What a mercy for the people of God they cannot die unprepared--none unfit; the grace that provided the kingdom has provided a fitness for it, in the person and work of the dear Redeemer, and in the effectual operations of the holy-making God the Divine Spirit; and without this holiness no man shall see the Lord--without this holy change of _state_, of _principle_, and of _pursuit_, none can enjoy either the liberty of the Gospel now, or the glory beyond the grave; and however the wicked may be _driven_ away in his wickedness, the righteous hath hope in his death, "for thou shalt come to thy grave in full age, like a shock of corn, that cometh in his season, fully ripened for the heavenly garner." Such was our dear departed friend--deeply afflicted in body, such as baffled all human skill; she gradually descended to the grave, sweetly supported, kept up by mighty grace, and consoled by the word of truth. She beheld her pious and affectionate family around her. On one occasion she had been remarkably low in thinking of death, when the Lord kindly, but very powerfully whispered to her heart, "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, even so saith the Spirit." This sweet sentence being clothed with such energy delivered her mind from all fears of death. Often did she exclaim "oh! why is the Lord so long in coming? come, come Lord, I long to be at home;" and although her sufferings were great, her faculties were kept amazingly strong, so much as to enable her to repeat the whole of her favorite hymn she had often heard sung at the chapel, on preparation to meat God, ending with-- "And if pale death to me appears, Creating new alarming fears, My last appeal to Calvary's blood, And I'm prepar'd to meet my God." One of her affectionate family read to her the 40th _Isaiah_, and sweetly commented upon it, which she very much enjoyed. Her desire to depart and be with Christ seemed to increase, and her affliction continuing still, she hastened quickly to meet the last enemy of her nature, though the covenant friend of her soul; prayerful, sincerely, solemnly, and composedly she breathed her soul into the hands of her redeeming Lord; she slept in peace--she fell asleep in Jesus, and experienced all that is contained, in the precious declaration, "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord."--Her sun sweetly set to rise in another horizon, where it will never be clouded--never set again--never, no never go down: but there the Lord is her everlasting light--her God--her glory; and the days of her mourning are for ever over. "Forbear the righteous to deplore, They enter into rest; Released from care, and sin, and woe, To everlasting bliss they go, And learn what they might doubt below, To die is to be blest." HYMN. Saints, who mourn the slumbering dead, Look to your incarnate head! See him mounting from the tomb, Death and hell await their doom.--_Hallelujah_.