Having referred to an accident which had happened to Mrs. Thompson at Kirby Hall, he adds, "I fully enter into your feelings on your first alarm, lest Mrs. T. should have been taken from you. But you see she is yet spared to you; for though you are not her natural daughter, I hope you maintain and pray for a higher relation. There is nothing durable or eternal but that union which is

from Christ. Friendship, or relationship by blood, except growing on this foundation, will soon die."

The committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society having determined to print the Syriac New Testament, which Dr. Buchanan so much desired for the use of the Syrian Christians on the coast of Malabar, he engaged to prepare the text, and superintend the work at his own expense. Accordingly, he took up his residence, for that purpose, in Hertfordshire, that he might be near the printer. From two or three of his letters, while there, we shall give extracts, chiefly because we are drawing near the closing scene of this great man's history; and, perhaps, also be

cause they breathe that sweetly solemn, and pensive cast of thought, with which our own soul delights to harmonize. The first is to Mrs. Thompson, I hope to hear that your foot is almost well. Jacob, you know, 'halted' to the day of his death; but then every * false step would remind him of his victory with God. And yet this 'prince with God' would not be comforted when he thought Joseph was dead! How encompassed with infirmity is man!-even regenerated manman partaker of the divine nature!

"I hope that Charlotte and Augusta are well. Jacob prayed, saying, the 'God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.' That is a prayer which I would offer up for Charlotte and Augusta. I also have been redeemed from much evil during an eventful life; and so have they hitherto. A boy, about Augusta's age, is dying near us here. His mother sits by him and cannot eat. He belonged to a Sunday school, and desires those hymns to be read to him which

speak of Christ's atoning for wicked children."

The next is an extract from a letter to Colonel Sandys, whose son was about departing in the faith and hope of the gospel." "What wonderful news you relate! Your dear son, William, speaks of the unsearchable riches of Christ! and magnifies his Saviour in the eyes of men! This is certainly a great triumph of divine grace. However, I anticipated it, as I believe you know; for I was persuaded he would be given to your persevering prayers. Be pleased to give him my most affectionate remembrance, and tell him he is about to be ushered into a glory, which good men upon earth have been contemplating for many years, but have not yet enjoyed. He has obtained the victory without the battle; for the Captain of his salvation has fought for him. May his faith be firm and ardent to the last, that he may persevere in, and complete his glorious testimony!"

Another letter to Colonel Sandys begins,

"I thank you for your letter of the 12th, which informs me that you and seven children are well. There are a great many blessings comprehended in that expression. My health continues much the same. I take a little exercise on horseback, live low, go to bed early, rise generally to read by candlelight. By such means, under the blessing of God, I am enabled to carry on my present undertaking: but a slight return of indisposition would suspend the whole. I therefore live a pensioner on God's mercy for the hour."

"Dec. 24. I write," he says to Mrs. Thompson, "I write to say, I hope to be with you the first week of the new year; it is, however, doubtful whether I shall not be detained longer. What detains me, is the wish to complete the four gospels, before I leave this place, lest I should never return. For what is our life? saith St. James; it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little, and then vanisheth away."

Dr. Buchanan's visit to his family, on this occasion, was but of short duration, and was,

alas! the last. On his return into Hertfordshire, he received intimation of the decease of his early and respected friend and patron, Mr. Thornton. He proceeded immediately to London to attend his funeral, where, it is possible, he not only was affected by the extreme severity of the weather, but by those yearnings of the heart which must be felt over the closing scene even of the holiest of men; for, though faith is assured of their happiness in Heaven, nature shrinks at the chilling separation. Dr. Buchanan, however, returned to Broxburne, in Hertfordshire, on the 25th January, apparently in his usual state of health, and resumed those labours in which he so much delighted. So much we may indeed say, for though each separate sheet received from him five revisions before being finally sent to the press, the frequency of this critical examination of the Scriptures, so far from being tiresome or irksome, seemed, to use his own words, at " every fresh perusal, to throw fresh light on the word of God, and to convey additional joy and consolation to his mind." In this delightful em