CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 924 079 572 040 
 
 CORNELL UNIVEKbni 
 
 UBRARY 
 
 ITHACA, N.Y, 14853 
 
 Charles W. Wason Collectioi 
 on East Asia 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
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 QIotttEll HmnctBity Eibrary 
 
 JtJbaxa. 3<stD §nrk 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CUA5S OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 
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 i:i¥o [D^'^a® SAiisii^j^ 
 
 B N SK C I D 
 
 JAMES NISBtT S C LONDON. 
 
MEMOIE 
 
 LIFE AND BEIEF MINISTEY 
 
 EEY. DAYID 8ANDEMAN, 
 
 / BY THE 
 
 EEV. ANDEEW A. BONAK, 
 
 ADTBOB or THE " UEUOIB OF EEV. It M. M'CHETKE," &0. 
 
 SECOND EDITIOS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., BBBNERS STREET. 
 
 1862. 
 

 ■ DIKBTIBOH: PHIWTBD BT JOHS GR2IO A-TflD SOS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In complying with the request made to me to 
 undertake the Memoir of a beloved friend, who, in 
 his thirty-second year, fell asleep in Jesus, I felt that 
 in so doing I might be said to be Tvriting "words 
 concerning the King." For, the example set forth 
 here is that of one whose rare single-mindedness, 
 affection to his Lord, watchfulness of spirit, and most 
 cheerful self-sacrifice in the Master's service, shew 
 what gifts our King can give to His own ; and may 
 stir us up to serve that same Lord, as men should do 
 in whose ear the trumpet-voice is ringing, " Now it 
 is high time to awake out of sleep ! for now is your 
 salvation nearer than when you behoved. The night 
 is far spent, the day is at hand" (Rom. xiiL 11, 12). 
 Mr Sandeman's like-minded brother, Frederick, 
 with the aid of his intimate friend, Mr Coventry, 
 
 b 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 fumished the materials to my hand. They prepared 
 the stones for the buildmg, and my chief work has 
 been putting the stones in their place. 
 
 "Let the beauty of our Lord God be upon us! 
 and estabhsh thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
 yea, the work of our hands establish thou it I" 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 His Conversion, 
 
 Faoi 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 TnE First Yeak afiee Cowersios, . . . .15 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 His Days op Study for the Mixistby, . . . .55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Sinner and the Saviour, 101 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 His Public Mlnistratioxs at Home, .... 139 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 rBAGMEKTS : SeLF-ExaSIXATION — LETTERS — SeBUOX!, . 177 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Ills Bkigf Career in Ceixa, 253 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?" 
 
 MiOAH Tl. 6. 
 
"Let Israel rejoice in Him ttat made him" (P& 
 cxlix. 2), is a call of the Holy Spirit addressed to 
 those who have been made new, and made meet for 
 the glory that is to be revealed, by Him who gave 
 them their being. Whatever a bdieving man is, he 
 owes it all to the ;sovereign grace of his God, who 
 made him a vessel of honour ; for his " willing and 
 running" (Rom. ix 16) came not £:om himself, but 
 originated with God, " who sheweth mercy." 
 
 It was entirely so with him of whom these pages 
 speak. David Sandeman, second son of Glas San- 
 deman, Esq. of Bonstied, was bom at Perth, 23d 
 April 1826. The pleasant residence of this prosper- 
 ous femily was Spimngland, close to the river Tay, 
 within a mile of the town, and not fax from a 
 locality renowned in Scottish history, the old palace 
 of Scone, where the kings of Scotland used to be 
 crowned. 
 
4 EDUCATION. 
 
 la his infancy Le was somewhat more sedate thaa 
 children usually are, and in boyhood shewed no great 
 interest in games that delighted his companions ; yet 
 he was always fearless in manly exercises, a bold 
 rider, skater, and swimmer. It was not quickness, 
 but perseverance, that distinguished him from other 
 boys, along with regularity in all his habits and a 
 strong sense of duty. At school, while his companions 
 loved him for his kindliness, his teachers remarked 
 his diligence and conscientious industry, which enabled 
 .liim to outstrip cleverer scholars, so much so, that the 
 vector of Perth Academy, Dr Miller, testified, in re- 
 ferring to his mathematical studies, that to him be- 
 longed the praise of bringing forward the entire class 
 "of which he was a member. 
 
 The only incident of his younger years which seems 
 marked by any special interest is his being sent, at 
 the age of fifteen, to the Pestalozzian Institution 
 at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, conducted by Dr 
 Heldenmaier. - There, besides laying the foundation of 
 other acquirements, he began to learn French and 
 German, for in that Institution conversation was 
 carried on in both these languages ; and it may be 
 that this circumstance contributed to foster his likin" 
 to foreign tongues, iand may thus have had some 
 remote influence, in after years, in deciding his mind 
 toward China. At this place, too, his youthful afftc- 
 
tTNCONVERTED STILL. 5 
 
 tions were drawn out by the kindness of his instruc- 
 tors, and his mind developed amid pleasant scenery ; 
 his common excursions, even in seasons of recreation, 
 being to such spots in the neighbourhood as Chats- 
 worth or Welbeck Abbey. 
 
 At this period he rose early, was thorough in the 
 preparation of lessoiis, acted conscientiously, shewed 
 great respect to the teachings of the Word of God, 
 and observed the forms of godliness as others round 
 him did. Many would have thought that he had the 
 fear of God before his eyes. It was not so, however, 
 at that period, though the Lord was keeping abundant 
 mercy for him. The instrumentality employed in 
 bringing about his change was of various kinds, as 
 is perhaps most frequently the case with the Lord's 
 work in conversion. He himself, in reference to agents 
 employed by the Lord in effecting such changes, made 
 the interesting remark in after years to a friend at 
 Jordanhill — " It is just like a large vessel returning 
 laden with goods ; it will be found at last that every 
 individual believer has had a share in the ingathering 
 of souls. As for myself, when letting down the 
 Gospel-net, I always feel that other believers are 
 letting it down along ^vith me." 
 
 We have his own testimony that he lived eighteen 
 years without God. Thus, in ISiS, he writes in 
 looking back: — 
 
6 UKCOMVERTED STIUL 
 
 " For eighteen years of my life I believe tliat I was 
 truly vdthout the knowledge of God. Diiring all that 
 time, my conduct was never influenced by the thought 
 of His existence as a person, or of any thing I did 
 being pleasing or displeasing to Him. Assuredly I 
 worshipped as the heathen at Athens, an ' unknown 
 God;' or as the Samaritans, I 'knew not what' 
 Anything like a knowledge of Him was a vague, 
 undefined sense or fear of future retribution for 
 evil done, and that a God, a powerful Being, would 
 inflict it 
 
 " An undefined sense of duty, my parents, masters, 
 emulation among my fellow-pupUs, carnal lusts, and 
 above all — ' self;' these, I believe, were my gods ; at 
 least, they held all the place where God should have 
 been. 
 
 " I was dissatisfied or happy, entirely as I managed 
 to please or displease them. Of the worship due to 
 Jehovah, the God of Abraham, I was as ignorant as a 
 stock or stone." 
 
 On 4th April 1852, he takes a similar review of 
 the past: — "This day corresponds to the Sabbath of 
 my new birth. I still bitterly repent the time I 
 spent in Satan's service. It is unmingled bitterness; 
 I went smoothly on in utter disregard of Christ I 
 never honoured Him as God, as my Creator, my 
 Judge, and my risen Redeemer. 1 was a decent rebel. 
 
INSTEUMEKTS. 7 
 
 outwardly respectable, but in reality a despiser of 
 Christ" 
 
 And yet from in&ncy he had been taught by hb 
 parents the way of salvation, and had been moving 
 among those who not only knew the Lord, but also 
 adorned the Gospel by their holy Ufa Often does 
 he refer, at a later period, to his mother's prayers 
 and anxious yearnings over him in those days; some- 
 times to books put into his hands ; and also to faith- 
 ful ministers whose preaching of Christ and his sal- 
 vation he felt to be impressiva Still for eighteen 
 years his soul was dead to God. In the years 1839 
 and 184!0, the ministry of Mr Millar, then minister 
 of St Leonard's, Perth (now of the Free Church at 
 Clunie), and next that of Mr Milne, his successor, 
 produced a considerable impression on his mind, 
 which was deepened by attending the services con- 
 ducted by Mr W. C. Bums, now missionary in China, 
 during a season of revival It was only then that he 
 began to see what the sinner is by nature, and what 
 is the way of escapa A friend remembers meeting 
 him and his two brothers in the lobby of the church, 
 after a sermon by Mr Bums on the words — "Deliver 
 from govng down to the pit; I have found a ran- 
 som,;" and how, with a solemn expression of coim- 
 teuance, he said, "I never knew till to-night what 
 mv Saviour did for me." Sacramental seasons also. 
 
8 GLASGOW. 
 
 at that period, used to give an impulse to his feelings. 
 For about two years he remained in this lialf- 
 awakened state. 
 
 In December 1842, he came to Glasgow to learn 
 business. Blameless from infiincy to the world's eye, 
 ever ready to shew kindness to others, kept, too, by 
 the hand of a gracious God from all outward vice, and 
 even the appearance of evil, nevertheless he was, and 
 knew that he was, unconverted. He had gone onlj' 
 so far as nature may go ; he was not bom of God. 
 One step onward he seemed to take in Glasgow — 
 namely, he was taught the lesson of the world's utter 
 insufi&ciency to give the soul what it craves. " He 
 that drinketh of this water shall thirst again," was 
 iiis experience. 
 
 He maintained the form of pray^er, and even of 
 Christian converse, with those with whom he boarded. 
 The ministration of Mr SomerviUe of Anderston, 
 whom he had fixed on as his pastor, interested him, 
 «ud roused his soul from time to time ; while visits 
 to a circle of Christian friends, to whom he was in- 
 troduced, contributed to keep the things of salvation 
 more and more before his mind. Then came, the 
 memorable Disrwptiov, of the Church of Scotland 
 in 1843. . Having carefully watched the progress of 
 the great controversy, he had no hesitation in follow- 
 ing his minister out of the Establishment, and in 
 
MR SOMEEVILLE S CONVERSATION, 9 
 
 giving Ms hearty adherence to the principles of the 
 Free Church, persuaded as he was that the Free 
 Church held the truth by which the Great Head of 
 the Church is honoured, and might therefore expect 
 His blessing. 
 
 In the be^nning of April 1844, being about to 
 leave Glasgow, he called upon Mr Somerville, who 
 took the opportunity of frankly inquiring into the 
 state of his soul. The conversation made such an 
 impression on his mind, that he has recorded part of 
 it in his journal : — " You say" (said Mr Somerville 
 to him) "that you do not care for the world — ^that it 
 is not that which keeps you from Christ, or anything 
 connected with it. You have now been more than a 
 year in this placa You came anxious about your 
 spiritual state, and you go away in the same manner. 
 How long is this to continue ? If it is nothing in the 
 world that prevents yoiur coming to Christ, it must 
 be the unwillingness of yoiu: own heart" He then 
 added, " I would beseech you not to rise from your 
 chair till you have accepted Christ's free, fiiU, and 
 open offer of salvation to all who wiU come to Him !" 
 Both the words and the solemn earnestness with 
 which they were spoken affected him deeply. It was 
 an interview which he never ceased to remember. 
 
 In this state of soul he returned to Springland. 
 The. time of the dispensation of the Lord's Supper 
 
10 PRESSED TO DECIDE. 
 
 was drawing on, which naturally led his mother to say 
 to him, " David, did you ever give yourself to Christ ? 
 You have no right to remain one week without loving 
 Him." His pastor also, Mr Milne, met him, and 
 urged on £im the duty of professing his feiith in the 
 Lord JesuB, by taking his place in the number of 
 communicants. He objected, specially stating his 
 fear of brining dishonour on the cause of Christ by 
 his inconsistency, as well as the difficulty he felt 
 regarding his personal state This same month his 
 eight^nth birthday came roimd, in connection with 
 which a thought had been very seasonably presented 
 to his mind by a passage in AngellJames's "Father's 
 Present to his Children" — a passage in which it is 
 remarked that the usual time when persons decide 
 for the Lord, or for the world, is from the age of 
 fourteen to eighteen. "I felt," says he, "as if this 
 might be the case with me." The fact that the Lord's 
 Supper was to be dispensed in the congregation, roused 
 his consdence to the anxious inquiry, Am I in a statfe 
 fit for that ordinance? His honest conclusion was 
 that he could not go to the Lord's table, for as yet 
 he was not willing unreservedly to give himself to 
 the Lord. " I was still rejecting" (these are his words) 
 "the waiting Saviour's free calls to come. I was 
 wilfiilly sinning against what I knew so welL I was 
 an open rebel, so much the guiltier because brought 
 
THE NIGHT TO BE EEMlaiBEHKD. 1 1 
 
 up near Him, and so well acquainted with His 
 law." 
 
 On the Sabbath evening, with these feelings dis- 
 quieting him, he had engaged in prayer with his 
 sister, and retired to his room. Then it was that the 
 Lord found the sheep that was lost, and laid it on 
 His shoulder. While pondering alone on his spiritual 
 condition, his heart was drawn out " by the omnipo- 
 tent hand of God" to think simply of CBrist, and the 
 " willingness of Christ to receive aU who have a true 
 wish to come to Him." He says he knew that this 
 wish was not of man, but of the Holy Ghost;* it 
 was the Lord who enabled him now to take Christ 
 as all his salvation and all his desire. That was the 
 evening (7th April) when he for the first time felt 
 his soul cast anchor on the Rock of Ages. 
 
 Hear his strains of adoring gratitude: — "The 
 Lord God Almighty, the Lord Jesus, and the Holy 
 Ghost, the triune Jehovah, be praised, be eternally 
 glorified I" "I may henceforth call God my hope, 
 my OTdy hope, my life, my death (for I would as it 
 were fall asleep in Him), my all ! the high, the 
 mighty, the glorious work of salvation ! How it sinks 
 man, and raises and exalts the God of salvation I" 
 
 Soon after we find him saying that his short ex- 
 perience has already ^ven him proof of his heart's 
 * John i. 12, 13. 
 
12 HIS PKATEEF0LNESS BEGUN. 
 
 proneness to depart even from this God of love, and 
 that he could not of himself continue for a single 
 instant ahiding there. But here is his prayer — " O 
 my soul, expect everything from the Lord Jesus. 
 He is encircling thee in his arms of love, ever watch- 
 ing to preserve thee from danger." And very re- 
 markable it is to find one characteristic of all his after 
 course at once beginning to develop itself — ^namely, 
 his sense of the immense importance of prayer. 
 "Continually, in prayer, ask his direction. Thou 
 hast as it were only to whisper, or rather breathe, 
 complete dependence upon Him, and ask Him to 
 work for thee, hy thee, through thee, and He will 
 do what seemeth Him good." 
 
 Having come to Christ, he must join those who 
 can say, "My beloved is mine." Accordingly, he 
 sat down at the Lord's table, seven days after this, 
 in St Leonard's Free Church, presided over by his 
 beloved friend Mr Milne. His entrance into the 
 marvellous light had been ^distinct and clear. His 
 experience at this period is such as calls' up to our 
 thoughts the spiritual history of one of our fathers, 
 Fraser of Brea^. At the age of eighteen, this man of 
 God heard intimation made that the Lord's Supper 
 was to be dispensed next Lord's day, which led him 
 to solemn searching regarding his fitness to go to 
 that ordinance. He wished to go, and knew that 
 
A PABALLEL CASE. 13 
 
 he ought to go; but then he also knew that he ought 
 to be converted first, and feared that if he went in a 
 Christless state " he might give over hopes of ever 
 thereafter being converted." Full of these thoughts, 
 he, before the Sabbath came, set himself to seek the 
 Lord Jesus. While thus alone in his closet, solemnly 
 considering the state of his soul, the Lord enabled 
 him aU at once to perceive that Christ was a Saviour 
 indeed — a foil Saviour, the sinner's Saviour, gloriously 
 complete in 5is work and in His offices, because so 
 glorious in His person, and no less glorious in His 
 love and graca " Where am I now ! what bs this I" 
 were his first words of adoring wonder. " Heart and 
 hand, and all that I have, is thine ! Begone, poor 
 world !" Next Sabbath found him seated at the 
 table of his Lord. 
 
CHAPTER IL 
 
 t Jfirst §^tu dttx Conkrsion. 
 
 " What shall I render nnto the Lord for all his benefits towards 
 me?" 
 
 Psalm cxvi. 12. 
 
Neither strangers nor friends could fail to notice 
 something sombre in his character in his early days. 
 But after his conversion, this shade no longer hung 
 on his brow. One who knew him well remarked, 
 " It was the love of Jesus which first put that smile 
 on his face which never left it." For a time, even 
 after his bark was safely in the haven, he had the 
 heavings, if not the tossings, of the tempest that 
 chased him into his refuge ; but certain it is, that 
 from the day he was able to say, " I know whom I 
 have believed," his was a joyous countenance, so 
 much so, that you might have pointed to him as a 
 most obvious illustration of the apostolic injunction, 
 " Rejoice in the Lord always." The glory of God in 
 the &ce of Jesus shed gladness through his heart, a 
 gladness that his companions often took notice of, 
 and which they felt to be infectious. 
 
 We saw one of his characteristics, viz., prayerful- 
 
 B 
 
1 8 THE COMMUNION TABLE; 
 
 ness, beginning to shew itself on the very night of 
 his conversion. It was not long ere another distinc- 
 tive trait appeared, viz., the desire to be of use to 
 others. With him it was first liberty, then service ; 
 the work not of the hireling seeking to purchase 
 freedom, but of the son serving the father whom he 
 loved. Perhaps his early zeal approached the borders 
 of censoriousness ; his light flung out sparks, but soon 
 it burnt upward with a calm, steady flame. 
 
 We left him at the Communion Table. See him 
 now rising from it to go forth and work for his Lord. 
 The question of personal acceptance had been first 
 settled, and now there followed the grateful acknow- 
 ledgment of the accepted soul in the full surrender of 
 all his life to the service of the Redeemer. One met 
 him coming from the communion table and asked, 
 "Were you happy?" " So happy that I fear to trust 
 it. What a salvation ! Shall not life he speni in 
 proclaiming it ?" This utterance of his soul in that 
 hour of bliss was embodied in action during all his 
 after days. We may fancy him singing with Toplady, 
 
 " Loved of my God, for him again 
 With love intense I bum ! " 
 
 Immediately after we find him noting down, in the 
 
 review of his past life, " I have already lived two 
 
 ■years and 208 day, of Sabbaths!" Then follow the 
 
 two first entries in his journal, which present to us the 
 
I'UATERFULNESS. 19 
 
 traits of his spiritual character, that all along so dis- 
 tinctly marked him out from most others, viz , prayer- 
 fulness, and labour for souls. Thus he -vvrit^s : — 
 
 "May 6. — I wish that more progress were visible; 
 but it is in truth a pure impossibility for man, in his 
 own strength, to begin or to maintain a walk with 
 God. My evil passions and wicked heart are conti- 
 nually interfering and leading me off, almost before I 
 am aware of it. It is only by a continual renewing of 
 my covenant with Christ, trusting everything to Him 
 and nothing to myself, that I can ever expect to walk 
 as I ought ; and from this must follow a most rigid 
 watching over my heart and conduct to others. Pray 
 WITHOUT CEASING."* 
 
 " Lord, give me a more earnest prayerful spirit 
 for my dear unconverted friends. If I would but 
 think seriousl}' of their condition, that each of them 
 is continually fighting against his Lord, inflicting new 
 wounds on Jesus's breast, and yet it is the very hand 
 which they are wounding that prevents them dropping 
 into everlasting misery 1 How can I rest one moment 
 while I do assuredly know that such is the case. O 
 Lord Jesus, shew but Thy face to them, shew them 
 
 * These words are found written in the original Greek, ' ' 'Aha- 
 AS/'uTug mogivyeeSe" on a slip of paper that lay in his desk : and 
 the initial letters '' a. ^.'' may be tracked fhroughont his note- 
 books. 
 
20 EFFORTS FOR OTHERS BEGUX. 
 
 their terrible, awful condition and certain doom, if 
 they remain indifferent, shew them but a spark of 
 Thy incomprehensible love, and then how they will 
 be changed ! Thou boldest every man's heart in 
 Thy hand, Lord ; if it be Thy will, change their 
 hearts. "Would it not be for thy everlasting glory? 
 Will they not have longer to praise and glorify Thee? 
 O Lord, give me no rest till I have done all that man 
 can do. Let me be often pouring forth earnest sup- 
 plications for them.' And surely I cannot doubt but 
 that Thou wilt be graciously pleased to answer: ' for 
 this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we 
 ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us.'" 
 
 And now, having found " the joy of salvation," he 
 can say, " I will teach transgressors thy ways, and 
 sinners shall be converted unto thee" (Psa. IL 13). 
 For his faith was aggressive ; he did not content him- 
 seK with "sitting under his vine and fig-tree," but (as 
 Israel shall do in the day of their return), he also" 
 " caHed his neighbour" to enjoy the same refreshing 
 fruit and shade (Zech. iiL 10). 
 
 " Monday, May 26. — I have been trying to speak 
 to several persons about their eternal state, but see 
 well that it is only by God speaking through me that 
 it can be of the smallest benefit to their souls." 
 
 At the same time, he in no way relaxes his vigi- 
 lance over his own soul: — 
 
A DECEITFUL HEART. 21 
 
 " My father presented me with a Bible, which I 
 hope will incite me to greater diligence in searching 
 the Scriptures. I have to grieve over the continual 
 changes in my religious feelings and affections. At 
 times Jesus enables me to feel supremely happy in 
 Him, while often a few hours after I seem to have 
 everything to begin again, and from some evil imagi- 
 nation of my heart, I feel as it were estranged from 
 Jesus. This must be meant to teach me that I must 
 be ever looking to Him, incessantly watching and 
 praying, never withdrawing my hand from a firm 
 hold of His merciful. His gracious arm. This con- 
 stant vagrant disposition of my mind shews truly what 
 the natural heart is. It is made of carnality, which 
 is enmity against God, and is therefore ever making 
 efforts to draw away from God. This truth is what, 
 I believe, every one who is Christ's will be taught, 
 and will have it graven upon his heart, as with a pen 
 of iron and the point of a diamond. Lord, change 
 my nature from that of a sinful man to that of the 
 meek and lowly Jesus! Thou must work the change; 
 look at thine own Son Jesus, and do Thou it for His 
 sake." 
 
 Another effort follows. 
 
 "June 6. — I have taken up a class for young men 
 and was pleased to see four at our meeting. Resolved, 
 in God's strength and with His help, always if possible 
 
22 HAELAN PAGR 
 
 to engage alone in prayer before commencing to read, 
 teach, or pray with any one, on these all important 
 subjects." 
 
 Just at this period, the Life of Harlan Page, which 
 bis mother put into his hands, attraxrted his special 
 attention. In reading it, he was very greatly im- 
 pressed ; his hopes of being used by God in saving 
 .souls received a great impulse. At the same time, 
 he not«d carefiiUy that Harlan Page was not blessed 
 without earnestly praying for it, being instant in 
 prayer for unconverted friends, as well as taking op- 
 portunity to write to them and speak with them ; 
 availing himself, also, of openings that occurred for 
 prayer meetings and classes. On laying down the 
 book, a book to which he often resorted, this was 
 his prayer : — 
 
 " Lord, who boldest the hearts of all men in Thy 
 right hand, do Thou be pleased to make me, by Thy 
 grace, a means of bringing poor, careless, and dying 
 sinners to the Eock of Ages, and make me inde- 
 fatigable in labouring for their conversion ; prevent 
 my heart from becoming cold in this work, and mv 
 zeal from flagging, for it is Thj' work and not mine." 
 
 Soon after, his soul rejoices in his work begun. 
 
 "Jmie 10— Thanks be to God, for I think He 
 has enabled me to feel as a hired servant, as a servant 
 bought with a price, and staying all upon Him, to 
 
CONCERN FOR THE CARELESS. 23 
 
 await His shewing me the path by following which 
 I may be enabled to do most to His glory." 
 
 The thought of unsaved souls hangs heavy on his 
 mind. 
 
 "June 12. — Lord, give me such thoughts of the 
 awfiil condition of unconverted sinners, that I may 
 not cease from continually warning them of their 
 imminent danger, that they may flee from the wrath 
 to come How awful to think that the spirits of any 
 of those within my reach should rise up in judgment 
 against me, and say that I had not told them the truth. 
 Some to whom I have spoken seem to be anxious, 
 and particularly some of the cottars. May this be 
 but the beginning of the falling of a dew from heaven." 
 And now we have his statement of his experience 
 in regard to the healthful influence, upon his own 
 soul, of all efforts made in behalf of others. Again and 
 again, in after days, does he make similar statements. 
 He gave what he received, and in giving got more. 
 
 "June 18. — I find that unless I am continually 
 doing something for the souls of unthinking sinners, 
 my love becomes cold, and a deadening effect is the 
 result, which soon spreads into everything." Yet it 
 was not easy for the flesh at first, though ultimately 
 he won the victory. " I have to grieve," says he, "over 
 a feeling of unwillingness, and even irksomeness, to 
 cro and speak to persons about their eternal salvation. 
 
24 PRATER FOR ZEAL 
 
 Am I stone ? Am I hardened as adamant ? How 
 can I allow such feelings to gain the mastery ; they 
 axe called natural, but are they natural? If these 
 persons were in imminent danger of falling a prey to 
 wild beasts in the desert, would I not flee to their 
 rescue ? O Lord, touch this heart which is so cold and 
 senseless. Thy countenance can make it ever full of 
 love for deluded sinners." 
 
 After again perusing Harlan Page, he writes : — 
 " When on my deathbed, how will every effort, every 
 trial to bring souls to Jesus, seem cold and lifeless. 
 O for the mind of the Lord when He wept over Jeru- 
 salem ! Give me. Lord Jesus, a heart to weep for poor 
 sinners, a heart to bleed for poor sinners, a heart to 
 pour out itself in prayer for poor sinners. Thou 
 knowest the weakness and coldness of my pleadings 
 for unconcerned sinners. give me faith, give me 
 love, biuning, unquenchable love to do all I can in 
 God's strength to convince those Hving without Thee, 
 thattheyare wilfully throwingthemselves into destruc- 
 tion, that they are of their own free wiU casting from 
 them everlasting salvation, and embracing eternal 
 damnation. O that I had a forehead as Ezekiel, 'as 
 adamant harder than flint,' that I might speak the 
 Lord's will to every man." 
 
 There was nothing of bondage in David Sandeman's 
 unceasing service ; Jiis was the filial obedience of one 
 
QEOEGE PHILIPS. 25 
 
 who, by Christ, could enter the Holiest of all, and could 
 look up to the Holy One and cry, " Abba, Father." 
 This confidence in his Lord, this boldness to enter by 
 the blood of Jesus, this assurance of the acceptance of 
 his person in the Beloved, and therefore of his ser- 
 vices, was the secret spring of that untiring delight he 
 manifested in waiting for his God. Let us hear him 
 speak on this point. He has been reading a little 
 book, "Glimpses into the World to Come," by a yoimg 
 friend, George Philips, and here are his remarks : — 
 " George Philips's case remarkably shews that God 
 must be sought only through the merits of Jesus. 
 For six years he was concerned about his soul, and 
 could obtain no peace. But then he yielded much 
 to going in with irreligious friends in trifling, and for 
 long had not resolution to tell them boldly why he 
 would no longer join with them. A more prolonged 
 and chief occasion of his want of peace was his looking 
 to his frames, and confiding in the earnestness of his 
 prayers as the ground of his acceptance with God ; 
 and it was only when he saw the freeness of the 
 Gospel offer, made only through the blood of Jesus, 
 and when all suspicions of God were removed, that 
 peace flowed into his mind, and that but shortly be- 
 fore his death.'' 
 
 His first visit to a cottage on the errand of salva- 
 tion, is thus recorded : — 
 
26 RELUCTANCE TO SPEAK TO SOULS. 
 
 " Went for first time this evening to address a man 
 and his wife on their eternal condition. During 
 prayer, felt strong desire that what I said might not 
 be made the savour of death unto death to their souls. 
 After leaving them, I felt so strongly the awful con- 
 dition of lost, unthinking sinners, that I was con- 
 strained to go and speak to some of the cottars, par- 
 ticularly one family of whom I had heard." 
 
 Once more we see what had to be overcome ere 
 he attained the freedom and readiness to deal with 
 souls that afterwards he reached. Let it encourage 
 others. 
 
 " I now feel the inward hardness of the heart more 
 than formerly, and that languor formerly referred to 
 as stealing over the soul when once active work for 
 God is intermitted. It is undoubtedly the case that 
 there is a secret reluctance to speak plainly to un- 
 thinking men, unless we are specially endued with 
 a sense of eternal things, and that so strongly as to 
 conquer the natural evil of the heart. But if there is 
 much secret striving with God, and then going in His 
 strength boldly to the work, many a seeming diflS- 
 culty will vanish ; we are strengthened above what we 
 thought for, and a sense of divine things experienced 
 brighter and clearer than ever before. God seems in- 
 deed to have wonderfully connected praying and 
 acting. K we pray to be enabled to speak the truth 
 
RSSOLUTION TO LAEOUR FOR SOULS. 27 
 
 to dying sinners, and do not, if we have any oppor- 
 tunity, engage actively in doing something for them, 
 the effect on our mind begins to lessen. It is saying 
 ' I go,' and going not Many Christians seem to be 
 left to fall into a lethargic state from this cause." 
 
 The dependence of spiritual health on efforts for 
 the souls of others being with him a principle of action, 
 he scarcely ever took even a walk for relaxation with- 
 out distributing tracts, and asking the people to pray 
 over them. He used to say he did not enjoy a walk 
 without having done something in the course of it for 
 the good of souls. 
 Another breathing. 
 
 " JuTie 25. — Lord, assist me this night, if it be 
 Thy will I should address some careless sinners. O 
 Lord my God, fill me with prayer, with heari>-bleed- 
 ings for sinners ! May we take heaven by violence 
 for them. Time flies, and souls are Hying to hell. 
 I must pray more for a sense of what the loss of a 
 single soul actually is. Who is sufiicient for these 
 things ?" 
 
 Then follows a holy resolution : " Never to speak 
 to any one without trjdng to say something directly, 
 either for the spiritual advancement of my own soul 
 or of theirs, if conscientiously I can find an oppor- 
 tunity, remembering ' where there is a will there is 
 a wav-' " 
 
28 HIS FIRST VISIT. 
 
 He Avas now about to leave Springland, that be 
 might enter on business in Manchester. With this 
 in prospect, he says : — 
 
 " July 11. — The Lord has, in His abundant mercy, 
 brought me to see this, the third month of my being 
 in Him. My heart is hard as the nether ftiillstone, 
 else it would be continually sounding forth the praises 
 of the love of the Lord Jesus. I would be ever medi- 
 tating and speaking of such wondrous, incomprehen- 
 sible love. Lord, give me but a clear sight of my 
 Saviour, and then my heart must melt down. What 
 urgent need I have to apply more at God's throne ; 
 to keep nearer to Jesus as my only strengtL'' 
 
 "July 16. — The first person I ever visited with the 
 end of profiting, or being profited, was Mrs M., Quarry 
 MUL Almost four years ago my sister began to visit 
 her, she being confined to bed by bodily debility. 
 About the same time, one who had obtained peace of 
 mind went to her and spoke to her. She did not 
 wonder at my sister speaking so, because she was of 
 supeiior station; but when this servant girl so spoke 
 it astonished her, and her conscience told her that no 
 more than the truth was said. She now rejoices in 
 her only Saviour." 
 
 The same evening he \vrites — " I find I must watch 
 that efforts for the salvation of souls do not turn away 
 my mind from my own spiritual state. To-day I have 
 
GOES TO MANCHESTEH. 29 
 
 been engaged, as I am on the eve of leaving home, in 
 visiting the cottagers from 10 A.it to 10 P.M. 
 
 " I am now about to go to England. that the 
 Lord would meet with me as He did with Jacob, and 
 bless me, then would I go forth joyfully. God, my 
 God, go forth with me, and I will fear none ilL O 
 direct my path in everything. Make a bright shin- 
 ing light to mark the road that leads me to the 
 Lamb, so that I may not swerve to the right hand or 
 to the left. Thou, O Lord, hast dealt very mercifully 
 with me in giving me such a long breathing season. 
 I am but a weak lamb ; unless Thou bear me up, I 
 must soon falL May I every day wax stronger 
 and stronger, 'looking unto Jesus ;' then I cannot 
 fail. 
 
 " While I am on my way to Manchester, I will 
 have much in my power in speaking to former asso- 
 ciates. Lord, enable me to mafce opportunities I 
 May I always have before mine eyes either to give or 
 receive profit, with whomsoever I meet." 
 
 On arriving at Manchester : — 
 
 "Sunday Evening, July, 28. — Hiave much cause 
 of thankfulness to the Lord for His many kindnesses 
 to me since coming here. For some days my heart 
 felt cast down, as I have been doing nothing for that 
 merciful God who has done so much for me. But 
 since then He has been pleased to shew me that I 
 
30 WORK AT MANCHESTEE. 
 
 have been impatient, and not relying enough on His 
 ever faithful arm. I see that in some cases I must 
 wait tUl I have been here longer before speaking to 
 persons, and then efforts will be more effectual ; but 
 neither, on the other hand, ought I to delay too 
 long. But I have full cause to thank the Lord for 
 the opportunities He gives me of engaging in His 
 work. His having been pleased to put me under 
 the charge of Mr G. Barbour, is a striking instance 
 of His lovingkindness, for by this means I have 
 been introduced into the Sabbath school, and thus 
 again have opportunity of gaining admission into 
 families to speak a word to them ; and in Mr B. I 
 have a friend with whom I may advise, and who by 
 his efforts and conversation shews that his face is 
 Zionward." 
 
 Immediately on being settled, he began to distri- 
 bute tracts in the neighbourhood Finding that this 
 formed a good opening for fmlher acquaintance and 
 visitation, the same evening he commenced visiting 
 the houses of his Sabbath scholars. Amidst the 
 routine of business his soul prospered ; for he acted 
 on the rule of Psalm L 3, and so was like a tree 
 planted by the waters. 
 
 " I find encouragement, at my daily occupations in 
 the warehouse, from now and then taking out my 
 Testament and reading over a few verses ; and that. 
 
A SOLEMN CASE. 31 
 
 with perhaps a short prayer, gives me new vigour, and 
 stimulates me to greater diligence in my duties. A 
 great part of the day is necessarily consumed with 
 affairs connected with this world ; but in being thus 
 engaged, I trust I am preparing a way for a greater 
 opportunity of glorifying Him by acquiring the means 
 of doing more good." 
 
 " I find the little time at dinner very refreshing, 
 for then I get a little of the Bible or some other good 
 book read." 
 
 Here is a solemn case : — 
 
 "I have passed perhaps the most solemn time this 
 night that I have ever passed. I have been convers- 
 ing with one to whom the Lord has not been pleased 
 to manifest Himself. He said he knew well the will- 
 ingness of Jesus to save him, but that there was an 
 iron sinew in his neck which prevented him coming 
 to Him ; that he just felt that he was sin, and could 
 not move to the Redeemer. I read and prayed with 
 him about two hours ; still his heart was rebellious 
 and would not bend. Again and again in the Lord's 
 strength I besought him then to come with his heart 
 as it was, and put it and aU into Jesus's hands, and 
 yet he said that he could not It was indeed solemn 
 to be beside one who knew so well all the Bible truths 
 and the freeness of the Gospel offer, and yet whose 
 heart was so hardened, that all these fell like dumb 
 
32 PEAYER-MEETINGS. 
 
 words upon Ms souL Let me not rest till he has 
 obtained perfect peace in the Lord." 
 
 His first prayer-meeting in Manchester : — 
 
 "August 8. — Our first prayer-meeting was held 
 to-night Here may be the beginning of a great 
 working among the dry bones. Let me remember 
 that the blood of sinners lies at my door, if I warn 
 them not night and day with tears, Acts xx, 31. 
 Ezek. xxxiiL 8. O Lord, give me a realising sense of 
 their condition, then will I go forth proclaiming the 
 glorious plan of salvation and the terrific danger of 
 remaining in sin. O for more of Harlan Page's spirit. 
 O when will prayer and effort, and effort and prayer, 
 be the business of my life !" 
 
 The time is now come when he sees his way opened 
 to deal with those around him, in the same ware- 
 house. 
 
 "August 9. — I have been waiting till I should 
 prove myself diligent in business before beginning 
 to speak to those around me about their souls, but 
 now 1 must, by the arm of the Lord supporting me, 
 begin to do something at the warehouse. If it please 
 Him, I may be the instrument of bringing many 
 souls to Him firom among them, but to find and use 
 opportunities will require much circumspection and 
 prayer. Having this evening to myself I felt a disin- 
 clination to spend it in the work of the Lord. How 
 
PEAISE. 33 
 
 soon does the heart grow cold in this service. I 
 have been writing to a friend about his soul, after 
 much prayer on his behal£" 
 
 Yearning over a soul, he says : — 
 
 " 16^^- August. — ^To-day, while thinking of writing 
 
 to , I felt my heart hum for poor sinners, and 
 
 could not refrain from writing to him ; which I did, 
 leaving all in the hands of a mightier than I, and 
 earnestly beseeching the blessing." 
 
 Two days after this, he is sitting alone, musing on 
 his Lord and His ways. The fire bums higher and 
 higher. " What ! has that Lord of all come down 
 from heaven, and shewn me somewhat of such glorious 
 love in my Lord and Eedeemer ! It is wonderful ! — 
 reason stands speechless — poor finite man stands 
 confounded, ' lost in wonder, love, and praise ;' the 
 Lord alone can fathom the bottomless depth of his 
 love ; the Lord, and He alone, can know it. O let 
 me then praise Him ! Praise Him, praise Him, my 
 soul ; praise God the Father, praise God the Saviour, 
 praise God the Holy Ghost. Praise, praise, honour, 
 and eternity of glories to the Almighty God, Triune 
 Jehovah ! 
 
 " My God and Father, give me more ardent lova 
 
 Fill, fill me with more love to such a Saviour ! 
 
 Everything within seems cold and dead, when the 
 
 love of the Lord Jesus is made to shine. For, O 
 
 c 
 
34 SMELL AS LEBANON. 
 
 how feeble must seem the little twinkling star of 
 man's cold love and colder heart, when brought in 
 comparison with that love which bums as an infinity 
 of suns!" 
 
 There is an e^tiession used by the Prophet Hosea 
 (xiv. 6), when telling of pardoned, accepted, freely 
 loved Israel : " His smell shall be as Lebanon." 
 Travellers report that they have found not the cedars 
 only, but every shrub and plant that clothes the sides 
 of that majestic mountain, in the spring season, 
 breathing forth fragrance; all are aromatic. Is it 
 not so with all the words and ways of the pardoned 
 and accepted soul ? Was it not so with David San- 
 deman? But besides this, the natives of Lebanon 
 tell us that if you collect the sap of the tall pine, 
 or of the goodly cedar, and drop it into the flame, 
 the fragrance is delightful as incense. Is not this 
 Uke what we find in God's believing ones? Their 
 inner life, their thoughts, their deep-seated feelings, 
 when circumstances develop them, have a fragrance 
 of peculiar sweetness. It was so in the case of him 
 whose motives and innermost frames of soul are here 
 laid open. " The smell is as Lebanon." 
 
 But effort is now called forth in another direc- 
 tion. 
 
 " Wednesday, 2lst. — For the first time, spoke 
 seriously and plainly to one of the warehousemen, 
 
CONFLICTS. . 35 
 
 and gave him two tracts. I trust this will prove a 
 beginidng to doing more for the precious souls which 
 I am among. Speaking to him has made me happy ; 
 for day after day I have gone there, and done nothing 
 for these souls. Pride, so far as I have seen, appears 
 to be my besetting sin. It is surely in mercy that 
 the Lord hides the desperate wickedness of my heart 
 from my view, lest I should be overwhelmed in His 
 holy presence." 
 
 He again testifies to the reflex influence on his 
 own soul of his endeavours to bless others. 
 
 "ZVstAugud. — I find almost invariably that the 
 more I am engaged in doing something for the good 
 of others, the happier I am in my mind. 
 
 " Going home I began to speak to a policeman, 
 who was going the same way, with a view to the 
 ffood of his souL" 
 
 At times he was led to take note of the evils 
 within his own soul, and occasionally the conflict 
 there was sore. 
 
 " \8t SepteTnber, Sunday. — Henry Martyn seems to 
 have felt much the depravity of his heart I fear I 
 have scarce seen mine at aU. I seem to have a sort 
 of fear to examine into it, as if there were an un- 
 fathomable abyss thinly veiled." 
 
 " 2d September, Monday. — This morning, felt 
 plainly the workings of pride, pride which brought 
 
S6 MID-DAT HOUB OF DE\'OTION. 
 
 down Satan. Walked home with a young man. He 
 made the long hours of business an excuse for not 
 attending to eternal things. 
 
 " 3d SeptcTriber. — ^The wicked one has taken ad- 
 vantage of some things which I have read and heard 
 of the Socinians, to infuse at times doubts into my 
 mind The mere handling of their views seems to 
 leave a stain. 
 
 " 2 o'cloch — ^My reason is plainly convinced that the 
 Lord Jesus is God ; still there seems to be something 
 of the Satanic spirit within. O how awful is any 
 feeling approaching to unbelief! How desolate it 
 makes the heart, as if a stinging scorpion were lying 
 there. 
 
 "Night. — I have sincere cause to praise the Lord 
 that He has been mercifully pleased to deliver me 
 from the power of the lion." 
 
 He used the short time he had in his power at the 
 dinner hour for snatching a look at the New Testa- 
 ment and for brief prayer. This refreshment cheered 
 him on in his common employment. After one of 
 these short seasons, he finds himself again among his 
 fellow-clerks in the warehouse, and thus writes: — 
 
 " One of them spoke to me about predestination ; 
 another, a Koman Catholic, joined us. I proposed 
 that we should look for a little at Rom. ix. ; and it 
 did seem strange, three of us examining God's word 
 
LABOUE FOE SOULS. 37 
 
 in such a place, in the midst of cloth, and noise, 
 and bustle ; the sight made me lift up my heart to 
 the Lord in praise and humble prayer, that it might 
 not be ineffectual for our good. In the evening tried 
 to speak to another fellow-clerk; my heart was 
 yearning for his soul's welfare; for the time is 
 short, everything is hastening to an end, and then — 
 unending eternity." 
 
 His zeal led his mind forth in all directions. 
 
 " 8th September. — Spoke to a Particular Baptist 
 in the warehouse, who holds very strong views on 
 predestination. It seems to me that he dwells on 
 this to the exclusion, in some measure, of man's 
 re-sponsibihty. Now, both are to be held ; if the 
 former only be considered, how manifestly must it 
 cool every effort for the salvation of souls. 
 
 "Thursday, 12th September, 3 J A.M. — I have re- 
 mained up to this early hour writing to , about 
 
 our matter of controversy." 
 
 Thinking over some of his visits to Perth, he notes 
 the particulars of a case thus: — "I never visited 
 Mrs Y. till three weeks before leaving for Man- 
 chester. It was remarkable that, through carnal and 
 sinful reasons, I had been at home three weeks before 
 I went ; and yet it pleased the Almighty to convince 
 her soul, and then to bring her to Himself She was 
 almost wholly ignorant of Scripture, or at least of its 
 
38 NEW FEELINGS. 
 
 meaning ; for often during the course of the day she 
 would come, Bible in hand, to ask of a neighbour 
 what this or that passage meant Since then, I 
 believe, she holds on her way." This is dated Sep- 
 tember 17. On September 19, another is mentioned 
 who "at first was rather hardened by the loss 
 of her children ; and then led by it to the true Com- 
 forter. She had had hard thoughts of God." 
 
 An entry, 2oth September, takes special notice of 
 the thought of the ministry having taken hold of his 
 mind, and of the joy it gave him even to look for- 
 ward to the possibility of entering on that path. But 
 the following general observation about his feelings 
 is interesting in itself: — "Find that whilst in my 
 unconverted days impressions seemed a kind of bur- 
 den, often falling off, now another hand preserves 
 them." 
 
 Other thoughts occur about the same time, shew- 
 ing the healthy tone and vigour of his spiritual being. 
 We are giving merely samples. 
 
 " '2!jth Septemher. — I have lately been looking for- 
 ward with some joy to that happy departure from 
 this world and being with Christ, which is far better. 
 what a sovereign balm for every wound is that ; it 
 often enlivens the solitariness of my lodging. 
 
 "1st October, Tuesday. — I have now been able to 
 get three in the warehouse to learn a verse every 
 
KEFLEX INFLXJENCE OF EFFORT. 39 
 
 tnorning. My heart was enlivened by the two 
 * hookers ' coming to me and repeating their verses ; 
 one of them was a Roman Catholic. 
 
 " 2d October, Wednesday. — That arch enemy pride, 
 I fear, wars against me." 
 
 Joy and edification, as the result of dealing with 
 souls, were his constant experience now. 
 
 " 8th October, Tuesday. — Called upon Daids, and 
 heard him praying while he did not know of it. He 
 seemed to be truly pouring out his soul, and it was 
 affecting to hear one so engaged who may be so near 
 deatL The Irish accent was very strong, which 
 added simplicity to it In prayer, after visiting him 
 and another dying man, felt much solenmised. It 
 is when the Lord is please-d thus to solemnise my 
 heart, that prayer draws my soul into heaven, and I 
 feel unwilling to desist 
 
 " Again and again I find it confirmed, that the more 
 I am engaged in working for the Lord, the more do 
 heavenly and becoming thoughts fill my heart It 
 is this which inclines me much to the ministry. I 
 do at times sincerely wish that my heart, time, and 
 all, were given wholly to the service of the Redeemer. 
 It would be my joy and felicitv to be spent wholly 
 in working for Him ; ana this, I trust, is noi, mere 
 enthusiasm, but the calm and full purpose of my 
 neart I have been earnestly praying that if it be 
 
40 LOOKING UNTO JESUS. 
 
 His will the Lord would open a way for me. How 
 my heart glows at the thought of my poor unworthy 
 services being entirely devoted to Him who has 
 washed me, who has justified me, who has sanctified, 
 and will sanctify me more and more." 
 
 Becoming more and more impressed with the per- 
 suasion, that the Lord might open up to him that 
 entrance into the ministry which he so longed for, 
 he writes in his journal that he is fully aware of the 
 many difficulties he must in that case encounter, but 
 he has weighed the best manner of meeting every diffi- 
 culty, and trial, and discouragement that maybe awaits 
 ing him. " Looking unto Jesus" says he, " would be 
 my motto iu the beginning — Loohmg unto Jesus, my 
 motto in advancing — Looking wnioJesuSjTujm.oi^o in 
 storming the breach — LookvngurdoJesv^,TD^va.otto in 
 falling, sword in hand, did He so decree. Lord, give me 
 light ! " It is soon after this that he writes — " I trust 
 God is becoming far more of a compa/nion to me." 
 
 We next find him blaming himself for speaking 
 and acting as if he were already an established 
 behever instead of a new-bom babe. Then we find 
 him on his way to the Lord's table, saying, " All I 
 can expect in this world is pain and struggle, rising 
 and falling, seeming to be nearly vanquished, and 
 then, in the glorious strength of my Redeemer, con- 
 quering all enemies. Whether as a merchant or as 
 
CHANGE OF HIS PEOFESSION. 41 
 
 a minister, I may fully expect such trials as these. 
 Let nothing therefore move me." 
 
 On 13th October occurs a breathing of delight at the 
 idea of a soul saved by his instrumentality. " Have 
 
 had the joyful news to-day, that is inquiring 
 
 very seriously, and in a way that shews that the 
 blessed Spirit is at work within. How tmspeakably 
 precious is the godly sorrow of one poor sinner, •which 
 gives the angels a hymn of praise." Two days after 
 this, he records at some length his views regarding 
 the proposed change in his profession, prefacing it 
 with the words, " May I consider it as if I were on 
 my death-bed!" What weighed with him most 
 powerfully was the consideration, that a merchant 
 cannot so give himself up to live and die wholly 
 for the Lord, as a m/mister of the Gospel mm} — 
 although the merchant in a sphere of his own may 
 largely glorify God. After this he writes : — 
 
 " Evening, 22d October. — ^I feel at present as stand- 
 ing in the market-place, ready to be hired. May the 
 Lord Jesus come forth from His vineyard, and although 
 it may be said to be with me the eleventh hour, invite 
 me, nay, draw me in, to be one of his labourers. 
 Whether merchant or minister, let me remember the 
 day is far spent, and that we are near the end of the 
 journey. If he has chosen me for his minister, 
 for that grace and truth which come from above; 
 
42 HEARTY SERVICE. 
 
 for that holy anointing for His own special work 
 Why wait the wheels of His chariot ? Yet I see that 
 the lesson of waiting in prayer must be learnt. The 
 Lord alone can direct the path of His servants. Now 
 they must seemingly stand still ; again, they must 
 press forward with the fullest vigour. At one time, 
 in the eyes of the world, they may seem to be over 
 cautious, and fearful of advancing ; at another, they 
 may seem to be enthusiasts. 
 
 "2oth October. — With Christian friends I have 
 sometimes a pure unalloyed and hallowed enjoyment, 
 which I scarcely thought was given to creatures here 
 on earth. Truly the world knows nothing of this 
 communion. I never imagined such, tiU the Lord 
 was pleased to renew my heart." 
 
 He is not abating in his pursuit of holiness, for we 
 find him recording : — 
 
 " 28iA October, Monday. — In the morning tried to 
 have solemn thoughts, as soon as I arose, by repeating 
 and praying the 63d Psalm. Grieved to find that I do 
 not awake with a greater sense of divine things upon 
 my mind I fear this shews there is little true sancti- 
 fication of the thoughts and intents of the heart" 
 
 Once more : " I have much reason to thank the 
 Lord for the persuasion he has given me in my own 
 mind, with regard to the ministry. I pray that as 
 soon as the way is properly clear, I may enter with 
 
EFFORT FOR OTHERS A TEST. 43 
 
 my whole soul into the work Poor perishing souls, 
 why will they not be warned ? O if that vast word 
 'Eternity' were more in my heart, how whoUy different 
 would be my walk and conversation ! I fear I never 
 reahse what eternal death means." 
 
 " I think that the best criterion of the effect of 
 private devotion, public ordinances, or religious con- 
 verse, is, how does it dispose one for self-denying 
 effort? Were this question put when the heart 
 seemed softened with some view of holy things, it 
 might often appear that natural feeling has mingled. 
 This test must be a true one, for when should the 
 believer's soul be so strong for duty, as when his 
 Redeemer sends forth the rays of His love 1" 
 
 Very characteristic are his words, when he resolves 
 — " To act as if there were no other human being with 
 me, as if I alone bore the standard ; and yet to watch 
 for and hail a/ny who seem to strive to hear the 
 standard, and take him by the right hand." For 
 his was a genial nature, thriving in the atmosphere 
 of brotherly love. 
 
 Here is an important reiteration of a testimony : — 
 " I never feel my soul so much trusting in the Lord 
 my righteoiisness, as after trying to warn some poor 
 one from the sleep of death, or to comfort some fol- 
 lower of the Lamb. I have so often experienced this, 
 that it seems strange I should ever forget it. There 
 
44- NO WANT OF OPPOETUNITIES. 
 
 is a heartfelt enjoyment of peace and a resting upon 
 Him, which far surpasses any feeling I ever experi- 
 enced while wandering from the blessed Shepherd of 
 the flock. It is at such times as these that a strong 
 proof of the Lord having indeed made me one of His 
 is presented to my mind. For there is such a peace- 
 ful quiet within, that none can feel it unless the Lord 
 has sent it, especially if, on examination, there is no 
 particular outward cause to produce it In going to 
 the warehouse, and passing through the crowded 
 street, nothing was permitted to come between my 
 soul and my God." 
 
 And here is an important statement of a fact : — 
 " Find new opportunities every day at the warehouse 
 of speaking a word in season ; the longer there, the 
 more such seem to open. I will leave the profession 
 of merchant, deeply convinced of the many oppor- 
 tunities afforded him if he has the true wish of glori- 
 fying the Lord. Yet is the ministry more honourable 
 than this, and still more opportunities are found in it" 
 
 But now the time came when his highest wish was 
 to be gratified. On November 19th, he is taking 
 farewell of the poor whom he used to visit At last, 
 he is ready to start. " may He be my staff and 
 my rod ! May this ever be before my eyes, and 
 written upon my heart, GoD, whose i am, and whom 
 I SERVK I am now no longer my own ; the world 
 
LEAVING MANCHESTER. 4o 
 
 mast now be cast behind. May I be directed on the 
 road to duty. Let this day be ever remarkable in 
 my life." 
 
 Just as he was thus leaving Manchester, he heard of 
 one to whom he seemed to have been savingly blessed 
 It led him to write : — " Felt that important principle 
 confirmed to-day, that the more I engage in duty, 
 the more I am glad with a holy joy." Need we won- 
 der at this ? Surely not ; for thus it is that a man 
 is kept from looking at self, and guided to a more 
 constant gaze at Christ, to whom he points others. 
 And we get a little into the secret of his steady cheer- 
 fulness when we find him remarking : — " Have been 
 considering the subject of assurance. I believe that 
 the Christian who possesses it is in the best position 
 for active efibrt to the glory of God : as he is thus free 
 fi:om his own problem to care for the souls of others. 
 And surely it is most scriptural, for we find the 
 Apostles ever rejoicing in the love of Christ, and ex- 
 horting whole churches to do the same." 
 
 We now go with him to Edinburgh, where he 
 arrived November 27. ; and three days after he is 
 found as before, at his heavenly Father's business. 
 For we read — 
 
 " 30th November. — Attended a prayer meeting of 
 the Students' Missionary Association. Have been 
 much interested in the life of J. Braiaerd Taylor. 
 
46 J. B. TAYLOE — LIVELY FEELING, 
 
 He was a merchant ako till nineteen. He seems to 
 have felt a distaste for business itself, which I can- 
 not say was the case with me, nor do I know that 
 there is any line of life I would not have been ready 
 to pursue, had duty led to it With him I pray that 
 the Lord would make me a Christian eminent for 
 holiness and devotedness. I would desire not to take 
 any man as my model, but only the Lamb of God. 
 May He grant me a great anointing for His most 
 holy office." 
 
 Soon after he is found joining with a few others in 
 a prayer meeting for revival in the congregation. 
 Then he writes : — " I would humbly praise God for 
 the change which, I trust, has been wrought in me. 
 He has restored in some measure to my soul the light 
 of His countenance. The Holy Scriptures have been 
 sweet to my taste to-day. The Psalms especially 
 seemed to beaTmifith light. This morning whUe return- 
 ing from visiting, Jesus seemed to draw near to me. 
 I had just to lift up my heart, and He gave me peace 
 in Him. I longed to go aside and pray, but had no 
 time. Still I could not help stopping by the road- 
 side, and felt the true joy arising from the feeling of 
 lying passive in the Saviour's arms." 
 
 Here is watchfulness. 
 
 " 7th December. — Began to repeat the 42d Psalm 
 as soon as I arose, and engaged in prayer. This I 
 
GLOEIFiTING GOD IN STDDT. 47 
 
 often find beneficial, by the mind being led into a 
 serious frame as soon as I awake.' 
 
 Here is self-examination. 
 
 " Monday, 9th. — I cannot point so much to one 
 glaring sin that should make me mourn, it is just the 
 corruption of the whole inward man; a constant 
 tendency to estrange myself from the Lord, by neglect-' 
 ing to be ever striving to keep near Him." 
 
 Here he glorifies God in his studies. 
 
 "13th Deceiriber. — It is very delightful when I am 
 enabled to sit down to Cicero or to Greek, with my 
 heart's purpose being to glorify God. It is oftentimes 
 very refi'eshing to lift up my heart in prayer before 
 taking the book in my hands, and commending my- 
 self unto Him who careth for us. 
 
 " ] 7tk December. — Attending meeting of students 
 of divinity engaged in Home Mission work This is 
 my first mixing with the students, and engaging more 
 immediately for God's glory. The Lord has given 
 me some love to souls ; but why so little yearning 
 after the Lord Jesus ! Were he to put the question 
 to me which he put to Peter, * Lovest thou me V I 
 fear it would be asked but once. 
 
 " 8th January. — My time is at present very much 
 engrossed by study. To-day, from half-past seven A.M. 
 till ten at night, I was engaged in study, and yet the 
 Lord shewed me that He is able to keep my heart in 
 
48 SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 
 peace with Him : for often during my studies, I was 
 able to lift up my soul in calm resting upon Him. 
 The quiet and sweetness I experience at times is 
 what formerly, when dwelling afar from the Lord, I 
 was an utter stranger to. It is not a boisterous joy, 
 nor even elation, but a calm quiet, which seems to 
 pei-vade every feeling of the souL I think I can trace 
 this to my being more in prayer while at college and 
 in the various classes. Let this be an encouragement 
 to me to strive to live in prayer ; and in order to this, 
 let me ever remember not to begin the business of 
 any class till I have prayed to tJie Lord to keep me, 
 and to bless to me what I lea/rn while there. 
 
 " Attended Dr Candhsh's class for the Confession 
 of Faith. Subject: 'The Decrees of God and Election.' 
 In the course of the day, I find myself speaking and 
 acting too much as if I were an established follower 
 of my Lord, instead of manifesting that humble, child- 
 like deportment which ought to characterise the new- 
 bom babe. Passed some time with a soul who is still 
 looking within, instead of without, to the cross of 
 Immanuel. 
 
 "My heart is apparently wholly devoid of that 
 melting tenderness and fervent love to my crucified 
 Redeemer which ought to fill me. O to be delivered 
 from this body of death ! When wiU the Day Star, 
 the Bright and Morning Star, arise upon my soul. 
 
MOTTOiS. 49 
 
 and the love of the Saviour, without resistance, be 
 shed abroad within me ? I long for such a time. 
 that I could forget every one else, and every thing 
 else in the world, and join the seraph band in singing 
 to His praise, the bountiful Giver of aU good ! Ereiy 
 estrangement is only the working of that great enemy 
 sin, mortal sin. How black must my heart seem in the 
 eye of the Lord, with whom I have to do. Lord 
 Jesus, come into my soul, and enable me to love Thee 
 more and more." 
 
 In crossing from Leith to Kirkcaldy, on his way to 
 a few days' visit at Springland, he writes : — " Was 
 obliged to rebuke three men for their disgraceful con- 
 versation ; but it was done in a cowardly manner. 
 Spoke at last to a gentleman inside the coach a few 
 words as to the necessity of seeking to lay hold on the 
 only true foundation, Christ Jesus. The cowardly feel- 
 ing I experienced was veiy great, wholly im worthy of 
 one who professes to have relinquished the world, and 
 therefore should regard neither its laugh nor frown. I 
 am far from being a bold soldier in my Master's cause." 
 And here is a prayer at this time, and the solution 
 of a difficulty : — " I prayed to be kept in remem- 
 brance of my three mottoes : — 
 ' Looking unto Jestjs/ 
 ' My grace is sufficient foe thee.' 
 ' Whose I am, and whom T serve.' 
 
 D 
 
50 NEW tear's feelings. 
 
 I am sometimes at a loss as to the priority of various 
 duties, which should hold the first place, and which 
 should be postponed. At present these three mani- 
 fest duties lie before me : 1st, Eeligion in my own 
 soul ; 2d, Preparation in all its forms for the minis- 
 try ; 3d, The conversion of near relations and neigh- 
 bours." 
 
 It is thus he enters upon another year : — 
 
 " New Teai^s Day, 1st January 1845, Sprmg- 
 la/nd. — The year has been begun in prayer. How 
 blessed would it be if it were a whole year of prayers. 
 for grace from my God to pray without ceasing. 
 In a letter from my sister lately, she said, 'Do not 
 come to terms with your corruptions. Give no 
 quarter to sin, and take none, till you set your feet 
 within the New Jerusalem.' 
 
 " to learn more from Jesus of His own glorious 
 Person ! Shew me, Lord, more of Thy wondrous love. 
 Fill the void which I feel to be in my souL 
 
 "I sometimes think whether or not it may be 
 God's will that I should enter the ministry on earth. 
 Many are cut off in their prime. J. Brainerd Taylor 
 was cut down when about to enter on the work of 
 preaching the Gospel, and he, as I, left business. 
 May I ever remember this solemn consideration " 
 
 And thus he girds his loins : — 
 
 " 22<Z February. — Rose at 4J a.m. for reading the 
 
STUDY WITH DEVOTION. 51 
 
 word and prayer. Could not get near the Lord in 
 prayer, and was made to walk the rest of the day in 
 somewhat of the spirit of humility, yet felt that it 
 had strengthened me and that it gave me a feeling 
 of stability. Found to-day how ill my proud heart 
 could hear reproof" 
 
 His studies go on, and yet his soul is not really 
 suffering loss : — " To-day felt much calm joy of heart 
 in leaving my Greek for a little and kneeling down 
 to pray. How sweet the refreshment at such a sea- 
 son to the whole inward man. It spreads a peaceful 
 serenity over the heart which nothing from an earthly 
 source can equal Perhaps the nearest approach to 
 it is Christian friendship, but this I find mixed with 
 many alloys. Communing with God is alone pure 
 without mixture ; it is a foretaste of the eternal joy." 
 
 On March 3. he gained the prize for recitation at 
 the Humanity Class in the College, taught by Pro- 
 fessor Pillans. 
 
 But his delight in meditating on the word of God 
 increased. 
 
 " 1 &th March. — ^The majesty of God's word is truly 
 great ; so like the language of the Creator of the 
 universe Have been reading lately some of Solo- 
 mon's Song, and find it very suitable to my own 
 case." 
 
 '• Wednesday, March 19. — Have experienced more 
 
02 GOSPEL OF JOHN. 
 
 pleasure in reading the Scriptures to-day than I ever 
 remember before. Have begun to learn John's Gospel 
 by heart How placid and kind the manner in which 
 Jesus speaks to the first apostles, 'What seek ye?' 
 He said unto them, ' Come and see ;' when they, trem- 
 bling, no doubt, were following Him, for they seem to 
 have been afraid to come up with Him. And then, 
 no doubt, walking between them. He took them to His 
 own house — ^perhaps some small room surrounded by 
 carpenters' tools. And then the kind welcome given 
 to Nathaniel is very touching. How beautifully does 
 the character of Jesus shine forth in these little narra- 
 tives, and yet, little as they are, ^ving manifold proof 
 of His being a Divine Person. Simon Peter's cha- 
 racter he knew at once. Nathaniel was known to be 
 an Israelite in whom was no guile. When he thought 
 no eye had seen him, Jesus had been present and 
 with him under the fig-tree." 
 
 Somewhere about this time, a letter that he wrote 
 a school companion was made a blessing ; or rather, a 
 letter which he had written to that iriend from Man- 
 chester now began to bear fiiiit in his soul. The young 
 man said, that from that date, whenever he thought of 
 religion, his mind somehow reverted to Mr Sandeman. 
 For a time he quieted his conscience by saying, "Some 
 shall be taken, and others left What then could he 
 do ?" But he was led on to cry more earnestly to the 
 
A LETIKR BLESSED. 53 
 
 Lord. One Sabbath, after hearing a sermon on faith, 
 he went home and prayed, " Lord, increase my faith ! " 
 and his eyes were opened. He wrote to Mr Sande- 
 man telling him the happy story. It may be men- 
 tioned here, that at a future date he visited Mr S., 
 ■who has this iastructive record concerning him : — 
 " H. G. visited me. The first day or two he was all 
 icy together. This, perhaps, led him to think lightly 
 of temptation. He went to a dancing-party. God 
 humbled him, and he seems to be going on his way 
 rejoicing, yet humble." Next year, that same person 
 was found spending hours in prayer, in reading the 
 Bible, and visiting the poor. In recording it in his 
 journal, Mr S. writes : — " Heard of a letter being 
 blessed. Let me be encouraged by this answer to 
 prayer. The good has come, and every atom of it, 
 through Jesus. The grace flowed all the way from 
 heaven, and entered a weak and broken vessel, just 
 before it did the work God had given it to do." 
 
 We can join him in the glow of feeling that dictates 
 ■ what follows : — 
 
 " 4ith April. — Three days more, and then the 7th of 
 April. Brightest day that ever dawned to me, or 
 that ever can dawn, till • I enter into the everlasting 
 joy!" 
 
 " Qth April, Sahhcdh. — It was about this very hour 
 last year that the Lord first gave me a true hop^ 
 
oi PROSPECTS FOB ETEKKIIT. 
 
 which has never quite left me since. How blessed 
 my prospect now : Throughout the ages of eternity my 
 soul to be wrapt in joys, of which Jesus shall be the 
 one great theme ! a holy rejoicing, which can know 
 no ebbings, no interruptions, but shall be ever flow- 
 ing on, ever finding new cause for a louder burst of 
 praise when my Saviour's loveliness is yet more dis- 
 played ! in that land to meet the patriarchs and pro- 
 phets, to join with the Psalmist King in chaunting 
 to the praise of God, with all the martyrs to sing 
 aloud, and the general assembly of the redeemed \" 
 
 Amid such breathings, prayers, eflforts, studies, 
 passed quietly away the first year of his new life. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 \h gup of Stog for % Pinistrg. 
 
 "Whose I am, and wbom I serve." 
 
 Acts xxtii. 'Ji. 
 
The city of Venice is built on clusters of islets, divided 
 from each other by narrow and shallow channels of 
 sea, up which the tide runs. These islets were once 
 merely stretches of sand covered with sea-weed. 
 When the city was to be built, the builders did not 
 seek to fill up these dividing channels, but conformed 
 their plan to the nature of the site, driving in stakes 
 and piles, and erecting houses, temples, palaces, and 
 towers, along the margin. It is somewhat thus that 
 the great Builder acts when He comes to rear up the 
 new temple in a once wasted, desolate souL He 
 does not reduce souls to one level platform, and build 
 a monotonous range of similar structures. He con- 
 forms the features of the new building to the previous 
 outstanding characteristics of the man. 
 
 The Holy Spirit, by the pen of Paul, has used an 
 illustration in Romans xi. 17, taken from the grafting 
 of the branch of a wild olive tree into the stock on 
 
58 INDIVIDUALITY. 
 
 which grew the branches of the Good Olive He Ls 
 speaking of believing Gentiles coming into a share of 
 1 srael's spiritual blessings. Now, those well acquainted 
 with gardening processes teU us, that, as the result of 
 such an operation, the fruit of the wild olive tree is 
 sensibly improved in size, if not in flavour, by the new 
 sap, but that it stUl retains its specific peculiarity. The 
 Gentiles, grafted by faith on the same stock as Abra- 
 ham, do, nevertheless, retain their Gentile peculiarities 
 of character, while they draw new life from the good 
 stock of the good olive tree. So with souls bom again. 
 The grafted scion, the new man in Christ, in bearing 
 fruit retains its specific characteristics ; union to Christ 
 does not efface the man's peculiar intellectual qualities, 
 but breathes new life and imparts new vigour into 
 them. It is thus we account for the &ct on the scale of 
 a nation, that, when the life of God has come to that na- 
 tion, it arises from intellectual torpor, and vigorously 
 culti\'ates eveiy form of civilisation, retaining all the 
 while its individuality. On the same principle we see 
 a soul after conversion rousing himself to the service of 
 his Redeemer, and calling into more vigorous exercise 
 every power of his being — and his peculiar gifts not 
 least. 
 
 At a later period, he of whom we write was led to 
 remark, that the Lord seems, even in grace, to pre- 
 serve individuality. " I have had occasion to observe 
 
CHAPACIEEISTICS IN CEILDHOOD. 59 
 
 how God continues the same grace to different be- 
 lievers, grace peculiarly their own, so that in meeting 
 them you know where you will find them," When 
 he himself was brought out of darkness into marvel- 
 lous light, conversion did not make him intellectually 
 say what he was not before, but it led him to seek 
 the development of all his powers with intense energy. 
 He did not imitate any other man or Christian, he 
 sought to be what the Master apparently meant him 
 to become. It was remarked of him in infancy, that 
 while others were quicker and more active, he was one 
 who took pains to be sure that he was right before he 
 acted. When sent with a message up to the nursery, 
 his more nimble companions often rushed down two 
 or three times over with the wrong article ; but when 
 David was the messenger, he was sure to come back 
 with the commission carefully executed. This feature 
 of character, combined with perseverance, was more 
 and more developed as he grew up in years. It led 
 him, in general study, to get at the root of everything, 
 if possible ; it inclined him, in theology, to examine 
 the principles of the divine administration, and to 
 observe the analogy of faith, instead of hastily admit- 
 ting a conclusion which one less anxious to be sure that 
 he was right might have been content to draw. 
 Indeed, his companions often thought him slow, as 
 well as cautious, in his reasoning. 
 
60 COURSE OF STUDY. 
 
 Manly fearlessness in maintaining what he believed 
 CO be right, was not less remarkable in him than this 
 indomitable perseveranca And then his rare consist- 
 ency and evident singlemindedness were felt by his 
 fellow-students to impart peculiar weight to his con- 
 clusiona We might add also his gentlemanly bearing 
 and kindly address ; indeed, even little children soon 
 perceived and appreciated his imselfish kindliness of 
 manner and disposition. 
 
 We do not try to follow him throughout his eight 
 years of preparatory study for the ministry ; it may 
 be better to give glimpses of his student life. He 
 most conscientiously studied the usual branches, and 
 attended the classes that other students attend who 
 are preparing for the ministry in the Free Church of 
 Scotland. His attention was given to Latin and Greek, 
 to Natural Philosophy and the higher Mathematics,* 
 besides other pursuits of a less severe kind. He 
 studied Logic under Sir WiUiam Hamilton, and Moral 
 Philosophy under Professor M'Dougall. Then fol- 
 lowed, during four successive years. Theology in aU 
 its branches, under Dr Bannerman, and Dr James 
 Buchanan, and Principal Cunningham, while he pur- 
 sued at the same time the study of Hebrew, and made 
 progress in the cognate dialects also, under Dr John 
 
 * He retained such a liking to tliis branch of stady, that when 
 ia China, he wrote home for a copy of Newton's Frincipia. 
 
STUDY IN THE PEESENCE OF JESUS. 61 
 
 Duncan. In several of these classes he gained marked 
 distinction ; in every one of them, he made it a matter 
 of conscience to be diligent and persevering. Nor was 
 there any perceptible abatement of spiritual feeling. 
 Many have found the glowing ardour of their souls 
 damped by philosophical and even by theological 
 pursuits ; he felt the danger, and endured a conflict, 
 but did not fall in it. For whether it were Locke's 
 Philosophy or Calvin's Institutes, M'Intosh's Disserta- 
 tions or Edwards on the WiU, Hume's argument 
 against Miracles or Owen's Treatises, Demosthenes oi 
 Milton, he made it a rule first to pray over the book, 
 and then to endeavour to use it for his Master. " To 
 stvdy all day in the presence of Jesus," was his rule. 
 In his note-book, he has penned in large letters, 
 "Eternity ! Eteknitt! " Then he writes: — "Let me 
 act more as if I were now in the next world looking back 
 to see how I should have acted for the glory of Jesus. 
 As D. Brainerd says, to live ON the verge of 
 Eternity ! "Would that I could continually dwell 
 on its sides, in studying and following out every avo- 
 cation!" 
 
 His motto, " Pray without ceasing," occurs from 
 time to time every year of his course; and as it 
 seemed an impossible attainment to study very keenly 
 and continue as spiritually-minded as before, he laid 
 it down as a rule for testing his soul — " One atom of 
 
62 SPIRITUALITY AND STUD\. 
 
 spirituality of mind, lost by too great attention to 
 study, can never be made up for by any amount of 
 acquirement." The question in such a case might 
 be raised, Is not the acquirement itself, if a thing of 
 duty, a really spiritual gain, although the feeling of 
 spirituality be at the time weakened ? Certainly he 
 was stating a mighty truth when he wrote, " If the 
 soul is doing all for the glory of God, then every 
 particle of knowledge is turned into the gold of the 
 sanctuary ; while, as soon as the soul loses this single 
 aim of God's glory, aU that may be acquired is but 
 wood, hay, and stubbla" But never once does he 
 hint at the idea of such acquirements being useless. 
 On the contrary, he writes (April 1846) : — 
 
 " The student for the ministry is often inclined to 
 lay aside his book of science, &c., and take up the 
 word of God and pray ; while the heavenly Master 
 knows that such learning, kept in entire subjection 
 to His own word, wiU tend to make the servant more 
 of a polished shaft, by accustoming the mind to be 
 exercised ; and thus, hy the effectual working of the 
 Holy Spirit, will enable him to apply with all the 
 more vigour and effect to the mighty work of preach- 
 ing the Gospel." 
 
 " When I go to Edinburgh, I think that I ought 
 to begin to read the Bible through, as my acquaint- 
 ance with it is very limited indeed. If my doctrine 
 
£XPECTATIONS AS TO STUDY. 63 
 
 is not to be mine, but His that sent me, surely His 
 revealed will must be my constant study; and let 
 me endeavour to bring my faculties to bear upon it 
 with all the force I can command, for surely God's 
 word is far more deserving of it than mathematics. 
 
 " The winter classes will take up much of my time 
 and attention, so that I almost fear to enter them ; I 
 know how deadening is their effect. The glory of 
 Jesus, and that alone, should be my nding and guiding 
 principle. So let me remember my motto — ' Whose 
 I am, a/nd whom I serve.' Let this be printed over 
 every page, and seen in every action. 
 
 " I do not expect to be particularly distinguished, 
 my talents being of no very high order. With truth, 
 I may say with Moses, ' I am not eloquent, neither 
 heretofore nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy 
 servant, but I am of slow speech and of a slow 
 tongue.' This last part is just as if it were written 
 for my encouragement. Let me, keeping this always 
 before me, take good heed that I do not err as Moses 
 did, in tempting the Lord under a false show of hu- 
 mility. Let me, however, bear in mind God's promise 
 to him — ' And I will be with thy mouth.' And where 
 do we find Moses at a loss for words ? The first five 
 books of God's holy word are from his pen. He did 
 not fail in finding words to declare that Jesus was to 
 come — ' of whom Moses and the prophets did write.' 
 
G-t ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. 
 
 ^nd what did the man of words (Aaron) do ? Did 
 he not confirm the children of Israel in their miserable 
 idolatry?" 
 
 "EdiTiburgh, 3d November 1845. — I am now 
 again about to commence my studies. I feel the 
 dangers ; for, if I am to profit at all by them, it must 
 be through a regular intense application. O Lord, 
 grant me thy sustaining grace. Let the one motto 
 be ever written up before me, ' Do all to the glory of 
 God.' In studying mathematics, let this be my ruling 
 desire, that my mind may be disciplined for the use 
 of Jesus ; in studying logic, the same ; and in study- 
 ing Greek And may I have the strength of resolu- 
 tion to bear in mind to engage in prayer before com- 
 mencing the business of each hour. The apostolic 
 precept will assist me, by the mercy of God — ahior- 
 "kEi^Tuc iroogiv^teSe (' Pray without ceasing'). 
 
 " I would likewise solemnly call to mind my dedi- 
 cation in July last, in which I, for my part, did 
 engage to dedicate myself more entirely to God's 
 service, to seek to serve Him with more singleness of 
 heart, feeling this to be my most reasonable service. 
 The vows of the holy God are upon me." 
 
 At the commencement of the session he has this 
 memorandum: — " Let me seek to remember in prayer 
 each of the professors whose classes I attend." 
 
 His seeking the spiritual welfare of his fellow- 
 
INTEREST m FELLOW-STUDENTS. 65 
 
 students was a special means of preserving the spirit- 
 uality of his souL 
 
 " After the prayer-meeting in the College, continued 
 with W. S. calling upon God ; and after prayer, be- 
 sought him to lay the things of eternity more to 
 heart. Found that he had been putting something 
 of his own, instead of Christ's righteousness. Head 
 part of Eom. x. on our knees before God." 
 
 This is not the only time ; it is a mere sample of 
 its kind. So also is the following : — 
 
 " In the evening had a long conversation with a 
 literary student Confessed that he had not found 
 peace in believing ; that when he came into contact 
 with Christians, there was a something which told 
 him that all was not right within. Feared death. 
 Sought to tell of Christ Jesus, of His mercy, and 
 love, and grace, of which he said he had heard and 
 knew well Sought to encourage Him to wait upon 
 God till light should arise. 
 
 "Feel that I ought to be more faithful to my 
 fellow-students in general" 
 
 Sometimes the struggle was severe, yet seldom 
 was it in vain. 
 
 " Eesumed regular study, which, as usual, I found 
 
 to have a very steadying effect on all the powers of 
 
 the sold. 
 
 " Find it a hard matter to combine the freedom of 
 
 E 
 
66 THE LORD WITH HIM IN STUDY. 
 
 the Gospel with that constant fighting against cor- 
 ruptiou, which is the Christian's calling." 
 
 " At Professor Balfour's morning Botany class ; 
 interesting as usual; propagation of plants and graft- 
 ing." 
 
 "Have been studying and reading from early this 
 morning till late, and yet Christ Jesus and his sal- 
 vation have been made precious." 
 
 "Faith" (said Heniy Martyn) "is to overcome, 
 not to run away from, the world." He quotes this 
 saying, and in the spirit of it, we find him resolving — 
 " I must seek this summei* to give myself thoroughly 
 to study mechanics, algebra, and trigonometry, Latin, 
 and Greek." He read the literature of the day, and 
 our old classics ; but in doing so, he invariably prayed 
 over them, that they might help his future ministry. 
 We scarcely wonder, when we know his high motives 
 and aim, that he was able often to record such hours as 
 the following, — " The Lord was with me in my studies, 
 and to study has been joyful to my soul to-day. I 
 intend to keep up my French and German." " In 
 study to-day, was enabled to prosecute it without 
 doing so in an atheistical manner — not without sense 
 of the presence of God." " The word of God dwelt in 
 my soul to-day. It was not difficult to study and 
 attend the classes. Even the Ehetoric class, and the 
 reading of Shakespeare, these seemed elevated to a 
 
MOTIVES — ^THINKING. 67 
 
 higher region, by my being able to engage in it, to 
 the glory of God. Study, even the most close and 
 effective, did not estrange me from God." (Edin- 
 burgh, January 2. 1851.) " Working in study -with 
 a view to man's applause, or in comparison with 
 others, is a galling bondage." Once more, — " Exam- 
 ination day in the Natural Philosophy. The glory of 
 thy master ! whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever 
 ye do. The professor, and each of us students, must 
 stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, where an 
 examination for eternity will be held." 
 
 He liked to think for himself, and to think out a 
 subject. One of his remarks is to this effect : — 
 
 "An essential of true thinking is conclusiveness. 
 Excogitating even is not thinking. Practically, a 
 thought is of no value, except conclusive. It may 
 be of value towards a thought, but it is of no intrinsic 
 wortL A finished conclusive thought in the hand of 
 a powerful aggressive mind is of great efficacy. Con- 
 clusive thought is truth." (Jam,uary 7. 1849.) 
 
 Far from undervaluing the cultivation of the facul- 
 ties to the full, he sought to give good heed even to the 
 lesser matters that might one day bear on the effi- 
 ciency of his ministrations. " Whitefield," he notes, 
 " was not ashamed to attend to manner in preaching. 
 He rebuked the neglect of the study of oratory at 
 Oxford." Again, — " All mannerism is hurtful for the- 
 
68 APPRECIATION OF LITEKATURF. 
 
 holy ministiy. Tones unnaturally drawn out, false 
 raising and lowering of the voice/' &c. 
 
 Let us give a specimen of his appreciation of the 
 higher literature. (July 1850.) 
 
 " I ohserve that there is a certain healthiness in 
 the atmosphere of truly great minds, which invigor- 
 ates and strengthens. There is even a moral nobility 
 about such, which is not found among men of a lower 
 order. Milton's Paradise Lost I find also most grate- 
 fuL It breathes an ennobling spirit. 
 
 "What I admire most in these men and their pro- 
 ductions, is that air and reality of nobUity which all 
 true greatness bears with it as a necessary ingredient 
 They walk on a higher level, their step is more manly 
 too than other men's, and they cannot stoop to mean- 
 ness. 
 
 "Stem unalterableness of purpose is a sublime 
 feature of such characters ; they call up the idea of 
 the eagle, whose eye, as he soars, catches the minutest 
 object, and marks each, but never swoops tUl a worthy 
 quarry is discerned, whose fate is then fixed." 
 
 Having been perusing one of Schiller's works, he 
 writes : — " Find that the ideas of truly great minds 
 move one much in the same way as the grand in 
 nature. The works of nature do not lead one directly 
 away from God, but rather tend to bring one into the 
 posture of a silent worshipper. Worts of art, if very 
 
GBEAT WRITERS. 69 
 
 magnificent, may have the same tendency. But ordi- 
 narily the truth of God must be called to mind, in 
 order to put those in their proper place." "Enr 
 grossed, and more than delighted with Chahners. 
 Among other things, he measures out so palpably for 
 one the littleness of his own mind and contractedness 
 of his own heart. This influence on the mind amounts 
 almost to fescination. Was led to give God thanks 
 for creating such a spirit among the sons of men, and 
 for bending that spirit to seek His glory as his 
 highest aim." On Demosthenes : " Two or three hours 
 of Demosthenes. Struck with the directness of his 
 style of address: No swerving aside for mere declama- 
 tion, no mere flowers or ornament, every word and 
 sentence bears directly and potently on the point 
 which he wishes to carry. His lofty and fervid tone 
 has an elevating effect" At another time : " In the 
 evening, twenty pages of Demosthenes. Healthful 
 as usual." Meeting at the house of his brother-in- 
 law, Mr G. F. Barbour, a living writer, Isaac Taylor : 
 " Struck with his kindness and the intellectual sti- 
 mulus of his conversation." Once more : " Beading 
 Calvin's Institutes. Mind almost sensibly expanded 
 in reading — ^the ordinary efiect of reading that noble 
 author !" 
 
 He rose early in the morning, and his care was (like 
 M'Cheyne), "Never, if possible, to meet the creature 
 
70 EARLY AND LATE WITH GOD. 
 
 till he had met the Creator." Two hours were spent 
 in prayer and reading the Word ; and if he was inter- 
 rupted, or if he failed to get time for these hours, he 
 used to feel " the loss of his morning's itm/mui' 
 all throughout the day. While travelling on the con- 
 tinent in 1 850, " SougM the face of the Lord before 
 starting," or something to this effect, is a common 
 entry in his journal He added to this occasionally, 
 " Two hours of the Hebrew Bible." If it was one of 
 his special days of fasting and prayer, he sometimes 
 rose at five, or earlier, and would note afterwards, 
 " The day seemed very short" These hours brought 
 in " spiritual affluence, and made him happy as a 
 prince" while busy at his studies the rest of the day. 
 And so he would ^■etire to rest at night in serene 
 repose on the everlasting arm. One evening, in 
 Ifov. 1851, it is noted in his journal, "Went to re-st 
 singing :— 
 
 ' " Friends the fondest should not keep me, 
 
 Jesus loves me more than they. 
 I would be where Jesus waits me, 
 
 I would be where Jesus is — 
 All too long have we been parted, 
 
 Let my spirit speed to His !" 
 
 lines which he uttered when sinking back into the 
 Everlasting Arms on his deathbed. Truly his every 
 evening's repose was a real readiness for the eternal 
 rest. 
 
THE WOED OF GOD. 71 
 
 Not less were the other hours calm and holy. 
 "Came home with my heart somewhat heavenly. 
 After dinner sung Psalm cxliiL" {Jam,. 1851 .) He de- 
 lighted in praise. Awaking one morning (Vlth April 
 1851) at five, he hears the birds at their early song, 
 and thinking of it as their morning hymn, asks him- 
 self, " Is not this a challenge ?" He used often to 
 sing at ordinary times, as a song of praise, the thirty- 
 fifth paraphrase : — 
 
 " 'Twas on tliat night wlien doomed to know," JEC 
 And to sweeten his praise, he was at great pains to 
 learn the use of the accordion or concertina And 
 then, The Word was ever at hand. Jan. 1846. — ■ 
 " Already it seems a friend with whom I would no. 
 part, no not for worlds." Jem. 1847. — One of hit 
 new year's resolutions is, "A good proportion of 
 the best part of my time to be devoted to secret 
 prayer ;" and the other is, " A very close and con- 
 stant reading, and as deep and prayerfiil a study and 
 meditation as he can give to the Holy Scriptures." 
 To him the Word was really " light and lamp ;" and 
 (says a friend) his life was an illustration of the 
 words, " When thou goest, it shall lead thee ; when 
 thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou 
 awakest, it shall talk with thee" (Prov. vi. 22). Arriv- 
 ing firom a journey, he was to be found taking 
 "food for his sold" ere ever he cared for bodily 
 
72 THE WOKD OF GOD. 
 
 refreshment ; and at midnight, if he happened to be 
 sleepless, he would arise, strike a light, and fill his 
 •soul with thoughts of God from God's own word, and 
 then lie down again. One of his petitions, adopted 
 from a friend,* was, " O Lord, cast me into the mould 
 of Thy word." He comes from his class to his lodg- 
 ing, and spends half-an-hour at the word. " Some 
 ingots from the Scripture mine." We find him not- 
 ing, " that (Ecolampadius delighted in the Old Tes- 
 tament Scriptures, which,"" says he, " is at present 
 my pasture-ground. There is a peculiar joy in find- 
 ing Christ thera" One Sabbath evening, " spent the 
 whole of it in reading in the Hebrew, that grave and 
 beloved language." Averse would at times be suffi- 
 cient. " ' Be filled with the Spirit,' has shone into my 
 heart like a sunbeam, and has abode with me some 
 days." (1 846.) When at Bonskied {October 1 852), 
 riding up Glen Tilt, his spirit was filled by the 
 grandeur of the scene ; and as a fit companion to 
 it, the Word was in his hands : " Can read nothing 
 but the word; it is my morning, noon, and night 
 portion." 
 
 It was his custom, with those feUow-students who 
 enjoyed his most familiar intercourse, occasionally to 
 
 * I believe this fiiend was the late Mr Wodrow, who so deeply 
 loved Isiael, and who was led to take special interest in Israel, by 
 simply following the teachings of the word of God. 
 
MEDITATION ON CHRIST. 73 
 
 stop the current of conversation or study by propos- 
 ing some such question as — " Let us now tell each 
 other what we may have observed in any of our 
 number which would not have been seen in the 
 Master." 
 
 K anything more was needed to open up to us a 
 view of his youthful soul, able while in the very 
 throng and bustle of classes and studies to keep in 
 close fellowship with the Son of God, it may bfe 
 found in the subjoined extract from a meditation, 
 Maxell 1847. Having referred to the bitterness he 
 had felt when for any time not sensible of the 
 presence and love of God, he turns to meditate on 
 Christ forsaken : — 
 
 " May it not be said that Jehovah never yet stirred 
 up all His wrath against sin, except in that awful 
 hour when Jesus cried, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!' 
 For when the angels fell, Jehovah's anger was kin- 
 dled, and they were cast into hell ; but whilst they 
 have progressively to experience that wrath through 
 eternity, whose full expiation they yet never reach, 
 Jesus, on the other hand, during His life, in the 
 garden, and on the accursed cross, must have borne 
 the awfully compressed, yet complete, essence of 
 God's infinite wrath against His people's sin. Truly 
 the furnace of divine wrath must have been at that 
 hour seven times heated. 
 
74 HIS LOVE TO CHRIST. 
 
 "Jesus Christ — ^the Lord Jesus Christ! O how 
 glorious his person, how holy is He ! What would 
 my life be without Jesus? I believe from the 
 love which God my Father has put into my heart to 
 Jesus, my dear, dearest Saviour and Redeemer, that 
 were He to withhold altogether my Beloved from my 
 sight, I should pine and die. Oh I am sometimes 
 sick of very love. My Beloved appears to me at 
 times, when His' hand is laid on me, when His left 
 hand is under my head, and His everlasting arms are 
 around me, white and ruddy — the chiefest among 
 ten thousand. ' His mouth is most sweet, yea, He is 
 altogether lovely.' ' My beloved is mine, and I am his. 
 He feedeth among the lilies.' ' The love of Christ, 
 it passeth knowlege.' Jesus, my Lord, has the in- 
 most recess of my heart without a rival No friend 
 can possess that chamber. Oh no ! I would not have 
 another beloved in that chamber ; no, not for worlds. 
 How easily could I exist without aU my other friends, 
 if I had only Christ. How soon should I die away 
 if Jesus were torn from me. I might die for several 
 of my friends ; nay, I feel as if, were many of my 
 brethren in Jesus to be in imminent danger, I could 
 sacrifice my own life to save theirs ; but Oh, Christ 
 always has my life. I would this day put it entirely 
 in His hand. ' To me ' — O thou poor sinner — ^thou 
 hard-hearted one — thou obstinate one — ^thou carnal, 
 
VISITS FOR EECEEATION. 75 
 
 unclean one — ^but who art clothed in the blood- 
 bought garment of Jesus's Righteousness — ' to me ' 
 — even to me, a vUe, chiefest sinner — 'to live is 
 Christ, and to die gain.' Surej^o/ia/ Be 1-a tu\i &{io, t^i 
 imki/jylav iyjiss ih rh aiioKiJeai, xal ffiv S^ierSi iTi/ar croXXj!; 
 ydj [JjoKKov %giieis(ii,'' (PhiL i. 23). 
 
 It is not often that a student's life has many 
 incidents ; but in the present case we find some of 
 special interest His excursions, in the weeks of 
 recreation, were generally to spots that possessed 
 attractions, and when this was not the case, the style 
 of his visits often threw interest into them. 
 
 Of course, his native place, Perth, was one of these 
 spots; and there we find interesting notices of his 
 visits to the neighbourhood : — 
 
 " Walked to MeihveTi. The Lord enabled me to 
 speak to many poor souls as I met them on the road." 
 " Called on Mr Milna His prayer for me and my 
 future success in the ministry deeply afifected me." 
 " Walked with J. Maxton" [a friend in Christ, now in 
 glory] " in the woods. Had the word and prayer with 
 him." 
 
 One day in harvest, finding by the roadside a 
 woman cutting grass, he plucked a head of wheat, 
 and told her how a com of wheat must die before 
 that beautiful head could spring up ; and so Christ 
 must needs die ere we could be saved. She seemed 
 
76 COLLAGE — SPRINGLAND. 
 
 astonished, and he went on his way, praying that the 
 Lord might send His word to her heart. 
 
 At another time : — ^" A sweet walk in the afternoon 
 among my heavenly Father's works. They were 
 eloquent in His praise. The clouds seemed as His 
 chariots. The clear blue Grampians never seemed 
 so lovely." " Yesterday went to CoUace, and met Mr 
 A. and J. Bonar, and Mr Gumming. Since then, 
 have been impressed with the great importance of 
 the minister of Jesus having much anxiety for souls. 
 O to be like Jesus, weeping over souls. A. B. spoke 
 of this." 
 
 2d October 1851. — At BoTiskied, near Pitlochrie. 
 One could almost wish that the days of boyhood, so 
 fiill of life and confiding hope, were back again ; but 
 then was I not living without God, without Christ, 
 and without hope, in the world ?" 
 
 13th October, Springlamd. — " Here am I in the 
 very room where my adorable Lord manifested the 
 fulness of His love, mercy, beauty, and glory, to my 
 soul, which He rescued out of the horrible pit and 
 miry clay. O how sweet was His love to my soul 
 O how did He fill me all the day, in this sweet room 
 and everywhere, with His overcoming love ! How 
 was it continually with me, a kind of sweet amaze- 
 ment of love 1 How did I tremble whether it could 
 be all true. 'I sat under His shadow with great 
 
BONSKIED. 77 
 
 delight/ Since then, I trust, my love, if quieter, is 
 not less true, and it is more established. 
 
 In July 1852, he and his friend Mr Oswald Allan 
 were coming up the magnificent Pass of KiUiecrankie, 
 when his eye caught the glare of £ame. They hurried 
 on, and reached Bonshied just in time to aid in 
 extihgiushing a fire. " We saw the power of God in 
 wind, and flood, and fire, during that visit," says he ; 
 for there came on a pouring rain and a mighty blast 
 that uprooted trees by hundreds. He stood on the 
 roof, near the burning rafters of the ofi&ces, and by 
 his coolness in giving orders, was a chief instrument 
 in preventing the spread of the flames. 
 
 Once more, at that same spot : — " The Lord drew 
 very near. Had delight in thinking that every line 
 of the hills was fashioned by His hands, and that He 
 himself admired and rejoiced in their beauty and^ 
 power ; also that He always dwelt among them as 
 the Omnipotent God. My soul made its boast in 
 Him ; it seemed for the time so natural to glory only 
 in the Lord." 
 
 But now we return with him to EdinburgL There 
 this zeal often burst forth on Sabbath evenings, as 
 he passed up or down the High Street, and saw the 
 open door of the tavern or pie-shop. He firequently 
 walked in, with his Bible in his hand, spoke to 
 the Sabbath-breakers, and over the counter calmly 
 
78 SOLDIER IN queen's PARK. 
 
 and kindly entreated them to listen to the call of 
 Christ. 
 
 One of the friends of his youth tells an anecdote of 
 those days illustrative of a distinguishing feature of 
 his character, namely, how readily he could pass 
 from the apparently most boisterous physical exer- 
 tion, to the most solemn and calm dealing with souls. 
 Delighting as he did in \dgorous exercise and gym- 
 nastic feats, he one day, in a walk with two com- 
 panions, joined for a few minutes in the amusement of 
 leaping over the stile at one comer of the old Queen's 
 Park. While his companions failed, he cleared the 
 stUe so easily and gracefully, as to draw forth the 
 admiration of a dragoon who stood by. When about 
 to walk on, Mr S. turned to this soldier, got him into 
 conversation, and spoke of the perils and the honours 
 of a life like his. Then suddenly, drawing himself to 
 his full height, he exclaimed with deep feeling, 
 " There's something far better yet ! It is, to be a 
 soldier of Jesus Christ. Are you that ?" The dra- 
 goon looked with wonder on the man of muscle and 
 sinew who could thus speak to his soul, and shook 
 hands at parting evidently deeply interested. The nar- 
 rator adds, " Scenes like these were continually occur- 
 ring ; but this power of gracefully turning every little 
 event into a means of usefulness could exist only in 
 one whose natural atmosphere was the love of God, 
 
OCCASIONAL LABOUBS. 79 
 
 and in whose soul there was an uninterrupted gravi- 
 tation towards his divine Saviour/' The same friend 
 remarked, that it might be said in Uke manner of his 
 intellectual being, " There was but a step between the 
 eagerness of metaphysical argument and the fervency 
 of prayer," during the days of his closest study. 
 
 He had a district which he regularly and anxiously 
 visited, and from which he had some fruit; but 
 beyond this sphere we find his labours extending. 
 At one time it is to the Magdalene Asylwm — "Felt 
 as if I could have pleaded for hours with them to 
 come to Jesua" At another time it is to the Prison — 
 " Trust that my Saviour opened my mouth in some 
 measure." At another, he visits Bridewell, where he 
 felt " calm liberty ; " " assuredly He granted me His 
 power and presence in my own souL" Then he gets 
 an opportunity in the Castle of attending the prayer- 
 meeting of some faithful soldiers. Next, he is at a 
 bookshop, "purchasing Casteirs Oriental Lexicon, 
 with a view to the study of the Syriac New Testa- 
 ment ;" and speaking to the man from whom he 
 buys it, and to others in the shop, on eternal things. 
 And then we find him at Salisbury Crags, " calling 
 on the Lord there." One morning he goes out with 
 his Professor to measure with a barometer the height 
 of Arthur's Seat; another morning, in his walk 
 there, he finds "an unexpectedly sweet moment of 
 
80 COESTOKPHINE HILL. 
 
 prayer." He climbs the Fentland Mills, and some 
 time after he is on the shore at Leiih. " Why have I 
 not a walk with God as close as M'Cheyne's ?" is a 
 question he is revolving in his mind," and he medi- 
 tates till his heart bums. Then we meet him at 
 Ratho, conducting a prayer-meeting, at the close of 
 which "one remained to speak with him;" and 
 another day, he walks by the seashore to Gra/nwnd, 
 breathing upwards desires and longings. He re- 
 turns from a prayer-meeting in Dalkeith, feeling 
 " as it were an infinite complacency in the Divine 
 Being." 
 
 One other stroll: — " Walked to Corstorphi/ne Hill 
 in the evening, for meditation. Got there, what I 
 looked not for, some discovery of my utter loath- 
 someness in the sight of God. The imbelief of my 
 nature, the hideous spectacle of ungodliness, of in- 
 herent enmity against the holiness of the Lord of 
 Sabaoth, was almost too much for me to bear ; but 
 found great relief in remembering that Jesus had 
 taken me from hell itself, and in just looking up, 
 as if I had never looked before, to the glorious 
 Immanuel. Could have willingly remained in this 
 Bethel longer, but the evening was fast closing, 
 and the air was cold. Thought of the time when 
 Jesus would come and take my soul to the mansions 
 of glory prepared for the poor sinners redeemed from 
 
FRIENDS. 81 
 
 sin and hell ; when the old man will be for ever 
 divoic^, and Jesus will come and lead me to the 
 marriage supper." 
 
 The scene is varied by the visit of a beloved 
 mother, which draws forth the prayer, " May I be 
 the means of quickening the divine life in her soul, 
 and may she also be the means of leading me nearer 
 to Jesus." Or yet more, a letter comes, bringing 
 good news from a &x country. It is the morning of 
 April 24. 1846 :— 
 
 "24iA April. — Blessed news to-day, which has 
 made heaven glad. My dear brother A. in. India 
 seems to have been brought to Jesus. When I heard 
 of it I could only weep tears of joy and thankful- 
 ness. The Lord seems to have brought him in with- 
 out much instrumentality, so that he is the more a 
 great monument of free grace. His letter breathes a 
 humble and teachable spirit. O blessed Father, pre- 
 serve hitn from all temptation which might prove too 
 strong for his present faith ; but O how glorious to 
 Thine own name that now he can be left to Thy gra- 
 cious care, not as a rebel against Thy law, but as a 
 son ! O Lord, give him a deeper view of sin than I 
 have had : that he may be a great Hght, for then also 
 will he have a stronger and a deeper love to the 
 Lord Jesus. Glory, glory to the Lord Jehovah, for 
 He hath triumphed gloriously." 
 
82 INCIDENTS. 
 
 In 1851, he is surprised by a pleasant visit from a 
 college friend, Mr A. Anderson, who once was carried 
 away with the unsatisfying plausibilities of the theo- 
 logy taught by Maurice and Kingsley, but who is now 
 rejoicing in the bloodshedding as all his hope.* At 
 another time, he passes a pleasant evening with Eajah- 
 gopaul from Madras, a convert and a preacher of the 
 cross ; hears Dr Duff preach ; returns to work in his 
 district, when study permits. In that district a soul 
 teUs him that, " it has been creeping iipon her that 
 she is not safe yet ;'' and soon after, Bunyan's " Jeru- 
 salem Sinner Saved" convinces her that her sins are 
 not too great to keep her away from Christ, who, she 
 finds, " is now coming and going in her heart ; and 
 Oh ! the conversation He has in our hearts is sweet.'' 
 
 In May 1847, we find him still keeping in view 
 the winning of souls. 
 
 " May 2. — In seeking to win souls to Christ, or 
 to lead the Lord's chosen ones to live more entirely 
 unto Him, or lastly, in stirring up thine own soul, 
 endeavour always to take the very highest ground, 
 and yet in the very humblest spiiit The higher, O my 
 soul — the more spiritual thine argument — ^it is easier 
 through grace forthee to takealower place in the decla- 
 ration of it. The being ' all things to all men' does not, 
 
 * See that valuable and able memorial of him, "Life in the 
 Spirit." by Kev. Norman L. Walker, Dysart. 
 
VISIT TO ROTHESAY. 83 
 
 perhaps, so much depend on choosing parts or phases 
 of the doctrine which will not offend the mind of 
 another man, but rather in one's own spirit being so 
 humbled under a sense of the weight and glory of 
 his argument for Christ, that he gives it in such a way 
 as makes another see that in his own view he is only 
 on a level, or even far below himself; and thus is he 
 brought down, and through grace will acknowledge 
 the power of the argument for Christ Be not, there- 
 fore, over-careful of finding analogies from the things 
 of this earth, from philosophy, &c. ; but take the 
 highest ground, use the most potent engina" 
 
 In 1847 and 1849, he visited John Bannerman, 
 Esq., where he often met with the Eev. Peter M'Bryde 
 at Rothesay, and heard from him much of God's 
 work, and learned more of God's word. " I came 
 away as one filled with new wine." He does not 
 come to enjoy the scenery or the climate only, but 
 as he sits down after arriving, he reminds his soul: 
 
 " Now, consider well what thou canst do for Christ. 
 Thou hast been saved from an otherwise inevitable 
 doom. The devil and his angels no doubt thought, 
 ' Ah ! we have this soul ;' but one greater than he said, 
 ' Redeem from going down to the pit, for I have found 
 a ransom.' Yes, a marvel-working God did see thee 
 when a child given over to foolishness. How often 
 did He say of thee. ' Foolishness is bound up in the 
 
84 SELF-INQUIET. 
 
 heart of the chili' He saw thy stubborn disposition, 
 the malignity of thy natural mind, the jealousy of 
 thy heart even in trifles. If He have g^ven thee per- 
 severance, then hast thou abused this to persevere in 
 sin. And even since thy conversion, how often hast 
 thou sinned against Him. The Lord thy Redeemer 
 has sometimes brought thee into His banqueting 
 house, where His banner over thee was love ; but 
 agaia hast thou returned to foUy. Forgiven much, 
 how much shouldst thou love ! O what a towering love 
 shouldst thou have !" 
 
 From time to time he pondered solemnly his call- 
 ing to the ministry. We may give another example 
 of his self-inquiry, in addition to those that have al- 
 ready been presented. 
 
 "October 12. 1848. — With the near prospect of 
 entering the Hall, I would once more put the ques- 
 tion. Have I a call to the holy ministry ? 
 
 " I cannot doubt that the Lord has savingly called 
 me to Himself. Amidst many sins, and doubtless 
 amidst much undiscovered iniquity, the love of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has been, I cannot 
 doubt, the solace of my heart for some years, as 
 well as the hope of being one day with the Lord 
 altogether, to see Him as He is, and to be made al- 
 together like Him. For I feel that my home is to 
 be with Christ in heaven. When I remember the 
 
REFLECTIONS. 85 
 
 foundation of His righteousness, my heart often leaps 
 within me. Living to the glory of God was in my 
 unconverted days a mere name, but I should be deny- 
 ing the grace of the Lord, did I not say that, since 
 my conversion, it has been one of the chief ruling 
 desires of my heart. Love to souls has been many 
 times as the breath of my spiritual life, and a spring- 
 tide of love to His people has often risen in my soul. 
 
 " K truly called to the ministry, may I be baptized 
 with the Holy Ghost, and may there be kindled in 
 me a burning flame fed by the precious oil of His 
 communicated grace, that I may live to and preach 
 Christ Jesus and Him crucified. My only resource in 
 His holy overpowering presence is to hear Him say, 
 ' Without Me ye can do nothing.'" 
 
 " Janvxiry 2. 1849. — ^May I never this year meet 
 the creature till I have met the Creator. Fear that 
 Jesus has been a stranger of late to my souL Not 
 that nearness to my Father which I believe He is 
 pleased to give His children : little of the bright 
 transforming power of God in my souL Where His 
 electing love is realised, it seems as if one golden vial 
 of it were more than the creature could sustain." 
 
 " May 1849. — Eead Baxter's Saint's Rest It was 
 as a pool dug in Baca, on the road to Zion hUl. Was 
 enabled with a peculiar sweetness to feel that to Zion 
 I was bound ; that thither my soul was hastening on, 
 
86 VISIT TO AERAN. 
 
 though Btill feeling carnality, selfishness, and pride 
 oppressing me. 
 
 " Meditating on Eph. i. 4, &c., and found it sweet 
 and soul-filling. Baxter seemed nothing to the pre- 
 cious word of life, and its heavenly manna Christ 
 Jesus, the yea and amen of all the promises. 
 
 " What mil the inheritance he, when its earnest is 
 the Holy Ghost 
 
 "I think that this evening I got a pomegranate 
 from the garden of the New Jerusalem. What must 
 the full harvest of the fruits of glory be ? 
 
 " 29th May. — ^The work of the Holy Ghost seems 
 wonderful ; His condescending lova 
 
 " 3d June. — God's wisdom and glory in His works 
 have been very precious to my soul of late : His 
 firmament, sun, moon, and sky ; full rich verdure of 
 the trees, every leaf 
 
 " 20th Jv/ne. — Trials are apt to cause doubts as to 
 the love and willingness of God to bless. Great want 
 of conviction of sin, and consequently slight appre- 
 hensions of the surpassing glory of Immanuel." 
 
 At Arran, in 1850, he wanders up Glen Rosa, and 
 passing over the high ridge has a magnificent view of 
 Glen Sannox. " It filled my soul with its grandeur — 
 could think of nothing but the greatness of my God 
 and of His power. My mind and soul altogether 
 exulted in the scene. While gazing into it, a noble 
 
GOATFELIi — ISLAT. 87 
 
 eagle sailed down and alighted on a distant rock." 
 On the other hand, the rememhrance of the ascent 
 of Goatfell leads to a train of thought: — "Climb- 
 ing Goatfell suggests a fine analogy in the mental 
 world. Leaving Brodick Bay, as we ascend from 
 point to point, the view widens, till at the top the 
 whole island, the surroimding sea, with the dis- 
 tant mountains and coasts, fall within one compre- 
 hensive view : just so should the mind seek to rise 
 from particulars to a more general and comprehen- 
 sive knowledge Again, from general principles we 
 return to particulars, and now see them in the relation 
 of part to the whole, and in the light of general truth ; 
 just as in descending the lofty hill we carry with us the 
 wide view from the summit, and now recognise, in 
 their relation to it, the details, even the minutest, of 
 the landscape, the formation of a rock in the valley, 
 or the place of a tiny shell" 
 
 In one of these journeys (his friend Mr Tait testifies), 
 so incessant was Mx Sandeman's efforts for souls, that 
 he beKeves he must have spoken to not less tha,n five 
 hundred persons in the course of their pedestrian ex- 
 cursion. And then, if opportunity occurred, he was as 
 direct and ready in addressing the rich as the poor. 
 
 In the autumn of 1848 and 1852, he was to be 
 found at Islay, visiting his friend Mrs Miller. Then 
 he passes on to the wild scenery of Skye. Ketum- 
 
88 KELSO — WOOTTON PAEK. 
 
 ing, at another time, from Kelso, in May 1852, 
 whither he had gone to enjoy a Communion season, 
 he speaks of being "refreshed with the ministers 
 and with the Lord — Christ, and Christ only, as the 
 great Object of faith, and the hope of His appearing, 
 were the main things among them ; and an endeavour 
 to appropriate the promises more than is often done." 
 I remember that season, and how often he wiled me 
 away (for I happened to be there) to some secluded 
 spot in the woods, by the old Roxburgh Castle, that 
 we might have prayer together, as well as converse. 
 
 When at the English lakes, where he finds out 
 his friend Mr Oswald Allen, he is still the same in 
 spirit. "Two good evenings in the glen amid the 
 works of the Lord. Some walking with Jesus there 
 
 my soul, that thou wouldst ever be in companion- 
 ship with Him \" 
 
 He visits his friend Mrs Bannerman, at Wootton 
 Pot/rk, in Derbyshire, and there he writes : — 
 
 " Wootton Park. — Long-continued thunder-storm 
 this afternoon. Was at first startled with the dread 
 of the great God ; and for a time, as it were, I looked 
 this way and that for refuge, and finding none other, 
 
 1 fled to the clefts of the Great Rock — even to God in 
 Christ. Had almost instantaneous relief and peace. 
 After this the storm passed away through the valley, 
 and I had the finest view of continuous flashes of 
 
TORQUAY — FRANCE 89 
 
 lightning that I remember witnessing, -with magni- 
 ficent bursts of thunder following each." 
 
 And when at Torquay, a few months before being 
 licensed to preach the gospel in the Free CShurch 
 of Scotland, every day he and bis friends, Mr Tait 
 and Mr Coventry, had their hours of prayer together, 
 and their blessed walks. He would bid fexewell to 
 a visitor, and then could record — "Not left alone, 
 for I trust the Master joined me. He drew near in 
 that word, 'If it were Twt so, I would have told you,' 
 (John xiv. 2). There is a sweet mystery, as well as 
 a great majesty, in this fiiendship." 
 
 We should have mentioned, also, the opportunity 
 he twice enjoyed of a short visit to France and 
 Switzerland. In Paris, standing before a picture of 
 Christ on the Cross, in the Louvre, his wonted spirit 
 appears in the words that drop from his pen — "La 
 realUii des souffrances de Jesus Christ m'apparut en 
 regardant un tableau de Murillo." "Eode out to 
 Port Royal In a caf^ had a few precious moments 
 of meditation on a few verses." Not even in jour- 
 neying, however rapid, could he forget that he had 
 one object to Hve for. 
 
 2d Ncmeraber. At Ca/tums. — " Being left alone in 
 the inn, had a providential opportunity for fasting 
 and prayer, being about the time of my monthly 
 fast, and in view of my return homewards. My soul 
 
90 SWITZEBLASTD. 
 
 got some intelligent breathings after God, and views 
 of sin. Felt how absolutely I stood in need of the 
 Holy Ghost; without grace, man is an utter and 
 eternal ruin. Had one strong pulse, so to speak, of 
 prayer for the ministry. 
 
 " The idea of the ministry makes me tremble at 
 times ; it appears such an awfiil work. The possi- 
 bility of a sterile ministry seems worse than death ; 
 and to be really used of God seems almost as terrible. 
 Interesting prayer-meeting with the French Cliris- 
 tians. They were like one family, and reminded one 
 forcibly of the primitive Church. The kindness and 
 love, the fervency, liberty, and Christian affection of 
 these believers, in prayer, were very remarkable. 
 Immanuel restore it manifold into their bosoms ! 
 All the day felt unworthy of their fellowship." 
 
 At Geiveva he had intercourse with both Dr Malan 
 and Gaussen, gaining from both ; and when sur- 
 veying Mont Blanc and the Glaciers, says — " Sought 
 to visit my Lord's works in His name, and to seek 
 his face." So again : — 
 
 "Wth October 1859, Sabbath. At Avignon.— 
 Continued in prayer until half-past four this morn- 
 ing. A blessed Sabbath to my soul ; never almost 
 had such continuous reading and meditation on the 
 word of God, and on the glory of the saints above 
 when they shall see God face to faca Surely mine 
 
EAST LOTHIAN. 91 
 
 eyes have seen something of the Great King this day. 
 The meditation of Him was exceeding precious to my 
 sin-wearied soul. Let me thus learn once more, how 
 God is ready to bless time set apart for special seeking 
 of His face, and considering our ways before Him." 
 
 " 21 st October, Aries. — Rose at five, and thus had 
 more time to wait on the Lord. Truly He has kept 
 my soul by His great power this day." 
 
 But it is time to turn from other places to one where 
 
 the Master peculiarly honoured him. He used to visit 
 
 the Rev. "W. H. Hewitson,* whose name is well known 
 
 in the churches, at the village of Di/rleton in East 
 
 Lothian. It lies not fax from the sea, where the Bass 
 
 Rock lifts its massy clifis to the sky, furnishing endless 
 
 retreat to the solan geese, and in other days supplying 
 
 a dreary prison for our Covenanting fathers. Standing 
 
 on the Bass Rock, with his beloved brother Frederick, 
 
 he " felt that a divine glory shines through all the 
 
 Lord's works, and yet He hath magnified His word 
 
 above all His name." At that time Mr Hewitson 
 
 was the minister of the Free Church at Dirleton, a 
 
 man of God of whom he writes — "That beloved 
 
 minister of Jesus, my soul is much drawn to him. 
 
 He struck a cord of sympathy in my nat\ire last 
 
 night, which may vibrate for many days. Natu- 
 
 * The same who, in 1845 and 1846, was so blessed in Madeira. 
 Se« his Memoir. 
 
92 ME HEWITSON. 
 
 rally he is the most ethereal and spirit-like man 
 that I have met. Singular lucidity of thinking, great 
 love of generalization, and a most metaphysical cast 
 of thought. He defines and shades away thoughts 
 with much skill, and has great command of classical 
 expression. He spoke of desiring to ' have thoughts 
 capacious as the ocean, yet containing miUions of 
 drops of truth.' The imagery of his mind is all of 
 the same refined and poetic kind, and stands out as 
 the branches of a leafless tree seen against the sky 
 in winter. When he speaks, one is riveted ; intel- 
 lect and imagination are on the stretch ; and I have 
 sometimes felt with him that thrill which thoughts 
 of a certain depth produce in kindred souls. He lives 
 altogether in a strangely elevated atmosphera 
 
 " As a spiritual man his company is very refresh- 
 ing. He realizes much the privileges of the beUever. 
 Love is his favourite theme. " Rejoice evermore " is 
 one of his mottoes. He realizes much the Kingship 
 of Christ. He is full of love to Christ, love to souls, 
 and zeal carrying him out to abtmdant labours. 
 
 Not fe.r from Dirleton is the town of Haddington. 
 A friend of his own, Mr A. M'CaUum, now Free 
 Church Missionary in India,*had been invited, in the 
 beginning of June 1848, to address a prayer-meeting 
 there. This friend was led to decline the duty him- 
 self and at the same time to insist upon this duty 
 * Called to his rest, llth June 1862. 
 
WESTFIELD AWAKENING. 93 
 
 being undertaken by Mr Sandeman. After consider- 
 able hesitation and prayer, be went, having "ob- 
 tained, I trust, help from my Master, PhiL iiL 7-9." 
 Circumstances led him to remain a few days. His 
 lodging was WestJieldFarTn, which henceforth became 
 very memorable to him. 
 
 One soul was that week awakened, and the caee 
 was altogether remarkable This woman, a servant 
 on the farm, had been three years there, and never 
 shewn the smallest concern about her souL On the 
 12th June she was at evening worship, indifferent and 
 dead as a stone. Next morning she entered the room 
 as stupidly uninterested as before; but as Mr Sande 
 man was giving out the Psalm for praise at worship, 
 and was reading (Psalm IxxiiL 22) — 
 
 " So rode was I and ignorant, 
 And in th;' sight a beast," 
 
 the last words struck her like an arrow. She sobbed 
 and wept during prayer, and continued all day in a 
 very tender state of conscienca Mr S., in the course 
 of the day — " having (says he) first sought the face 
 of my glorious God and Saviour, whose ways are in. 
 the sea " — spoke to her of the danger of an uncon- 
 verted state, and of the Saviour on the Cross ; but 
 she could think only of her heart She said she used 
 to think herself just Uke others, but now "she was as 
 a beast before Ood." He prayed; and on asking 
 
94 WESTFIELD AWAKENIKG. 
 
 her to pray, she tried it, but got no farther than 
 "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner !" He read with 
 her Ezek xxxvi 25, 26 ; and asked her to read, which 
 she did, sobbing at ahnost every word, especially at 
 "the filthiness," and "the new heart will I give 
 you, and will take away the stony heart." The 
 arrow of the King of kings seemed to be s inkin g in 
 deeper and deeper as he read ; and in the course of 
 the day, coming in to serve at table, when the bless- 
 ing was asked, she was again overcome. The Shep- 
 herd soon found this lost sheep. 
 
 He soon heard of another wounded one in Had- 
 dington, of whom he remarks, that he found her 
 "deeply concerned, laying all her sins to her own 
 charge." The day after this (the 15th), one visiting 
 at the farm was wounded. Mr S. had found near- 
 ness to the Lord in prayer, and had just come out of 
 his room to the dining-room, when his eye fell on this 
 visitor. " Immediately (says he) my soul was fuU ; 
 I could not for worlds have helped the most full love 
 to her souL" In asking blessing at the table, his 
 soul was melted, the tears feU fast from his eyes, and 
 he felt oppressed with excess of feeling. He rose 
 and went alone to ask a word from his Master ; and, 
 on returning, spoke out of the fulness of his heart, 
 not able to restrain his tears. He felt persuaded 
 that God had a purpose of grace towards her, since 
 
WESTFIELD AWAKENING. 95 
 
 He gave him such weepings of faith in her behalf. 
 He read John xx. ; and in praying afterwards could 
 find only this petition, " Lord, remember our dead !" 
 This soul was awakened on the spot, feeling for the 
 first time that she was a sinner, though before this she 
 had taught a Sabbath class. Deep sadness weighed 
 her down. The sight was one that gave him "an 
 oppressive joy." Two days afterwards she found the 
 Saviour. "Her heart goes after Jesus, and she is 
 already begun to be concerned for the souls of others." 
 
 A young man was driving him in the phaeton one 
 day. He spoke seriously to the young man regarding 
 his soul ; upon which the lad threw the reins at him, 
 saying, " You may drive yourself," and tried to jump 
 out. Mr S. quietly took the reins, and said not a 
 word ; but, on arriving, himself put up the vehicle. 
 In a few days that same young man was among the 
 awakened, and brought to Christ 
 
 At this time he felt several souls specially laid on 
 his spirit, for whom he was led to " travail in birth 
 till Christ was formed in them." And then also (says 
 he), " my soul was led continually to be lifting up 
 these lambs before the Great Shepherd." Sometimes 
 he felt well nigh sunk under the oppressive burden 
 of souls now laid upon him. During the service in 
 church on the following Sabbath, while Mr Hewitson 
 was officiating, he was obliged to sit down during 
 
96 WESTFIELD AWAKENING. 
 
 prayer, his heart burning with desires that the Lord 
 would carry on His work, till the passage, " Be still, 
 and know that I am God," gave some relie£ In 
 the same moment he had a vivid view of his per- 
 sonal sinfulness, and his only hope was, " the blood 
 of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 
 These souls above mentioned, and others also, were 
 given him at that tima One felt that she had been 
 "worse than a profligate, and the sight of sin made 
 her shudder." On the 20th he mentions another 
 awakened and brought to Christ, without very deep 
 convictions of sin, while he was presenting "the 
 simple offer of Christ, free and unfettered." He kept 
 a fast on the 22d, seeking grace to be humble, and 
 asking more blessing, seeing that " the more vessels 
 we bring to be filled, the more we get," (2 Kings 
 iv. 6). On 3d July, he tells the hopeful case of a 
 yoimg man. This yoimg man soon after told him 
 how, walking on his way rejoicing, he opened his 
 New Testament at the words, " Put on the whole 
 armour of God," and felt it a word in season. Mr 
 & adds — " Gave him the life of Harlan Page, being 
 affectionately desirous of his souL" The Communion 
 Sabbath followed. " Immanuel manifested Himself, 
 so that I had sometimes almost cried, ' Turn away 
 thine eyes ;' the eyes of love overcame my soul alto- 
 gether. He also took me round some of the sins of 
 
EXEKCISES OF HIS SOUL. 97 
 
 my youth, and gave me a clearer sight of my sinful- 
 ness than I ever had He especially manifested his 
 love in the depths of the Cross and Garden." Having 
 gone out into the fields, he continued from about 
 eleven till three in prayer, and could have continued 
 longer (says he), " if my body had not become weak ;" 
 and in the evening gave himself up to Jesus for 
 time and for eternity, laying hold of that word, " The 
 seal of thine hou^e has eaten tne v/p." 
 
 "Remember, O my soul, that Satan is always 
 awake." " What a wonderful mixture of trouble and 
 consolation there is in times of real dealing on the 
 part of the Father with His children. They are ever 
 ending and ever beginning. The extremity of the one 
 seems to involve the commencement of the other." 
 " My soul should come to Jesus to-day, even as a 
 beggar who has been stript of his rags and bag of 
 crusts, and come naked and hungry to Him who has 
 all things ready for those who will only come and 
 rest in His love and righteousness." " O that I had 
 ten thousand hearts, that I might love more \" "He 
 has given me some tokens of his love, even some souls, 
 as a chaia of gold about my neck" " We will make 
 thee borders of gold, with studs of silver," (Song L 11). 
 " The gospel is not only ' Glory to God in the high- 
 est,' but also * on earth peace and good-will towards 
 men.' " " Past sin is bitter ; unsanctified hours, days. 
 
98 PAINSTAKING INTEREST IN SOULS. 
 
 and, alas, whole years ! " These are a sample of his 
 soul's exercises in this time of blessing. 
 
 When separated from them, pursuing his studies 
 and labouring elsewhere, still these his first-fruits 
 were much on his spirit. He wrote to some of them. 
 One letter is addressed to a young ploughman among 
 them who could not read common writing ; to him 
 he writes carefully in large letters, printing them 
 with his pen. We giv6 a specimen of it, as shewing 
 true painstaking in seeking souls. 
 
 He reminds one : "The Lord God knows the bitter- 
 ness of grief Did not thefeither hear the first sighs 
 of the prodigal son, even though wrung from him amid 
 the swine's husks f He reminds another : " Even in 
 the meeting of the saints we must ever meet by the 
 Pillar of Cloud and Fire, and not by any light of our 
 own kindling." To two who were specially interested 
 in the work, he writes a letter containing words of 
 counsel for all those to whom God had blessed him : — 
 
 " My beloved Friends and Sisters in Christ — 
 I received your welcome letters before leaving Edin- 
 burgh, and they refreshed me in the Lord. Eut you 
 will not rest satisfied in any thing to which by divine 
 grace you may have attained. Oh pj-ess on to the 
 mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
 Christ And you, my own beloved ones whom Christ 
 gave me. Oh follow on in all things to know the 
 
jLoa tanvLok he safe till vou £in.cl 
 
 eJesus Clin st, and can ca// him jour 
 
 Saviour . JVoTv; can you say tJiis jet ? 
 
 Oil ' Titj dear friend Ao jwi: liass Ly 
 
 f fiis (jiiCstioTi Arej qn a dalA of tit)cl 
 
 (y r not / oil if you fear tnat you are 
 not -Xdu nave not one momcitt to lose ^ 
 
 Grotl may at any time cutytm ofF.and 
 Oa /wwre >roi«l<l your soul be fcr 
 all Eferaify ! 
 
 JVIake naste for your life, and flee to 
 Jesus / Cry for Mis Holy ^Shirit , taat 
 He may Sofien your Jiearf and enalle 
 you to be/icve ont]ic Lorci Jesus 
 Kemcmter t/iat unless you trust m 
 
 Christ alone for your salvation _ 
 
LETTEES. 99 
 
 Lord. Maintain through the grace that is in Christ 
 a walk and conversation becoming the gospeL Plead 
 for being made " Holiness unto the Lord," for the 
 Holy Spirit to dwell richly in you, crucifying the old 
 man to the world and the world to you. Forget not 
 your unworthy brother and fellow-pilgrim." 
 
 Again : " My joy was great in hearing of Mrs J/s 
 welfare in the Lord, and of the kindness of the Great 
 Shepherd in supporting her soul through the wilder- 
 ness. Beseech of them all from me to make sure work ; 
 to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, 
 taking heaven as it were by a holy violence." And 
 once more : " I trust that, from that trial which you 
 have now made of the ways of our God, from that 
 part of the Zionward road through the wilderness 
 which, through the abundant grace of God, you have 
 trodden, you have found it is a blessed pilgrimage- 
 journey. Though the trials be more than you expected, 
 and more tiying to faith, and the conflict against 
 sin and Satan more real and hard than you may have 
 looked for, still I am persuaded the language of your 
 souls is like that of the queen of Sheba, after behold- 
 ing something of Solomon's wisdom and glory, ' How- 
 beit I believed not the words until I came and mine 
 eyes had seen it, and beholu the half was not told 
 me.' Is the love of God in Christ less wonderful than 
 you had been led to think ? or is it not greater ? Is 
 
] 00 REMEMBRANCE OF WESTFIELD. 
 
 the love of Jesus less wonderful ? Do you not rather 
 see new beauties and new glories and wonders in it, 
 the farther you are led in the way ?" " I saw the 
 Queen to-day, and much that reminded me of the 
 coming of the King of kings. How all eyes were 
 directed to an earthly sovereign ; how much more will 
 they be to 1 mmanuel ! Then our refl ection w ill be, O 
 that I had lived more entirely for my Lord ! O that 
 I had told dying sinners more of His love ? That 
 great day comes apaca Let ns, by the grace of our 
 glorious High Priest, read, pray, meditate, watch, and 
 warn, as we shall then desire that we had done." 
 
 These souls he never forgot even when in China. 
 Sometimes he wrote to them ; often he prayed for 
 them. It was not to be wondered at that in some of 
 them he was disappointed. Once on revisiting the 
 place he writes, " Ketuming by the Tyne, at my 
 former Bethel, found it good to wait upon my Grod ;" 
 and at another time, finding cause both of joy and 
 sorrow, he kept a fest that he might mourn over 
 those at Westfield who had fallen, and give thanks 
 for those who had continued stedfast He remembered 
 the parable of the sower. 
 
 Strengthened in soul by such scenes, he went on, 
 believing that this awakening was only a foretaste of 
 more abundant blessing of a like kind which hi"; 
 Master would deal out to him in after days. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 t Sinner anir i\t Sabionr, 
 
 ' Have 1 been a wilderness to Israel ? a land of darkness ?" 
 
 Jer. ii. 31. 
 
In the year 1852, daring a season of vacation, lie 
 had sailed from Islay to Skye, wishing to explore a little 
 of the scenery of that singular island. Biding up a 
 glen on his way to Loch Cormish, he speaks of being 
 much overawed in spirit by the Lord's works. " In- 
 deed, my spirit almost shrank from entering in 
 among them, they were so wild and dark ; but in 
 the end they rather ministered to me." Next day, 
 on his way back to Sligachan, he was overtaken by 
 a storm of wind, rain, and scouring mist that filled 
 the glen, so that it was not without great difficulty that 
 he found the ford over the swollen stream ; and then 
 it was amid drifting showers that swept in columns 
 along the mountain side, and listening with awe to 
 the roax of the sea and the rush of the howling wind 
 through the glen, he reached his destination. Even 
 in the midst of this wild scene, his heart found a song 
 of praise. But it contrasted with another day's 
 
104 STOEM AND SUNSHINE. 
 
 sceneiy, when he came to the side of a calm, full 
 stream, which flowed from between magnificent rocks 
 into the laka It was sunshine, glorious sunshine, and 
 he bathed in the stream : "And as I did so, prayed 
 for a washing in the fountain opened for sin/' 
 
 Not unlike this contrast were his experiences in 
 the spiritual world in the great matters of si/n and 
 salvation. Very instructive it is to trace the Holy 
 Spirit's dealing with Him during the whole eight 
 years of his student life, as it comes out, first, in his 
 wholesome lookvng inward, that he may know sin ; 
 and next, in his healthful looking owtward at Christ, 
 combined with never-ceasing prayerfialness — all in 
 keeping with that trait in his character which a Mend 
 who knew him well expressed by saying, "Never 
 yet have I met any one who seemed so anxious 
 that a believer should grow in grace." He deUghted 
 to own and adore the sovereignty of God ; and not 
 less did he unceasingly and invariably give glory to 
 the Holy Ghost, on whose direct working in the souls 
 of men he placed all his expectation of true conver- 
 sion and real sanetification. It was, therefore, with 
 his eye on the Father's sovereignty and on the Holy 
 Spirit's grace, that he wrote such records of experi- 
 ence and doctrine as those that follow. 
 
 I. Here he is looking inward, detecting and watch- 
 ing sin. " Let us realise that when a man ceases to 
 
TJNBEIJEF DEEP-ROOTED. 105 
 
 have a persv/ision of sin, he practically writes a he 
 across every page of God's book. He says that hell 
 is a delusion ; he declares that the coming of the Son 
 of God was a mere mockery. to tremble before 
 God !" " unbelief ! unbelief ! how indigenous it 
 is to the natural heart. How it takes root in every 
 comer of it How it springs up after the storms and 
 winds of affliction and trial, as well as after the sun- 
 shine of a Saviour's love has been made to fall upon 
 it. It is something like the herb which starts from 
 the turf taken from the mountains of Scotland, as 
 soon as it is turned up. It needs no sowing, and 
 grows without rain, or sunshine, or care of any kind. 
 The temperature may be high or low, the soil light or 
 heavy; still again the hateful weed finds root. 
 for the simple child-like ' looking unto Jesus.' How 
 it invigorates the soul, and presents a strong buckler 
 against the darts of the tempter, or the more insidious 
 attacks of unbelief When will this be graved and 
 grained into me so that I shall not be able to forget 
 it. Did I see more of His matchless love, then would 
 I naturally look more to Him." 
 
 " Surely I am more troubled than any man ! Smrely 
 I am more the victim of the deliberate assaults of 
 spiritual enemies than others. It seems as if the 
 calm way in which temptations come upon me were 
 peculiarly my own. Others are suddenly tempted, 
 
106 TEMPTATION — DKPKAVITT. 
 
 and it would seem as suddenly fall ; but my temptar 
 tions are oftener in the beginning at least calm, and 
 at times rise with a sort of philosophical air which 
 Drevents my discovering so clearly their real nature. 
 Sin is sin, thou of little faith ; and no doubt the 
 more slowly and deliberately it enters, the worse it is." 
 
 " Jesus can be truly loved only when the sinner 
 sees his own worthlessness. Indeed, this doctrine of 
 the depravity of the human heart seems to be the 
 keystone of the Bible. Without it, all must be dark ; 
 with it, all light and sunshine." And then he marks 
 out for special examination, these two subjects : — " A 
 deeper acquaintance with the true nature of sin, as it 
 must be in my own heart ; and following from this, 
 a stronger and far more earnest practical love to 
 Jesus ; and following from both, more real love to 
 immortal souls, manifested by earnest prayer and 
 imwearied action." 
 
 " Jwnvuary 17. 1 847. — Sin overcame me ; the pun- 
 ishment has come in the form of distance from the 
 throne of grace. How real are the Lord's contro- 
 versies with His people, and how utterly incapable 
 are they of recovering the distance between them and 
 their God, which their sin has caused," 
 
 "January 19. — Finished essay on Conscience. 
 Strange that I have scarcely ever received a more 
 deadly thrust from the great ApoUyon than during its 
 
CONFLICT. 107 
 
 composition ; my conscience more sadly \?ounded ! 
 
 the marvels of electing love ! The Lord has not 
 left me to perish in my sins. ' Not for your sakes do 
 
 1 this, saith the Lord.'" 
 
 " I have often longed to be like Caleb and Joshua, 
 who followed the Lord fiiUy ; but I fear that I would 
 have been among the first to fall in the wilderness." 
 
 " Oh unclean, unclean, unclean ! from the sole of 
 the foot upwards, soul and spirit alike unclean. 
 wretched man that I am ! Woe is unto me ! Yet 
 behold the Lamb of God whom thou hast crucified, 
 who is saying continually, ' Behold me, behold me. 
 I bore the guilt of these thy sins upon the Cross. 
 My grace is sufficient for thee.' the height and 
 depth of the love of God and the glory of Jesus 
 Christ. How perfect must His work be that can 
 justify so great a sinner." 
 
 He passed through some weeks of severe conflict 
 with corruption and darkness of spirit. It was as if 
 there had been a cloud between him and the sun. 
 Yet never all that time was he led to doubt of his 
 personal interest in the Saviour. He still (says a 
 friend in referring to what he heard from his own 
 lips) kept hold of Christ, and could say, " My God." 
 He writes : " to awake to the full joy of life ! If 
 I have little pleasure at present in heavenly things, 
 I have still less, or none, in earthly things. My heart 
 
108 THE LOED'S willingness TO BLESS. 
 
 I know to be cold to Jesus, but it beats no quicker 
 after this world. Hasten, Lord, the time when I 
 shall lejoice in Jesus with all my heart and with all 
 my soul." 
 
 " Yesterday, I had some liberty in praying for the 
 spread of the glorious gospel, for reviving times for 
 our Church, and for a baptizing of the students for 
 the great work ; to-day, my prayer was languid and 
 faitWisa." 
 
 " N othing almost has struck me more than changes 
 in my belief as to the Lord's willingness to bless His 
 chosen, whether in their own souls or as a means of 
 good to others. Upon turning my thoughts to this 
 subject to-day, it seemed to have been an utter stranger 
 in my soul for long. I have found that my heart was 
 fuU of the plainest unbelief in regard to this. The 
 willingness of my God to bless seemed to have passed 
 altogether from my mind." 
 
 " may the blessed Holy Spirit reveal this once 
 more, and with greater force than ever, even a full 
 sense of the Lord's willingness, in Christ, to bless His 
 people, and to make them a blessmg, Luke xi. 1 3. 
 
 " January 1848. — For five long days my soul has 
 been saying, ' Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth ?' 
 May the Lord teach me all the controversy He has 
 with my souL Such an experience as this proves to a 
 demonstration that salvation is wholly of the free 
 
LONGINGS. 109 
 
 grace of God" " This morning the experience of my 
 soul found apt expression in this verse — 
 
 ' Like as the hart for water-brooks 
 
 In thirst doth pant and bray ; 
 So pants my longing sonl, O Lord, 
 That come to Thee I may.' 
 
 Yet in the midst of it, from time to time, I was en- 
 abled to say, ' He hath done all things well' What 
 ■wiU glory be, when these longiogs after God, even 
 the living God, shall be fully satisfied, yet never 
 satiated ? 
 
 "The Bride was sick of love on two occasions. Once, 
 when Immanuel's left hand was under her head, and 
 His right did embrace her. Again, when she had 
 grieved away her Lord, and went out into the street 
 to seek for Him, and found Him not ! What have all 
 the affiiirs of earth seemed to my soul lately, compared 
 vnth finding Him I" 
 
 He speaks of some hindrances of a general kind 
 that often intercept the soul in its way to God, or 
 turn it aside from the way. 
 
 " April 3. — ^The surest way to stop a believer's 
 growth in grace is for him to begin to think highly 
 of himself ; for God abhors His people's boasting of 
 what is no more theirs, and is no more of their mak- 
 ing, than are the hosts of heaven." 
 
 " April 1 0. — ^The want of the morning season of 
 
130 CORRUPTION IN HIS SOUL. 
 
 devotion, wherein the heart is fixed, and the soul is 
 made thoroughly on the Lord's side, leaves one open 
 to be led away. Unless we seek first the face of the 
 Great King, meeting with other believers is com- 
 paratively profitless. ' When the sovZ is carnal, every 
 thing becomes like an electric conductor, to carry off 
 anything of the heavenly fire which may remain.'" 
 
 " 7iA May 1 848. — Sometimes, as I may say, the 
 devil runs riot in my soul, suggesting along with my 
 wicked heart every sort of abominable, loathsome, and 
 self-righteous thing. Sometimes the thought of having 
 anything apart from Jesus Christ is as a sword within 
 my bonea At other times, such thoughts rise as com- 
 placently and calmly, as if they were the most rea- 
 sonable in the world. Thus is my heart at times 
 perplexed and in dismay. Sometimes, by the purify- 
 ing and cleansing grace of God, my soul seems to 
 resemble well-polished armour, from which every 
 shaft of the enemy glances off without almost any 
 effect ; while at others, it is like the same, indented 
 and rusty, which lets no arrow pass it by." 
 
 "20fA May. — ^What an amount of obstinacy and dis- 
 agreeableness of temper is in me. Self, also, and pride 
 continually assail me. I see to a demonstration that 
 nothing short of the power of the Almighty can pre- 
 serve me from its endless attacks. It is an enemy in 
 possession of the fastnesses of my heart, from which 
 
COBBUPTIONS — HELPLESSNESS. Ill 
 
 the Lord of Glory, who bruised the serpent's head 
 under His own pierced feet, can alone expel it. The 
 Lord help me, for I am a leper from my mother's 
 womb. 
 
 " My corruptions are as a sea around me. Wherever 
 I turn the eye, I can at times see no shore what- 
 ever. O what a song in heaven shall mine be I 
 What a heavenly day will that be when the Divine 
 One comes from the court of the King. Think of 
 this, O my soul, and tune thy harp even now — 
 
 ' A new song then my Eonl shall sing, 
 
 A theme of glory shall it be : 
 Let heaven's wide arch with praises ring 
 When glorions Christ proclaims me free !' " 
 
 " 2d Jv/ne. — ^Talking with a student who does not 
 seem to realise the depths of iniquity. Yet he loves 
 Jesus ; and whoever loves Jesus, my soiil, by grace, 
 doth love." Here is surely true charity ; and it was 
 his wont to judge thus of those in whom he saw any 
 spark of grace. 
 
 "July 1848.-r-If for o/ie Tnomeni the hand of the 
 Mighty God of Jacob is taken from under thee, where 
 art thou, my soul ? Defenceless, as had been the 
 little lamb which, when a boy, I once saw in the 
 den of the tiger, had the keeper withdrawn. 
 
 " fiemember, my soul, that it is no writing of 
 re.solutions with pen and ink that will ever in the 
 
1 1 2 CONFLICT — DISCOVERIES. 
 
 least keep a soul from committing sin. No ; all the 
 resolutions made by a man himseK fly as dust before 
 the whirlwind, when the hour of real temptation has 
 come. He may make many resolutions when remorse 
 is biting his conscience ; but let him beware when 
 the real hour has come. Nothing then for the poor 
 sinner, but the /ree, all-sufficient grace of Jesvs 
 Christ." 
 
 " 6tk Feb. — Severely handled yesterday morning 
 by the evil heart within, — a kind of drawn battle 
 whether carnality or spirituality were to prevail I 
 could not have believed the strength of the former to 
 have been so indomitable. I sought to put it down, 
 but it struggled and resisted. 
 
 " Eminent holiness is eminent happiness. I have 
 never been so happy or joyous as when meditating 
 upon or crying after holiness ; or when my heavenly 
 Father has given me to rest in the holiness of Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 " Sept. 1851. — ^I need much grace among my 
 books ; they are more and more as my companions 
 and firiends. 
 
 " Imperiousness is one of my besetting sins ; how 
 distant from the spirit of a little child ! Prayer is 
 sometimes like climbing a steep hill, and the mind 
 is ever ready to wander from God. Still, after all, 
 Jesus is the load-star of all my hopes and desires. 
 
WATCHFULNESS. 113 
 
 " Feel my need of more than an Indian's watchful- 
 ness against my spiritual foes." 
 
 He was one who knew well that his acceptance 
 with God did not depend on his frames and feelings, 
 but on the unchanging and unchangeable work of 
 Christ, which his soul heartily embraced. But he 
 noticed his changing frames as bearing upon his pro- 
 gress in sanctification, and in this light they are most in- 
 teresting to us. He thought that in this way he might 
 " learn some of the deeper notes of David's psalms." 
 
 "*Jth December 1852. — As months and. years of 
 sorrow are said sometimes to be enclosed in an hour, 
 so some hours of heavenly bliss seem to contain the 
 joys of many days and months. How divine is the 
 calm which then fills the souL It is like a well of 
 water, springiag up into everlasting life." 
 
 "Sih — \Mh Decemher. — ^What I most need is a 
 constant faitL O for that watching and praying in 
 midst of temptations which often come in a body, 
 troop upon troop, pouring down on the soul 
 
 " Some cries unto God for a blessing on my ftiture 
 ministry. The sad ignorance of which I am conscious 
 — ^the blindness — the cleaving to man's opinion — to 
 the earth — ^the danvps of practical atheism — the long 
 tracks of faithlessness — the temptations of the enemy 
 — Lord, let aU these plead with Thee to send suc- 
 cour unto my souL" 
 
114< SELF-SCEUTINT. 
 
 " The bleak wilderness of sin which is in my soul 
 seems almost hopeless. Reading M'Cheyne's Life. 
 His 'Reformation' is a deep reproof to me. It is 
 encouraging to see what my God and Father is will- 
 ing to make His chosen ones : but rather thy only 
 model must be Christ, and His promises to His people. 
 
 " Have not had enough of secret prayer." 
 
 " How strangely are men stereotyped ! You meet 
 them one year, the second, and the third, and they 
 are stiU wonderfully the same. for grace that wUl 
 penetrate every part of my natura 'Follow thou 
 me.' Be ever examining the way that thou goest, to 
 find the. foot-prints of the blessed Jesus. Seek to be 
 an expert discoverer of these footprints. Remember 
 that Satan often assumes the make of thy Saviour's 
 sandal ; yet the wary eye can detect the difference." 
 
 "2d August 1856. — I p^ceive that I have the 
 elements of aU false doctrine in my heart'' 
 
 " I find that what seems spirituality of mind must 
 be tested by the word of God." 
 
 So far, then, we have followed him in his search 
 into sin and his sinful nature. Now let us turn and 
 see him as anxiously and keenly — 
 
 II. Looking outward, delighting in the Saviour. 
 
 " 30iA August 184^9. — Beware of over-tension of 
 Eoul. Religion is a resting on what God has done 
 and said." 
 
WHAT EEUGION POSITIVELY IS. 115 
 
 His own daily experience was in measure tliat 
 
 which is expressed by Milton, when he speaks of the 
 
 heavenly companies that looked to Him on whom the 
 
 Father smiled — 
 
 " And from the sight received 
 Beatitude past utterance." 
 
 In directing souls who sought rest in God, he would 
 say : " You wait for some miraculous manifestation of 
 His love, and are passing by the sure testimony of 
 His own word. If you rest on this or that to be 
 revealed, if you would first see your name written in 
 heaven and then believe, this can never be." (Letter 
 to a soul at Westfield, 1848.) 
 
 " When I hear any one dwelling in a dispropor- 
 tionate degree on what religion is not, and seldom 
 dwelling on the vital, life-giving, and life-supporting 
 parts of divine truth, at such times my soul is ready 
 to exclaim, ' Sir, we would see Jesus.' It is neces- 
 sary to delineate error, yet such delineation is not 
 Him in whom the whole gospel is contained. Yet 
 such have their use in the churcL I would fain 
 learn their place and their doctrine, and having got 
 from that part of the vineyard the fruit they have 
 been specially enabled to bring forth, may I be led 
 by Him who guides into all truth also into the sweet 
 and lovely orchards of grace." 
 
 " Fad-day. — Last day of another year. Two causes 
 
116 SENSE OF PARDON — LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 of equal astonishment — my sins and God's mer- 
 cies! Had some taste, as it were, how sin will 
 be regarded at the last day, when its whole gloss, 
 and tinsel, and deceivableness, shall he wiped away 
 for ever, and its own essential enormity and inex- 
 CTisahleness shall appear. While I was in the full 
 hope that aU were pardoned, this only enabled me 
 the more calmly and dispassionately to behold their 
 true nature. 
 
 " Faith should be counted a trial. Sight is what 
 the spiritual man is bom for. He is born to behold 
 the gloiy of the Father and of the Son. He is left 
 without the absolute fruition of God by beholding 
 Him in order to discipline, and to teach many lessons 
 not otherwise to be learnt. Nevertheless, as the 
 bride ought not to be satisfied till publicly united to 
 her affianced, so the believer should not be so till he 
 sees Jesus, and beholds the face of his Heavenly 
 Father. O the wonderful love of the Father in 
 choosing a family for Himself out of such a vUe, and 
 guilty, and ignorant race, and not to spare that Son 
 Jesus, whom even we so love ; that Son whom, from 
 the partial glimpses we have, we adore as the perfec- 
 tion of beauty, and holiness, and love ! how must 
 the Father have loved Him, who beheld all His 
 glory and loveliness, all His infinite perfections, and 
 yet He spared Him not ! 
 
JESUS ONLY. 117 
 
 "0 Immanuel, when am I to look upon Thee? 
 How long are mine eyes to fail while I lode for 
 Thee? 
 
 " Jesus bears with me ; how then should I bear 
 with others. 
 
 "How continually should one plead for an out- 
 pouring of that gracious and Christ-displaying Spirit 
 whom Jesus is exalted to bestow, and whose office 
 it is to humble souls at His Cross." 
 
 "Jcmuary 1848. — Why does my soul shrink from 
 that censorious spirit which is cutting, and dividing, 
 and winnowing all the day ? Because it savours not 
 much of Jesus Christ I would fain be like Jesus in 
 the discovery of hypocrites, but like Jesus too in an 
 overflowing love to the souls of men ; in tender deal- 
 ing with the weak saints ; in weeping over Jeru- 
 salem." 
 
 " 4iih Febnuury. — ^Have continually to fight with 
 that self-righteous spirit which seeks ever to have 
 something to come to God with besides Jesus Christ. 
 It is marvellous how inveterate is this disposition to 
 seek for something to be wrought in us, which shall 
 make the soul. less immediately dependent on Him! 
 
 "0 to have meetings without ceasing with my 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ! 
 
 "This morning could obtain little access to the 
 thron& This searched me and tried my soul ; but 
 
118 COMING TO GOD BT CHRIST. 
 
 after coming out of the Mathematical class, 1 was 
 reading that verse, ' I am the way,' and it seemed to 
 me that I had been seeking to get views of God and 
 of His glory independent of Jesus' s sacrifice. I 
 forgot, as it were, that the only way to the Father 
 is by the Son of His love; and this is true at all 
 times, whatever be the fi-ame of the soul. The sin- 
 ner's views of the living God must evermore be 
 obtained directly by the peace-speaking and peace- 
 obtaining blood of Jesus. The living and true God, 
 the Father, can only love my soul by and in Jesus 
 Christ 
 
 " There is an amazing unwillingness to come as a 
 simple debtor to the gospel of Jesus Christ. What 
 the Lord is sometimes pleased to employ to deliver 
 from this, is the exhibition of the glorious plan of 
 salvation, amply brought out from the word of God, 
 and applied by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " I feel the truth of what Mr Hewitson says, that 
 there is a great unwillingness to come again as a 
 poor, broken sinner to the bank of Free Grace. With 
 me it is ever self, self, self, instead of Christ, Christ, 
 Christ" 
 
 " I5th September. — It is amazing how the truth, 
 Christ for us, has to be releamed daily and hourly. 
 It is indeed an exotic. I am continually letting 
 go the only anchor of hope, and beginning to trust 
 
CHRIST FOR US — TENDER WALK. 119 
 
 in myself as righteous; but the blessed Jesus is 
 all my righteousness in the sight of the Eternal of 
 Days. 
 
 " The constant sacrifice — ^the constant risiag of the 
 cloud of incense — the continual intercession of the 
 Great High Priest — above all, the continual sprink- 
 ling of the blood — are ever needed to sanctify study 
 and all my occupations. 
 
 "A holy awe becomes all that dwell ia his temple." 
 
 "The righteousness of God has for some days 
 been my constant meditation ; it has been before me 
 all the day. Its effect is ' quietness and assurance 
 for ever.' 
 
 " The golden thread of communion with my God 
 was severed to-day by my sin. I was made to know 
 how bitter a thing it is to offend against God, by the 
 withdrawing of the gracious, soul-filling light of his 
 countenance. I had to walk with the voice of an 
 accusing conscience sounding in my ears, and the 
 sense of my heavenly Father's displeasure heavy at 
 my heart But I continually repaired to the throne 
 and fountain of grace, and would not give place to 
 my enemy or to Satan. 
 
 " Some solidity and calmness of faith. My room 
 is sometimes like a little temple, where the high and 
 lofty One deigns to come It seems as if, like a 
 visitor, He spent so much time with me, and then 
 
120 VISITS OF GOD — CHEIST A FEIEKD. 
 
 retired, though not altogether from the house either. 
 Sometimes a sweet experience of this kind follows on 
 a temptation, in which Satan's personal agency is 
 plainly distinguishabla Two weapons have to be 
 used against him — ^prayer, and the word of G od. ' We 
 wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin- 
 dpalities and powers.' I must also remark, that in 
 the particular instance I have just experienced, it was 
 after I had begun to devote more time to seek the 
 fece of my God, that I felt myself met, as Bunyan 
 expresses it, by ' the fiend striding across the patL' 
 
 " When the soul is brought to deal with its sins 
 before the living God, we do not then think of Christ so 
 much as a Friend, but rather as our Advocaie, by 
 whose atoning work the way is opened to the living 
 God." 
 
 "The great work of the atonement for sin was 
 finished long before the sinner was bom into the 
 earth. Hence it is in no way dependent upon 
 what he may say, think, or do. ' By grace are ye 
 saved.'" 
 
 " I sometimes feel as if I had only passing emotions 
 of affection to Jesus, but I trust He has lately heard 
 my cry, and shewn me more of Himself, and drawn 
 out my love more strongly to His glorious person. 
 Blessed be His name !" 
 
 " This evening in prayer found no comfort, and as 
 
CHRIST SET FORTH — FRUITS. 121 
 
 little in reading God's word. I could not fix my 
 thoTiglits upon the Saviour ; I felt deserted ot God. 
 At last in prayer I began to find that I was not look- 
 ing to the Cross of Christ. Taken up with trying to 
 see the Saviour as a friend only, I fear I forgot Him 
 as one who died upon the accursed tree in order to 
 save me firom just punishment. In this I obtained 
 some relief" 
 
 Rothesay, Jv/ne 4. — As each day passes over my 
 head, am I taught more and more the necessity of living 
 as if Jesus were now walking through the world with us? 
 Let me set before my face His blessed example, and 
 picture to myself how He would act were He in my pre- 
 sent position. He would not neglect study, nor social 
 intercourse, nor would these things lead Him away 
 fi-om continually seeking the good of souls around 
 Him." 
 
 " April 1848. — The souls of even His children are 
 narrow in spiritual things, and the Lord of the 
 vineyard sees fit to bid the different fruits spring 
 up in different parts of His field. All fruits have not 
 the same flavour, all flowers have not the same smeU. 
 The lily of the valley represents one view of Jesus 
 and is not the same with the ' Rose of Sharon.' Some 
 fnuts are even valued for their acidity, as the 
 lemon, and have their special uses. Yet all combined 
 by the skilful gardener, yield a very pleasant fra- 
 
1 22 FULL OF HIS LOVE, 
 
 grance ; so combined, that ■when the north wind awakes 
 and the south wind comes, and they blow upon the 
 garden, the smell of spices that flows forth is most 
 sweet to the Bridegroom, for whom the garden is 
 'a garden enclosed — a spring shut up — a fountain 
 sealed/ Even as the husband of the washed and 
 sanctified one declares, when He views her clothed in 
 His own spotless loveliness, ' How feir is thy love, 
 my sister, my spouse ! how much better is thy love 
 than wine ! and the smell of thine ointment than all 
 spices/ " 
 
 "JuTie. — My soul longs for the time when, through 
 the abundant outpouring of Jehovah's Spirit, I shall 
 be lifted up and cast into the sea of the love of 
 Jesus, and float away towards the heavenly rest, 
 self being drowned ; while the love and person (the 
 unsearchable, incomprehensible love, and the aU- 
 glorious Person) of Jesus, shaU possess my whole soul, 
 so that the whole spirit and soul and body shall be 
 His, and His only, for time and for eternity. 
 
 "I do think that the most spiritual is still the 
 most potent. Those are the engines which are 'mighty 
 through God to the pulling down of strongholds ; 
 casting down imaginations and every high thing that 
 exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and 
 bringing into captivity every thought to the obedi- 
 ence of Christ' 
 
MOETIFICATION OF SIN — CHRIST'S RICHES. 123 
 
 " Also seek to maintaia ' a conscience void ot 
 offence towards God and towards man,' Nothing so 
 paralyses effort for the Master, nothing so grieves the 
 Holy Ghost, as a conscience troubled, ill at ease, 
 because of sin against God or man." 
 
 " One hour of the presence of Jesus in the soul is 
 more effectual for the mortification of sin in the heart 
 and life, than ten thousand exhortations and resolu- 
 tions of the man himself Sin cannot dwell with 
 Jesus. If He is brightly manifested, and His beauty 
 causes the poor pilgrim's heart to melt within him, sin 
 then seems to lose all its power. It is not so much that 
 it is sensibly hated as that its sources are neglected, 
 and at last disliked. He then glories in such words as 
 these : " Christ, who is our life." His very soul is 
 living in Jesus. "Mortify therefore your members 
 which are upon the earth," is a sweet and inevitable 
 conclusion. The premises contain it so fully, that no 
 tongue can express the sweet and absolute necessity 
 of the conclusion." 
 
 " The sum of the message of the minister of the 
 gospel is, ' the unsearchable riches of Christ' Hence 
 the true minister of Jesus must himself have got such 
 a view of those riches, that he can conscientiously 
 declare them to be unsearchable. Hast thou come 
 to the shore of the ocean of Immanuel's heavenly 
 glory, of His merits, of His fulness, and so surveyed 
 
124 CHRIST'S EIGHTBOUSXESS — GOD HIDIKG. 
 
 some of the pebbles (like the philosopher of nature), 
 that thou canst say, '0 the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ!' 
 
 " Luther's preaching at the Diet of Worms was all 
 about Christ and salvation- 
 
 " These divinely instructed men were willing to be 
 nothing that Christ might be all, and thus God was 
 glorified in and through them. 
 
 " Must beware of spurious devotion, superstition, 
 and of any thing contrary to the Scriptures. The 
 church history of the 16th century is well fitted to 
 enforce this." 
 
 " December 1 848. — ^The Holy Spirit loves to make 
 a man like the spotless Sun of Righteousness. He 
 loves to bear witness to Jesus ; both in the inspired 
 word, and likewise by epistles written on the coun- 
 tenances and lives of the redeemed children of the 
 kingdom. Let me see that I do not falsify His testi- 
 mony by ungodly thoughts, words, or deeds." 
 
 " It is often asked by believers. Does God hide His 
 face from His own in mere sovereignty ? He might 
 do so, but the experience of His people testifies very 
 unanimously in favour of the statement made in the 
 following paragraph :— 
 
 " As far as my experience has gone, I have seldom 
 been sensible of a withdrawing of my Lord's counte- 
 nance without being able to assign some sin as its 
 
THE EEVEALED AlTD THE REVEALEE. ] 25 
 
 cause. The bitter fruit of sin is invariably ah inter- 
 ruption of intimate communion with my heavenly 
 Father. The blood of Christ, and that because He is 
 the Son of God, is the only cure and comfort for the 
 sin-laden souL" 
 
 "The Holy Spirit reveals Christ Therefore, if 
 the believer looks so exclusively to Jesus Christ, 
 that he, as it were, forgets the Revealer of Jesus, 
 that is his sin. If, again, he so dwell upon the EeveaJer 
 that he forgets the revealed, that is his sin. The path 
 between, my soul, is ' that which the vulture's eye 
 hath not seen,' Job xxviiL 7. Two notable cures for 
 the distempers of one-sided views of the truth of God 
 are these : — 
 
 " First, There are three pei^ons in the Godhead, 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these 
 three axe one God, the same in substance, equal in 
 power and glory. 
 
 " Second, To dwell upon all the attributes of God 
 as they are revealed in His Holy Scriptures. 
 
 " Minister of Jesus, Jesus Christ and Him crucified 
 must be the grand subject of thy preaching I" 
 
 How blessed are the following records of per- 
 sonal affection, strong and tender, toward the Lord 
 Jesus ; — 
 
 "I sometimes ask what is the world to me or 
 I to the world ? The Master's glory, that is suffi- 
 
J. 26 AFFECTION SET ON CHRIST. 
 
 eient to make me delight exceedingly to remain here 
 as long as He desires. Where is tbe beauty of earthly 
 things ? Apart from Jesus, they have none. I would 
 rather have one glimpse of the glorious countenance 
 of Immanuel than the love of the whole human race. 
 The longings of my soul after Christ Jesus have 
 lately seemed well nigh more than I can bear. All 
 the heaven which at present my soul can find it pos- 
 sible to long after is, to be alone with Jesus. I feel 
 as if my heart would break if Jesus come not by His 
 grace and take my soul into His everlasting arms. 
 the peerless beauty of Immanuel I" 
 
 "Am I as one who has begun the fifth year 
 of his course on the way to Zion? I trust that, 
 with many sins, Jesus is still aU my salvation and 
 aU my joy. Other lords have had dominion over 
 me from time to time, but not without much un- 
 easiness and many strugglings to get back to Christ. 
 
 " X o earthly friend in my days of foolishness and 
 sin ever called forth the longings and yearnings of 
 heart which Jesus so often excites. There is one 
 deep fountain of affections which none but Jesus 
 has ever stirred. There is an inner chamber into 
 which none but Jesus can find admittance ; the key 
 of which He keeps to himself, and leaves it not to 
 His poor, weak, saved one. 
 
 " The Comforter, i. e., He who is to comfort love- 
 
MELTED BY LOVE. 127 
 
 sick souls for the absence of Jesus. Remember thy 
 jir^ love. How wonderfully sweet and melting it was. 
 Wast thou not then, as it were, dissolved in love and 
 tenderness. Remember, too, thy thoughts were not 
 about thyself, but about Jesus Christ The love of 
 thine espousals, when Jesus thy Lord and Saviour 
 was first revealed to thy soul — when thou wert given 
 away to Him out of thy father's house. Remember 
 the hole of the pit whence thou wast taken, and 
 wonder." 
 
 " Sabbath Evening. — ^Yesterday I was insensibly 
 led to think of the heavenly glory ; and for the first 
 time, for long, my eye was moistened. It enabled 
 me to proceed with study with alacrity, but yet in a 
 subdued spirit. ' Now Jesus loved Martha and her 
 sister and Lazarus.' How cold is the unbelieving 
 heart ! An armed man is not more powerful than 
 is temptation, nor the Indian stealing on his enemy 
 more subtle. 
 
 " The love of Christ has been unspeakably, indeed 
 overcomingly, precious to my soul this day. Justifi- 
 cation by faith alone, without the deeds of the law, 
 has seemed to me, as it always does, just like an 
 entirely new doctrine. May to-morrow be as this 
 day, and much more abundant ' I have loved thee 
 with an everlasting love.' 
 
 "When my Creator and Redeemer causes His 
 
128 COMMXJiriON WITH CHKIST — ABBA. 
 
 breath to play throtigli the deep recesses of my 
 nature, it produces inexpressible longings, which seem 
 to exhaust the energies of my souL" 
 
 "July 1848. — ^My soul this morning was taken 
 into the garden on the Mount of OHves. I was so 
 sweetly filled and engaged, that I am sm-e I felt 
 happier than was Adam before he feU. I see Jesus 
 still loves to resort to that garden with His disciples, 
 and to rehearse to them what they can bear of His 
 sufferings there for them. He shews where the 
 weariness of His soul brought Him — the Spotless 
 One — to the dust of His own created earth, and 
 how it made Him cry in agonies never to be fathomed 
 by created soul 
 
 " It is in Jesus that the soul is taught to call the 
 mighty God of Jacob, ' Father.' It is when the soul, 
 in sweet and glorious fellowship with Jesus as elder 
 brother, looks up to the great God, that he cannot 
 but cry, ' Abba, Father ' Some deem this blasphemy ; 
 others, presumption; others, that it tends to false 
 security ; but Jesus whispers into the ear of faith, 
 ' I am ascended to my Father and to thy Father, 
 my redeemed one.' 
 
 " Surely my mouth shall sing aloud to His praise, 
 whUe I have any being. Let everything that hath 
 breath praise the Lord- The heart of Jesus was 
 faintly figured forth in Solomon's, of whom it was 
 
INTENSE LONGINGS. 129 
 
 said that he was given 'largeness of heart, as the 
 sand that is on the sea-shore.' But as one grain is 
 to all the sand on the shores of the sea, so was Solo- 
 mon's heart to that of ImmanueL ' This is my 
 Eeloved, and this is my friend, daughters of 
 Jerusalem.'" 
 
 " Uh August 1848. — ^My soul is at times ready to 
 break for its longings after Jesus. I feel at times as 
 if I could be alone all the day — ^yea, if that were 
 possible, all my days — ^if Jesus would but shew me 
 more of His love, and satisfy my longing and fainting 
 souL why is He so long in coming, and satiating 
 my fainting soul? I am twice over sick of love. 
 
 why tarry the wheels of his chariot ? that I 
 had ten thousand hearts, that I might love more. I 
 feel, as Kutherfiird says, ' what can a bairn carry 
 away of the ocean ?' for the breaking of the long 
 night. for the shadows to flee away, that I might 
 look and be filled with His overcoming love. Every 
 other love is a faint shadowing of Jesus's love. One 
 of two things my soul must choose, either to be 
 capacitated to hold more of His love now, or to be 
 removed to be with Himself. 
 
 " holy, pure, and spotless, thou infinitely bright 
 and radiant One, turn away thine eyes from me, else 
 
 1 will faint away with Thy love. 
 
 " sun and moon, and bright clouds with your 
 
130 MORE LONGINGS. 
 
 snowy tops, hanging under the azure dome, help me 
 to set forth the glory and beauty of Jesus, for His 
 hands made you all ! 
 
 "0 for a thousand tongues and harps to praise 
 Him. (Well, each converted sovl is such a tongue 
 and such a harp.) The sea of glass, clear as crystal 
 and pure as gold, is dim beside His glorious beauty, 
 His depths of holy purity, of infinitely pure holi- 
 
 ness 
 
 " Oh when from His Cross He turns the eyes of His 
 deep love upon me, I am constrained to cry, ' Stay 
 me with flagons, comfort me with apples.' I am 
 utterly overcome by the glance of such love from the 
 depths of agony and woe. I cannot speak even to 
 Jesus Himself I faint and fail, and can only heave 
 deep sighs, which, however, he knows well to under- 
 stand. 
 
 "22dJuly 1849.— At the Table, Canticles i. 13 
 precious ; also Psalm Lxix. 1. It seemed to me that 
 it was a feast of loves. What wilt thou have of the 
 King ? That all my sins which crucified Thee, may 
 be crucified in Thee. Among other sins which 
 occurred to me was deep ignorance of God, and of 
 the work of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 " The dress of the Bride, from head to foot, from, 
 lier Beloved, is tlie Righteousness of Christ Jesus. 
 The feast, the very body and blood of Christ, all 
 
CaHEIST PBECIOUS. 131 
 
 through the wilderness. Again, 'till He come' — 
 only till then — ^was made precious. 
 
 " Saw that Jesus, as it were, counts the number 
 of shewings forth and rememberings of Him, and of 
 His death. He longs and waits for the last. 
 
 " Precious feith, precious Christ, precious feast ! — 
 all that comes from Him is precious. 
 
 " to be continually sprinkled, to be continually 
 hearing the sound of the bells and the pomegranates 
 on the skirts of the High Priest's garments. 
 
 "And now to be Christ-like, gentle, meek, and 
 lowly, and to be more noble-minded. 
 
 "Much to humble. How easy to devise and 
 resolve ; how difficult to perform ! 
 
 " Let me remember the robe which I must be ever 
 wearing." 
 
 It will be seen that he was one who "rightly 
 divided the word of life." If we might allude to and 
 accommodate a saying of one of our poets, used on a 
 dififerent occasion, he felt that his own wants and lean- 
 ness might be taken as an " inventory to particularise 
 the abundance" to be found in the Lord Jesus. His 
 eye looked into the hole of the pit, but always turned 
 upwards faithfully to the right hand. Now, all these 
 views of sin and the Saviour were found by him in 
 the word, and drawn from the word into his soul by 
 prayer. On one occasion, Hewitson, his beloved 
 
132 GEACE WON BY PEATER 
 
 friend, with his finger on the verse in Mark ix. 21, 
 " All things are possible to him that helieveth," wrote 
 him a few lines, in which he quaintly puts the ques- 
 tion, " Are there any of those Almighty believers in 
 the world now ?" We do not say that David Sande- 
 man was such an one ; but we will say, that he was 
 one who despaired of gaining any thing except frayer 
 was used. " How short is life ! What urgent need 
 that it should be redeemed ! Let me remember 
 ' ABioKsl-rui vgoseir^ieSSj (Pray 'without ceasing)." We 
 have already seen how this characterised him ; but it 
 was so marked a feature in his life, and was so truly 
 the seat of his strength and the source of all his spiri- 
 tual riches, that we cannot help shewing it again. 
 The world's great men reached their eminence by 
 efifort, not by ease : there were pathways to those 
 mountain-heights which they climbed, and these path- 
 ways they took pains to find out and use. And this is 
 not less true of godly men ; the heights which they 
 reached were won 
 
 " Not by sudden flight ; 
 But they, while their companions slept, 
 Were toiling upward in the night." 
 
 "Zd January 1847. — When obliged to be much 
 occupied with others, a few minutes stolen for com- 
 munion with the Lord refreshes the spirit. 0- above 
 all things I at times long to be a servant of Jesus, 
 
PEAYEB. 133 
 
 who will ever be stepping aside and letting Jesus, 
 and Him alone, be seen. This from sad experience 
 I know to be hard to accomplish, nay, impossible, 
 except by the effectual working and present influence 
 of the Holy Ghost. How blessed to depend upon 
 my God for daily spiritual bread. On retiring to my 
 room I found the word of God calmly, sweetly, and 
 sohdly precious to my soul. I felt quite reluctant 
 to lay it down. Alas, how seldom do such passing 
 glimmerings of attainments such as these happen to ■ 
 me ! God, how Thy people dishonour Thee, by 
 not living more with Thee upon the mount How 
 much, O Searcher of hearts, how much Thou knowest. 
 I have brought dishonour upon Thee in not dwelling 
 more with Thee upon Mount Sinai. 
 
 " Could have prayed for long, but was called away 
 to studies. Have seldom felt more of a calm glory- 
 ing in the Lord than I have experienced this day. 
 Feel painfully at times the want of ministers and 
 others living in earnest, as if eternity were truly near. 
 How cold may I myself be, by the time these years 
 of study are closed ; and yet I see I need them all. 
 The Lord keep me close wrapped in the mantle of 
 Jesus's love and righteousness." 
 
 "April 184:8. — I have sought to devote these last 
 two days specially to fasting and prayer, before the 
 gracious God and Father of Him who has these last 
 
134 PRATER 
 
 four years bid me arise and follow the Lamb whither- 
 soever He goeth. 
 
 " As the Lord gives me grace, I desire to devote a 
 good part of my most profitable time to prayer and 
 meditation on the nature and ends of the gospel 
 ministry, as well as upon the doctrine which it is 
 established to preach and defend." 
 
 " 30th Jamcary 1849. — ^During my walk, He was 
 gracious in an especial manner to me, giving me 
 engaging communion with His holiness and justice. 
 I found it to be very precious, yet solemn too and 
 overawing, to have near access to His presence while 
 walking by a retiied road. I stopped for a little by 
 the way and prayed more directly, when my soul 
 was taken up, as it were, into His presence." 
 
 "March 1849. — Remained up till four in the 
 morning considering my case before God. It has 
 been my universal experience, that to set apart time, 
 even at some sacrifice, to seek the Lord's face, never 
 is without its reward." 
 
 " iMh JDecember 1851. — IJp early and waited on 
 God, chiefly using the Hebrew Psalm 31st. I find 
 a peculiar sweetness often in using the original tongue 
 in worshipping. The word was made rich to my 
 soul, and dwelt with me much of the day. 
 
 " The last chapter of Exodus was also precious. 
 The wonderful symbolical truth in His dwelling in 
 
STUDY OF SCEIPTUEE. 135 
 
 the tabernacle, I entreated Him to fulfil to me. 
 ' We will come and make our abode with him/ In 
 the washing of Aaron and his sons, saw the holiness 
 necessary in the service of the sanctuary." 
 
 " 16^^ December. — All my walk to-day was made 
 like a serious yet sweet prayer. Was walking as 
 before the great God : some awe, yet of a joyful kind : 
 quite fresh, and mind imencumbered by my studies. 
 Punctuality is among the things of good report, and 
 is very conducive to tranquillity of souL With me 
 want of prayer always leads to undue haste." 
 
 At another time we read in his journal : — " In 
 writing discourses, to remember, first, that without 
 the immediate enlightenment of the Holy Ghost, 
 there can be no apprehension of the spiritual mean- 
 ing or connection of any passage ; second, the Spirit 
 does not work without the due use of all means 
 within reach, e.g., thorough study, comparison of spiri- 
 tual things with spiritual, opinion of others, &c. 
 With regard to the former, there is a continual temp- 
 tation to forget our need of it ; the old nature and the 
 natural mind rising up against the expectation of 
 immediate help from the Spirit in finding the mean- 
 ing. A clear conscience and a quiet heart are a great 
 help in such high and holy study.^' 
 
 At another time : — " A very different day : my 
 Lord being silent towards me, because of my iniquity 
 
] 36 CARE FOR FELLOW-STUDENTS. 
 
 towards Him. What necessity for fearing alway, yet 
 not with a legal, but a gracious fear. Lord, sup- 
 port my soul in this constant act of trust and reliance, 
 that my foes triumph not over me. I need as it were 
 a constant river of atoning merit wherein to wash and 
 be clean." 
 
 Ibelievehe never allowed a feUow-studentwhocalled 
 to leave his room without either himself or his friend 
 engaging in prayer, if at all possible. And in their 
 familiar intercourse it was both prayer and brotherly 
 faithful counsel, that seasoned all their meetings 
 Thus he writes : — " A student called — had prayer. 
 Trust that some of His myrrh and cassia did drop 
 upon my hands, and kept my soul in some measure 
 of serenity during the rest of the day. 
 
 " In a time of hard work, all the forces of the mind 
 and body must be kept in proper efficiency. Com- 
 pare the training of horse and rider previous to the 
 race. Temperance an absolute requisite 
 
 " It will be sweet in heaven to join Manasseh in 
 praising free, free grace." 
 
 Again : " There is no point on which I am con- 
 scious of erring so constantly and so grievously, as in 
 my apprehensions of Jehovah's willingness to enlarge 
 the spiritual dwelling of His people, and to make 
 them in Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit, saints, that 
 is, holy men." 
 
A TRUE riLGEIM. 137 
 
 Evidently with a ■wistful eye to future usefulness, 
 like that of him he so admired, we find him quoting 
 the following notice : — " Oliver Heywood, in one 
 year, hesides his stated Sabbath work, preached one 
 hundred and fift}' times, kept fifty days of fasting and 
 prayer, nine of thanksgiving." 
 
 His holy living is all the more remarkable, inas- 
 much as during aU these years he enjoyed robust 
 bodily healtL He was temperate in all things, and 
 wise in attending to the ordinary means of preserving 
 healtL There is an allusion (5th May ] 84<7) to " a se- 
 vere sick-tum," and it lasted not long ; nor were such 
 turns frequent. The Refiner wished to shew, in the 
 case of His servant, that He can purify in more ways 
 than one. We are made "clean by the word He speaks 
 to us" (John XV. 3), when it pleases Him, without per- 
 sonal afflictive chastisement Here is an example of it. 
 For here is a true pilgrim going steadily on his way, 
 unallured by fleshly lusts that war against the soul, 
 and watching unto prayer, while in possession of 
 uninterrupted bodily health and strength. In the 
 fulness of physical vigour, and with opportunity, if 
 he had chosen, to enjoy the lawful things of the 
 world in that way in which very many Christians 
 enjoy them, this youthful pilgrim passed on, using the 
 world as if he used it not. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 iis ^n&Iic Sliiiii5trati0its at '§mt. 
 
 " Know ye not that they which ran in a race run all, but one 
 receiveth the prize ? So run that ye may obtain." 
 
 1 Cob. ix. 24. 
 
WjE are not undertaking to shew what of the stone 
 remained rough, but what were the workings of the 
 chisel of the Divine Artist on the statue which he 
 was carving here. Very rarely do we find one who 
 united so much strength of will with so much gentle- 
 ness of spirit. But his friend Mr M'lntyre expressed 
 the truth in this matter, when he said, " that evi- 
 dently this loving gentleness was only in part from 
 nature ; it was divine grace that had bestowed it in 
 its high degree, and hence, instead of becoming 
 weaker as years increased, it grew stronger. That 
 continualflowandfreshnessof kindlyaffections, shewed s 
 plainly whence it was derived, that the fountain of 
 nature was replenished by the stream of divine 
 grace." 
 
 Very rarely, too, do we meet with one whose single- 
 minded devotedness was so unostentatious and yet 
 so apparent ; so thorough, and yet so cheerful ; so 
 
1 42 PREPARATION FOR THE MIKISTRY. 
 
 calm, and yet so impressive to others. It was evi- 
 dent, also, that he " grew in grace." He seemed 
 more and more " to look on man as possessed of a 
 soul, knowing no man after the flesh." As the time 
 drew near when he was to be licensed by the Church 
 of which he was a member to preach the gospel, his 
 solemn feelings were deepened, while his joy in the 
 prospect increa=!ei Reading the 40th Psalm, he 
 found in it suitable help for himself at such a time ; 
 for he viewed it as, in one aspect, the Saviour s pre- 
 paration for His ministry. For many weeks, at Tor- 
 quay, with his two friends Mr Tait and Mr Coventrj', 
 he studied the attributes of God, some one attribute 
 forming the subject of prayer and meditation at each 
 meeting in succession. 
 
 While he could say, "Solitude is a continual 
 heaven to me," he was now full of joy in the expec- 
 tation of his future life of action — ^his preaching of 
 the gospel everywhere to small and great. For a 
 time he seemed somewhat irresolute as to applying 
 for licence, as if the time were not come ; and besides, 
 in the midst of all home-work, there opened to his 
 view the vista of his possible departure for China. 
 While he writes that a letter from Mr Moody Stuart 
 (whose ministry and whose prayerful counsel he so 
 valued) had gone far to decide his mind in applying 
 for licence, he " is seeking daily to mention the mattei 
 
THE SICK — HIS CREED. 143 
 
 of China before God. for the wind from God, if 
 it is His will, that our ship sail thither \" 
 
 Some of the qualifications of a true pastor he 
 possessed in a high degree. One of these was sym- 
 pathy with the sick and afflicted. His manner was 
 very tender, and his words expressed his heart, while 
 he led them, to the " rivers of water in a dry place." 
 To one to whom he had carried a bunch of grapes, he 
 spoke thus: "It is the Lord that is giving them, 
 and you must take them like the grapes of Eshcol, 
 as a token of the abundance of the promised land." 
 
 His doctrinal views were those of the Westminster 
 Confession of Faith. 
 
 " 24ith Novetnher ] 854. Confession of Faith. — 
 Reading and praying it over, chapter by chapter, 
 was made not only to agree with, but greatly to 
 admire, its statements. The truth of God therein set 
 forth rose before me as an edifice of God, founded, 
 buUt up, and completed in all its parts." His sign- 
 ing that Confession on the day of his receiving licence, 
 was no mere form ; it was done with consent of head 
 and heart. This took place IHh January 1855. 
 He writes — 
 
 " When T was pronounced a preacher of the gos- 
 pel, felt moved; and, if alone, could have wept. 
 Remembered that now, and until death, I was a 
 Preacher of tlie Gospel of Chnst." 
 
144 DEDICATIOX. 
 
 And then follows a new dedication of himself It 
 was with no legal feelings, but as an act of grateful 
 love, that he more than once engaged in this sur- 
 render of himself. Perhaps he himself would have 
 expressed how he felt in the transaction by using 
 the words of the Song of Solomon (viii. 2) : "I will 
 cause him to drink of the spiced wine of the juice of 
 my pomegranate/' The first of these occurs in the 
 third anniversary of his " new birth," and is entitled, 
 
 " Dedication of my body, soul, and spirit to the 
 Lord : — 
 
 " As I believe that the Lord Jehovah, God of all 
 nature and grace, has put His Holy Spirit in me, 
 working fe.ith in my soul, so that I have been per- 
 suaded and enabled to embrace Christ the Lord as 
 my only Savioui' — my *all in all' — henceforth, by 
 Hjs sure word and inward testimony of the Spirit, I 
 know that I am called — 
 
 (1.) To renounce, once for all and for ever, all 
 property in myself; that, in truth, I am no longer 
 my own, but Jesus Christ's, purchased by his own 
 infinitely precious blood; that the Holy Lord God 
 the Father gave me to His Eternal Son from ever- 
 lasting, for His great and glorious name's sake. 
 
 "(2.) Henceforth I am called of my heavenly 
 Father to renounce also all property in friends or 
 relations, or in any of mankind, apart firom Jehovah 
 
DEDICATION. 145 
 
 Himself; J am to have to do with these only as 
 from the Lord, and in the Lord ; I am to remember 
 that I have forsaken them for Christ's sake ; since 
 I am married to the Lord, I have forsaken my father 
 and mother, and am joined unto the Lord, and we 
 are now ' one spirit.' 
 
 " (3.) Henceforth, lastly, I am called to forsake the 
 world, and all that is therein ; God the Lord is my 
 portion ; heaven is my home ; I am here now only 
 as a stra/nger and a pilgrim. Glory be to the re- 
 deeming grace and love of Jehovah, the Lord of 
 hosts ! Therefore, I have to do with the things of 
 time, only in so far as the honour and glory of the 
 Lord is concerned in them. 
 
 " But blessed be the name of the Lord, I am not 
 only called to renounce, for His sake, self, friends, 
 relations, and this world, but also henceforth to ' live 
 unto God,' being bought mth a price ; therefore, by 
 grace, through grace, the Lord calls me to glorify 
 God ' in my body and in my spirit,' which are God's. 
 
 " Here, then, my God and Father, do I, by Thy 
 good and Holy Spirit, purchased by the blood of the 
 new covenant, declare in the presence of Thee, the 
 Triune Jehovah, and before the elect angels, that I 
 do now most joyfully, and with all my heart and 
 soul, yield unto Thee my whole person, body, soul, 
 and spirit, my relations and friends, my portion in 
 
146 SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 this world, and all things belonging to it ; that 
 henceforth as Thou, my God and Father, dost grant 
 me grace, Thy glory shall be more than ever before 
 me, the one grand end of my existence I have been 
 sweetly constrained, by the effectual working of Thine 
 own grace, to leave all and follow Jesus. O Jehovah 
 my God, conclude Thine own work in my soul, and 
 sweetly constrain me to live only for Thee. O do 
 Thou make it my sweetest food, my most refreshing 
 drink, to do Thy wUl, O my Lord and my God. 
 
 " O my Blessed, my now exalted and glorified Ke- 
 deemer — do Thou sign for me what I have now been 
 constrained to declare. It can only be made efifectual 
 by Thyself, dwelling more constantly in my souL 
 my Saviour, m^ay I now know in a sense I have never 
 yet experienced, ' to me to live is Christ.' " 
 
 We may here insert what occurs in his journal in 
 1850, in reference to self-surrender. 
 
 " 1 2th August. — At Mr Hewitson's funeral. That 
 eminent minister of Jesus laid with his kindred dust 
 Had a walk in his garden, where once before I gave 
 myseK to the Lord, and sought to repeat the sur- 
 render. He is now among those whom I long to 
 meet in glory, another link to the ' heavenlies,' where 
 is my Lord and Saviour, and my heavenly Father." 
 
 And now let us peruse his fresh dedication of him- 
 self. 
 
ANOTHER DEBICATION. 147 
 
 "llth JanvMry 1855. — Almighty and Eternal 
 God, have mercj on my soul for Immanuel's sake ! 
 This soul, body, and spirit are thine by creation, thine 
 by redemption. And by incomprehensible love and 
 mercy called, as I humbly trust, to be thine in the 
 ministry of the Gospel, in and by Thy Holy Spirit 
 alone, I do now surrender my whole body, soul, and 
 spirit unto Thee, the Lord Jesus Christ, and unto the 
 Father, for the glory of God in the ministry of the 
 gospeL Thus, by the powerful grace and Spirit 
 granted continually unto and working in me, the one 
 great end of my life on earth shall be the glory of 
 Jehovah in the salvation of lost sinners, and the edi- 
 fication of the saints. By His grace and Spirit I do 
 also now renounce the world with its honour and 
 glory, and above all, self-glory, the flesh, with all 
 its works, and the Devil. O Jehovah, pour down 
 the Holy Ghost upon my soul ! Thou glorified Im- 
 manuel, Thou hast the Spirit -vvithout measure, 
 pour down of the Holy Ghost, making me full of 
 faith, and of the Holy Spirit, and so of gospel power." 
 
 On the Sabbath follomng his being licensed, he 
 preached his first sermon. It was in Glasgow, in Mr 
 Somerville's Church, Anderston, " ciying incessantly 
 for grace and anointing from above, and for skill to 
 catch men." His second opportunity of preaching was 
 at Bothwell; and of it he thus writes : — 
 
14S FIRST DAYS OF PEEACHIXG. 
 
 " 21st January. — Preaching here to-day was to 
 me as the service in the tabernacle of the Highest. 
 A great fear and awe possessed my spirit, as worship- 
 ping the Eternal of days. My soul was as if transported 
 afar into the presence of God, and there all the people 
 were gathered on the mount of the Lord. The powers 
 of nature were stilled, and the voice of the gospel of the 
 glory of God poured around me. Yet I was not uplifted 
 either ; all was quietness within and \vithout. After 
 all the day's service, looking still to God, and crying for 
 washing in the Fountain." 
 
 A few days afterwards, he received a letter request- 
 ing his services at Hillhead, a station about three 
 miles from Glasgow, where for some time previous 
 the Spirit of God had been at work among the min- 
 ing population. " Much drawn to that place," is his 
 remark ; and he prepared to comply with the request. 
 Meanwhile, preaching at Shotts^ " the proximity of 
 the place to the scene of the wonderful effusion of the 
 Spirit under Livingstone's preaching,* filled my mind 
 with strong desire for the same." 
 
 But it may be well for us more fully to explain, at 
 this point, the state of things at that station where 
 lie was now for a time to labour. The colliery vil- 
 lages of Jordanhill and Hillhead presented a large 
 population, upon which the labours of a man of God 
 * In 1630. 
 
HILLHEAD — ^MR ALLAN. 143 
 
 might be bestowed. Accordingly, in 185-i, Mr James 
 Allan, a native of Huntly, and lately licensed as a 
 probationer of the Free Chm-ch of Scotland, began 
 his labours here. From the veiy first, many who 
 heard his rousing and most faithful appeals, were 
 startled. Fervent in prayer, and no less fervent and 
 impassioned even in preaching the word, Mr Allan 
 was soon blessed of God to win souls. After a visi- 
 tation of the cholera, in the end of that same year, a 
 decided work of awakening began among the miuers 
 and their families. At this day, I am personally 
 acquainted with very many of those who were then 
 brought to Christ, and can testify to the decided 
 character of that awakening. Though it did not 
 extend to great numbers, those who were then taught 
 of God took up their cross, and have continued to 
 follow their Lord through good report and through 
 bad report, and the Lord has not forsaken them. Mr 
 Allan, however, was subject to pulmonary complaints, 
 and on this account, as well as for other reasons, was 
 compelled next year to retire. And this was the open- 
 ing that brought Mr Sandeman among that people. 
 
 How similar in many respects were the feeUngs 
 and views of Mr Allan to Mr Sandeman's, may be 
 iudged of by a letter of the former, which we here 
 insert. It is written to his friend J. S. at Hillhead. 
 After introductory matter is over : " One of the best 
 
150 MR ALLAN. 
 
 means of maintaining spirituality of mind" (says Mr 
 Allan), " is the habitual endeavour to do what spiri- 
 tual good we can around us. It is just as good for 
 us as it is for others to cultivate a missionary spirit. 
 I found when on board ship, that I received no little 
 damage, because I made so few efforts to do good 
 among passengers and crew. It is well, perhaps, to 
 have some one soul, or souls, specially in view, whom 
 we may ply with our counsel, and for whom we may 
 make our special supplications. More than most 
 means of grace, in point of usefulness, has been the 
 attempt to address anxious souls. I have felt while 
 doing so as if in a better world. I hope there are 
 still some anxious souls in your quarter. O my 
 friend, cultivate a tender conscience that will not 
 endure the least outward evil, or inward motions of 
 the soul to it either. Slight thoughts of sin fly like 
 fire and spread like it ; and when once they take 
 root, the soul can scarce ever recover its tone. And 
 then, we have to do with a God so holy and so strict. 
 Let us beware, for even ' our God is a consuming fire.' " 
 And again to Mrs P. : " It is the undying pursuit 
 of holiness tliat marks the true believer. See to it, 
 also, that you feel more and more ready all your days. 
 O may the day never come when you will be satisfied 
 with your past experiences. If you are right, the 
 more you get, the more you will long for the hidden 
 
BEGINS WORK AT BILLHEAD. 151 
 
 manna. The Lord give us eyes to see His beauty, 
 the freeness of His love, the superabundance of His 
 grace ! " At another time : " Keep your conscience 
 sprinkled hourly with the blood, and be filled with 
 the love of God in Christ. You must come to Him. 
 ' He loved me and gave Himself for me !' if we 
 knew Him ! Hwn ! that pierced, bleeding Him ! " 
 
 Such was the man of Grod,* whose labours Mr 
 Sandeman now came to follow up. Exulting in the 
 work of proclaimiog the gospel, he felt that just on 
 that a<x30unt he vaasi be Christ's, and His alone. 
 " O for souls now ! What would I not give for those ! 
 and for faith, wisdom, and zeal to wia them \" 
 
 " Wth Febnw/ry, Sabbath, Hillhead. — My soul 
 thirsts for Thy holy blessing, Jehovah; for the 
 plucking of precious souls from Satan's grasp ; for the 
 manifestation of Thy word with power on the hearts 
 and consciences of men. Lord, let some drops of 
 the heavenly shower support my soul that it may 
 not sink. There is an emptiness and readiness to 
 fail in my heart, which nothing but a new mamfesta- 
 
 * Mr Allan died 8th September 1858 at Bretton, near Wake- 
 field, in his sister's house, " rejoicing in Christ, and saying he was 
 going home." His beloved friend, the subject of this memoir, 
 preceded him into gloiy only abont six weeks. Both seemed 
 instruments fit for the Master's use, and yet both were speedily 
 called away. The resurrection-morning will cast light on these 
 mysterious ways of our sovereign God. 
 
152 BLESSING COMES. 
 
 tion of the truth and love of Jesus, and the salvation 
 of never dying souls, can fill or remove. 
 
 " Heard of one weeping for her sins after the ser- 
 mon, which deeply affected me with love and grati- 
 tude." 
 
 It was not long before he heard of more blessing. 
 
 " Monday, 2Qth Fehruai^. — Good news this even- 
 ing, that some souls have fovmd peace. One, after 
 yesterday's sermon, went home, pleaded, seemed to 
 find Christ, and was filled with joy, after a pretty 
 severe struggle with the enemy." 
 
 His walks for recreation were always walks of 
 usefulness. "Pleasant walk, speaking to some by 
 the wayside. Visiting the cottages, I find to be 
 engrossing work. Tried to cry through the day for 
 ' The Eain.' " On the following Sabbath, when he 
 preached on Rev. iii 20, " Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock," many were moved, and many old con- 
 victions were revived in some. He says that, before 
 preaching that day, he had had much prayer with 
 Mr Allan, and that during the service his own soul 
 felt compassion, love, and authority. 
 
 Why is it that we so often find ministers of Christ 
 who seem to labour for years without fruit ? Why is 
 it that they are content with this state of things ; 
 and so far from expecting that it should be otherwise, 
 do often suspect the work of God when they hear of 
 
"WHY IS SUCCESS WOSDEEED AT ? 153 
 
 it under the ministry of others ? Those very ministers 
 who cast doubt on the genuineness of the blessing 
 vouchsafed to a brother, are frequently men who might 
 be said almost to boast of the doctrine of divine 
 sovereignty. They forget, in such cases, to apply 
 their own views of truth ; or else they aUow their 
 partial views of doctrine unconsciously to weaken their 
 sense of responsibility lying on them for the use of 
 every means. It will generally be. found that such 
 objectors, or suspicious observers, are not themselves 
 stretching every nerve in prayer, and yearning with 
 all compassion over souls. They are oftener pleasing 
 themselves with doctrine, and with Church order, and 
 conscientious attention to the routine of duty ; leaving 
 to others the Epaphras-like " labouring fervently in 
 prayers" {ayiaviZpftmos uotj i/iSv, Col. iv. 12) for the 
 souls to whom they preach. 
 
 Sometimes, too, expectation is not at work. The 
 Lord says, " Open thy mouth wide;" then He will 
 fill. Now, if this expectation be in abeyance, is it 
 not the eye of faith looking away from Him who has 
 the gifts, ere ever the gifts that were sought for have 
 come ? When expectation is not cherished, is there 
 not something of unbelief at work ? 
 
 All along, and from the first moment of his minis- 
 try, Mr Sandeman looked for blessing. Believing 
 that God is sovereign, he on that very account ex- 
 
] 54 IMMEDIATE CONVERSION. 
 
 pected to see Him take souls that were to the eye of 
 man most unlikely. Believing God to be sovereign, 
 he all the more looked out for " these things " being 
 "revealed to babes." Believing God to be sovereign, 
 he felt that at any moment, and why not cut this 
 preseTvt mxyment, he might open blind eyes. He 
 noticed, also, that in the New Testament all the 
 instances given of conversion are instances of very 
 rapid conversion — a few hours, or a few days, suffice 
 for the soul's passage from darkness into marvellous 
 light There is there no prolonged law- work, stretch- 
 ing over years. It looks too much like a process which 
 man himself is carrying on, and not God, when we 
 find a conversion extending over months and years, 
 and issuing in dim light and duU hope after alL 
 Whereas it is to be expected of conversions that are 
 not 7rva7i-m<xde, but altogether of God, that they 
 should be rapid, bearing the stamp of the creating 
 power of Him who said, " Let there be light ; and 
 there was light" It was so with conversions in the 
 times of the Acts of the Apostles, the days when the 
 Holy Ghost was working gloriously. 
 
 There is an undefinable something about some 
 believers, and not less about some ministers, that 
 gets them favour with their brethren. We often 
 call it unction. Mr Sandeman had it personally 
 and in his preachiag. I find him at an earlier 
 
UNCTION — ^EIGHTEOTJSNESS OF CHEIST. 155 
 
 period referring to it ia others in the following 
 manner: — 
 
 " Janua/ry 1848. — Is it not one of the Lord's 
 secrets, to be obtained only in the recesses of His 
 pavilion ? 
 
 " At times most believers do manifest it, but why 
 is it so short-lived? Is not, the secret just 'to be 
 rooted and grounded in love ?' Indeed, transforming 
 love to God, and flowing from that, love to souls, is, 
 I believe, the essence of it. 
 
 "The soul, that breathes of Christ and His love 
 must needs be thus winning. The minister of Jesus 
 has special need of this grace. Therefore, He has 
 special need of Jesus dwelling in his heart by love, 
 through the aJl-powerfiil working of the Holy Ghost, 
 which worketh mightily in the children who are elect, 
 and kept near the throne of Jehovah's glory," 
 
 An interesting feature of Mr Sandeman's ministry 
 was the full and clear setting forth of the Righteous- 
 ness of Christ; I rather think he never preached 
 one sermon in which that was not held forth. One 
 who was present at his first district prayer-meeting 
 in Edinburgh remembers how he dwelt upon " Jesus 
 passing through the billows of Jehovah's anger, while 
 his life-blood dyed the waves ; but poor sinners caught 
 the rope he held out to them, and were saved." And 
 as he thus began, so he continued to the last. He 
 
156 CHRIST'S EIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 used to quote with great relish the words of the 
 dying man, who had not been able to say much all 
 his life, but who gave utterance on his death-bed to 
 this declaration, " Z am standiiig barefoot on the 
 Book of Ages." And another saying was frequently 
 on his lips, that of a dying believer, who stated her 
 hope in these few words, " Think of that, my Judge, 
 my Justifier !" It was his enjoyment of this truth 
 that gave him this settled peace, and imparted such 
 serenity and such equable cheerfulness to his bright 
 countenance. He knew whom he believed ; and his was 
 personal trust in a personal Saviour, and that Saviour 
 no other than Jehovah Tsidkenu. Once I find him 
 
 writing : — " Heard preach. My heart was knit to 
 
 him, because he set forth the Righteousness of Christ" 
 He was one who held most heartily and thoroughly 
 the views of Augustine, regarding the passive and 
 the active righteousness of Christ. With that true 
 divine, he could say of the Blood, " By it my con- 
 science is all over satisfaction ; the anguish of my 
 past sufferings is quite swallowed up, and not so 
 much as a troublesome remembrance of them is left 
 behind. Mine was the sin, and His the punishment" 
 Is not this "the worshipper once cleansed having 
 no more conscience of sin ? " (Heb. x. 2). And so he 
 could say of the obedient life of Jesus, as did Augus- 
 tine in his day, " Christ's godliness suffices for my 
 
PEKSONAL LOVE TO JESUS. 157 
 
 want of it ; His ready service for mj perverseness ; 
 His meekness for my intractable temper ; His humility 
 for my pride ; His patience for my discontent ; His 
 kindness for my hard-heartedness ; His calmness of 
 soul for my fretfulness and unruly passions; His 
 gentleness for my anger ; His universal and unwea- 
 ried love for my hatred, and revenge, and cruelty." 
 
 His personal love to the Lord Jesus often struck 
 
 his intimate friends. They saw plainly how much 
 
 ■of his happiness was derived from that source. Mr 
 
 A. C. Smith (Free Chmrch minister at Innellan) says 
 
 — " That love was not, as in the case of most men, 
 
 like a feeble spark ; it seemed shed abroad. It was 
 
 a constant living flame, that at times made his very 
 
 face shine with a lustre of which he himself was 
 
 unconscious." One evening, when some had been 
 
 recounting marks that would certainly appear in real 
 
 Christians, he exclaimed, "There is one you have 
 
 forgotten — Love to Jesus ; and as he said it, he 
 
 ooked up with a peculiar smile, emphatically saying, 
 
 ' Yes, I do love Him ! " — and singing — 
 
 " Blesf ed Jesus ! wonldst thou know Him, 
 Give thyself entirely to Him," liC 
 
 Because of this personal delight in his Saviour, 
 the Song of Solomon was a book of Scripture in 
 which he rejoiced. Very few attain to such delight 
 in direct communion with their Lord. His affection 
 
158 WHERE HIS STRENGTH LAY. 
 
 to Him was often such as thrilled his whole frame, 
 while meditating on that love of His that was 
 " stronger than death." 
 
 These two features of his experience moulded every 
 sermon. And then, there was something in the 
 very figure of the man that drew attention. His 
 figure was tall and commanding ; the profile of 
 his countenance regular ; his eye black and full ; 
 his voice clear and powerful ; his utterance some- 
 what measured, and never rapid. But it was not in 
 these things that his real strength lay ; it was in 
 "laying up vials of prayer, which were afterwards 
 poured down in blessing." He remarked one day, 
 " Literary qualifications are not our arms ; they 
 are only the polishing and ingenious ornament on the 
 hilt and flat side of the sword. They have nothing 
 whatever to do per se with the edge of the weapon." 
 
 It was the Lord's way with him, to give him short 
 time to work in the various spheres through which he 
 passed. He was not to be allowed to labour long at 
 Hillhead ; but the believers there never forget their 
 days of fellowship with him. One will tell how he 
 would, on an evening, lift the latch of the cottage 
 door, and, just looking in, would say, " Are you ready 
 to go out with me for a night's fishing ?" intimating 
 his wish to have him as a companion in going from 
 house to house in his visitations. Another will tell 
 
IlECOLLECTIONS OF HIS LABOTJRa 159 
 
 of his meetings for prayer. Another remembers, that 
 when one said, " What shall I preach V he replied, 
 " Preach Christ ; it is bread they need ; it is bread." 
 Another recollects meeting him and Mr Allan as they 
 came from Renfrew, and were walking fast to their 
 lodgings, and this was his greeting in passing, " We 
 are hurrying home to get our hearts warmed." 
 
 Two persons were awakened by the last sermon he 
 preached at Hillhead. And some who resisted the 
 truth in the days of both Mr Allan and Mr Sande- 
 man, have of late been given to their prayers, we 
 doubt not. One of these persons, lately brought to 
 Christ, tells, that before Mr Sandeman went away, 
 she met him, and he knowing her to be a great pro- 
 fessor, said, " If you are in the way, keep in it ; but 
 are you in it ?" She replied, " Yes ;" though at that 
 time out of Christ. When awakened recently, that 
 reply she gave him was one of the first sins that started 
 up to her thoughts, deepening her convictions and 
 haimting her for a long time. In such ways as these, 
 does the Lord cause His servant'swords to glorify Him, 
 long after they have themselves entered into rest 
 
 He had not laboured quite three months there, 
 when his mind became decided as to his duty regard- 
 ing China. For five or six years the desire had been 
 cherished, or rather encouraged ; sometimes when 
 laid aside, back it came, like a tide returning in full 
 
160 DECTSION AS TO CmXA. 
 
 force. Such incidents, too, as the interest taken in 
 the Chinese Bible Fund by his two young nephews, 
 whose lives were so brief,* no doubt contributed to 
 swell the tide of feeling that had already begun to 
 flow in that direction. For a time, the masses of 
 heathenism at home in our large cities kept the 
 balance of his mind in equipoise ; but now the Lord 
 whom he served brought him to an unwavering deci- 
 sion : " My only regret is not seeing more'souls brought 
 to God among my own countrymen, before I go to 
 the heathen." " To hehng entirely to Jesus is iifv- 
 expressibly sweet." " O for the powers of the world 
 to come to be revealed unto my soul, and to fit it for 
 the glory of Jehovah, and the salvation of poor 
 perishing souls, until my own deatL My Lord, O to 
 be Thy witness here for a little, and then among the 
 heathen, all to the great end of Thy glory, and the 
 salvation of many, many souls. Surely my whole 
 soul closes with my Master's calL"-f- 
 
 * See tte touching and instructive story of these two young 
 souls in " The Way Home" 
 
 ■f There is something in this thoroughly satisfied delight, that 
 reminds us of Dr Dean's narrative of Judson Dwight Collins. 
 When the letter arrived that was to tell him wbether or not his 
 offer of service was accepted, he was at some distance from the 
 village, but hearing of it, he hastened toward it, without staying 
 for food. It was dark, but on he posted, till at last the letter was 
 iu his hand. He opened it, he saw that all was right — " There was 
 China." The big tears stood in his eye ; his heart swelled witii 
 
FAREWELLS. 161 
 
 He has written out his reasons in full, and they 
 bear the broad stamp of impartiality and disinterested- 
 ness. Still he was constrained to write : — 
 
 " 1 4iA. March. — I see there is more cleavingto home 
 than I was aware of, and to what I love there ; but 
 now it is as if Jesus said. Come with me ; forsake all, 
 and I shall give thee an hundredfold for all these, 
 mother, brothers, sisters, &c. A remarkable heavenly 
 sweetness pervaded my soul since then. I could only 
 look up, believing the love of my Lord." 
 
 He writes, %ih April. — " First lesson in Chinese 
 from Mr M." And then come his farewell days at 
 Hillhead. 1 5th April. — " Much exercised and affected 
 in my own soul before preaching. Much prayer 
 through the previous week for the melting power of 
 the word and Spirit. Beginnmg to speak, had not 
 a little of the clearness and power which arrest men, 
 and I thought that the long-looked for blessing was 
 about to begin. But I fear it passed off again, and 
 the bending of souls under the truth seemed to cease. 
 The longing for souls how wearying to the flesh \" 
 On the 22d April, Scotstoun. — "Prayer-meeting. 
 
 emotion, and on his knees he thanked God that he was a " mis- 
 sionary to China." Snch was his bnming zeal and love for souls ; 
 hnt, like Mr S., he was cut off at the age of thirty-two. His motto 
 was, " Christ shall be magnified by my body, whether by life or by 
 death." (See "The China Mission," by William Dean, D.D. 
 New York, 1859.) 
 
 L 
 
162 FAEEWELL AT BILLHEAD. 
 
 Preacliing to the conscience, and souls saved, are my 
 great desire." "Through grace I would say, let 
 every thing else be as the dust of the balance." 
 On 23d April. — " My birth-day. O for that sober, 
 calm, and yet holy zeal which the Spirit gives." 29iA 
 April. — " Preached ia the open air to the ' highway 
 and hedge' class, who wiU not come to our meeting. 
 In the prospect of my leaving, a man came to me 
 with the tears in his eyes, saying he wished to shake 
 my hand, ' because you took my feet out of the miry 
 clay.' " \st May. — " My last day here. Several 
 more souls reported as anxious." 
 
 Often in China did he revert to those happy scenes. 
 It was amid such breathings of the Spirit that he 
 was ripening for glory, while men thought he was 
 preparing for many a laborious year of missionary 
 work in that vast empire of more than four hundred 
 millions of souls. 
 
 An opportunity occurred of visiting the continent, 
 while getting ready for leaving home; and so we 
 suddenly find him, on 1 9th May, in Rome, surveying 
 the seven-hilled city. It seemed as if his Master 
 wished to finish his education for the mission field, by 
 shewing him the foul idolatries of professedly Chris- 
 tian lands, and what the fearful result of these has been 
 in regard to darkness, and degradation, and wretched- 
 ness. Let us follow him to " The Eternal City.' 
 
VISIT TO EOMK. 1 63 
 
 "26th May. — High mass by the Pope in the 
 Chiesa Nuova. Unaffected, except by the childish- 
 ness of the performance, reminding me more of a 
 man acting the Popa He seemed indeed to be in 
 the plflXK of God, worshipped as God, and sitting in 
 God's seat ; yet by a strong delusion sent on them, 
 neither he nor they seemingly aware of their blas- 
 phemy and idolatry. (2 Thess. ii. 4, 11.) 
 
 " How powerless his blessing felt, seeing God had 
 not bade him bless. Remembered that the blood of 
 the saints was unrepented of, and that this man 
 homologated aU." 
 
 He had crossed the Campagna to visit Tusculum 
 and Cicero's Tilla, though the visit was a hurried one 
 And now he has been at the old Capitol, has looked 
 upon the yellow Tiber at his feet, has gazed on the 
 Sabine HiUs and Soracte, famed in Roman song, 
 and has descried the Alban Hills. 
 
 "Walked in the evening through the Forum 
 Momanv/m, remaining tiU dark. Realized something 
 of treading on an empire's dust." 
 
 " Colisev/m. — ^In the midst of it, first fully realized 
 that I was in ancient Rome. Remained for two or 
 three hours. Saw around me the proofs of a king- 
 dom, of an empire that has come and gone, been built 
 up and been overthrown, till its dust and ruins pre- 
 vent the very site from being recognised. Thought 
 
164 TRAVELLING THOUGHTS BY THE WAT. 
 
 of Daniel's four empires, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, 
 Grecian, Roman, arisen, shaken, demolished. Then 
 my soul turned and worshipped the Messiah, who 
 has received the kingdom which is an everlasting 
 kingdom, whose dominion shall never end." 
 
 Here is an interesting statement and testimony. 
 
 " In reviewing the last two months on the conti- 
 nent, I have found a great safeguard in piaj er and 
 reading the word of God in the morning before start- 
 ing, and that the day has generally taken its tone 
 from that season. It was a great help also, when I 
 had an opportunity, to speak to others about their 
 souls." 
 
 At Naples, he was struck with the unblushing 
 plainness and downrightness of their worship of the 
 Virgin Mary. He visited Vesuvius, walking round 
 the crater amid smoke and mist ; Pompeii, also, 
 that disentombed city which is so fidl of interest. 
 But his jottings of these visits can scarcely be called 
 even notes. He returned by Turi/n, and over mount 
 Cenis to Paris ; and after a few days spent in London 
 and Oxford, we find him, on July 18th, in a railway 
 carriage. " Was in a carriage by myself, and had 
 scarcely entered it when a drawing spirit of humilia- 
 tion and prayer seemed to come upon me ; and I 
 could not cease from crying and breathing after God 
 for more than an hour ; especially for the ministry. 
 
THOUGHTS BT THE WAT. 165 
 
 lest I should be a castaway without power of faith ; 
 also for beloved Scotland. If I would reap as Paul, 
 then I should prepare to sow even as he who travailed 
 in birth that Christ might be formed in souls." 
 
 " Sahhath. — My soul was upheld more than usual 
 in preaching, as if maintained by the blessed Spirit 
 of Jesus in calmness and peace, as if raised out of my 
 many doubts and fears, and my iniquities not re- 
 membered then against ma God, eternity, and souls, 
 seemed realities ; and truly the work was as the ser- 
 vice of such a glorious and divine Saviour. But un- 
 less the Holy Spirit be poured out upon souls, so 
 that they shall be pierced and raised from the dead, 
 how is the ministry fulfilled V 
 
 " 2d September. — ^Many are my doubts and fears 
 lest the ministry should be an empty sound with me. 
 My heart is at times ready to fail, because hearing of 
 no soul seeking salvation. But where again is that 
 going forth weeping ? Am to preach in the street 
 this evening. Looking again into Whitefield, which 
 revives thoughts of former days. He says it would 
 need a voice of thunder to awake the Church in his 
 time to a sense of her condition and the state of 
 perishing souls. How true still ; but this must come 
 whoUy from God. I also am as one asleep." 
 
 His prayer was now that " he might be weaned 
 from Scotland." But this was to be thoroughly 
 
166 UNEXPECTED DELAY. 
 
 effected in a way he did not anticipata When all 
 seemed in train for his ordination by the English 
 Presbyterian Synod, the unexpected death of his 
 father (who was cut off by cholera, at Montpellier, 
 after conveying to Cannes the widow and children of 
 his eldest son) caused for a time an alteration of plans. 
 It was thought by many, that it must eventually detain 
 David in his native land, as on him now might fall all 
 the care of his father's property and the family interests. 
 But he believed that, as his call was of God, the way 
 would open again. His own soul never faltered in 
 its purpose. 
 
 It was now the spring of another year, and he was 
 not yet on the field, but through no fault of his. 
 Meanwhile we find him at Blairgowrie, sojourning for 
 a few weeks, preaching the word, and pleading vehe- 
 mently in prayer the Lord's words by Ezekiel, " Be- 
 hold, all souls are mine," and " I have no pleasure at 
 all in the death of him that dieth.'' At last his friend 
 Dr James Hamilton, of Regent Square, London, sends 
 him the long-wished-for notice, that his ordination to 
 the holy ministry is to take place on April 26th 
 1856. 
 
 It was only a day or two after the completion of his 
 thirtieth birthday, and he faUed not to remember this. 
 
 " Ordination Day. — Remained in prayer tiU three 
 o'clock this morning. This morning the struggle 
 
ORDINATION. 167 
 
 seemed over ; my soiil seemed helped from on higb, 
 and know not how. Fasting till before the service' 
 also, helpful by His grace. Throughout the whole day, 
 this word was with me — ' Behold I send the promise 
 of my Father upon you.' It seemed as if the only 
 hindrance to receiving this blessing lay upon my side ; 
 some spirit of supplication was with me, and pleading 
 forthe fulfilment of the cries of manyyears. Before,and 
 at the ordination, felt that I must now lay myself upon 
 the altar of God, there to remain continually. Felt that 
 henceforth I must look upon myself as cut ofif from 
 the world, as if by death ; but if thus dying as it 
 were with Christ, I found that with Him also I lived 
 again, not forgetting the continuous death which 
 there must be ; but the glory, and love, and Spirit of 
 Jesus sustained me, and raised me up unto His work 
 
 " My soul was poured out before God aU the day, 
 beseeching, wrestling, waiting, and looking up in ex- 
 pectation ; and as if no longer able to plead with that 
 contention of soul, I ceased, and lay silent before God. 
 
 " At the ordination, when I knelt and their hands 
 were laid on me, I was as if enveloped by the power 
 and presence of ImmanueL I was overpowered, and 
 wept. They were tears of supplication and unspeak- 
 able joy ; the soul with all its affections, and vehement 
 but still desires, was delivered up as a sacrifice unto 
 God m Jesus Christ 
 
]68 NEW WORK. 
 
 " I remembered the call of the disciples, when the 
 Lord called to Him whom He would. It seemed as 
 if He so called me ; and I knelt at His feet, and felt 
 the overpowering sense of His gracious gentleness, 
 and at the same time of His majesty, as the Great 
 Head of the Church, to whom all power in heaven 
 and earth is given. 
 
 "The prayers of the ministers of God, leading and 
 gathering up those of all the people, I felt as if resting 
 upon my head ; and, as I beUeve, they ascended up 
 before the throne of God ; so it would be my earnest 
 prayer that they may descend in a copious blessing of 
 the Spirit, according to the promise of the Father, 
 and the power of Him who baptizes with the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire." 
 
 The excitement and solemnity of his ordination 
 day passed over. The vessel is in open sea again. 
 
 " Since ordination," he writes, 3d May, " I have 
 been sore broken, and that continually. It is as if 
 God had broken all my bones. I remember God, 
 and am troubled. Lord, work thou, and who shall 
 let it?" 
 
 It was good to be in his company. " His bright 
 intent and holy walk " (remarked Dr J. Hamilton to 
 the writer) " was quickening to any fellow-traveller 
 who received even the shortest convoy." On all 
 accounts it was thought good that, previous to sail- 
 
ME RADCLIFFE. 169 
 
 ing, he should visit some of the chief towns of Eng- 
 land. It was well for one who now felt China to be 
 his home, to go forth among the people of the English 
 Presbyterian Synod in the mission to China, giving 
 information, as well as impressing the duty our 
 country owes to the land of Sinim, while at the same 
 time he failed not to preach the everlasting gospel 
 
 Accordingly, we soon find him at Bvrminghain 
 and Newcastle; and then at Liverpool, where, in 
 company with the devoted Mr Reginald Eadcliffe 
 (whom the Lord has honoured so much in Scotland 
 since that time), he preached in the open air in front 
 of the Custom-house. " It was the impression of all 
 that good to souls was the result." Next we find 
 him, with Mr Radcliffe, at Stafford, preaching to 
 the crowd assembled to witness Palmer's execution. 
 At Matlock, he hears of a woman " bom again 
 at eighty-five years of age" — a woman whose son 
 had been praying for her conversion for thirty-five 
 years. 
 
 He was much, at this time, in company with Mr 
 Eadcliffe, who to this day retains very lively impres- 
 sions of his holy walk, and heavenly zeal, and prayer- 
 ful spirit The following letter, written in the nidst 
 of iacessant labour, was Mr Radcliffe's reply to my 
 request to be famished with any reminiscences of 
 Mr Sandeman that might occur to him : — 
 
170 ME eadcliffe's letter. 
 
 " Glisgow, 25th September 1860. 
 ■'Mt Dear Mr Eonar, — It is with much pleasure 
 that I write to you of my beloved friend. My remem- 
 brances of David Sandeman are like gleams of sun- 
 shine. It was when I was a student in Edinburgh, 
 I suppose about eleven years ago (1849 or 1850), 
 that we first became acquainted. He was present 
 there at a noisy open-air service in the Grassmarket ; 
 and although he would not take part, yet he stood 
 as a protector, and on that spot our hearts became 
 united. Some years afterwards, having to pass through 
 Edinburgh, he was again lovingly by my side during 
 an open-air service at night under some bridge in the 
 Old Town. About the year 1856 he visited us at 
 New Brighton, on the Mersey. It is fresh in my 
 memory now, as returning from my business at Liver- 
 pool, I found that my beloved friend had been 
 absenting himself from table in order to spend time 
 and strength amongst the Sandhills of New Brighton. 
 Was not this the secret of his habitual cheerfulness? 
 Whilst at New Brighton, he, along with Richard 
 Weaver, the converted collier, and others, assisted at 
 some special open-air services which we had round 
 the Liverpool Custom-house. Amongst the fruit was 
 a fallen woman, who appeared to find Christ at once, 
 and who, we heard long after, was walking as becomes 
 a Christian. 
 
ME HADCLIFFE'S LETTER. 171 
 
 "About this time, too, Mr Sandeman, Eichard 
 Weaver, aud I were preaching together at Warring- 
 ton on a Sabbath; whence, in the afternoon, we 
 walked to a little Cheshire village. Before entering 
 the village, the party of young evangelists knelt on 
 the wayside, round a heap of broken stones, and the 
 Answerer of prayer very soon, in a most striking 
 manner, appeared to work salvation before our eyes. 
 On that night I have another very happy remem- 
 brance of beloved Sandeman. One of the villagers 
 had taken us into his house ; and, after prayer to- 
 gether, tired enough, we lay down on the same bed. 
 But my companion, whilst lying by my side, started 
 again, praising and praying ; and how much of the 
 night he so spent, I know not. We had seen His 
 salvation, and Sandeman was very happy. 
 
 "Again our beloved David, in company with Richard 
 Weaver and others, met together in the ancient town 
 of Stafford, for the purpose of attending the execution 
 of a notorious culprit. The night before the execu- 
 tion was a solemn one indeed. Thousands were 
 expected to attend, and many thousands did come. 
 About 70,000 short tracts were distributed. The 
 hour fixed for the labourers being at their posts was 
 to be three A.M. the following morning ; for, as was 
 expected, the people began to assemble in the night 
 time. David Sandeman and another retired for 
 
172 MATLOCK. 
 
 prayer and a little repose ; but a spirit of prayer was 
 poured out, each prayed several times, and the hour 
 soon arrived to go to the solemn scene. Richard 
 Weaver (who is now beside me) heard David Sande- 
 man solemnly preaching amid the immense crowd, just 
 before the last bell began to toll, and well remembers 
 him then saying — ' I stop preaching ; but that bell 
 cries to every one of you. Prepare to meet thy God ! ' 
 The labourers had reason to hope that not a few souls 
 were blessed, and an infidel among the number. 
 
 "When the time had drawn on for my beloved 
 friend to go to China, I was invalided at Matlock, in 
 Derbyshire. He came there ; and it was pleasant to 
 see the happy way in which, along the roadside, he 
 could stop the people, and tell each of them of that 
 Jesus who had made his face to wear its own happy 
 smile. To this glorious Jesus be glory for ever and 
 ever. — Sincerely yours, R E. 
 
 " P.S. — By a person now present with me, and 
 who was then with us at Matlock, I am reminded 
 that a dear minister of the gospel, observing the 
 number of individuals D. Sandeman had been entreat- 
 ing that day to turn to the Lord, had been led actually 
 to count them ; and in the evening the joy of 
 Sandeman and the others in our little cottage was 
 so great, that their laughter forced tears of joy. On 
 the morrow he left us, and we saw him no more." 
 
CfflCESTEB — LOWICK. 1 73 
 
 Mr William Hunter (brother-in-law to Mr Ead- 
 cliffe), formerly a feUow-student with him in Edin- 
 burgh, writes regarding his short stay at Chester : — 
 
 " Others besides myself remember the power with 
 which he spoke of the Blood of Christ. But it was 
 the man himself that was the sermon. I felt with 
 him, more than any minister I have known, that his 
 life was on a level with his preaching. And then he 
 was so genial and joyous. A short time after he was 
 in Chester, I was staying with Mr Eadcliffe and his 
 family at Matlock. To our great delight one day, 
 our dear Mend unexpectedly joined us, and remained 
 with us two days. I shall never forget a walk I had 
 with him from Matlock Oreen over the hill to Mat- 
 loch Lath. It was a lovely summer evening, and he 
 was full of life, and joy, and love to souls." As usual, 
 his hands were fuU of tracts, and a word was ready 
 at his tongue for any soul to whom he gave the 
 tract" 
 
 At Lowick he crossed to Holy Island, and preached 
 to the fishermen, in company with Mr Fraser, the 
 Presbyterian minister, who says — " There is a hillock 
 near me that now always seems to me to say, ' Pray, 
 
 pray ! ' — ^because David Sandeman took me and 
 
 there, in sight of Holy Island, to plead for it." 
 
 We give his own jottings of his farewell visits as 
 they stand in his journal, very brief, and summed up 
 
174 TORQUAY — MUSING ON CHINA. 
 
 by a remarkably characteristic meditation when on 
 the eve of departure. 
 
 "2l8t August, Kilsyth. — Memorable visit. The 
 old Christian minister ; remarkable prayer alone with 
 me before service. During tlie revival of 1 840 there 
 were twenty prayer-meetings in a week in this place." 
 [The minister was Dr William Bums, father of Mr 
 W. C Bums, the missionary to China^] 
 
 "Edinburgh, 6th September. — Left Sprmglcmd 
 this morning. Uphold my dear mother ! " 
 
 "7th September. — Preached in Free St Luke's 
 (Edinburgh), morning and afternoon." 
 
 "8th 5fepfem6er.— Westfield." 
 
 " 9th September.— mmie3L±" 
 
 " 1 1th September. — Last prayer-meeting. Meeting 
 in Free St Luke's before leaving Scotland." 
 
 " 22d September, London. — Open air meeting with 
 torches. Preaching with Mr Baillie." 
 
 " 1st October. — Visiting Torquay, and in my fsf 
 vourite seat among the rocks, and in prayer to God, 
 was drawn out concerning the work before me. For 
 the first time that word came to me : ' Ask of me, and 
 I will give thee the heathen for tliine inheritance, and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.' 
 And : ' I will declare the decree.' My soul was given 
 to behold it as the declared decree of Jehovah to the 
 Lord Immanuel. Then, to faith's eye, China and its 
 
THE CHINESE MISSION. 175 
 
 vast millions of souls floated before me, like the sea. 
 It spread away to the horizon of vision, and under that 
 word I saw it to be the sea of God, every creature abso- 
 lutely His, and according to the time and purpose of 
 the decree, given over to the Lord Jesus for His inheri- 
 tance, kingdom, and glory. Also, I saw the heathen 
 as a mighty flood, whose stirred waves might swallow 
 me up, or whose seductions, managed by Satan, might 
 draw me in. My spirit was overwhelmed and pros- 
 trate by the shore of that awful deptL Into that 
 sea I seemed to be about to plimge alone and weak, 
 with all its trials, and it might be dangers ; but I 
 was caught up and was sustained by these words : 
 ' Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' 
 ' Depart, for I will send you far hence, unto the Gen- 
 tiles.' I rose up and went my way ; but the vision 
 remained with me." 
 
 Perhaps we should have stated more fuUy that 
 Mr S. was led to go forth in the service of the Eng- 
 lish Presbyterian Synod, by the fact that that Synod 
 had taken up the cause of China in 1845, had sent 
 forth Mr W. C. Bums as their first missionary in 
 1 847, and having at last selected the island of Amoy 
 and the province of Fuhkien as the seat of the mis- 
 sion, were desirous of finding more labourers. Mr 
 James Johnstone, after little more than a year's 
 labour, was compelled, by the failure of his health. 
 
176 THE CHINESE MISSION. 
 
 to return in 1855 ; and, though Mr Carstairs Douglas 
 had gone forth that same year, there was ample room 
 and urgent need for as many labourers as could be 
 sent. The mission was not in the advanced state 
 in which it is now, when even the young have hymns 
 prepared for their use in native Chinese, e.g., that 
 one well-known in Sabbath-schools, "There is a 
 happy land." But the Lord had been sealing the 
 work ; for, in 1854, both in the isknd of Amoy, and 
 in the province of Fuhkien, at Pechuia, Mr Bums 
 told of an evident outpouring of the Spirit, of scenes 
 resembling those recorded in the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, and of a native church formed by the mission- 
 aries from this country in conjunction with those 
 from America. It was in fuU. knowledge of how the 
 missionary work was proceeding there, that Mr San- 
 deman prepared to take up the sickle and go forward 
 to the fields that were " white and ready for harvest" 
 He is now at last on his way to the closing scene 
 of his earthly labours, though all who knew him 
 regarded his departure as the beginning of a new 
 season of successful work for Him whom his soul 
 loved. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 .fragments. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION — ^LETTERS — SERMONS. 
 
 " If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God 
 giveth: that God in all things maybe glorified through Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 1 Feteb iv. 11. 
 
 M 
 
If at this point we introduce some miscellaneous 
 pieces of Mr Sandeman's, it is not with the view of 
 claiming for him great literary eminence, but with 
 the desire of prolonging his usefulness. There is one 
 chord in our heart which may be touched by the fine 
 verses of the Latin poet : 
 
 " Ipsa qnidem virtus sibimet pulcherrima merces. 
 Dolce tamen renit ad manes, qnum gloria yiue 
 Durat apnd saperos, nee edant oblivia laudem." 
 
 (Sil. Ital. xiii. 6G3.) 
 
 Thus Christianized : 
 
 " The Life of Faith is its own rich reward ; 
 It asks no praise of man, no song of bard. 
 Yet even in him who stands before the throne, 
 Glorying for ever in his Lord alone, 
 Perchance it might awake new joy to know 
 That he, though dead, still speaks to men below." 
 
 Elisha's bones were made means of life to the cold 
 corpse of an Israelite (2 Kings xiiL 21). Would not 
 this event at once recall the departed prophet to the 
 memory of a people for whom he had lived, laboured, 
 
] 80 klisha's bones. 
 
 and prayed? And without excluding the histori- 
 cal lesson, Elisha's God liveth when Elisha himself 
 is gone — or the typical lesson. The dead soul is 
 quickened in the moment of contact with the death 
 of Him who lay for us in that rock-hewn tomb — 
 may we not view the incident as suggesting that it 
 may sometimes please the Lord to put power into 
 the remains of His servants, to wit, into their deeds 
 and words, recorded or recalled to mind when about 
 to fade away from the survivors' thoughts ? 
 
 Here, then, are some fragmentary pieces. As it 
 leads us farthest back, we begin with his inquiry 
 into the rise and progress of his ideas of God. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE IDEA OF GOD IN CUIIJ)HOOD, 
 BOYHOOD, YOUTH. 
 
 " Let me endeavour to find how, or by what pro- 
 cess, I have arrived at my present state of belief. 
 
 " As a Child— rHow did I get the idea ofGud? 
 First Period. 
 
 "1. By Instruction. — ^As soon as I could under- 
 stand anything of such a nature, it was told me that 
 a great and' good Being lived in heaven, and that He 
 knew what was going on in the earth, that I must 
 pray to Him, because He made me, and that He was 
 pleased at what was good, and angry at evil All 
 this I never thought of doubting or questioning, as 
 
IDEA OF GOD IX CHILDHOOD. 181 
 
 fax as I can remember, any more than I did when I 
 was told that there was a king in London. As to the 
 amount of its operativeness, I do not pronounce. 
 That it was operative, I have no doubt ; and, for ex- 
 ample, I would not retire to rest until I had made a 
 prayer at my mother's knee. AU this was addressed 
 to, and in a peculiar way responded to by, conscience, 
 or the sense of right and wrong. 
 
 " 2. By the Book which I was told was Ood's. This 
 gave reality and correctness to the idea of God. The 
 consideration in which it was held by those around 
 me, communicated itself to me. A saying of my 
 father's heightened and verified my feelings toward 
 it, viz., ' When I tell you to do any thing, and you 
 shew me that it is against what that Bible says, then 
 I shall not ask you to do it' 
 
 " S. By the outward church, where God was praised 
 and prayed to. This early excited my thoughts. 
 
 " 4. By Sabbath, called God's day. This, as often 
 crossing my inclinations, was all the stronger on that 
 account. Here, what I was told was the will of God 
 thwarting my own, made the notion of God as a real 
 Being all the more clear. 
 
 " In Boyhood. Second Period. 
 
 " I. Reproving swearing among my school-com- 
 panions affected my spirit. It amounted, in some 
 degree, to taking part with God. It was, 1 think. 
 
182 IDEA. OF GOD IN BOYHOOD. 
 
 one of the first independent and voluntary acts of an 
 instructed natural piety, and liad a corresponding 
 effect in verifying the idea of God's existence, whose 
 name must not be profaned. 
 
 " 2. Lying. I disliked this, partly perhaps because 
 of its effects in punishment. I don't think I prac- 
 tised deception as many boys ; yet again I Am led to 
 think this was iu a large measure owing to the same 
 cause. At least, I am not aware that the idea of 
 God came in to enforce the right 
 
 " 3. Impressions of every kind more vitdd, 
 whether natural or religious. This told on character 
 and convictions, and the notion of God was propor- 
 tionally strong. 
 
 " 4. A book given me by my mother, ' TJie way for 
 a child to be saved' had a considerable effect upon 
 me. I believed in heaven and hell in a new way. I 
 remember of risings of anger and enmity against 
 these, and I suspect more or less against Him who 
 was the Author of both, as I learnt especially, too, 
 when His interests came across and interfered with 
 my amusements. I remember also distinctly wish- 
 ing to be a door-post, or something of that kind, 
 rather than an immortal soul, because of the eternal 
 realities. In a spiteful and rebellious spirit I wished 
 to get quit of them all. But this, therefore, did not last 
 long. No doubt, there were various other convic- 
 tions of a similar kind. So far as appears to me. 
 
IDEA OP GOD IN BOYHOOD. 183 
 
 these were the natural workings of conscience upon 
 the truth, and what are generallly called the common 
 operations of God's Spirit, so frequently met with in 
 young persons who have heard God's truth. These 
 were, therefore, both natural and supernatural, that 
 is, iu addition to and above nature. If I had not 
 been possessed of these external advantages of educa- 
 tion in the truth of God, I see little reason to think 
 that they would ever have arisen within me. On the 
 other hand, they do not seem to have (as far as I can 
 consider the thing) contained any thing of a strictly 
 spiritual natura They were something more than 
 natural, and less than spiritual 
 
 " 5. Vigour of conscience in proportion to advance- 
 ment of age. It was an active monitor concerning 
 good and evil 
 
 "6. Dviy was more a principle than the mere 
 desire to please my parents or masters. I am much 
 disposed to think that duty stood largely in the place 
 of God to m& I believed in the existence of a 
 Supreme Being, but the practical influence of this 
 belief was of the faintest kind. Duty, whether owing 
 to parents or teachers, was tenfold more powerful as 
 a moral principle ; and I am not aware that this at 
 all involved any direct thought of God being connected 
 in any way with the duties. Perhaps the height of 
 my idea of morals reached this, that happiness was, 
 in some way, related to the performance of these 
 
J 84 IDKA OF GOD IN BOYHOOD. 
 
 duties. As fax as memory aids me, there was little 
 or nothing of a spiritual nature in these thoughts of 
 God and duty, however transient. I never really 
 thought of pleasing God, or of doing any thing to His 
 glory, or directly to and for Him. I had no know- 
 ledge of Him as a Person, or real Being, with whom 
 I had immediately and particularly to do. He was 
 to me very much of a Mighty Abstraction, as distant 
 from my ordinary life and feelings as I considered 
 heaven to be from earth. 
 
 "7. Triie avd spiritual convictions began (towards 
 the end of this period) to visit me — of the existence 
 of God ; of a heaven and a hell ; of God's omniscience, 
 omnipresence, &c., impressing my whole soul, and 
 producing real practical results correspondingly. The 
 idea of God came more fully and fairly across the 
 horizon of my souL I saw and was afraid, and re- 
 pented and did good works. From that time my 
 faith, I think, resembled that of devils — ' I believed 
 and trembled.' But then they varied exceedingly as 
 to intensity, dying away frequently, and for months 
 together, to a mere notion, without any practical 
 result. 
 
 " These, I doubt not, came by the operation of the 
 Spirit of God, who was beginning to strive with me 
 unto salvation. The chief means towards this result 
 were, the faithftd preaching of the gospel, reading 
 the Bible, and social prayer-meetings. 
 
IDEA OF GOD IN YOUTH. 185 
 
 " 8. 1 now clea/rly felt that, in whatever way I 
 might have believed in God, I had never truly 
 believed in Christ for the remission of sins ; that He 
 was merely a man to me ; an existing person, but 
 one who had no manner of real influence over my 
 actiona 
 
 " 9. There was, also, a struggle between God and 
 the world within ine. Strange inconsistency existed, 
 resolutions about duty and God, and yet the latter 
 generally at an immense distance from my inward 
 thoughts. God was utterly excluded from some of 
 the most interesting and engrossing scenes of my 
 existence. 
 
 " In Youth. Third Period. 
 
 " 1. The same as last period ; only more confirmed 
 in outward morality by leaving home, and so having 
 pri/ndple strengtJiened through exercise. Still God 
 was at an inconceivable distance from my ordinary 
 daily life. I knew nothing of Him as a person, and 
 loved him far less than father and mother, sister, and 
 friend. 
 
 " 2. Duty, conscience, and a desire to rise in life 
 were my ruling motives to action. 
 
 " 3. Convictions, as before ; some spiritual. Knew 
 that I had a heart and mind, but no real acquaint- 
 ance with my soul. 
 
 " A thousand things had more real attraction for 
 
1 86 IDEA OF GOD IN YOUTH. 
 
 ine than God; love, but especially friendship, know- 
 ledge, principle, &a Yet I used to hold prayer- 
 meetings with the young men of the house in Glas- 
 gow, and held long conversations with one of the 
 boarders on religious subjects. Read the word of 
 God much, and used to rise early in order to do sa 
 Strange anomalies ! 
 
 " 4 Up to this time ilie Being of God was held 
 by me, and His attributes ; His claims acknowledged, 
 but in reality wholly despised, by loving the creature 
 more than the Creator. Certain speculations and 
 ideas in the mind, no true feeling (except during one 
 season of spiritual conviction) in the heart. I believe 
 I no more loved God with all my heart than does 
 the most ignorant savage. 
 
 "Jesus Christ was an historical character as inan; 
 as God, He was as distant as that idea was. I no 
 more walked in fellowship with Jesus Christ than 
 the most ignorant coolie of Calcutta The distinction 
 of spiritual and carnal was utterly unknown to my 
 moral apprehension. 
 
 " The true knowledge of sin, a sense of its inherent 
 loathsomeness, either as it respects God or the con- 
 science, wholly unfelt and wholly disregarded. I 
 never, I believe, confessed sin from any sense of its 
 own pollution. 
 
 " 5. Then of God's infinite mercy, as I trust, and, 
 from all that went before, out of the most free love. 
 
IDEA OF GOD IN YOUTH. 187 
 
 He was pleased to send converting grace mto my 
 soul. From that hour all was changei Jehovah 
 assv/med to Hvraself the throne of w/g soul. To 
 adore, love, and serve Him became the ruling passion, 
 as well as the most sober conviction, of my heart and 
 understanding. My loftiest aspirations, and my most 
 common actions, were alike directed unto God. 
 
 "Jesus Christ was the Redeemer of my soul from 
 the curse of God's law, and from helL To adore, 
 love, and walk with Him was all my desire, ever 
 acting, efficacious — in short, my heaven. 
 
 " The Scriptures came to me as the word of the 
 living God, expressing his present will and mind, 
 declaring His character and glory. 
 
 "Sin was seen and felt to be the most hideous 
 and abominable thing in existence — as against God's 
 law, and in its own nature, apart from entailing 
 everlasting destruction, if unforgiven. 
 
 " From that time God has been at times indescrib- 
 ably near to my soul, dwelling with me, watching over 
 and with me, day and night ; in some degree restored 
 to His place as my Creator, Preserver, and Governor. 
 Friendship, honour, name, happiness, all secondary 
 (I mean as to prevailing principle and feeling) to the 
 glory of God. And all from beginning to end, wholly 
 and altogether, to the praise of his grace, and mCTcy, 
 and love ; nothing but confession and repentance to 
 this souL All glory to God's Spirit; nothing to 
 
] 88 CORROBORATIONS. 
 
 free-wiU ! Without Him I must have gone on as I 
 did, in blindness, and darkness, and sin. I "was^ 
 arrived at the strength of my youth, and fairly entered 
 on the business of life, without any trace of God 
 upon my spirit. Therefore, all is of God, to whom, 
 with Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be 
 all the honour and glory, now and evermore. Amen ! " 
 
 " Manifold Corroborations, tending to strengthen and 
 defend this Belief in the Being of God. 
 
 " 1. The power of His truth on myself. His truth 
 given in the Scriptures is worthy of Him whose 
 book it bears to be ; both in illuminating the heart 
 and understanding, and changing the dispositions ; 
 in supplying motives which overcame many sins at 
 once, and mortified all known transgression ; by the 
 divine joys which it brought, far exceeding any earthly 
 bliss previously or since experienced In short, the 
 Internal Evidence from the revelation of God. 
 
 " 2. Power of God's truth on others — either con- 
 verting or powerfully influencing them, much in the 
 way, I suppose, as miracles of old confirmed the faith 
 of believers. 
 
 "3. The eodernal evidence of the revelation of 
 God, as having come really from Him. There could 
 be no mistake in regard to the witnesses of that 
 truth. Paley's Evidences, and the thoughts suggested 
 by them, contributed much to this. Lardner still 
 
CORROBORATIONS. 189 
 
 more clearly, in supplying the grounds on which 
 Paley rests. 
 
 " 4. Argument from, design, as affording a strong 
 corroboration of the existence of a Supreme Intelli- 
 gence ; and generally the proof of the natural govern- 
 ment of the Deity. 
 
 " 5. Moral government of a Supreme Ruler, as 
 set forth by that incomparable reasoner, Butler. 
 This, by what means I hardly know, affected my 
 understanding more than the previous head, at least 
 in the way of its being most annihilating to all 
 objections. Ldand's Deistical Writers finished this 
 line of things. The fairness of both Lardner and 
 Leland peculiarly tended to conviction. 
 
 "6. Philosophy: the results of high natural science, 
 as given by .Newton and the Calculus; these so 
 universal laws corresponding with the idea of a su- 
 preme mind ; the Baconian Philosophy, also ; its 
 method and splendid results, the style of its author's 
 thinking, and the intellectual trains of analogy sug- 
 gested, have all tended to the same ideas of the Deity 
 previously formed. The principle of all philosophy, 
 causation, tended much to the like result That dis- 
 position to rise from cause to cause insatiably, until 
 the First Great Cause stands out in all the glory of 
 His power and perfections. 
 
 " 7. The scenes of inature do in a very immediate 
 way testify of God, They directly symbolise the 
 
1 90 COEROBOEATIONS. 
 
 Supreme to my spirit — I mean, those of high gran- 
 deur and beauty ; also of absolute loneliness — Mont 
 Blanc, the sea-shore where wild, as in Skye. 
 
 " 8. Poetry has contributed much by its idealiza- 
 tion of the external world ; by the vision of things 
 which rise before it, in which the Great Spirit fre- 
 quently and rightfully blends. The poets, both as 
 intensely alive to nature's beauties, and as in some 
 sort interpreters of her charms and glories, have been 
 an exceeding boon to me." 
 
 I cannot ascertain what year the above interesting 
 review of his mental processes was written ; but its 
 mention of Mont Blanc and Skye towards the close 
 indicates that it was when his studies were consider- 
 ably advanced. It was noticed by his companions 
 that his mind opened out largely in its intellectual 
 development as he advanced in years. 
 
 We may appropriately subjoin to the above the 
 following specimens of self-examination, which will 
 show us how microscopically he often studied his 
 own hejirt, even as at other times he closely searched 
 into the word of God. The pieces are all fragmentary. 
 
LOVE TO GOD — SELF-EXAMINATION. 191 
 
 SPECIMENS OF SELF-EXAMINATION. 
 "Love to God. {20th July 1845.) 
 
 ExoB. XX. 3, " Thou shalt have no other god before me ;" and 
 Matt. xxii. 17, " Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord 
 
 thy God with all thy heart, and mth all thy soul, and with all thy 
 
 mind." 
 
 "Nothing whatever in earth or heaven ought to 
 usurp the place of God in respect of the adoration and 
 worship which are due to Him, and to Him only. 
 Nothing under heaven ought to hold the place which 
 God demands for Himself ia the heart of a man. 
 
 "And has nothing held His place in m/y heart? 
 My reason tells me that there must have been ; my 
 coTiscience tells me that it has permitted friendship 
 to go too far. And yet the truth is, that I do not fed 
 that I have been setting up idols against the living 
 God. I must write according to my present feehngs, 
 and God grant that it may not long be with me 
 according to this melancholy experience. I hnow that 
 the world must have usurped the place of God, and 
 yet I do not feel that it has. The more advanced 
 Christians are, the more they feel that the world is 
 one of their worst enemies ; and yet here am I, not 
 feelvng that it is an enemy ! It shews that I must 
 be wholly ignorant of my own heart and of the snares 
 of the devil. Here I am with a heart like the very 
 Hint ! I feel how humble I ought to ba I feel that 
 
1 92 LOVE TO GOD — SELF-EXAMINATIOU. 
 
 God would be just to condemn me even now because 
 of this unfeeling heart. how terrible must be the 
 state of my heart in this respect, that I stand up and 
 say practically, that I have kept the commandment, 
 that I have done what no descendant of Adam ever 
 has done, or can do. God be blessed that I trust 
 that I know it to be one of the most wretched states 
 that a sinner can be in, knowing that he has broken 
 the holy law of God, ' Thou shalt have no other €rod 
 before me,' and yet that he does not fed it. Oh if 
 any sight should teach humility, should it not be this ? 
 
 "But again (praying that God the Spirit would 
 enlighten my blind eyes), I would consider the other 
 point. What is it to have the true God before me ? 
 No other must occupy His place. But how is He 
 the God of His people ? Is He contented with the 
 bowing of the knee to Him, morning, noon, and night? 
 with a gift now and then laid upon His altar ? We 
 have the answer in what Jesus said to the lawyer, 
 ' Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and 
 with all thy soul, and with all thy rm/nd! The 
 exposition Jesus gives of the commandment shews 
 that it extends to the inmost thoughts. 
 
 " God is not satisfied with any kind of worship, 
 but demands, in searching and succinct language, a 
 particular kind of regard and worship, namely, to be 
 loved by man with all his heart, with all his soul, and 
 with all his mind. First, with ' ail my heart.' Per- 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION — ^LOVE TO GOD. 193 
 
 haps the test way to try this may be, Have you never 
 loved an earthly object with all your heart ? Perhaps 
 you know what it is to be away from home, and to 
 have a heartr-sickness to be there ? You know what 
 it is to long to meet a friend, to feel that it is the 
 nearest -wish of your heart to be near that friend. 
 You know what it is to feel that you would be ready 
 to go through fire and water to save the life of a 
 friend. And have you loved your God thus 1 ' with 
 dU thy JieaH?' To this I have to answer, that I 
 know I have not ; and I feel it too, and (the Lord 
 be praised) I do desire to mourn over it I feel that 
 I have thus utterly failed in keeping the command 
 of Him who is my Maker and my God. And re- 
 member what are the consequences of not obeying. 
 They do not end when you say, that you feel that you 
 have not obeyed. Nay, for the awful consequence is, 
 I am under God's awfiil curse because of this ! Oh 
 let me think what this means ! Subject to the wrath 
 of an offended Jehovah ! deserving (while the pen is 
 in my hand, while I write the words) the eternal 
 curse of God. O my soul, wilt thou not turn now in 
 deep contrition to the Lord on account of sin which 
 calls for vengeance ? Ah, thou canst not run froni 
 the fearfid doom of hell ! It clings to thee. Thou 
 canst never of thyself shake it off God hath spoken 
 the word, and He is not a man that He should lie. 
 " And if convinced of the first part, scarcely need we 
 
194 SELF-EXAMINATION — LOVE TO GOG. 
 
 speak of the two others. The heart is what wowld 
 seem to be more easily affected than ' the soul and 
 the mi/nd.' For the instances of God's kindness 
 to me axe so numerous and so apparent, that my 
 heart should be ever drawn forth in love to such 
 a God. God clothes me: that should make me 
 grateful ; God has every day supplied me with 
 food to support my body : for this I should praise 
 Him. The Bible — permission to pray to Him — ^an 
 earthly Either and mother — a Mend, — all these, and 
 how many things besides, should call forth love to 
 God, and make me love Him with all my heart. 
 But how seldom do I think of these things. For 
 this, O Lord, I am condemned to my face ! Give 
 me, for Jesus's sake, more lasting and deep impres- 
 sions of my sin ! 
 
 " ' With aU thy soul.' The eoul of man is the 
 highest, or the nearest to divine, of his whole nature. 
 It seems chiefly to be the soul of man that is exer- 
 cised in prayer. The sovil of believers is often rapt 
 in the contemplation of divine things. It is his soul, 
 acted on by the grace of God, which discovers the 
 beauty of holiness, and delights to dwell upon what, 
 to his eye, is so lovely. This cannot be said to be the 
 work of the heart; nor do I think it can be confined 
 to the province of the iniTid. Thus, I think that 
 'to love the Lord with all my smih,' means that 
 kind of love which arises from the contemplation of 
 
SINS OF COMMISSION. 19-5 
 
 God's holy character. Seeing the love which is im- 
 printed upon all God's dealings with the sons of men, 
 he is carried up from them to the wondrous First 
 Cause, and thus his love goes forth to TTiTn as the 
 grand cause of all these. And this should be (ac- 
 cording to God's own words) not a half-felt love, not 
 a dreamy kind of contemplative love, but a love 
 ' with all thy soul,' an ardent love to God, different 
 from the heart-lova Not that the one is less holy 
 than the other, not that the one is less vivid than the 
 other ; they must both be holy, they must both be as 
 vivid and as honest as the heart and soul are capable 
 of ; yet the love of the soul might almost be said to 
 occupy a Mgher place. It is derived from what is 
 more abstract, more refined, and, in one sense, may 
 be said to be more pure. 
 
 " Have I this love of ' the soul ?' Have I loved 
 God in this manner ? Have I adored Him because 
 of His infinite perfections ? 
 
 "Sins of Cornvnission. 
 
 " Some of these are — 
 
 " Pride ; vanity displayed generally more in con- 
 nection with the body than the mind Would you 
 take all these pains about your looks if every person 
 were blind? Envy; dwelling on people's faults 
 rather than vices. Censoriousness. Levity and 
 sla7ider. Lying ; not the naked truth. Ckeating ; 
 
] 96 SINS OF OMMISSION. 
 
 not observing the Golden Eule. Hypocrisy ; pray- 
 ing against sins which you don't mean to leave off. 
 Robbing God ; of time. Bad temper. Hindering 
 ofJiers from being useful ; and thus being Satan's 
 instrument. 
 
 " Bins of Study. — First, mere acquisition of know- 
 ledge without reference to God or the ministry ; 
 second, for honour from man; third, mere bookish 
 voracity : devouring without digesting ; generally, 
 want of the spirit of prayer, yea, of the Holy Spirit 
 himself. Christless study is profitless study — ' to the 
 pure all things are pure.' 
 
 " Sins of Omission — Ingratitude. 
 
 Ps.\. xxvi 1, 2.- " Judge me, O God," &c. Psa. eiii. 2, 3. 
 
 " 1. The first and greatest gift which should excite 
 an ardent gratitude to God, must be the UnspeaJt- 
 able Gift of Jesus Christ. O my soul, I would seek 
 to examine thee strictly. How often hast thou hastily 
 thanked my dear, my kind, loving Father for this 
 highest and most perfect gift which He has ever in 
 His almighty power to bestow upon a creature bom 
 in sin? Eighteen months ago, when first made a 
 partaker of it, I believe it was often the subject of 
 deep and joyous thanksgiving. I felt that it came 
 from God, and I thanked God. But, alas ! for many 
 a month the subject has been strange to me. I have 
 
INGRATITUDE. ] 97 
 
 been so engrossed by other parts of my state, that 
 this has been almost wholly neglected. And yet M. 
 •warned me of it some time ago. Indeed, I am forced 
 to admit that I have thanked God as little for this 
 lately, as I did before I was called from sin to serve 
 the living God ! And more ; I do not think that I 
 even felt or acknowledged that I owed much to God 
 on this account. It seemed rather as if I had cause 
 to think that God was neglecting me, because he did 
 not shew me more of my own sinfulness. 
 
 " And now, my soul, I will be faithful to thee, 
 and tell thee that disconteni seals up the channel of 
 thainJsfulness toward God. And is it matter of sur- 
 prise that, in consequence, thou shouldst have been 
 so dry and parched ? On the contrary, would it not 
 have been cause of surprise had it been otherwise 
 with thy state ? If God had blessed thee while filled 
 with unlhankfulness, assuredly it would have been 
 to thine own great harm. God aihors the thankless: 
 therefore, in this thou hast most certainly offended 
 thy Lord grievously. 
 
 " 2. Have I been grateful to God for counting me 
 worthy, putting me in the way of serving Him in the 
 ministry ? for taking me from all the temptations of 
 a merchant? for supplying me with the means of 
 accomplishing the end in view of being a minister of 
 the gospel ? This has, perhaps, been oftener before 
 my mind than the last ; but yet, for some time, I 
 
] 98 INGRATITUBE. 
 
 fiear, it has been little, little in my thoughts. But 
 when I see what is almost universally the case, that 
 much attention to the one object of making money 
 does interfere in some way or other with spiritual 
 welfare, whether by its being the interest of the ser- 
 vant to give so much regard to his earthly master, 
 that he runs a great hazard of offending conscience — 
 whether by the common ways of trade — ^whether 
 directly or indirectly — ^none can gainsay the state- 
 ment that money is the root of all kinds of evil, and 
 that the being very much wrapped up in acquiring 
 it must bring upon the votaries of it, at the least, 
 many severe temptations. O my soul, hast thou 
 thanked the Lord for this ? Alas ! no. Thou hast been 
 so engrossed with selfish present concerns, that past 
 causes for thank&lness have been strangely laid aside. 
 Thou who hast professed to be one of the Lord's 
 people, is this thy state ? In respect to these reasons 
 for gratitude, how hast thou differed from one yet in 
 his sins ? 
 
 " 3. Another cause for continual thanksgiving I 
 should find in the gift of the Bible. Whenever I 
 take it up, I ought to remember how privileged I am 
 in beiug born in a land where the Bible is recognised 
 as a divine book ; besides, how many have never 
 seen it at all ? And then, of those who have it, how 
 many are practically taught that it is not God's 
 word, by the flagrant violations of it by the very 
 
INGEATITUBE. ] 99 
 
 persons who hold it up in theory as the fountain of 
 truth. 
 
 " I have studied the Bible more than I used to do; 
 but have I thanked the Lord for it? An implied 
 thankfulness, a kind of taking-as-for-granted thankful- 
 ness, ■which some seem to think enough ; an under- 
 stood though unexpressed gratitude is a mere no- 
 thing, at best an empty speculation, though very 
 characteristic of the natural man. Hast thou, O my 
 soul, been thanking the Lord for His book ? the book 
 of books? Again have I to make the melancholy 
 confession that the time has just slipped away without 
 my even thinking of thanking God for His great 
 mercy. to be humbled on account of this like- 
 wise! 
 
 " 4. Hast thou, my soul, been thankful for a pious 
 sister ? for a faithful ministry in Mr Miller, Mr Milne, 
 and Mr SomervUle, and for the preaching of Mr 
 Burns ? Have I been grateful for a Christian friend ? 
 for many external advantages ? for good health and 
 sound judgment, however plain and homely? for 
 perseverance V 
 
 We should have liked to have given in full "An 
 Essay on the Ideal : its Source and End; " but it 
 is more suitable perhaps for ovx purpose to satisfy 
 ourselves with an outline of the essay, as given in a 
 
200 ESSAY ON THE IDEAL. 
 
 letter to his brother, together with the closing para- 
 graphs. It was written, not as the former extract, 
 in the earlier, but in the latter days of his study and 
 miaistiy. 
 
 " I Avrote an essay for our Society, the other day, 
 on The Beautiful, especially that of nature. I cannot 
 say how sadly pleasant it was to meditate on the 
 subject before writing. 
 
 "It was an attempt to say a thing or two, as 
 C. used to say, on the Ideal — as to the process by 
 which a student of the Beautiful might pursue 
 that study so strangely attractive to the poor heart 
 of man. 
 
 " He must wander, e. g., through the distinctly 
 apprehended forms of floral loveliness (as given among 
 the flowers of earth) ; and allowing all these fragrant 
 beauties of exquisite form and colour to be depicted 
 through the sense upon his heart and aesthetic 
 faculty, there would gradually arise upon his soul 
 a truly-founded beginning of the Ideal of floral 
 loveliness. 
 
 " So with all other beauteous things in the various 
 departments of nature. Each contributes fair and 
 perfect specimens of the various forms of Beauty. 
 
 " Then the poets, painters, and sculptors, are in- 
 terpreters of the beauty of nature, and delineators 
 of what they have seen and heard, as they have 
 gazed upon her fair face ; for they tell us of some- 
 
ESSAY ON THE IDEAL. 201 
 
 thing purer, richer, lovelier, which rose as a mystic 
 dream of transcendent beauty, from what they be- 
 held, and which iu their works they give as a vision 
 of the Ideal (Raphael's figure of the cherub in the 
 room of the Transfiguration, and Spenser's poetry, 
 might be given as specimens. ) 
 
 " The latter part of the paper was an attempt to 
 feel after whither all this conducts the mind, under 
 the heading. Reality of the Ideal. 
 
 " There is, I know, much that is inexplicable about 
 the power of beauty, and the feelings to which it 
 gives rise ; but two things are secured to our spirits 
 as they restlessly search for the home of the Ideal — 
 as fruitlessly they long after the revelation of that 
 beauty, love, and tenderness which all lovely things 
 seem to tell of Some whisper it, some sing of it ; 
 it breathes from some ; from some it rises as pure 
 incense. 
 
 "First. Beauty tells of a Lovely Creating Being, 
 as inevitably as design does of a Designing Mind. It 
 comes from Him, it rests upon His works revealing 
 Him, and does it not surely ascend back to Him ? 
 Press it one never would — ^nay, leave all earthly 
 beauties and their fairest earthly counterparts, hang- 
 ing all around the Beautiful in nature ; but may we 
 not fairly add to the source of all this deep power, 
 the apparent revelation which is there of the Divine 
 Beauty of that Being who made every form of that 
 
202 ESSAY ON THE IDEAL. 
 
 Beauty, and apportioned all the parts of those ex- 
 quisite colours which adom it. 
 
 "-^sthetically, then, and apart altogether from 
 Natural Theology, we may not exclude the Beauty 
 of the Divine Being from the Ideal, which so strangely 
 rises from and floats ahove and around all lovely 
 things. The skirts of the garment of His infinite 
 Beauty rests upon these summits of created excel- 
 lence. 
 
 "Second. In these tendencies, these emotions of 
 our nature, we have an aesthetic prophecy that, in 
 the fulness of time (sin being removed), there is not 
 one fair image of perfect loveliness, no dream of the 
 true poet (over which you have been ready to weep 
 when you awoke, and behold it was a dream !), 
 but shall be fully realised — ^beheld and embraced, 
 lived in. 
 
 "The subject is not one to speak dogmatically 
 upon ; but when it seemed to break upon me that 
 the above was a pure aesthetic result, as well as a 
 theological or ratiocinative truth, it produced a simi- 
 lar effect of joy to that I remember feeling on seeing 
 Butler's ' Argument for a Moral Government of 
 God,' established on purely natural grounds ; it was 
 as if nature and the Bible truth were married into 
 one." 
 
 The essay itself (as we have said) is too long for 
 insertion in fulL But we may, in some degree, esti 
 
ESSAY ON THE IDEAL. 203 
 
 mate the taste, and feeling, and spiritual aspiration 
 that breathe in it throughout by the following ex- 
 tracts — the one an illustration, the other the closing 
 paragraphs of the essay : — 
 
 " The Sublime and Beautiful in combination form 
 perhaps the most powerful effect in nature. The 
 first of these is readily associated with the Divine 
 Being ; why not the other ? It was once my lot to 
 be wandering through a Swiss valley on a pilgrimage 
 to her famed mountain. The path lay a little above 
 the course of a pure hill-stream. The vine, twining 
 amid trees of a loftier g^o^vth, clothed the sides of 
 the sequestered vale. The verdure was of a softened, 
 richest green ; all was bright, and calm, and beauti- 
 ful Winding thus through the quiet depths, I hap- 
 pened once to raise. my eyes, when one of those 
 visions met them which are ineflFaceable. Away 
 through the vista of that lovely valley, so clothed in 
 brightness and soft beauty, towered the sublime form 
 of Mont Blana The sudden appearance of that 
 majesty — all robed to the summit in the spotless 
 purity of the driven snow, and resting in the bril- 
 liantly-contrasted deep blue heavens beyond — with all 
 this beauty stretched at his feet, fell on the spirit 
 with almost too much power, ready as if to overwhelm 
 it; when, swift as a ray of sunlight, the thought 
 came — ^' There is one who made that mountain 
 monarch, who clothed him in these snow-white robes. 
 
204 ESSAY ON THE IDEAL. 
 
 He built the azure firmament above him, and it was 
 He who fashioned this tender loveliness spread at his 
 feet !' There was instant reassurance. And is the 
 result not then inevitable ? Beauty, alike with ma- 
 jesty and glory, in the works of creation, proclaims 
 the Deity ; that is, these works declare alike His 
 majesty. His glory, and His beauty ! 
 
 " And now, in conclusion, let us glance at the 
 second part of the answer as to the reality of the 
 Ideal, viz., the anticipation or aesthetic prophecy of 
 its realisation found in the feelings, the emotions, the 
 tendencies towards it of which we are conscious. 
 
 "There is no distinctly proved tendency of our 
 nature but will meet with its fulfilment, the hin- 
 drances by error or sin being removed. This rests, 
 we believe, on the wisdom and goodness of the 
 Creator. He has made nothing in vaia As He has 
 constructed no faculties, so he has called forth no 
 feelings, nor implanted aspirations or longings, only 
 to disappoint them of their legitimate ends. Our 
 nature, as it came from His hands, was perfect as well 
 as pure; every native or essential object of desire 
 was either then bestowed or made attainable by the 
 means of His appointment. Sin has come in and 
 dashed all these fair hopes, as to man attaining the 
 fulfilment of his desires or aspirations by merit, or 
 unassisted by heavenly grace. But the divine Mercy 
 hath devised a plan for the restoration of man to at 
 
ESSAY ON THE IDEAL. 205 
 
 least an equal elevation, ia all respects, with the 
 ■position from which he fell. Hence we reason that 
 every genuine longing of his nature (which cannot in 
 itself be shewn to be sinful), shall be abundantly 
 satisfied. And this establishes for us a glorious 
 reality to those thirstings after all that is good, true, 
 or beautifiiL Many of the poets have erred from the 
 right way, both as to the truths of the revelation of 
 the will of the Supreme, and as to the true principles 
 ■ of their own art ; for swerving fi«m purity or recti- 
 tude, they swerve from ' the good' and ' the true,' and 
 therefore sin, so to speak, against the very Ideal they 
 would extol, which is as perfect in Purity and Truth 
 as in Love and Beauty. But these errors apart, there 
 is not a fair dream of bliss, a region of purity, a land 
 of entrancing beauty, love, and joy, depicted or sung 
 by the poets, but shall be realised In God's ap- 
 pointed way (now that sin has entered) they must be 
 sought; hnt found they shall be. Is this world so 
 fair ? does it breathe in nature still so much of joy 
 and heavenly beauty, while the curse of its Creator 
 is known to rest upon it ? What shall we judge of 
 the New Heavens and New Earth, which shall spring 
 forth, when all the taint of sin has been removed, it 
 may be by that baptism of fire which awaits it ? 
 What eye hath seen, what ear hath heard, what 
 heart conceived, the scene which shall then open on 
 llie gaze of the redeemed ? How shall the present 
 
206 man's extremity. 
 
 highest, conceptions dwindle into nothingness, before 
 the effulgent realities of that hour. And as the sin- 
 purged spirits of men, clothed in spiritual and im- 
 mortal frames, rise through the bright worlds above, 
 shall they not hear a music far surpassing that of the 
 spheres fabled by the ancient poets ; and at length 
 they shall set foot in that region of pure ecstatic bliss, 
 where beauty most perfect and eternal reigns through- 
 out all that is beheld or exists ; where is the sole 
 Fountain of all beauty, love, and tenderness, where 
 is the last home of the Ideal, and where those glori- 
 fied spirits shall dwell for ever with the infinitely 
 Lovely One." 
 
 We may vary our collection of Fragments by ex- 
 tracts, some of them jotted down among his papers, 
 others taken from Letters to Friends, written on the 
 spur of the occasion. We begin with a remark on a 
 well-known saying. 
 
 " ' Man's extreTtiity is God's opportunity.' — ^When 
 we have been taught how weak and helpless we are, 
 then probably is the Lord near. At least, this seems 
 to be the way which the Lord takes in his dealings 
 with man. In this may be seen the knowledge 
 which God has of the human constitution ; for, per- 
 haps, at no time is a man more ready to listen to the 
 suggestions of a. friend than when, baffled in his en- 
 
APPEECIATION OF GOD'S WOEKS — ^LIFE OF FAITH. 207 
 
 deavours to accomplish some end, he sinks down 
 dispirited and comfortless. He then must see the 
 necessity for some higher power heing exerted in his 
 behalf, and is ready to take the way which bis con- 
 science before pointed out, though he did not then ' 
 listen to its voice, the way of God's appointment." 
 
 The remark that follows on our appreciation of the 
 works of God is no less just. 
 
 " I was just thinking again to-day, how dependent 
 our appreciation of God's worlcs is upon the state of 
 our mini I find that I have scarcely any pleasure, 
 or at least any joy, in them unless my soul is at peace 
 with their great and glorious Creator. They seem 
 at times to be so insipid and dumb to me, that any- 
 thing almost gives me greater pleasure than they : 
 while at other times, each flower, each lea^ the sky, 
 the sun, all tell the glory of God." 
 
 Here is an important truth in regard to the Life 
 of Faith. 
 
 " For myself, I feel that seven times a day I am 
 ready to forget that it is a fight of faith, and begin 
 to turn again to the carnal way of life ; as if the path 
 of God's Elect could ever become a natural way to 
 the old man within us. We are ready to ask con- 
 tinually, ' What ! must we take another and again 
 another step of faith and patience ? And this recur- 
 ring all the day.' No wonder that the stony-ground 
 hearers weary of such a wav of it. But shall we be 
 
208 THIRSTING FOE THE REALISING OF PERFECTION. 
 
 found complaining of it, •when it is the very road, 
 every foot of it, by which the man Christ Jesus went 
 to glory Is it not all marked with the drops of the 
 blood of the pierced One ? When disposed, then, to 
 complain of the length and trials of the journey, only 
 look down and see the footprints of the Forerunner, 
 and remember why there are marks of the nails 
 that pierced his foot, and why his blood sprinkles the 
 narrow way." 
 
 In a letter to Mrs Bannerman, Wootton Park, 
 referring to what had passed in conversation, he 
 writes : — 
 
 "The idea you express of that longing after perfec- 
 tion in external nature, and encountering in the search 
 for it only that which is deformed, or imperfect^ or 
 deeply blemished, and the consequent pain, is one with 
 which my spirit is but too familiar. This, indeed, is 
 the first step toward the formation of that further 
 idea or ideal of which I spoke in my last . . . 
 As you explained, what you long and thirst for is 
 the mere perfection of the designs actually beheld 
 around us ; the filling up the vacancy in the petals 
 of that otherwise so exquisitely-fashioned flower ; the 
 wiping out of the spots in that otherwise so spotless 
 lily ; the carrying out of the majestic form of that 
 monarch of the woods, together with the entire re- 
 moval of the cause of all these blemishes, and imper- 
 fections, and blights. Now what I love to dwell upon 
 
IDEAL PERFECTION 209 
 
 and which sometimes pours itself upon the wearied 
 spirit as the most delicious music, is the thought that 
 these flowers, though all so sweet and fragrant, so full 
 of grace, of beauty, even of love, only help us to form 
 an ideal of lovelvness, £ir surpassing what they could 
 be, though ever so perfectly formed, though no blight 
 had come on them, and no mildew had eaten of 
 their silken bloom. Where I shall find that I feel, 
 when it shall burst forth in all its beauty into an 
 entrancing reality, I dare not say. But what I de- 
 light to dwell on, what feeds these fancy musings is, 
 that He who planted in our souls these quenchless 
 longings after a higher, richer, more ethereal beauty 
 (though they be raised by force of beauiy within 
 present reach) , will not leave them ungratified. Even 
 as our bodies shall be changed, and become so much 
 more fit for the presence of the King of glory, so may 
 the scenes which shall greet our renewed minds and 
 purged eyesight, far, far transcend aU possible con- 
 ception of earthly beauty as now seen. Methinks I 
 could never now be satisfied with a scene such as 
 Milton pictures Paradise, and I think that would 
 comprehend pretty much what you would desire, 
 would it not ? No, I love and imagine the flowers, 
 if flowers there be, will have the hues of heaven's own 
 beauty, they will be fit to grow beside, to kiss the 
 streams of that river of the water of life, clear as 
 crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of 
 
 O 
 
210 SATAN— STUDY— MINISTERS, 
 
 the Lamb. So •with all other forms of beauty and of 
 grace. I fancy they will have a counterpart in glory, 
 or somewhere in the regions of glory, which will at 
 last satisfy the restless longings after more perfect 
 beauty, and far more exquisite grace than can be 
 imagined by that which is seen and handled." 
 
 Here are some thoughts on several important sub- 
 iects. 
 
 " Satan takes advantage to come back to some old 
 temptation which I almost thought I had conquered, 
 and then am I carried away. What need have I to 
 watch at those parts of the wall which have been 
 built up, but which were once a breach, as well as at 
 the point which seems most open to the attack of 
 these powerful and inveterate enemies." 
 
 To a fellow-student : — " Oh that we may be en- 
 abled to make the growth of our souls in grace the 
 first grand concern of each day, to count a day lost 
 unless spent in walking with God. When shall we 
 study and live ai the feet of Sim who was pierced ?" 
 
 "I find that intercourse with believers requires 
 equal care as that with unbelievers, equal looking up 
 continually to Jesus." 
 
 Then, speaking of a minister shewing off himself 
 in any way : — 
 
 "What should we think of the exhibitor of a 
 
POURINiJ OUT THE HEART — F0E3AKEN. 211 
 
 painting who persisted in intruding his own figure 
 between the canvass and the spectators ? Stand 
 aside, and let the Master only be seen." 
 
 " I often feel it my greatest joy to go to Jesus, and 
 speak to Him out of the fulness of my heart. And 
 this too gives me, I find, more of a spirit of true 
 independence of all upon earth, which, the longer I 
 live, I see to be the more necessary to the believer." 
 
 " Let me be ever seeking to advance My Fathei 
 is divina His resources are infinite. I have no 
 right then to act as if He were only able to dole out 
 a certain portion of faith, and of those spiritual bless- 
 ings which enable the poor humble-hearted believer 
 to set all temptations at defiance, to go into the world 
 trusting in reality in God. How difficult is true 
 perseverance in prayer. Prayer is never successful 
 unless urgent, as if the soul could not bear to wait 
 one moment without the answer, and yet is willing 
 to wait all the day upon the pleasure of Him who is 
 willino; to do above all that we can ask or think" 
 
 " I have sometimes felt how bitter, bitter, it is for the 
 soul to be for.saken of God. Truly any bodily pain is 
 far, far better than that. But what must the holy 
 child Jesus have felt, He, whose very meat and drink 
 jt was to live for the Lord, whose every thought aud 
 
212 LETTERS. 
 
 word and deed had God for its subject and aim ? 
 What must He have felt when, after His Father's 
 countenance had been now and again partially hid, 
 as the clouds of His infinite wrath against sin began 
 to rise up around His holy throne ; all at once these 
 thick black clouds, the awful indignation of Jehovah 
 against the sins of the whole body of the redeemed, 
 of every age, and clime, and people, suddenly closed 
 around Jehovah's throne of mercy and love O then, 
 what must have been the state of the Lord of glory, 
 the spotless child Jesus, the man Christ Jesus, to be 
 gazing up as His eyes had learnt to do, as if naturally 
 made for that, so oft«n had they been lifted to the 
 throne of God's glory, but, alas ! to see nothing but 
 wrath and indignation, yea, fierce stirrings of Jehovah's 
 wrath, which, like his love, in length, breadth, depth, 
 and height, is infinite. O what oceans of holy wrath 
 were then poured into the wide soul of the Saviour 3 
 O what a spectacle, Jesus the Son of God drinking 
 the wine of wrath ! " 
 
 But let us now give a few Letters in full, written in 
 the easy freedom of friendship : — 
 
 Edisbokgh, 24(A April 1846. 
 
 "My Dearest Mother — May the name of God be 
 praised for the seemingly true work of grace which 
 has been begun in Alexander's heart If God's work, 
 it cannot but prosper. It is indeed a great encou- 
 ragement to you, my dear ruother, in prayer for those 
 
LETTERS. 213 
 
 who are still out of Jesus. If God has, indeed, brought 
 Alexander, so far away from all of us, to a knowledge 
 of Jesus, what cause first to raise a song of great joy 
 to the praise and glory of His glorious name, and 
 then to make this an argument with the Lord, both 
 for the bringing in of the other wanderers, and for 
 more grace being poured out upon those who profess 
 to have believed in Jesus. 
 
 " Have you thought, my own dear mother, of the 
 joy which has already sounded through the courts of 
 heaven, on account of the bringing back of your son 
 to the Great Shepherd, if he be indeed one of the 
 flock, and surely we cannot doubt this ? Is it not a 
 blessed thought that even the angels have been filled 
 with new joy ? Yea, with a joy greater than that 
 which they have over the ninety and nine just persons. 
 
 " And then, when we think of the Saviour's joy, O 
 how blessed, bow solemnising to think that the Lord 
 Jesus has actually seen, in my dear brother, the travail 
 of His soul and is now fully satisfied. Long did he 
 live in open rebellion (as he himself expresses it), but 
 the love of God in Jesus passeth all understanding. 
 
 " Oh for hearts to praise the Lord for His won- 
 drous mercy. 
 
 • " But let us pray much for Alexander. The tempter 
 will never allow such a vessel of mercy to go on iu 
 the paths of His God without many an effort to 
 entrap him again. His disposition will soon, if not 
 
214 LE'iTERS. 
 
 now, make him feel the cross of being despised by the 
 world. But, blessed be the name of Jesus, His 
 strength is made perfect in the weakness of His peo- 
 ple, and "none is able to pluck them out of my 
 Father's hand.' " 
 
 *' EniNBCBcn, 9th July 1847. 
 
 "MtDeae Feederick — ^Thank you for the account 
 
 you give me of Mr 's present strain of spiritual 
 
 thought His manner of reading the -word of the 
 Lord, -with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, will lead 
 him deep into the things of God. And then there is 
 one advantage which such reading has above all 
 others — ^that it is mainly concerned about the pure, 
 undiluted truth of God. 
 
 " It is there where the giant-moulds of men in 
 Christ Jesus are discovered. But these, like the fos.sil 
 remains of the former more powerful inhabitants of 
 our world, do not lie strewn upon the surface ; but 
 as they are imbedded far down in the bosom of the 
 earth, so these are found after many a night and 
 day's laborious work of prayer and deep meditation. 
 
 " But this analogy suggests another truth. Just as 
 the skUfiil comparative anatomist, by the discovery 
 of a single member of an antediluvian fossil, can 
 picture to himself with ease, as well as truthfulness, 
 the gigantic figure and proportions of the creature of 
 which this is the memorial, so, he that is taught of 
 the Spirit of God, by one trait or mark of the charac- 
 
LETTEES. 21-3 
 
 ter of a man in Christ Jesus, which his deeper in- 
 vestigation has discovered, is enabled to picture to 
 the eye of faith one of these giant forms; which 
 straightway, led by the Eternal Spirit, he takes with 
 him to the throne of grace, and cries to the great 
 Creator of such men of God, that he, for the glory of 
 God, may be cast into a like mould. 
 
 " But it is easy to describe such perusal of the Scrip- 
 tures : ' how to perform, and especially how continu- 
 ously to perform, I find not' Nothing can ever fill the 
 place of the patient and prayerful study of the Word. 
 
 " I have lately been seeing how, in so very manj' 
 respects, the man after conversion is the same as he 
 was before. He is, indeed, in many of the leading 
 ftatures of his character changed — 'a new creature ;' 
 yet also, in a sense, he is the old creature made new ; 
 he is re-born, re-fashioned. The ends of his existence 
 are changed, the manner of it changed ; his hopes, 
 his fears, all reversed ; the crew, so to speak, is 
 changed, the vessel has got a new pilot ; her course 
 is no longer irregular, or directed by each veering 
 breeze. Christ Jesus is the pilot ; heaven, instead ot 
 hell, the destination. Yet the ship is the same ; and 
 if her timbers were well set, her masts tightly rigged, 
 and her stores well found before, she is the sooner fit 
 for active service, bends the sooner to her master's 
 will, and wings a quicker flight through her novj 
 stormy, dark, and narrow sea-s. ..." 
 
216 LETTERS. 
 
 " Westfield, 23d August 1848. 
 " Mt Deaeest Mother — ^You say a blessed truth 
 in your, to me, soul-refreshing letter — ' There is none 
 like Him.' None like the lovely, the glorious, the 
 spotless Lord Jesus Christ And if my seeming 
 carelessness but give me another opportunity of com- 
 mending the love of the ' Altogether Lovely ' One, I 
 can glory in this my infirmity ; for my not writing 
 sooner, I think I may say has proceeded from the 
 infirmity of my spirit I have felt ever since coming 
 to this place much of that ' fear and trembling ' and 
 ' weakness ' of which the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. ii. 3. 
 And being, as it were, for the time, set to watch over 
 souls here, I have been afraid to give time to many 
 other duties, which at other times it would have been 
 very wrong to neglect. I have felt also much that 
 you were safe m the Lord ; and that if at any fiiture 
 time I could tell you of new jewels being gathered 
 by our glorious and matchless Lord Jesus, to adorn 
 His blood-bought crown, you would not grudge the 
 time seemingly taken from yourself. First I must 
 tell you that your letter gave me a blessed errand of 
 thanksgiving to our Father's throne, for all His 
 mercy and kindness to your soul and body. Thanks 
 and praise be unto Him for recovered strength of the 
 earthly tabernacle, and for His kindness to us all in 
 sparing you yet amongst us. But, above all, praise 
 be unto our Covenant God and Father for His free 
 
LETTERS. 217 
 
 mercy and grace to your soul, iu shewing you more 
 of the everlasting and infinite love which flows in 
 His bosom towards His afflicted but chosen people in 
 Jesus. Blessed be his name for all the 'portions' 
 which it pleased Him to give you, my dearly beloved 
 mother, during your passage through one of the 
 valleys of humiliation. 
 
 " But perhaps your soul longs to hear if the goings 
 >{ our glorious Captain have been seen amongst us 
 since last writing. I trust and believe that they 
 have; yet only sufficient to make our souls to 
 thirst after the latter rain, for as yet our eyes have 
 but seen drops of the former rain moderately. 
 Crying for the guidance and blessing of Hiiu who 
 is promised to be always (for Immanuel's sake) 
 with the children, the Great Comforter of a Church 
 mourning the absence of her Lord, I desire to tell of 
 Christ I often ask and marvel why the Lord should 
 have given me a mother in Christ While thousands 
 and thousands of other men in the land have had 
 godless mothers, and lived and died as they did — ^yet 
 the Lord, of His unsearchable electing love, has or- 
 dained it otherwise with ma Not to thee, my own 
 dear mother, but to the Lord, the Lord God, be all 
 the praise and glory. The Lord has been gracious 
 in sending you a fellow-pilgrim to stay under the 
 same roof under which the Lord has put you. The 
 meetings of the children of the kingdom have some- 
 
218 LETTERa 
 
 times reminded me of travellers in tlie desert, whose 
 paths have happened to cross. They look upon one 
 another — reeosrnise, however ohscure, the blessed 
 family likeness, even the image of glorious Christ ; 
 each hears the other pronounce, however stammer- 
 ingly, that name which is above every name, for each 
 has been taught of God the fajnily language, and 
 they are one ! The elder, then (it may be), raises up 
 the pUgrim-feTif, and they rest imder it together for 
 a night But they have not long been here when a 
 voice, well tnown and better loved than that of man 
 or angel, whispers, with sweet, persuasive gentleness, 
 ' Ah, this is not thy rest !' — when they arise, strike 
 the tent, and separate to their different paths, sing- 
 ing as they go, ' Heaven is our home — heaven is our 
 home !' What a marvellous saying is that, 'To me 
 to live is Christ/ When the Lord gives you access to 
 His glorious throne, pray, my dear mother, that I 
 may know, in all its depth and extent, that saying, 
 to the glory of God the Father, and for that end 
 alone. In heaven we cannot glorify God in the same 
 way that we can do here. O then to live as those 
 who may so shortly be summoned on high I In 
 heaven, though under grace — ^yea, under Jehovah's 
 grace — we shall be asked, not ' What hast thou fdt 
 for Christ?' nor even 'How much hast thou loved 
 Christ?' but 'What hast thou cZone for Christ ? ' or 
 ' What hast thou suffered for Christ?'" 
 
LETTERS. 21 9 
 
 To a fellow-student, now Rev. William Hunter, 
 Chester. 
 
 " EmNBnRGH, 9lh August 1850. 
 " I cannot say how much I feel the thought 
 
 of your being so near the ministry of the Lord Jesus, 
 one with whom I have so often taken counsel, and so 
 frequently called on the name of the Lord, to think 
 that you will soon be an ambassador of Christ, lifting 
 up yom' voice in the great congregation, beseeching of 
 men to be reconciled to God. We have been toge- 
 ther at a most important stage of our preparation, 
 learning, as it were, the use of our weapons in the 
 same school, taught how to wield (as far as man 
 could teach us) that sword which is two-edged ; but 
 now you are about to be summoned forth to the field. 
 Your name is about to be called by the Great Cap- 
 tain, and you must follow Him, to fight these battles 
 which are ever continuing in that war which is ever 
 raging between Christ and Satan. And, of His love 
 and grace, you have got a time of quiet in view of the 
 work. As a brother in Christ and friend, how do I 
 desire and pray that the Lord our God would indeed 
 draw near to your soul at this time, to give you much 
 of His Holy Spirit, open up much of the evil in your 
 own heart, that sin may indeed appear exceeding 
 sinful, but above aU give you, my beloved brother, 
 fresh and soul-ravishing views of the glorious Lord 
 
220 LETT2RS 
 
 Jesus Cbrist Doubtless, it is in the chamber that 
 the Lord our God reveals His glory. It was there 
 that He prepared the prophets of old, in their closets 
 when the doors were shut ; and, in modem times, the 
 Whitefields were chiefly prepared in secret, and iken 
 did they declare on the housetops what God had done 
 for their souls. 
 
 " Ah I ought we to be satisfied with anything short 
 of the New Testament description of the ministers of 
 the Lord Jesus — ' Men full of feith and of the Holy 
 Ghost ? ' How apt are we to set such aside as belong- 
 ing only to apostolic times ; but this is clearly un- 
 warrantable. See that beloved man, Thomas Spencer 
 of Liverpool ; was not he of such a mould, through 
 the rich grace of God ? But I believe we are quite 
 agreed as to such qualifications being still granted, 
 but the all-important concern is — how is it actually 
 to be obtained ? Is it not in Jesus Christ that this 
 and all other spiritual blessings are found ? But as 
 it is a special blessing, so it needs a special beseech- 
 ing of our heavenly Father that Hs would do it for 
 us. Ah, yes ! it is at the throne of grace that we 
 must receive this anointing of the blessed Spirit for 
 this great work. And shall we not, my beloved bro- 
 ther, seek for this : ' Ask and it shall be given you.' 
 And as your time is drawing near, shall we not imite 
 together in crying for this, as well as Reginald. It 
 is the crlory of Christ, and not our own, that we 
 
LETTERS. 221 
 
 would seek, and this is ever infinitely dear to the 
 God and Father of alL Do write soon, and tell me 
 what you think and feeL But I find I must close. 
 England is ever near my heart, and though 1 do not 
 at present think of any particular field, I am thank- 
 fiil for your warm appeal Wherever we may lahour, 
 I trust we shall be enabled to strengthen one another's 
 hands by the grace of God. Kindest remembrances 
 in Christ to Keginald, and right glad I am to hear of 
 his zeal and love for souls, and with the same to your 
 kind mother and sister when you write. Tour most 
 affectionate friend and brother in Christ, 
 
 " D. Sandeman." 
 
 Geneva, llth Nov. 1850. 
 
 " My Deae Mother — By the kindness of Him 
 who guideth all things, I have been brought to this 
 ancient seat of the Beformation, and as soon as I 
 could find a little leisure I gladly devote it to writ- 
 ing to you, my beloved mother. It was rather a long 
 journey firom Cannes to this. From Monday to 
 Saturday last, almost constant travelling, two nights, 
 and another from one o'clock A.M., were spent in the 
 diligence. Some parts of the scenery were very fine. 
 The road, as you may know, passes through the com- 
 mencement of the Alp& At one point there is a 
 magnificent amphitheatre of mountains, and as they 
 were lighted up by the setting sun, when we passed 
 
222 LETTERS. 
 
 the effect was very striking. This was not diminished 
 by their grey tops here and there being streaked with 
 snow. 
 
 "12tk — Dr Malan I saw on Saturday. Almost 
 immediately, as his custom is, he asked me what was 
 my hope for eternity ; and whether I really knew 
 that I was a child of God. I answered him perhaps 
 more cautiously than I would have done in former 
 days, and he told me that I had too much of the sub- 
 jective. I had not, he feared, that simple assurance 
 of fe-ith that is required, 'Whosoever helieveth that 
 Jesus is the Christ is horn of God.' So, he said, if 
 you have believed that Jesus is the Christ you are 
 bom of God, for you may know assuredly that it is 
 God who has enabled you to believe. The instant 
 that a man believes that Jesus is the Christ, then is 
 he bom of God. And knowing this, he knows that 
 he is a child of God, and should immediately re- 
 joice in God as his heavenly Father. I was thank- 
 fiil for all that he said, and though I could not but 
 feel what a small thing it was to be judged of man, 
 and that, when the soul can say to Immanuel, ' Lord, 
 Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love 
 Thee,' it cannot be much moved by the voice of man. 
 Yet I was grateful to the Lord for the question being 
 so directly put to me, and I admired the faithfulness 
 of this honoured serA'ant of Jesus. It was singular 
 that his manner so put me constantly in mind of my 
 
LETTEES. 223 
 
 beloved fether. Afterwards he asked me to pray, and 
 he also did so. I have a kind invitation to go to-night 
 to take tea with him, but am sorry that a previous 
 engagement will prevent me. 
 
 " Dr Gaussen you would delight in. He is a man 
 that loves souls. He had heard lately, I think, from 
 a Chinese missionary, of William Burns, and the tears 
 were in his eyes as he spoke of him, and asked me a 
 good deal about him. He says that there is good 
 doing among the young, especially in Geneva, and 
 that there are conversions. 
 
 " D'Aubignd I have also seen, but not in private 
 as yet. The Christians here are more separate from 
 the world than in Scotland, and God seems to bless 
 that I am living at a ' Pension,' where there are a 
 good many of the students of the Evangelical Churcb. 
 Two or three also from the Waldenses, who seem to 
 be true men, though I have not had much close con- 
 versation with them. One of these is going to preach 
 the gospel in Italy, where the door is more open to 
 them among the Catholics, than to other Protestants. 
 
 " I leave this (B. V.) on Satmday for Lausanne, 
 where I stay for a day ortwo, then to Bale, and from 
 that to Strasbourg, and down the Rhine. I hope to 
 be in London by about the 25th, to which you might 
 kindly address me a letter (uncle Hugh's care). 
 
 'A. and I had some pleasant time together at 
 Cinnes, where I trust we knew something of the fej- 
 
224 LETTEES. 
 
 lowship there is in Christ Jesus. How mercifully the 
 Lord has dealt with him and with us all in sparing 
 him in health and in life, while so many of those 
 around him in India have heen cut off With kind 
 love and remembrances to all at Springland, not for- 
 getting Peggy and Janet, 
 
 " Your ever affectionate Son." 
 
 ** Geneva, ISS/j November 1850. 
 "M.Y Deak F. — ^Here I am at the ancient seat 
 and centre of the Foreign Churches. Leaving Paris, 
 with all its gaiety and beauty; its inhabitants 
 bent on pleasure, politics, and vain-glory ; its awful 
 Sabbath desecration ; and the whole people seeming 
 by their life to say, with mingled taunts and efl&ont- 
 ery, 'There is no God!' — ^leaving that city, the 
 scene of so many revolutions and massacres, the fruit 
 of these ways of iniquity, we passed first to Fontaine- 
 bleau, where Napoleon abdicated ; and then, by rail- 
 way, diligence, and steam, to Lyons. A and I 
 
 went by diligence, a tedious conveyance compared to 
 our old mail-coach, but comfortable enough. An early 
 start, stop for dejeuner a la fourchette at eleven or 
 twelve, and off again with the lumbermg, lurching 
 motion, and the bells on the horses' heads with their 
 incessant jingle ; eveiy now and then the guttural 
 cry of the driver as he encourages his tardy steeds. 
 2'aJ}le d'hote at seven, with its endless succession of 
 
LETTERS. 225 
 
 dishes and grapes^ figs, chestnuts, &c., fresh from the 
 trees. The French character comes out at table ; 
 they laugh, talk, and eat mth great vivacity lind 
 rapidity, and yet lightly after alL The instant dinner 
 is over every one rises, and the gentlemen adjourn to 
 a cafi, where they take a single cup of coffee. We 
 went down the Ehone to Avignon, the seat of the 
 Popedom's seventy years' captivity! The river scenery 
 was at some points very fine. It is a noble stream, 
 shooting down its broad and rapid waters between 
 two ranges of hiUs, clad to the top with vines. 
 
 " At Nismes there is a Boman amphitheatre in 
 remarkable preservation — a magnificent monument 
 of what that people were. We stood where the Em- 
 peror used to be to see the fights, and saw where the 
 signal was dropped to save the life of any unfortunate 
 gladiator. A sort of temple, the Maison Carrie is 
 also exactly as the Komans left it ; also the old baths. 
 We met our friends at Marseilles, and went on to 
 Cannes. The country on that coast assumes a new 
 aspect. You seem to have been transported to Pales- 
 tine ; the air is soft and mild as in June with us. 
 To read for hours (in November) in the open air, 
 sitting on the sea-shore, or among the vines, olives, 
 fig-trees, pomegranates, and orange-trees of the hUls, 
 was my delightful occupation. The magnificent blue 
 expanse of the Mediterranean lies stretching away 
 before you, reflecting back a brilliant sky which poor 
 
 P 
 
226 LETTERS. 
 
 Scotland never knows, or only for two or three brief 
 weeks at her summer solstice. 
 
 " I arrived in Geneva last Saturday, and saw Dr 
 Malan the same day. He was most feithful to me ; 
 warning me that it was ji»b enough to be a student 
 of theology, and that people might talk a great deal 
 about religion, without its being in the heart ; and 
 then asked what ground I had to hope that I was a 
 child of God. He is a faithful minister of Jesus 
 Christ ; a grave and venerable-looking man, one who 
 is full of love for Jesus and for immortal souls. 
 Gaussen I have also seen and heard lecture ; he also 
 is a true-hearted man, living much in the realities 
 of divine things. The question of inspiration natu- 
 rally engages a good deal the attention of professors 
 and students, after the affair of Scherer's dismissal 
 from the Professorship. Their lectures are full on 
 the subject of the canon. If Dr Cunningham's lec- 
 tures were published, they would be very serviceable. 
 I have also seen and heard D'Aubignd His infor- 
 mation, his true religion, his fearless declaration of 
 the truth of God, and his pictorial faculty, none can 
 deny. 
 
 " Everywhere I find that Christ alone is sufficient 
 for me. What is coimtry, climate, or man, unless we 
 find Him in them or through them ? 
 
 " Your ever affectionate Brother, 
 " David Sandeman." 
 
LETTERS. 227 
 
 To Mrs Miller, Islay, he wTites : — 
 
 " Edinbdrgh, 2d February 1850. 
 
 " My Dear Mbs Miller — Your letter was made, 
 I tnist, a means of blessing to my soul, and the truths 
 it contained dwelt with me for many days. Truly, 
 that prayer which comes from God by His own eter- 
 nal Spirit is that alone which prevails with Him who 
 sitteth between the cherubims : ' That which is born 
 of the flesh,' whether prayers or praises, ' is flesh.' I 
 have found this to the spiritual cost of my souL 
 may the divine Spirit, for Immanuel's sake, be given 
 you and others who love Zion, to continue and in- 
 crease in pleading with the great Lord of the har- 
 vest that he would raise up and qualify, and in due 
 time thrust forth, true labourers into His vineyard. 
 
 my dear friend in Christ, as you are enabled of 
 God, ask for me that I may know of a truth some- 
 thing of that praying in the Holy Ghost, which will 
 lead to an asking for things agreeable to Jehovah's 
 will. My ignorance of divine things, of the great 
 God who has created all things for His glory, of the 
 Son of His infinite and everlasting love, of the nature 
 and distinguishing characters of the operation of the 
 eternal Spirit, and oftentimes even more than all 
 these, my ignorance of my own heart's vileness and 
 pollution, fill me with a kind of spiritual amazement. 
 
 1 could say of myseit. Let shame and confusion cover 
 
228 LETTERS. 
 
 me, let me be ashamed and confounded, and never 
 open my mouth any more for my sins and mine ini- 
 quitiea I trust it is the cry of my soul — 
 
 " ' Let thy sweet mercies also come 
 And visit me, O Lord ; 
 Even thy benign salvation 
 According to thy word.' 
 
 " It was the Communion season last Sabbath. I 
 cannot at present say much about it, for my suit at 
 the Court of the Great King is still pending. By 
 faith I desire to be looking for the answer to the cries 
 which my soul, I trust, through infinite grace, made 
 in the ears of Him who spread that table, and was 
 Himself the entertainment thereof I saw that it 
 was also the Supper of the great God, a wondrous 
 manifestation of the perfection of the mighty God of 
 Jacob shining forth upon the Person of the Son of 
 His love ; the glory of His justice, and holiness, and 
 yet toward sinners (by the same mysterious spec- 
 tacle) the wonders of his mercy and compassion, and 
 the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. O for the 
 spiritual eye, and ear, and understanding to know 
 these unsearchable and glorious attributes of Him 
 who is Almighty, even Jehovah. 
 
 " At the table, my mouth was at length opened to 
 plead for the brethren of Zion; certainly without 
 any premeditation, you were the first I could plead 
 for. " 
 
LETTERS. 229 
 
 " London, August 1851. 
 
 " Beloved Mother — You vrovHd enjoy ' the Al- 
 liance' meetings much. J. Angell James addressed 
 it to-day. His address related to the gathering of all 
 the saints unto Christ. He said, ' What would the 
 gathering of a court be without the King ; the pre- 
 paring of the bride without the Bridegroom, ?' The 
 Exhibition has not so greatly astonished me ; per- 
 haps I had received an exaggerated account of it ; 
 but, my own mother, what will the grand exhibition 
 of grace at the last day not be ? What will it be to 
 see and hear the wonders of the divine skiU ia fashion- 
 ing hell-deserving sinners into the sweet and lovely 
 image of Jesus ! Then will there be far nobler tro- 
 phies brought from every people and tribe than the 
 flags which now flaunt over these works of art, or 
 these boasted products of the industry of the nations 
 themselves." 
 
 " Edineubgh, HSd April 1852. 
 
 "My own Beloved Mother — Many thanks for 
 your and my father's kind wishes for this day. Next 
 to the approval of my God is the desire of my heart 
 to please my beloved parents, and to have their ap- 
 proval. May I obtain grace and help to render this 
 poor recompence (it is all a chLd can) for your trouble 
 and care for me. 
 
 " The time was when I could have wished rather 
 to have been a piece of wood or stone than an im- 
 
230 LETTERS. 
 
 mortal being ; to think of eternity was dreadful I 
 remember this well at the time when you gave me 
 ' Way for a Child to be Saved.' It shewed me enough 
 of the way to let me know that I had never trodden 
 it. But what a blessing is life if thereby we are 
 taught of the infinite mercy of God, made conscious 
 in any degree, however small, of that love to the 
 children of men which prompted the gift of His only 
 begotten, His beloved. His well-beloved Son. 
 
 "And then, what a prospect (if we have such 
 through free, sovereign grace) is that, of spending an 
 eternity with Christ ! for grace and faith to walk 
 in the footsteps of Jesus, through the pilgrimage 
 journey, that oiir life might be entirely devoted to 
 Him who gave it, ' who is Lord both of the dead and 
 of the living.' " 
 
 " Edinbcrgh, Stk January 1853. 
 
 " Many thanks for all your kind wishes of 
 
 the season. May the prayers among them, indeed, 
 enter into His ears who can alone accomplish the 
 desires of our hearts. 
 
 "You seem to have had trials within, as well as 
 storms without. The mnd and the floods of darkness 
 and unbelief are certainly as real as those in the outer 
 world. We are apt to think, at the time, that they 
 only proceed from our own sins, that we have our- 
 selves raised all the clouds of darkness and confasion ; 
 but often we may see that a higher power was in the 
 
LETTEES. 231 
 
 storm, and that the Almighty One did ride upon the 
 blast, upon the wings of these winds also ; all accom- 
 plishing the purposes of His deep love and mercy. 
 
 " How great were the troubles of the soul of our 
 ' Beloved/ when He was forty days and nights 
 tempted of the Devil in the wilderness, and then it 
 says, ' He was with the wild beasts.' 
 
 "By these troubles, do we not learn something 
 more of the heart of our Beloved One ? If the few 
 drops that sometimes His poor and afflicted people 
 have to drink are so bitter, what must His sufferings 
 have been who had to drink the full measure of the 
 cup of His Father's wrath ? And then, my beloved 
 mother, in Jesus let us sing — 
 
 " 'For yet I know I shall Him praise, 
 Who graciously to me, 
 The health is of my countenance, 
 Yea, our ovm God is He.' 
 
 "Your affectionate Son." 
 
 Though we are thereby anticipating his days in 
 China, we may insert here a letter to one of his Chris- 
 tian friends at Edinburgh ; it looks back as well as 
 
 forward — 
 
 Amot, Augvist 1857. 
 
 " Mt Dear Feiend — I trust that your prayers on 
 
 my behalf are not unheard. Our kind and loving 
 
 Master kept me from sea-sickness during the whole 
 
 voyage, while I used to be sadly troubled with that 
 
232 LETTERS. 
 
 ailment. The 139tli Psalm was my daily meditation, 
 I could not well get out of it, together with some other 
 Scriptures. Deprived of the companionship of all 
 my familiars, and for the most part of the journey 
 having no one with whom I could hold fellowship 
 about divine things, to whom could I go but unto 
 Jesus ? Often, early in the morning before many of 
 the passengers had risen, I got a seat in the very 
 front of the ship, and read (as we travelled fast from 
 my native land and over the bright blue sea), ' If I 
 take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utter- 
 most parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead 
 me, and Thy right hand shall hold me ! ' These words 
 also came as we passed down the Red Sea, and so 
 across all the tracts of ocean, till landed in safety on 
 this shore. Read this psalm in prayer before the 
 throne of grace, and may it prove to you, as it was 
 made to me, a gift from the hands of Him who was 
 crucified for us. I know, alas! of no souls saved 
 during the voyage. Some may have been impressed, 
 but that is all. And now here 1 am in this mighty 
 empire, surrounded by millions upon millions of poor 
 perishing heathen, but can say nothing to them, not 
 knowing their strange tongue. 
 
 " And how is it with your soul, my dear friend in 
 Jesus ? I can fancy that we are talking together in 
 
 your little room, in Street, and after prayer and 
 
 the word, we speak of Jesus. Wlien saw you Him 
 
LETTERS. 233 
 
 wliom OTir souls love ? What was your last meeting 
 with Jesus ? Have you had any meditation on the 
 sweetness of His words ? The words which drop 
 balm into the wounds which the worldly spirit from 
 without, or the carnal fleshly mind from within, have 
 given us. But while He heals, how He loathes these 
 unsightly wounds ! 
 
 " It was the Communion Sabbath to-day, and I sat 
 next an old Chinese believer. It was long before he 
 could be prevailed on to cast away the family tablets, 
 which are also idols, for they sacrifice to them ; but 
 at length he did cast them, it is trusted, out of his 
 heart and hands, and turned to the living God, and 
 to wait for His Son from heaven. There are severa] 
 old men and women who in their old age have been, 
 bom again. Tell your mother, that some of the old 
 women remind me very much of those of our own 
 country. Some of the Christian women are good 
 drawers of their heathen neighbours to hear the 
 gospel, and so ' faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
 by the word of God.' Boo-a, the nurse who took Dr 
 Young's child home, and whom you may have seen 
 in Mr Brown's church, is well and goes on steadily. 
 
 " TeU me about souls, if you have heard lately of 
 any pressing into the kingdom of heaven. The glory 
 of God and the salvation of precious souls are the 
 only objects worthy of the solicitude or deep affec- 
 tions of the heart. I long, with all my heart, to hear 
 
23i SEEMON. 
 
 of the Lord's work prospering, and being revived 
 mightily at home. Never give tip pleading for this. 
 
 " I trust your dear mother doth cleave to Jesus's 
 righteousness, forsaking utterly the filthy rags, and 
 walks not after the flesh but after the spirit. Is 
 
 J to allow Chinese mothers and their families to 
 
 press into the kingdom of heaven, and take her seat 
 at the marriage-table of the Lamb ? I feel as if I 
 were supported by prayers of believers at home. It 
 is all needed to maintain the life of God during the 
 long season of study of the language. Commending 
 you entirely to the love and iiiercy of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, " Your friend in Jesus." 
 
 We cannot furnish any fully written out specimen 
 of his sermons ; but the following may give some 
 idea of the matter of his preaching, and his mode of 
 applying his subject : — 
 
 " I'miippiASS III. 7-9.* 
 
 " ' But -what things were gain to mc, those I counted loss for 
 Christ. Tea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord : for whom 
 I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, 
 that I may win Christ. And be found in Him, not having mine 
 own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through 
 the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' 
 
 "There is brought before us, in this passage, a 
 man in two very different states of mind. There is 
 
 * For his own use evidently, there is attached to these notes a 
 
SERMON. j:-,5 
 
 Saul, the well-born of the stock of Israel, the pecti- 
 liar people of God, the circumcised man, an Hebrew 
 of the Hebrews ; and there is Paul, counting his 
 lineage, his circumcision, his learning, his all, but loss. 
 There is Saul, uttering the prayer, ' God, I thank thee 
 that I am not as other men are : extortioners, unjust, 
 adulterers, or even as this publican V — and there is 
 Paul, uttering the exclamation, 'This is a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom 
 I am chief In a word, we have here Saul rgoicing 
 in himself, and PavZ rejoicing only in Christ Jesus. 
 
 " Let us endeavour, looking up to the Lord for the 
 guidance and blessing of the Holy Spirit, to consider — 
 
 " L What things are gain to the man who is in 
 his natural and unconverted state. 
 
 " II. What it is to count them loss for Christ. 
 
 " III. Why they must be counted loss for Christ. 
 
 " I. Wliat things are gai/ti to the oiatural man ? 
 
 " I answer, in Scripture language, ' All that he 
 hath ' (Matt. xiii. 44) ; that is, all that men account 
 of value. But to be more particular : — 1. A man's 
 
 memorandum — " ' Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is 
 not mine, but His that sent me.' ' He that speaketh of himself, 
 seekeih his own glory -, but He that seeketh His glory that sent 
 him, the same is true and no unrighteousness in him.' If the 
 Lord of glory so spate in His ministry, how much more thou, O 
 hell-deserving sinner ! A child thou art. O wait thou upon Gcd 
 for ereiy word." 
 
236 SEBMOK. 
 
 house is gain to him. Be it small or large, whether 
 he has inherited it, or at last, after years of toil, 
 purchased it ; whether it is his own or not, if only 
 he tenants it as his house ; if its roof protects him 
 from the blasts of winter, and shields him from the 
 wind and rain, affording the man comfortable rest 
 and sleep — such a house to the natural man is ' gain.' 
 And the more does he feel this when he looks abroad, 
 and thinks how many wander on the £u;e of the earth 
 without a house to cover or a home to welcome them. 
 StUl more is a man's house ' gain ' to him, when he 
 takes what men call ' a pride ' in keeping and gar- 
 nishing it. 2. Agaiu, what a man has of this 
 world's goods is 'gain' to him. Has he wealth? 
 That he counts gain ? Has he by diligence acquired 
 what men call a sufficiency or competency ? That is 
 counted ' gain.' Have you gathered together a little, 
 however little, of this world's goods ? Do you begin 
 to think of it ? Does your heart stay with it ? The 
 Scripture saith, ' Where your treasure is, there will 
 your heart be also,' (Matt. vi. 21). When called 
 upon to give to some poor child of Adam, do you 
 give of your earthly treasure, but with a grudge ? 
 Or when there is an opportunity of helping forward 
 the preaching of the gospel, do you give, but not 
 willingly ? The worldly possessions or goods of such 
 are counted 'gain' to them. 3. But farther, have you 
 good health and strength ? These, too, are ' gain ' to 
 
SERMON. 237 
 
 the natural man, as I shall afterwards explain. These 
 things, indeed, are to be counted blessings, even to 
 the children of God ; but in an especial manner are 
 they ' gain ' to the unrenewed man. When a man is 
 ia health, he finds it difficult to believe that the evil 
 day of sickness will come upon him. He rises re- 
 freshed and vigorous, and goes forth to his labour, 
 saying in his heart, ' The evil day has not come yet, 
 nor those years drawn nigh when I shall say, I have 
 no pleasure in them.' 4. The Apostle had great 
 kTwwledge. His learning was great; he had been 
 brought up at the feet of Gamaliel He profited 
 above all his fellows. This Saul counted 'gain;' 
 and so with the wisdom which long experience of 
 this world's affairs often gives. One possessing this 
 may be often consulted about worldly affairs. He 
 has been enabled to conduct his own affairs with 
 discretion ; and he reaps the firuit of it, respect and 
 influence among his fellow-men. 5. This leads us 
 to a still more important subject under this head, a 
 good naTne. Ah, my friends, many poor souls have 
 been ruined by means of their good name. They 
 have, to the eye of man, conducted themselves well. 
 They have acquired, by outwardly respectable con- 
 duct, by paying every man his debt, a certain credit 
 and name ; and if asked to do anything contrary to 
 what is right, they may even answer, ' That would 
 destroy my name.' Saul, my friends, before he knew 
 
238 SERMOX. 
 
 Christ, thought that he had a blameless character, a 
 spotless name. He thought within himself, I am 
 not like that tax-gatherer, like that publican ; I 
 have wronged no man ; I never refused to pay 
 my debt to the last fiirthing ; I attend to all out- 
 ward duties ; who can say anything against me ? 
 So thought Saul before Christ met him on the way 
 to Damascus. So, my dear friends, do many of you. 
 A poor sinner would tell you so from the Lord. O 
 be honest with your own souls ! Are none of you 
 now trusting in your good name? Is it not ' gain' 
 to you ? But if the evil of this stopped here, it 
 would be less dangerous to your never-dying souls. 
 But, alas ! it goes farther. It extends to what is 
 referred to in the chapter before us, ' having conjl- 
 dence in the flesh,' that is, toward God. And thus 
 we have what Paul points to in the 6th verse, ' Touch- 
 ing the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.' 
 This may be explained as blameless in the eye of 
 man ; performing so well his outward duties to man, 
 which are required by the law, that he is accounted by 
 other men, and he accounts himself, blameless. But, 
 alas ! almost every natural man, every unrenewed man, 
 goes much farther than this. The Psalmist of old, who 
 knew God with whom he had to do, said, ' My good- 
 ness extendeth not to thee,' but the man who has not 
 been brought down as a guilty, undone sinner before 
 God, has no such thought. He thinks that the Lord 
 
SERMON. 239 
 
 is altogether such an one as himself. He has passed 
 through this life quietly and comfortably enough ; he 
 has ■wronged no man ; no man has aught against him ; 
 and so, whether he is expressing it to his fellow-men 
 or no, be is in fact ' trusting in himsdf that he is 
 righteous.' This was the crowning ' gain' that Saul 
 had, when he went in and out among his people ; this 
 might have been read in his countenance, as he went 
 daily to learn of Gamaliel ; and still more so when he 
 was respectfully saluted in the streets of Jerusalem, 
 as the straitest of the ' straitest sect' of religious men, 
 as they were accounted, and when his opinion was 
 listened to with respect. And then Saul made 
 prayers ; he was regularly at the temple at the ap- 
 pointed hour. He brought the sacrifice, he paid the 
 tithes, he gave his alms, he strictly attended to every 
 external ordinance. And among men, for all these 
 things, Saul had his reward. 
 
 ■" But, alas ! are there no Sauls in our day ? It may 
 not tate such an open self-righteous form, but is it 
 the less real, the less deadly ? You, too, my friends, 
 it may be, have wronged no man ; you are accounted 
 blameless in your outward conduct. You, too, come 
 to the house of the Lord ; you join in the praises ; you 
 stand up and are seen to take part in the prayers ; 
 you listen to your minister ; you give, shall we say 
 liberally ? to the poor ; and as the different schemes of 
 the Church are brought forward, you are not behind, 
 
240 SERMON. 
 
 with your subscription. You do not, on the other 
 hand, altogether neglect private prayers at home. 
 You kneel in the morning and at night ; you also, it 
 may be, hold or attend family prayers. You really 
 cannot see that you are as bad as some people say. 
 You think that after all you will not be so hardly 
 dealt with in the next world as you have been told. 
 And, last of all, though you are ready to admit that 
 you do not always feel so kindly to your relations or 
 to your neighbours as you might, and do sometimes 
 shew a little unkindness of disposition in speaking of 
 the faults of neighbours, yet that after all you cannot 
 see that your heart is so very bad as some t-ell you. 
 Ah ! my friends, to yov, it must be said, that you are 
 in ' the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.' 
 For you do esteem as 'gain' your outward conduct — 
 you have ' confidence in the flesh.' You do trust in 
 yourselves that you are righteous. You do not feel 
 that had not Jesus died your doom was for ever fixed. 
 All such, the word of the living God, the God of 
 eternal truth, declares to be 'dead in their sins.' 
 They are lying under the wrath of God, they are 
 subject to be destroyed every moment. The eternal 
 and mighty Jehovah has but to utter His sentence, 
 and their fate is sealed for ever. It specially con- 
 cerns such to hear the voice of the Lord speaking in 
 his word, to hear the salvation of God. The inspired 
 Apostle says, in the passage before us, that he counted 
 
SERMON. 241 
 
 those things of which we have been speaking as ' loss 
 for Christ.' 
 
 " II. What, then, is it to count those thi/ngs loss 
 for Christ? 
 
 " The word ' loss' seems to he taken from the loss 
 which those on board a ship sustain, when, on account 
 of stress of weather, they are compelled to throw their 
 goods overboard. But, as one well remarks, there is 
 this difference : those who throw what they possess 
 overboard because of the storm, do it reluctantly — do 
 it because they are obliged ; but as we shall see after- 
 wards, and as ver. 8 shews, the Apostle counts all 
 these things as utterly worthless in comparison with 
 Christ. 
 
 " And now we have to consider — 
 
 " III. Why the Apostle courded all these things 
 hut loss. 
 
 " These things are seen to be 'gain' to the natural 
 man. Many of them are real blessings in them- 
 selves, and only received from God and through His 
 Son. Why, then, does the Apostle count them all 
 as ' loss V 
 
 " And here, my friends, mark closely the last words 
 of this sentence, which seems at first so forbidding to 
 the natural man : ' What things were gain to us, these 
 I counted loss FOR Christ.' It is all loss for Christ's 
 sake. Art thou a child of God 1 Then thou needest 
 no more to be said to thee to induce thee to consent 
 
 Q 
 
242 SEKMON. 
 
 to give up all that thou hast — ^to * count it all but 
 loss,' when it is added, ' for Cheist.' 
 
 •■ 1. But some of you may say, Why give up all 
 for Christ ? Why cannot I come to Christ without 
 giving up all that I have? Now, my dear friend, 
 let me say, first of all, that this question displays thy 
 ignorance of Christ; and remember what this 
 means, and the Ixjrd give thee a heart to feel, and a 
 willing mind, by His Holy Spirit, to attend to what 
 a poor fellow-sinner would desire to say from God's 
 word concerning this. Believe me, if the word of 
 God be true, you have a disease which no physician 
 on earth can heal You are of the children of the 
 first Adam ; and the record of the living and true 
 God concerning thee is Psa. xiv. 1-3, and Rom. iii 
 10-19 : ' The fool hxth said in his heart, There is 
 no Ood. Corrupt are they, and have done abomi- 
 nable iniquity. There is none righteous, no not one.' 
 Such is thy state, the state of those who are yet out 
 of Christ. 
 
 " But you ask, Why must we give up all for Christ ? 
 Hear the word of the Lord God of Sabaoth, Acts iv. 
 12 : 'Neither is there salvation in any other : for 
 there is none other name UTider heaven given amoTvg 
 men whereby we viust be saved.' That, my friends, 
 fixes us down to Christ And then, hear the words 
 of Jesus himself Luke xiv. 26 : 'If any man come 
 to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, 
 
SERMON. 243 
 
 and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his 
 own life also, he cannot be my disciple.' Again,. on 
 this very account we are told that it is a ' strait gate 
 and a narrow way' that leadeth unto lifa 
 
 "And then, my friends, to count all things but loss 
 for Christ is just to say, ' I count all my righteous- 
 ness as filthy rags;' and this is what the God of all 
 truth declares them to be. Do any now present hope, 
 somehow or other, to get to heaven as they are in 
 themselves, and on account of anything they have done, 
 or can do ? This, alas ! is one of these awful delu- 
 sions by which Satan ruins souls for ever and ever ! 
 Ever since the law was promulgated from Sinai, 
 men have sought to save themselves by means of it. 
 And have they succeeded ? Has any one soul so suc- 
 ceeded ? Examine and see the word of everlasting 
 truth, Rom. iil 19, 20, ' Every rrwidh is stopped, aTid 
 all the world become guilty before God. By the 
 deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in 
 His sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin.' 
 And why have men not so obtained it ? Because the 
 law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, 
 and good. Yes, and if the law is holy, then is the 
 Lawgiver of necessity holy. My friends, Jehovah the 
 Lawgiver is infinitely holy ; nothing that defiles is 
 suflfered to enter His presence, and yet you and I 
 have to do with this holy God. We are born His 
 creatures, we are born under the law, and yet are 
 
244' SERMON. 
 
 utterly incapable of keeping that law. We and all 
 men must inevitably be judged by the law, and our 
 consciences bear witness that we ougJit to be judged 
 by the law ; yet have we the witness of our conscience 
 that we keep not that law, and the plain word of Je- 
 hovah declares that ' by the deeds of the law there 
 shall no flesh living be justified.' O my Mends, 
 can you or I stand before the Holy One? His 
 throne stands on immutable justice ; justice and 
 judgment are the foundation of his throne ; He can- 
 not look upon sin. And this is the God with whom 
 we have to do. Even now is He searching everj"^ 
 heart here. He knows, O sinner, every thought of 
 thine. He sees thee, and He sees me, to be full of 
 every iniquity. At any moment, His almighty hand 
 may descend upon us. 
 
 "■ Would you then escape Jehovah's justice ? 
 Would you be saved from everlasting ruin ? Then 
 listen to the voice of Jesus. Hear Him cry, 'If 
 any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.' 
 This hour, it is declared from the word of God, 
 that Christ has made satisfaction for every poor 
 sinner who will but cease from his own works. He 
 has made full atonement for the very chief of sinners. 
 He now proclaims a full, free pardon to every sinner 
 who will but accept it. The sole condition is. Thou 
 must forsake every refuge of lies, thou must cast away 
 every shred of thy filthy garments. They cannot 
 
SERMON. 245 
 
 cover thee, sinner, from the Father's wrath now, 
 more than the miserable fig-leaves which Adam and 
 Eve tried could prevent them from being driven out 
 of Paradise, or shield from the descending curse of the 
 Eternal, the effects of which thou art now, sinner, 
 bearing every day, and wilt bear, if thou awake not, 
 to aU eternity. Oh how the apostle, who was once 
 in your case, who even vainly imagined he could meet 
 the living God face to fe,ce as he was, tells the desire 
 of his soul when the Lord had savingly taught him 
 by His Holy Spirit, ' For whom I have suffered the 
 loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that 
 I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not havvng 
 mine mvn righteousness.' Ah ! he had seen some- 
 thing of the glory of the Lord . God of Hosts. The 
 * beams of the glory of Immanuel had shot forth upon 
 bold, spirited Saul, and he was struck blind. He 
 was suddenly shewn in what a horrible pit and miry 
 clay he was rolling, how he was denying the all- 
 glorious and spotless Son of God, and he submitted 
 to the Lord of glory. From that hour, for him ' to 
 live was Christ, and to die gain.' By the immu- 
 table justice of God, and by your lost and ruined 
 state, since there is indeed no other way of escape, 
 be persuaded to submit yourselves to the right- 
 eousness of Jesus Christ, forsaking all that you have 
 that you may win Christ. 
 
 " 2. But again. Let the ' Excellency of the know- 
 
24!6 SERMON. 
 
 ledge of Christ Jesus' persuade you to cleave only to 
 Him. For the sake of this, O do you, with Paul, 
 'count all things but loss.' To teU you of Jesus 
 Christ, my friends, in adequate terms, is what no 
 angel, and no archangel can do ; no, nor even the 
 cherubim who are over the mercy-seat, and who 
 behold something of the marvels that are transacted 
 there. They cannot do it now ; they never will do it 
 throughout all the endless ages of eternity. No, nor 
 even the glorified spirits. These have a new song, 
 which angels cannot leam, and that song every 
 child of God knows must be about Jesus ; yet they 
 shall be for ever lost in the contemplation of the 
 divine glory, the spotless beauty, the never to be com- 
 prehended height, and depth, and length, and breadth 
 of Immanuel's love. Yet it becomes us to set forth 
 something of what is in Jesus, that by the good and 
 Holy Spirit of God, who takes of the things of Christ 
 and shews them to sinners, you may be taken with 
 admiration of this glorious One. 
 
 "First, then, let us look (as the Lord Jehovah 
 gives us grace) at the glory of ImmanueL It becomes 
 rather to see what is written in the blessed Book of 
 God. Thus, Psa. slv. 1-6, ' My heart is inditing 
 a good matter : I speak of the things which I have 
 made touching the King; my tongue is the pen 
 of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the chil- 
 dren of men : grace is poured into thy lips,* &c. O 
 
SERMON. 247 
 
 see the glory of Immanuel, God with us ! From all 
 etenuty was He in the bosom of the Father, before 
 the world was. The holy Lord God the Father 
 loved with a vast, infinite love the Lord Jesus 
 Girist. Hear the words of Jesus Himself shortly 
 before he was offered up a sacrifice for sinners : ' And 
 now, O Father, glorify me with the glory I had with 
 Thee ere ever the world was,' (John xviL 6). Yes, 
 the Lord Jesus was the object of the Father's im- 
 mense and everlasting love in the past ages of eternity ; 
 and when He dwelt on earth, with nowhere to lay 
 his head, thrice came forth the voice from heaven, 
 ' This is my Beloved Son 1 hear ye Him.' And now, 
 my firiends. He is the same Yes, whUe the Great 
 High Priest, once bleeding and dead, but now exalted 
 to the highest heights of heaven, whUe He stands at 
 the right hand of His Father's throne pleading for the 
 rebellious (and He never pleads in vain), the Father 
 loves Him with an everlasting love. Yes, and He 
 shines with the added majesty of His Mediatorial 
 crown. Would you hear what is daily and hourly 
 transacted in heaven in regard to the Saviour who is 
 now proclaimed to even the chief of sinners, and 
 would you leam something of His glory in heaven 1 
 
 then turn to Eev. v. 6-14, ' I beheld Worthy 
 
 is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and 
 riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and 
 glory, and blessing,' &c. 
 
 9 
 
248 SERMON 
 
 " Three men, sinners by nature as we are, were made 
 eye-witnesSes, and permitted to get one partial glimpse 
 of the glory of Christ, when they were on the Mount 
 of Transfiguration. Little as they saw of it, it is said, 
 they feared, and Peter desired to be always there 
 Paul likewise saw something of His glory. But, my 
 friends, aU the natural displays of His glory cannot 
 be compared with the spiritual glory — the glorious 
 and holy majesty of His Person. And then, think 
 how, in the midst of the glory of His Divinity, He is 
 also Man. He is God over all, blessed for ever ; yet 
 is He man likewise. He knows your every feeling, 
 your every temptation, for ' He was tempted in all 
 points like as we are, yet without sin.' He bears the 
 same heart in heaven that He had upon earth. He 
 is the glorious Man Christ Jesus. Oh, while angels 
 and archangels bow before the Lamb, shall you, shall 
 I, refuse to do homage to Him ? WhUe heaven now 
 rings with the praise of His glory and His grace, will 
 ye hold back from Him ? Will poor sinners here 
 ^vrap round and round them their own rags of self- 
 righteousness ? Will they say within themselves. We 
 are rich and have need of nothing, while they are 
 poor, and miserable, and destitute, and blind, and 
 naked ; and- while Immanuel stands by, saying, ' I 
 counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that 
 thou mayest be rich, and fine raiment, that thou 
 mayest be clothed V What a spectacle to devils and 
 
SERMON. 249 
 
 angels ! Oh, cease to clutch your gains ; they are 
 like gold to you, but they are the devil's chains. 
 cast them fironi you, and embrace Jesus Christ as He 
 is freely offered in the glorious gospel of grace. 
 Whenever you have beheld any thing of the glory of 
 the grace of Christ, you will be able to cry out with 
 Paul, ' What th/mgs were gain to me, those I count 
 loss for Christ.' 
 
 " 3. Let us think of the love of Christ. This is 
 part of the ' excellency of the knowledge of Christ' 
 The most that can be done on this subject also, is to 
 try and catch a few of the beams of the love of God- 
 man Christ Jesua The marvellous love of Jesus to 
 perishing sinners was manifested in His leaving the 
 bosom of the Father, leaving the courts of infinite 
 holiness and everlasting peace, leaving the Father's 
 house, leaving the throne of His glory, and coming 
 down to the earth ! — ^the accursed earth ! — and to 
 the unholy, accursed children of men ! We know not 
 what the holy child Jesus suffered in His soul when 
 He had to go out and in among men — men who had 
 departed from His Father, who had set all His laws 
 at defiance, and who (He well knew) were about to 
 consummate all their guilt by putting BQs Well Be- 
 loved to a cruel and ignominious death. We know 
 that He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted ■with 
 grief ; there is reason to believe, that while still in 
 the full strength of early manhood, he seemed like 
 
250 SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 
 
 one far on in years. And why all this ? Ah ! it was 
 part of that ' bearing of our iniquity, and carrying 
 our sorrows,' which he came to endure, and to which 
 His incomprehensible love impelled Him. For our 
 Bakes He became poor, that we through His poverty 
 might become rich. But what was all this to His 
 bearing His Father's wrath for us, the rebellious." 
 
 As we said before, we have no fuller specimen than 
 the above in his manuscripts ; but it may be interest- 
 ing to add a few sJcetches of sermons which he 
 preached. 
 
 " FsALM XLv. 2. — ' Thou art fairer,' &c. 
 The subject may be distributed as follows : — 
 I. The exceedvng beauty or fairness of Christ. 
 As God ; as man ; as the Bridegroom of the 
 Church, the Divine Lover of souls. 
 II. The grace of his lijps. As to the matter of 
 his speech ; as to the manner ; as to the 
 effusion of the Spirit of grace into and from 
 his lips. 
 III. The eternal blessedriess of the Lord Jesus." 
 
 " LcKE XIII. 34. — ' When he beheld the city,' &c 
 
 I. The City. Its circumstances and previous con- 
 duct. 
 II. The Person and Attitude of Him who ad- 
 dressed them. It was He who had dwelt 
 
SKETCHES OF SERMONS. 251 
 
 with Israel, &c. His attitude of expostula- 
 tion, compassionate long-sufifering, tender 
 love. 
 
 III. Their attitude toward Him. 
 
 IV. The sudden issue." 
 
 " Hebkews ti. 5. — ' The powers of the world to come.' 
 I. God. 
 II. Im/mortaMty. Unceasing existence. 
 III. The Eternal Judgment. Endless bliss ; end- 
 less woe." 
 
 "Ephes. v. 14. — 'Awake, then that sleepest,' &c. 
 L The Sleep aiid Death brought on by sin. 
 II. Who arouses from this state, and His man- 
 ner of doing so. 
 III. The sum,7nons to the sleeper and to the dead." 
 
 " John hi. 14, 15. — ' And as Moses lifted np the serpent,' &c. 
 
 Let us consider the Type and Antitype in tfiei/r 
 resenMance. 
 
 I. As to the manTier of their lifting up, and 
 the place. 
 II. As to the purpose, or end, of their being 
 lifted up. 
 
 III. As to the means by which thai end was ac- 
 
 complished. 
 
 IV. The necessity of this lifting up." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 lis %xxd €um m mxu» 
 
 • I heard the voice of the Lord, saying. Whom shall I send, and 
 who will go for us ? Then said I, Here am I ; send me." 
 
 Isaiah ti. 8. 
 
More than thirty years ago ^t is related by an 
 American writer), two young gentlemen, while travel- 
 ling in opposite directions, met at a brook ; and as 
 their horses were drinking, the elder addressed the 
 younger about his soul's eternal interests. They 
 soon parted ; but those faithful words of love were, 
 by the blessed Spirit, made the means of leading the 
 younger traveller to the Saviour. That young man 
 was Champion, the idol of his family ; for he was 
 an only son, the last bearing his father's name, and 
 already the possessor of great wealth. No sooner 
 was he saved, than he consecrated himself to the 
 missionary service, and chose as his sphere Africa, 
 as the most benighted and neglected of countries. 
 His father opposed his son's resolution of becoming a 
 missionary, and proposed to support twenty mis- 
 sionaries out of his ample means, if only he person- 
 ally would stay at home. " No," was his calm reply; 
 
256 J. BRAINEED TAYLOB. 
 
 " the Saviour left richer possessions, and sacrificed His 
 life for me ; I cannot stay/' He lived to labour five 
 years in Africa, devoting aU his property to the cause 
 of missions. Often did he desire to know who that 
 stranger was that had addressed him by the brook 
 side, but could get no clue to it ; till one day, in 
 Africa, he opened the memoir of J. Bravnerd Taylor, 
 just sent out to him from home. His eye fell on the 
 likeness prefixed to the memoir, and instantly he 
 knew who it was that had been the means of saving 
 his soul 
 
 It is not unlikely that there wiU be some one who 
 may thus recognise the subject of this Memoir when 
 they look at the prefixed portrait For, like J. 
 Brainerd Taylor (to whose life I have heard him 
 refer as one that had helped to stimulate him to 
 covet earnestly the best gifts), he used to seize such 
 casual opportunities as that related in this incident, 
 speaking a word in season to passing travellers who 
 knew not the man that so kindly cared for their souls. 
 But we had another reason for mentioning the above 
 anecdote, namely, the subject of our Memoir was, in 
 some respects, a parallel to young Champion in self- 
 sacrifice, and in the shortness of his ministry. If he 
 had not so large a fortune as Champion, yet he had 
 lately, by the death of his father, come into posses- 
 sion of very ample means, and might have remained 
 
SINGLE-MINDED GENEROSITY. 257 
 
 at home to enjoy its comforts, while he could, at the 
 same time, have spent his income in sending out 
 others in his stead. Nothing, however, would satisfy 
 his devoted, single-minded spirit, but personal con- 
 secration to the mission cause. As for worldly wealth 
 and position in society, "none of these things moved 
 him," any more than Paul was moved by the oppo- 
 site ; and yet it is even more difficult to withstand the 
 insidious smiles of affluence, than to resist the frowns 
 of the bitterest adversary. When some one made 
 reference to the delightful scenery and sweet dwelling 
 which might have aU been his, his reply was, " Can 
 any one suppose that that could make any difference ? 
 Ah, those many mansions ! that city that hath founda- 
 tions ; these things look solid and substantial, but 
 they shall all pass away.'' 
 
 He was generous in all his dealings and actings : 
 the love of money seemed to have no place in his 
 heart. Open-handed liberality was characteristic of 
 him ; but he acted on his Master's rule, " When thou 
 doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right 
 hand doeth," (Matt vi 3). On his deathbed he con- 
 firmed the arrangement which he made before leav- 
 ing home, to the effect that, of all his property, 
 "One-eighth should be devoted to the spread of 
 the gospel at home, arid seven-eighths for the spread 
 of tlie gospel in China." He was one who, in true 
 
258 PKOSPECTS I2f CHINA. 
 
 Pentecostal spirit, called nothing that he had his 
 own. 
 
 And now he has reached China, that vast empire 
 of benighted souls, where not less than 360 millions 
 of our fellow-men are " walking in darkness and in 
 the shadow of deatL" He is cheerful, happy, full of 
 hope, abounding in prayer, busy in preparation for 
 future usefulness. He has sacrificed all earthly com- 
 forts for love of Christ and of souls ; he has already, 
 by the past, gained much experience in the divine 
 life, so that every way we would have said that here 
 was one with a sharp sickle in his hand, fit to be sent 
 into these fields that are so white and ready to the 
 harvest. He has health of body, too, and is more 
 likely than many others to bear well the burden of 
 the climate. "We might almost say (as Montgomery 
 does of Spencer), " He carried victory in his face." 
 But man's ways axe not God's ways.* 
 
 * The old complaint, that " The good die young," is no othe< 
 than that of the Greek heathen Sophocles, who brings in one oi 
 his characters (Philoctet. 450), saying that "the gods are ever 
 sending away all that is just and good." 
 
 " . . , ra os 
 Aiy.aia y.ai ra %j))or' a-oor£XXou<r' as/." 
 
 But Montgomery has cast over the fact the light of Christian reTe^ 
 lation, in singing of young Spencer of Liverpool — 
 
 " The brightest star of morning's host, 
 Scarce risen, in brighter beams is lost — 
 So sprang his soul to light" 
 
DEATH CONTEMPLATED. 259 
 
 He himself had often contemplated the possibility 
 of an early close to his ministry, though we cannot 
 say he had any presentiment of it Hopefialness, and 
 therefore, of course, happy cheerfulness lightened up 
 his soul, so that he never dwelt on the dark side of 
 the cloud, but fixed on the silver lining ; so much so, 
 tbit one of his friends used to be reminded by his 
 character of Bunyan's Hopeful, and used to think 
 that he was one whom, of all others, he should like 
 to have with him when fording the cold waters of 
 deatL His earlier journals contain references to 
 the subject, just such as any man of God, who real- 
 ised the uncertainty of life, might be led to make. 
 At the same time, it is interesting to have the oppor- 
 tunity of observing how the Master did all along 
 warn His disciple, and prepare him for whatever 
 might be the issua We therefore insert these refer- 
 ences here; for putting them side by side, they are 
 the more impressiva "We find them successively 
 in the years 1845, 1847, 1848, 185'1. And to these 
 we may append his allusions to the Lord's Second 
 Goming, because he sometimes passes from the one 
 to the other. He did not, however, confound the 
 two events. Death and the Coming of Christ the 
 second time. He keeps them quite distinct in his 
 view, though (it will be seen in one of the extracts) 
 he had not come to any positive conclusion regarding 
 
260 DEATH CONTEMPLATED. 
 
 the questions of time connected with that doctrine. 
 Mr Sandeman sought to realise both the passing out 
 of the body at death into the Lord's presence in glory, 
 and the resurrection of the body, when the Lord re- 
 turns and we shall be made like Him, seeing Him as 
 He is. 
 
 " I8th April 1845. — The longer I am on the way 
 to the ministry, the more happy am I that the Lord 
 in His infinite mercy has placed me in it. A glorious 
 work ! And yet my heart often dwells on the thought, 
 that I may be laid in the grave before ever these 
 apostolic words are mine, 'Necessity is laid upon me 
 to preach the gospel." And would not that be far 
 better ? Yea, Lord ; for to be absent from the body 
 is to be present with Thee." 
 
 A few days after, he has again returned to the 
 subject : — 
 
 " I don't know how it is, but often I dwell on the 
 thought of being taken soon to the .Lord, before even 
 I enter the ministry. It is a thought which is plea- 
 sant to my heart, and which it cannot be wrong to 
 entertain if I use it rightly. It ought to quicken me 
 in the discharge of present duty. It ought to gladden 
 my heart with the hope that I may be with Jesus 
 before long. Let me then entertain it only to stir 
 me up to more earnest discharge of my duties 
 now." 
 
DEATH COXTEIIPLATED. 261 
 
 " \9th January 1847. — Am I prepared joyfully to 
 quit this scene, and, passing through the valley, the 
 dark valley it might be, of death, in order to join my 
 King and Head ? O my soul, examine thyself on this. 
 What if thou hadst been taken away last week when 
 the ice gave way ? What if this day a messenger of 
 glory were to summon thee to go and to be with Jesus? 
 Wouldst thou far rather depart, leaving this world, and 
 friends 1 Would I be willing to forego in its present 
 form the pleasure of thinking out subjects for myself 
 in which I have found lately so great delight ? (for 
 there, knowledge is swallowed up in love). I know 
 not the realities of a deathbed, yet I see that Payson 
 was ready, and more than ready, to depart ; that 
 Brainerd was, that Janeway was, that Brainerd 
 Taylor and H. Page were. may Jesus enable 
 me, and so abide in me now, that it will be but a 
 slight change, as it were, to go and abide in His 
 bosom of everlasting love ! I, yet not I, but the 
 grace of God in me, can say, that I think this spirit 
 would not be unwilling now to depart and to be with 
 Jesus." 
 
 " \^tk December 18-17. — Death should take none of 
 the Lord's chosen by surprise, any more than the 
 entrance into the room of a child should a mother, 
 or the sound of the horses' tread at the ordinary hour 
 of her husband's carriage, should a loving wife, on his 
 
262 EARLY DEATH. 
 
 return from labouring for her welfare. The surprise 
 should be. Why tarry the wheels of His chariot ?" 
 
 In Noveinber 1 848 : — " ' To be with Christ, which 
 is &r better.' Are the pinions, O my soul, wearying 
 for the flight" 
 
 "\Sih April 1 850.— Spencer (of Liverpool) met 
 an early grave. May his beautiful example of grace 
 be blessed to my tardy soul, and also lead me to 
 remember how short my time may be. Remarkable 
 that one should be so eminently fitted by the Lord 
 for the ministry, and then be removed to glory. 
 Some intimations lately of the gloiy to be revealed. 
 
 "To depart and to be with Jesus is a blissful 
 thought The idea of it makes the eyes of the soul 
 sparkle, and is something like the fixing of the mar- 
 riage-day." 
 
 " When shall I be as it were cast into the shoreless 
 ocean of Thy love ? When wilt Thou shed the life- 
 blood of all my enemies, my God and my King ? 
 I know it is Thy hand that will finally do this, 
 through the sword which proceedeth out of the mouth 
 of my glorious Lord and Redeemer Christ Jesus. 
 Hasten that time, O my God and Father, for the 
 glory of Thy great name." 
 
 " Qth February 1851. — Heard of J. M'Intosh being 
 very ill, a student like myself and in every way one 
 with the prospect of many days on the earth. This 
 
EARLY DEATH. 263 
 
 shews me that in such an hour as I think not the 
 Son of Man cometh; and also says, ' Whatsoever thy 
 hand findeth to do, do it with thy might' This 
 cannot change the necessity of preparation for the 
 great work, and yet it is fitted to shew that time 
 should not unnecessarily be spent in it 
 
 " For some time back it has pleased the Lord espe- 
 cially to lead me, in lying down at night, to reahse 
 that I know not whether I might ever rise from my 
 bed ; and this has led me to have my various matters, 
 even the smallest, so arranged that they might be in 
 order should I be suddenly called away. 
 
 " I see, more than ever I did, how the great Lord 
 has 7io need of me here, that He can raise up instru- 
 ments where and how it pleases Him. If He has 
 work for me. He will keep me here ; if He has designed 
 otherwise, He will take me home. 
 
 "Though I cannot know the struggle of death, and 
 though no believer will desire to be. unclothed, but 
 clothed upon, yet, if I am not deceived, I would gladly 
 go hence to be without sin in glory. To be absent 
 from the body is to be present with Jesus ; no more 
 ■ besetting sins, no more grieving (a peculiarly precious 
 thought) the Holy Spirit, the kind and loving Spirit 
 of grace, and then to join the brethren in Jesus 
 who have gone before — ^beloved Hewitson, Whitefield, 
 Martyn, Brainerd, Boston, &a True, I would then 
 
264) EARLY DEATH. 
 
 go as one who had done nothing for his Lord. I 
 would then have a low seat among the Redeemed, 
 yet knowing that this would be the place my Lord 
 had chosen, I would with joy take the lowest room. 
 He knows which of all my desires is nearest my 
 heart — even to serve Him in the ministry, and to 
 bring souls to His feet. And yet, let Him do as 
 seemeth Him good. His wiU shall be my sweetest 
 joy, for time and eternity. 
 
 " The thought of leaving fellow-believers would be 
 bitter to the flesh, and yet knowing how soon they 
 would follow would soften the parting. 
 
 " And now, O my Lord, living or dying, let me be 
 Thine.- I do, through Thy free, infinite grace, mercy, 
 and love, surrender my whole spirit, soul, and body 
 into Thy hands, that Thou mayest do with me as 
 seemeth good in Thy sight. O Lord, make Thou 
 this effectual by Thy Holy Spirit. Amen." 
 
 "I6th February. — John M'Intosh dead. How 
 has his sun gone down at noon ! How beautiful and 
 winning was he by grace, and also by gifts."* 
 
 * This was " The Earnest Student," as the writer of his memoir 
 most appropriately designates him. He cherished so high an idea 
 of the sacred work before him, that he could scarcely satisfy him- 
 self with any amount of intellectual preparation, having " the pre- 
 sentiment and the desire that all might conduce to usefulness in 
 his Lord's vineyard," p. 226. Mr Sandeman, on the other hand, 
 while feeling no less the holy and awftil work in view, acted as 
 
-THE COilING OF CHRIST. 265 
 
 " January 1 847. — What henceforth can I have to 
 do with myself — hody, sotd, and spirit ? I am bought 
 with a price, and what a price ! Henceforth, by the 
 grace and power of Jehovah, the great ' I AM ;' by 
 the effectual working of the Holy Spirit purchased 
 by that price — even Jesus's blood : tliat I who live 
 shovM not live urdo myself, hut unto Him which 
 died for me, and rose again. Henceforth may I 
 in a way unknown before, through grace, have the 
 GLOETOF Jehoyah, of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as 
 the one great endoi my earthly sojourn, as the one 
 great end of every hour's existence here below ; of 
 every thought, word, and deed, until the glorious 
 moment when I shall either depart and be with 
 Christ, my Jesus, in heaven ; or, He shall descend 
 from heaven with His holy angels, and I shall rise, 
 being changed, to meet my blessed Saviour in the 
 air. 
 
 " May my God keep His own glory and my Dying 
 Hour, and the Second Coming of Jesus to judge the 
 world, when every man WAist render his account of 
 
 opportunity occarred very much on Eichard Baxter's principle, 
 when he published his Tarious glowing treatises. Richard Bax- 
 ter once thought that " ndthing should be made public but what a 
 man had first laid out his most choice art upon," but his conscience 
 soon told him that he must seek to do good to his fellow-men as 
 opportunity was given, though his literary reputation should there- 
 by suffer. 
 
266 HIS VOTAGK 
 
 the deeds done in the body — may my God, by His 
 blessed Holy Spirit, keep these things continually 
 before ma" 
 
 "August 1848. — ^Let me wait on the blessed Spirit 
 who is promised to lead us into all truth, for light 
 as to the times of His appearing, that I may neither 
 be wise above that which is written, or be lacking in 
 the understanding of what it has pleased the Father 
 to reveal for the good of His Church. 
 
 "N'ovember 23. 1848. — Surely the whole creation 
 groaneth and travaileth together until now. The 
 children groan being burdened by sin ; the aliens 
 groan, in and through their sins ; the lower animals 
 groan, and the very earth groans. for the ..day of 
 the manifestation of the sons of God !" 
 
 We see, then, how the Lord had prepared His ser- 
 vant's soul for any event. StiU it was the highest 
 wish of his heart to live to proclaim Christ in China, 
 and his own view of his qualifications is thus stated : — 
 " I have often thought- that the work of an evangelist 
 is better fitted to my kind of mind than that of a 
 pastor. But who can say that I shall live to declare 
 the gospel of Jesus ?" r 
 
 His brother Frederick and Mr G. F. Barbour, his 
 brother-in-law, brought him on his journey as far as 
 Berlin; and there they parted, not to meet again till 
 
MALTA. 267 
 
 the day of " our gathering together in Him! " * He 
 sailed, 11th Octoher, from Marseilles. " At the in- 
 stant the anchor was hove up, and the sails spread, 
 the heavenly Pilot came on board." Of course, 
 Egypt and the Red Sea were fuU of interest, as 
 ■well as aU the phenomena of such a voyage. Let 
 us hear the following extracts of a letter written at 
 S^i^z : — 
 
 " On Boakd the Hikdostan, 
 "21st October I806. 
 
 " On the night of the full moon, there was a fine 
 eclipse, all but total It was singular to notice the 
 effect, in the gradual darkening of the ship as it sailed 
 on that lovely sea. The ship's telescope was a good 
 aid in observing the phenomenon. It was interesting 
 to think of the shadow of the earth, travelling away 
 through space, and lighting on the clear full surface 
 of yon luminary. The surface continued of a dead 
 brown colour, with all the usual volcanic marks seen 
 through. 
 
 " At Malta, we first really felt the heat ; one of the 
 
 passengers aU but faiated on the street. There was 
 
 a determined dgxt-like strength about it, assisting 
 
 • Mr Allan, Hillhead, -writes to a friend on taking leave of him 
 at Bdinbargh : " This is a sad honse this week. I feel sorely the 
 departure of that man of God. He left yesterday morning, full of 
 the Holy Ghost and of faith, _;hs{ onefiame oflove.^' 
 
26S CAIRO. 
 
 the idea of a sun-stroka My white umbrella was of 
 good service. The fortifications are considerable. 
 One of the sentries was a Dundee man, who, with his 
 ^vife, had been a hearer of Mr Bums during the revival. 
 As soon as landed at Alexandria, we were off to the 
 railway station for Cairo. 
 
 " We passed through a considerable part of Egypt. 
 Everything in the external aspect reminded you of 
 Scripture. We crossed the Nile twice — the fields 
 only drying up by degrees from the last inundation. 
 Men watering the smaller fields 'with their feet,' 
 guiding the stream through their various parts. Seed 
 that had been cast on the waters, growing up in luxu- 
 riant fruitfcdness ; and ' ten' or ' twelve yoke of oxen' 
 at once ploughing one of the fields. The true Egyp- 
 tian type of countenance you could not mistake for a 
 moment: the very features of the men who held 
 God's heritage so long in thraldom. 
 
 " At Cairo, under a glorious sunset, it was precisely 
 as if set down before a fiiU lighted and coloured dio- 
 rama. After securing (with great rushing on the pas- 
 sengers' part) a room in the hotel, I walked out alone, 
 getting rid of several dragomen and many donkey- 
 boys, and passing through a garden which, in richness 
 of verdure and variety of tropical trees, realised ill 
 one's day dreams of Oriental scenery. Amidst these 
 trees, and seen far through them, were the rich tnr- 
 
CAIRO. 269 
 
 bans and dresses of Turks and Arabians^ male and 
 femala On the outskirts, and along the roads 
 leading to the bazaar, was a promiscuous crowd of 
 horsemen and turbaned long-bearded Mussuhnen, 
 riding on donkeys (rather handsome animals), and all 
 under the light of a sunset which just threw every- 
 thing of the sort I have ever seen utterly into shade. 
 As rich individual painting of clouds and pieces of 
 sky you may see at home ; but such a succession, or 
 building up of hues of glory, both of depth and 
 beauty of colour, was quite new to me." 
 
 " MmsT OF THE Red Sea, 
 " October 23. 
 
 " Here we are steaming on nearly opposite Mecca, 
 having passed the line of Sinai yesterday : it is sel- 
 dom visible from the sea. 
 
 " But perhaps you would like a notice or two of the 
 Desert We wore sun-hats made of the pith of a tree, 
 helmet-shaped, with a veil fastened round the rim. 
 Six of us started at nine A.M., in a van — first of a line 
 of four — open before and at the side. Moving out 
 of Cairo and along a road of hard, beaten sand, 
 in whiteness resembling those in Italy, there was 
 a fine view of the two principal pyramids. After 
 a few more miles we had passed all the houses, 
 and changed horses, or mules, at the first station of 
 
270 THE DESERT. 
 
 the Desert ; leaving which, you felt, as the wide waste 
 opened in front, that you were fairly entered on what 
 had so long hung in the imagination. One tree was 
 perhaps visible, a few tufts near the roadway of a 
 small shrub, or rather tall grass, and then an illimi- 
 table trackless expanse of white burning sand. The 
 heat was not so great ; a pretty strong breeze from 
 the north made it rather agreeable for part of the 
 road. The air, however, has a peculiar effect ; not so 
 much exhilarating as exciting, such as you could 
 fancy would string up Arab and Bedouin to the full 
 amount of their powers. The horses, mules, and 
 camels seem all indefatigable on these vast plains. 
 They are most like an endless sea-shore. 
 
 " We met five or six caravans. The string of from 
 a dozen to twenty or thirty camels went past us, 
 each well laden, pacing steadily and so softly along ; 
 their drivers either Arabs or black Ethiopians. A 
 dead camel lay on the road. Another, our party saw 
 fall down under its load. The next van passed some 
 hours after ; the poor creature heard the noise and 
 lifted its head; tried to rise but could not. The 
 patient animal followed the van with its eyes wistfully 
 looking after them, and, doubtless, turned its head 
 again to die. 
 
 " The Tthirage we also saw, lying away towards the 
 horizon, with its water, and headlands, and trees! 
 
THE RED SEA. 271 
 
 Three trees, during an entire day's journey, were all 
 that met the eye. I cannot tell you of all the Scrip- 
 ture meditations which such a scene must suggest ; 
 but I thought I had then seen and felt somethrag 
 of the ' waste, howling wilderness.' " 
 
 Writing to another friend, and mentioning Egypt, 
 he says — 
 
 " My soul worshipped the young child who was 
 carried into Egypt by night, the Governor of Israel, 
 whose goings forth were from the days of eternity." 
 He carefully noted customs that might illustrate 
 Scripture-language, among which one who so de- 
 lighted in Isa. Iv. 1, could not fail to observe " men 
 with goatskins, and girls with antique-like jars, crying, 
 Moi, moi, 'Water! water!'" Leaving Aden, the 
 vessel steamed onwards toward the " land of Sinim." 
 On November 2d, he found an opening for preaching 
 on board ship. " My poor imprisoned spirit" (writes 
 he to his friend, Oswald Allen, Esq.) got a short 
 flight yesterday in preaching the gospel to the pro- 
 miscuous assemblage of passengers; and as it grew 
 darker, various men of the crew joined. Archdeacon 
 Pratt read prayers and I preached. My text was, 
 ' It is finished.' The work which the Father gave 
 Jesus to do. • Finished' — ^the sufferings of Jesus all 
 finished j sin and Satan, to faith, finished ; and lastly, 
 the everlasting righteousness for poor sinners wholly 
 
272 VOYAGE — INDIA — PENANG. 
 
 finished From the capstan as my pulpit, with cap- 
 tain, officers, young cadets, and civilians around me, 
 and dimly lighted by lamps hung up by Chinese 
 sailors, it was blessed to tell of the glorious, com- 
 pleted work of ImmanueL Mv soul's desire and 
 prayer was, Glorify thyself ! Glorify thy Son, that 
 thy Son also may glorify thee/' The vessel passed, 
 of course, near the shore of India ; and, though not 
 in view, his eye turned toward the spot where some 
 of his college friends were now labouring for Christ 
 among the Hindoos. Soon after reaching China, he 
 wrote to Mr M'CaUum, at Madras : " It was a consi- 
 derable trial, and to this day I feel it to have been 
 such, to pass so near to Madras, and not to have been 
 able to see and hold fellowship in praise and prayer 
 with you. It seems as if we had some right to claim 
 a blessing in its stead from the hand of our gracious 
 and loving Redeemer." 
 
 " Point de Galle, 8th November. — The quiet of a 
 room to pray in, after the bustle of the steamer, was 
 tmspeakable relief" He preached in the Reformed 
 Dutch Chapel, and then gave a parting word to seve- 
 ral of the passengers, just in time to get on board the 
 Chinese steamer. Every day, something of Chinese 
 engages his attention. Then ; " no swearing on 
 board this ship, which was a sore evil in the last." 
 " The crowds of ants marching along the table are a 
 
FIKST SIGHT OF CHINA. 273 
 
 novel sight" " Entered Penang harbour in a thun- 
 der-storm — ^welcomed by Mr Moir — ^preached for him. 
 Nearly missed the steamer again." 1 Sith Novemher, 
 Singapore, where he notes the fearful opium-trade at 
 work. On BOth, Sabbath, meditating on " "h -jragovela;' 
 the appeariog of Christ ; on Enoch, also ; and on 
 Psa. xcvi and xcviii." 
 
 It was on 1st December that, as soon as he awoke, 
 he saw the Hills of China ; and, kneeling down be- 
 fore the Lord, asked Him to lead him forth by His 
 Spirit. He realised again the sovereignty of his Lord, 
 who might "remove me before anything has been 
 done, or make the language so hard that I should 
 never acquire it, or turn me home, or throw me use- 
 less at some out-post." 
 
 He landed in HoTig Kong. The spirit bounded with 
 . delight to meet the missionaries already on the field, 
 and soon every one of those whom he there met, and 
 others who arrived, had a deep seat in his affections. 
 His letters tell this affection, how real it was, whether 
 he is speaking of Mr W. C. Burns, whose preaching 
 in Perth during the revival in 1 840 he never could 
 forget, and whose thorough devotedness to his Lord 
 has stirred the zeal of very many ; or of other bre- 
 thren from Scotland ; or of the American brethren, Mr 
 Talmage and Mr Doty, with whom he felt entirely at 
 one ; and so, also, when he speaks of the brethrer of 
 
274 AMOY. 
 
 tlie London Missionary Society, and the native mis- 
 sionaries. It is the testimony of some of these bre- 
 thren that, young comparatively as he was, he exer- 
 cised abnost immediately a most healthful influence 
 on their circle by his single-minded, decided, uncom- 
 promising, devoted conversation ; for they felt he 
 " held communion with the skies." 
 
 On the 6th he sailed to Swatow. " Went ashore, 
 and called on Dr De la Porte. A door opened, and 
 out came, in full Chinese dress and tail, W. C. Burns ! 
 Taking me into his room, according to his old wont, 
 he said, ' Let us engage in prayer,' in the identical 
 old Perth tones ! Accompanied him on board a ship, 
 and preached from GaL iii. 13." On the 9th he 
 reached his destination, Amoy, where he writes, " My 
 soul would be bowed in thankfulness to God for 
 the unAroken train of mercies all the way from 
 JwTne to this my destination." 
 
 Soon after he writes home — " Were it not for the 
 vile opium traffic, the whole society here might be 
 called agreeable. This, however, must divide them. 
 It is England's clamant shame to tolerate this traffic. 
 She is known in China as the nation that deals in it ; 
 and the missionaries are constantly met with the 
 objection, ' If you are Christians and good men, why 
 do you bring that bad opium to our shores ?' ' I 
 would ask you to pray that this sin and shame of our 
 
STUDY. 275 
 
 country may be removed. It is by the acknowledg- 
 ing of sin that God is pleased to make way for its 
 removal. We might specially remember it on Satur 
 day evenings as a great barrier in the way of evan- 
 gelizing this nation." 
 
 The beginning of ] 857 found him busy with the 
 language, day by day. In the morning of that day, 
 the Chinese Christians, according to their custom, 
 came in to bid the brethren a good new year. In 
 the afternoon we find him wandering away alone, till 
 he arrives at a rock, where he prays for that land 
 and for all the world. He began about the same 
 time to write out a translation for himself of the book 
 of Job, from the Hebrew, to keep up his knowledge of 
 that language, and got on in this self-imposed task as 
 far as the end of the 9th chapter. Every day, also, 
 went on cheerfully and pleasantly with Chinese roots 
 and tones, and was able to record ; " As to the lan- 
 guage, feel that my prayer for help has not been alto- 
 gether unanswered, so that I am kept from discourage- 
 ment, and the study is made pleasant to me. 
 
 "Never had the sense of shame for my native 
 country tUl I saw her flag hanging over a large opium- 
 receiving ship. Britain assuredly wUl have to answer 
 to God for this traffic. It is in defiance of His laws, 
 and of this nation itself; and she knows it all. Do 
 they not die fast enough in their wickedness and 
 
276 WATCHING FOB OPPORTUNITIES, 
 
 idolatry, without England supplying poison for mind 
 a«d body ? The coolie trade, likewise, is most ini- 
 quitous/' 
 
 And now see him again in close dealing with his 
 Lord. 
 
 " 26th FehrvAiry, Thursday. — .Day of fasting and 
 prayer — I st, against sin ; 2d, for help in the language ; 
 3d, for the sins of China, and the coming of Christ's 
 kingdom in it; 4th, for the sin of England in directly 
 increasing the crime of this people, by supplying them 
 with opium ; the abominable coolie trade, also ! " 
 
 Week by week, at the same time, he visited the 
 Seamen's Hospital, and watched for opportunities of 
 visiting British and American ships. Eager to use 
 every acquirement for Christ as soon as possible, we 
 nnd him trying to say a little about Christ to a 
 Chinese father and three sons under a tree, as early 
 as 11th May, though it was not tiU next year, I7th 
 February, that he could record — " For the first time 
 spoke to about a dozen Chinese in a village. Would 
 not have stopped, but a man called to me to come and 
 speak to him. This I could not refiise, and spoke 
 as I was able for five or ten minutes." 
 
 Anxious to express his own and draw forth others' 
 sympathy, we find him penning the following letter 
 to the female teacher at one of the scenes of his 
 former work at home : — 
 
LETTER TO BILLHEAD. 277 
 
 AMor, 5th May 1857. 
 
 " Mt Dear Miss R — I write you as the easiest 
 means of getting intelligence of Hillhead and of the 
 believers there, and peradventure to hear if there are 
 any precious souls seeking Jesus among them, as of 
 old time. But may I first ask after the progress of your 
 own soul ? I feel it a great condemnation of myself, 
 after having journeyed this length for the service of 
 Christ, and haviag professedly no other aim but the 
 salvation of souls and the kingdom of God, to see the 
 power of the old man, the strength of the old sins. 
 It is to me a terrible proof of the power of sin in our 
 members, that is, of the whole old man. Change of 
 scene and place, alas ! do no more for this than they 
 do for the black face of the Indian. But I trust it 
 may have been different with you, and that your soul 
 may have been carried on in the ways of God. Next 
 to the joy arising from souls being gathered to Christ, 
 is the news of believers prospering in the life of their 
 souls. I trust and pray that the Lamb of God hath 
 been seen more frequently sitting with you in the 
 house, walking •5\ith you by the way and in the 
 school, and meeting you at the seasons of secret 
 devotion. what joy and glory to Him that these 
 blood-bought ones are to follow the Lamb whitberso- 
 ever He goeth, which again implies, that whitherso- 
 
278 LETTER TO HILLHEAD. 
 
 ever they go, if their ways please Him, lo ! the Lamb, 
 as it had been slain, walks before them ! And Miss 
 W., that sister in Jesus with whom we continued in 
 prayer and supplication that last night, how doth her 
 soul prosper ? Is she keeping sight of the Bleeding 
 One ? I feel bound to inquire. See that her soul 
 sleepeth not, but that she is more and more a virgin 
 awake and her lamp burning. (A dim-growing lamp 
 how dreadful !) And how are the brethren at Hill- 
 head ? Though so far from them, they are near my 
 heart for Jesus's sake. Are they maintained in the 
 love of God through trial and temptation ? What 
 supply have they had in the preaching of the word ? 
 Are they diligent in reading, and searching the Scrip- 
 tures, not content with any supposed knowledge of 
 the truth of God, but ever by prayer and industry 
 lighting now and again upon goodly pieces of gold 
 from the hid treasure of God ? Do they go as regu- 
 larly into that blessed mine of the Scriptures as they 
 do into those mines whereby they get the bread which 
 perisheth ? Let them be stirred up by the example 
 of Chinese believers. The boatman always takes the 
 word with him to his boat ; the servant has it lying 
 beside him, and at intervals of work you hear him 
 reading out of the Book of Life, and the name of 
 Jesus sounds both above and below. One day I was 
 out in a boat, the rower was an idolater, but the 
 
LETTER TO HILLHEAD. 279 
 
 Chinese Christian who was along with me began at 
 once to speak to him of Jesus, and the folly of wor- 
 shipping pieces of wood. When we came to the land- 
 ing, I observed something in the Christian's hand, 
 and asked him what it was. He said it was the 
 boatman's idol, which he had given up, not being 
 able to withstand the words of truth. So the stock 
 was thrown to the moles and bats. There axe souls 
 being added to the Church in these parts ; are there 
 any turning to the Lord in Hillhead or Maryhill ? 
 Are the next empty seats around the gospel table to 
 be taken by men and women, young men and maidens, 
 at Hillhead ? or is China to have them ? Lately, an 
 old man and his wife, of seventy years, and at the 
 same time two young men, took places, I trust, at 
 Jesus's table. Oh may these not rise up at the last 
 day and double the damnation of hangers on and the 
 between-two-opinion-holders of Hillhead ! Tell me 
 all about the blessed children of the kingdom. I can- 
 not name them all, but I bear them much love in 
 Christ Jesus. Ask them to pray and plead on behalf 
 of this vast empire, and for my soul, and for my pro- 
 gress in the language, that I maybe able to speak of the 
 Saviour to perishing sinners. Let them pray also 
 for the abolition of the abominable opium traffic, 
 killing the bodies and souls of many, many poor 
 Chinese. What of Mr Allan ? TeU me of God's 
 
280 A YOUNG DDTCHJIAN. 
 
 work in any part of my dear native land. It is 
 the only news that is cold water to my thirsty soul 
 in this far land. With kind rememhrances to all 
 my friends and brethren, who love the Lord Jesus in 
 sincerity, 
 
 " Your servant, 
 
 "D. S." 
 
 How natural is 16th May. — "Scenes of labour at 
 home often rise before me — West/ield, HiUhead, &c." 
 On 9th July he writes — "Some of the older mis- 
 sionaries say this is the hottest day they have known 
 during twenty years." 27th July — "Grapes fi-om 
 Formosa, from the Master's hand !" 30th July — 
 " A day, not of fasting, as, on account of the heat, I 
 found support necessary, but of prayer.'' 3d August 
 — "Good news from home. Pleasant letter from 
 Frederick." 
 
 At this time, 1st August, in a letter to his mother, 
 he relates an interesting conversion. A young Dutch- 
 man met in with Christians at Hong-Kong. Enter- 
 ing the sitting-room of a friend's house, he saw one 
 in Chinese garb, and marvelled what Chinese could 
 be reading " The Times." It turned out to be the 
 missionary, W. C. Bums. Soon after, he went to 
 hear Mr B. preach, and never could forget the ex- 
 pression he used in preaching — " My dear fellow- 
 
STUDY OF THE MANDAKIN DIALECT. 281 
 
 sinners .'" Other circumstances helped him on, till 
 he joined the meetings of the missionaries. After 
 telling this incident, Mr Sandeman adds — " You will 
 join, I know, beloved mother, in that word, 'It is 
 meet that we should make merry and be glad ; for 
 this thy brother was dead, and is alive again ; he was 
 lost, and is found.' Pray for him and for me." 
 
 He differed from his brethren in giving his first 
 attention to the Mcmdarim, dialect. Without pro- 
 nouncing a judgment upon the soundness of his view, 
 we give his reasons. " 1 st. It was common to the 
 whole of China; 2d, It is the source whence the 
 colloquial, by various digressions, has fallen off and 
 formed itself ; 3d, The help of dictionaries and col- 
 loquial manuals suffice to carry a student on in the 
 ordinary books ; 4th, If the opportunity is not em- 
 braced at the first of thus acquiring the Mandarin 
 language, there would be very many inducements 
 afterwards to rest content without it." His attention 
 to this dialect stood in the way of more immediate 
 usefulness ; but the truth is, Mr Sandeman had evi- 
 dently a cherished hope of being one day able to 
 carry the gospel before the princes of the empire. 
 It was in perfect consistency with this hope that, 
 along with this direct aim at high attainments in 
 Chinese, he was at the same time cultivating his 
 intellect in other departments. 
 
282 CLIMATE. 
 
 ■' AuoT, 3d Jvly 1857. 
 
 "Please (writes he to his brother F.) send the 
 Athenoeum and Evangelical Review. One finds 
 more the need of such helps to thinking abroad than 
 at homa One is not at all aware at home how much 
 of real intellectual products which keep the mind 
 alive (for ideas form the days of the mind's life), are 
 caught up, here and there and everywhere, in a highly 
 cultivated reading society. When all, or nearly all, 
 these external sources are stopped, and you are de- 
 pendent upon the internal spring alone of your own 
 unaided mind, it is most humiliating to observe how, 
 day after day, the longer you have been removed 
 from these other streams, the narrower and narrower 
 does that solitary one become. . . . 
 
 " The trying part of the day here is between nine 
 and eleven or twelve in the forenoon. The compara- 
 tive cool of the morning passes into strong heat, with, 
 perhaps, scarcely a breath of air, often none whatever. 
 You feel languid, sleepy, uneasy ; and how one longs 
 for the first breath of the sea-breeze. At last it comes 
 with a stealthy sweetness, and pours gently and softly 
 upon you as if it fanned you." 
 
 " After that there is generally a fine strong breeze 
 till sun-down. Everything seems changed ; the mind 
 and body, and Chinese characters and teacher, all 
 awake, and you trot on quite cheerily.'' 
 
VISIT TO PECHITIA. 283 
 
 On 15th September he accompanied Mr Bums to 
 PechvAa, where the Lord so remarkably began a 
 work of awakening in the year 1854, and where He 
 has never ceased to work. He has described the 
 place and the people in some of his letters. The 
 hiUs and the estuary, altogether, have a great resem- 
 blance to the Firth of Clyde — ^the same beautiful 
 variety of water and island, and far reaches of the 
 sea, which you lose sight of, and then catch glimpses 
 of again, as their winding arms enclose island and 
 maiidand, washing at times the base of considerable 
 hills. The town stands on the bank of the river ; its 
 population is only 3000, a small population com- 
 paratively for a Chinese town ; and yet here it was 
 the Lord, in His sovereignty, chose to work so re- 
 markably in that year. Many souls, also, in the 
 neighbouring glens and hamlets, were led to Christ. 
 
 He ^vrote home the following letter, describing his 
 visit to one of these scenes of labour : — 
 
 " Pechuia is about twenty miles from Amoy — 
 perhaps some ten of them frith or estuary, and 
 the remainder a fine winding river. We started 
 (Mr Douglas and myself) on Saturday morning, about 
 nine o'clock, in the 'Gospel Boat,'* which is well- 
 
 * A rirer boat was afterwards purchased for the use of the 
 missionaries, for occasional living in, as well as traveUing by 
 from the funds left to the mission by Mr Sandemap. 
 
284 
 
 THE GOSPEL BOAT. 
 
 known to many of the Sabbath scholars whom I had 
 the pleasure of seeing last year. By eleven o'clock 
 
 TUE " GOSPEL EOiT. 
 
 we had reached the entrance to the Pechuia river, 
 after an interesting sail. 
 
 " As our purpose on this occasion was principally 
 to ■visit Ma-ping, we then took the road for that 
 place across the hills. These are not very high, but 
 rich in the products of Chinese industry. At every 
 available spot of their ascent the gi-ound is levelled, 
 
VISIT TO MA-PING. 285 
 
 a soil prepared, and wheat, barley, rice, or tlie sweet 
 Dotatoe, is seen growing. The valleys at that season 
 were covered with the rich blossom of the peach 
 tree. 
 
 " At Ma-ping a good many of the Christians were 
 waiting to receive us ; and though I could not un- 
 derstand their tongue, it was easy to make out the 
 warm and village-like welcome they gave us. The 
 whole scene reminded me much of what I had wit- 
 nessed among the highlands of Scotland. At evening 
 worship the room was full of eager and earnest faces, 
 anxious to hear the Word of Life. 
 
 " Next morning, the Sabbath, they were early astir, 
 and prayer and praise were poured forth as from the 
 heart There was some meaning in the confession 
 of these people, for during the previous weeks some 
 of them had had their fields bared of their ripe pro- 
 duce, and were otherwise persecuted for the name of 
 Jesus. But they stand fast, by the strength of their 
 Lord, and, as it may be supposed, would be among 
 those to whom Christ's word was precious on that 
 His holy day. The church was a large room, and 
 the minister (Mr Douglas) was placed at the side 
 opposite the street, so that his voice reached not only 
 the members who were in front, but any in the street 
 who stopped to listen. At the outside were two 
 forms filled with Chinese women, several having 
 
286 HAPPY IN mS WORK. 
 
 cliildren in their arms. Among them were some 
 awakened souls seekinsr the salvation of Jesus. From 
 their secluded hahits, it shews there is a work going 
 on, when such hearers are among the congregation. 
 
 " As betimes it has happened among the highland 
 glens, so in this region ; souls have been brought to 
 tlie knowledge of Jesus up among these secluded 
 Chinese valleys ; one here, and another there, set as 
 single lights in the few hamlets or small villages of 
 dark idolatry ; and all to the glory of Him who 
 passes by the rich and the learned, and oftentimes 
 seeks out his own in quiet places of the eartL 
 
 "They shewed much Christian affection at part- 
 ing, asking us to come soon back again ; and it pleases 
 the Master still to be adding souls to the number of 
 believers in that region." 
 
 It was just such a visit as was fitted to brace the 
 soul of one who could so truly say, while at home — 
 " Nothing so draws me to ministers as their success 
 in winning souls to Christ" 
 
 " My life at present " (he writes to his brother F.) 
 " is made a very happy one to me. Learning a diffi- 
 cult language, but with all the necessary means at 
 hand ; its antiquity, and the vast multitude who 
 read it, and the aim ever to be had in view, to carry 
 the message of the salvation of God to these as 
 perishing sinners — ^these cause each day, with its 
 
RULES KEGARDING HEALTH- 287 
 
 heat, or damps, or wiuds, to pass cheerily over my 
 head. As Jacob's ti/me seemed short because of the 
 love he bore Rachel, my inonths pass sweetly amd 
 quicMy over because of the love of the divine 
 Master." 
 
 " 2d October. — Every second person of the foreign 
 mission community laid aside with fever ; myself 
 remarkablywell till this evening. After finishing some 
 letters for home, called at the hospital to see some 
 sailors, and returned by Dr Hirschberg's. Did not 
 feel quite so well ; and now my pulse is at 1 06°. 
 Whatever be the will of God, my soul is for Jesus 
 only: Jehovah-Tsidkenu — Jehovah, my righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 " I8th October. — On looking back to the illness 
 from which I am emerging, I think that I was rather 
 incautious in rowing in the morning after the sun 
 was up. One is constantly liable to forget the differ- 
 ence between this climate and home; bui common 
 sense and experience, with the consideration that the 
 work of God is interrupted by illness, should put me 
 on my guard in future. 
 
 " Should aim at being back from morning exercise 
 by sunrise, that is, when it has got above the hills to 
 the east — also, always to have an umbrella in case of 
 being overtaken, and not to row in the sun in the 
 morning, though with a sun-hat All kinds of over- 
 
288 PEACE AND TEANQUILLITY. 
 
 exertion, mental or physical, it is necessary to guard 
 against in this climate; and the least lassitude or 
 symptom of exhaustion should not be unheeded 
 "Eyx»arE(a* in all things seems peculiarly necessary in 
 this climate tiU one is seasoned. Exposure to the 
 sun and over-exertion are the two points to be watched. 
 Prayer and care — let these be my motto ; results are 
 wholly with God ; and my soul bows down before 
 Him in whose hands are my life, and light, and joy, 
 and all in all. Truly we are crushed before the moth, 
 and vain is the help of man. 
 
 " Satan is ever on the alert ; and, after the period 
 of sickness, is already resuming the attacks incident 
 to a time of health. 
 
 " 29th October. — A day of some help from above, 
 some glimmerings of the true light which now shinetb, 
 seemed to penetrate the darkness of the earthly and 
 carnal nature. How different from mere natural 
 ideas or thoughts, which may amuse or for a while 
 distract the mind from ennui or fatigue. The latt-er 
 may exhilarate the spirits, may relieve the mind by 
 giving it some pabulum ; but any of the annoyances 
 of life, any of the crosses, any of the little smarts 
 which must incessantly meet us, upset one veiy 
 quickly ; but the tranquillity which light and peace 
 from God bring, seems to be of a kind made for pass- 
 
 * Temperance — in its wide Scripture sense. 
 
LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 289 
 
 ing through these little troubles or great, made to 
 stand and overcome them. It fits of its own nature for 
 the performance of duties that may be irksome. 
 The former, having respect to the imagination or the 
 mere reasoning faculty, begins and ends very much 
 there ; but this breathing from God, this true light 
 from Jesus Christ, penetrates equally through all 
 parts of the soul and of the entire person, illumi- 
 nating, sweetening, sanctifying, tranquillising, and 
 strengthening the whole man, and fitting it for the 
 sober reality of things, and also for their truest enjoy- 
 ment." 
 
 Here follows a letter breathing something of 
 home : — 
 
 " Amot, 9(A December 1857. 
 
 " Mt Dear Mother — I am sorry you are to spend 
 this winter alone. I trust that He will be with you 
 in this as in other trials. I believe in the constancy 
 of the love of Him, who Himself, when about to 
 drink the cup which the Father was giving to Him, 
 had an angel sent down to strengthen Him. He 
 Mrill sustain you either by some ' messenger' of his, 
 some believer, or some gracious providence of His ; 
 or He will Himself draw near as the Angel of the 
 everlasting covenant, and comfort your heart by the 
 pure consolations of His love and peace. He wiU. say, 
 ' Canst thou, a mother, not forget thy poor son, and 
 
290 LETTER TO HIS MOTHEa 
 
 shall I forget thee V Believing in the sweet, holy, 
 unchangeable love of that shining heavenly One, by 
 faith I would look and see the outspread wings of 
 His everlasting love, and my own mother once more 
 and nearer than ever embraced under their ample 
 shadow. 
 
 " I have a good letter from Mr Milne of Calcutta, 
 introducing the engineer of one of the steamers. 
 The news you give of the birth of souls through the 
 preaching of Mr North is very cheering. May the 
 people of God be only stirred up by this beginning of 
 blessing to plead the more earnestly and constantly, 
 until the large blessing for Scotland and England 
 come. The feli dryness and lack of spiritual blessing 
 was one good token, and now God has given a little 
 rain. Oh that none may stay their asking or pant- 
 ing ' as the hart for the water brooks,' till God be 
 pleased to send — what ? — -floods, ' I will pour floods 
 upon the dry ground.' How blessed a work to spend 
 part of every day in pleading for this glorious bless- 
 ing for souls in Scotland. I long to hear of souls 
 there and in England, almost as if I were still labour- 
 ing there. TeU those in Perth with whom I used to 
 unite in prayer, that in spirit I am still amongst 
 them pleading for souls, and that as they look for 
 their Master's reward, they must never cease to plead 
 and watch for the blessing, the kind of blessing which 
 
SELF-DENTING HABIT& 291 
 
 they have known in times past,* and which their 
 Lord hath promised still, and then I know they will 
 not forget to pour out prayers for the vast sea of per- 
 ishing souls which lies around me here 
 
 " There were twelve baptisms in the London Mis- 
 sionary Society Church on Sabbath last. In one 
 case a father and his child were baptized at the same 
 time, &st the water poured on the old father's, then 
 on the child's head- 
 
 " Your affectionate son, 
 
 « D. S." 
 
 " 26th December. — ^I*ook my Saturday walk to the 
 top of Sam-To. A day to be remembered for the 
 rich mercy of God." 
 
 " 29th.- — By the alarum clock, enabled to rise at 
 iovn o'clock, and find it as ever a great help. My 
 inner life becomes more definite, and in some degree, 
 through the mercy of God, I know that I live. Prayer 
 is then indeed prayer, relaxation is true relaxation, 
 and study true study." 
 
 " The effect of yesterday's fast, as usual, felt to-day, 
 as if there was nothing between the soul and spiritual 
 things ; clearing the vision of the soul, as the glasses 
 of a telescope, soiled and covered with dust, are 
 cleaned, and it is again raised to the eye." 
 * 1840. 
 
292 REVIEW OF THE PAST YEAR. 
 
 " Slst December. — By some false view of the gos- 
 pel, I have too little of that experience, ' Stand in 
 awe and sin not ;' ' pass the time of yotir sojourning 
 here in fear/ I believe that through want of this I 
 have tended to turn the liberty of the gospel into 
 licentiousness, and have been oftentimes, and deeply, 
 and in several respects defiled before God thereby. 
 He has put my foot into so large and wide a room, 
 that I have not feared in coming near to the verge of 
 evil I believe that very uniformly for many days 
 this has been the tempter's plan with my souL 
 Deliver me, God, and put in my heart the godly 
 fear of sin ; keep me clinging every moment to the 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, for Thy great name's sake. 
 
 " What I may call my only cross since coming here 
 is the opium trada The extent of this trade, and my 
 own countrymen standing as the chief agents in it, 
 have been a heavy weight upon me during all the 
 months of my sojourn here. The unashamed manner 
 of it is an aggravation. 
 
 " I feel also the strong current of worldliness pre- 
 valent. Lord, keep me, enable me ever to feel the 
 necessity of making a decided stand for God and His 
 gospel, against the spirit of the world." 
 
 "On the other hand, when I review the mercies 
 of the year, I have been altogether crowned with 
 His lovingkindness. Since the day that I stepped 
 
PURPOSES FOB THE FUTttEK 293 
 
 into the ship which was to bear me on the way 
 hither, even to this hour, I have only to sing of love, 
 and tender mercy, and compassion. There has been 
 as manifest an increase of heaven's bliss and heavenly 
 income as I have ever experienced- Since quitting 
 ray native land and friends, and dear believers and 
 children in Jesus, for His name's sake, in some way 
 He has "made all things new ;" but in such a way 
 that my soul thirsts still as dry land for the mani- 
 festation of His love, and truth, and power. He has 
 borne me (but how calmly and peacefully) as on 
 eagles' \migs. I have never had a pang, or shadow 
 of real grief or bitterness, on account of what I have 
 left behind ; the love of Jesus, the tender mercies of 
 God, have so calmly and continually filled my heart 
 and souL The divine joys and the love of God 
 which have been poured into my needy, thirsting soul, 
 have passed in depth and calmness, and a kind of 
 naturalness and simplicity, aU that I have ever known. 
 Though sought for by prayer, and supplication, and 
 festing, yet when they have come, it has been as 
 those showers which tarry not for man nor wait for 
 the sons of men. Grace, the freest and the loveliest, 
 lias reigned through righteousness throughout all 
 and every movement 
 
 " I would have three things specially before me. 
 
 " I. That there be full time each day for prayer 
 
294 LETTEB TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 wnto the God of my life; and for the reading and 
 diligent searching of the Scriptures ; and for this 
 purpose, if possible, to rise at four o'clock 
 
 " IL Attainment of the language. 
 
 " in. Prayer on behalf of Ghi/rua and her perish- 
 ing TnUlions. 
 
 " 8th March. — I am taJdng a brief holiday ; sailed 
 to Pagoda island ; a beautiful day. Sang praise to 
 God and my Saviour, with the concertina for a harp. 
 Soul in exercise before the great God, and drawn out 
 in love to ImmanueL The time on that solitary isle, 
 in these distant seas, much to be remembered. It 
 was a strangely sweet and heavenly season. 
 
 "My mind recurred again to the solemn scene 
 through which I had been recently passing, and I 
 sang over the hymns which I used to sing with the 
 departed Mrs Doty. I seemed to rise above death 
 and the grave, and to sing again these pilgrim songs, 
 as if myself on the threshold of glory, yea, almost 
 within it 
 
 " On my way home the stars shone out beautifully." 
 
 Here is a part of a pleasant, playful letter to his 
 brother, in the midst of Chinese work : — 
 
 " Amot, 8th March 1858. 
 " Mt Dear F. — You. will have heard all the news 
 

 MISSUIN 111 1I.LH\"<.'- AT AM'lV. 
 
LETTER. 295 
 
 from Canton. Lord Elgin passed up by Amoy to 
 Shanghai ; and mth whom should he spend two hours 
 at Swatow, but with that ' diligent man in his busi- 
 ness/ W. C. Bums. He invited him to breakfast 
 with him on board her Majesty's Plenipot. ship. 
 Thus does that man ' stand before kings.' Lord E. 
 was present at our service on Sabbath, conducted by 
 the missionaries, none of whom are Episcopal He 
 came in undress, so that scarcely any body knew him. 
 He is little and stout, but quite like a man to cany 
 through business. He asked the Consul a good deal 
 about the mission affidrs, and had introduced to him 
 the senior of the missionaries. Another magnate 
 was the Bishop of Victoria, who, the previous Sab- 
 bath, officiated and dispensed the Communion. Has 
 lawn sleeves looked rather odd in these distant parts; 
 but Episcopacy is shorn of much that gives attrac- 
 tion to her at home when the State pedestal is 
 removed, and she stands pretty much on her own 
 merits. The real bishops are the missionaries, who 
 could point to some three or four hundred of a 
 gathered flock from among the heathen, and whom, 
 we trust, a higher power than any supposed apostolical 
 succession has made s-tez6^ovg (overseers). 
 
 "Two magnates of the lower species have lately 
 come to Amoy, the former being a fine tiger. He 
 had swum across from the mainland The story is, 
 
296 LETTER. 
 
 that very early one morning two fishermen had just 
 roused themselves from sleep in their boats, when 
 one of them saw, as he supposed, a, foreigner's dog 
 swimming towards them. Hoping to get some re- 
 ward by the stranger, he offered to help him into 
 their boat, when a good firm bite in the shoulder 
 told him to mind his own business ! The next that 
 was heard of the striped gentleman was his landing 
 at Emung-kang, a suburb of Amoy, where I pass 
 almost daily. An unwonted collection of gongs and 
 shouting drove him into'a temple ; and at last, some 
 twelve soldiers having been obtained, they succeeded, 
 by shots from the roof, in bringing him low ! I saw 
 him afterwards. From snout to tip he measured 
 more than seven feet ; the body about five. The 
 stripes were not so finely marked as in the ordinary 
 Bengal tiger, but he is said to be of the same species ; 
 so that you see we are fevoured with some of the 
 Gamivora in this region. The flesh was purchased 
 by the Chinese as an extraordinary and exquisite 
 meat : The bones are used for medicine, it being 
 rationally supposed that the powder made of such 
 strong stuff must give corresponding strength to all 
 who imbibe it ! The other visitor, or rather capture, 
 is a pelican, taken in a net at Swatow, and sent to 
 the naturalist whom I once mentioned to you. Tliis 
 bird measures fourteen feet across the wings, and 
 
LETTEB. 297 
 
 eats no end of pounds of fish. The albatross, of 
 different species, is also found in these parts, though 
 not usually so large as the famous Cape birds. I 
 don't know if I mentioned that hawks and kites, of 
 all sorts and sizes, are continually hovering about 
 the harbour and among the hills. Yesterday, I 
 counted thirty, sailing and swimming in the ' balmy 
 air,' at one single solitary island, where I had gone 
 for a sail Aa many as sixty have been seen at such 
 a place in a still evening. 
 
 " Do you remember a young Episcopalian student, 
 a clergyman, who took breakfest with us in Edin- 
 burgh, about five years ago ? He was introduced by 
 Mrs M'lntosh, Geddes, He had then, as you may 
 remember, some thoughts of China. He dropped in 
 upon us the other day, just arrived from England, 
 and on his way to Ning-po as a missionary. As he 
 did not at all know that I was in China, the meeting 
 was to both of us very unexpected and pleasant. 
 My paper is done. 
 
 " Your ever affectionate brother.'' 
 
 He was fond of rowing iu the Chiaese boats ; and 
 his tall figure, as he stood erect, working with two 
 oars, often elicited the surprise of the natives, who 
 could not understand why a man who did not need 
 to do it, should occupy himself in such an exercise. 
 
298 WATCHING AT DEATH-BEDS. 
 
 But we are now approaching the scenes that ended 
 his career. On 27th February, he stood by the 
 deathbed of Mrs Doty. He writes : " The strongest 
 of her sex in the community has been removed." 
 Then he speaks of "Yearnings of heart over the 
 motherless children ;" and adds, " Never seemed to 
 reach farther into death and the hereafter." It had 
 been a night of most brilliant moonlight, while he 
 stood with Mr Doty in that chamber of death. "There 
 was not prayer so much, as the soul wholly God's^ 
 burning up as a steady flame unto Him I" One of 
 his last home letters thus refers to the sad event : — 
 
 "The death of the wife of one of the American 
 missionaries seemed, and has been, a great loss. She 
 met with the Chinese women for prayer and the 
 reading of the Scriptures once a week, and was much 
 beloved and looked up to by them. But He, ia whose 
 hands are all events for the good of His Church, 
 knoweth how to bring spiritual blessing out of tem- 
 poral trial The large number of Chinese who fol- 
 lowed the earthly remains to their last resting-place 
 were deeply moved — ^many in tears. And since then 
 there has been a marked quickening among the 
 native brethren ; and there may have been a looking 
 more closely to their 'lamps.' and a firmer 'girding 
 up of their loins,' lest the ' Son of Man,' the glorious 
 Bridegroom, should come on them suddenly. In- 
 
BLESSING AT HOME FEOM MISSIONARY FKIENDS, 299 
 
 quirers have been led to a deeper searching of heart, 
 seeing that death, to all out of Christ, is but the 
 prelude to everlasting woe, and this may arrive on 
 them at any moment of any day. 
 
 "Among other hopeful cases, I understand that 
 five Chinese women are applicants for baptism in 
 Amoy at present. We may not complain when Jesus 
 removes well-established believers, even though they 
 be missionaries or their helpmates, when He causes 
 many to stand up in their room, new precious souls 
 from among the heathen. 
 
 "Nor let any one remain at home merely for 
 the sake of relations, how dear soever they may be 
 to them. While the departed sister in Jesus lay 
 a-dying here — ^having quitted a home in America, 
 the only converted child, I believe, out of a large 
 family — what was God doing in that house? The 
 father, if a Christian, had been buried in, and the 
 seed all but choked by, the cares of this life — ^but his 
 soul then got a quickening ; the old praying mother 
 called it a baptism, which she believed would remain 
 in him even to the end. The eldest brother of the 
 family had been hopeftdly converted, and the youngest 
 daughter, and many acquaintances. Faithful is he 
 that hath promised. ..." 
 
 "SOth March. — Monday after preaching. After 
 forenoon work, set sail in a boat, and proceeded far 
 
300 MEDITATION AND COMMUNION. 
 
 on the sea. Struck the laainland, and climbed to 
 the top of one of the high hills there. Seemed to 
 get the good now to myself of the services of the 
 Sabbath, as if the finest of the wheat were given. 
 At the summit it was made as a sacramental season 
 — my soul was filled with the truth and the love of 
 Jesus. The 110th Psalm was given me to sing, and 
 especially the third verse, over and over again, think- 
 ing of China. 
 
 " ' A wining people in Thy day 
 
 Of power shall come to Thee,' &c. 
 
 " Realised, in some measure, Heb, L 14 — ' Are 
 they (the angels) not all ministering spirits, sent forth 
 to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.' 
 
 " Saw Pagoda Island in the distance, and remem- 
 bered my day spent thera The larks were singing 
 beautifully overhead. 
 
 " 6th JuTie 1858. — Communion with the native 
 Chinese ; made a happy time at the table, and after- 
 wards ; viewing the bread and wine as tokens and 
 sensible proofs that Jesus had died, and was to come 
 again. 
 
 " Where is assurance or peace to be found, but in 
 walking by faith in the altogether completed work — 
 the entirely-filled-up righteousness of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ? The great love of Christ has been drawing 
 somewhat nearer.'' 
 
THE LAMP TRIMMED. 301 
 
 Some of the next extracts are surely remarkable, 
 now that we know the event. 
 
 1 3th Jwne. — " A blink in the morning of the Song 
 of Solomon — ' Let him kiss me.' To me to live is 
 Christ. Sometimes my life m some of its phases 
 seems like a romance of love and joy." Then he 
 speaks of warnings from the climate. 17th June, he 
 meditates on " Jacob's request to his son Joseph as 
 to his burial" 30th — " Mr Dot/s child died ;" and he 
 cries for sanctification, and the preparing of himself 
 for death. 1 8th July — " Breathe, of thy sanctifying, 
 illumining Spirit, into my heart, and, as it were, 
 through the outward frame of the body ; for it is 
 written — ' Your whole spirit, soul, and body.' " 
 
 " Tuesday, 20th July. — Still many said to be 
 dying. Preserved hitherto of the mercy of God. 
 
 "TTp earlier — 4.30. Kow; and Scriptures and 
 Psalms made good. Found, as usual, the good effect 
 of an early start ; and time for the thoughts to be 
 collected before God previous to meeting with men. 
 
 "Forenoon reading and prayer with my friend, 
 Mrs T. Evening prayer-meeting with Smith and 
 Grant ; yet soul much darkened by my sin. Though 
 long kept off, the enemy is ready to return again. 
 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." 
 
 "24>th July, Saturday. — Gracious Saviour, my 
 Lord and sole abiding friend, be Thou near to keep 
 
302 BREATHINGS — LAST SERMON. 
 
 and sanctify. Deeply hast Thou been pleased to 
 satisfy my heart with Thine own love ; nor hast 
 Thou withheld all those human founts for which man 
 naturally yearns. Come Thou near now on this day of 
 preparation for preaching the holy and blessed, though 
 searching, truth. Thy service, O my Saviour, is sweet 
 beyond all thought — to preach in the TMme of Jesus. 
 
 " Dwelling in this large, high-roofed dwelling, with 
 its broad verandahs, the evenings especially I much 
 enjoy. A touch of sickness, with health restored; 
 dwelling near kind friends, so that T have society and 
 solitude combined ; an instrument of sacred music ; 
 moonlights of surpassing yet mild brightness ; with 
 now and then a passing sail; combined with the 
 notes of two snow-white turtle-doves, whose gentle 
 cry, morning, noon, and night, re-echoes to my 
 heart the sounds and scenes of my far-distant, native 
 land" — these are some of the things which he enu- 
 merates, that awoke peculiar feelings in his soul 
 
 And now the end was at hand. On the 25th of 
 July he preached on 2 Cor. xiiL 5, " Examine your- 
 selves whether ye be in the faith," a word in season 
 previous to partaking of the Lord's Supper. Then, 
 on the 2%th, he writes : — " Hundreds said to be 
 dying daily in Amoy from cholera. ' Be ye also ready' 
 — midnight — cockcrowing — or in the morning." 
 
 Next day, 27fA : — " Day somewhat darkened by 
 
HIS LAST WRITTEN WOEDS. 305 
 
 the flesh. Afternoon ; reading in the Lamentations, 
 found it good." Then (though the connecting link is 
 wanting) follow the words, " Love and Liberty." 
 
 These were the last words he wrota "Love 
 AND Liberty \" Surely this is the hreathing of a soul 
 almost already free ! It is like Henry Martyn's aspi- 
 rations, which were the last words that man of God 
 ever wrote : " Thought with sweet comfort and peace 
 of my God ; in solitude, my company, my Mend, and 
 benefactor. O when shall time give place to eternity ! 
 When shall appear that new heaven and new earth 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness?' 
 
 Dr Legge, missionary at Hong Kong, on speaking of 
 his death, remarks, " When I looked at him I thought, 
 ' You wiU have the desire of your heart, in living 
 many years among the Chinese to see them converted '.' 
 But I little thought how soon that armour on him 
 would be laid asida" One in his native land sang of 
 him no more than the truth in the following lines : — 
 
 China fob Chbist, 
 
 codkt not the fbice ! 
 'Twas written on his brow ; 
 
 Even while his band, 
 
 ThroQgh his own land, 
 Xov'd still the seed to sow. 
 
 The distant prize 
 
 Would ever rise ' 
 And whisper, " Let me go." 
 Did not the flash of his dark eye 
 Foretell of early victory? 
 
304) TESTIMONY OF OTHERS. 
 
 China fob Christ, 
 Count not the phice ! 
 'Tis written on his tomb — 
 
 Upon the sail that bore him far, 
 
 Upon his standard in hearen's war, 
 
 Upon the volnme in his hand. 
 
 In cypher strange of Sinim's land, 
 
 Upon his heart where like a shrine 
 
 Affection clasped the love divine. 
 
 Nor bathed in an; shallower love. 
 
 Than of the Bridegroom from above. 
 
 Upon his sonl that kindled high 
 
 To finish faith's fight glorionsly, 
 
 Upon his pallid, stately form 
 
 Dark pestilence has seized by storm, 
 
 Writ ivith a hieroglyphic pen 
 
 In lines of love beyond oar ken. 
 Gleams the device, 
 China fob Chbist, 
 Count not the price. — M. F. B. 
 
 Perhaps nothing more characteristically true could 
 have been said of his death, than was said of him by 
 one of his bosom friends, Mr Coventry : " Here is one 
 man, at least, who, when he comes to die, has nothing 
 to add to the daily, hourly, thoughts and experience 
 of his ordinary life !" 
 
 On hearing of his death (Dr James Hamilton said), 
 that saying of John Foster was the first thought that 
 rushed into his mind : " The grandest use of a life- 
 time on earth is the opportunity it gives of advancing 
 the glory of God." 
 
 Mr W. C. Bums wrote home : " When, little 
 
TESTIMONY OF FELLOW LABOUEER& 305 
 
 more than a year ago, I visited Amoy, 1 had much 
 sweet intercourse with him ; and as the vessel that 
 conveyed me back to Swatow left the harbour, he 
 stood on the balcony above and waved to me until 
 we were out of sight. Now we may imagine him 
 from a higher elevation beckoning us to follow on in 
 the Christian race, laying aside every weight, and 
 running that we may reach the prize." 
 
 Another wi'ote: "Do not think his labours in 
 China have been in vain. I believe he has been one 
 of the greatest blessings to aU the missionaries in 
 Amoy. Through his unwearied prayerfiilness, through 
 his labours of love, through his great humility and 
 fidelity, he contributed greatly to raise the tone of 
 godliness in the entire missionary circle, and to effect 
 a more distinct separation between the Church and 
 the world." 
 
 Mr Grant conducted the English service at the 
 grave, andMr Talmage andMr J. Stronachthe Chinese. 
 He is buried in the small island of Kolongsoo, right 
 opposite Amoy. The. tomb-stone has on the main slab 
 at the top the inscription: — "'Sacred to the Memory 
 of the Rev. David Sandeman, Missionary to the 
 Chinese from the Presbyterian Church in England. 
 He died of cholera at Amoy, July 31. 1858, aged 32 
 years. From the time when he gave himself to his 
 
 Lord's work, he entered upon a career of self-surrender 
 
 u 
 
306 HIS GRAVE. 
 
 wHch seemed to know no pause, and no abatement 
 till he entered on his blessed rest' And again below 
 are the words, 'Surely I come quickly: Amen. 
 Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' " 
 
 On the green-coloured stones of the two sides 
 which support the upper one, there are quotations 
 from Scripture in English ; the one is, " death, 
 where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? 
 The stiTig of death is sin ; and the strcTigth of svn 
 is the law. But thanks he to God, which giveth us 
 the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." On 
 the opposite side are the verses on which Mr San- 
 deman preached on board ship at Swatow, when 
 he arrived there on his way to Amoy on a Sab- 
 bath. The words are, " Cursed is every one that 
 coTvtinueth not in all things that are written in 
 the hook of the law to do them. Christ luxih re- 
 deemed us froTn the curse of the lau', hei/ng m,ade 
 a curse for us." On the corresponding stones of the 
 two ends of the tomb are inscriptions in Chinese, 
 the one giving the name, country, and occupation 
 of the deceased, with the date of his death, and the 
 other consists of some Chinese verses on the vic- 
 tory of the Christian over death. There, side by 
 side with several other members of the missionary 
 circle, his body rests tUl the resurrection. 
 
 That grave will teach its lessons from year to year. 
 
HIS LAST WORKING-DAT. 307 
 
 Two of those who most recently went forth, Mr 
 Swanson and Mr Mackenzie, tell in their letters how 
 on that spot they felt themselves drawn anew to 
 devote themselves to their Lord, and to think of the re- 
 ward of His servants at the Resurrection of The Just 
 
 The letters of his friends have supplied a few 
 interesting details of Mr Sandemam's last moments. 
 His illness lasted only twenty hours, and it was at 
 the close of a busy week that he was called away. On 
 the Thursday of that week, the child of one re- 
 siding in MrTalmage's house died of cholera. Mr 
 Sandeman was much occupied ministering to the 
 bereaved mother, praying often with her, and after 
 the child's death plaiting a wreath of flowers for 
 the coffin to soothe and gratify maternal feeling. 
 He did not attend the funeral on Friday, feeling 
 unwell The same day he met Dr Bell, who re- 
 members that he left him saying, "We can't tell 
 which of us may be the next ; but noiie of us liveth 
 to himself, and no one dieth to himself; for whether 
 we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die 
 unto the Lord." That day, Mr Doty's little child 
 sickened ; and at midnight Mr Sandeman himself 
 was obliged to seek medical assistance, for unmis- 
 takeable symptoms of cholera had appeared. His 
 case soon assumed an alarming aspect 
 
 All the missionaries successively, in true brotherly 
 
308 HIS DEATH-BED. 
 
 love, were at his bedside in the course of the morn- 
 ing, to whom he said, " Don't come too near, for your 
 own sake and for the sake of the work" Mr Smith 
 mentions, that the fourteenth chapter of John was 
 among the last portions of Scripture read to him, and 
 which he was able to follow. To a question of Mr 
 Grant's, as to what gave him confidence in that hour, 
 his reply was, " From-head-to-foot, righteousness !" 
 — a, reply most characteristic of the man, his soul's 
 delight having ever been to proclaim Christ's righte- 
 ousness as the sinner's roba When Mr Talmage asked 
 him if he had any message to leave for his friends, 
 his reply was not less characteristic, " TeU my mother 
 I thought of her, because she taught me the way to 
 Jesus." To Mr Talmage he said, "Tabernacle dis- 
 solving !" and spoke of the love of Jesus being " like a 
 cloudless sky ; the one dark spot in it has been my 
 sins." Mr Doty quoted the words, 1 John i. 7, " The 
 blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all 
 sin." " I know it does ! I know it does !" was his 
 prompt response.* He replied to Mr A. Stronach, 
 
 * There mast have been a cloud on the mind of Bishop Wilson 
 of Calcutta, at the time he spoke of this verse to Archdeacon 
 Pratt. The Bishop was on his deathbed, and the Archdeacon 
 had quoted 1 John L 7, as a word in season, bnt was met by the 
 reply — " You must take it in connection with the context ; it is 
 only for those who vxdk in the light." Upon this, the Archdeacon 
 tried to comfort him by asserting — " Tou have striven so to walk 
 
HIS DEATH-BED. 309 
 
 vrho asked him if the Great High Priest was precious 
 to him in that solemn hour: "He always has been, 
 He always has been, exceedingly precious, exceed- 
 ingly precious, from the moment I knew Him till 
 now." Soon after, he said, " May grace be given 
 you to pray earnestly for China and its perishing 
 millions \" 
 
 Mr John Stronach inquired if he felt much pain ? 
 
 in the light." Did these good men mean to say that the hlood of 
 Christ is not to be nsed by sinners untU they have first walked in 
 the light f Is it only sinners who hare made certain attainments 
 that are warranted to use that precions blood? Most sinners 
 begin by walking in the light, and then afterwards hope to get a 
 right to the blood 7 Does holiness precede pardon ? Does sanc- 
 tification prepare us for justification? Surely this would be put- 
 ting a price on the waters (Isai. Iv. 1) ; it would be exacting money 
 ere a sinner was entitled to rest on Christ's work. But no — there 
 was some cloud on the mind of these two pastors in applying the 
 truth to their own case. Bengel (the well-known author of the 
 " Gnomon to the New Testament ") was a thoroughly accurate 
 critic and scholar, as well as sound divine. When he was dying, 
 a young scholar visited him, from whom ha asked one word of 
 comfort ere he left the room ; and when the young man gave that 
 text, " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all 
 sin," Bengel's whole soul accepted it — " That is the very word I 
 want ! It is enough ! " Yes ; we come to the blood directly and 
 immediately, and then learn to walk in the light. Nor does the 
 context of 1 John i. 7 put anything between us sinners and the 
 blood. On the contrary, it reminds us that if we are walking in 
 the light, and have, therefore, fellowship with God, we owe all to 
 the blood which cleanseth us ; and so it teaches us to continne to 
 the last making use of that which we began with — to wit, the 
 blood that gives us boldness to enter the Holiest (Heb. x. 19). 
 
310 HIS DEATH-BED. 
 
 He said he did not, and that his only pain since he 
 had known Christ had been sin. Then he spoke 
 aoum : " The love of Jesus is like the sea around 
 
 O 
 
 you !" And he sent this as his last message to 
 his friends, " Tell them, it was only last night, when 
 I had a little more strength, that the love of Jesus 
 came rushing into my soul like the waves of the 
 sea — as if it would rend me — so that I had to cry. 
 Stop, Lord, it is enough ! O the height, and depth, 
 and length, and breadth, of the love of Jesus ! " 
 (as he said this, he waved his hand with a motion ex- 
 pressive of desire t-o see nothing else), " and I was 
 constrained to cry out. 
 
 All too long have we been parted ! 
 Let my spirit speed to His."* 
 
 Rallying in the afternoon, he arranged some tem- 
 poral afifairs, making everything bear directly on the 
 glory of His Lord. Once, when he had said, " I am 
 cut off in the midst of my days — ^how sad!" Dr 
 Bell asked if he wished to live for the sake of preach- 
 ing the gospel to the Chinese, "Aye, that is it !" he 
 exclaimed. He then sent discriminating messages to 
 several individuals, whose state of mind he had been 
 well acquainted with. To one who had long " hung 
 about the doors of the kingdom," he sent this warn- 
 ing, "There is nothing but hell for those who go no 
 * See p. 70. 
 
HIS DEATH-BED. 31 1 
 
 farther than the door ! There is no middle placa" 
 This message he solemnly repeated a second time. 
 
 The pain increased; the -want of air distressed 
 him ; but he was able audibly to join in the 1 16th 
 Psalm to some extent, giving fervent thanlts to his 
 Lord for His mercy and kindness toward him through- 
 out all his life.. After that he gradually sank, till 
 about eight o'clock he ceased to breathe 
 
 That was Saturday night The funeral took place 
 next day, at half-past five in the evening. What a 
 Sabbath he had that day begun ! 
 
 One of the brethren, Mr Carstairs Dougks, was 
 absent that Sabbath, preaching to the members of the 
 little church in the neighbouring village of Ma-ping. 
 Returning next morning, he was shewn the new-made 
 grave ! and then entered the very room where his 
 fellow-labourer used to study and pray. He found 
 books and papers lying as they were left three days 
 before, ready for use again, if it had been the Lord's 
 wiU. The tent was there — the soldier was gone. 
 The Captain of salvation had called him away to 
 stand near His person within the vaiL 
 
 And now, what shall we say as to the Lord's ways ? 
 We have not sufficient light to enable us to interpret 
 providences aright. " Let us judge nothing before the 
 time, until the Lord come," (1 Cor. iv. 5). ' One thing. 
 
31 2 A SCEIPTUKAL ANALOGY. 
 
 however, we may ask. Was it not thus that the 
 Master dealt with one of His most loved apostles ? 
 James, the son of Zebedee and brother of John, was 
 prepared (as we would say) for great services, by being 
 shewn things which others were not, time after time. 
 Did not the Lord select him as one who, in the house 
 of Jairjis, should witness death cooquered ? and on 
 the TransfigUration-hill, see the glory of the coming 
 kingdom revealed ? He was one of four who, on the 
 Mount of Olives, sat over against the temple, and 
 heard the Lord teU. the ruin of Jerusalem, and the 
 signs of His Coming again. And did not this man 
 share id the precious privilege of being taken down 
 to Gethsemane, with only two companions, there to 
 be present when our cup of wrath was put to the lips 
 of the Surety ? And did he not receive power from 
 the Holy Ghost as fully as any one on the day of 
 Pentecost 1 Who, then, more fit than James to tes- 
 tify fully of Jesus the Saviour? Who better fur- 
 nished ? Yet, he is cut off ere ever he has been more 
 than a few months engaged in His Master's work. 
 His remarkable training in the school of Christ, 
 was proved by the event to be as much a prepara- 
 tion for soon leaving earth and being with Christ 
 above, as for labour and service here. It seems to have 
 been even thus with Mr Sandeman. And an import- 
 ant lesson is taught us by such cases as tticse. They 
 
THE LESSON OF HIS EARLY EEJIOVAL. 313 
 
 say to us. Reckon not upon an after time for using 
 what the Lord gives ; make immediate use of all : 
 attend much to ordinary, daily living. It may be, 
 this is aU the opportunity of serving the Lord that is 
 to be afforded you. 
 
 The Son of Man sends forth many labourers into 
 His fields, but He has many more whom He could 
 send, if He chose. He employs the one, because He 
 likes to honour His servants by using them as instru- 
 ments ; He sends home the other soon, because He 
 would have us know that He does not need to use 
 instruments any further than pleases Him. He is 
 seen in vision coming in the white cloud, having on 
 His head the Golden Crown, and in his hand the Sharp 
 Sickle, (Rev. siv. 14). The voice from heaven cries, 
 " Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord ; for they 
 rest from their labours, and their works do follow 
 them ;" and when He has thus called them to rest. 
 He Himself finishes the reaping which they, by His 
 grace, had so well begun.