ployment of every energy and influence with which God has endowed you. There is a talisman in affection, be it yours to exert it; there is instruction in the events of Divine providence, be it yours to seize and preach from them; there is opportunity in the quiet walk, the lone interview, the sabbatic rest, employ them to drop the words of Gospel wisdom-to raise the cross -to honour Christ, and point to heaven. "Be not weary in well-doing; for in due time shall ye

reap,

if ye

faint not."

And should these pages fall into the hands of those who have not found Jesus as their Lord and Saviour-who have not taken him as all their salvation, and all their joy-let them turn them, though addressed to another class, to practical account for themselves. Let them discover in the arguments employed, the description of their own danger unless they come to Jesus, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Let them recognise as their own the condition, both present and prospective, of the unconverted, as it has been here pourtrayed. Let them remember that the peril of eternal misery, and the certainty of the present destitution of the Divine favour, which has been employed as a motive to induce others to Christian activity, is their own, and represents their own case. Let them remember, that while the possessors of the spiritual knowledge of Jesus Christ are responsible for efforts to seek the salvation of those around them-these, in their turn, are not less responsible for seeking the eternal welfare of their own souls. Let them discover what they need, and be in earnest to have their need supplied. them take these pages, and with them in their hand, address some Christian friend, some truly devoted relative, and employing them as a ground of appeal-earnestly and anxiously ask, "Show me the way to God-to happiness-to heaven." them be willing to learn-be prayerful for a Divine blessing; and then. "those who sow, and they who reap, will rejoice together." And then, too, having been themselves brought to Jesus, let them next go and invite others, and direct them with affection and earnestness to Him who has blessed their own souls, and whom now they feel to be precious.

Let

Let

J. F. SHAW, BOOKSELLER, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, LONDON.

J. & W. Rider, Printers, Bartholomew Close, London.

it

the

DURING a residence of a few years in the town of was my privilege to form the acquaintance of Dr. physician to one of its public institutions, and justly held in estimation, as well for his professional attainments, as for talents which qualified him for taking part in public movements connected with the well-being of the community among whom he lived. Our acquaintance with each other subsequently ripened into friendship; and although on some important points we held opinions the most opposite to each other, and were in the habit of conversing fully and freely upon them, this circumstance never for a moment interrupted the pleasurableness of our intercourse.

On my removing from our friendship was still maintained, through the medium of affectionate and unreserved correspondence. But several years passed by, during which no opportunity of meeting had been afforded us. Often had this gratification been looked for and counted upon. At length, a letter was received from my friend, informing me that he was staying for the sake of his health at and that on his return home I might expect to see him as he passed through the place of my residence. This was followed by another affectionate note to the same purport. The prospect of meeting was most gratifying; the more so as a cloud of heavy trial was just then gathering around my own dwelling. On the day but one after the receipt of this last note, my mind had been continually reverting to the expected opportunity of renewing our intercourse; when, toward evening, the post brought me a letter from the place of his sojourn, but directed in a strange hand-writing. I opened it hastily, and read the words— "A melancholy duty devolves on me, at the request of my dear friend, Mrs. to acquaint you with the decease of her beloved husband, which took place this day, at about halfpast one. I was conversing with him only a few minutes before, and had taken my departure for when he broke a blood-vessel, which almost immediately terminated his valuable life upon earth."

The tidings were indeed overwhelming; they gave an affecting confirmation to the Scriptural statements of the frailty and uncertainty of human existence-" For what is your life? It is even a vapour, which appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away," Jas. iv. 14. "In the morning they are like

grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth, Ps. xc. The intelligence, too, disappointed expectations of the most pleasant order, and caused the spirit of heaviness to take the place of the gladness of anticipation.

Under such circumstances, the sense of loss is the first and most natural impression which the mind receives. But this speedily and irresistibly associates with itself other thoughts and feelings. From one's own distress, how quickly the transition is made to the actual state of the departed! How there springs up within us, as in a moment, an indescribably solemn sense of the alteration in circumstances which the moment of death has made to the spirit which has taken its flight! It has gone into a world strange to us, and as strange to itself. What is its present condition? is the inquiry which instinctively occurs-and this question is rendered all-important and supremely impressive, by a large variety of connected considerations; and chiefly by our knowledge that the world beyond the present admits but of two conditions; that the alternative is simply-happiness or woe-and that for ever. This happiness the Scripture reveals as derived from the enjoyment of the smile and favour of God; from being with Christ; from being made "like him," 1 John iii. 2; and from the nonintrusion of any causes unfavourable to peace, or opposed to sanctity, Rev. xxi. 4, 27. The woe arises from the endurance of just condemnation, John iii. 18; from exclusion from the favour and presence of God, Matt. xxii. 13; from the recollection of mercies abused, and opportunities slighted, Luke xvi. 25; from the permanence and powerful action of the principle of enmity to God, inherent to the human heart, Rev. xxii. 11, 15 ; and from the impossibility of escape or transition, however remote, from misery to bliss, from woe to joy, Luke xvi. 26. Now, when the actual removal of one dear to us takes all these circumstances out of the place of mere theory-when we feel that the spirit which once lived in that frame, now cold in death -which animated that countenance-which spoke through those lips, and expressed its affection through the radiance of those eyes, and in the grasp of those hands-when we feel that that spirit has entered one or other of these two states-that the stamp of eternity is now affixed to its existence, either "in Paradise" with the Redeemer, or in that world "where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,”—then with what a seriousness, a solemnity beyond the power of language to express, does the question force itself upon our minds-Where is the soul? What direction did it take on leaving the body?

How shall we ascertain ? With the spirit itself, we feel, (and under any circumstances the feeling is acutely painful) all communication for the present is cut off. It cannot come back to tell. It cannot return in the stillness of the solitary hour, to give the slightest intimation of its state. Nor does God see fit by any other messenger from on high to convey the knowledge of which we are in quest. But it does not follow that we are left altogether in the dark. From the Bible, from which we gather that information which renders our inquiry so momentous, we gain the means of acquiring an answer too. This blessed book comes to our aid, with statements as simple as they are indisputably certain. It points out circumstances under which it is impossible to enter heaven; and it describes, with equal clearness, a series of proofs, the presence of which, in any individual's case, inspire the pleasing hope that "when the earthly house of the tabernacle was dissolved," the emancipated spirit found "the building of God-the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," 2 Cor. v. It distinctly declares, on the one hand, that he that believeth not on the Son of God shall not see life, but that the wrath of God abideth on him, John iii. 36; that the unchanged in heart-however privileged in their external circumstances, or however loud in their profession—will in vain seek admission into the realms of the blessed, Matt. vii. 22, 23; that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, Heb. xii. 14. On the other hand, it ensures to the true believer in, and humble disciple of, the Lord Jesus Christ, that in the many mansions which a Heavenly Father's love has provided, he shall have a place, John xiv. 2. It says, that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus; that those who, by Divine grace, have experienced a change of heart, and in whom the Holy Spirit dwells as the Spirit of adoption, teaching them to call God Father, and to live as his obedient childrenbecome, if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, Rom. viii. 1-17: and that after the sufferings of this life, they shall reign with him, 2 Tim. ii. 12. It describes a patient continuance in well doing (not works of merit, but that habitual course of action which fully proves love to God through Jesus Christ) which must end in glory, honour, and immortality, Rom. ii. 7. It speaks of walking with God, as preparatory to being with him, Gen. v. 24; of fighting the good fight of faith, and then laying hold upon eternal life, 1 Tim. vi. 12; of living as strangers and pilgrims here, 1 Pet. ii. 11; and then entering the rest which remains for the people of God, Heb. iv. 9; of setting the affections on things. above, and then appearing in glory with Christ, Col. iii.

Such declarations as these, applied to the life of the individual, afford the only accurate means of judging of the condition of the spirit after its departure from the body. These tests must be faithfully applied; no false charity must be allowed to throw its blinding influence over the eye of the inquirer; no mere wishes, nor hopes, must be thrown into the balance. And of all forms of satisfaction of which the mind can be the subject, there is none which is richer and more substantial than that which is possessed when the question is no sooner proposed in reference to the eternal state of departed friends, than the whole course and tenor of their lives rises to our view as affording a satisfactory reply-satisfactory, in view of these tokens of meetness for heaven, which the Holy Spirit alone can produce: and when the more we examine into their personal history and character, and the more we look at them in the light of the Bible—the more we are confirmed in the conclusion, that if the statements of that book are to be received as infallibly true, then they are safely landed on the peaceful shore of the better land. Here, then, was found a source of true solace and satisfaction, when the tidings arrived of the decease of my friend. He was a Christian-not in the common and merely conventional acceptation of the word—but in its fullest, spiritual, and scriptural sense. He was a disciple of Christ; he followed Jesus. He had learnt of Him who was meek and lowly in heart, and in Him had found rest for his soul. It was the testimony of an excellent and truly devoted clergyman who was in the habit of closest intercourse with him until the end of his days :—

66

'Perhaps few men ever felt more deeply the necessity of an atonement to take away sin. He constantly spoke of this as a work beyond the power of man, or of all men, to achieve. No man could by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for his soul. None but Christ-God and man-one Christ-could take away sin. In a few memoranda which it has been my privilege to look over, I find him at one time saying, I sincerely desire to glorify God in my body and spirit; but I find it a difficult matter. If we were rewarded according to our deserts, and we had no better righteousness than our own to depend on, we should surely none of us see life.' At another time, 'What a privilege it is to have an interest in the sympathies and prayers of a Christian friend; but how much higher is the privilege of having an interest in the atonement of Him who is emphatically the Sinner's Friend! Oh! may I feel this

more and more."

While he thus rested his hopes of eternal life above on Jesus, it was his habit to live near to. God; acknowledging Him in the mercies he enjoyed-seeking from Him direction in duties aiming after greater conformity to the image of

THE ENGLISH MONTHLY TRACT SOCIETY, 27, RED LION SQUARE