I had never been at Venice!" The priest endeavoured to cast out the devil which was, he said, within him, but the effort was vain. Equally vain were all attempts to lead him to receive the sacrament at the hands of his confessor. He continually desired to die, and referred to himself as an illustration of the Scripture, "They shall desire to die, yet death shall flee from them." He warned those around him of the danger of denying Christ: exhorting them to seek continually the glory of God, and not to be afraid of legates, inquisitions, prisons, or any kind of death; often urging upon them the passage, "Whosoever loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy

His anxiety was to demonstrate to his friends, that all these convictions were not the hallucinations of frenzy, but the workings of a clear-sighted though most agonized mind. In vain did some of his companions urge upon him that his language was not that of a hardened heart. "I am only," said he, "like the rich man, who, though he was in hell, was anxious that his brethren should escape torment. Judas, after betraying his Master, was compelled to own his sin, and to declare the innocence of Christ, and it is neither new nor singular that I do the same. The mercy of Christ is a strong rampart against the wrath of God; but I have demolished that bulwark with my own hands."

When his friends began to say farewell to him, he avowed to one of them, that he felt his heart full of cursing, hatred, and blasphemy against God. The next day he attempted suicide. Refusing food, which he spat out when offered to him, he at length died miserably, amidst all the terrors of one forsaken of God. A spectator of this scene was Vergerio, who afterwards became an eminent bishop in the cause of the reformation, and who traced his most lasting impressions to this awful scene.

The remarks of Calvin upon this occurrence are worthy

of transcription: "May the Lord Jesus confirm our hearts in the full and sincere belief of his own Gospel, and keep our tongues in the uniform confession of him, that as we now join in one song with angels, we may at length enjoy together with them the blessed delights of the heavenly kingdom."

7. A YOUNG WOMAN.

"Youth is not rich in time; it may be

poor;

Part with it as with money, sparing; pay

No moment, but in purchase of its worth;

And what its worth? Ask death-beds; they can tell.
Part with it as with life, reluctant; big

With holy hope of nobler time to come;

Time higher aimed, still nearer the great mark

Of men and angels-virtue more Divine."-YoUNG.

SEVERAL of the preceding narratives show how awful is the hour of death to those who deny the Lord who bought them. But it is not those only who advance thus far in iniquity, that feel the bitterness of death. To many who have borne the sacred name of Christian, the hour of dissolution is an hour of dismay, and would be so to every one who has reached that solemn period, negligent of the great salvation, if the soul were sensible of its own state, and awake to the contemplation of eternal realities. Let the young and careless seriously read the impressive account that follows, and while they read it, think of their latter end.

"Bathed in tears, a girl came, about three months ago, to tell me that her sister was dying, and wished much to see me. The poor woman, who was arrived at life's tremendous verge,' was about thirty years of age; her circumstances were lowly, but her mind was better informed than that of most in her rank. She had been educated at a Sunday school, and having a remarkably

good voice, had attended the chapel with the singers till her marriage. At this period, she not only knew much of her Bible, but also gave some pleasing symptoms of a change of mind. But alas! she gave her hand to a young man who was destitute of the fear of God, and who became a snare to her. How many that in youth promise fair to be the followers of Jesus, are ruined by improper marriages! Oppressed with domestic cares, poor Mary now neglected even an occasional attendance on the means of grace. She had run well, but sin deceived her. Daily misery however preyed on a constitution at all times delicate. A dropsy threatened her with death. No sooner was she confined to the bed of affliction, than she recollected the truths which once she took delight in learning. She remembered God and was troubled;' and her neglect of those things which, she well knew, belonged to her eternal peace, filled her mind with anguish.

"I had been with her the day before; how bitterly did she then lament her conduct! How hard she found the way of the transgressor! I reminded her of what St. John says If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.' She seemed a little encouraged to expect mercy; we engaged in prayer, and parted. But now she was evidently dying. As I entered the room, I beheld a face distorted with pain, and heard an exclamation, distressing enough to pierce any heart, 'O! I cannot die:-I want to see his face! Never did I enter so fully into the importance of Balaam's prayer, 'Let me die the death of the righteous; and let my last end be like his.' I asked her whose face she wished to see. Her reply was, 'The reconciled face of Jesus.'

666

'Have you no hope of an interest in Christ?' I inquired.

"No, I have no hope; I am lost; I cannot die!' "How I longed for some careless people whom I knew,

to witness the end of one who had neglected-and that against the dictates of her own conscience-the great salvation!"

The writer of this account then endeavoured to point her to the blood of Jesus. "O," she exclaimed, "that I had an interest in that blood!" He soon after left the room with feelings not to be described, and in a few minutes she expired.

O let those who have enjoyed religious instruction in youth, and afterward neglected the Saviour and salvation, consider what miseries they are preparing for themselves hereafter! And let them remember her whose last words, almost, were, "O, I cannot die! I cannot die!"

SECTION III.

The Dying Persecutor.

1. SOME OF THE EARLY PERSECUTORS.

It is remarkable that few of the emperors, distinguished for their cruelty and their persecutions of Christians during the first three centuries, escaped some miserable end or other. Tiberius and the other "three Neros " after him, suffered violent deaths. After Nero, Domitius Galba within seven months was slain by Otho; and Otho afterwards killed himself, being overcome by Vitellius. Vitellius shortly after was drawn through the city of Rome, and after he was tormented, was thrown into the Tiber. Domitian, after having poisoned his brother, Titus, and proved himself a cruel and vindictive persecutor of Christians, was murdered in his chamber-his wife knowing and consenting to the deed. Commodus likewise was murdered by Narcissus. Pertinax and Julianus experienced a like end. Severus was slain in England, and his son Geta was killed by his brother Bassianus, who was in turn murdered by Macrinus. Heliogabalus, a glutton in habit, a monster in cruelty, was killed by his own people, drawn through the city and cast into the Tiber. Maximinus, having slain the emperor, his benefactor, three years after was slain by his own soldiers. Maximus, Balbinus, and Gordian, were all three slain. The wicked Decius was drowned, and his son slain in battle at the same time. Gallus and Volusianus his sons, emperors after Decius, were both slain by a conspiracy of Emilianus, who within three months after was also slain himself. Valerian was taken prisoner by the Persians, and was there made the butt