while she felt the horrible consciousness of being unprepared for the solemn exchange of worlds. The minister had prayed, but no relief was found. The mother had been entreated to pray; but overflowing tears, from a soul full of distress and terror, comprised all the assistance she could afford to a child sinking in despair. The attendants were weeping, but none of them could help the dying Cloe. And what was very remarkable, she made no attempts to pray for herself, while her cries for prayer to save her from hell were almost in

cessant.

Under such circumstances, I addressed a few words to her, in substance as follows:-Cloe, evidently you have but a short time to live, and it is a matter of the utmost importance that you should be prepared to die. Doubtless, it is the anxious desire and prayer of all present who know how to pray, that God would have mercy on your soul, prepare you for death, save you from hell, and fit you for heaven. But there is something which God requires you to do. The Lord Jesus Christ has died on the cross of Calvary to atone for sin, that guilty sinners, through faith in his name, might be saved from destruction. God requires you now to believe this truth, and accept of the righteousness of his atoning blood as your covering from the guilt of sin. You are convinced that you are a sinner; you fear the wrath of God, and are afraid to die. The Lord Jesus, your only helper-your only Saviourhas opened the door of mercy, and invites you even now, on your dying bed, to look to him for salva

tion. He requires you to repent of your sins, to believe in his name, and seek his pardoning mercy. Submit, yield up your heart, and resign yourself now into his hands, and Christ is able and ready to pardon your sins and save your soul from death."

During these remarks she listened like one astonished. But here I observed a material change in her appearance. She stretched herself in the bed, fixed her eyes on the wall above, and trembled. Still, her rational faculties were apparent.

Believing that Death was about to cut short his work, I proposed to her the following question :— "Cloe, will you now accept of the Lord Jesus Christ, as your only Saviour from sin and from hell, and submit your soul into his hands for salvation?" With a faltering voice, she answered-" No, I cannot!" Astonished at the answer, I rejoined once more by inquiry-" Why, Cloe-why are you not willing, and why can you not Now, with dying breath, accept of Christ for salvation?" With evident appearance of being in full possession of her rational powers, but with a still more feeble and tremulous articulation, looking me full in the face, she answered" IT IS TOO LATE.

These were her last and dying words. Not another word was spoken to her. Not another syllable did she attempt to utter. She shuddered, groaned, gasped ceased to breathe! and the immortal spirit took its flight in less than two hours after I first entered the room. I closed her eyes in death, amidst the outcries of almost frantic relatives, and

the sobbings of a deeply affected circle of attendants. Thus died the once gay, but now despairing Cloe.

The parents of the deceased requested me to attend the funeral at their house, and preach on the occasion. I promised compliance with their request, and asked permission to state to the audience at the funeral, the manner of Cloe's death, with a view to improve the circumstances, as a solemn warning to the young, and to all impenitent sinners, to prepare to meet their God. This request was granted without hesitation.

On the funeral occasion, a vast concourse assembled, and, at the conclusion of a sermon, were witnesses to the recital of the substance of the foregoing statement of facts, accompanied with an improvement of the alarming death; after which the remains of the deeply-lamented Cloe were laid in the dust.

The warning voice ceases not, but still cries aloud, "O sinners, consider your ways, and turn to the Lord, before it be too late." Trust not in a dying hour to prepare for death. Boast not of to-morrow, but seek the Lord's mercy to-day. Now is the accepted time. To-morrow it may be too late to pray for pardon too late to hope for salvation. Sinner, prepare to meet thy God! On every side, tokens of decaying nature warn you of your dying day. Every voice of alarm points you to the bed of death, the narrow house in the dust, and to the eternity of misery which awaits you in a future state if you die unreconciled to God, unpardoned, and unblest. Though, without Christ,

your life may be devoted to vanity; yet be assured of this, that without Christ, your death-bed will be a place of self-deception, or a place of total despair. O neglect not the salvation of your soul. Make not this world your chief good. Walk not in the ways of your heart, in the pursuit of vanity. Defer not preparation for death to a dying bed, lest there you find no heart to repent. O sinner, take warning-prepare to meet God before "it is too late!"

FAITH.

WHEN the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth? This is a very interesting inquiry to Christians at the present day, and in looking over the many and precious promises of our Saviour, to those who ask in faith, or pray, believing, (trusting, as we profess to do, implicitly in his word, which we know can never fail,) we are led seriously to inquire, if faith is still upon the earth where shall we find it? Where is the Christian, who, after examining this class of promises with prayer and attention, can shew to himself or others any proof that he possesses faith equal to the grain of mustard seed so often mentioned by our Lord? When the scriptures say, "Whosoever will, let him come," we believe that all may come-we do not explain it away, but believe it in its plainness and simplicity. But when we read-" And Jesus answering, saith unto them, Have faith in God, for verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Is

Therefore, I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them;" we are filled with unbelief, and stagger at the very promise that should be an anchor to our faith. It is sometimes said, these words were addressed to the apostles, or the primitive Christians, and do not apply to us. But where do we find these promises limited to individuals or time. any true child of God debarred from them, however humble, or however distant the period of his claim may be from the giving of the promise? Is not Jesus the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever? and are not all his brethren who do the will of his Father? What hinders our exercising this faith when we pray for things according to his will, the upbuilding of his kingdom, the conversion of individuals, or of the whole world? Is there not a great want of faith at the present time? Do we not put too much dependence in an arm of flesh? We have faith in our benevolent institutions, and in our own efforts, and the exertions of others, to forward the glorious cause of salvation. These we must not leave undone, but urge them forward with an ardour, devotedness, and a self-sacrificing spirit, never known before. But far above and beyond all these, we must have FAITH IN GOD; we must believe his promise simply and fully as he has given it. Then shall we see the kingdom of Satan trembling to its base, and the cause of truth, and of holiness, and of God, triumph and spread universally. When his children shall cry unto Him with the faith that Christ requires, then shall the bonds of every captive be loosed, the oppressed go free, and the converting Spirit of our God be shed upon the nations till the whole earth shall glorify its Creator.

C. S. M.