sworn there, and that was by one who did not usually dine in the room.* The same may be said, I believe, of his sobriety. His business led him much to public houses, and he was peculiarly circumstanced, having no house of his own, and his shop and offices being at a distance from the house where he lodged, the nearest public house to his business was a sort of home to him, yet I never saw him intoxicated, nor heard of his being so. It would have been well, if all who met with him in the public house, had copied his sobriety. His late hour of being home from market, on a Saturday night, obliged him, as he thought, to be in his shop, for a short time, early on the Sunday morning. He used to express his grief at this and I have thought, and wished, that he might have ordered it otherwise; but it never interfered with his being in good time for morning church; and, for many years, at an earlier hour, at the Sunday school. His constant journeys to Cambridge with his cart on a market day, gave him many opportunities of obliging persons, by taking them, or bringing them home; by taking or bringing parcels, and by executing commissions, at which he was most ready, and attentive, and trusty to this I can speak most decidedly, and may say truly, that he was as trusty as oneself. In his dealings he was honest and punctual. With a character thus high for morals and for piety, it might be asked by a stranger, perhaps, Was there no spiritual pride, no self-righteousness, no setting up of himself, and despising others? Nothing like it. In all the conversations I have had with him, I never observed any thing of this kind; and, though he was firmly, and from principle, attached to the Church, he had no bigotry in his composition, and valued a good man of whatever denomination he might be. It happened, that during the greater part of his last illness, (the breaking of a blood vessel, and a general decline) I was myself • At the Black Swan, in the Butcher Market, at Cambridge, kept by Mr. Smith.-See the Experienced Butcher, p. 18. Note. * ill, and unable to get out to see him; and, when I was able to go, I was myself so poorly, and he, from his cough, so unable to speak much, that but little conversation took place between us. He expected, I believe, that his illness would end in death; but did not seem to apprehend that his end was so near The last time I saw him, he had just had a bad fit of coughing, and it was not advisable for him to speak much, so I used the service for the Visitation of the sick, in which he joined with great devotion; and I left with him An Address to Persons in Sickness, a little tract published by the Religious Tract Society, which I understand he afterwards read he had already got Stanhope's Prayers and Meditations for Sick persons. We shook hands at parting, but I little thought it would be the last time I should see him in this world. But, though I am not able myself to give much account of his thoughts and views in his last days, yet it is with great satisfaction, that I am enabled to state, that, but a short time before his end, he pointed out to a pious friend a passage in a book which he said suited particularly his own case. This book is called A Golden Treasury for the Children of God; consisting of Select Texts of The Bible, with practical observations in Prose and Verse for every day in the year.† The one he pointed out is that for April the 27th. The Texts of Scripture are these. "God be merciful to me a Sinner. (Luke xviii. 13) Look upon my affliction and pain, and forgive all my sins. (Psalm xxv 18.) The Lord is gracions, and full of compassion, and of great mercy; the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. (Psalm cxlv. 8, 9.) Sou, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee. (Matthew ix. 2.)" The practical observations are these: "JUSTIFICATION, or remission of sins before the tribunal of God, and the comfortable assurance of it in Monday, January 28. He died the Sunday following, Feb. 3. the heart, do not always go together. The pardon is passed in heaven at once, and in the most perfect manner yet the sense of it may be wanting; for the assurance of that pardon is mostly given by degrees, as believers are able to receive it. Feeble glimpses appear now and then; and many tokens usually pass between Christ and a believing soul, before the Spirit gives a full and clear witness to his conscience. Therefore a penitent soul must converse much with the Gospel, and pray continually for more light, and a greater degree of faith and peace. The verses, or hymn, are these, God of mercy, hear my call, " My load of guilt remove; Give me the presence of thy grace: A soul, oppress'd with sin's desert, We may, then, entertain a hope, an assured hope, that our friend was THE FRIEND OF JESUS; and that, at the general Resurrection in the last day, he will rise again at the voice of the Saviour to EVERLASTINg life. May we so follow his example, and improve upon it, that, toget her with him, we may rise to the life immortal; and, through faith in the Saviour, may live, together with him, in the everlasting blessedness which God hath prepared for those who love him. FINIS. HUNTINGDON: PRINTED BY T. LOVELL. |