am persuaded will help you much.-Guard & gainst a large acquaintance while you are a student. Bristol friendship, while you sustain that character, will prove a vile thief, and rob vou of many an invaluable hour.-Get two or three of the students, whose piety you most approve, to meet for one hour in a week for experimental conversation and mutual prayer. I found this highly beneficial, though, strange to tell, by some we were persecuted for our practice !— Keep a diary. Once a week, at farthest, call yourself to an account: What advances you have made in your different studies; in divinity, history, languages, natural philosophy, style, arrangement; and amidst ali, do not forget to enquire, Am I more fit to serve and to enjoy God than I was last week?

S. P."

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On December 2, 1798, he delivered his last sermon, The subject was taken from Dan. x. 19. Oh man, greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong, And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. "Amongst all the Old Testament saints," said he, in his introduction to that discourse, "there is not one whose virtues were more, and whose imperfections were fewer, than those of Daniel. By the history given of him in this book, which yet seems not to be complete, he appears to have excelled among the excellent." Doubtless no one was farther from his thoughts than himself: Several of his friends however, could not help applying it to him, and that with a painful apprehension of what followed soon after,.

To MR. CAVE, Leicester.

Birmingham, December 4, 1798.

BLESSED be God, my mind is ealm; and though my body be weakness itself, my spirits are good, and I can write as well as ever, though I can hardly speak two sentences without a pause. All is well, brother! all is well, for time and eternity. My soul rejoices in the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Peace from our dear Lord Jesus be with, your spirit, as it is (yea more also) with your affectionate brother,

S. P."

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December 9, 1798, he was detained from public worship, and wrote to Dr. Ryland the first of the letters which appear at the close of his funeral sermon.-The following lines seem to have been composed on the same occasion:

On being prevented by sickness from attending on public worship.

"THE fabric of nature is fair,
But fairer the temple of grace;
To saints 'tis the joy of the earth-
Oh glorious beautiful place!

To this temple I once did resort,
With crouds of the people of God:
Enraptur'd, we enter'd its courts,
And hail'd the Redeemer's abode.

The Father of nature we prais❜d,
And prostrated low at his throne
The Saviour we lov'd and ador'd,
Who lov'd us and made us his own,

Full oft to the message of peace,
To sinners address'd from the sky,
We listen'd, extolling that grace,
Which set us, once rebels, on high.

Faith clave to the crucify'd Lamb,
Hope, smiling, exalted its ead ;
Love wa m'd at the Saviour's dear name,
And vow'd to observe what he said.

What pleasure appear'd in the looks
Of brethren and sisters around :
With transport all seem'd to reflect
On the blessings in Jesus they'd found,

Sweet moments! If aught upon earth
Resemble the joys of the skies,
'Tis thus when the hearts of the flock
Conjoin'd to the Shepherd arise,

But ah! these sweet moments are fled,
Pale sickness compels me to stay
Where no voice of the turtle is heard,
As the moments are hasting away.

My God thou art holy and good;
Thy plans are all righteous and wise;
Oh help me submissive to wait,
Till thou biddest thy servant arise.

If to follow thee here in thy courts,
May it be with all ardour and zeal,
With success and increasing delight
Performing the whole of thy will.

Or shouldst thou in bondage detain,
To visit thy temples no more,
Prepare me for mansions above,
Where nothing exists to deplore!

Where Jesus the Sun of the place,
Refulgent incessantly shines,
Eternally blessing his saints,

And pouring delight on their minds.

There-there are no prisons to hold
The captive from tasting delight;
There there the day never is los'd
With shadows, or darkness, or night,

There myriad and myriads shall meet,
In our Saviour's high praises to jom ;
Whilst transported we fail as his fect,
And extol his redemption divine,,

Enough then my heart shall no more
Of is present bereavements complain
Since, cre long, I to glory shall soar,
And ceaseless enjoyments attain!

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To MR. NICHOLS, Nottingham.

"Birmingham, Dec. 10, 1798.

"I AM now quite la d by from preaching, and am so reduced in my internal strength, that I can hardly converse with a friend for five minutes without losing my breath. Indeed I have been so ill, that I thought the next ascent would be, not to a pulpit but to a throne--to the throne of glory. Yes indeed, my friend, the religion of Jesus will support when flesh and heart fail; and in my worst state of hody, my soul was filled with joy. I am now getting a little better, though but very slowly. But fast or slow, or as it may, the Lord doth all things well.

S. P."

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To R. BOWYER, Esq.

“I HAVE overdone myself in preaching. I am now ordered to lie by, and not even to converse without great care; nor indeed,

till to-day, have I for some time been able to utBlessed ter a sentence, without a painful effort. be God! I have been filled all through my affiction with peace and joy in believing; and at one time, when I thought I was entering the valley of death, the prospect beyond was so full of gory, that but for the sorrow it would have occasioned to some who would be left behind, I should have longed that moment to have mounted to the skies. Oh, my friend, what a mercy that I am not receiving the wages of sin; that my health has not been impaired by vice; but that on the contrary, I am bearing in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. To him be all the praise! Truly I have proved that God is faithful: and most cheerfully take double the affliction for one half of the joy and sweetness which have attended it. Except a sermon which is this day published.* S. P."

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To MR. BATES & MRS. BARNES, Minories.

"Birmingham, Dec. 14, 1798.

"I COULD teil you much of the Lord's goodness during my affliction. Truly his right hand hath been under my head, and his left embraced me.' And when I was at the worst, especially, and expected ere long to have done with time, even then, such holy joy, such ineffable sweetness filled my soul, that I would not have exchanged that situation for any besides heaven itself.

* The last but one he ever preached, entitled, MOTIVES TO GRATITUDE. It was delivered on the day of national thanksgiving, and printed at the request of his own congregation.