months before the time that I saw him, he had been deprived of his wife by death. To suppress the sorrow occasioned by this loss, he went frequently to a public house. There he found companions, whose mirth caused him to forget, for a moment, his troubles. At first, he was surprised, and shocked, at their profaneness, but he soon proved that 'evil communications corrupt good manners.' These men were infidels; and it was not long before they persuaded their new associate to imitate their example, in abandoning the profession and casting off the restraints of religion. On Sunday mornings they met to encourage each other in all manner of wickedness; and on one of these occasions, according to previous agreement, they together committed their Bibles to the flames, and vowed never again to enter a place of religious worship. All this,' said the wretched man, did well enough, while I was in health, and could keep off the thoughts of death.' Now, however, he was stretched on a bed of sickness, and conscious of his near approach to eternity; in this state, forced to reflection, his guilt and danger excited the utmost horror and alarm. Despair had taken full possession of his mind. When I spoke to him of the mercy and forgiveness, which the most heinous offenders are encouraged to seek, through the mediation of a Redeemer, he hastily exclaimed, What's the use of talking to me about mercy? When entreated again and again to 'behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,' he said, 'I tell you it is of no use; 'tis too late.' In reply to my exhortation to pray, he said, 'Oh, I can't pray and after a pause, I will not pray?' These expressions were subsequently several times repeated. 'I cannot pray; I will not pray?' Two men having entered the room, whom I understood to have been leaders in the guilty company by whom this poor man had been deluded, he hastily turned his face from them, with obvious disgust and terror; and after they had addressed to him some blustering expressions, by which they hoped to rally his spirits, he raised himself on his bed, lifted up his hands, and in the most deliberate and solemn manner called on God Almighty to blast those wretches to all eternity! They almost immediately left the apartment uttering a profusion of oaths. Some time afterwards

three others of the wretched men entered, and occasioned a repetition of the imprecations, which it was impossible for any to hear without shuddering.

"After I had been with him about two hours, during which time he frequently repeated such expressions as have been stated, he became quite indifferent to what was said to him, rolling about on his bed, and now and then ejaculating, My Bible! oh! the Bible! His eyes were for several minutes fixed on me, but he seemed not to hear the questions and entreaties, which I continued to address to him. He then concealed his face by turning it to the pillow; and after having remained in this position perhaps a quarter of an hour, his whole frame was violently convulsed; he groaned, and then again was still; and whilst I was speaking to the bystanders, he expired. 'it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'"

Death of a Christian.

"HITHERTO," said Payson, while lying on his dying couch, "Hitherto, I have viewed God as a fixed Star, bright indeed, but often intercepted by clouds; but now he is coming nearer and nearer, and spreads into a Sun, so vast and glorious, that the sight is too dazzling for flesh and blood to sustain." This was not a blind adoration of an imaginary deity; for, added he, "I see plainly that all these same giorious and dazzling perfections, which now only serve to kindle my affections into a flame, and to melt down my soul into the same blessed image, would hurn and scorch me like a consuming fire, if I were an impenitent sinner."

He said he felt no solicitude respecting his family; he could trust them all in the hands of Christ. To feel any undue solicitude on their account, or to be unwilling to leave them with God, would be like "a child who was reluctant to go to school, lest his father should burn up his toys and playthings while he was absent."

Conversing with a friend on his preparation for his departure, he compared himself to "a person, who had been visiting his friends, and was about to return home. His

trunk was packed, and every thing prepared, and he was looking out of the window, waiting for the stage to take him in."

When speaking of the sufferings he endured, particularly the sensation of burning, in his side and left leg, he said that if he expected to live long enough to make it worth while, he would have his leg taken off." On Mrs. Payson's uttering some expression of surprise, he replied, "I have not a very slight idea of the pain of amputation; yet I have no doubt, that I suffer more, every fifteen minutes, than I should in having my leg taken off."

His youngest child, about a year old, had been under the care of a friend, and was to be removed a few miles out of town; but he expressed so strong a wish to see Charles first, that he was sent for. The look of love, and tenderness, and compassion, with which he regarded the child, made an indellible impression on all present. At his request some of the choir belonging to the congregation came a few days before his death, for the purpose of singing, for his gratification, some of the songs of Zion. He selected the one commencing.

"Rise my soul, and stretch thy wings;"

Part of the hymn,

"I'll praise my Maker with my breath;"

And the "Dying Christian to his Soul."

Sabbath day, October 21, 1827, his last agony commenced. This holy man, who had habitually said of his racking pains, "These are God's arrows, but they are all sharpened with love"-and who in the extremity of suffering had been accustomed to repeat, as a favorite expression, "I will bless the Lord at all times"-had yet the dying strife to encounter." It commenced with the same difficulty of respiration, though in an aggravated degree, which had caused him great distress at intervals, during his sickness. His daughter, who had gone to the Sabbath School without any apprehensions of so sudden change, was called home. Though laboring for breath, and with a rattling in his throat, similar to that which immediately precedes dissolution, he smiled upon her,

kissed her affectionately, and said-"God bless you, my daughter!" Several of the church were soon collected at his bedside; he smiled on them all, but said little, as his power of utterance had nearly failed. Once he exclaimed, "Peace! peace! victory! victory!" He looked on his wife and children, and said, almost in the words of dying Joseph to his brethren-words which he had before spoken of, as having a peculiar sweetness, and which he now wished to recall to her mind-"I am going, but God will surely be with you." His friends watched him, expecting every moment to see him expire, till near noon, when his distress partially left him; and he said to the physician, who was feeling his purse, that he found he was not to be released yet; and though he had suffered the pangs of death, and got almost within the gates of Paradise-yet, if it was God's will that he should come back, and suffer still more, he was resigned. He passed through a similar scene in the afternoon, and, to the surprise of every one was again relieved. The night following he suffered less than he had the two preceding. Friday night had been one of inexpressible suffering. That and the last night of his pilgrimage were the only nights in which he had watchers. The friend who attended him through his last night, read to him, at his request, the twelfth chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians; parts of which must have been peculiarly applicable to his case.

On Monday morning, his dying agonies returned in all their extremity. For three hours every breath was a groan. On being asked if his sufferings were greater than on the preceding Friday night, he answered, “Incomparably greater." He said that the greatest temporal blessing of which he could conceive would be one breath of air. Mrs. Payson fearing, from the expression of suffering in his countenance, that he was in mental as well as bodily anguish, questioned him on the subject. With extreme difficulty he was enabled to articulate the words, "Faith and patience hold out." About midday, the pain of respiration abated, and a partial stupor succeeded. Still, however, he continued intelligent, and evidently able to recognize all who were present. His eyes spoke after his tongue became motionless. He looked on Mrs.

Payson, and then his eye, glancing over the others who surrounded his bed, rested on Edward, his eldest son, with an expression which said-and which was interpreted by all present to say, as plainly as if he had uttered the words of the beloved disciple-"Behold thy mother!" There was no visible indication of the return of his sufferings. He gradually sunk away, till about the going down of the sun, when his happy spirit was set at liberty.

The ruling passion was strong in death." His love. for preaching was as invincible as that of the miser for gold, who dies grasping his treasure. Dr. Payson direct ed a label to be attached to his breast on which should be written "Remember the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet present with you;" that they might be read by all who came to look at his corpse, and by which he, being dead, still spoke. The same words, at the request of his people, were engraven on the plate of the coffin, and read by thousands on the day of interment.

Charitable Disposition.

It is related of John Elliott, "the apostle to the Indians," that one day, while minister of Roxbury, the parish Treasurer, having paid him his salary, put it into a handkerchief, and tied it in to as many hard knots, as he could make, to prevent him from giving it away before he reached his own house. On his way he called upon a poor family, and told them, that he had brought them some relief. He then began to untie the knots; but finding it a work of great difficulty, gave the handkerchief to the mistress of the house; saying, "Here my dear, take it; I believe the Lord designs it all for you."

Rev. Thomas Hooker.

THIS eminent divine was once suddenly awakened one night by an unusual noise, which appeared to proceed from his cellar. He immediately arose, dressed himself, and went silently to the foot of the cellar stairs. There