shall rest in peace, till the archangel's trumpet shall summon him to spend an eternal Sabbath in heaven. We cannot attempt to describe the misery of those who will be summoned at the same awful hour, to receive the punishment due to their wilful neglect of God's commandments. Let us rather exhort them to forsake their sins while there is yet time for repentance. The returning prodigal will yet be restored to the favor of his Father. His Saviour, who sitteth at God's right hand, will intercede for him ; the Holy Spirit will strengthen his resolutions of amendment; and the angels of heaven will rejoice over the repentant sinner. June 16th. 1823. G. H. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR, PERHAPS the following Hymn, by Cowper, may afford consolation to some of your readers. It is reprinted in an excellent little work, called " Pietas quotidiana," or "Prayers and Meditations for every day in the week." HYMN FOR A MOURNER. God of my life, to Thee I call, When the great water floods prevail, Leave not my trembling heart to fail. ~Friend of the friendless and the faint, Did ever mourner plead with Thee, That were a grief I could not bear, Fair is the lot that's cast for me, 3 QUESTIONS FROM WATTS'S HYMNS, (Continued from page 445.) HYMN III. Praise to God for Redemption. Blest be the wisdom and the pow'r Our father ate forbidden fruit, And we his children thus were brought To death, and near to Hell. Blest be the Lord that sent his Son To take our flesh and blood; He for our lives gave up his own, He honour'd all his Father's laws, Behold him rising from the grave, There on a glorious throne he reigns, Redeems us from the slavish chains Thence shall the Lord to judgment come O may I then with joy appear And with the bless'd assembly there, What do we praise God for, in this Hymn? Our Redemption. What do you mean by our Redemption? The purchase of God's favour by the death of Christ. What was it that joined in council to restore and save our ruined race? The wisdom and the power and the justice and the grace of God. How came our race to be a ruined one? By the disobedience of our first father Adam. By eating of the forbidden fruit. Prove from Scripture that Adam ate of the fruit of which God had commanded him not to eat. Gen. iii. 6. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.' What were we, who are all the children of Adam, and partakers therefore of his sinful nature, brought to by his transgression? Death. And what were we brought near to? Hell. What kind of death did we become subject to? Death temporal and eternal. What do you mean by temporal death? What do you mean by eternal death? The death of the soul. And when we were all brought into this sad state by the sin of Adam, what did God then do for us? "He sent his Son to take our flesh and blood." Prove this from Scripture. John iii. 16. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." What did the Son of God give up his life for? To save our lives and to make our peace with God. Who honoured all his Fathers laws? Jesus Christ. Have we kept or broken the commandments of God? Broken them. When we hear these commandments read by the Ministers at Church, what is the prayer which we offer up at the end of each of them? "Lord, have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law." Why do we thus call upon God for mercy? And why do we pray that he would incline our hearts to keep them? Because our hearts are by nature sinful and therefore inclined to break the commandments of God. What did Jesus Christ bear upon the cross? Our sins. And what did he pay there? Our ransom. What do you mean by our ransom? The price which our redeemer paid for the pardon of our sins. What was that price? His precious blood. What part of this Hymn speaks of the resurrection of Christ? "Behold him rising from the grave." Prove from Scripture that Christ rose from the grave. 1 Cor. xv. part of verse 4. "He rose again the third day." What part of the Hymn speaks of Christ's Ascension? "Behold him rais'd on high." Prove from Scripture that Christ ascended into Heaven. Acts i. 9. "And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." What part of the Hymn speaks of Christ's intercession? "He pleads his merits there to save Transgressors doom'd to die." What do you mean by transgressors ? Sinners. Who are sinners? All men. Prove from Scripture that Christ pleads for us in heaven. 1 John ii. 1. "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sius." Where does Christ reign? In Heaven. And what does his divine power redeem us from? "The slavish chains of Satan and of sin." What do we confess in one of the prayers of our Church service with respect to these chains? That" we are tied and bound with the chain of our sins." + |