cern,' says Bishop Butler,' HOW food and sleep contribute to the growth of the body; nor could have any thought that they would before we had experience; and he goes on to prove that neither do we know how the circumstances of this life educate the soul, and prepare it for a better; and the lasting benefits and advantages which may be derived from the afflictive dispensations of this life, particularly as regards submission to the will of God, which is a necessary qualification for a state even of perfect happiness. It is indeed true,' he observes, that there can be no scope for patience, when sorrow shall be no more; but there may be need of a temper of mind, which shall have been formed by patience.'

If one of the condemned spirits could receive permission to toil a thousand years for pardon, say how thankfully, how joyfully, would not the offer be embraced! yet we, for the sake of Christ who has purchased that pardon for us, cannot deny ourselves for the short term of mortal life, made up of a few miserable years, nay perhaps only days and hours, or bear with patience and resignation, those trials which He intends for our good, and to make us meet for the promised inheritance; but want our rest, and our portion here, as well as there, and but too often fill even our prayers with impatient requests for earthly blessings : let us in the midst of such prayers, ask to be enabled to realize for a moment the idea of a glorious eternity, which we hope through grace to be heirs of; then while we lay our temporal requests before the throne of grace, let it be in the thankful con

viction that, in having Christ, we "possess all things," and in the deep emotion of submissive love, which enables us to add to every worldly petition, "Thy will be done."

Holy Saviour! Friend unseen!

Since on thine arm thou bid'st us lean,
Help us throughout life's changing scene,
By faith to cling to Thee!

Though faith and hope have oft been tried,

Still would we seek o'er all beside,

That safe, and calm, and satisfied,

We still may cling to Thee!

CHAPTER XV.

CONVERSION OF M. CAPADOSE: CONTINUED.

THE ILLNESS AND DEATH OF HIS BELOVED

BROTHER-OF HIS

FATHER, UNCLE, AND OTHER RELATIVES THE LATER SCENES SWITZERLAND -THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE

OF HIS LIFE IN
HIS WRITINGS.

SIR, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw;" such was the benefit expected by the woman of Samaria, from the gift of the water of life; we err like her, if, because we are the children of God, we expect an exemption from the trials of humanity. Unhappy indeed is the case of that person whom they pass by profitless, when the afflictions of life, intended, as it were, to educate the soul for a better state of existence, are endured in vain; when poverty does not teach deadness to the world, nor sickness, patience, nor the loss of friends, instruct us to give our affections more to the Lord: all these lessons, while we are without the grace of God, are lost upon us, they are written in an unknown language, and all the soul can say, is "Alas! what meaneth this? why are these

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things so ? the bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain,”* no silver ore is found after the fining the pain, the suffering, the sorrow is passed, but it hath not left its fruit behind. It should be the daily endeavour of the Christian, to follow the steps of his Lord, and to learn obedience by those things which, in his mortal life, he is called to suffer.

It has been before stated that the pursuits of M. Capadose and his friend were literary: the writings which they now published, setting forth the truth of Christianity, met with violent opposition; his practice as a physician began to decline, and he suffered much from the state of his health, which was always delicate. The feelings of his family towards him were in some degree softened, and he was comforted with the visits of his only and beloved brother; he became,' says he, 'the object of my ardent supplications, and often the night was far advanced before I ceased praying for him;' sometimes in his illness he would ask him to read to him from the Old Testament, which to gratify his brother he willingly did; M. Capadose taking care to select those passages which contained the clearest prophecies concerning the Messiah; one day when he had spoken to him with more than usual earnestness upon the subject, his brother observed, 'You are happier than I am, I admit, in having faith; but as for me, I say it with sincerity, I cannot get myself to believe that there

* Jer. vi. 29, 30. The lead wherewith according to eastern customs the silver is fined, was all consumed, yet no ore found meaning that all punishment was lost upon them.- Scott.

has ever been an immediate revelation from God.' Faith is indeed a precious gift; the pardon of the thief upon the cross, is often justly cited as a proof of the power and willingness of the Lord, to save even at the last hour; but the conduct of the dying malefactor, is also a striking example of faith, simple faith: in himself he had nothing to trust to; he was hastening to eternity in the agony of suffering, brought down upon him by sin; he beheld Jesus, not as we behold Him, the Lord whose name has been worshipped by thousands and tens of thousands, for ages past; not even as those in his own generation had beheld him, as a great prophet in Israel, attesting the truth of his sublime doctrines, by the display of power which turned nature from her course, and to which the winds and the waves, the disease which tortured, or the death which destroyed the human frame were all alike subject; no, he beheld the Lord—his glory to human eyes departed, condemned to death, and suffering it, those who had loved Him having fled, and those who had believed ready to exclaim, we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel,"—the dying malefactor still believed that it was He, and had faith to cast himself for safety upon Christ alone. Happy is the Christian who overlooking all obstacles, even his great unworthiness, "against hope believing in hope," can trust himself with like simple faith to Jesus, and exclaim, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest to Thy kingdom."

A great attachment subsisted between M. Capadose and his brother, who had never joined in the unkind