Veratio replied, There is no necessity, that I know of, Novitio, for you to ask a reason for the proceedings of the Almighty; nevertheless, the difficulty here vanisheth, when it is considered, that for the Most High to choose for such purposes, persons whose conduct hath been less guarded, would not answer the end designed. We naturally expect that professors who are unguarded in their conduct, and remiss in the known duties of religion, will find hard work of it on a death-bed, which will be no less troublesome to them, than if they lay upon pointed flints; so that, although the party himself may be at last saved, it is through fiery temptations and grievous afflictions: but when Christian people behold a person of the most circumspect and conscientious conversation, springing from principles of the most eminent piety, mourning after an absent God, and lamenting his sins, which all the world besides himself are strangers to, it naturally tends to stir up each to self-examination, and to consider his own ways. The learned Fleming relates a story of a northern worthy· who had been in divers cases favoured with an extraordinary discovery of the mind and will of God, who, when he came to a death-bed, called his friends to him, and thus addressed them: "0 my friends! I find it a great matter to be a real Christian, and unrebukeable before God: I declare to you, that such hath been my support for the space of ten years past, that God hath not been out of my thoughts as long at once as one might go to the cross and come again, (which might be done in ten minutes,) unless I have been asleep, or about

business; and, after all, I assure you, that I am even now at the very brink of despair.

Another end which God may have in view, perhaps, may be to remove the carnal confidence which his own people are too prone to have, in the grace which they have already received. In some frames, instead of studying to be strong in the grace that is in Christ, they are strong in that which is implanted in themselves: vainly imagining, that they can overcome the severest trial in the strength thereof. With an ancient professor, when he stood on a place slippery enough, they say, "My mountain stands strong; I shall never be moved:" not considering that the Christian's conquest depends not on the grace which he hath already received, but on fresh supplies communicated in the time of need, from Him, in whom it hath pleased the Father that all fulness shall dwell. All fulness dwelling in Jesus, naturally supposes that there is nothing but emptiness in the creature, and that, therefore, the sublime exercise of Christian faith consists in a constant reliance upon God in Christ, for mercy to pardon every sin, and for grace to help in every time of necessity.

Now when Christian people behold the greatest of saints labouring in the dark, under the severest buffetings and sharpest conflicts of soul, it naturally tends to make them suspect their supposed strength, and to exercise themselves in an habitual reliance upon God. And seeing their need of fresh supplies of grace, how naturally are they led, by such dispensations, to the inexhaustable Fountain of all fulness, for strength proportioned to their

days of difficulty and trial; and especially for large supplies in their death-bed trials, because very of ten they are found to be the greatest; and well it is that the Lord is pleased by any means to teach his people to live upon himself.

But come, Novitio, and I will discover to you the immediate cause of the sorrow of good Humilius.

This said, the venerable Veratio anointed my eyes with his precious eye-salve, and in an instant I discerned a deformed fiend crouching close by the side of Humilius, and whispering him in the ear; and at every sigh which the good man made, through the pressure of his grief, the malicious fury smiled a most ghastly grin. But giving a close attention to this evidence-darkener, I perceived a chain harder than adamant round his middle, the end of which was secure in the hand of a majestick person, who shone brighter by far than the sun in his strength; by which I saw, that although it may please the Almighty sometimes to permit Satan to disturb the minds of his chosen ones, he never suffers him to destroy them; and that he can go no farther than permitted by the divine Redeemer.

Learn from hence, Novitio, said Veratio to me, that the same enemy who allures to sin, while in health and prosperity, will, if permitted, tempt to despair in a state of sickness and adversity. And be you, yea, let every Christian be thankful, that Satan is ever kept under a suitable restraint by the power of Almighty God, otherwise feeble mortals must of necessity sink under his great superiority.

Here my guide ceased; and, as I thought, the good Humilius, for the last time, opened his mouth and said: Ever since I knew any thing of religion, flying to Christ has been my last resource. I am now dreadfully oppressed with the weight of my sins, but whither shall I fly for help, but to the mercy of that God against whom I have sinned? He only hath the words of eternal life. There is

none in the heavens above, none upon the earth beneath, that can help me but him; as it has been in my lifetime, so it is now; this is my last resource: I die, if I trust not in him; I can but die, if I trust in him: therefore I will prostrate my soul at the foot of his throne, and there will I sue for mercy. If I perish, I perish! and if I should, as I deserve, be spurned from his presence, it shall be relying on his own blood and righteousness, for there is salvation in none other.

Having uttered these words with the dying rattle in his throat, his speech failed, to the great grief of his godly acquaintance; some of whom said: Alas! lest this should be the means of turning the lame out of the way. One thing I beheld, pleased me mightily; which was this: the moment that good Humilius ceased to speak, the majestick person of whom I spoke, who shone so gloriously, gave the chain, wherewith the fury was bound, a severe twitch, and obliged him to leave the good man to his rest: which so enraged the squalid infernal, that he growled most horribly, and in anguish gnawed the adamantine chain; then disappeared, and I saw him no more.

In the mean while, my benevolent guide, by

some supernatural means, opened my ears that I could hear, and in some measure understand the language of spirits; which I no sooner perceived, than with all diligence I attended to what now passed with the good Humilius; in whose concerns I found myself by this time deeply interested. As I listened, I heard the Almighty, who but a little before seemed to stand upon Mount Sinai, surrounded with clouds of darkness and horrible tempests, now speak from Mount Zion, in a still, small voice and said to the speechless man: "I have loved thee with an everlasting and immutable love; therefore I have drawn thee by dark paths to myself; yea, I have caused thee to pass under the rod, and have brought thee into the bond of the covenant. The way which I led thee, thou knowest not; but I have made crooked places straight before thee, and rough places smooth; thy wayfare is now accomplished, and I have bruised Satan forever under thy feet."

The dying man no sooner felt the blessed effects of the well-known voice of God, than in an ecstacy of joy, he mentally replied: My Lord and my God! Now, Death, do thy worst! Come as soon as thou wilt, thou awful skeleton, for now thou art welcome! Now my Lord is returned with lovingkindness, I can with pleasure enter thy cold embrace, and repose my flesh in thy gloomy mansions. Hasten thy pace, thou tardy executioner; cut short thy work, thou friendly enemy! I long to enjoy the beatific vision of him who loved me to the death, and washed me in his blood, enriched with all the fullness of indwelling divinity.