if the postponement of death be an advantage, age has already obtained it; whilst to youth it must be a matter of uncertainty, when

not more than one in five attains the age of fifty. But who that looks to his well-being-who that feels the strugglings of immortality in this mortal body, would desire an extraordinary length of probationary existence ? Considerations common to the heathen world, and suggested by a general view of human nature, would repress such a wish. Those, however, which are derived from Revelation, are of infinitely greater weight. In a fallen world, where sin and misery are the consequences of a lapse from a state of bliss and innocence,

no wise man would desire to extend the period of probation further than its appointed limit, when he may be mature for happiness and immortality. For when the circulation of the blood ceases, and the vital heat is no longer conveyed through this mortal frame, the soUL is emancipated from its earthly tabernacle, and with renovated joy and vigour, commences its course of intellectual and immortal existence. And if medical men may be relied on, the cessation of that vital heat and of the current of the blood by which it is conveyed, and the immediate approach of death, produce a sensation similar to that of falling asleep. I do not refer to a prema

ture and violent death, which is ge

nerally attended with pain; but merely to a cessation of that VITAL HEAT, which breathed into created man, made him a living soul; and which by the blood, not only communicates its power to every part of the living creature, but gives out warmth even to the bodies around it.

MR. LYTTELTON. It is said, my Lord, that the heat of the blood is precisely of the same temperature, amid the snows of Siberia and in the burning sands of Africa; and that while by wool, fur, feathers, and other non-conductors, this animal heat can be prevented from escaping, the living creature will bear almost any severity of climate.

BISHOP HOUGH. So I have read. -But let me further observe, as to the actual pain of death to the aged, that in a state of maturity the fruit drops spontaneously from the tree; and the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body, is of course less painful than in early life. How different was the death of the youthful LORD RUSSEL, which I witnessed in 1683? The forlorn age of his father, -the widowed state of his dear Lady Russel, the orphan condition of his children,—the illegality of his sentence, -the dark clouds which overhung his country, and the cruelty of Charles and James,-did so combine to embitter his removal from this world, that it required all his christian fortitude and

patience, and all the support which he derived from his earnest prayers, to bear the trying scene with decent composure.-Not that even in youth, death is always arrayed with terrors: our excellent mistress, QUEEN MARY, in the prime of life, met her approaching end with exemplary calmness and tranquillity. "I thank God," (said she) "I have always carried this in my mind, that nothing is to be left till the last hour. I have now only "to look up to GoD, and to submit to "his will."

BISHOP GIBSON. The parting hour

*She died of the small pox, in 1694, in her thirty-third year.