be saved, and that our Redeemer's name may be precious from the rising to the setting sun.

2. From what has been said, we may perceive-and we should observe it with the liveliest gratitude to God-how much higher our religious privileges are, not only than those of the heathen world, but than those of the most favoured people of heaven, before the coming of Christ. Like the heathen, we are not left to an utter ignorance of the true God; to dark and doubtful conjectures about a future state; to perplexed and inconclusive reasonings whether sin be pardonable. On us "the true light hath shined."-Ön us the sun of righteousness hath risen, and the gloomy mists of error are chased away. Nay, we have that which none of the ancient patriarchs possessed. Not even Abraham, David, or Daniel, had as complete and extensive a knowledge of salvation in all its parts, as we possess. Of this it may be truly said

"Prophets and kings desired it long
But died without the sight."

Let our hearts overflow with thankfulness to God, whose indulgent providence has so highly distinguished us,-has cast our happy lot under a dispensation of divine grace, the fullest and richest that the world has known: And let us remember, too, that this will awfully and justly aggravate our condemnation, if we perish amidst such advantages. Therefore

3. Finally-Let us be urged, on this occasion and by this subject, to inquire most seriously of our own hearts, whether Christ has ever appeared above all things desirable to us; and whether we have by faith appropriated him as our Saviour, and embraced him as our all in all. The word of life assures us, that "to those who believe," in a saving sense, "Christ is precious;" and christian experience will inform us, that the reason of this is, that those who thus believe, have had such views of their need of a Saviour, to deliver them both from the condemning power and polluting dominion of sin, that when they find and appropriate such a Saviour-full and complete in Christ Jesus-he is truly and inexpressibly precious; his name is "like ointment poured forth," and they can scarcely repeat it, without calling him precious Christ. Have we, then, my brethren, had these views of our necessity, rendering the Redeemer thus desirable, and issuing, at length, in that hearty closure with him, which has made him the supreme delight and joy of our souls. If this be the case, Christ is truly ours, and we are his; and we have reason for humble and constant praise to God, who has made us accepted in the beloved.".

But if the Saviour has never appeared, in the manner just explained, desirable to us, and we have not, in this view, embraced him, we are yet in our sins--We are forbidden to speak peace to ourselves for a single moment, in this state; For though the benefits of Christ's purchase are infinitely great in themselves, they will profit us nothing, unless they be applied to our souls. Therefore let me say to every individual present, who is conscious that he has never seen in Christ Jesus "one altogether lovely," to whom his soul has been drawn in faith and love-you are yet in a state of unpardoned sin, and that from this state you must be delivered, and that speedily, or perish, with a far more aggravated condemnation than that which will be experienced by either Jew or heathen. Your education has not imbued your mind with an early prejudice against the only Saviour; you have heard of his name and of his great salvation, and he has been recommended to your acceptance, trust and love, by the

most powerful considerations-the most constraining motives that can be addressed to a rational being. In opposition to all these, you have hitherto practically rejected Christ; for remember that in this great concern, neglect is rejection. You are perishing; Christ Jesus calls to you and says, 66 come unto me and be saved." If you do not obey the call, you refuse, you reject it. And little as you may think of it, this refusal of the invitation of a bleeding, dying, redeeming, incarnate God, is the great damning sin of unbelief, committed by every impenitent sinner under the light of the gospel. Bethink yourselves seriously, I entreat you. View your guilt; be deeply abased for it before God; implore the aid of his Holy Spirit to enable you to repent of it unfeignedly; and to help you to exercise that faith in Christ Jesus, with which alone the salvation of the soul is connected. And repeat, that if this is ever done, it must be done speedily. If you do it to-day, this will be indeed to you a happy Christmas, in a far better sense than that of the world's empty compliment. It will be the happy day to which you will look back with unutterable joy, in the ages of eternity. That so you may now act as that you may hereafter eternally rejoice, may God of his infinite mercy grant, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, and our only hope. Amen.

We know not that we have ever seen or heard the expression of views and feelings, in the closing scenes of a Christian's life, that we more approved, or would more desire that they might be our own, than those which appear in the following obituary article, which we extract from the Episcopal Recorder of November 29th.

OBITUARY.-GENERAL WILLIAM H. BRODNAX, OF VIRGINIA.

To the Editor of the Episcopal Recorder.

Rev. and dear Sir-Although the name of Gen. Wm. H. Brodnax, may be unknown to many of your subscribers, yet throughout most of this state, his death has produced among all classes a sensation of deep regret. Unimpeachable integrity-undeviating consistency-untiring industry, and a high order of talents-had stamped his character with a value, in the estimation of his fellow citizens, which has caused his loss to be deeply felt and deplored. Every thing, therefore, which relates to his life and death, will be read with interest by those who knew him. And as he himself ascribed all that was valuable in his own character to the influence of Christianity, and especially as the scenes of his last illness and death afforded a most happy exemplification of the reality and efficacy of a Gospel faith, I am induced to send you the following sketch, in the hope (as your paper circulates extensively among his acquaintances) that some who read it may be induced to seek for the blessings of a like precious faith.

It is about ten years since the subject of this notice was induced to enter upon a full and serious examination of the claims of Christianity; the result of which was, such a conviction of the truth and importance of the gospel plan of salvation, as constrained him to surrender his heart, in submissive and grateful obedience, to the Lord Jesus Christ, as his Redeemer and God; and about eight years ago he united himself regularly with the Protestant Episcopal church. Since that event, the glory of God and the good of his fellow men, appear to have been the prominent objects of his desires and efforts. The ambitious hopes of

worldly preferment and political honours, which had been inspired and encouraged by the unequivocal marks of general admiration bestowed upon his talents and character, were supplanted by a nobler ambition; and although he was subsequently induced, by the solicitations of his friends, and by a sense of duty to his country, to serve as a delegate in the convention called for altering the constitution of the state, and in the succeeding sessions of the legislature, yet he always entered upon such duties with reluctance and self-distrust; expressing his apprehensions of the dangers to which a Christian was exposed in mingling in scenes of political excitement and party strife; and exacting from his pious friends a promise to pray that he might be preserved from evil, and to watch over and faithfully warn him whenever they discovered any symptoms of departure from the spirit of the gospel, or the path of Christian duty. He was constitutionally of a high spirit, and impatient of opposition; but the pride of nature had so far yielded to the meekness of grace, that he received with thankfulness the reproofs of pious friends; and on his deathbed expressed, in terms of the warmest gratitude, his obligations to those who had plainly and faithfully rebuked him.

In the discharge of his public, his professional, and his personal duties, Gen. Brodnax was influenced by the conviction, that "he was not his own, but being bought with the price of the precious blood of the Son of God, he was bound to glorify God in his body and spirit, which were his." He was "diligent in business"-industriously devoting his time and his talents to the improvement of his heart and mind, and to the duties of his calling, in order that he might enjoy means and opportunities for usefulness. The mere desire of gain had long ceased to be his motive to exertion; he felt that he was but a steward, and accordingly distributed witn expansive liberality, the means which God bestowed. His unwillingness to appear ostentatious in his charities, sometimes induced him to employ the writer of these remarks as the almoner of his bounty, and the discoveries thus afforded of the extent of his benefactions has often occasioned surprise. But in him was verified the truth, that "he that hath pity on the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given, will he pay him again;" for as the charities of his heart expanded, the labour of his hands was blessed with a proportionate increase. His aid was expected, and cheerfully afforded to almost every enterprise of private benevolence or public convenience, which was undertaken in the four counties he professionally visited. And the number of the poor and unfortunate whose wants he supplied, and whose sufferings he relieved in secret, will be known only when hidden things are brought to light, and the deeds of the righteous revealed. The Bible, Missionary, Sunday School, Education, Temperance, and other benevolent institutions of the present day, have lost in him a zealous and liberal friend. But a detail of the fruits of his faith, would occupy more space than you can probably appropri ate to such a subject: and, in fact, it is only necessary to refer to some of the scenes of his deathbed, for an ample illustration of his religious character. Such a faith as was there exhibited, must necessarily have produced good works.

Gen. Brodnax had for several years been labouring under disease, and his acquaintance with his own constitution led him, some months since, to express the conviction, that the tone of his physical organs was im

The profession of Gen. Brodnax, was that of the law.-Ed.

paired, so irrecoverably, that the animal machinery was wearing rapidly away. When compelled, therefore, by his last sickness, to desist from the labours of business, he pronounced with confidence, that his days were numbered, and his work upon earth at an end. On the sixth morning of his illness, he requested that I should be informed of his situation, and I immediately hastened to him. On my entering his chamber, he expressed his joy that I had arrived in time to hear from himself something of the goodness God had manifested towards him; informing me, that although just then in comparative ease, his bodily pain had been greater than he could have supposed it possible for man to have endured, but that through the whole period of his sickness, he had been supported by so sweet a sense of the mercy and grace of God, as had rendered him almost unmindful of his sufferings; and that for the sake of retaining this enjoyment, he would cheerfully consent to endure, were it necessary, all the bodily sufferings that human nature could sustain. On that occasion, he conversed for more than an hour, without intermission: and the views he expressed of the world—of himself-of death, and of his hopes and prospects, were solemn and impressive beyond any thing that my pen can even faintly describe. He spoke of the world as a general illusion; of its pleasures, and riches, and honours, as the veriest emptiness, and as being altogether undeserving of the regards of an immortal being, save only as they ministered to us occasions for glorifying God, and doing good to man. "What," he inquired, "could the world now do for me? or what is now to me all that it has done? All that it has or can afford, can profit a dying man nothing. What, then, must be the feelings in a dying hour, of those who have sought their portion only in this world, and have no hope in Christ? It is indeed astonishing, that the horror of despair does not drive such persons to madness." He referred to himself in terms of the deepest contrition and self-abhorrence, as a guilty, vile, and helpless sinner before God, and as deserving only of condemnation and wo; described his own heart as being by nature utterly depraved; ascribing it wholly to the grace of God, that he had not been left to act out all the depravity of his nature, and fill up the measure of his guilt and ruin-and expressing the deepest shame and humility at the unprofitableness of his past life. But he often declared that such views of himself, though humiliating, were accompanied by such a sense of the pardoning mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and served to magnify so gloriously the riches of God's grace and the wonders of his love, in plucking so vile a sinner, “as a brand from the burning," that he could dwell on them with delight. He alluded to death as an event which he had long contemplated with so much seriousness, that he had learnt to view it without fear; "and that at length, it had come stripped of every terrifying feature;" (for it was at that time the expectation of himself and of his friends, that he could survive only a few hours;) that it had pleased God to give him the full assurance of faith -that he was enabled to see in the plan of redemption by Jesus Christ, so much of fulness and sufficiency, such a suitableness to all the necessities of a guilty, sinful creature, and such a pledge of God's truth and power; and that hereby God had displayed so graciously towards man, and so gloriously to himself, his wisdom, and justice, and mercy, and love, that he could not entertain a doubt or a fear of his own salvation; that he saw in the Lord Jesus Christ all that could supply his wants, cover his deficiencies, satisfy his desires, and fix his confidence; and his soul was occasionally warmed by the view into a rapture of wonder

and love, which no power of language could express. Such was the substance of his conversation on my arrival, and it affords a very imperfect specimen of the many others in which he was engaged during three succeeding nights and days. From this time he was in hourly expectation of death until it arrived; and many beautiful allusions which he made to that event, expressive of his hopes, his joys, and his submission, might be repeated, did space permit.

Immediately after the above conversation, he sent for, and with perfect composure took leave of such of his children as were at home, and of some of his servants; and a more affecting and impressive scene can hardly be imagined. His anxiety for the spiritual welfare of his fellow creatures, and particularly of some of his connexions and friends, was often most pathetically expressed; and he omitted no opportunity for urging upon those who visited him, the importance of "seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." He was much engaged in prayer, delighted in hearing God's word, and frequently requested those around him to sing such hymns as he would designate, and several times endeavoured to unite, as far as his strength would permit, in uttering the praises of God. His faculties continued unimpaired to within about two hours of his decease; and there were frequently indications of such unusual strength and vigour of intellect, as not only surprised his surrounding friends, but led even himself to notice it as a remarkable feature in his case, and one which called for increased gratitude. And it was further remarkable, that the brightness of his hopes, the fulness of his joy, and the strength of his confidence, continued unclouded and without the appearance of interruption, even to the end. "His path indeed was that of the just, shining brighter and brighter to the perfect day." For in the closing scene, when the power of articulation seemed to be lost, and reason appeared to have yielded up its empire-when no external object attracted his notice, and no ordinary topic could arouse him to attention-on being asked, if his confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ was still unshaken, the name of the Saviour operated like an electric charm-his eye, already dimmed in death, rekindled with lustre—his languid features beamed again with animation, and in a tone, distinct and articulate, he exclaimed― "Jesus Christ! Yes, in whom can the vilest of sinners trust, but in the Lord Jesus Christ? He is my Almighty Saviour. He is the pivot on which my mind can turn with ease; amidst all its wanderings it turns instinctively to Him as its rest." And a few minutes before he expired, on a promise of scripture being suggested to him, he repeated distinctly the words, "They that trust in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings as eagles," repeating again with emphasis," they shall mount up on wings as eagles.' These were the last words that he uttered. In a few minutes nature ceased her strife, and the happy spirit, released from its prison-house of flesh, soared away to its home on high.

This scene was indeed one of the deepest solemnity, and of the highest moral sublimity. His manner throughout was calm, dignified, and impressive; betraying nothing of the impassioned ecstasy of a heated imagination, but exhibiting invariably the fervid warmth of a soul kindling with the glories of the eternal world. It was good to be there, for we felt that we were near the gate of heaven. And may those who witnessed the scene, and all who read this imperfect description, be induced to exercise the same faith, that they too "may die the death of the righteous, and their last end be like his." J. G.

Dinwiddie County, Virginia, Nov. 1834.