How is ordered in all things and sure-and we shall have it. often and how much do we mistake the character of God! We think He is such a one as ourselves; but He must do all He has declared that He will, because He is God. I, the Lord, change not. There is no after purpose or thought with God! He sees the end from the beginning. This is a delightful subject for contemplation; and if you will give it your attention, restricting yourself to the study only of God's pure word, comparing scripture with scripture, you will find a delightful field of truth in which to roam, worthy the labour of a whole life; for out of it will grow many most precious and important truths, on other branches of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I should have wished to have been with you, but it seems I was to stop here for a season, and this was without my own planning, and therefore I know it to be of the Lord. Oh how much infidelity there is in our fallen nature to contend with, all our journey through. May the Lord increase our faith! Let me hear from yourself, how you are and how you feel, I was grateful for your last, and praise God on your behalf." "A holy familiarity between God and His redeemed children is most lovely and blessed. He feeds the lamp and keeps it burning, and the soul rests quietly in the hands of the best of Friends, and best of Fathers. I think that, in general, we do but take too superficial a view of what sin is in the sight of God, a holy God, and we do not sufficiently examine our hearts by His holy law. Such a view of what sin is would make us cling closer to the cross of Christ; it would send us oftener to the atoning blood for cleansing, and endear to us the preciousness and worth of a throne of grace. It would also keep us from being mere yea and nay Christians, or half-hearted Christians, and make us more earnest for the salvation of others. It would, too, enable us to form a better judgment of our own case, as well as more clearly discerning the case of others. A slight, imperfect knowledge of what sin is, leads to almost every evil a Christian is liable to fall in, and is dishonouring to God. Let us look more at what He inflicted upon His beloved Son for sins not His own. Oh pray to have just that insight into it as may make you cling more to Christ, and fit you for increased usefulness to souls. May the Lord lead you into all truth, keep your eye and heart towards Himself, moment by moment, and make you a faithful minister of Jesus Christ. CHAPTER X. COMPASSION for the well-being of souls is one of the most holy and spontaneous impulses of our religion. In this consists what is termed, the 'energies of Christianity.' Christianity is not a person, but an idea; and the development of this idea in the soul of those who believe and obey the truth, inspiring all its faculties, and consecrating them to God, is the power or energy of Christianity. "The expulsive power of a new affection," as Dr. Chalmers beautifully expresses it, dislodging from the heart its reigning selfishness, inspires it with the feeling and sentiment of the purest benevolence, which yearns to make others partake of its joy. When Andrew found the Messiah, moved by the impulse of a discovery so great, he went in quest of his brother Simon, and "brought him to Jesus." The impassioned exclamation of the Jewish queen, as she contemplated the threatened massacre of her nation, may befittingly express the intense and holy solicitude of a pious heart, yearning to save the objects of its love from a more certain and appalling doom, "How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred ?" And yet, while thus I write, we are far from speaking of personal faithfulness on the subject of religion as either a facile or a pleasant task. Nay, it is probably the most difficult and delicate of all Christian duties. To conquer an instinctive feeling of delicacy and reserve; to assume an appearance of superior sanctity; to chill, perhaps, affection; forfeit friendship; and to rouse a feeling, if not of hostility, yet of dislike, and yet be faithful, demands no ordi nary grace. We have already spoken of her passion for souls. Never was the subject absent from her mind; it entwined itself with all her thoughts, engrafted itself on all her actions, breathed in all her prayers. Her views of eternity were so realizing, her conviction of the truth of the gospel was so strong, and her sense of the preciousness of the Saviour was so great, that the interests of the soul rose before her eye with a magnitude so vast, and a solemnity so overpowering, as to lessen the comparative importance of every other object. No one crossed her path, and her pen traced no lines, without a word that spoke of a world to come. With singular appropriateness might she have embodied her deep and holy passion in the expressive language of the poet : "For me, when I forget the darling theme, Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, In illustrating the importance of a direct appeal to individuals on the subject of personal religion she would frequently quote a touching incident, related to her when at Cambridge, of the late excellent Rev. Charles Simeon. On one occasion he was summoned to the dying-bed of a brother. Entering the room, his relative extended his hand to him, and with deep emotion said, "I am dying, and you never warned me of the state I was in, and of the danger to which I was ex· posed from neglecting the salvation of my soul!" “Nay, my brother," replied Mr. Simeon, "I took every reasonable. opportunity of bringing the subject of religion before your mind, and frequently alluded to it in my letters." "Yes," ex claimed the dying man, "you did; but that was not enough. You never came to me, closed the door, and took me by the collar of my coat, and told me that I was unconverted, and that, if I died in that state, I should be lost. And now I am dying, and, but for God's grace, I might have been for ever undone!" It is said that this affecting scene made an ineffaceable impression on Mr. Simeon's mind. To this startling fact she would add another, scarcely less affecting, authenticated by the gentleman to whom it referred. A distinguished American clergyman was especially and deeply concerned for the conversion of a member of his congregation who, from his great wealth and moral worth, occupied a position in society of considerable importance. He had for years attended the faithful ministrations of the pastor, but as yet gave no evidence of a change of heart. Regular in his attendance at the sanc tuary, fascinated with the eloquence of the preacher, and generous in his expression of admiration, he yet remained immersed in the world and without the pale of the church. His minister yearned for his conversion. Calling upon him early one morning, he requested a private interview. He at once disclosed his mission. In a conversation, brief but pointed, earnest but affectionate, personal but courteous, he pressed upon his friend's serious attention the immediate consideration of his soul, the claims of eternity, and the duty of immediate submission to God. The solemn appeal was listened to with kindly respect, but with the brief, emphatic reply, "I have no time for these things." "Not time!" exclaimed the beseeching, faithful minister, "then, sir, you must find time!" With these brief but thrilling words, uttered with the profoundest solemnity, he left him. The merchant repaired to his counting-house, and was soon immersed in the world. In vain, however, he strove to give his thoughts to business; the words, "You must find time," still vibrated on his ear, and excluded every other thought from his mind. Quitting the scene of his gains, he returned to his home, bowed down under the conviction of his lost condition as a sinner. The Spirit of God was now moving, as of old, upon the dark, disordered elements of the soul, and soon a new creation was to spring forth-holy, beautiful, and deathless. In a few days the object of this holy solicitude and personal appeal became a new creature in Christ Jesus, and afterwards a distinguished and useful member of His church. Such was the tender faithfulness to souls she was wont to urge upon all Christians, and which she herself so beautifully exemplified. Application of gospel truth in the pulpit, and direct personal appeal out of it, were points upon which she would insist with an earnestness and solemnity of manner peculiarly her own. It was no slight evidence of the sincerity and depth of her holy sympathies, that she shrunk not from the task of addressing, on all the momentous subjects of religion, individuals occupying high places of responsibility in the land. She was frequently, and with tears, heard impassionately to exclaim, "Oh, who will warn-who will entreat them?" Copies of letters thus addressed, were found among her papers, one or two of which may be given, as illustrating this noble feature of her Christian character. "TO THE DUKE OF "Understanding that your Grace knew Colonel Mackinnon, of the Coldstream Guards, and having heard that he died a believer in the Lord Jesus-a truly converted and holy man -I have taken the liberty of sending you a copy of a small book of prayers, composed by himself, and expressing, as I trust, the true breathings of his heart. A few friends of his, I have understood, finding them among his manuscript papers, published them after his death. I should hope, however, that at a later period of his life, clearer light was vouchsafed him, as from one of the prayers, which I shall mark, it is evident he then had not. I presume that as you knew him when a young, gay, thoughtless man of the world, his conversion will not be entirely without interest to you. In the prayer to which I have referred, it is evident that he is mixing up his repentance and reformation, in some degree, with the atoning, finished work of the Saviour. Now it is clear from the gos pel of Christ, that he could not be saved by any work done in him, nor for any work of merit done by him. God pardons, justifies, and saves poor sinners for Christ's sake alone. It is Christ's obedience and death which honours the law of God, and which satisfies divine justice on our behalf. The Holy Spirit works repentance, faith, and every other Christian grace in the believer, as a fruit and consequence of his free justification, not to justify him, or to fit him for being justified. As a believer he is already justified by the Atonement made on his behalf by the Lord Jesus. We are saved as sinners, not as saints; and if we come to Christ lost and undone in ourselves, having nothing to commend us to His notice, or to propitiate His favour, and seek this great mercy with our whole heart, we shall surely find Him, and He will manifest Himself unto us as He does not unto the world. The Lord grant that you may have this precious blessing before you go hence. It is a peril ous and an awful thing to be satisfied with a form of godliness without the vital, saving power. Except a man, says Christ, be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. Eternity and an immortal soul, surely, are solemn realities, and not to be sported with. God, with whom we have to do, is holy as well as merciful, and righteous as well as gracious. Justice must be satisfied, and holiness must be honoured, ere mercy can reach the sinner. Jesus Christ is alone able to save you from eternal ruin; and if you have not sought Him with the whole heart, I would most affectionately and earnestly implore your Grace to lose not a moment in this all-momentous work. The mistakes of time cannot be rectified in eternity. You cannot |