burning hot-by this time he was passing fast to eternity-he said in a low whisper, and in his own kind and homely way, 'O, man, I'm glad to see you.' Perhaps I should have congratulated him, as one who had been a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and had through grace fought the battle well, that his fight was so nearly done, the crown so nearly won. But, having a great regard for him, and great admiration of his large and loving heart, of the selfdenying devotedness, and of the true Christian heroism with which he served one common Master, I could not help thinking more of our loss than of his gain, and saying I was sorry to see him laid so low. It would be difficult to convey to the reader any adequate idea of the delight expressed in the look and tone with which he quickly replied, 'I'm going home, I'm going home.' The scene was worth a thousand sermons, and would have given birth in the coldest worldling to the wish, 'Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.""

Robert then in trembling tones committed the manuscript of his life to the doctor's care, and soon fell asleep.

"Robert Flockhart," says Dr. Guthrie, "had been a great sinner, and He who in other days had changed the bitterest persecutor of the Church into its noblest preacher, had changed him into a great saint. He had sinned much, had been forgiven much, and so he loved much. He had often exposed himself to disgrace, danger, and death itself in

Satan's service; and, if there had been need for it, I believe there was no man in Edinburgh who would have gone to the stake or scaffold for Jesus Christ with a firmer step, or a nobler bearing, than this brave old soldier of the cross. He united the most ardent piety and untiring zeal to indomitable courage, and had no idea of flinching, whether he was called to fight the French at Port Louis, or for Christ and God's truth, face ribald crowds in the High Street or West Port of Edinburgh.

"As to his bodily appearance, his presence, like that of Paul, might be called 'contemptible.' He was a man of diminutive stature, he had a shuffling gait, he was ill-hung in the limbs, and had a curious cast of the eye. On the other hand, his face, reflecting like a mirror the emotion of the inner man, and every feeling which swept over his soul, was full of expression. He abounded in the gesticulations of a natural oratory; and, being endued with keen sensibility, and easily affected himself, he had therefore the power of moving others."

He was a burning and shining light. He was a brave and faithful soldier of the Cross. He was faithful unto death, and has now received the crown of life.

"My race is run, my warfare's o'er,

The solemn hour is nigh;

When, offered up to God, my soul

Shall wing its flight on high.

"With heavenly weapons I have fought The battle of the Lord!

Finished my course and kept the faith,
Depending on His word.

"Henceforth there is laid up for me
A crown which cannot fade;
The righteous Judge at that great day
Shall place it on my head."

THE REV. BENJAMIN PARSONS,

THE SOCIAL REFORMER.

None of us liveth unto himself, and no man dieth to himself. -Rom. xiv, 7.

Give me the priest, a light upon a hill,

Whose rays his whole circumference can fill;
In God's own word and sacred learning versed,
Deep in the study of the heart immersed;
Who in sick souls can the disease descry,
And wisely fit restoratives apply;

To beatific pastures leads his sheep,
Watchful from hellish wolves his fold to keep;
Who seeks not a convenience, but a cure,
Would rather souls than his own gain insure;
Instruction in his visits and converse,
Strives everywhere salvation to disperse;
Of a mild, humble, and obliging heart,
Who with his all will to the needy part;
Distrustful of himself, in God confides,
Dayly himself among his flock divides.

By holiness, not riches, gains respect;
Who is all that he would have others be,

From willful sin, though not from frailty, free.
BISHOP KEN.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE has been famous for four men whose influence on the religion of England has been great and long continued. TYNDAL walked among its woods three hundred years ago, and

meditated on the work he was afterward to do amid many perils-to translate into the English language the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. HOOPER, who became a martyr of the reformed faith in the days of Bloody Mary, was Bishop of Gloucester. GEORGE WHITEFIELD, who passed like a flaming seraph across the coldness and apathy of the religion of the land in the eighteenth century, and was the means of kindling so many with a new life and zeal akin to his own, was a Gloucester man. ROBERT RAIKES, the founder of Sunday-schools, which have proved so great a blessing to millions of the young, was a citizen of Gloucester. God often returns to places whence he has taken some of his heroes, or where he has wrought some of his gracious works; and in Gloucestershire has the mantle of these venerated men fallen again and again on other witnesses for the truth, who in their day were "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ."

There are two other names who deserve honorable mention in the list of Gloucestershire worthies. Sir MATTHEW HALE, who did so much to maintain a pure character on the seat of judgment, when bribes were often in the judge's palm, was a native of the county. He was one

"In whom

The British Themis gloried with just cause."

EDWARD JENNER, who mitigated human suffering by his happy discovery of vaccination, and