warded to the noble patron by all the parishioners, earnestly entreating that their beloved pastor might not be removed from them, that he yielded to their wishes, and conferred the living upon him. How fervent and universal was the joy caused by this appointment,-joy, alas! so soon to be turned into mourning!

A new field was thus opened. Douglas was the chosen spot where Mr. T. proposed establishing himself, and the whole neighbourhood, rich and poor, exulted in the prospect of having him permanently fixed among them. He took a place, into which he was to have removed in a few months, and the moments he could spare from the duties of his parish were spent in improving this abode, where his affectionate people looked forward to see him enjoying long years of domestic happiness and ministerial usefulness. But the Lord had decreed otherwise: his mansion in his Father's house was ready for him, that building made without hands, eternal in the heavens. A cold, caught while about his Master's business, brought on fever, which in a few days proved fatal, and the light which had shone before men, oh how brightly,-for a few short years, was quenched in a moment.

It is a heavy, and most unexpected stroke, but the will of God be done. Poor human nature struggles hard when its desires are crossed, and its ideas of expediency are irreconcileable with the divine dealings; but the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, and has not he himself condescended to say, "What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Faith extends her view beyond the cold, narrow tomb, and follows the glorified spirit to

its everlasting home. Then how selfish do regrets appear! If there is joy among the angels in heaven over the poor repenting sinner, oh with what rapture must the heavenly host receive the Christian warrior, the more than conqueror through Him that loved him, when he comes to cast his crown at his Redeemer's feet! How must that white-robed band rejoice when "Welcome thou good and faithful servant" re-echoes through the courts of eternity,when the ransomed one is ushered into his Saviour's presence, to be for ever with the Lord. What a contrast between his state, whose early grave is watered by such bitter tears, and that of the poor sorrowing friends who met this morning in his bereaved church! His journey is over, his work is done. No tale of sorrow; no sight of suffering can now distress his feeling heart. He has for ever left this body of sin, this earthly tabernacle in which all do groan, being burdened; mortality is swallowed up of life. No spiritual conflicts can ever more assail him; no agitating hopes and fears;-no yearnings over the souls committed to his charge. The watchman is released from his anxious post; the soldier who cheered on to the battle sounds the trumpet no more; God has removed him early from the burden and heat of the day, and given him to wear the crown before he had borne as much of the cross as falls to the share of many pilgrims in this vale of tears.

And shall we reap no lesson from this painful trial? Oh yes. The animated tones of him we weep are yet ringing in our ears: though dead, he speaketh. His words, his bright example-these are a precious legacy he has bequeathed to us. Oh may we seek to improve it. Let us think how ardently, how inde

fatigably, he laboured in his master's service, and how many are the good works that follow him, though the night so soon came, the night of death, in which no man can work. It is an awful warning. Oh let us lay it to heart; and while we bless God's holy name for all his servants departed this life in his faith and fear, let us earnestly beseech him to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of his heavenly kingdom. M. F. D.

[We intended to have devoted a few lines to the record of what the flock have lost, in the sudden removal of their beloved and revered pastor, the Rev. Horace Townsend: but on receiving the foregoing from our endeared friend, M. F. D., we felt that nothing remained for us but to add a word of affectionate sympathy. Little can the privileged congregations of England, sitting each one under his own vine and under his own fig-tree, with none as yet to make them afraid, comprehend the depth of feeling with which a little Protestant flock, in the south of Ireland, contemplate the removal of one who was accustomed to gather them; and in this season of their depression, yea, persecution, to strengthen them in the Lord!-ED.]

"BUT."

She is a dear good creature-but-here the remark ended. Alas! not so quickly was its application forgotten. There was a significant nod, and a half-suppressed sigh accompanying the sentence, as though some deep and weighty matter lay hidden beneath. The solution of this mysterious word and action was left to the imagination of all who heard it. These might disperse, and, bearing with them, perhaps, an indistinct remembrance of the reproach thus tacitly implied, might chance to hear the name of its victim alluded to in some of their respective circles. Naturally associated, the inuendo would be recalled to mind. Do you know her?' 'No; but from what I have heard, I cannot regard her in quite so favourable a light.' Thus the feeling may spread with electrical velocity, until at length the character of one of God's hidden ones' may be overshadowed, and a name, long since written in the Lamb's book of life, may be cast out as evil, and that, too, by those who profess to speak the truth in love. Yet, perhaps, could we trace the evil to its source, we should find it originating in some fancied or suspected inconsistency, some differing judgment or misinterpreted action; or--may we dare to give it utterance?—such is the deceitfulness of our nature, even when under the influence of divine grace, that this prejudice may perhaps have its first rise in the unsuspected lurking

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of some of those feelings, which He, who best knew the heart, declared to be its peculiar progeny. Oh, if the serpents of malice, pride and envy, be hidden in the chambers of imagery within, no wonder we find that the poison of asps is under the tongue.' Let each, then, analyze his own motives, and secret springs of action;-let each answer to himself, as he must one day answer in the presence of a Judge, before whom the thoughts of every heart shall be naked and open.

We are commanded not to suffer sin upon our brother; therefore when duty points the way, let us take up the cross, however painful it may be, and boldly and honestly tell him wherein he has offended; but let us beware how we lightly injure his reputation, or impede his usefulness. I believe we shall not often err if we but observe a simple rule, namely, to speak nothing unfavourable of a brother or sister, until, at least, we have candidly spoken to them, and heard their self-defence.

PHILALETHES.

THE church of Rome boasts of the antiquity of her doctrines. I admit that this doctrine of venial sin is a very ancient one; it was first preached by the devil, the father of lies, to our first parents in Paradise, when tempting them to eat the fruit concerning which God had said unto them, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." His language was, "Ye shall not surely die;" this is but a venial sin!-Rev. E. Nangle.