I heard of another death.

"How did he die?"

"O, sir, it was truly a happy death." "Did he speak?" "Yes, sir, and brought us all to tears." "And what did he say?" "O, sir, he said a great many beautiful things; but his last words were these,

'Jesus can make a dying bed

Feel soft as downy pillows are.""

"Well, that certainly was a happy death. And he was a Presbyterian-was he not?" "No, sir." "Not a Presbyterian!" “What,

then?" "He was a Baptist." "A Baptist! Is it possible! Very well: be it so. If my Heavenly Father showers the roses of heaven upon the bed of the dying Baptist, and takes him as a child home to glory, this is my brother in Christ: I hope to meet him in heaven!" I heard of yet another death! "Was it happy?" "Most happy." "Did he speak?” "Yes, sir. There were a great many in the room around his dying bed;-and he took each one by the hand, and gave the parting charge to meet him in heaven. All at once a sweet smile came over his countenance. He looked up, and seemed to be gazing with rapture upon some heavenly object, and exclaimed, Glory! glory!'-and then we heard him in a whisper say, 'Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!' Saying this, his head sank

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upon the pillow; and we all remarked that we never saw a more lovely corpse.' "Certainly that was a happy death! Was he not a Presbyterian?" "No." Then, surely, he must have been a Baptist?" "No, he was not!" "What then?" "He was a Methodist." "A Methodist!-Very well. If God accepts him, so will I. If my Heavenly Father sends down Elijah's triumphant chariot to take this dying Methodist to heaven; he, also, is my brother; we are bought with the same precious blood; we are sanctified by the same Divine Spirit; we are members of the same household of faith; I hope to shake hands with him in glory, and there unite with him in one sweet and everlasting song'the song of Moses and the Lamb!' 'Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.'"

"The saints on earth, and all the dead,

But one communion make;

All join in Christ, their living Head,
And of his grace partake."

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Amen."

SERMON XI.

A SERMON TO YOUNG MEN.

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.1 CHRON. Xxviii. 9.

THESE words form a part of David's farewell address, or dying charge, to Solomon, his son, and heir of his throne. Notwithstanding his many and acknowledged faults, David was, upon the whole, both a great and a good man. He was a great man, for he had risen from obscurity to distinction; from being a shepherd boy to be a king, and a powerful one. But he was also a good man. Not to mention other things, the book of Psalms, chiefly penned by him, is a memorial to his praise; a monument more beautiful than marble, more enduring than brass. And what, my young friends, I wish you not to forget, is this, that he devoted the morning of his days, as well as all his subsequent life, to the service of his Maker. Yes, piety adorned his youth; it flourished in manhood; and was to him a crown of glory in his old age. And now, having reigned over Jerusalem forty years, and knowing that the time of his departure was

near at hand, like Jacob, the venerable patriarch, and Moses, the saint of God, and Joshua, the son of Nun, he devotes the last closing scene of his life to the cause of piety and of God, and in his case emphatically, most lovely was the closing scene; lovelier far than the sunset scene at the close of the most placid day. See the mild, bright sun, sinking in the west, painting with rosy colours the fleecy clouds, which, here and there, are seen reposing upon the bosom of the clear blue sky. It is a beauteous, a lovely sight, and one upon which the eye loves to linger; but the last, closing scene in the history of a good man, when his sun of life is sinking in mild splendour to rise in more effulgent glory in another and a better world, has a beauty and a loveliness peculiarly its own. One has said,

"The chamber where the good man meets his fate, Is privileged, beyond the common walks of virtuous life, Quite on the verge of heaven!"

Does he speak? Every eye is fixed; every ear is attentive; all around are anxious to catch the last words which fall from his quivering lips; they are received as the counsels of wisdom and experience—almost as the voice of an oracle, or angel of God. But the case before us is invested with peculiar interest, for it is not only a good man that is about to leave the world, but it is a great man, a

mighty man, a warrior, a conqueror, and a king. This is he, who, even when a youth, was more lauded than Saul, what time returning as the vanquisher of Goliah, he was met by those who, with the timbrel and the dance, uttered his praises, saying, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands!" Yes, it is the far renowned David, the king of Israel, that is about to sink into the cold embrace of death. After the example of other Old Testament worthies who had gone before him, he gives his farewell address, he gives his dying charge. Picture to yourself the scene; the chief men of Jerusalem, and the mighty men, and the princes of the blood, are assembled in the palace of the dying monarch. There, on his royal couch, is the venerable man, with his cheeks furrowed, and his locks silvery with age! and there stands that young man, Solomon, his son, in youthful bloom; Solomon, the heir of David's throne. What silence reigns! And now the king speaks; first he addresses the nobles of his court, giving them political counsel; and then he turns his eyes upon Solomon, and upon him, now, every eye is fixed. Solomon, with profound veneration waits to hear his father's charge. It falls upon his ear: "And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a per