As the result of this arrangement, the two young men were of course brought into close and habitual contact with one another, and their intercourse was of a character most favourable to their growth in grace, and to the development of their religious principles. James Nisbet had previously secured two sittings in the church at Swallow Street, that he might have perfect freedom in taking any juvenile associate along with him to enjoy the ministrations which he found to be so profitable to himself. And it is somewhat interesting to notice that the place to which he guided the footsteps of Alexander Russel was neither a theatre, nor a concert room, nor a house of infamy, but the hallowed sanctuary, where the name of God was recorded, and where, under the ministrations of a faithful and warm-hearted pastor, the principles to which his young friend had been trained in the dwelling of his godly parents were most likely, under the blessing of God, to be strengthened and matured. But their intercourse, however genial, was not of long duration. Naturally of a feeble constitution, the health of Alexander Russel soon gave way amid the late hours and the continuous labour that were required for the discharge of his official duties as a clerk in the East India House. But during the progress of the disease, which speedily terminated in his death, and while far away from the assiduities of the family circle with which he was connected, every E possible attention was paid to him. Neither father, nor sister, nor mother, could have watched over him more tenderly than did his loving friend, James Nisbet. Every hour he could get away from his own place of business was spent by his side; and in a long letter which he wrote to his mourning parents, and in which, with great judgment and propriety, he details every little incident which was fitted to alleviate the bitterness of their grief, he closes the interesting narrative with these touching words: 'He was then anxious to get out of bed; but when I wished him to lie still, he sprang up himself, gave me a most pleasing smile, and warmly clasping me round the neck, he almost instantly resigned his spirit into the hands of his Saviour, and fell asleep without a sigh or a groan.' 'Asleep in Jesus! Blessed sleep! From which none ever wakes to weep; Unbroken by the last of foes. Asleep in Jesus! Oh, how sweet With holy confidence to sing, That death has lost his venomed sting. Asleep in Jesus! peaceful rest, Asleep in Jesus! far from thee From which none ever wakes to weep.' The old man, his father, so unexpectedly bereaved of a loving and beloved son, was greatly touched. In writing to James Nisbet, he says: "I consider it as a high display of the kindness of Providence that my son was directed to lodge in the same house with you, and I desire to bless the Lord who excited you to show all the affection and attention of a dear brother to him. Believe it, you will not lose your reward. May the Lord render to you a hundredfold in this world, and in the world to come give you eternal life.' And about twenty years after, when the venerable man and his partner in life had entered into their everlasting rest, their son, the Rev. John Russel of Muthil, writes in the same grateful and affectionate strain: 'I feel it to be my duty to inform you that my dear parents retained to the last the most affectionate remembrance of you, and of your kind offices to my departed brother. They often spoke of you with the warmest love, and with the liveliest emotions of gratitude, and often adored that kind Providence which introduced my dear brother to your acquaintance.' I cannot turn from the closing scene of Alexander Russel without taking leave to say: Let no minister of the gospel ever suffer a young man to leave the bounds of his congregation, with the view of going to such a place as London, without taking special care not only to furnish him with a formal certificate of character, but to send along with him a note of introduction, commending him to the kind attention of some Christian minister. Lists of suitable lodgings are, I believe, kept by the ministers of the Presbyterian churches; and in the associations connected with their congregations, there are men of Christian character ready to exercise every kind office to any young man on his first coming to the great metropolis; and, by assisting him to obtain comfortable lodgings, by taking him along with them to their prayer-meetings, by encouraging his regular attendance in the sanctuary, and by giving him something to do in the work of the Sabbath schools, he is likely not only to be guarded from the vanities and the vices by which otherwise he might be led astray, but to be so habituated to the service of Christ in the days of his youth, as to lead to active and extensive usefulness during the whole course of his future life. Or should it so happen, under the providential arrangements of God, that his earthly career should be brought to an early close, he is sure, like Alexander Russel, to enjoy the assiduities of Christian friends, and perhaps to leave evidence behind him, which, whilst fitted to assuage the grief of sorrowing rela tives, may leave no room to doubt, that in leaving them he has only gone to be with Jesus, which is far better. 'Why come not spirits from the realms of glory Is heaven more distant, or has earth grown cold? Yet earth has angels, though their forms are moulded Though harps are wanting, and bright pinions folded, I have seen angels by the sick one's pillow— Theirs was the soft tone, and the soundless tread; Where smitten hearts were drooping like the willow, They stood "between the living and the dead." Oh, many a spirit walks the world unheeded, Shall soar aloft with pinions unimpeded, |