Owing to a quantity of blood having settled in his head, it gave a wild appearance to his eyes, and for the last few hours deprived him of his sight; and there being much phlegm in his throat, and not having sufficient strength left to cough, prevented his speaking, though he made several attempts. We could now and then distinctly hear him say, in a very low whisper, "My Father, come!"-" Bless God; praise him."-Sensible he certainly was to the last, and knew Lady Sanderson's voice; for, though he could not see her, when she approached the bed he turned towards her, and a few minutes before he died took some water from her hand. His countenance expressed a heavenly resignation, and with that impression he died.

During the whole of his illness he was remarkably patient, and bore his sufferings with great fortitude. I sat up with him several nights; and, though he could get no sleep, he did not for one moment repine. One night he said, " Oh, what an unspeakable mercy now to be in possession of a good hope through grace! I often think of my former troubles, when I used to rove about from post to pillar, seeking rest but finding none. Blessed be God, it is not so now. Where Christ once condescends to come, that poor sinner is at home; he takes his home with him wherever

he

goes. I now reap the benefits of my pro

7

fession. What a poor miserable creature should I be were I without God, and had no hope in the world! But my conscience does not accuse me. I have loved and served my God faithfully; but I obtained mercy to be faithful.".

He was very far from joyful the day before he left town, and the day he arrived at the Wells he was much tried in his mind; but during the rest of his illness he enjoyed a solid peace, a heavenly resignation, and a feeling sense of gratitude to God for his goodness to him in providence as well as in grace.

He used often to compare his former poverty with his present prosperity; his sharp conflicts, hard labour and hard fare, with his comfortable home and spiritual blessings: and would weep with gratitude to God for his undeserved goodness to one so unworthy. For some time previous to his death he appeared dead to every thing in which he had formerly taken pleasure. The trees which he had planted, and whose growth in the spring he had so anxiously watched, he could now walk round the garden and no longer notice. His hot-house, where he had formerly spent so much time, he scarcely ever entered. Indeed every thing seemed to have lost, its power to please. Though he said very little, his countenance expressed sweet peace within: he appeared to live in the higher world; for his mind was there, though his poor

afflicted body was with us.-He had for some time a strong impression on his mind that his end was near, and very frequently spoke of it: but, as we had heard him say so many years before, and it being an evil day that we wished to put far off, we did not much regard it. The Wednesday fortnight before he preached his last sermon, after he came home, while he was in the study, and I was helping him off with his coat, he said, "Betsy, my work is nearly done; a very few times more, and all will soon be over." I said, "No, sir, I hope not." But he answered, "You may depend upon it, it is so. Oh, how I long to see my blessed Saviour! What a glorious prospect is now before me-to be with him where my faith has been fixed these forty years!"

The night before he was taken ill Mr. and Mrs. Over called to see him. He was very cheerful and affectionate, and seemed very unwilling to part with them. After supper he was more happy than I have seen him for a long while, and conversed with Lady Sanderson for a considerable time upon the joys of heaven in a most wonderful manner, till he seemed to be carried above the earth.-During his illness Mr. Edward Aldridge saw him several times. He seemed much pleased with his society, and conversed freely with him, as may be seen by the following extract :

"In the several interviews I had with Mr. Huntington during his last illness, I found his mind perfectly tranquil, and his conversa tion spiritual. To him the king of terrors was disarmed; and death, which had lost its sting, was contemplated with the utmost serenity. He appeared as one well prepared, that was going a journey, equipped for all things on the way. He said there was not a doubt or scruple, but all was right and clear in his way to God; that pardon had produced peace; regeneration, love; and justification can never be reversed. The last day I conversed with him my feelings were keen at the prospect of losing our most invaluable pastor-the best acquaintance and the truest friend I ever had. He appeared more concerned for my comfort than for his own, and expressed some solicitude for the welfare of the church: but not one word of complaint or murmuring at the dispensations of God. Upon my observing that we enjoyed much of the presence of God here, but the best was to come, he took it up in his usual way, and enlarged upon it, saying, the presence of God was his Holy Spirit; "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? whither shall I flee from thy presence?" and that this the wicked could not endure. "As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." He quoted likewise

Psalm i. 4, 5. He then mentioned the family of Mrs. Bull; said that, when she was called under him, they all withered and died in their profession, and her eldest son went so far as to burn his Bible. Some friend arrived from London, and our conversation terminated; but the deep impression of God's faithfulness, mercy, and truth, remained, and never will, I hope, be: forgotten by me.

last illness, he said his

"He had usually been low in sickness, but in this and a former illness, a few months before, he was quite the reverse. In several sermons recently delivered he expressed an humble but unbounded confidence in the love of God to his soul, and of his own fervent love and attachment to his dear and blessed Saviour, as he. frequently called him. After preaching time, a week or two before his work was nearly done: he also expressed the goodness of God to him in taking down his tabernacle in an easy and gentle manner; and that> he longed to go and see his blessed Saviour, whom (in conversion) he declared he had already seen. 1 Cor. ix, 1. He suffered some: pain in his bowels, and had several restless' nights; but expressed, almost with his last: breath, his gratitude to the Lord in dealing so gently with him.

"Thus terminated, on the first of July 1813,1 the life of a man eminent as a preacher, profound.