GIFTS NOT GRACES. A man, according to the teaching of Paul, may speak with the tongue of an angel, and yet be devoid of saving grace. Meantime he may lack essentially that which is the fulfilling of the law of God. There is a distinction between gifts and graces which all who profess and call themselves Christians should ever keep steadily in view. In the "Christian Remembrancer," by Ambrose Serle, an admirable book, we find this distinction thus forcibly drawn out:

"A man may understand and reason upon the terms grace, justification, regeneration, and other holy and spiritual principles, so far as they can be the objects of human apprehension, and yet have no share in the truths implied by them, and consequently be ruined at the last.

"Ahithophel was eloquent and wise, almost as the oracle of God, 2 Sam, xvi. 23. Saul, as well as Balaam, was among the prophets, 1 Sam. xix. 24. Solomon understood all mysteries and knowledge, but found them vain and insufficient to keep him from falling. Judas preached and wrought miracles, but at the same time had a devil, Luke ix. 1, 2. The Pharisees gave great alms, but were a generation of vipers. Even heathens themselves, and amongst them poor Indian women, too, have surrendered up their bodies to torture and death; but none of them certainly either with any sense of the love of God, or for his glory.

"All this proves the assertion, that grace and gifts are two separable things, even in the profession of the truest religion. Grace is peculiar to the children of God; gifts may be

or

possessed by men, as such, whether heathen or Christian. The former is essential to the Divine life; the latter, at best, only ornamental o subordinate. A man may go to heaven without gifts, but if he had all the fine parts, and all the advantages of religious life and profession in the world, without grace, they would in the end profit him nothing. Many, it is to be feared, have written and spoken well concerning salvation who never inwardly experienced or enjoyed it. They knew the theory, but not the thing.

"By their fruits such ever were and ever will be known. They have called Christ, Lord, Lord,' and this was easy enough; but to do the things which he said, to take up his cross, and to follow him truly in the regeneration, this was above flesh and blood, and impossible to be done by those who have nothing else. This observation applies to professors at large, but the Redeemer himself carries it farther, to persons in a higher class: Many, will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied,' or preached, 'in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils?' (from those who were under their dominion ;) and in thy name done many wonderful works?' (perhaps made the means of converting souls, as Judas probably was.) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.' Thus, it appears, the devils may be subject to a man through Christ; and yet (what is of infinitely more consequence to himself) his name may not be written in heaven."

LAST WORDS OF DYING

SINNERS.

"Millions of money for one minute of time!" exclaimed a dying lady of rank, of beauty, and of power; but not a minute was to be found for her in the world of time. She had spent her years in the pursuit of pleasure, and never had one moment to spare for the great concerns of the world to come.

"It is too late, I am lost!" was the dying cry of a young man who had passed through a revival of religion, and had not been moved by the power of the Holy Spirit. Sudden sickness seized him, and death stared him in the face, and he was filled with anguish when he saw the danger of his precious soul. He was urged to fly to the Saviour and trust him, as did the thief on the cross. But he felt that it was too late, and with the lamentation on his lips, "Too late, I am lost!" he expired.

Mr. Hervey called to see a dying man, who thus gave utterance to the deep sorrows of his soul: "I see a horrible night approaching, bringing with it the blackness of darkness for ever. Woe is me! When God called, I refused. Now I am in sore anguish, and yet this is but the beginning of sorrows. I shall be destroyed with an everlasting destruction."

"I won't die now," cried a young lady, when she felt the pangs of death getting hold upon her. But as they increased, and she saw there was no way of escape, and that whether willing or not, she must die, she cried out "Lord, what must I do?" and fell back in death.

the physician had exhausted his skill in fruitless attempts to arrest the violence of his disease, the sufferer asked, "Shall I never recover?" "You are quite sick," answered the doctor, "and should prepare for the worst." "Cannot I live for a week?" "No; you will probably continue but a little while." "Say not so," said the dying man, "I will give you a hundred thousand dollars if you will prolong my life three days." "I could not do it, my dear sir, for three hours," said the doctor, and the man was dead in less than an hour.

"There is no mercy for me now," said a youth, who had been careless and irreligious in health, and now in sickness he felt that the atonement which he had despised was not within his reach. He died without hope, protesting to the end that there was no mercy for such a sinner as he.

But this is not a pleasing theme. How distressing such reflections as these facts awaken! Who would die as these sinners died? Who would not have the Christian's hope to die with, even if he would live as sinners live? It was a wicked man who said, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

town, one of the many places in this district which the family possess, he says, "But the beauty-spot is the broad dark-green meadow before it, environed with a grove of tall and healthy forest-trees of various kinds, and the wild woods and birchen shaws to the west of it still mingle charmingly with the dun basaltic rocks of the Roman Wall, and the sweet summer air, and the vast solitude to the north, that were hallowed by the early footsteps of the Martyr Ridley, and traditionally consecrated as a scene where Paulinus baptized Edwin the Britwalda, and some thousands of his people."

Most touching extracts are also given from the martyr's farewell letters to different members of his family. Thus, to the widow of his brother at Unthank, near Willimoteswick, his native place, "Farewell, my beloved sister of Unthank, with all your children, my nephews and nieces. Since the departure of my brother Hugh, my mind was to have been unto them in the stead of their father; but the Lord God must and will be their Father if they will love him and fear him."

mine in good part. Thank thou God, that hath given thee a godly and a loving husband. See thou honour him, and obey him according to God's law. Honour thy motherin-law, his mother, and love all those that pertain unto him."

One more affectionate valedictory letter may be transcribed :—“ Farewell, my beloved brother John Ridley, of the Walltown, and you, my gentle and loving sister Elizabeth, who, besides the natural league of amity, your tender love which you were said to bear ever toward me, above the rest of your brethren, doth bind me to love. My mind was to have acknowledged this your loving affection, and to have acquitted it with deeds, and not with words alone. Your daughter Elizabeth I bid farewell, whom I love for the meek and gentle spirit that God hath given her, which is a precious thing in the sight of God."

We have read with satisfaction, and at great length, the commemoration of Bishop Latimer at Thurcaston, and Mr. Miller's sermon at Oxford, on the scene of the martyrdom of him and his brother Ridley. It has afforded us sincere pleasure, too, that at a Bible-meeting held at Newcastle on the 14th of October, Dr. Bruce, the historian of the Roman Wall, made an affectionate reference to the martyrs, and vividly depicted Latimer and Ridley at the hour of their fiery trial, repeating the immortal aphorism which, after the lapse of three hundred years, is fragrant as ever