Imatges de pàgina
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were exceedingly vague. Now, however, I found out what it is to feast on the Paschal Lamb, what it is to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, what it is to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him. My feelings were something like what would be those of a person who had been all his life long incarcerated in a dark cavern, but now mysteriously brought out by a loving hand into the light of day to behold the bright shining of the solar orb, to be illuminated by its rays and warmed by its beams.

Old things were indeed passed away, and all things had become new. Here were new joys and new sorrows, new companionships, new anticipations, new prospects, and new hopes. All nature seemed to rejoice with me in my deliverance from captivity and the bondage of sin. I literally leaped for joy, even as David danced before the ark, as an expression of internal spiritual pleasure. I could believe that the great Father of the universe was my Father; that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who made all things by the word of His power, was my Saviour; that the Holy Spirit, who taketh up the isles as a very little thing, and before whom all nations are as the drop of a bucket, was my Teacher; and that heaven with all its untold glories was to be my final and eternal home. That I was predestinated to be conformed to the likeness of Christ, to be like Him, to see Him as He is, and to be with Him for ever. That all my

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sins, past, present and future, were atoned for by His shed blood on the cross; that my person was justified by the righteousness of His obedient life; and that by the Holy Spirit I was made meet to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. I had, however, my times of darkness and depression; I knew what it is to walk in darkness as well as in the light, to experience night seasons as well as the brightness of day.

At my earlier stage of experience I was the subject of many doctrinal perplexities. I was upon one occasion peculiarly exercised about the meaning of a text of Scripture that appeared to me to be opposed to the teaching of the good minister before named; I thought that surely he must have overlooked that particular part of the Word of God.

I continued to meet my friend on Westminster Bridge, and we used to converse together on divine subjects as we walked together to chapel. I wrote the scripture on a piece of paper, with a view to consult him as to the exact meaning of it. It formed the subject of discussion until we got to our place of worship. We took our seats at opposite sides of the chapel. The first hymn was sung, when, judge my surprise and that of my friend, when the minister commenced his reading at the very passage, and expounded it much to my satisfaction and edification, removing, in the light of other parts of Scripture, all the difficulty that I saw before.

Now, was this a mere coincidence?

if so, it was a very remarkable one; or was it the leading of the Divine Spirit, such as was manifest to the Ethiopian eunuch, who was reading part of the prophecy of Isaiah and did not understand it, but desired to do so? Here the Spirit had said unto Philip, "Go, join thyself to that chariot," in which the good man was. The enquiry was, "Of whom spake the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?" Philip, as the mouthpiece of Jehovah, explained the matter, preached unto him Jesus. Here was a spirit of enquiry, and here was the gracious answer, fulfilling the declaration, Seek, and ye shall find."

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I listened once with peculiar delight to a sermon preached by Mr. Wells on the words, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" The whole plan of salvation was opened to my astonished view. The covenant of grace was unrolled. The Father's love, as exhibited in the Person of Christ as the God-Man Mediator: No MAN "can by any means redeem his brother, nor give unto God a ransom for him." At the same time, without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin; but by the complexity of the Person of Christ we have Man that can die for us, and God who can give divine efficacy to the death of the manhood. As sin against God was an infinite offence, objectively considered, being committed against an infinite Being, nothing short of a sacrifice that is infinite could be accepted by divine justice. In

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the Son of God we have a suitable Saviour, one who is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto the Father by Him. The effect that the Gospel had on my mind was that it induced me to embrace every opportunity to attend the preaching of it-three times on the Lord's day, and every evening in the week on which doors were open for service. I felt somewhat the meaning of that scripture, "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted."

CHAPTER VIII.

His Wife called by Grace-Baptised Together-God's

Grace to his Mother.

I HAVE said nothing yet about my wife Martha as far as concerns religion. Well, she used, like a good wife, to go to chapel with me, although she did not see the necessity or the propriety of going so often as three times on a Sunday; she considered that once was enough. When we were married, we were both alike in darkness and bondage. I was, however, the first to be concerned about better things than those of this world, and first to be enlightened in the mysteries of gospel truth. But it is said, "The first shall be last and the last first," and this saying was made good in our case, and it was on this wise.

One Wednesday evening there was to be a baptizing of a considerable number of believing brethren and sisters, at the chapel, by Mr. Wells. My wife and I went to witness the ordinance; it was a very impressive sight to see so many, by their voluntary act of submission to the divine will as laid down in the Scriptures of the New Testament, declaring their allegiance to Jesus, the King of kings, and shewing their separation from the world that lieth in wickedness, and their determination in future to follow the Lord.

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