"I feel an undisturbed tranquility of soul, and am cheerfully waiting the will of God. My voice is gone, so that I cannot whisper without pain; and of this circumstance I am at times most ready to complain. For, to see my dear and amiable Sarah look at me, and then at the children, and at length bathe her face in tears, without my being able to say comfort, Oh !! -Oh!!. supports me under this also; one kind word of Yet the Lord and I trust will sup port me to the end. 00000000000 S. P." To MR. ROCK. July 28, 1799. I AM now to all appearance within a few steps of eternity. In Christ I am safe. In him I am happy. I trust we shall meet in heaven. S. P." "Birmingham, August 1, 1799. "MUCH disappointed that I am not released from this world of sin, and put in possession of the pleasures enjoyed by the spirits of just men made perfect, I once more address my dear fellow heirs of that glory which ere long shall be revealed to us all. "We returned from Devon last Friday week. I was exceedingly weak, and for several days afterwards got rapidly worse. My friends compelled me to try another physician. I am still told that I shall recover. Be that as it may, I wish to have my own will annihilated, that the will of the Lord may be done. Through his abundant grace, I have been, and still am happy in my soul; and I trust my prevailing desire is, that living or dying I may be the Lord's. S. P. 000000000 To R. BOWYER, ESQ. On his having sent him a print of Mr. SCHWARTZ, the Missionary on the Malabar coast. "Birmingham, August 16, 1799. "ON three accounts was your last parcel highly acceptable. It represented a man, whom I have long been in the habit of loving and revereing; and whose character and labours I intended, if the Lord had not laid his hand upon me by my present illness, to have presented to the public in Europe, as he himself presented them to the millions of Asia. The execution bearing so strong a likeness to the original, heightened its value. And then, the hand from whence it came, and the friendship it was intended to express, add to its worth. S. P. ៦០០០០០០០០០ឆ្នាំ To MR. FULLER. "Birmingham, August 19, 1799. THE doctor has been making me worse and weaker for three weeks. In the middle of the last week he spoke confidently of my recovery but to-day he has seen fit to alter his plans; and if I do not find a speedy alteration for the bet ter, I must have done with all physicians, but Him, who healeth the broken in heart." For some time after I came home, I was led to believe my case to be consumptive, and then thinking myself of a certainty near the kingdom of heaven, I rejoiced hourly in the delightful prospect. "Since then, I have been told that I am not in a dangerous way; and though I give very lit tle credit to such assertions in this case, yet I have found my mind so taken up with earth again that I seem as though I had another soul. My spiritual pleasures are greatly interrupted, and some of the most plaintive parts of the most plaintive Psalms seem the only true language of my heart. Yet, Thy will be done,' I trust prevails; and if it be the Lord's will that I linger long, and suffer much, Oh let him give me the patience of hope, and still, his will be done.I can write no more. This is a whole day's work; for it is only after tea that for a few minutes I can sit up, and attend to any thing. S. P." 00000000000 From the latter end of August, and all through the month of September, to the tenth of October, the day on which he died, he seems to have been unable to write.-He did not, however, lose the exercise of his mental powers and though in the last of the above letters he complains of darkness, it appears that he soon recovered that peace and joy in God, by which his affliction, and even his life, were distinguished. Four excellent letters, addressed to Dr. Ryland, Mr. Pope, and Mr. King, appear at the end of his funeral sermon, published by Dr Ryland, together with various short sentences, which he dropped during the last five or six weeks of his life. And as the readers of the Sermon will pro bably wish to have it bound up with the Memoirs, both are connected together for that purpose. A little before he died, he was visited by Mr. Medley, of London, with whom he had been particularly intimate on his first coming to Birmingham. Mr. Pearce was much affected at the sight of his friend; and continued silently weeping for nearly ten minutes, holding and pressing his hand. After this, he spoke, or rather, whispered as follows:" This sick bed is a Bethel to me; it is none other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven. I can scarcely express the pleasures that I have enjoyed in this affliction.The nearer I draw to my dissolution, the happier I am. It scarcely can be called an affliction, it is so counterbalanced with joy. You have lost your pious father: tell me how it was."? Mr. Medley informed him of particulars. He wept much at the recital, and especially at hearing of his last words," Home, Home!" Mr. Medley telling him of some temptations he had lately met with, he charged him to keep near to God. "Keep close to God," said he, "and nothing will hurt you!" 00000000000 Here The following familiar compositions, which were found amongst Mr. Pearce's papers, appear to have been written at distant intervals: Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.' 1 Cor. i. 2. "SWEET are the gifts which gracious Heav' On true Believers pours; But the best gift is grace to know Our Jesus! what rich drops of bliss When ruin'd sinners, such as we Differ we may in age and state, Learning and mental powr's, Let those who know our Jesus not, When hope, with elevated flight, Tow'rds heav'n in rapture towr's, 'Tis this supports our ventrous wing, We know that Christ is ours. Though providence, with dark'ning sky, On things terrestrial lowrs, We rise superior to the gloom When singing, Christ is ours. Time, which this world, with all its joys, May take inferior things away, Haste then, dull time, and terminate ooooooooooo "Plain Dealing with a Backsliding Heart." "STUPID soul, to folly cleaving, Why has God no more thy heart; Why art thou thy mercies leaving; Why must thou with Jesus part? Is there in this world existing Aught with Jesus to compare ; Yea, can heav'n itself produce one Half so lovely, half so fair? N |