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to travel, I left them when very young and went through many countries in the military line, in which I met with more encouragement than I could have expected. I was reputed an honeft man, and fuftained a fair character, till about three years ago, being reduced to poverty by the non-payment of different fums of money due to me, led afide by ill company, and above all by my own desperately wicked and deceitful heart, I followed a courfe of life the most openly finful and profane, and went on from evil to worfe, till I was at laft left fo far to myself, as to commit the crime for which I am condemned; and condemned juftly, for I receive the due rewards of my deeds. But though till lately, I could not have been condemned by the laws of men, I fee myself all along a breaker of the law of God, as it requires perfect love to God and our neighbour, Mat. xxii. 37, 39. I fee myself to have been a wilful tranfgreffor of both thefe commandments, and all my fins in this refpect appear to me very dark and difmal, and now very evil in my fight. After I was condemned, I was ftruck with horror from a fenfe my dismal ftate, labouring under a dreadful weight, and at the point of defpair, through a view of the greatness of my fins. In this fituation I was vifited by fome perfons, who I doubt not meant well; I informed them that I was very much difturbed and felt a great weight at my heart, and wanted to prepare myfelf for another world, and that I could not get myfelf made easy by prayer, mourning over my fins, and all my attempts to please God. They told me they were very glad that I felt myself uneafy for my fins, and defired me to be bufy with God and ufe all my endeavours to make peace for myself with him; but I ftill continued very uneafy, for no prayers or tears of mine could atone for one fingle fin, let be fo many. In this ftate I remained, fo anxious to make my heart better, that I would willingly have plucked it out of my bowels, if this would have answered the purpofe, and rendered me an object worthy of pardon; but all my attempts were vain, till God was pleafed fo to order it, that a certain perfon came to fee me he asked me how I found myself: I answered that I was endeavouring to work a very hard work, for I felt a great load at my heart; he replied, It is a very hard work indeed, if you be working any thing to make atonement for your fins; that work is done already; it is finished by Jefus Chrift; and whofoever believes in this fhall be faved. For proof of this, he marked down many paffages of Scripture, and defired me to mind God's word and not man's. Even when I first heard this, I was somewhat eafed in my mind; but when, after examining the Scriptures,

I found

I found it to be just and true, I was fo much eafed of the bur den at my heart, that it was almoft new life unto me. Now I rejoice when I find it written, John, iii. 16, that "God fo loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him fhould not perifh, but have everlasting life." And I account it "a faithful faying and worthy of all ac ceptation, that Chrift Jefus came into the world to fave finners, of whom I am chief." So I fee that God gave his fon freely to die for our fins, because there was no other ranfom could fatisfy his juftice, and fore provoked anger; fo vile were we and full of fin, that it was neceflary that God himself should be manifeft in the flesh, being born of a virgin, and, by his death on the cross, suffer for us. Thus Ifaiah fays, chap. liii. 5. "He was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chaftisement of our peace was upon him, and with his ftripes we are healed." See the whole chapter. And in John, xix. we have an account of his fufferings, fufferings far beyond my power to defcribe; but in particular at the 30th verfe: "When Jefus had received the vinegar, he faid, it Is finifhed; and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghoft." Now it was from this very word that I at first took all my joy; for I am affured that he hath completed all falvation for the guilty, and hath confirmed this by raifing him from the dead, and committing unto him all judgment. I am also affured, that, "whofoever believeth on him, fhall not perish;" and therefore though I am a great finner, though I acknowledge myself to be one of the chief of finners, yet I find I have no room for despair; nor am Llocked up from God's grace, though I be chained in bars of iron. The scene before me indeed is folemn: I am just going to launch into eternity, and to face that great and terrible God against whom I have finned, and Jefus fitting at his right hand, who is able to fave and to deftroy. The change will be great and the very thought of it is so affecting, that it must long ere now have deprived me of my fenfes, had not God, who is rich in mercy, opened mine eyes by his word and spirit, to fee his glory as revealed in the gofpel, that he is the juft God and the faviour, and that even fuch a wretch as I, is fully warranted to hope in his mercy. This, and this alone, gives ftrength and confolation to my foul. I go to Chrift my Lord and faviour, to his judgment-feat who died upon the cross for finners; to him I commit my caufe; to him I look for falvation. I am alfo encouraged to hope in the mercy of God from the many inftances recorded in the Scriptures, fuch as Mary Magdalene, Zacheus, the jailor at VOL. III. Philippi,

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Philippi, and above all, the thief on the crofs, which fo ex actly applies to my cafe, that it gives me a great deal of comfort. Thus when I confider the goodness of Chrift, I love him this leads me to call on his name, and to wish I could do any thing to ferve him, or his people: and indeed it is only through the knowledge of him that all true love arifes either to God or man. When I ponder in my mind what is recorded of the woman who kiffed the feet of Jefus, wafhed them with her tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and what the Lord faid about this to Simon the Pharifee, I admire the grace of the faviour. I wish it were in my power to kiss his feet; with what joy and transport would I wash them with my tears, and wipe them with the hairs of my head! But why fhould I fay fo? The bleffed Jefus needs none of my washing. It is I, a poor polluted finner, that need to be washed; and I praise and magnify his name, that he hath washed my foul in his moft precious blood.

Now this is the confeffion of my faith and hope, which I am perfuaded none who regard the Bible will difapprove of, seeing I have received so much comfort from it, and given God's own word for the truth of all that I have faid; and it is my earnest defire, that all who fee this, may examine the ground of my confidence, and apply to this my remedy, which will never fail.

To conclude, I die in peace with all men; heartily forgiving all who have injured me, and afking forgiveness from all whom I have injured. I alfo return my hearty thanks to my lawyers and agent for their difinterested zeal in my service; and alfo to the captain of the tolbooth, and the inner jailor, who, while they were very ftrict and exact in their duty, behaved to me with kindness and compaffion. But above all, I return thanks to those who were inftrumental, by the grace of God, in enlightening my mind in the knowledge of the Scriptures; and as I cannot express what service they have done me, I leave it to the Lord to recompenfe them, knowing that for his fake they fhewed me kindness.

And now, O Lord Jefus, I turn to thee. These are my laf words: Remember me, now that thou art in thy kingdom, and be merciful to me this day, as thou waft to the thief who called to thee on the cross, and grant that my foul may be with thee in Paradife, that I may be blessed in the enjoyment of thee to all eternity. Amen. WILLIAM MILLS.

It may be proper to obferve that the publisher, Henry David Inglis, above mentioned, received from William Mills,

a few

á few days before he died, the fpeech he intended to be published, written with his own hand, in order to correct any inaccuracy, and leave out any repetition of fentiment. The above fpeech contains the fubftance of what was thus received from him; not only the ideas being exactly preferved, but as much as poffible, his own words being retained. This speech was examined by Wm. Mills, and was figned by him before it was printed and fo anxious was he that his own speech should abroad into the world, that he inftructed the jailor to apply for an interdict against all printers, except the perfon employed by him and he read over the fpeech after it was published, on the day that he suffered, that he might be fatisfied that no miftake was committed. (See the first article in the poetry.)

THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAH. MR. EDITOR,'

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YOUR having been pleased to favour me in the publishing the life of Jonathan the Jew, am therefore encouraged to recommend for your infertion, the following differtation on the fign of the prophet Jonah, wrote by the fame celebrated author; and, according to his ftatement thereof, it appears that no part of the Sacred Writings more confpicuously holds forth and illuftrates the grand article of the Chriftian's creed, that "God is love," that "he is good to all," and that "his tender mercies are over all his works."

This piece being now out of print, I thought it too valuable to remain in oblivion, especially as it is esteemed by some who have thought much upon the fubject, to be the beft illuftration thereof extant.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

JOHN CUE.

Matt. xii. 38-44,

Then certain of the scribes and Pharifees answered, faying, Mafter, we would fee a fign from thee. But he answered. and faid to them, An evil and adulterous, generation feeketh after a fign, and there fhall no fign be given unto it, but the fign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, fo fhall the fon of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh fhall rife in judgment with this generation

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and

1

and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold a greater than Jonah is here."

Ch, xvi. 3, 4. "O ye hypocrites, ye can difcern the face of the fky, but can ye not difcern the figns of the times? A wicked and adulterous generation feeketh after a fign, and there fhall no fign be given unto it, but the fign of the prophet Jonah."

Luke, xi. 30. "For as Jonah was a fign unto the Ninevites, fo fhall alfo the fon of man be to this generation."

Chrift's telling the Jews, that no fign fhould be given to them but the fign of the prophet Jonah, plainly calls for our attentive confideration of the hiftory of that prophet. And though the resemblance to the Meffiah was especially in his preaching repentance to the Ninevites, in confequence of his being three days and three nights in the belly of the great fifh* (κοιλια το κήτους) yet we may find feveral circumftances in the account we have of him wherein he may be confidered as a fign, in close connection with this leading view.

SECTION I.

1. If we take notice of the city from whence Jonah came, and by which he is defigned, we fhall fee the vanity of that objection which the Jewish leaders made against Jesus being the great prophet, when they said to Nicodemus with an air of triumph, Art thou alfo of Galilee? Search and look, for out of Galilee arifeth no prophet." John, vii. 52. For it is manifeft that Jonah was a Galilean, of Gath-kepher, a city situated on the sea coast of Galilee, in the portion of Zebulon; compare 2 Kings, xiv. 25. with Joshua, xix. 13. So in this inftance, the Pharifees, these blind guides, fhewed themselves as grofsly ignorant of the Scriptures, as in that other quoted by Matthew from Isaiah, xi. 1, 2. Matt. iv. 15, 16. "The

land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the fea, Galilee of the gentiles; the people who fat in darkness faw great light, and to them who fat in the region and shadow of death, light is fprung up."

2. Jonah is the firft prophet fent to preach repentance to the idolatrous gentiles, even as he was fent with glad tidings of relief and enlargement to the house of Ifrael, by the recovery of their ancient border, when they had been reduced to the greateft diftrefs by their apoftacy from the true God to the worship of idols, 2 Kings, xiv. 26, 27. The reafon annexed to the

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pro.