To Die for One’s Country

THE present is a very solemn and pathetic time in our national history. Since the Great War began, more than two million men have been mobilised for warfare in this country. Several hundred thousand have been called to active service abroad, and of those many have been wounded and many slain in conflict. The extent of the suffering and death has been greater than anything hitherto experienced in the history of warfare. The result necessarily is that many hearts and homes throughout the land have been severely stricken and filled with sorrow. Such painful circumstances have constituted a call to ministers of religion to administer consolation to the bereaved and afflicted, both in private and public worship. Such consolation, given in a wise, sympathetic, and scriptural manner, is certainly their Christian duty. But the lamentable thing is that the clergy in general have been preaching comfort in a way which may be called sympathetic, but which is certainly neither wise nor scriptural. Such ideas are given forth as that self-sacrificing love for one’s country is equivalent to love to God; that the sufferings of our countrymen in a righteous cause are part of “the afflictions of Christ” in His mystical body, the Church; and further, that all who are dying on the right side of the conflict are entering into eternal rest. Such views are also held and expressed by many of the laity. Now, it is our intention in the present article to deal in as discriminating a manner as possible with the whole subject here opened up, and to point out the very dangerous tendencies and consequences of the opinions above stated.

I. Let us observe, in the first place, that it is without doubt an honorable thing for any man to suffer and die for his country, especially when engaged in defence of a righteous cause. When a man dies for his country, he dies for his friends, and the Lord Jesus practically commends the love so expressed, when He says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life

for his friends.” He does not refer, of course, to the inward moral quality of the love, but to its outward expression, and so asserts that love of greater degree hath no man than that which is manifested in sacrificing his life—the most valuable thing that he possesses. Still, His assertion is all in the direction of commending this self-sacrificing affection. When it can further be affirmed that the cause is a just one in connection with which a man dies, then this makes his act of self-sacrifice all the nobler. In this way, it is quite possible for natural men, apart from the saving grace of God, to suffer and die heroically for their hearths and homes. Let no one in the interests of an ultra-spirituality deny this. The unerring Word of Truth recognises the fact, and history down to the present a thousand times over supplies us with unmistakable illustrations and proofs of it. But, now, let us observe:

1. Some of the misleading and dangerous interpretations that ministers of religion and others are at present putting upon self-sacrifice and death for one’s country.

(1) Some practically affirm that a patriotic love for the land of one’s birth, and a willingness to die in its interests and in the interests of a morally just cause, is a clear proof of possessing love to God and His Son Jesus Christ. If anything is plainer than another in Scripture, it is that no man can be saved apart from love to God and Christ. Now, it is perfectly clear that the ancient Greeks and Romans, and heathen, who never evinced the least spark of a heavenly love, have been patriotic to the last degree, willing to die for their friends in a just cause. Love to one’s country and love to God are therefore by no means synonymous, and they who confound them are doing grievous harm to the spiritual interests of their fellowmen. “Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

(2) Others assert that a man by joining the Forces and laying down his life for his country, is able to make atonement for his past sins. An example of this most pernicious error is to be found in the British Weekly of 19th August (page 417). “Claudius Clear” quotes from an essay sent him on “Black Sheep” as follows:—”Black sheep have flocked from Canada, Australia, yes, and the Homeland, and spilt their red blood in France and at the Dardanelles, thus fully atoning for their sins. The great sacrifice for a righteous cause has burnt up the evil dross of their natures, and joy has reigned in the Father’s house over thousands of purified souls. Thus the souls of the ‘black sheep’ have become white.” Can anything be more unscriptural than this? What dishonour done to the “precious blood of Christ!” The writer of the essay recognises the necessity of an atonement, and then he maintains the ability of a man’s making atonement by his own sinful blood for the wickedness of a past life. We have seldom ever read such a perversity of truth. It is “the blood of Jesus Christ,” God’s Son, that “cleanseth us from all sin.” And yet we

fear that the delusion of the essayist is cherished by thousands of people. May the Lord deliver men from such soul-ruining deception!

(3) A third error, which has been proclaimed from the pulpit, is to the effect that the sufferings of our soldiers and sailors are part of “the afflictions of Christ” in the members of his mystical body, the Church, upon earth. To assert this of all universally is a grave error. All are by no means members of Christ’s body; we fear that comparatively few are; though we truly bless the Most High for the number of stalwart Christians that are in our Army and Navy. Their afflictions are certainly in some sense Christ’s afflictions. But we must not confound the righteous and the wicked; the Lord has made an abiding distinction between them, and to obliterate it is fatal.

(4) The fourth and last error we shall notice is the gravest, for it embraces all the rest—namely, that all who lay down their lives in their country’s just and honourable cause, assuredly enter “the rest that remaineth for the people of God.” We have good ground for believing that this unsound doctrine is preached at home and abroad. Such truths as the necessity of the new birth and of living faith in Jesus Christ as the Divine Redeemer, bearing fruit in an exemplary life, are entirely ignored, though Christ and His apostles declare that an experimental acquaintance with them is absolutely necessary to salvation.

1. Let us make a few remarks in conclusion as to wise and safe addresses of consolation respecting the dead. When men have given clear and decided evidence in their life that they feared the name of the Lord and lived by faith upon Jesus Christ, the Christian minister has the amplest grounds from God’s Word to speak words of richest consolation to the bereaved and sorrowing, and the latter are warranted in receiving such with thankfulness. But if there be some dubiety on the point of personal piety, the minister ought to seek to be guided carefully by the Lord and His Word, so that he may speak in a safe and wise way to the mourners, without unduly elating or depressing them. If the deceased went to “the front” without showing any concern about their soul’s salvation, the utmost length the servant of Christ can go in the way of comfort, is to express the hope that the Lord may, in the riches of His grace, at the eleventh hour, have awakened their consciences so that they cried for mercy through Jesus Christ, and thus obtained salvation. We are glad to hear of stirrings of mind towards God’s Word and eternal realities on the part of soldiers in the trenches, who were previously careless.

But for professed ministers of Christ to ignore such considerations as these, and to speak the comfort of eternal happiness to mourners concerning their departed ones, on account of common duty to King and country, bravely and faithfully done, this is unfaithfulness to truth, and injury to the souls of the people, which will be unmasked and condemned on the great day

of final account. We are, certainly, commanded to “honour all men,”—to give honour to whom honour is due—and let such be done without diminution or excessive adulation, but let us be careful above all things to give to the Most High the honour that is due to Him, by holding up His truth concerning sin and salvation before the eyes of people high and low, rich and poor, so that their footsteps, by God’s blessing, may be guided out of the broad way that leadeth to eternal destruction into the narrow way that leadeth unto eternal life.

A Sermon.

BY THE LATE REV. ALEXANDER FRASER, D.D., KIRKHILL,
INVERNESS-SHIRE.

Preached at Tain on 27th August, 1800.*

“The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.”
ISAIAH xxxii. 8.

THE design of the prophet, from the beginning of the chapter to the verse I have read, is to describe the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom; the advantages of His government; the character of His faithful subjects, contrasted with that of His opponents. As to the nature of His kingdom, he says, “Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” The Messiah is termed, by way of eminence, the righteous One; not merely because He is righteous in Himself, but because He invests the subjects of His government with His own righteousness. Hence Jeremiah says concerning Him, “This is the name by which he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness” (Jer. xxiii. 6). And the reason of giving Him that name the Apostle illustrates: “God made him to be sin for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. v. 21).

All who have an interest in Him, He hath made “kings to God and his Father” (Rev. i. 6; v. 10), enabling them, by His grace, to reign over their irregular passions here, as an earnest of their being honoured to sit with Him on His throne hereafter. And when any of His faithful followers are entrusted with an office, having authority over others, they discharge the duties of that office conscientiously, knowing that “He who ruleth among men must be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord.”

* This Sermon was preached before the Northern Missionary Society of 1800, at their first meeting, and as now republished, forms an appropriate sequel to the interesting articles on this valuable Society, recently appearing in our columns from the pen of the Rev. J. R. Mackay, M.A., Inverness. Dr. Fraser of Kirkhill was well-known as an eminent servant of Christ.—ED.

The advantages of the Messiah’s government the prophet next describes: “And a man shall be an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” It were too much to expect all these advantages from a mere man. But the prophet had previously shewed, that the Messiah, though a child born, should be the mighty God (Isaiah ix. 6); that His name, expressive of His nature, should be Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah vii. 14). It was by assuming the nature of man, that He was qualified to bear the sins of men, and so prove an all-sufficient Saviour to His people.

His people in the present state, like travellers in the sandy desert, are exposed to several dangers, which would extinguish their life, did they not find in Him preservation. As travellers in the desert were sometimes overtaken by the hot wind, which suddenly suffocated them, unless they found a place to hide them from its influence; so the followers of the Messiah in this world are overtaken by temptations, which would suddenly extinguish the spiritual life, if they did not find in Him resources and protection. He deals with each of them, as formerly with Peter, when he said, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have thee, that he might sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke xxii. 31, 32). He fulfils to them that promise, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (2 Cor. x. 13). As travellers in the desert were exposed to a whirlwind, which raised huge masses of sand, turned them violently round, then, letting them fall, overwhelmed them with destruction; so the followers of the Messiah are “by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. ii. 3). They are originally under the sentence and the awe of eternal destruction. But they find in the Messiah a covert from the tempest. For “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans viii. 1). They can say with confidence, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died” (Romans viii. 34). As travellers in the desert were subject to thirst, which, if not allayed, ended in death; so the followers of the Messiah are in this world subject to infirmities, proceeding from the depravity of their nature, which would end in spiritual death, did they not receive from Him, “in whom it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell,” supplies of grace, which, like rivers of water in a dry place, afford them perpetual preservation and refreshment. As travellers in the desert were exposed to excessive heat, so that sometimes their life was extinguished by a sudden stroke of the sun, and at other times their strength was gradually exhausted, and they fainted by the way; so the followers of the Messiah, in the present state, are exposed to calamities, which are apt suddenly to overwhelm them, or gradually to wear out their

strength and patience. But, as the shadow of a great rock afforded the traveller a cool and safe protection from the heat; so the Messiah, by the views which He gives them of His providence, and by the consolations of His blessed Spirit, renews the strength, and confirms the patience of His people, until they depart in safety from the weary land in which they now sojourn.

The prophet proceeds to delineate the character of the Messiah’s subjects. “And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim; and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.” It would appear from this description, that they are naturally wretched, like the blind, the deaf, the rash, the stammerers. But by submitting to the Messiah they are made happy, in consequence of a thorough change produced on them. Though formerly ignorant and unconscious of spiritual objects, as persons born blind are of light and colours, now they see with conviction the evil of sin, the vanity of the world, the glory of the Saviour, the certainty of a world to come, the reality of eternal rewards and irrevocable punishments. In a word, all the objects of the spiritual world present themselves with conviction to their understandings; just as the objects of the natural world rush on the eyes of a person who was born blind, when his sight is restored.

Though formerly incapable of distinguishing the voice of God, as the deaf are unable to hear sounds, yet now they hear the voice of the Redeemer in His word, and they can distinguish it from that of a stranger. Yea, they comply with His call. When they hear Him say, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew xi. 28), their souls answer in sincerity, “Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God” (Jer. iii. 22). “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John vi. 68). Though formerly they rashly made choice of this world as their portion, through ignorance of a better, they are now enabled deliberately to make choice of God in Christ as their portion, saying, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth whom I desire besides Thee.” Though formerly unqualified to celebrate the Redeemer’s praises, or to talk to others with propriety of His conduct towards them, now, in consequence of the views they have received, and the choice they have made, their tongues are eloquent in His praise.

The knowledge bestowed on the subjects of the Messiah’s kingdom, as it leads them to rectify what is amiss in themselves, so it enables them to detect what is wrong in others. They do not mistake specious vice for virtue. The men of the world estimate a person by the outward advantages and natural endowments which he possesses, such as birth, fortune, affability; who, on account of his irreligious sentiments and immoral conduct, is notwithstanding entitled to no esteem. The men of

the world reckon persons bountiful, who squander their wealth with a profuse hand, while they are in reality churls, because their apparent bountifulness proceeds from selfish motives, a desire to gratify their inordinate desires, or to flatter their personal vanity. But with the people of the Messiah, “the vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor shall the churl be said to be bountiful.”

In regard the advantages of the Messiah’s government are so many, and the change produced by it on the sentiments and manners of mankind so great, some would be ready to conclude that He and His government would experience no opposition from the world; to guard against a misapprehension of this nature, the prophet proceeds to state the certainty of an opposition to the Messiah, together with the character of His opponents: “For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and He will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.” I apprehend, that the prophet has more immediately in His view, the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews, at the period in which our Saviour appeared in the world. Every part of this description is applicable to them, as we learn from the account given of them in the New Testament. They were vile persons, that is, according to the Scripture idiom, irreligious persons, in rejecting the Messiah; they spake villainy, in avowing openly, that they did reject Him; their heart wrought iniquity, by contriving schemes to tarnish His character, and to compass His death; they practised hypocrisy, by pretending a great respect for the ordinances of religion; they uttered error against the Lord, by blaspheming Him who is Jehovah. And after His ascension, they endeavoured to deprive His people of the provision made for their spiritual wants, by prohibiting the Apostles to teach the doctrine of the resurrection, or to preach in the name of Jesus: thus endeavouring to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. Again, these men are properly called churls, because they opposed the Messiah, from a principle of covetousness. This appears from the high-priest’s counsel to the sanhedrim, “If we let him alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come, and take away both our place and nation” (John xi. 48). They could not deny His miracles, and were even convinced that they were evidences of a divine mission; but they stifled their conviction, and resolved to cut Him off, for fear of the temporal losses they might sustain, if the nation should believe on Him.

As the principle on which they were to reject the Messiah is laid before us, so likewise the means by which they would oppose Him and His followers are accurately described. “The instruments also of the churl are evil. He deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words even when the needy speaketh right.” And these means are of two kinds—secret calumnies and open prosecutions: the first is termed “lying

words,” the last “pronouncing judgment;” for so the expression may be literally translated from the original. And, that both these means were used by the rulers of the Jews against Christ and His followers, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles clearly shew. The character here given of the first adversaries of the Messiah and His followers is exceedingly applicable to persons, in every period of the Church, who had a form of godliness, while they were strangers to the power of it. Influenced by covetousness, actuated by malignity, clothed with hypocrisy, they have persecuted such as had the genuine spirit of Christianity; sometimes tarnishing their character by secret calumnies; at other times stripping them of their privileges by open persecutions.

In regard the opposition to the Messiah was to be so violent, according to the prophet’s representation, some might imagine that His kingdom would never be established in the world; to remove that misapprehension the prophet observes, “But the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall He stand.” By the “liberal” the prophet means the faithful followers of the Messiah as a collective body. They are liberal because self-love is removed, and the love of God is implanted in their hearts as the predominant principle. This enlarges the heart and opens the hands. By “liberal things” he understands the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world. “The liberal deviseth liberal things;” that is, they that are taught by the Messiah contrive to give a knowledge of the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it, and in consequence of the knowledge communicated by the Gospel the kingdom of the Messiah shall be established. “By liberal things He shall stand.”

The words thus understood appear to me suitable to the design of our meeting when we are about to form a society for sending the Gospel to the heathen and other unenlightened nations.

I propose in farther discoursing—

First.—To illustrate this proposition, that the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel is the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world.

Secondly.—To point out the obligations laid on those who view it in that light to send the knowledge of it to such as are ignorant of it.

Thirdly.—To endeavour to remove some of the objections that may occur to a candid mind against sending missionaries to the heathen and other unenlightened nations.

First.—That the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel is the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world, we may infer—

1. From the Contriver of it. It is not the contrivance of men or of angels, but of God. Concerning it, the prophet

says, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? Who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge and shewed him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah xi. 13, 14). Certainly no other being directed Him. Put the case then, that a legislator, endowed with the wisdom of Solomon, possessing like Him “largeness of heart, as the sand that is by the sea shore,” should apply His mind to the contrivance of a scheme for promoting the happiness of His fellow-men—would you not expect a liberal scheme? But surely that scheme must be infinitely more liberal, which is the contrivance of unerring wisdom, set to work by boundless love, for the purpose of manifesting infinite mercy. Accordingly, superior beings, who are better qualified than we are to judge of the schemes and works of God, are anxious to pry into the scheme of redemption: “Angels desire to look into these things” (1 Peter i. 12). Those morning stars, when they beheld the world arise from nothing, and saw innumerable beings called into existence, to partake of their Maker’s boundless liberality, celebrated His glory in a hymn of praise. But when they turned their attention to the scheme of redemption, and beheld myriads of beings raised from the greatest misery to life and immortality, by means so stupendous, struck with astonishment, they mused His praise in solemn silence. Hence the cherubims under the law were represented upon the ark with bended heads and outstretched wings as if lost in amazement, while they beheld the mercy-seat which typified the Saviour. And, indeed, the more carefully they examine the scheme of redemption, the more clearly they discern the wisdom which contrived it; for “now unto principalities and powers, is made known the manifold wisdom of God, through the church” (Eph. iii. 10).

1. The liberality of the scheme of redemption is obvious from the Administrator of it. In order to make a well-contrived scheme, productive of the advantages for which it is calculated, much depends on the person by whom it is administered. Such a person ought to have a right to administer: He should be possessed of wisdom, to direct Him; of power, to carry the plans of His wisdom into execution; of mercy and compassion, to interest Him in those for whose relief the scheme is contrived. Now, all these qualifications unite, in the highest degree, in our Lord and Saviour. He has a right to administer, in consequence of the Father’s appointment, who says, “It is a light thing, that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah xlix. 6). And He hath also a right to administer, in regard He hath fulfilled, by His obedience, the condition on which the blessings of the scheme were to be dispensed. So the prophet intimates, “When thou shalt make

his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed; therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death” (Isaiah liii. 10, 12).

The wisdom of this Administrator is infinite. “In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. ii. 3). And His power is irresistible, for He is the “Almighty” (Rev. i. 8). They who believe in Him know with certainty that He is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God for their salvation.” He is infinitely merciful as God; and as man He is possessed of a distinguished sensibility of heart. This sensibility was excited by every miserable object which occurred in the days of His flesh. And as His heart was powerfully affected, so His hand was readily extended for their relief. At one time, He saw the people “as sheep having no shepherd, and he was moved with compassion toward them, and he began to teach them many things” (Matthew vi. 34). At another time, when the people were long fasting in a desert place, and in danger of fainting by the way, He had compassion on them, and wrought a miracle to procure them food (Matthew xv. 32). When He saw the sisters of Lazarus deeply affected with grief for the death of their brother, He entered into their feelings. “Jesus groaned in spirit, and was troubled;” yea, He mingled His tears with theirs, “Jesus wept” (John xi. 33, 35). Nor was the sensibility of His heart excited by the distress of His friends alone, but by that of His enemies likewise. When He looked on Jerusalem, a little before His death, and reflected on the unbelief of its inhabitants, and the impending judgments of God, He wept over it, saying, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke xix. 41, 42).

Again, this sensibility of heart was increased and confirmed by a personal acquaintance with those distresses, to which any of the human race are liable. He not only felt hunger and thirst, weariness and pain; but He experienced poverty and contempt, desertion of friends, and the persecution of enemies. He was attacked by the temptations of Satan, and tasted of the wrath of God. In a word, He was made subject to all the miseries of life, and to all the agonies of death, “being tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews iv. 15); and in that “he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews ii. 18). We may therefore conclude that the blessings of the scheme of redemption shall be liberally dispensed, seeing they are at the disposal of so wise, so powerful, so compassionate an Administrator.

1. The superior liberality of the scheme of redemption appears from the condition of those who are the objects of it. Genuine liberality consists in making the miserable happy; now, the objects of the scheme of redemption are the miserable. So our Saviour intimates: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because

he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke xiv. 18, 19). Here He informs us that the persons to whom He dispenses the blessings of the scheme of redemption are—the poor, the broken in heart, the captives, the blind, the bruised, those that were commonly relieved in the jubilee year, as insolvent debtors, slaves, persons who had forfeited their inheritance.

If that is allowed to be a liberal scheme which proposes relief to persons labouring under these temporal calamities, how much greater is the liberality of the scheme which offers deliverance from spiritual miseries that are of infinitely greater magnitude? But the objects of the scheme of redemption are, those who are poor, because deprived of God’s favour; those who are broken in heart, because under a sentence of condemnation by His righteous law; those who are led captives by Satan at His will; those who are blind, because ignorant of their misery and their remedy; those who are bruised by means of the depravity of their own nature; those who are insolvent debtors, because chargeable with the guilt of sin; those who are slaves to their own lusts; those who have forfeited every claim of right to the inheritance of eternal life. If that scheme is allowed to be liberal which offers relief to persons labouring under one of the calamities mentioned, that scheme must be acknowledged to be yet more liberal which offers deliverance to persons labouring under all these calamities. But such is the scheme of redemption. Every individual object of it is subject to all these spiritual miseries. So our Saviour intimates, in the case of Laodicea, “Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. iii. 17). That scheme, therefore, which holds out deliverance from such an accumulated load of miseries, must be superior in liberality. If the scheme is allowed to be liberal, which offers relief from distress, in one manner, notwithstanding other methods might be found equally conducive to the same end, it will be acknowledged that the scheme has superior liberality, which offers the only possible way of deliverance from miseries that are otherwise irremediable. But such is the scheme of redemption. In it Christ is revealed as the only Redeemer; He is offered as the only Saviour from sin, and all the miseries consequent upon it. For “there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we can be saved” (Acts iv. 12).

Did we range from pole to pole, could we search the extensive universe, we would find no remedy for the miseries brought upon us by sin, but in Him alone. There is no wealth to the poor, but in His unsearchable riches; no liberty to the captive, but in His triumph over the host of darkness; no healing to the wounded conscience, but by the application of His blood; no

sight to the blind, but through the influences of His Spirit; no comfort to the mourner, but by communion through Him with the God of all consolation; no discharge of the debt of sin, but in consequence of His payment as surety; no freedom to the slave, except the Son shall make him free; no right to the eternal inheritance, but in consequence of His purchase.

If the scheme is allowed to be liberal, which offers its advantages to a few only, that scheme must be allowed to be yet more liberal, which offers its advantages to a great many; but in this respect likewise, the scheme of redemption is of all others the most liberal, because the benefits of it are offered to all mankind. The blessings of it are not confined to one nation or to one age; they are equally interesting to all nations and to all generations. The Administrator of it proclaims, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isaiah xlv. 22). “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (Isaiah lv. 1). “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. xxii. 17). He commanded those whom He commissioned to publish the glad tidings of salvation, to “teach all nations,” to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the master and the servant, the despot and the slave, the civilized and the barbarous, are equally offered the blessings of redemption, and shall partake of them alike, unless they are excluded by rejecting them; for as to an interest in these, there is no difference of “Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. iii. 11).

1. The superior liberality of the scheme of redemption is evident from the effects of it. The most liberal schemes of human invention effect only an alteration of the miseries which they cannot remove, but the scheme of redemption effectually removes misery. The name of Howard will live in the annals of history, and be celebrated for liberality; because he devoted his time and talents to alleviate the miseries of prisoners, whom he could not set at liberty. But the scheme of redemption is able to “bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house” (Isaiah xlii. 7). Liberality has contrived asylums for the blind, in which they are taught to work, and enjoy society, thus alleviating the evil which it cannot remedy; but the scheme of redemption bestows the recovery of their sight on the blind. Various plans have been contrived by liberality, which may dry up the tears of the disconsolate, but cannot heal the broken heart: but the scheme of redemption “binds up the broken in heart” (Isaiah lxi. 1); “turns weeping into joy, and mourning to dancing;” enables men “to put off their sackcloth, and girdeth them with gladness” (Psalms xxv. 11).

The greatest advantage of the best scheme contrived by human liberality is, to bestow a temporary relief—to confer a transient happiness; but the advantage of the scheme of redemption is,

that it confers eternal happiness. What avails it, that liberality sets the prisoner free, and restores him to the society of his family and friends? In a little time death follows, arrests him again, separates him for ever from those who are dear to him, and confines him in the prison of the grave. What avails it, that liberality restores the insolvent debtor to the possession of his inheritance? The inexorable messenger of God’s law ejects him afresh; for, in defiance of every effort of human liberality, “it remaineth but a little, when they that rejoice shall be as though they rejoiced not, because the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. vii. 30, 31). But O how superior is the liberality of the scheme of redemption! By it this unrelenting tyrant is vanquished, his captives are admitted to perfect liberty, and are invested with eternal happiness. The gladness communicated by the light of God’s countenance here, is to them an earnest of that fulness of joy, which they shall receive in His more immediate presence hereafter. The drops of consolation which they taste now, are foretastes of the draughts they shall drink out of the rivers of pleasure, that are at God’s right hand, and flow for ever.

We may therefore conclude that the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel, on account of the Contriver, the Administrator, the Objects, and the Effects of it, is the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world.

II.—I shall endeavour now to point out the obligations, laid on those who view it in this light, to send the knowledge of it to such as are ignorant of it.

I. That this is a duty incumbent on all ministers of the Gospel, is evident from our Saviour’s express command, “Go ye, and teach all nations” (Matthew xxviii. 19, 20). Perhaps it will be said that the command is addressed to the Apostles whose commission extended over all the earth, but not to the ordinary teachers of Christianity whose ministry is confined to a particular district. To remove the objection, consider the motive by which the command is enforced, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Did not our Saviour know that the Apostles would not remain on earth to the end of the world? Surely. But He knew that some persons would exercise the office of teachers in every period until He should come again, and He encourages all those teachers to perform the duties of their office by the promise of His gracious presence to direct and support them. Now, the command to teach all nations must be addressed to the same persons to whom the motive is applicable; consequently to all ministers of the Gospel at present as well as to those who preceded them, and shall follow after them in the same office. To suppose the command addressed to persons of one age, and the motive applicable to those of another, in fact destroys the whole force of the argument. Still it may be objected, that ordinary ministers are commanded “to take heed

to the ministry each hath received” (Col. iv. 17); “to feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers” (Acts xx. 28); consequently, not to teach all nations. Doubtless it is incumbent on every pastor to discharge the duties he owes to his particular flock; but so far as attention to them is consistent with the general command of teaching all nations, that command is obligatory on every faithful minister of Christ.

1. It is a duty incumbent on all true Christians to send the knowledge of the Gospel to the unenlightened nations of the world, as appears from our Saviour’s direction, “When ye pray, say, Thy kingdom come” (Matthew vi. 11). The direction is given, without controversy, to all true Christians. All are enjoined to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God: Now we must pray, according to the Apostle’s injunction, “with understanding” (1 Cor. xiv. 15); consequently, we must offer up the petition in that sense in which our Saviour understood it. And the sense in which He understood it is obvious from the prophecies concerning it. These intimate that the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the Messiah which is the same, shall extend over all nations. “Ask of me (saith the Father), and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalms ii. 8). “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. Men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed” (Psalms lxxi. 8, 11, 17). We are therefore bound to pray that the kingdom of Christ may extend over all nations. Again, we must pray with integrity; and integrity requires that we use every lawful mean in our power for attaining the object of the petition we offer. But the great mean which God hath appointed for extending the kingdom of Christ is the preaching of the Gospel. “How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans x. 14). We are bound, therefore, to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. And, indeed, if we neglect to use means, our negligence will evince that our prayers are not sincere. Put the case, that a person offers up that petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Suppose, at the same time, he folds up his hands in his bosom, and will not occupy himself in any lawful employment to earn a subsistence; fancying, however, that he is abundantly devout, and that God will grant His request without any exertion on His part to attain it: would not every rational Christian tell such a man, If you pray for your daily bread, work for it; expect an answer to your petition by the blessing of God on your honest industry; if you look for it otherwise, you are under the influence of a spirit of delusion. In like manner, I say to all Christians, if ye pray for the coming of the kingdom of God, use the means in your power for extending it. Give the aid of your counsels

and of your money to send missionaries to the heathen, then, otherwise, your prayers are not sincere. You are under the influence of the spirit of error rather than the Spirit of truth.

1. The love of Christ should induce Christians to send the knowledge of the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. A sense of the obligations they are laid under, by His love to them, must lead them to devote themselves to His service. So the Apostle argues: “The love of Christ constraineth us; for we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that we who live, should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but to him who died for us” (2 Cor. v. 14). Now, if the love of Christ constrains Christians to devote their whole lives to His service, it must constrain them to dedicate a part of their time, and of their substance, to advance His kingdom in the world.

2. Sending the Gospel to the unenlightened nations promotes the glory of God. Now, Christians are commanded to “do all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. x. 31). Any measure which is obviously conducive to that end, they are bound to adopt. But God Himself expressly declares, that sending the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it, is for His glory. When He promises the Messiah as a light to the Gentiles, He declares His reason to be, “I am the Lord, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven images” (Isaiah xlii. 8). While, therefore, there is a nation on earth practising idolatry, it is incumbent on Christians to send the light of the Gospel to every such nation, that they may not bestow on any other the glory due to the Deity alone. Again, God promises, “I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul and Lud that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles” (Isaiah lxvi. 19). Blessed God! doest Thou esteem it Thy glory, that missionaries should make known Thy fame to those nations that are yet strangers to Thee, and shall we not endeavour, with heart and hand, in a reliance on Thy promised aid, to perform that service?

3. Love to their fellow creatures should induce Christians to send the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. We are assured, on the highest authority, that the second great commandment of the law is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew xxii. 39). This command is enforced and rendered more binding on Christians by the love of Christ to them. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you” (John xiii. 34). By the force of these combined principles, the primitive Christians parted with all their substance for the benefit of others, and were contented to take their own share in common with them (Acts ii. 44, 45). Ought not the same principles to induce you to give a pittance of your substance for the purpose of bestowing on others the greatest of all benefits—the means of eternal salvation. It is universally allowed that

love to our fellow creatures lays us under obligations, in many instances, to bestow our substance for their benefit. But a little attention must convince us, that in no instance is that love so conspicuously manifested, as when we can contribute to send the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. If you had a remedy for restoring sight to the blind, would you not reckon yourself obliged, by the love of your neighbour, to communicate and apply it to persons labouring under that great calamity? But how much greater is the calamity of spiritual blindness! and how much more important is the Gospel, which offers the only effectual relief! Did you see your fellow creature detained in bondage by his enemies, would you not reckon it incumbent on you, to contribute for his ransom so as to procure him liberty? But the unenlightened nations are held in a more grievous bondage by the enemy of their salvation. They are under the influence of strong prejudices and violent passions, inconsistent both with their temporal and eternal happiness. Reflect seriously on the dark places of the earth which are full of the habitations of cruelty. Besides the slavery, and the sale of the human race, which are a reproach to countries professedly Christians, the murder of innocent children is there established by custom; human sacrifices are performed as acts of devotion; and cannibals devour one another to gratify their revenge.* Does not love to your neighbour imperiously command you to send those unhappy beings the Gospel to emancipate them from the slavery of Satan, and to bring them into the liberty of the children of God? Are ye not, as Christians, bound in charity to deal your bread to the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to give lodging to the stranger? But how much greater is that charity in itself, how much more beneficial in its effects, which provides the bread of life for them who are ready to perish; which gives drink to the thirsty from the wells of salvation; which clothes the naked with the Redeemer’s righteousness; and which brings those who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God! (Eph. ii. 12, 19)

1. Christians are bound in justice to send the Gospel to the heathen. Our fathers were heathens, and we, their posterity, had continued to be so had not Christians sent the Gospel to our land. Now that we are Christians, it is incumbent on us to return the obligation received, by sending the Gospel to those who are heathens; at any rate to give of our substance for that important end. The argument of the Apostle concerning the contribution sent by the people of Achaia to the poor saints at Jerusalem will apply here: “It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their

* See the accounts published by the London Missionary Society of Otaheite and the Marquesas.

spiritual things, their duties is also to minister unto them in carnal things” (Romans xv. 27).

1. Self-interest should induce Christians to send the Gospel to the heathen, that they may obtain the accomplishment of that promise, “The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs xi. 25). A concern for the salvation of the heathen may excite in us a more serious concern for our own salvation, and so may occasion a revival of real religion in our land. If we are anxious to communicate light to them that sit in darkness, we have reason to expect an increased measure of Gospel light to ourselves; for we are assured that, in the latter days, together with an extensive diffusion, there shall be a superior degree of knowledge of divine things. “The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days” (Isaiah xxx. 26). “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah xi. 9).

If we are desirous to extend the consolations of religion to those who are strangers to them, we have reason to hope that our own souls shall partake of them more abundantly. If we are willing to reach the bread of life to those who are ready to perish, we may be assured that the bountiful Father of the family will increase the provision of His household to all His children, and that “we shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house” (Psalms xxxvi. 8). Christian brethren, when we solicit your prayers, your counsels, your pecuniary aid, for sending the Gospel to the heathen, “we desire not merely a gift to them, but we desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Philip. iv. 7).

III.—I proceed now to remove some of the objections that may occur to a candid mind against sending missionaries to the heathen and other unenlightened nations.

There are some who object to the measure of sending missionaries to the heathen who are not candid in the objections they offer. The real cause of their opposition is that they are strangers to the power of the Gospel and therefore ignorant of its real value, and so, calculating like commercial men from their own views, they reckon it a worthless commodity unfit for exportation. As to such, let us pray that they may experience the power of the Gospel and know its inestimable value to their own souls, for then we are sure that their objections against sending it to the heathen will vanish.

There are some who oppose the measure from a direct and deliberate enmity to the Gospel. They feel it a restraint on their irregular passions, and they would wish to extinguish it at home. They are outrageous at the thought of sending it abroad to restrain the liberty of those who live as free as nature dictates. Let us not be surprised at the opposition of such men. As there have always been, so there are still vile persons who speak villainy; who in heart work iniquity and utter error against the Lord. But

as no human reasonings can rectify their errors, let us fervently pray that the Spirit of truth may lead them into all truth, and may effectually teach them their obligation to defend and promote the measure which they now so deliberately persecute.

But it must be allowed that there are others who have experienced the power of the Gospel, and who know its value; who, instead of feeling enmity against it, are really desirous of its success; and who, notwithstanding, are averse to the measure of sending missionaries to the heathen.

Their first and great objection arises from the improbability of success. It will readily occur to them that the Society has no funds and no qualified missionaries. Could they find the missionaries, they have not the language of the nations to whom they are sent. Even if they had their language, the ignorance and savage rudeness of those nations, together with the passions, prejudices, and peculiar customs flowing from the savage character, form insurmountable barriers against every attempt of our Society to communicate to them a knowledge of the refined truths of the Gospel. In answer to this objection let me caution you, my Christian brethren, against indulging the disposition of the slothful man who creates difficulties and dangers in his own imagination, saying, “There is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets” (Proverbs xxvi. 13). Let me remind you, that to teach the nations is God’s command; to undertake the work is our duty; to render it effectual, He hath promised His presence. Are there difficulties which Almighty power cannot remove? Is there any work which His presence cannot accomplish? If the duty and the promise are clear, let us make the attempt, leaving the success in His hand who hath circumstances and events at His disposal.

But on the supposition that our endeavours shall not convert the heathen, they may, notwithstanding, introduce some degree of civilization among them, and a knowledge of the general truths of religion as preparative to their future conversion. Though we may not turn the forest into a fruitful field, yet we may grub out briers and thorns and sow those seeds which in due time shall bring forth fruit abundantly. As the day of small privileges is not to be despised, so neither is the day of small attempts to be neglected. It is certain that the writings of Wickliff secretly operated on the minds of men for a century and a half, and at the end of that period had their influence, together with other causes, in bringing about the glorious Reformation.

Though God in His mysterious providence should see it meet to deny any good to the heathen from our scheme of sending them missionaries, I doubt not that He will approve the design in us just as He approved David’s intention of building the temple, though He did not permit him to perform the work, saying, “Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well, that it was in thine heart” (1 Kings viii. 18). Whatever, therefore, may be the success of our scheme, the

end we propose is liberal, the temporal loss we can sustain by the attempt is trifling, and gain to our souls is certain by procuring the approbation of our God.

1. Another objection will perhaps occur to a candid mind against the measure of sending missionaries to the heathen at present. It is that the time for the conversion of the heathen is not yet come, and that any attempts on our part are improper before the period which God hath appointed for it. In answer to this objection let me caution you to beware of incurring the reproof which God gives by the prophet Haggai to persons who offered a similar objection against building the temple. These people said, “The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” But God said by the prophet, “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” (Haggai i. 2, 4) intimating that if they were equally desirous to build the house of God as they were to build houses for accommodating themselves or for gratifying their vanity, they would not reckon it unseasonable to begin the work.

Again, however distant the period may be in which the kingdom of Christ shall be fully established in the world, in regard there shall be a gradual progress by the ordinary means towards that establishment; it is high time to begin to use the means by sending the Gospel to the unenlightened nations. As the tenderness of the branches and the swelling of the bud in trees indicate the approach of summer, so there are circumstances in our time which indicate that the establishment of Christ’s kingdom is near, and that the period is come in which Christians ought to use means for the advancement of it.

First.—There is in our times an ardent desire to penetrate into unknown countries from which results a knowledge of the several unenlightened nations of the earth superior to what was attained in former times, while the increase of commerce and of skill in navigation facilitates the intercourse betwixt us and them. This knowledge is designed by the sovereign Ruler to prepare the way for the heralds of the Gospel in the latter days; hence it is given as a sign of the near approach of the Messiah’s kingdom, “Many (says Daniel), shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel xii. 4). If, therefore, we see the sign and know its meaning, we should join issue with the designs of Providence by sending missionaries to the unenlightened nations.

Secondly.—There is in our days a spirit of association for generous purposes beyond what appeared in former times. Innumerable are the societies formed within this island for the purposes of bestowing on their fellow creatures an alleviation of, or a deliverance from the various calamities incident to human life. If a person forms a scheme which is apparently generous and practicable, he will immediately find many who will cheerfully give their aid to carry it into execution. Is not this a loud call to all who know the superior liberality of the scheme of

redemption, who know it to be the only and the effectual remedy of all the miseries brought into the world by sin? Is it not to such persons, I say, a loud call to associate together for the purpose of sending the knowledge of this remedy to those who stand most in need of it?

Thirdly.—In our times societies have been already formed for the express purpose of sending missionaries to the heathen, not only in various parts of our island, but likewise in Holland, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, in several parts of America, and at the Cape of Good Hope. Are you not, as Christians, under equal obligations with them to advance the Redeemer’s kingdom and to promote the interests of your fellow-men? You are, in many respects, under greater obligations at present. Some of the countries mentioned above are ravaged by the sword, others are desolated by the pestilence, and in others, enormous exactions deprive the inhabitants of their wealth and substance as an overflowing flood sweeps away the fruits of the earth; whereas you hear the din of war at a distance and the pestilence cometh not nigh your dwelling, while your persons and property are effectually secured by a just and mild government. You ought, therefore, as persons not only made liberal by the grace of God in common with other Christians, but likewise as persons dealt with liberally by His providence beyond your fellow Christians,—you ought, I say, to devise liberal things by sending the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it.

The Diary of Dugald Buchanan.

(Continued from page 151.)

ABOUT this time I went to Kippon, where the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was being administered, and enjoyed sweet manifestations of God’s love at the solemn feast. I had great delight in hearing the word preached, by which the secrets of my heart were made manifest.

On the Sabbath evening I retired to a glen whither I was wont to resort for prayer; and after reading the 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, found that every sentence of it had more light, life, and power, than another; so that my joy was very great. I devoted also some time here in meditating on the difference there was between this and my former exercises in the same place.

*[Formerly, they consisted in working out a righteousness of my own, but the exercises of this day were directly contrary to them; for a better righteousness than my own was revealed unto me, upon which I cheerfully renounced my own rags, and accepted of it as being infinitely better. I rejoiced in the doings and sufferings

* Passages between brackets indicate that these are omitted in the Gaelic translation.

of the Lord Jesus Christ in my room, and could this evening, with the greatest freedom, call Christ—”The Lord my righteousness,” and join with the ransomed company above in singing, “not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory.” The Lord of His infinite grace convinced me of my natural pollution, and of the emptiness of all my duties, and their insufficiency to avail any thing in point of justification or acceptance. It was the real satisfaction of all the powers and faculties of my soul, to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, and debase myself to the lowest, when I beheld His glory and complete righteousness.

Further, my former exercises were forced; for although I performed many duties, they were exceedingly burdensome. But this day I found the love of God in Christ constraining me to holy obedience, and the believing in, and trusting to, the righteousness of Christ made me work more than when I had in view to be justified by my works.] After going to bed that night I thought I might sleep securely, without fearing any evil, since the Lord was at peace with me. I thought that should death come before morning, it would be very welcome. I rejoiced over the fear of death and the grave.

I came from this ordinance rejoicing in the Lord and His goodness, which I had seen and felt; but in case I should be exalted above measure, there was a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me; for after I came home I found great wandering of heart in time of duty, and also blasphemous thoughts concerning God and the covenant of grace.

On account of these things I proposed to set a day apart for fasting and humiliation before God; and likewise to draw a form of a covenant in writing between God and my soul. For this end I appointed a day, a month previous to my entering on this solemn transaction, and wrestled night and day in prayer that God would fulfil His promise to me. Psalms xxv. 14, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will shew them his covenant.” And also, that He would give me composure of mind when going about such an awfully important service; that He would rebuke my great enemy, Unbelief; that He would furnish me with proper experience in writing it; and above all, that He would determine my heart to accept of His covenant.

The day appointed for this was the 5th of August, 1743. I had frequent enlargement in prayer, and faith in God that He would bestow everything as the work of the day might require, so that my mind was in a great measure quieted. Yet I had great weight upon my spirit about the awfulness of the approach. I read Guthrie’s “Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ,” and the scriptural warrant for personal covenanting with God in express words, and also directions. Every thing was so ordered, that the world was no hinderance to me; and in order to be more retired, I went into the cave of a rock, and as the Lord assisted me, went about this duty in the following manner.

I began the duty by singing a part of the 51st Psalm; and went to prayer, making confession of my sins by name, as far as I could remember them. Then I began to search them out one by one, according to the rule of the ten commandments, and, after searching, found myself of a different opinion from the young man who came to Christ, and said, “All these have I kept from my youth;” for I saw that, though it should be said to me, now, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,” I could by no means do it.

Again, I took a view of the sins which were there forbidden, and found myself guilty of breaking every one of them, either in heart or life, and which, being attended with heinous aggravations, rendered me the chief of sinners.

Now, O Lord, I do here stand before Thee a law-condemned, a self-condemned sinner, owning myself to have come short of every duty which is required, and guilty of every sin that is forbidden in Thy holy law; and, therefore, I will justify Thy righteous judgment against me, even shouldst Thou sentence me to the lowest hell; for it is my just reward.

O Lord, Thou wouldst do me no wrong if this should be my everlasting habitation among devils in the unquenchable flames. Thou are just and righteous, and Thy law holy, just, and good; and in token thereof, I do, as in Thy presence, subscribe with heart and hand, guilty, guilty to the whole law,

DUGALD BUCHANAN.

Then I spread the black catalogue of my sins before the Lord, by the very sight of which, if my heart was not harder than the nether-millstone, it might be rent, and my pride humbled in the dust. O this was a shameful, heart-rending, and soul-humbling view! O blessed Jesus, who endured the shame and despised the cross for me! O blessed Lord, who had Thy heart melted like wax in Thy bowels for the hardness of my heart! O blessed Jesus, who carried this load of my sins upon the cross, which, to all eternity, would have sunk me to the bottom of hell! I am now come to Thee, the main design of this day’s fasting, which is to lay hold on God’s free and gracious offer in Christ, promising to be an all-sufficient God to me, and that in a covenant way. I have read the outward call in Thy word, and I find the internal work of Thy Spirit determining my heart to accept of Thee, and, therefore, in Thy strength I proceed.

O! eternal Jehovah, Lord of lords, and King of kings, the great Creator of heaven and earth, keeping covenant and mercy, even Thou art Lord alone, and all the host of heaven worship Thee. All nations are before Thee as nothing and vanity. They are counted as the dust of the balance. Lo! these are part of Thy ways, but how little a portion is known of Thee!

The heavens are not pure in Thy sight, and Thou chargest Thine angels with folly. How much more man who is a worm, and the son of man who is a worm! O what is man that Thou art

mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou dost visit him! O Lord, Thou hast made all Thy creatures to shew forth Thy power and wisdom, and Thou makest manifest Thy providence in the glorious government which is seen in their beautiful order. But man only of all Thy creatures in this lower world hast Thou made capable of glorifying Thee, for Thou didst create him in Thine own image, and endowed him with a rational soul.

Thou graciously didst enter into a covenant of life with him, and his seed in him, to perform perfect and personal obedience to Thy holy law; and didst give him strength to do his part of the covenant, and didst pronounce death upon him for the first breach of it; and he, being left to the freedom of his own will, fell by transgression, and plunged himself and his posterity into a gulph of sin and misery, out of which they were not able to extricate themselves, either in whole or in part.

And now, O great and dreadful Majesty, I am here before Thee, one of this guilty and condemned race, and do profess my belief in my fall in Adam as my covenant head, and that I have lost Thy glorious image, and in its stead got the image of the devil; and that I have lost all knowledge of Thee and Thy will. Darkness and ignorance have overspread my understanding, and my original righteousness is also lost, for I was conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity, with a chain of guilt wreathed, as it were, around my neck; and as to the holiness with which I was endowed, it is gone and my heart is become a sink of filthiness and uncleanness of all sorts: there is in it a fountain of wickedness which never ceaseth.

I am now an enemy to Thee in my mind; yea, enmity itself, that will not accept of reconciliation when it is offered. All the powers of my soul are now turned into confusion, insomuch, that I cannot meditate one minute upon Thee, without some distracting thought or other pertaining to the devil, the world, or the flesh.

O Lord, I am a hopeless creature in myself. I see the flaming sword of Thy justice keeping me every way from the tree of life; and am now convinced, that it is out of the reach of man or angel to help me, so that I will certainly perish unless Thine own right hand make help for me. But glory to Thy great name, who foresaw this misery from all eternity, and hath, in Thy boundless love, provided a sufficient remedy, and laid help upon one who is mighty to save, even Thine eternal and only begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ, with whom Thou didst enter into a covenant of redemption, in name and behalf of Thy elect, that He should redeem and save them, by assuming their nature, and in their room satisfy divine justice and fulfil the law which they had broken. Glory to Thy name for publishing this eternal transaction to Adam in paradise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. And now, O Lord, Thou hast published this covenant in the everlasting gospel, with a full and free declaration to all who would lay hold of it, on Thine own terms; namely, that they should renounce all their own righteousness,

and lay hold on the free and gracious covenant as it is now exhibited in Christ, with an entire dependence on His righteousness, both active and passive, for their justification; and that I am called by the preaching of the gospel into the fellowship of Christ the head thereof.

Therefore, upon the warrant of Thy offer, and in obedience to Thy divine command, I, a poor sinner, do take hold of that covenant for life and salvation, believing on the name of Christ crucified, the Head thereof, offered and exhibited unto me as my great High Priest, who, by the sacrifice of Himself, hath made atonement and brought in an everlasting righteousness for poor sinners. Accordingly I trust in Him, that He with His righteousness will be mine; that in and through Him God will be my God, to make me happy here, and through eternity.

And now, O my God, I do here this day renew my baptismal engagements to renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh, and take all things about me to witness, that I will, by Thy grace assisting me, break all my covenants with death and hell. I will have no other Lords but Thee; and I believe that Thou wilt banish any strange god that will offer to usurp Thy throne in my heart; for Thou hast said, that iniquity shall not have fellowship with Thee in the throne of the heart. And since Thou, in Thy amazing grace, hast condescended to be my husband, I do now give the hand to Thee, that I will be for Thee and not for another, all the days of my appointed time, till Thou take me home to Thyself. Likewise, I renounce all my sins, and particularly my beloved idol. O my God, I renounce all subjection to Satan’s government, and all compliance with the will and interests of the flesh. I renounce all dependence on this present world, for all my treasure is in Thee, O blessed Jesus, in whom dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Now, O my God, I do, by Thy grace, acquiesce in that covenant, as all my salvation and all my desire, and seeing Thou art a consuming fire to all who meet Thee out of Christ, I do, therefore, make choice of God in Christ, as my God and portion for time and for eternity; yet not I, but Thou hast chosen me, and it is by virtue of Thy choosing me, that I have chosen Thee; for the language of my heart was in former times, Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. I take heaven and earth to witness, that I accept of the whole glorious and adorable Trinity; God the Father to be my Father, God the Son to be my Saviour, and God the Holy Ghost to be my Sanctifier.

O my covenanted God in Christ, this day I give my hearty approbation to this glorious method of salvation by Christ Jesus, and Thou, who knowest the hearts of all men, knowest the language of my heart, for I cannot express the secret act of it. But O this is a wonderful contrivance, beyond the thoughts of men or angels. My soul says, this covenant is suitable, in every way becoming Thy glory, honour and wisdom, in which all the divine attributes shine in the face of the surety; and O it is a

suitable covenant for me. I want the tongue of angels to express the beauty and the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ, the covenant Head, in whom the promises are all yea and amen, to the glory of God. O how wonderful is it, to think of Thy justice which was formerly engaged to destroy me, now pacified and become my friend. Thou art just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. O Lord, Thou knowest that my soul saith more in approbation of Thy covenant than my tongue can express. Thou hast declared, that the Lord Jesus Christ is Thy well-beloved Son in whom Thou art well pleased; and if I had as many souls as hairs upon my head, I would venture them all upon His complete righteousness, for I never got rest until I cast my guilty soul into the arms of Thy love and mercy: but I must forbear writing and betake myself to wondering.

O Lord, accept of the meditation of my heart. Again, O Lord, I do here accept of the laws and terms of Thy covenant, and particularly that which excludes boasting for ever, and that suffers no flesh to glory in Thy presence. O send Thy Holy Spirit that He may work all in me and for me, and bring down cursed self to the dust; then will I be glad and rejoice. Now, O God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, and my Father, who art in heaven, since Thou hast provided so largely for me, I do give myself up to be a dutiful child unto Thee, to receive correction patiently, and accept of afflictions, losses, and crosses, from Thy hand, because I know it is for my good.

Now, O dear Son of God and my only Saviour, I take heaven and earth to witness, that I accept of Thee in all Thine offices: I take Thee alone for my Prophet, to be taught and directed by Thy word and Spirit, and renounce my own wisdom and the wisdom of this world; and I accept of Thee alone as my Priest and King for time and eternity. And I will never forsake Thee come what will; that which makes me so confident is the unchangeableness of Thy love, for whom Thou lovest Thou lovest to the end.

O God, the Holy Ghost, I accept of Thee as my Sanctifier, Guide, and Comforter. I welcome Thee unto my heart although Thou shouldest come as a Spirit of judgment; “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” O come and mortify my strong lusts and corruptions; spare none of them. O glorious Trinity—three persons in one Godhead, I here make a universal resignation of myself and all that is mine unto Thee, and, as in times past, I gave my members as instruments of unrighteousness to uncleanness, I now yield them up as instruments unto holiness; and my will, which was formerly rebellious, I give up to Thy holy and blessed will—my dark understanding to be enlightened by Thy Holy Spirit that I may come to know the things which are freely given me of God; and my mind to retain Thy precious truths, and to meditate upon Thy law day and night; and my affections which are carnal and earthly to be spiritualized.

And I give up my heart which is deceitful above all things and above all hearts sinful and unclean: O make it as Thou wouldst have it to be, soft, pliable, and holy. Be cast open, all ye gates and doors of my soul, that the King of glory may come in and dwell here for ever. O Lord, search in all the corners of this treacherous heart, and drive out all enemies, that Thy throne may be established in the midst thereof. Set up gates and doors, and keep the keys Thyself, that none may come in without Thy special permission. O watch over this city, otherwise I shall watch in vain. O Lord, accept of this offering, and send Thy Holy Spirit that He may sanctify my soul and body for a temple to Thyself: and since Thou hast said in Thy word, that it is Thy will even my sanctification; O let Thy will be done.

O Lord, I appeal unto Thee who art my witness, that this is the consent of my soul; and I ascribe all the praise of this disposition to Thy Holy Spirit who hath thus determined my heart by Thy grace to be wholly Thine. O eternal Jehovah—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I have avouched Thee this day to be the Lord my God, and I believe that Thou hast avouched me to be one of Thy peculiar people, to hearken to Thy voice, Thy statutes, and Thy judgments to do them. I take heaven and earth to witness that I desire to be saved by the method of free grace. I make all my promise in Christ’s strength, and rest not in my promise to Thee, but in Thine to me. O blessed Jesus, Thou wast surety of this covenant from all eternity, and in time Thou art surety for the fulfilling of all the parts of it in Thy elect by the operation of Thy Holy Spirit; therefore I believe that Thou art surety for me also.

Glory to Thee, O Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, who from this day I will call my Father, for Thy everlasting electing love, manifested in the fulness of time, by sending Thine eternal Son into the world to save sinners, and me in particular. Glory to Thee, O God the Son, for Thy redeeming love in saving me who am the chief of sinners. Glory to Thee, O God the Holy Ghost, who came into the world to apply this purchased redemption to elect sinners. Glory to Thy name, who by Thy almighty power arrested my course when I was running full career to hell, and hast turned me back and made me willing in a day of Thy power as at this day; glory to Thee for the sweet communion of Thy Holy Spirit which I have enjoyed this day. It was set apart for fasting, and Thou hast turned it into a day of feasting; let my soul be glad in the Lord and His goodness, since He hath satisfied me with the fatness of His house. I desire not to rest in anything attained; my soul is crying for more. O Lord, keep up this appetite, and never let it grow full, in case I should forget Thee; neither let me want, in case I be found gleaning in another field, and not in the field of this near kinsman. O let me never turn aside from following after Thee, although I be in persecution or in prison. “O let Thy people be my people,” etc.

(To be continued.)

Brief Account of Mission to Forces in England.

BY THE REV. NEIL MACINTYRE, STORNOWAY.

DEAR MR. EDITOR,—As so many former deputies to the Forces in England have already given detailed reports of their mission, I do not intend to give a detailed account of mine, as it would involve, in many respects, repetition of what has been previously so well stated. I shall therefore be very brief.

Our Mission is very much now confined to Chatham and Portsmouth, and between these two places I spent the last three Sabbaths of June and the first two Sabbaths of July. There is still a large number of Highlanders, especially from Lewis and Skye, serving at these places, and our average attendance would be about one hundred. It certainly gives one a feeling of terrible responsibility to stand before these dear, brave men. Some of them have just returned from the jaws of death, while others are being daily called away to join their ships, to meet cruel enemies, and possibly may never return. May He who could command the wind and waves to be still and there was a great calm, keep them and bring them back safely!

It may be interesting to your readers to know that in Chatham the prayer meetings, which were reported by former deputies, are still held by the men each night of the week. I attended these meetings every alternate week on Thursday and Saturday. It is encouraging to know that one of the naval officers takes part in these meetings when his onerous duties will allow him. There are several men in this place who evidently fear the Lord, and who are capable of conducting the meetings. It was also pleasant to see so many young men attending on week days. The contrast between the attendance at those meetings, with the seriousness which characterized them, and the attendance at the meetings held at home in connection with the war, was very marked. Those men are brought face to face with solemn realities.

At Portsmouth the men had not the same privileges as at Chatham. One reason why they have not these daily prayer meetings is that they are more scattered than at Chatham, and few of them stay in the Barracks. A service, which I attended, was kept every Friday evening, besides the service on Sabbath evening. Our services are greatly appreciated by these dear men in their trying circumstances, and all were pleading that we should attend to them in their time of need, and saying that they would ever remain grateful to the Free Presbyterian Church for those services.

I also paid a visit to Hunstanton, a beautiful small town in Norfolk, on the sea coast, where a company of the Lovat Scouts was stationed. Here I met some from all parts of the Highlands,

especially from Fort-William, Skye, and Uist. I held a service in the evening, when about one hundred and fifty assembled, and this being the first Gaelic service they had had since leaving home, it was much appreciated. All were anxious that our deputy should visit them, either on week-day or Sabbath, as often as possible.

Our heart’s desire and prayer to God is that the weak efforts put forth may be blessed to these dear fellows.—Yours, etc.,

NEIL MACINTYRE.

The late Mr. Donald Bethune, Tarbert, Harris.

IT may be stated, by way of preface to the following brief sketch, that the late worthy Mr. Bethune was most reticent as to his Christian experience. During a conversation last year when he was very ill, the present writer cautiously approached him on the subject of his experience and hope, but he would not be drawn to speak of himself. All he said was, “All I wish the world ever to know about me is this: I am a great sinner, and always was, whose only concern is ‘to be found in Christ’ as my only preparation for eternity. I hope, through the mercy of God, I shall be saved.” The following sketch will therefore be brief and largely general:—

Mr. Donald Bethune was the only son of Mr. Murdoch Bethune, innkeeper, Kenseleyre, Skye. He was a brilliant boy at school, and while still a youth attended the Normal School in Edinburgh, where he passed as a teacher with credit. His first school was at Kylarhea. Afterwards he taught at Glenbrittle and Struan in the parish of Bracadale. He came to Tarbert, Harris, forty-three years ago, where he taught for nineteen years, there being twenty-four years since he retired. As a teacher he laboured with a fair measure of success, and made good scholars, some of whom now occupy responsible positions. He had a deep interest in the spiritual welfare of the children, and was a good disciplinarian, but his methods of discipline were not those of the merciless tyrant, but such as became a humble, gentle, loving Christian, whose love for children was a conspicuous feature of his whole life. He remained interested in his scholars to the last, and was pardonably proud of some of them whose abilities had brought them into prominence in the commercial world. He retained the love and respect of his pupils in a remarkable way, and his death was to many of them a poignant sorrow and heartfelt loss. They were indeed highly privileged in having him as the guide and counsellor of their youth, and one cannot but fondly hope that by his teaching and example, under the divine blessing, he may have been instrumental in bringing some of the boys and girls that passed through his hands to the feet of Him who said, “Suffer

little children to come unto me.” When secular songs began to be taught in the schools he firmly refused to teach them, thereby losing part of the grant.

Mr. Bethune was brought up in the Established Church, and it is not known when he left her and joined the Free Church, but it must have been while he was still a young man. He must have been very young when he came under the influence of divine grace, for we understand that in early boyhood he used to go and pray alone, but he did not know why. He did not know how to pray, but still he had to be at it. Some irresistible power within moved him. It is not known when, where, or how he was first awakened to a sense of his lost condition as a sinner, but when the awakening did come it seems to have been terrific. He was long under conviction of sin, and at nights he would be afraid to sleep, in case he would awaken in hell. At last he obtained spiritual relief, and he evidently enjoyed great freedom, which continued for quite a time. Secret prayer was then his greatest delight. The writer remembers him saying that at that time of his life he could not but pray, and that he would be no sooner back from secret prayer than he would require to return to it again, because of the delight his soul was finding in secret intercourse with the Lord. Those days of spiritual warmth were followed in after years by days of desertion, coldness of affection, and hardness of heart. We have heard him exclaim in prayer as often as any we can remember, “My leanness, my leanness!” Yet he was kept from casting away his confidence, and was enabled to keep his hope firm unto the end.

It is supposed that he became a communicant in the time of the Rev. Roderick Macleod, Snizort, and that he was ordained an elder under the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, Bracadale. It was from there that he came to Harris in the days of the Rev. Dr. Macintosh Mackay. He got married when at Bracadale in the year 1870, at the age of thirty-two, to Miss Betsy Maclean, daughter of Mr. Neil Maclean, merchant. The marriage was solemnised at Duirinish by the Rev. Alex. MacColl, and Rev. Mr. Fletcher signed as one of the witnesses. Two children were born of the marriage—a boy and a girl—but both died in infancy and are buried at Scarista, South Harris. Mrs. Bethune also predeceased her husband many years since, and he deeply and tenderly mourned her loss.

Mr. Bethune began to keep religious meetings when he was quite young, but he was sometimes much oppressed with a deep sense of his unfitness, which made him absent himself. At the same time such was his warmth and zeal that he thought at first that he would convert every one of his hearers, but as he continued to speak he gained more knowledge and experience of the strength of “the old man.” The favourite ministers of his early days were Mr. Macleod, Snizort; Mr. Fletcher, Bracadale; and Dr. Mackay, Harris; while “the men,” among others, were Ronald

Macdonald and Angus Munro, Snizort. He was opposed to the first Union negotiations and to the later backsliding development which culminated in the Declaratory Act of 1892. When the Free Presbyterian Church was formed he proved himself a judicious and active supporter of the cause, and did much to organise the Free Presbyterian congregation in Harris. During periods of vacancy, before and since the Rev. E. Macqueen’s ministry until the present settlement was made, he nobly and successfully carried on the work of the congregation. The Lord blessed his public exercises to the conversion of some who were very reckless in life, and to the edification of those who were in a gracious state.

As to the secular part of his career, he was for many years Registrar for North Harris, and only gave up his office last year. All his duties he discharged with great conscientiousness and care.

Mr. Bethune remained to the last very steadfast to the Church of which he was an honoured elder. He certainly never regretted the step he took in 1893, nor showed the least desire to retrace his steps. He felt no guilt of conscience over the step referred to, when departing this life. On several occasions he said the Lord had granted him his two special requests, namely, to see the congregation provided with a minister and a church building before he would die. He caught a chill when attending the Synod meeting in Glasgow two years ago, and was never the same after it. He passed through a most trying illness last summer, but was much better this year, though it was daily becoming more obvious that the end was approaching. I never knew anyone who was more patient and reconciled to the Lord’s will. During all his illness he never complained, and in the very midst of his worst attacks he could be bright. He really could hide his troubles as very few could. He was up the day before he died, but did not leave his bedroom. The end came suddenly, a little after midnight, on Friday morning, the 16th April, 1915. His age was seventy-eight years. There was no struggle—he simply passed away—and the last words that his cousin Mary, who proved his faithful friend and servant for twenty-nine years, heard him say, were: “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.”

Mr. Bethune’s death has made a great blank in this congregation, and while we prayerfully hope that the Lord, who is the repairer of the breaches, will in His mercy raise up others, still, taking him all in all, we do not expect to see his equal among us again. We have lost, in the person of Mr. Donald Bethune, a judicious, intelligent, exercised man of God, pleasant and affectionate in disposition, and with accomplishments qualifying him for a place in any society. All who knew and valued him will join in deeply mourning his loss. “The memory of the just is blessed.”

D. N. M.

The Sword Sheathed.

BY THE LATE REV. CAESAR MALAN, D.D., GENEVA.

I WAS sitting in a retired spot when I heard a voice singing the hundred and sixteenth Psalm, and I felt disposed at once to join in the strain. I did so, when the third verse was ended, and I was overheard; for though no answer was given, a few seconds afterwards I saw an officer, who came up to me, and holding out his hand, said, “We are both of one mind, sir.” The speaker wore the ornaments of two different orders. He seemed about forty years of age, with a masculine, weather-beaten countenance, but his eyes, which were fixed on me, expressed much tenderness of feeling.

“Amen,” I replied. “Let us sit down together, and converse of the subject we both love—on what the Lord Jesus has done for our souls.”

“It is long since I have heard such a request made to me,” said the officer. “It does me good. I come from a distance. Business has brought me far from home; but here is an unexpected refreshment for me.”

“Are you a native of France?” I asked. “You sing in French, and you speak that language fluently.”

“My mother was a native of Nismes, in the south of France, and she early taught me the Psalms she had been used to sing.”

“Then she was a Protestant—probably one of those ancient families who preferred the Word of God to their homes and even to their lives.”

“She had often listened to the Word preached in the wilderness, from the lips of one of her own parents, and she knew the Saviour well. I say she knew Him, and she has now been with Him for the last five years. What a blessing it is when God gives a pious mother! Whenever my heart draws near to God I think of her, for she first taught me to know Him. But how remarkable it is that two strangers like ourselves should converse thus freely, and that you, my dear sir, should feel this interest in my concerns.”

I said, “This proves the truth and the nature of the work of God’s Spirit in the heart, because throughout the world all whom He renews are led by the same teaching, and united by the same life, to the same Saviour, and prepared for that eternal world in which they will form but one family.”

“The world knows nothing of these ties of brotherhood by which Jesus Himself makes His presence to be felt in our hearts.”

“You seem long to have been a follower of the Saviour,” I remarked.

“Pray do not think so, or give me any honour to which I have

no claim. You would take care not to praise me if you knew what I have been, and done, and how I have forsaken and denied my Saviour. Never was His mercy more fully bestowed. My story is my shame; nevertheless it tends to the glory of God.”

At my request he proceeded:—”My father was a man of some rank and influence. He intended me for the Bar, and after receiving the rudiments of my education at school, under the wing of my parents—especially of my kind and pious mother—I was sent at the age of nineteen to the university, for the purpose of studying the law. I believe I was then sincere in my religious profession, and for a year or two I regularly observed seasons for prayer and exercises of devotion. But by degrees—at first unconsciously, and afterwards when fully aware of it—I left off the reading of the Bible, and afterwards my prayers; and at last the examples, the invitations, and manifold temptations of those with whom I then associated, drew me away from God, from His Word, and worship, and I became at length what those around me were—a friend of the world, a worldly-minded man, a fool, as the Scriptures declare.

“I was not happy then, I knew no real peace or satisfaction; I was a terror to myself. I pretended to be merry, to be fully engrossed, and I hurried into the vortex of pleasures, to which I was drawn by my youth and external advantages on the one hand, and on the other by the smiles and applause of all those among whom I lived, whatever might be their age or sex. I nevertheless felt a secret uneasiness, a sensation of self-reproach, which I vainly endeavoured to resist. Still, God watched over me, but I rebelled against Him, and I pursued my course without hesitation or repentance.

“My mother, as you will suppose, soon observed my backsliding, and by her letters, her precious letters, she ceased not to urge me to return to Jesus, and no longer to resist Him who had been the friend of my childhood. I sigh and mourn to think of the concern which my folly occasioned her. I know that I have been forgiven by her, and by God also; but, oh! how many blows, how many wounds, I inflicted on the heart of her who only sought my happiness; and who, day and night, watched over me with prayers and tears. I must be brief. Suffice it to say, that when I reached the age of twenty-six, I was in the sight of God as a madman, or like the horse which spurns the bridle, rushes furiously into the battle, and falls, being wounded suddenly from every quarter. I might have perished too, but God, our own God, preserved me, and accomplished His gracious purposes. Long did He wait, and at the very time the devil would have brought me to ruin, God humbled me, and pierced my heart, and I, like him that was possessed with ‘the legion,’ was again clothed, and restored to my right mind in the following manner:—

“I had taken my degree, and entered on the duties of my profession, when, in one of my fits of ungovernable passion, I

had a quarrel, which ended in a challenge to a duel with one whom I thoroughly hated, as I regarded him as a rival. Our combat (why not call it our mutual purpose of assassination?) was to take place in secret. I spent a whole day and night in preparing for it, and still I could not look forward to it without horror. Not that I dreaded either being wounded or killed, for I was unfeeling, and my heart was hardened. But, sir, my Bible frightened me. I had laid it aside in a closet, and to this closet I went to seek the sword with which I intended to meet my opponent. Now, pray attend. I opened the closet—it was nearly midnight—I climbed a chair, and reached to the highest shelf, feeling for my sword, when I laid my hand on my Bible. A sudden chill ran through my veins, and without any time for deliberation, I took the Bible, opened it, and, still standing on the chair, I read the 10th Psalm, which was the first passage on which my eyes rested. Then, sir, the voice of the Lord once more resounded through the dark recesses of my soul. I read with breathless eagerness, and still I went on reading, though my uneasiness increased till I came to this verse, ‘Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.’

“I felt confounded, and throwing myself prostrate on the floor of my room, I sobbed aloud and groaned, praying for pardon from God for the sake of Jesus. I dared not rise. I was afraid even to look up. I felt that the eye of God was upon me, and my sorrow is not to be described. The tortured criminal does not suffer what I then felt, and about an hour passed away, at the end of which time I felt somewhat more calm, and sat down, still holding my Bible in my hand. God had thus rescued me. The prayers of my poor mother were heard, and my sinful soul was restored to the narrow way of life, which, indeed, I had never totally forgotten, though I had in so great a degree trodden under foot the truths I had learned, seeking to crush them as I should a serpent.

“What followed? My duel was a painful subject, and I resolved to give it up. But this was not all, I was filled with sympathy for him whom I had regarded as my adversary, and I longed to make this known to him, and also to those who were to have been the witnesses of our crime. The day began to dawn, and the hour for our meeting arrived. My companions came to seek me; but I had gone on first, and hastened to the wood, which had been the place chosen for the duel. I reached it first, and felt that the Lord was graciously present with me. My adversary, accompanied by his seconds and mine, arrived there, and perceiving me, he cried out, ‘Here I am, make ready.’ I answered seriously, but with much feeling, ‘I am ready in the presence of God to ask pardon of you, if I have offended you, and to forgive you any wrong you may have done to me.’ ‘Coward! scoundrel!’ he exclaimed, ‘this is your meanness!’

“‘You need not insult me,’ I added, ‘I speak in the presence of God, who sees us both. He has humbled me, and touched my heart, and I repent, and acknowledge my folly before Him, and entreat you also to fear Him, and no longer reject His mercy.’ Here the companion of my adversary came up to me, and taking my hand, asked me if I were a Christian. ‘I am,’ I answered, ‘and for this reason my sword shall remain in its sheath. If your friend has any complaint against me, let him mention it, and it shall be repaired. Moreover, I will not stand in the way of his pretension, which caused this quarrel.’

“Thus, sir, God prevailed. The contest was dropped, and I returned to the town, urging my companions no longer to live in rebellion against God. I know not if they yielded to my entreaties, for I left the town shortly afterwards, and had no further intercourse with them. But I cannot describe the joy of my pious mother when she saw me to be such as she desired, and felt that the infinite love and mercy of the Lord had been manifested towards me.

“Not long after this I was called upon by Government for military service on behalf of my country. The Lord has blessed me. His precious Word has daily become more valuable to me, and as you are aware, I love the hundred and sixteenth Psalm, and find much in it to describe the manner in which God has dealt with me. Where should I have been had not God given me such a mother? But let me look higher. Her love is but a faint shadow of the everlasting love of God; to Him be all the praise ascribed.”

“My brother,” I answered, “if we could thus daily look back upon the way in which God has led and guided and preserved us, we should feel the same cause for thankfulness with which you acknowledge your entrance on this path.”

“And where,” said the officer, “is the haughty and cold spirit of those who think that it is in the power of man to keep alive his own soul by his own feelings toward God? Assuredly I was found by Christ when I sought Him not. There was nothing in me by which I laid hold on eternal life; but the Giver of life eternal laid hold on me. The Father, who keeps us by His power, who abideth faithful, and who has daily bound me to Him by the cords of His love, has again and again, by His Spirit, caused me to hear the voice of His dear Son. To Him I owe all my comforts in this life and in that which is to come.”

The officer ceased, and when we had read a part of the Word of God and prayed together, I felt that there may be on earth a foretaste of heavenly joy. The fellowship of Christians is a part of that spiritual bliss which is far above the concerns of time and sense—as the refreshment of breathing the clear mountain air and beholding the lofty summits of the Alps, renders it painful to the traveller to descend to tread the dusty roads of the plain or the crowded streets of the city.