she entered into the conversation with the utmost composure, and expressed, with a firm and audible voice, the happiness she felt in being in the hands of so gracious and powerful a Saviour.

Surely this strongly teaches us the blessedness of early piety. Such a piety forms a second nature; it brings forth fruit in old age. Habits of holy faith seem, in some degree, to overcome even the decay of the body, and to make the sinking Christian still bear testimony to the faithfulness of his God. This God is our God for ever and ever; He shall be our guide even unto death.

One especial mark of mercy it pleased God yet to vouchsafe to his aged servant, in the tranquil manner of her death. Since her paralytic attack in 1806, and particularly since her health was further undermined by several slighter attacks, Mrs. Cardale had been apprehensive that, when death should approach, the pangs, which usually precede the separation of the soul and body, would be more than her faith would be able to sustain. So that, though she was not afraid of death, she feared its circumstances, lest her patience should fail, and she should dishonour her Lord and Saviour. It pleased God, however, so to disappoint these fears, that she may really be said not to have known what death was. Her departure was so

tranquil, that the exact moment of the transition could not be ascertained. Lying unmoved in her bed, on which she had just been placed on account of her great weakness, she meekly breathed out her spirit without a sigh or a groan. As the infant falls asleep in the arms of the affectionate parent, so did this exemplary woman fall asleep in the arms of Jesus her Saviour, on Thursday, February 8, 1816, in the seventy-seventh year of her age.

This last instance of her Redeemer's compassion may encourage the trembling saint to leave all the attendant circumstances of his departure to the care and love of his omnipotent Saviour; who can either, if he sees fit, deliver him from the pains of death; or can grant him that support which will give him more than the victory over them.

The remains of Mrs. Cardale were interred in a family vault in the burial ground of St. Andrew's, Holborn, in Gray's Inn Lane, on Saturday, February 17th, 1816, there to await the resurrection of the just.

Thus was this "elect lady" kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. May we not say of such a death, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord! Her life had been devoted to Jesus Christ her Saviour, and her end was peace. She lived and died a mo

nument of the grace of God; and to that grace alone should we ascribe, as she most unfeignedly did, all the praise.

Mrs. Cardale's station in life was private, and her duties retired and unostentatious; but in that domestic circle she let her light shine before men, and her heavenly Father was glorified. May those Christians, whose situations and duties are similar to her's, follow her example, as she followed Christ's. May they exhibit, as she did, the efficacy of vital Christianity in forming the virtues and graces of the private character, in producing the loveliness of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price. May their religion be of the tender, lowly, resigned, affectionate character which appeared in her. Thus will they have the mind which was also in Christ Jesus.

Finally, may the young, and others, whose characters are not as yet decided, be led by this brief sketch to choose the good part with a fixed determination of heart. May they no

May they not

longer halt between two opinions. rest satisfied with knowledge or occasional emotion; but unreservedly give themselves up to God in the covenant of grace. May they enter on the race which this excellent Christian has run; may they enlist under the banners where she has gained the victory; may they learn in

that school where she has been made wise unto salvation; may they build on that foundation on which her hopes were fixed, and which supported her in infirmity, sickness, temptation, and death!