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ing, nor had any other been substituted in its place. He was, therefore, late as it was, obliged to make choice of a new subject, and to cast his thoughts together upon it, in the best manner he could; and, after all his pains, and all his prayers, was not a little apprehensive that such defective preparation would not only affect the respectability of his appearance in the pulpit, but in some measure mar the success of his work. "Not by might," however," nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." It happened in adorable providence, on the afternoon of that Sabbath, that a poor fish-woman, notorious for clamor and profanity, stumbled into the meeting, and felt the sermon, particularly in the application, come home with such life and peculiar energy to her soul, as instantly to produce the most happy effect on the dispositions of her heart, and tenor of her conduct. Monday she attended with her fish-basket at market as usual, but, ob how changed! Instead of her former noise and profanity, she was quiet and calm as a lamb-instead of asking from her customers double or triple the value of her fish, she spoke to them with discretion, and told them the lowest price at once. Surprised at this new behavior of the woman, some who were present, judging she might be indisposed, began to enquire for her health; one of them in particular said to her,-Dear Margaret, what is the matter with you? you are not at all as you used to be. No, replied Margaret, and I hope I never shall. It pleased God to lead me yesterday to Mr. M'Ewen's meeting-house, where I heard words I will never forget, and found something come over me the like of which I never knew before.-The woman lived to give the most satisfactory evidence of the soundness of her conversion, by a walk and conversation becoming the Gospel.

Chap. xvi, ver. 27, 28.-And the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, suppos

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ing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm; for we are all here.

An ingenious young man, having come to London in the hope of getting some employment, was unsuccessful in bis attempt, and being reduced to extreme poverty, came to the awful resolution of throwing himself into the Thames. On passing near the Royal Exchange to effect bis desperate purpose, he saw the carriage of the late excellent Mr. Hanway, under the arms of which was this motto, "Never despair." The singular occurrence of this sentence, had, under Providence, such an effect on the young man, that be immediately desisted from his horrid design, gained soon afterwards a considerable establishment, and died in good circumstances in the common course of mortality.

Chap. xvii, ver. 2.—And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.

The late Mrs. Graham of New York, regarded with particular esteem the works of Dr. Owen, the Rev. William Romaine, and the Rev. John Newton, and read them with pleasure and profit. One day she remarked to Mr. B————, that she preferred the ancient writers on theology to the modern, because they dealt more in italics. "Dear mother," he replied, "what religion can there be in italics?" "You know," said she," that old writers expected credit for the doctrines they taught, by proving them from the word of God to be correct; they inserted the Scripture passages in italics, and their works have been sometimes one half in italics. Modern writers on theology, on the contrary, give us a long train of reasoning to persuade us to their opinions, but very little in italics."

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Chap. xvii, ver. 18.-Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods; because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

"This has been one of the worst nights," says Mr. Bampton, one of the missionaries in India, "I ever endured. Mockery! mockery! cruel mockery! almost unbearable. I talked for a while, and was heard by some, on the blessings to be enjoyed by faith in Jesus Christ: when a man came with a hell-hardened countenance, and that peculiar constant laugh which I can hardly bear. The burden of his cry was- Juggernaut is the foundation! Juggernaut is completely God! victory to Juggernaut!' He clapped his hands-he shouted-he laughed, and induced the rest, or a great part of them, to do the same. On the ground of reason I fear no one; and rage I can commonly bear very well; but these everlasting laughing buffoons are nearly too much for me. It is my one great care, that amidst a reviling, laughing, shouting crowd, I do not seem abashed."

Chap. xviii, ver. 3.—And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought; (for by their occupation they were tent-makers.)

A violent Welsh squire having taken offence at a poor curate who employed his leisure hours in mending clocks and watches, applied to the bishop of St. Asaph, with a formal complaint against him for impiously carrying on a trade contrary to the statute.His lordship having heard the complaint, told the squire he might depend upon the strictest justice being done in the case: accordingly the mechanic divine was sent for a few days after, when the bishop

asked him, "How he dared to disgrace his diocese by becoming a mender of clocks and watches?" The other, with all humility, answered, "To satisfy the wants of a wife and ten children." "That won't do with me," rejoined the prelate. "I will inflict such a punishment upon you, as shall make you leave off your pitiful trade, I promise you;" and immediately, calling in his secretary, ordered him to make out a presentation for the astonished curate to a living of at least one hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

Chap. xviii, ver. 26.-And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom, when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

It is said of the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, that, for some time after his ordination, his views of divine truth, in common with those of a large proportion of godly ministers of the church of Scotland in that age, were not quite clear and correct, but consisted of a confused mixture of legal and evangelical doctrine. It pleased God, however, to give him more accurate and satisfactory conceptions of the truth, and to bless for that purpose, the interviews he had with his brother Ralph and others. Nay, according to his own ingenuous acknowledgments to his children and friends, he was more deeply indebted to no one, as an instrument of helping him to understand" the way of God more perfectly," than to his amiable partner, Alison Turpie, a young lady of engaging dispositions and eminent piety, whom he married soon after his settlement at Portmoak. A confidential conversation, which he overheard betwixt her and his brother Ralph, on the subject of their religious experience, is thought to have contributed greatly towards the bappy change that took place in Ebenezer's views and impressions with relation to the Gospel. Whilst they were freely opening their minds to each other, in a bower in his garden, immediately beneath the win

dów of his study, which then happened to be open, he listened with much eagerness to their interesting communications. Their views and feelings appeared so different from his own, that he was immediately struck with the idea that they possessed valuable attainments to which he was a stranger; and the impression seems to have remained till, with regard to vital and evangelical Christianity, he became not merely almost, but altogether, as they were.

Chap. xix, ver. 18-20.-And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

The Earl of Rochester, of whom it has been said, that he was "a great wit, a great scholar, a great poet, a great sinner, and a great penitent," left a strict charge to the person in whose custody his papers were, to burn all his profane and lewd writings, as being only fit to promote vice and immorality, by which he had so highly offended God, and shamed and blasphemed that holy religion into which he had been baptized. Dr. Watts refers to him in the following lines:

"Strephon, of noble blood and mind,
(For ever shine his name!)

As death approached, his soul refined,
And gave his looser sonnets to the flame.

Burn, burn, he cried, with sacred rage;
Hell is the due of every page,

Hell be the fate. (But, oh, indulgent heaven!
So vile the muse, and yet the man forgiven !")

Chap. xix, ver. 35, 36.-And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that

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