'It is told me I must die.
O what happiness!

I am going

To the place of my rest;
To the land of the living;
To the haven of security;
To the kingdom of peace;
To the palace of my God;
To the nuptials of the Lamb;
To sit at the table of my King;
To feed on the bread of Angels;
To see what no eye hath seen;

To hear what no ear hath heard;

To enjoy what the heart of man cannot comprehend.

'O my Father,

O thou the best of all fathers,

Have pity on the most wretched of all thy children! I was lost, but by thy mercy found;

I was dead, but by thy grace am now raised again :
I was gone astray after vanity,

But am now ready to appear before thee.
O my Father,

Come now in mercy and receive thy child!
Give him the kiss of peace,

Remit unto him all his sins,

Clothe him with thy nuptial robe,

Receive him into thy house,

Permit him to have a place at thy feast,

And forgive all those who are guilty of his death.'

8KETCHES OF MISSIONARY LIFE.

No. VII.-THE SPOTTED FACE, AND THE NIGHT IN THE DEATH-PRISON.

EDITOR.

"Man may trouble and distress me,
"Twill but drive me to thy breast:
Life, with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh! 'tis not in grief to harm me,
While thy love is left to me;
Oh! 'twere not in joy to charm me,

Were that joy unmix'd with thee."

Anon.

In a suburb of the vast capital of the Burman Empire, Ava, amidst the multitude of idol worshippers, who thronged the temples of Gaudama, a little company of the friends of Jesus had assembled for prayer and praise. It was the morning of the Lord's day, May 23d, 1824; and the little band of Christian worshippers had met in the house of the missionary, Price, at Sagaing, on the bank of the Irrawaddy, opposite the "golden city." The rumors of war had already reached the devoted missionary band; and aware of the suspicious and despotic character of the Burman government, they could not but feel somewhat alarmed at the probable trials and

sufferings that awaited them. They had met to comfort one another in their sorrows, and to commend each other to that God and Saviour in obedience to whose command they had come to that heathen land to labor and to suffer, and if He required of them the sacrifice, to die.

They had just concluded worship, and felt strengthened to bear whatever God might see fit to lay upon them. The visitors were about dispersing to their homes, when a messenger, with alarm and anxiety depicted on his countenance, came to announce the astounding intelligence that had just reached the capital, that twelve days before, Rangoon had been taken by the British troops! The news could not but add to the apprehensions for their personal safety. already entertained by the missionaries, and the other few foreigners residing in Ava; and as they glided through the multitudes of dark-browed idolaters that crowded the streets of the 66 golden city," conversing on the alarming intelligence, and fevered with excitement and rage, casting upon the white-faced strangers many a suspicious glance, or contemptuous scowl, they felt they needed all that grace, and all that strength, for which they had just been praying. The fears of the missionaries were, however, soon partially allayed, by a reply made by the king's brother to a young

English merchant, named Gouger, who afterwards became the companion of Judson in suffering, "that his majesty had said the few foreigners residing in Ava had nothing to do with the war, and should not be molested."

Two more weeks passed by, and the missionaries were still at large; yet harrassed and alarmed by the dark suspicions and rumors that rapidly gained ground in the city, that the white foreigners were spies, and in the pay of the invading foe. This painful uncertainty, however, was soon to be exchanged for still more painful reality.

It was on the morning of Tuesday, the eighth of June, that the beloved Judsons, with the two little Burman girls whom they had taken under their protection, were preparing their frugal dinner, when a company of fierce-looking Burmans rushed into the apartment. The leader was an officer, holding a black-book in his hand, and the spotted face of another, told, alas! too plainly, that he was the executioner, "the son of the prison."

"You are called by the king," said the man with the black book.

The terrible spotted face produced the instrument of torture, a small cord for pinioning prisoners-violently threw the unresisting mission

ary on the floor; and, with hellish cruelty, proceeded to tighten the torturing cords around his suffering victim.

"Stay" exclaimed the agonized and suffering wife; "O, have pity, and loose that torturing rope! Stay! and I will give you money!"

But mercy dwelt not in the breasts of those savages. A scowl of terrible ferocity fell from the dark brow of the cruel persecutor, upon that weeping suppliant woman, as he yelled out in tones of dreadful rage: "She! she also is a white foreigner! tie her too!"

At these terrible words, the tortured husband forgot, for a moment, his own sufferings, in the fearful apprehension that like indignities and cruelties were to be inflicted on his meek and gentle wife, and implored, in impassioned tones of tenderness and anguish, that they would let that beloved one remain till further orders.

They turned away from the imploring wife, who still continued begging them, with all the eloquence of a woman's tears and a wife's entreaties, to loosen the cords; but in vain. The horrid spotted face, as though the infliction of pain was a greater pleasure to the terrible man of death than even the acquisition of money, spurned the offer of the silver; dragged the suffering missionary from the house, and then at

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