body and the mind of the deceased, and contributed to hasten the crisis which so unexpectedly removed him from the world. Notwithstanding his discouragements he persevered through evil report and good report; he held on his way, without deviating or wavering, until arrested in his course by the resistless hand of disease. He had been favoured with good health for many years, and his last illness was neither severe nor of long continuance. Near observers had perceived for some months a marked failure, both of his mental and physical strength, but a stranger would hardly have been aware of either before he was actually laid aside. Indeed, so latent and insidious was the fatal disease under which he suffered, that its presence was not suspected by any, excepting, perhaps, his medical attendant. For several days before his death, he seemed to have so far recovered from his indisposition as to be able to resume some of his lighter engagements; and during the last week of his life he was repeatedly miles away from home on business, when, as the event showed, there was but a step between him and death. It is consolatory to reflect that, though to our friend the evening of life was somewhat beclouded by circumstances already adverted to, his sun set in tranquillity and smiles at last. This is especially applicable to the last day which he was permitted to spend on earth. That day was the Lord's-day, and to him it was apparently a day of decided enjoyment. It is true that he was not publicly engaged on what proved to be the closing day of his earthly sojourn; but though he did not preach he was present at public worship, and evidently enjoyed himself. Af ter tea the friend who had preached for him arose to return to Burton in time for the evening service. Before parting with him, Mr. Norton said, cheerfully," Friend Wardle, if I should need your services again, as I may not be able to preach just at present, will you come?" On receiving an answer in the affirmative, he returned into the house, showing evident signs of satisfaction and pleasure. The few remaining hours of the evening were passed pleasantly and profitably in reading and conversation, after which he offered his last prayer, and then retired to bed at an early hour. "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching; and if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants." It would seem that on composing himself to rest, our unsuspecting friend soon fell into his final slumber, from which probably even death himself when he came scarcely aroused him. Soon after midnight Mrs. Norton was awakened by the startling and alarming sounds of deep-drawn sighs, occasioned by the laborious and intermitted breathing of the final conflict of her unexpectedly departing husband. She raised his head from the pillow, but it fell powerless on his breast; and before a light could be procured, the spirit had returned to God who gave it— so sudden and unanticipated in this instance was the coming of the Son of man. "Then with no throbs of fiery pain, No cold gradations of decay, And freed his soul the nearest way." The immediate cause of death is supposed to have been disease of the heart. On the following Friday the interment took place in the burial-ground adjoining the meetinghouse in which during so many years the departed had proclaimed the word of life. The writer of these lines officiated on the occasion. This solemn and impressive providence was afterwards further improved by the same person, both at Cauldwell and Overseal, to large and attentive congregations. The discourse at Cauldwell was founded on Hebrews xiii. 7, 8, "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation; Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." The subject of discourse at Overseal was Psalm xxxvii. 37, "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' Burton-on-Trent, July 19, 1854. ESTHER, OR RELIGIOUS DECISION. A WORD TO THE ANXIOUS INQUIRER. ESTHER is a word which signifies a star-a figure expressive of something very fair and beautiful. Hadassah, another name of the same person, signifies a myrtle, a plant used as the emblem of humility and affection. How beautifully appropriate were these names to Esther! How expressive of her true character! Her humility and affection, star-like, ever shone with a fair and chastened brightness. Well would it be if all daughters shone in their family like a star, and perfumed it with the fragrance of their piety like a myrtle. Esther is first introduced to our notice under circumstances of melancholy interest. She was a captive in Babylon. Her father and mother were dead. То an affectionate daughter, perhaps, no event is more agonizing than the death of her parents. It is like the withering of a gourd, or depriving a tender plant of the protection and genial influence of a green-house, and exposing its fair form to the wintry winds. The whole prospect becomes cold, bleak, and cheerless. A time of war, however, gives poignancy to such an event; and it was at such a time that Esther was thrown as an orphan upon the world. He, however, who "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," who "stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind," was not unmindful of her. He who has said, R. K. "Leave thy fatherless children unto me, I will preserve them alive," was in this instance, faithful to his promise. Her father's and her mother's God took care of her. He provided this orphan with a protector and a guide. Mordecai, Esther's cousin, a young man of influence, intelligence, prudence, and above all, of undoubted piety, became to her a father, brother, friend. "He took her up a little tender flower, Just sprouted on a bank, which the next frost Had nipt, and with a careful, loving hand, Transplanted her into his own fair garden, Where the sun always shines. There long she flourished; Grew sweet to sense, and lovely to the eye." In this delightful spot she continued, cultivating and developing the beauties of her entire nature, until selected by Ahasuerus to fill the highest station in the land. She became the queen of a monarch who reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces." Thus elevated, many would have imagined themselves beyond the need of care and counsel from such a man as Mordecai. Not so, however, with Esther. Though exalted to the highest pinnacle of human glory, the care of Mordecai did not cease, on the one hand, nor the humility and affection of Esther, on the other. With what beautiful simplicity is their love described! "Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her:" and and vain. With delight he received "Esther did the commandment of the homage which was paid him by Mordecai, like as when she was the slaves of the court. “All the brought up with him." These facts, king's servants, that were in the thus briefly and artlessly stated, king's gate, bowed, and reverenced prove the depth and ardour of their Haman," except one. But while a affection more clearly than if it were whole kingdom trembled before the uttered in the most impassioned terms. ambitious and fierce Amalekite, there True affection, like a lake, is deep was one spirit which neither his but noiseless. It shows itself more haughtiness nor his power could in what it does than in what it says. humble; one more stern in his inThe sunny influence of Mordecai still tegrity, and more unbending in his beamed upon and around Esther; courage, than the other was in his and so, even amid the blighting at- pride. This was Mordecai the Jew. mosphere of an oriental court the Whilst all others prostrated themfragrance and beauty of her piety selves before the minion of their maintained their youth. king, Mordecai stood erect, he "bowed not, nor did him reverence.' This was soon perceived by Haman, whose pride and wrath were at once aroused. So "full of wrath" was he, that he "thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had showed him the people of Mordecai; wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai." To this danger the Jews, among whom Esther was included, were exposed. It was not poverty, nor dishonour, nor captivity, which threatened them, but death; death in its most repulsive forms-a universal slaughter, an indiscriminate massacre of young and old, little children and women, in one day. The plan, for wisdom, malice, and cruelty, was one of which the devil might be proud. This was then the danger which threatened the Jews. But we must on to a period the most trying in the whole experience of Esther, a period which called into exercise all the beauties and excellencies of her character at once; her respect for the laws of the land, her obedience to Mordecai, her love to her nation, her courage and self-denial; a time when all these features burst forth at once with dazzling splend our. In order, however, to appreciate Esther's conduct at the time referred to, and to point out the resemblance between her position and that of the anxious inquirer, it will be necessary to show, 1. The imminent danger of the Jews. Esther was a Jewess, and the whole of the captive Jews were about to be immolated to appease the wrath of a contemptible upstart. Thus it happened: Haman, an Amalekite, had been raised to the highest honours in Shushan. He was the favourite of the king. No request was denied him. Of him it might be said, "Mortality and mercy [in Shushan] lived in his tongue and heart." He possessed a giant's strength, and he used it as cruelly as a giant. Raised to greatness without merit, he employed his power solely for the gratification of his ungovernable passions. He was proud But there are those in our day who are exposed to danger; a danger different indeed, but one both just and terrific. Sinners of every nation, rank, and age are thus exposed. Sin has partially ruined the sinner; its fearful ravages have already commenced; and it is pursuing the direct course for ruining both body and soul. To realize the present position and future prospects of the unbeliever, we have only to quote the decree which has been issued against him from the King of kings, and to bear in mind while reading it, that, "God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?" He hath said, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." He hath said, and shall he not do it? "The wicked shall be turned into hell with all the nations that forget God." He hath said, and shall he not do it? "He that believeth not shall be damned." He will say, and shall he not do it? "Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Imminent, then, is the danger of the sinner, and what makes that danger greater is his hardness of heart and inveterate unbelief. Of many it might be said, "Were heaven and earth and hell To preach at once, you still would mock and jeer As now; but never repent until too late; Until the everlasting hour had struck.” Thus the peril of the sinner is far greater than that which threatened the captive Jews. Fully to appreciate Esther's resolve, &c., we must point out, II. What was necessary for the deliverance of the Jews. The decree had been issued; "letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey." This decree was in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, and it was therefore unalterable. It is evident, then, that some expedient must be devised for the deliverance of the Jews, or the wrath of Haman, like the pestilential blast of the desert, will rush upon and destroy every one of them. But what can be done to avert such a calamity? There appeared to be but one remedy. The king must be spoken to, and an expedient devised which would as fully illustrate the integrity of his government as the execution of the decree could do. The expedient was this: -the Jews were to be apprised of their danger, and to be permitted "to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey." Thus a way of deliverance was effected for the Jews from the danger which threatened them. Turning again to the condition of the sinner, and bearing in mind what has been said in regard to his danger, we ask, What is necessary to his deliverance from the wrath to come? How is the anger of God to be removed, and his determination to punish sin changed? Great and numerous are the difficulties which stand in the way of the sinner's redemption. The law of God has been broken, and its penalty incurred, and that penalty is an eternal abode in hell. Some remedy, then, must be devised, by which pardoning mercy can be offered to the sinner, so as to harmonize with the integrity of all the Divine perfections, and by which suitable moral means may be fur nished for engendering on the sinner's part holy affections towards God. Unless such a remedy can be devised there is no hope for the sinner. Heaven would be closed against him. He would be banished thence, roofless and shivering, and would sink like a plummet amid the doom-storm of everlasting woe. But an expedient has been devised by which pardoning mercy can be offered to the guilty; an expedient so efficacious that all the perfections of God are satisfied; and so compre hensive in its grasp that mercy can now reach out her hand and rescue the perishing millions of the human race from the very brink of woe. He whose laws the sinner has broken -whose favour he has forfeited has found out the remedy. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Jesus, by his sacrificial death, "has finished the transgression, made an end of sins, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness." Thus a remedy has been provided by which the whole love of God can flow into our souls, and thus all who have sinned may be restored to the Divine favour, and all may enjoy heavenly blessedness. We are now prepared to contemplate, III. Esther's grief and resolve when exposed to this danger. The extent of her sorrow may be gathered from one of the messages she sent to Mordecai. "Go," said Esther, "gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." It was no trifling, superficial grief which agitated the breast of Esther. It was a misery approaching despair. "If I perish, I perish." She saw distinctly the storm-cloud of vengeance, "armed with red lightning and impetuous rage," which the implacable Haman had gathered, hanging over her head, and which was about to discharge its scathing contents upon herself and her nation. She knew that there was but one power which could by any possibility avert this storm, and that power was lodged in the king. To approach him uncalled was contrary to law; it might at once cost her her life. This was one difficulty. But Esther knew equally well, that if she did not approach the king, the Jews must perish, and that she, being a Jewess, would probably share the same fate. Thus did she suffer the agony of crucifixion, as first one and then the other of the two horns of this dilemma pierced her heart. Her position was a trying one; but she wisely resolved. "I will go in," she said, "unto the king." To secure a future and a larger good, she placed herself in present peril. Had she shrunk from that peril, her own life might have been spared for a short time, but it must eventually have been forfeited. She therefore resolved to sacrifice her present happiness, to secure, if possible, the future happiness of herself and nation. "She put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house; and the king sat upon his royal throne, in the royal house, over against the gate of the house." There and thus did Esther await the important issue. Her own life, and the lives of multitudes hung upon the mere motion of the king's hand. What a critical moment! With what breathless anxiety must she have awaited the first movement of the king! But is there not a resemblance between the dilemma of Esther and that of the contrite but unpardoned sinner? There is! And should such an one read these lines, we say to him or to her, Continue where you are, and as you are, and you must perish. There is no alternative. The period of your destruction may be as near, or it may be a little farther distant than that which threatened Esther and the Jews, but it is not the less certain on that account. "As I live, saith the Lord, the wicked shall not go unpunished.' God is as faithful to his threatenings as he is to his promises. That unbelievers "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," is as certain as that those who are united to Jesus by a living faith, shall" walk in the light" of the new |