"STERN JUSTICE AND MAJESTY TERRIFIES." 29

"No, doctor; peace and love reign in my family, and my circle is unbroken."

"Have you any enemies?" "Not that I am aware of."

"What subject most frequently occupies your thoughts?"

I

"You are approaching a matter which I hardly like to speak of, doctor. I am a sceptic; and the ceremonies of religion are, in my view, as repugnant to common sense as its mysteries are to reason. do not believe in revelation, and yet, I must confess, one of its dogmas haunts me like a spectre." "Will you tell me what it is?"

"A vision of the last judgment is constantly pressing upon my mind. The end of all things seems to have come, and the great white throne is set up. There is One seated on the throne whose look of stern justice and majesty terrifies me. I hear Him call me in a voice like thunder. I try to escape from His penetrating glance; but heaven and earth have disappeared, and I am left alone. Doctor, can you understand what that means, alone, -alone in the presence of perfect purity-alone under the scrutinizing eye of One who reads me through and through? Every moment I expect to hear the awful words, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.''

"6 'What makes you fear such a sentence?"

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THE OLD REMEDY.

Well; in the eyes of men my life is deemed irreproachable, and not without reason. I have less to accuse myself of than most of my acquaintances, but in the presence of such dazzling glory— such spotless purity-my very best actions appear black and hideous. That Eye searches out the thoughts and intents of my heart, so that not a single act of my life is pure in His sight. I feel guilty and condemned, and long to find some spot where I can hide from His presence."

"Is that what causes the melancholy of which you complain?'

"I suppose so. This terrible vision is always before me; I cannot get rid of it. Sometimes I think it is only imagination, the effect of a depressed state of the nervous system, and that when I get strong it will pass away. But then again the thought forces itself upon me; 'What if after all it should be a divine truth, a scene in which I must in reality some day appear?' 'My mind gets bewildered with these conflicting thoughts, and I look and long in vain for deliverance. This is an humbling confession for a man of my views, doctor."

"I have by me an old book, which contains a remedy for your disease,” said the doctor, with confidence, as he turned to his book-case and took down a book which bore the marks of frequent use. He turned over a few pages, and then hand

"WE HAVE NOT ESTEEMED."

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ing the book to his patient, he requested him to read aloud the lines to which he pointed.

He read as follows: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?'"

Doctor-"The unbelief which the prophet complained of two thousand six hundred years ago, exists in our day. Who among the millions in our so-called Christian country believes this report?"

“For He shall grow up before him, as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.'"

Count.—“ Of whom do these verses speak?"

"Of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, whom He sent into the world, that by His propitiatory death He might make atonement for sin.”

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed him not.'”

"That is indeed true; we have not esteemed Him"

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.""

"Here again the prophecy has been fulfilled."

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"THE WILLING SUBSTITUTE."

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."" "What does that mean, doctor?

"That the Son of God took the sinner's place, and bore the punishment due to the sinner. He became the willing victim, and God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all, and with His stripes we were healed."

"What! did the Son of God take my place and die for me?"

"The Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.'"

"I that be so, there is no punishment for me!" "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.' "Is it possible, doctor? What Divine beauty and simplicity! The guiltless dies for the guilty!" "Read on a little further."

"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet he opened not His mouth.'"

"Because he stood there as the willing substitute." "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.''

"He gave up his life a ransom for me."

"He was taken from prison and from judgment;

WHAT GREAT LOVE TO SINNERS!

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and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was He stricken.'

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Praise the Lord! He took the sinner's place." "And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief." "

"Oh! what great love to sinners!"

"When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.'

"There it is again, doctor. I see it as clearly as possible! justified by the death of another! Oh, why did I never know this before? Justified!'

what a word for a guilty sinner!"

"Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the portion with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death and He was numbered with the transgressors.' Isa. liii.

"Doctor, such a salvation could never have originated in the heart of man; none but God could plan such a salvation; none but God could

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