heavenly Father will ever put into your hand. May He now give you liberty to drink at these wells of salvation, till you are filled with consolation and peace in the midst of trouble. He has said, when thou passest through the fire I will be with thee, and when through the floods, they shall not overflow thee. You have need of such a word as this, and he knows your need of it, and the time of necessity is the time when he will be sure to appear in behalf of those who trust him. I bear you and yours upon my heart before him night and day, for I never expect to hear of a distress which shall call upon me with a louder voice to pray for the sufferer. I know the Lord hears me for myself, vile and sinful as I am, and believe, and am sure, that he will hear me for you also. He is the Friend of the Widow, and the Father of the Fatherless, even God in his holy habitation; in all our afflictions he is afflicted, and chastens us in mercy. Surely he will sanctify this dispensation to you, do you great and everlasting good by it, make the world appear like dust and vanity in your sight, as it truly is, and open to your view the glories of a better country, where there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor pain, but God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes for ever. Oh that comfortable word! " I have chosen thee in the furnaces of affliction," so that our very sorrows are evidences of our calling, and he chastens us because we are children.

My dear Cousin, I commit you to the word of his Grace, and

to the comforts of his Holy Spirit. Your life is needful for your family, may God in mercy to them prolong it, and may he preserve you from the dangerous effects which a stroke like this, might have upon a frame so tender as yours.-I grieve with you, I pray for you, could I do more, I would, but God must comfort Yours in our dear Lord Jesus,

you.

W. COWPER.

In the following year the tender feelings of Cowper were called forth by family affliction, that pressed more immediately on himself; he was hurried to Cambridge by the dangerous illness of his Brother, then residing as a Fellow in Bennet College-an affection truly fraternal had ever subsisted between the Brothers, and the Reader will recollect what the Poet has said in one of his Letters concerning their social intercourse while he resided at Huntingdon.

In the two first years of his residence at Olney, he had been repeatedly visited by Mr. John Cowper, and how cordially he returned his kindness, and his attention, the following Letter will testify, which was probably written in the chamber of the Invalide, whom the Writer so fervently wished to restore.

LETTER XIX.

To Mrs. COWPER.

March 5, 1770.

My Brother continues much as he was. His case

is a very dangerous one. An Imposthume of the Liver, attended

by

by an Asthma and Dropsy. The Physician has little hope of his recovery, I believe I might say, none at all, only being a friend, he does not formally give him over by ceasing to visit him, lest it should sink his spirits. For my own part I have no expectation of his recovery, except by a signal interposition of Providence in answer to Prayer. His case is clearly out of the reach of Medicine; but I have seen many a sickness healed, where the danger has been equally threatening, by the only Physician of value. I doubt not he will have an interest in your prayers, as he has in the prayers of many. May the Lord incline his ear, and give an answer of peace.

-I know it is good to be afflicted. I trust that you have found it so, and that under the teaching of God's own Spirit we shall both be purified.- -It is the desire of my soul to seek a better country, where God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people; and where looking back upon the ways by which he has led us, we shall be filled with everlasting wonder, love and praise.

I must add no more,

Yours ever,

W. COWPER.

The sickness and death of his learned, pious, and affectionate Brother, made a very strong impression on the tender heart and mind of Cowper-an impression so strong that it induced him to write a Narrative of the remarkable circumstances which occurred at the time. He sent a copy of this Narrative to Mr. Newton. The paper is curious in every point of view, and so likely to

awaken

awaken sentiments of piety in minds where it may be most desirable to have them awakened, that Mr. Newton has thought it his duty to print it.

Here it is incumbent on me to introduce a brief account of the interesting person, whom the Poet regarded so tenderly. John Cowper was born in 1737, being designed for the Church, he was privately educated by a Clergyman, and became eminent for the extent and variety of his erudition in the University of Cambridge. His conduct and sentiments as a Minister of the Gospel are copiously displayed by his Brother in recording the remarkable close of his life, Bennet College, of which he was a Fellow, was his usual residence, and it became the scene of his death on the 20th of March, 1770. Fraternal affection has executed a perfectly just and graceful description of his character, both in prose and verse. I transcribe both as highly honorable to these exemplary Brethren, who may indeed be said to have dwelt together in unity.

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"He was a Man (says the Poet in speaking of his deceased Brother) of a most candid and ingenuous spirit; his temper remarkably sweet, and in his behaviour to me he had always manifested an uncommon affection. His outward conduct so far as it fell under my notice, or I could learn it by the report of others, "was perfectly decent and unblameable. There was nothing vici66 ous in any part of his practice, but being of a studious, thoughtful

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turn, he placed his chief delight in the acquisition of learning, " and

" and made such acquisitions in it, that he had but few rivals in that "of a classical kind. He was critically skilled in the Latin, Greek, "and Hebrew languages; was beginning to make himself master of "the Syriac, and perfectly understood the French and Italian, the " latter of which he could speak fluently. Learned however as he

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was, he was easy and chearful in his conversation, and entirely “free from the stiffness which is generally contracted by men de"voted to such pursuits."

I had a Brother once:

Peace to the memory of a Man of Worth!
A man of letters, and of manners too!
Of manners, sweet as virtue always wears,
When gay good humour dresses her in smiles!
He grac'd a College, in which order yet
Was sacred, and was honour'd, lov'd, and wept
By more than one, themselves conspicuous there.

Another interesting Tribute to his Memory will be found in the following Letter.

DEAR JOE,

LETTER XX.

To JOSEPH HILL, Esqr.

May 8, 1770.

Your Letter did not reach me till the

last post, when I had not time to answer it. I left Cambridge im

mediately after my Brother's death.

I