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used personally of our Lord, in every instance of its occurrence as to Him, both in that and in the former epistle. And it does seem to me that the means used to evade the proof afforded by this chapter of Christ's personal, pre-millennial coming, are such as would not be tolerated in regard to any other book than scripture.

As I once wrote elsewhere-"Suppose a mere human author to write two treatises, the latter intended to throw further light on the subject of the former; suppose that a certain term or phrase occurs more frequently than any other in these writings, and that this phrase is always used in one fixed determinate sense; suppose that it has been thus used twelve or thirteen times without one exception, and that this is acknowledged by all who read the writings in question. There is however, a fourteenth instance in which the phrase occurs. There is no intimation on the part of the writer that he uses it in a different sense. There is nothing in the immediate context to require that it should be understood in a different sense. So far from this, it is employed in the usual sense at the commencement of the paragraph in which it again occurs in the instance supposed. What should we think of any one who would contend, in a case like this, that the phrase is to be understood in a different sense, the fourteenth time of its occurrence, from that in which it is used in all the former instances ?" Now this is what you do with Paul's two epistles to the Thessalonians and it is the only way in which you can evade the demonstration afforded by chap. ii, second epistle, of the pre-millennial personal coming of Christ.

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But you urge that Antichrist is said to be "consumed by the breath of his mouth," as well as destroyed by the brightness of His coming! But ȧvaliokw strictly means to take away"-" to destroy." Liddell and Scott, though giving the sense "to use up, lavish, squander" when applied to money or substance, say "(ii) of PERSONS, to kill, to destroy." It is the word used in Luke ix, 54, where the disciples inquire, if they may ask fire from heaven to consume the Samaritan villagers. Its use in 2 Thess. ii cannot therefore be allowed as an argument for the gradual weakening of antichrist by the truth, or gospel, prior to his complete destruction by the brightness of Christ's coming. Further, "the breath, or spirit of his mouth" does not, as far as I can gather from scripture, mean gospel" or the "saving influences of the Spirit." Job iv, 9; xv, 30; Isa. xxx, 28; also 33: all use the phrase of judgment on the wicked persons, not of converting influences on men's souls.

"the

As to your closing argument from Rev. xix, that the nature of the case forbids the thought of mortal men turning their puny weapons against the Lord, personally revealed from heaven, I answer: First, that it is impossible to say to what amount of hardihood human wickedness, inspired to madness by Satan's utmost power, may extend. Think of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. If after the ten plagues, and the miracle of one person dead in every house of the

Egyptians, while not one of the blood-sheltered Israelites fell: if after all this, and the equally miraculous opening of the Red Sea to let the redeemed hosts pass through, they could and did, and that too, in the face of the pillar of cloud and fire, pursue Israel into the bed of the Red Sea, there to meet a watery grave, it is hard to say what human wickedness may not attempt. But, secondly, it is a purely gratuitous assumption, that the heavenly and earthly armies are arrayed in each other's sight, like two mere human hosts; or that the beast, false prophet, and their armies see anything of Christ and His heavenly followers, till the moment they are smitten with destruction by the overwhelming apparition. They are "gathered together to make war against his army;" but surely this language does not imply that they do or that they can carry out their intent after He and His army appear. Was not Saul of Tarsus fighting against Christ-kicking against the pricks-albeit he had not seen Him, and could not bear to behold Him when He appeared? It was in mercy that Christ appeared to him, though even thus he was smitten to the ground, and blinded for three days. It will be in judgment that He appears to the anti-Christian confederacy, the heads of which will be cast alive into the lake of fire, while their followers are slain, not converted, by the sword of Him that sat upon the horse.

From the Old Testament I have no doubt that it is against Christ, in His connexion with Israel and the holy land, that the anti-Christian forces will be gathered.

It will assuredly be in ignorance of what awaits them, that for their own purposes of ambition and hatred to God, they will have assembled there. "Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel; FOR HE SHALL GATHER THEM AS THE SHEAVES INTO HIS FLOOR." (Mic. iv, 11, 12.) True, that in the prophet, the daughter of Zion is exhorted to "arise and thresh," and Israel will, doubtless, be used as executioners of the divine vengeance; but the Apocalypse shows, as well as certain Old Testament passages, as Zech. xiv, Isa. lxvi, &c, that the overthrow of the ungodly confederacy will, first of all, be by the sudden, unlooked for, descent of Christ and His heavenly hosts. Excuse, my dear Sir, this hasty sketch, and believe me, with sincere christian regards.

Till the righteousness of God was accomplished in Christ, it could not be declared-though, of course, it was of old promised by the gospel." and prophesied of. "Life and incorruption were brought to light The reason is, because the question of responsibility is settled in Christ. First, atonement is made; then He becomes a source of life in resurrection. In this He acts by the Spirit. The whole foundation of blessing is now found in the knowledge of divine righteousness thus declared. Hence, in the Acts, they went on their way rejoicing, immediately on conversion. Here, also, is our standard of conduct and source of fruits.

THE NAMES OF GOD, AND THE THEOPHANIES,
AND VARIED DIVINE COMMUNICATIONS IN
THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

Elohim.

Jehovah Elohim.

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Elohim (Enoch.)

VI.

Jehovah Elohim (Noah.)

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Elohim and Jehovah Elohim.
Jehovah (Cain and Abel.)

The garden, Gen. iii, 8-24.
Cain and Abel's offering, iv, 3-16.
Noah's altar and burnt-offering.
The everlasting covenant with all
flesh, and the token thereof, the
bow in the cloud, Gen. viii, 9.
Gen. xi, 5, Jehovah came down to
see the city and the tower.
And Jehovah appeared to Abram
and said.

Things New and Old.

A FAIR SHOW IN THE FLESH.
(Gal. vi, 12.)

"THE truth," or the doctrine of the Son, as the Lord Himself teaches us, (John viii, 32—36,) sets free all those who receive it. It is the "law of liberty;" (James i, ii;) it is "mercy rejoicing over judgment;" for judgment has been duly and fully marked against us, as guilty; but through the blood of sprinkling, mercy is secured, and by the gospel that mercy is published; so that the truth-the doctrine of the Son, the gospel, or the law of liberty, which are all titles of the same revelation of God-sets the sinner free. In this precious liberty is included freedom from sin, from the law, and from the flesh. This is the excellent and wondrous teaching of Romans vi, vii, viii. Sin had been a master. But the believer in Jesus is dead in Jesus; and "He that death being the end or wages of sin, sin is gone. is dead is freed (justified) from sin.” Sin has no claim on him. He is no longer to be its servant; for by death the entire connexion between him and sin is dissolved. So is the believer freed from the law; for the law addresses itself only to living man. It is the husband only of such, by its energies working on the flesh. But the believer being not a living, but a dead and risen, man—a man in union with a dead and risen Christ-the law is of necessity discharged as an old husband, and the believer is acted upon by the virtues of the risen Christ, the new husband.* So also is the believer out of the flesh. The flesh is the living man, man in his nature, as derived from corrupted Adam. But the believer is Jehovah appeared unto Hagar in not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and the Spirit of God

Melchizedek. The most high God,
possessor of heaven and earth.
The Lord, the most high God, &c.
The word of the Lord came unto
Abram in a vision.

The covenant.

The angel of the Lord.

His angel.

God. The Almighty.
The covenant of circumcision.
Abraham, Sarah. Ishmael's bless-
ing. God went up from Abra-

ham. Adonai.

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Heb. xi, 29.—“By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." This is a solemn warning; for the world who call themselves Christians do take the ground of a judgment to come, and the need of righteousness, but not according to God. The Christian goes through it in Christ, knowing himself otherwise lost and hopeless; the worldling tries in his own strength, and is swallowed up. Israel saw the Red sea in its strength, and thought its ruin was hopeless; so an awakened conscience sees death and judgment; but Christ has died and borne judgment for us, and we are secured and delivered by what we dreaded in itself. The worldling, seeing this, adopts the truth in his own strength, as if there were no danger, and

is lost in his feeble confidence.

Israel sing the deliverance of God (Exodus xv) before a step has been taken in the desert. The soul, in connexion with Egypt, is still uncertain and in fear. The desert may be never so bitter and trying; but we are free and with God there, (brought to His holy habitation) through the redemption and deliverance of God.

dwells in him. (Rom. viii.) He is in the new man in the second Adam; he is in Christ, and being one with Him, he is spirit-for he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. (1 Cor. vi, 17.)

These are the three blessed characteristics of the believer's

liberty, as we are taught in these three glorious chapters. This is the standing of the "man in Christ." The truth has made him free, the Son has made him free; and this has been accomplished by taking him out of himself, and planting him, through faith, in the dead and risen Christ of God. Sin has no claim to his service, as a lord; the law has no power over him, as a husband; nor is the flesh the condition in which he is.

But this doctrine, which is Christianity, does not suit the legal, fleshly mind of man. Above all the difficulty which St. Paul had to meet in his care of the churches, that which arose from our disposedness to return to the law, or to "confidence in the flesh," was the most frequent and the greatest.

had been eminent for attachment to him, because of the In Galatia he found this abundantly. The church there gospel which he preached. They had received him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus, and would have plucked out their eyes for him. They had been in a particularly blessed state of soul; they had begun in the "Spirit," in the doctrine of faith; and this devotedness of heart to the apostle, who had brought them that doctrine, was the fruit of it. But they had been "bewitched." They had been drawn back from their place in Christ, and were in bondage again. Instead of being dead to the old husband, they had re-embraced him, and were deriving influence out of him once more. Not that they had formally renounced Christ, as Jews or Pagans. They still professed Christ, but together

The law, being good, has not been discharged in the way that sin has. It has been discharged as a husband only-as that to which the soul was debtor, and with which it was in union, before the sinner became a dead and risen man. Its holy and good words, as being expressive of God, are still delighted in and allowed.

with Him, they were insisting on, and trusting in, "days,"no good thing." The days, and months, and times, and and months, and times, and years." They were teaching years, religiously enforced as they were, and fitted to give for doctrines the commandments of men. They were re- their votaries a name to live with those who judge after enacting ordinances; they were turning again to beggarly the flesh, were but a painted sepulchre to the eye of St. elements. A life of simple faith in the Son of God, as the Paul. one who had loved them and given Himself for them, was defiled; and they were living to the law, putting themselves under observances, as under so many tutors and governors. They were servants and not sons-in bondage, and not in liberty; they had gone back to the schoolmaster, which they could not do without leaving the Father's house.

All this must have been connected with an increasing show of religion among them. This necessarily was the case; for "days and months" were so increasingly observed, the bonds of the law and of carnal ordinances were so multiplied, that to an eye not instructed by the Spirit, they must have had a great "name to live." But Paul speaks of all this as "leaven," threatening to corrupt the whole mass. In his view it was the symptom of death, and not of life. "A fair show" it was; but it was a fair show "in the flesh." Thus, under his eye, it was the garnishing of a sepulchre, and his energy is employed in re-quickening them. He travails in birth again with them, if haply they might be raised out of this sepulchre, or place of death, and brought forth, as Isaac from Sarah's dead womb, by the precious ministry of the truth-that is, the doctrine of the Son taught by the Spirit.

This epistle is a word of solemn admonition. It shows us that the most promising may be beguiled, so that all have to watch. We may have the blessed assurance of our holy keeping; but we none of us keep the book of life. Therefore we can only say of one another, "if ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled." And this epistle shows that we may be disappointed even in the most promising -in a Galatian-disciple; but it also shows us that the Spirit of God is alive, most sensitively alive, to the least infraction of the truth, or "the law of liberty." He speaks of it as He speaks of some of the foulest moral stains that could defile the garments of the saints: both are the leaven that leavens the whole lump. (1 Cor. v, 6; Gal. v, 9.)

Indeed God is not truly known where such things are trusted. If the living, blessed God be really before the soul, He is known as one who quickens the dead; but confidence in the flesh, such as existed among the Galatians, gives up God. Thus the apostle has to say, "howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service to them which by nature are no gods; but now after that ye have known God, (or rather are known of God,) how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, wherein ye desire again to be in bondage ?" For, indeed, as we may infer from what he says in Gal. ii, 19, the only way to be alive to God is to be dead to the law. Truly blessed this is. As long as the soul is alive to the law, as long as it derives the motions and sanctions which influence it from the law, │it is dead to God. For self is its end and object: to take care of one's self, of one's own interest and safety, is its purpose. God is not lived for; His glory and service are not the aim of the soul; that cannot be because the law is set up, and the law puts us upon caring for ourselves—upon the anxious, uneasy, servile question of our own interest and safety. This is shown in the person of the unprofitable servant. He was under the law. All that he cared about was to come off well in the day of reckoning. He treated the Lord as an austere man who must be satisfied. He feared him, not having learned that way of "perfect_love" which is His, and which casts out fear; and thus he was alive to the law, but dead to God. Paul, however, stood in another mind. "I," he says, "through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." But from this life the Galatians had now been "bewitched." They had begun it, but they were now deserting it, and no time was to be lost, if haply the apostle might now call them back to Christ, or to that "faith" which works by love, setting the heart and conscience at liberty before God, so that He may be loved. They had to learn again that nothing availed but "a new creature ;" (Gal. vi;) that before God the flesh is gone, sin judged, and the law taken out of the way; that the old master of Rom. vi is no longer in power, and that we are become dead to the old husband of Rom. vii; but that by faith in a dead and risen Christ, we have escaped from these bonds and penalties, to find our liberty in the fulness of Christ.

But it is to be observed still further, as to the nature of this leaven that was working in Galatia, that it was not the revival of a hope, under what is termed the moral law of the ten commandments, as though by strict moral obedience | a righteousness could be produced. This was not the gross thought of the disciples there; but they were returning to observances and ordinances. It was a more refined and religious confidence in the flesh; but still it was confidence in But if the standing in the "righteousness by faith" be the flesh. They had begun in the Spirit, with Christ's given up, and "confidence in the flesh" be adopted, then sufficiency; but now they were looking for perfection from there is both a fall from grace, and debtorship to do the and in the flesh. It was a departure from the liberty in whole law. (Gal. v, 1–5.) Christ will not share the conwhich Christ, by His death and resurrection, had put them; fidence of our souls with the law. He is a jealous husband, and the apostle clearly treats them as a people whose con- even as God is a jealous God. And we may bless Him that dition made him to stand in doubt of them, and to feel to- He is; we may bless Him that He will have us as a chaste wards them as though he must begin his toil among them virgin, with minds kept uncorrupted in His simplicity. If afresh, and travail in birth again till Christ be formed in we return to the law, whether ceremonial or moral, we are them, till all fleshly confidence should depart from their debtors to the whole of it. We are to glory in the cross hearts, and Christ and His liberty-Christ and the virtue of Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto us, and we of His death and resurrection, Christ and His completeness unto the world. (Gal. vi, 14.) We are not, by subjection for the poor sinner-be welcomed and received there alone. to ordinances, to manifest that we are still living in the All at Galatia was as death while the flesh, and its ob- world. (Col. ii, 20.) The cross has met everything for us. servances, and its righteousness, were thus confided in. A It has honoured the rights and demands of God. It has sepulchre it was, garnished by much religious drapery; but answered and silenced the malice of the enemy. And in the apostle was not to be deceived by such fair show; he spirit we have been carried on high, in and with Jesus, belays it bare; he takes off the trappings to exhibit the cor-yond the voice of the law; for that spoke for God on earth, ruption that was under them: for it was the flesh that was and we are above the earth, in the heavens, with the ascended under them, and the flesh is a dead thing. They might Christ. (Eph. ii, 6) This being so, we are called to leave ornament the flesh, but it is all uncleanness; and deck it the world, and all thoughts of sanctification in the flesh, out as we may, it is the flesh still, in which there dwelleth | remembering that it is with nothing else than with the “in

and not with Christ; it is of the world; for the apostle, in
the strong language already referred to in Col. ii, 20, chal-
lenges subjection to ordinances as a living in the world, and
as unsuited to one that is dead and risen with Christ.
No wonder, then, that the apostle sets himself so zealously
to the service of teaching the saints the great mystery, so
bright and full as it is of the glory of God; and also to
the service of gainsaying the leaven of the "teachers of the
law," so destructive is it of glory. If he prized the grace
of God in its purity and fulness, if he prized the liberty of
the souls of the saints, if he valued the blood and work of
Jesus, he must set himself to these services; he must with-
stand the pretensions of the flesh, wherever he met them,
and spread among the saints the light and savour of this
mystery of Christ. And so we find he did according to the
working of God which wrought in him effectually. It was
his jealousy lest that doctrine should be tainted; it was
his delight and desire that that doctrine should be known.
For the flesh, with all that it had, and all it could glory in,
whether its wisdom, strength, or religion, he had left to
perish in its own corruption.

crease of God" that we are nourished. (Col. ii, 19.) What fellow-labourer with the Spirit, for it is dealing with man words! but not too great; for our life is hid in God, and therefore partakes of its proper, divine nourishment. It is not we that live, but Christ that lives in us. All this truth was so precious to Paul, that the teaching of those who were reviving the law, or bondage to ordinances, was especially his sorrow; and as such had leavened the churches in Galatia more than any other, his most aggrieved letter is to them. It was the jealous care of the apostle to keep the doctrines of unsullied Christianity in full purity, and to spread the savour of them through the hearts of the elect. And this doctrine of Christ tells us that man is utterly worthless-that he has been touched again and again by the finger of God, and been found to be an instrument entirely out of tune, having no music for Him at all. Man is, accordingly, in the boundlessness of divine grace, laid aside, and Christ is taken up, risen from the dead, as the head of a new creation. Believers are God's workmanship in Christ Jesus. Christ is formed in them. They are born of God, and His seed remains in them-that incorruptible seed of the word of the gospel. They are a new creation, of which Christ is both the head and the character. He is in them, and they are in Him. It is not they who live, but Christ liveth in them. They are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, as has been before said, but to write again these precious truths is safe and pleasant. The believer is in in Christ, and not in himself, and thus he has done with condemnation as much as Christ has. Christ was once condemned; He died unto sin once; but now He dieth no more, death has no more dominion over Him. And so with the believer who is in Him: "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."

All this is for the effectual relief of the conscience, to give it perfect rest. But in the doctrine of Christ there is much more. It may be expressed thus, in mind, body, and ESTATE, believers are one with Jesus. How divine the love that could take such a counsel! The poor soul that believes is one with Christ in spirit now, and is to be one with Him in body and in inheritance by and by. He that is joined to the Lord is already "one spirit" with Him; and the present vile body is to be hereafter changed into the likeness of "his glorious body ;" and further still, we are "heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Jesus Christ;" for in Him and with Him we have obtained an inheritance. Thus are believers "conformed to the image of the Son." In mind, body, and estate they are one with Him. Great features of the precious mystery of Christ these are; and, shall I say, still more marvellous is it, that the same love which rests on the Son rests on them. (John xvii, 23.)

Thoughts quite beyond any but the mind of the Spirit open to us in all this. But while tracing the mystic oneness of Christ, we are to remember the teaching of scripture, that Jesus is the Sanctifier, and believers but the sanctified. (Heb. ii.) And this shows that notwithstanding the existence of this oneness, yet the proper personal distance between Him and us originally was as great as light from darkness, as heaven from hell, as God Himself from sin. And we are also to remember that by His blood alone are we called into this condition. The blood is our only title, though the things to which it entitles us are thus immeasurable. Now all this glorious mystery is soiled and clouded by those who taught circumcision or the law of commandments contained in ordinances. No wonder, then, that our apostle so withstood them; for such doctrine revives the flesh-revives man in himself; and that is destructive of the first element in pure, unmixed, Christianity. It builds again that which has been destroyed; it rakes among old ruins; it seeks the living among the dead; it busies itself in clothing a carcase; it is not in any wise a

And in closing, let us ask, what will commonly be found in this enacting of days, and months, and times, and years,in this reviving of ordinances, and of the rudiments of the world? In those who impose them, there has been of old the design of fastening their own bonds round the hearts of their votaries; in those who adopt them, there is generally the blindness of the mere natural mind: but at times these things are the fruit of growing worldliness in professors. This" doing, doing," in religious observances is the miserable substitute for the walk of faith and communion with God in the Spirit. The world that crucified Jesus is not heartily renounced, nor is Jesus Himself heartily embraced. The sweet savour of His name is departing, the freshness of His presence is fading, and the conscience, unsettled by this, seeks relief in the increased religiousness of the fleshly mind. The dark, cold heart, as it recedes from Christ, loses the vigorous, happy, genial sense, and puts on ornaments to hide from itself the growing feebleness of old age. It is well if they do not prove the very funeral trappings of a dead body. The heart knows its own wretched ways and deceits too well not to be able to speak of these things. Would that we were more simple concerning such evil. But Christ in His sufficiency is only the more prized and the more clung to as either one's soul is tempted this way, or as one's eye and ear understand that this way is growing in a generation of large and corrupted profession.

In the services of the Church, the greatest differences are found, and each one has his own place assigned him. The same thing will likewise, I believe, take place in the glory. (Compare Eph. iv, and 1 Cor. xii.) All are conformed to the likeness of the Son; but as each has been filled with the Holy Ghost for service, and thus, according to the counsels of God, to whom it is given of the Father, they sit on the right hand or on the left-they are over ten cities or five. All enter together into the joy of their Lord. We are all brethren, having only one Master. But the Master gives grace to each, according to His own will, according to the counsels He who denies brotherly unity, denies the of God the Father. sole authority of the Master; he who denies the diversity of services, equally denies the authority of the Master, who disposes of His servants as He pleases, and chooses them according to His wisdom and His divine rights.

"The camp" is an earthly religious relationship with God, outside the sanctuary, and established on earth with priests between us and God. This the Jews were; they cast Christ out of it, and it is now utterly rejected. "Let us go forth therefore unto him, without the camp, bearing his reproach."

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The Book and its Mission, Past and Present. Dedicated to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and to the friends of Bible circulation throughout the world. Edited by L. N. R., author of the "Book and its Story." Vol. I, 1856. (London: William Kent & Co., 51 & 52, Paternoster Row.)

This very interesting book keeps in view five distinct spheres of observation:-1, the lands still, or till lately, destitute of the scriptures, as China, Tibet, parts of Africa, &c.; 2, the lands where the people believe in a false book, as Turkey, Syria,

Armenia, &c.; 3, the lands where the Bible is hidden, Roman Catholic Switzerland, Sardinia, &c. ; 4, the ancient churches, Nestorian, Coptic, Abyssinian, &c.; and 5, the fields of Protestant effort at home and abroad. The following account of God's way with a young French soldier will serve as a sample:"When the French government was engaged in despatching large numbers of soldiers to the seat of war in the Crimea, a regiment made a halt of several days at a town in the South of France. It so happened that a Bible colporteur was in the same town, engaged in prosecuting his work..... One morning then, while surrounded in the forecourt of the barracks by a group of soldiers, ..... a young man, of an open and most intelligent countenance, stepped forward, and coming close to where the colporteur was standing, said to him, in a cordial manner, that he had been deeply touched by his serious and affectionate exhortations. They have convinced me,' he added, of the necessity of getting possession of the Word of God; but, alas!' he continued, drawing a deep sigh, 'I have not a centime wherewith to make this precious purchase. That need not signify, the colporteur at once replied: if you have so great a desire to possess a copy, it shall not be said that a Christian allowed you to go away without giving you one, even though I may have to pay for it myself to those to whom I give an account of my operations; and drawing one of the smallest New Testaments out of his wallet, he handed it with much pleasure to the soldier. But what was his surprise and grief! for scarcely had the rogue got possession of the book, than he burst out into a loud laugh, exclaiming, 'You are done, my fine fellow! I am jester No. 1 of the regiment or rather, ask my comrades. It is as clear as the sun that shines that I am not a

* John xix, 30.

6

bad hand at making a fool of you. . . . . . When I am dead, do vou see, my dear friend,' here the colporteur interrrupted this flow of trifling language, by exclaming, ..... 'After death, poor miserable man, the judgment will follow; and what a judgment!...... Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.' (Matt. xxv, 41; Matt. viii, 12.) For a moment the young soldier ceased to laugh, and appeared as if silenced; but his levity quickly returned, and turning towards those who were standing by, he called out, 'I verily believe . . . . . . that the old boy wants to insult me.'......‘Give me back the book,' exclaimed the colporteur, with earnestness. Nay, nay, old fellow,' replied the soldier. 'whatever is given, is given willingly, and in the same manner I shall keep it. Moreover, your book may be of use to me, and this is no doubt what you wish. In the camp, one has not always at hand a piece of paper to light one's pipe, and it will serve capitally for that. Much obliged to you therefore.' . . . . . On this, the young man hastily went away, though not before he had heard the following serious warning. "Take care what you are about, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' (Heb. X, 31.)

.....

......

"The poor colporteur, observing the lamentable effect which had been produced on the dissipated minds of those who still surrounded him, went away, his heart filled with the deepest sorrow. The feeling which predominated in his mind was one of intense compassion, which caused him to cry out in prayer to God, Lord, pardon him, ... ... O God,...... cause a word to penetrate into the very depths of his conscience.. convert him-save him!' Such was the fervent prayer of this christian man.

"After the lapse of fifteen months from the period when this occurrence took place, we again meet with the same man at his work. He has travelled much during the interval, and in many places, far distant from each other, he has had the joy of emptying many times the large wallet in which he carries his stock of Bibles and New Testaments..

"One evening, on arriving at a small village, situated at a distance of upwards of a hundred leagues from the town where the New Testament was taken from him in so unbecoming a manner, he enquired for an inn where he might hope to rest from the fatigues of a day during which he had been very actively employed.

distress.

"He had scarcely entered the house when he became aware that some sorrowful occurence must have taken place there... close to the fire-place was a somewhat aged woman, sitting with her head falling on her breast, and evidently sunk in the deepest . . . . Our friend, therefore, went up to her with feelings of that deep sympathy which, when expressed in the most simple words, soon secures confidence. Yes, I am in sorrow, in deep sorrow,' exclaimed the landlady, the tears gushing down 'You ask the cause of all my sorrow.

her cheeks.

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this :-only a few hours ago he who was the happiness, and, I may say, the pride of my life,-my son, was placed in the silent Here her voice wholly failed her in grave; and what a son!' agonizing sobs. Do not grieve so, my good woman,' said the ..... but let me read to you a colporteur, with deep emotion, few lines out of a book which I never open without finding something exactly suitable to the circumstances through which I may be called to pass.'

"The colporteur drew from his pocket a small New Testament, words been pronounced, when the woman uttered a loud cry and out of which he read Heb. xii, 10, 11. Scarcely had the last jumped up with extreme impetuosity. The colporteur, without seeming to pay any attention to this, turned over a few leaves of his book and read Heb. iv, 14-16.

"On hearing this passage the woman rushed up to the reader, and, snatching the book out of his hand, exclaimed, . . . . . You wicked man, you have taken from me the most precious thing have still remaining of him!...... the treasure which I prize most of all!' then casting a hasty glance at the book of the floor, saying to herself, No, this is not my precious book; which she had so violently possessed herself, she dropped it on mine is torn, but this one is perfect. Forgive me.' 'Does your book, then, resemble mine, my good woman? and is it a legacy from your dear son ?' 'Yes,' she said, 'God be praised for it

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