Page images
PDF
EPUB

whom the Lord hath chosen, and bring them to the light to show forth his praise? He that is seeking after goodly pearls, regards not the unfavourable situation in which they may be found. He recognises their true value apart from all appearances; while he who possesses not the requisite knowledge for discerning the hid treasure, passes it by with indifference. In proportion as our own souls are earnestly concerned in this matter, shall we find ourselves rewarded by ever fresh illustrations of the Divine wisdom and goodness amongst the simple annals of the poor.

While lately visiting some friends in Leicestershire, I was taken by them to view the remains of Bradgate Hall, the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey. After surveying the ruins, and listening to the traditions of the spot, we adjourned for refreshment to the little inn of the neighbouring village. While we were conversing together on religious subjects, it was hinted to me that a very aged man, the father-in-law of the person who kept the inn, was sitting by the fire in an adjoining room, and that he appeared desirous of speaking with me. Approaching him without any formality, the friends following me to listen, I entered into conversation with him, desirous of eliciting from himself the state of his mind, and the views he entertained of this life and of another. He was tall, respectably clad, and though enfeebled by age, of an agreeable appearance. His commu

nications were so artless and free, and so evidently the genuine expressions of an untutored mind, enlightened with the rays of gospel truth, that, assisted by the recollection of my companions, I put upon record the following dialogue, in which, as generally in such instances, I preserve, as far as I can, the words and imperfections of the respondent :

"You look very old, my friend, and have passed your threescore years and ten'?"

"I am ninety-two years old," said he, "this last month; and, excepting that I have been very deaf, I am not very infirm."

"Well, you have had enough of this life, I should think; are you not tired of it?"

"No; I am waiting till God Almighty sees fit to take me out of it."

"Not trusting, I hope, to your own works?" "No; I put them off long ago."

"Where is your hope ?"

"In the Lord."

"Are you in Christ?"

"Yes. I hope: I know't. I ha' the sweetest union with God on my bed. It's like meat to my corporal frame. I cannot read, nor hear; but the Spirit of God, I thinks, has taught me. I know whom I have believed. I have a peace that passes all things. I know that when my heart faileth, and my flesh too, God will be the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. I am sure on't;—and sure the Spirit will keep me steadfast."

"How came you, my friend, by this knowledge ?”

"I was very hard, sir, to be moved; but the clergyman came to me, as I could not hear him at church. And he was so kind: I was a great rebel against him; I thought he would ha' given me up; but he didn't, and at length he overcame me, and I could tell him all my mind. I had told him before that I could not feel what he said, but afterwards I opened my whole heart to him. but another good man is come in his place. ask, sir, who I am talking to ?"

He's gone,
But, may I

On being told that I was a minister of Jesus Christ, he rose, took me by both hands, and with a glistening eye, said

“Oh, I am so thankful that a good minister should come to talk to me ! My heart is full. I could go down on my knees to thank you."

Wishing to remember him, I asked his name, and was surprised to hear it announced as "John Wesley," which his daughter informed me was the family name, her parents and grand-parents, who lived in Shropshire, having been so called, and she believed they had been originally Methodists. "Ye see your calling, brethren," says the apostle, whose words meet with a striking exemplification in the foregoing recitals, "how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence. of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

But

M

A

PROVERBS.

The Backslider Restored.

"The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways."

PROV. xiv. 14.

BACKSLIDER is indeed filled with the fruits of his

own misdeeds. He has nothing else as a spiritual possession, for he is destitute of all true peace and solid satisfaction. Even if he be apparently at ease while a backslider, yet upon his being aroused from his sinful lethargy, his state of mind will be most distressing and fearful to witness. The various expedients to which he had recourse, in order that by pre-occupation of mind he might ward off the shafts of conscience, and avoid the tendency to condemnatory self-comparisons in contrasting his previous and present states of soul, all begin to fail him; and their lulling efficacy, like that of natural opiates. soon spends itself, and then leaves the wretched sufferer to deeper desolation of spirit. Conscience now will be heard, and severely reproaches him with the deep-dyed ingratitude which has marked his conduct, a conduct more injurious to the cause of religion than even the sins of his unregenerate life. He cannot shut out the thought that he has given too much occasion to the enemy to blaspheme, that he has supplied the scorner with another opportunity for the exhibition of his powers of sarcasm, that he has emboldened the hesitating sinners, and filled the quiver of the infidel with poisoned

shafts; and that all these will reiterate and enforce the calumnious assertion that those who have loudly boasted of the happiness of a religious life, and have professed that spiritual enjoyments arising from piety and holiness far surpass all the vaunted pleasures of earth and sense, have proved the falsity of their profession by their subsequent declension. He bewails also the cause for dark triumph which he has given to spirits of evil, and the emotions of sadness (if such can be entertained by happy spirits) which he has awakened in good angels, who had once made the heavenly courts to resound with songs of joy when he had been enrolled amongst the penitents of earth.

There remains a still deeper wound in his breast, a still more prominent stigma of ingratitude, and it is this:-What offence has he not given to him, who did not hesitate to die for sinners, and whom he, the backslider, had once openly professed to love and adore as his Saviour! Perhaps he imagines that he beholds a tender yet upbraiding look directed to him, like that which once met the eye of Peter, when the discovery of his baseness was made, and when his guilt flashed suddenly upon him; and then the backslider of to-day, like the one of old, goes out and weeps bitterly. He now conceives of the obstacles which he himself has accumulated in the path of his return as insurmountable. He doubts the possibility of restoration. Knowing that a relapse is in nature more dangerous than the original malady, he fears that it may be impossible to renew him again unto repentance. The doom of apostates looms darkly before him in that awful saying of Holy Writ, which announces it in terrible form: nor are evil spirits, of whose agency he can have no doubt, slow in their hidden but neverremitted efforts to fasten around the captive the last links of the chain of despair. With a wound which he fears is

« PreviousContinue »