eventful era of his life now drew near when the active powers of his mind were to be devoted to an honourable profession. He decidedly made choice of the law. An eligible situation providentially presented itself with a pious attorney at Thatcham, in Berkshire, where he enjoyed many spiritual advantages. In June, 1821, he was regularly articled, and entered on the duties of his profession with alacrity and diligence. In al etter; about this time, he says: "I have applied myself to the study of Blackstone's Commentaries, which afford me real pleasure, and am never better pleased than when occupied in making selections from them." In July he wrote a statement of his religious feelings in a confidential letter to his cousin, T. P. J***. “I have great cause to lament, and I trust I do sincerely, that although I know religion well as a theory, yet it has not its due influence on my life, conduct, and conversation. I find that when I would do good, evil is present with me;' that 'sin is mixed with all I do,' and that the 'flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, so that I cannot do the things which I would.' It is true I resort to a throne of grace; I attempt to pray with my heart as well as with my lips, but alas I do not experience that regenerating grace which is the subject of my fervent supplications. I am, I assure you, frequently under real concern for my soul, and I make resolutions (not in my own strength, but in the strength of Him who is able to save,' Almighty to deliver,') but in the performance of them, I discover how great my weakness is.' Providentially, I am not exposed to any great temptations, or else, though my principles I hope are firm, I fear my practice would be vitiated. I often think with pleasure on the sweetness of Christ's invitations, the freeness of his promises, and the riches of his grace, and am thereby reanimated to wrestle again with God for the application of them to my soul. I have thus briefly stated the true condition of my mind, and whilst recounting my trials, I am tempted to ask

'You that love the Lord indeed,
Tell me is it thus with you?'

If so, I may hope that by a steady perseverance in the infallible road pointed out in Scripture, I may be led into the way of holiness, be preserved blameless therein, and at last obtain the eternal crown.

His intellectual endowments now began to display themselves, and the energies of his youthful mind appeared in every letter which reached home, and particularly in an essay composed by him on the "Excellency of the Christian Religion," which was found in his drawer after his decease, dedicated to his father, the concluding lines of which are these:-"Where then shall we find a religion so eminently suited to afford joy on earth, strength, comfort and support in death, and an immortality of bliss beyond the grave?" I reply in the words of the poet

"No, though we trace the world around,

And search from Britain to Japan,

There shall be no religion found

So just to God, so true to man."

Riding one day with his excellent friend, Mr. B, he asked him, "What is your opinion, Sir, of election ?" Mr. B-judiciously replied, "Stephen, you have learnt fractions, decimals, &c., do you understand them ?"-" Yes, Sir."-" Do you think you could when you were in addition?"—" No, Sir."-"Neither can you, my dear boy, at present, comprehend the deep things of God." Thus ended a conversation, in which he appeared much interested, and during the remainder of the journey he seemed to be absorbed in his own reflections.

On Saturday the 30th of September, 1821, he appeared to have a slight cold, and on Sunday morning he complained of a pain in his head, but finding himself better in the afternoon, he joined the family in their evening devotional exercises, and, at the same time, conversed cheerfully on spiritual subjects. On Monday morning, the pain in his head returned with increased violence,-medical aid was immediately procured. About one on Tuesday morning, he was seized with a convulsive fit, which rendered bleeding and blistering necessary. Further advice being now deemed necessary, an eminent physician was called in, who pronounced the case to be of a very serious nature. Soon after the dear youth repeated the following lines:"Jesus can make a dying bed

Feel soft as downy pillows are :"

and prayed that the great Physician would bless the means made use of for his recovery. In the afternoon he wished a friend to pray with him, who observed, that if his indisposition should terminate in death, it would be only changing "earth for heaven,-pain and sorrow for bliss and joy."—" Perhaps," said he, and afterwards exclaimed with a strong emphasis," Joys unspeakable:"-and to a few more observations which were made on the subjects of time and eternity, his answers, as far as could be collected, were also satisfactory. His father was now apprised of his illness, and his presence requested. Tuesday night, the 2d October, Miss B, accompanied by the nurse and medical attendant, sat up with him; in about ten minutes she left the room, supposing him insensible, but immediately on her departure, he said, "Miss B. Miss B. I am sure I saw Miss B. in the room;" she then returned, and upon being asked, if he knew her, he said, "O yes," and took her by the hand. Some time afterwards, she said, "Do you know me, Stephen ?-I don't think you do!"— he replied, "O yes I do, may the God of heaven bless you, and the God of my father bless you." Another time, whilst leaning on her arm in great pain, he broke out with much emphasis, and said, “O Lord God have mercy on my soul !" Miss B. said, "He will, for he is a prayer hearing;" he instantly replied-"Yes, and he is a prayer answering God." Shortly afterwards, he said, "The ox, the ox" she said, "what do you mean?" (supposing he was rambling.) He then said, "The ox knoweth his master's crib." Perceiving he could not pronounce the words as he wished, Miss B. repeated the verse correctly,-" The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know me, my people doth not consider,"

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and said, I suppose that is what you mean ;" he said, "Yes." She then asked him if he should like to see his father?-be replied, "Yes."I hope you will to-morrow;" he said, "If I should live." About half-past two, on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Prust arrived, when, to all appearance, his son was very near death.-On his father's entering the room, at first, he did not know him but when Mr. C. said, "Do you know who this is?"-He said, "My-own-dear-Papa." Some time afterwards, Mr. B. repeated

"Jesus, Lover of my soul,

Let me to thy bosom fly:"

and upon his asking him, "if Jesus was precious to him," he very emphatically, and yet with difficulty answered," Yes." A short time previous to his dissolution, endeavouring to speak, he said: "I -can't-say-the-words," and then exclaimed, "The-Lord-God -of hosts-is-good. A kind Christian friend being engaged in prayer, while life was ebbing fast, he was observed to strain his neck, and to direct his attention to that part of the room from whence the sound proceeded, as if to catch the pleasing, grateful supplication to the throne of grace. At length, about half-past ten at night, on Wednesday, the 3d of October, his spirit, quietly and without a struggle, took its flight (we humbly trust) to the mansions of eternal glory, and is now in company with his dear departed mother, singing the praises of the Lamb.

For the Christian Herald.

FOR YOURSELF OR YOUR NEIGHBOUR.

THIS article has been written for a particular district of this city, within which a place of worship has been opened, and is designed to be circulated, as a Tract, extensively in that district. Having been consulted by the writer while engaged in the preparation of it, we requested that it might be furnished for our pages: this we did, not merely for the sake of those chance readers to whom the arguments may apply, but for the sake of our good Christian friends who live in any of the some hundred blocks in our city, and in other cities, which contain many regular absentees from the public ministrations of the Gospel. To them we say : "Arise and work"-" the Gospel must be preached to every creature."

If the reader be one who goes regularly and piously to the public worship of God, he is the very person whom we wish to address, and we ask his best assistance to our design, which is to persuade every man, woman, and child, within a little district of our city, which we have marked out to ourselves, to enjoy the blessed privilege which he enjoys. We have (so many of the inhabitants tell us) a hard labour to perform, and we have been pointed to many a house whose inmates are considered as so worldly, or vicious, as to be utterly beyond our reach. Now we count, dear brother, upon your help, and all the arguments we have been at the pains to prepare, we mean, not only to urge your neighbour to the house of God, but to urge you to the house of your neighbour. We cheer

fully offer you the use of this our little Tract, and beg you as a good citizen, and as a pious Christian, to pray and labour without fear or fainting, until the whole block you live in. sends all its families to the public worship of God, and a Sabbath's holy peace and joy blesses every one of their homes.

We boast not of our skill at argument, and yet we believe our present argument to be so strong, that it is able, by the help of God, to convince every man that reads it, to change the whole style of a church-neglecting family, and send them a holy, heavenly band, with cheerful, thankful hearts, to pray and praise; to procure from a thousand tongues the thankful acknowledgement, that our Bethel "is none other than the house of God, and the very gate of heaven;" till the little district which our good wishes have marked out, shall send hither and thither its every family.

Nay, we even believe, that God can give wings to our argument, and send it through all the streets and lanes of our city, making it create an uneasiness in all the church-neglecting families, which can be quieted, only, by the sweet and peaceful offers of mercy, and acts of pious worship in the house of God. We can conceive such a poor argument as ours, to be, by God's blessing, so mighty as to shut up all the open and half-open shops, to stop all the pleasure-carriages and boats, and to empty all the taverns for twenty miles round; and, so to crowd the churches, that another and another church will have to be built, and so to bring our people within the sound of the Gospel, that it may be made the means of shedding an eternal blessing upon thousands, who now live without God and hope; so that in eternity, thousands may look back upon this little trifle of a Tract, and say: "That first turned my feet to the house of God, where I heard and believed the Gospel, and where I began to love the worship and praise which make heaven so blessed."

Vain writer, perhaps you say, boast not of your argument, which may be as useless as beating the air. Dear reader, take it along with you, or devise a stronger argument, and pray that God would send his Holy Spirit, and a blessing will come, for which we will say, "Not unto us, oh Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." 1st. We urge you who neglect it, to attend the house of God, because we believe this will promote your temporal interest.

This we think our weakest argument, since if it injured your temporal interest, we should be no less urgent. Still we urge this argument, fearing that, to some of our readers, the weakest argument will prove the most convincing.

Even those who stay away from public worship, either to pursue their worldly business, or with the idea of resting at home so as to be better prepared to resume it; even those, we are persuaded, lose rather than gain. Though some of them may be prosperous, we cannot believe that they will uniformly enjoy the blessing of their God; or, that they will so constantly be able to pursue their business, as those will be, who rest from temporal labour, in spiritual duties. But even if prosperity should seem to attend their cause, we expect to see their example to their children, the means of their adversity:

to see that parents who have broken the Sabbath with economy and prudence, have brought up children to break it as spendthrifts. But the greater part of those who stay away from the house of God, spend money rather than make it. They make the Sabbath a day of expensive amusements. Their riding, their feasting, especially their drinking, make a sad deduction from their weekly gains. At the same time they acquire a love of company, and of indulgence, which makes many deductions during the week days, doubly injurious, since they are made both from their labours and their earnings. As time passes and their habits form, they get to be idle, thriftless men, and have the misfortune to find themselves, in middle life, surrounded by a family unprovided for, and a throat that would swallow double what they are willing to earn. Many a man might be found in our city, who began life in good business, and whose neglect of God's worship seemed, to him, well paid for by the amusements he enjoyed, who is now, in middle life, in, bad circumstances, in bad health, with bad habits, a poor drunkard, or a drunkard who will soon be poor, and to make his situation most uncomfortable, the headman of a tribe of idle, thriftless, beggarly children, who are to begin life with vagabond habits, and a bottle at their mouths. We know that there are prosperous men who go to no church, but we beg them to look about and see if many miserable families were not once as prosperous, and to fear least prosperity in sin should not always continue, lest their trouble should come in the ruin of their habits, and the prodigality of their children. Admitting that your interests were secure, we should only lose our weakest argument. We urge you to attend public worship:

2dly. In comparison with those employments which keep you away. We cannot conceive any employment which ought to displace the public worship of God; it is an employment so delightful in itself, so glorious to God, so like to heaven, that every employment which displaces it, must be unworthy of reasonable and immortal creatures. It is the employment which will last for ever. In heaven, where love will never cease, worship and praise will be the endless employments of men, made equal to the angels of light. And will you, dear friends, when God is inviting you to begin the employments of heaven, when he sets you apart one day in seven, freed from worldly care and business,-when he invites you to assemble yourselves together, and enjoy a little of the sweetness of heaven when heaven below opens its gates to receive you, and you are invited to tune your voice in harmony with saints and angels in earth and heaven,-will you, can you prefer to seek only "what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or wherewithall you shall be clothed? Can you prefer merely to amuse your immortal minds? Oh can you prefer the fishing, bathing and hunting places, which sound horribly with oaths, and are polluted with sinful mirth and drunkenness? Can you prefer the drinking and frolicking, which fill our gardens, and our taverns? Would you rather make one of the laughing, frolicking thousands, who ride into the country to display the city's vice and folly, and interrupt the heavenly worship of the