follower of Christ, for encouragement under the depressing contemplation of his own depravity and sinfulness,-inasmuch as they show that sin will still abound in the flesh, even where grace does much more abound. Whilst, now, I would affectionately urge upon your attentive consideration, whatever is found to have been scripturally right in the faith, in the affections, and in the practice of the Subject of this Memorial ;—I would especially press upon you the importance of aiming after some of his more striking characteristics,-his godly fear-his veneration for parental authority-his simplicity of faith-his dedication of himself to God-his moral courage-his love for the name of Christ-and his ardent aspirings after fitness for a heavenly world. And in the faithful pursuance of these characteristics of God's dear children-in reliance upon the efficacy of the atoning blood of our adorable Redeemer, and on the grace of His blessed Spirit-you will at once find your happiness and wellbeing. For, with purpose of heart, thus seeking for conformity to the will of God, you will obtain, by Divine grace, such a preparation for the coming of the Son of Man,-though at an hour unexpected he should come,-that, whilst you yourselves realise the safety and blessedness of such an acquirement, those who affectionately and anxiously love you will, even in such an event as the early removal of any of you, have a solid consolation in their day of sorrow in this blessed assurance-that you who "sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him." That the Lord Almighty may be pleased to acknowledge this little work for the promotion of your heavenward preparation, and that He may abundantly bless you in all your ways, guiding you with His counsel here, and afterward receiving you to endless glory,—is the fervent desire and prayer, Dearly beloved, of your affectionate Friend in the Lord, WILLIAM SCORESBY. Exeter, 2nd of January, 1837. MEMORIAL OF A DUTIFUL SON. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY REFLECTIONS. The death-blow is struck-the bereav'd one now feels, But he sees Him who wounds-the sight of Faith heals, THOUGH the condition of the mourner is as common as human mortality is universal-yet the feelings of the real mourner cannot be fully apprehended but in the very travail of nature's woe. And when that time comes, the bereaved ones then feel,—that is, in regard to the sensibilities of the natural mind, that they, of all men, are most miserable. To them comes no mitigation from the commonness of their lot; to them it is no consolation to know that, at every beat of their pulse from their birth, similar bereavements have been experienced by some one or other of the family of man; to them there is little support to be derived from the consciousness that they are themselves mortal, and must also die,-but they feel as if their place stood most prominent amid B the woes of the earth, and they suffer as poignantly as if they suffered alone. For, with respect to human mortality, the whole world may be considered, as it has been strikingly represented, as ‘a vast funeral procession,' in which view, every one in turn becomes chief mourner, or is carried, as a corpse, at the head of the solemn pageant. Hence, though for six thousand years the affections of man have been accustomed to be torn asunder with unrelenting severity, and the nearest and dearest relations to be summarily dissolved; yet, when the mortal stroke penetrates our dwelling, and enters the heart of the beloved one-the catastrophe seems as new, and the suffering is as pungent, as if the thing had never happened before! We speak not here of woe, as it is realized under the gracious supports of faith derivable from Him who hath appointed the woe as the penalty of sin, and, being sanctified, as medicine for the disease of sin; but merely of the effects of painful bereavements on the natural affections. For these-in proportion to the tenderness of the attachments and susceptibility of the mournersare similar in all; whilst the consolations derivable from godliness, though more or less open to every one, are, unhappily, effectually realised but by few. Deeply, therefore, as the bereaved parent who writes this memorial has felt on the occasion |