that over-hung our path. He did so; and I saw him wipe away a tear which had involuntarily started at the melancholy remembrance, melancholy but. endeared, of a friend whom, though then he knew it not, save perhaps from the indistinct whispers of some doubtful foreboding, he was never to meet again on this side the grave. Desirous of continuing a narrative in which he was sensible I felt the most lively interest, he, after a while, resumed:

"With a mind thus attuned to seriousness, I advanced towards the peaceful habitation in the wood. As I descended towards it a different scene presented itself, The sun was gilding the mountains beyond, and seemed as if he was reposing for a little, surveying his fair image reflected in the lucid mirror of the snows which wrapped them round. Hill and dale, woodland and pasture, flocks and herds, diversified

the prospect; while a small stream, that issued from a rock not remote, emitted, as it babbled along its pebbly channel, a degree of mournful music, well calculated to calm the agitation of my heart.

"Absorbed in deep, but not unpleasing, meditation, I drew near the cottage whither I was destined. Beneath that roof sojourned the children of peace. Chosen by the same grace, redeemed by the same blood, purchased at the same inestimable price, sanctified by the same Spirit, subjects of the same kingdom, and heirs of the same inheritance of blessedness and rest, I loved them as my fellow-citizens, as members of the household of my God. With sensations similar to those which such contemplations would naturally awaken, I opened the willow gate which completed the enclosure that separated their little mansion and farm from the adjoining fields. As I passed through the garden,

His

the declining orb shed a mild radiance over the quiet and secluded scene. beams, already crimsoning in the dense atmosphere of the horizon, were playing among the tendrils of the honey-suckle, that hung its odoriferous blossoms about the door of this humble but happy dwelling. Ah! thought I, the sun is setting; and the evening of your days too, my venerable friends, is fast closing in. But as his departure is unclouded and beautifully serene, so, I doubt not, will your last end be peace.

"I entered, and was met by the blessings of the good old woman. She was seated in her easy chair, and rose with difficulty to salute me. She was

indeed inuch altered from what I had but lately seen her. Her hands had a burning heat in them, her cheek was flushed with the hectic fever, through which the wanness and emaciation of age were still apparent; her eye was sunk,

and her breathing short.

In answer to my inquiries, she informed me that she had been so ill, that she had thought at one time that she was in the agonies which were to terminate her life. God, however, had for a season raised her up again; but it was evident to me, and she was herself fully persuaded, that she would now soon be called to the tribunal of her Judge. In the near prospect of dissolution, it was manifest that this toil-worn pilgrim felt the tempter assailing her. When I had last visited her, her hopes were bright, and her 'mountain stood strong.' She 'joyed in the Lord, and rejoiced in the God of her salvation,' and seemed about to take triumphant possession of the heavenly Canaan. But now she was brought low. Her mind dwelt on the gloominess of the sepulchre. The chambers of death to her eye were dark and lonely. The voice of the mourners sounded dismal in her ears. She beheld the dreary

preparation of the tomb, and trembled at the thought that she must so soon go down to its solitary abodes. All round her appeared desolate and sad; and she was ready to cry out in the anguish of her spirit, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Before, you might almost have imagined that she had overstepped the grave, and had forgotten the shafts of the king of terrors,' in the glorious perspective presented to her faith now, she was in deep waters, and dreaded lest she might sink in the swellings of Jordan.' Her deportment now wore rather the seriousness of one about to undergo the last tremendous scrutiny, and who felt how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, than of the pilgrim whose eye can penetrate even the blackness of death, pierce the gloom that envelopes the silent mansions of decay, and catch beyond them the dawn of immortality.