which bears us onward to the skies,
-Our Bible!

Here is a charm for ev'ry grief;
In this blest word we find relief:-
On thee we rest our firm belief,
Sweet Bible!
The gospel far conveys our load,
And bears us forward on the road
Towards our Saviour and our God,
blest Bible!
The promises, thoughout divine,
Round my enraptur'd heart I'll twine,
Aud cry aloud, Thou still art mine,
my Bible!

In this I'll search from day to day,
To guide me in my heav'nly way;
And when I die, Thou'rt mine, I'll say,
my Bible!

For thy blest truths, thro' all the days
Of blest eternity, we'll raise
A joyful song of sacred praise,

blest Bible!

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EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE.

AUGUST, 1807.

MEMOIR
OF

THE REV. BRYCE JOHNSTON, D. D.
MINISTER OF HOLYWOOD, IN SCOTLAND *,

THE events which befal a country minister are seldom sufficiently striking and diversified to engage the research of the biographer, or to gratify the curiosity which may lead to the perusal of his pages. His personal improvement and professional duties are his chief employments; and it is within the precincts of his own family, and the narrow circle of his friends, that he unbends his mind, and is furnished with opportunities of exhibiting the appropriate features of his character. His situation is not calculated to bring into exercise those passions by which the men of the world are roused to exertions which arrest its notice. Seldom can he attain celebrity, while the honour which men bestow is inferior, in his esteem, to that which cometh from God. Seldom can he rise above dependence, while his principles and his voluntary engagements forbid the use of those means by which he might augment his scanty income.

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But though these remarks admit of general application, some individuals, by the force of superior talents, or by peculiar circumstances in their lot, have been found to move in a less humble sphere. Of this description was the subject of the following Memoir.

For more than a century, his family have possessed a small estate within the royalty of Annan, in the county of Dumfries; and have successively been in the magistracy and council of that burgh. His father, John Johnston, of Gutterbraes, repeatedly filled the office of Provost, or Chief Magistrate; and by his fidelity and uprightness in that station, and by the virtues which adorned his private character, acquired very considerable reputation and influence, and preserved them entire to the close of life. He married Elizabeth, daughter of the

* Extracted from his Life and Sermons, lately published by the Rev. J. Johnstone, Minister of Crossmichael.

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the savour of whose

Rev. T. Howie, minister of Annan, name is still dear to those by whom his zeal and diligence are remembered. The offspring of this marriage were eight sons and two daughters. Bryce, the youngest of the sons, was born at Annan, March 2, 1747. At a very early period he discovered a strong predilection for the profession of his maternal grandfather; and seemed even then to have had it put into his heart to form a resolution, which his parents had no wish to oppose, and in which, as he advanced in years, he was firm and unshaken. At the parochial school, he received the clementary principles of education; and failed not to distinguish himself by his docility and application. November 15, 1763, he entered on his academical studies at the university of Edinburgh; and was enabled to prosecute them with rapidity, and without interruption, till his last session at college, when he was unexpectedly called for a season to relinquish them. After a short illness, which, at taking leave of him only a few weeks before, there was no reason to anticipate, his venerable father fell asleep in Jesus, December 3, 1768. Having attended to perform the last tender offices of filial duty, having joined in the general regret which the event awakened, and administered consolation to the surviving members of his family, he returned to the seat of learning; and at the close of the sessions, he finished the course of study prescribed by the laws of the church. Soon after, he was taken on trial by the Presbytery of Annan; and having acquitted himself to their entire satisfaction, was licensed by them to preach the gospel, as a probationer for the holy ministry, October 4, 1769.

A suitable situation was, in the course of Providence, soon provided for him. The Rev. T. Hamilton had long exercised the functions of the ministry in the parish of Holywood; and being now full of years, and unfit for labour, was solicitous that the charge of his flock should devolve on a faithful asMr. Johnston was made known to sistant and successor. him; and was found, upon trial, fully equal to his expectations, and those of his people. In April 1771, the aged pastor retired to spend the evening of his days in Glasgow, reserving 10 himself a small portion only of the emoluments of the benefice. With the unanimous consent of the patrons, heritors, elders, and congregation, Mr. Johnston was, August 22, 1771, ordained to the office of the holy ministry, by the Presbytery of Dumfries, within whose bounds Holywood is situated. This is the only church-preferment he ever obtained. Frequently, indeed, he might have been translated to a more lucrative, or to a more conspicuous station; but he found himself at once in his place, among a people whose call he had received and accepted, and whose esteem and attachment were to be commensurate with his own zeal, fidelity, and dilig ence.

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