in the name of Jesus? If so, rest assured, my dear friends, that you are justified already, that your many sins are blotted out, and that you have everlasting life. But remember, you must believe this in order to have peace. Oh! for mercy's sake, for the truth's sake, for your own soul's sake, do not separate what the blessed Lord here joins together. Mark well these two points—namely, the sinner's true confession, and God's true justification.

The Lord was graciously pleased to bless the word to her soul. Before leaving the room, she confessed her faith in Jesus. Her words were something like the following,

"Now I believe! I think I am saved!" In reply, I said, "Has the Lord brought you down to the lowly place of the poor publican?”

"Yes, I believe He has."

66

this man

Then, remember His own words, 'I tell you, went down to his house justified.' Only believe His word, and you will be quite happy. Don't you be parting asunder what He has put together."

I now felt sure that she was the Lord's-that she was a child of God" by faith in Christ Jesus." The change was soon manifest. From a state of deep exercise of mind, she had passed into one of tranquillity and peace. Those who felt deeply interested in her saw it with joy, and felt persuaded that the work was God's. Indeed, so decided was the change, and so real her peace and joy, that she applied for communion almost immediately, such was the energy of the divine life in her soul. And with the full consent and approval of those who witnessed her daily walk, she was received to the Lord's table, early in December. But her christian course was a brief one. Her wilderness journey was a short one. She was scarcely through the Red Sea when she was called to pass the Jordan.

She was privileged to break bread only three times, in reniembrance of the Lord Jesus, when, on the 28th of December, she was suddenly called away, to attend the

death-bed of a dear mother, who fell asleep in Jesus, on the 4th of January. She died of fever. It was a time of deep grief to dear Alice, but she was happy in Jesus, and knew the consolations of His blessed presence. But though she bore up wonderfully, and insisted on looking after things that were needful, it became quite evident that she had caught the fever. And on Monday the 10th, the day that her dear mother's body was laid in its resting-place, she was completely overcome, and she lay down to die. The fever went to the brain, and there it raged, but her sufferings were short; the following morning, she was with Jesus. The Lord, in tender mercy, sent his messenger of peace to close the troubled scene to release His suffering child, and take her home to be with Himself for ever. When "absent from the body," we are "present with the Lord." On Thursday, the 13th of January, the poor body was laid in its resting place until the morning of the first resurrection.

Oh! what grace! what mercy! in all the Lord's dealings with her, during the past three months. Her brief stay amongst us is full of the deepest interest, because the Lord is in it all. We can trace the footsteps of love in every turn of her short history. I can hardly realize that she is gone. There she sat; her countenance is as fresh before me, as if she were sitting there at this moment. The earnest expression, the placid look, the slight flush from intense feeling, are vividly before me. But her seat is empty. Her soul has winged its way to the realms of never-ending bliss, there to be with Jesus, until the last trumpet shall sound; when her now-decaying body shall be raised up, and "fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." (Phil. iii. 21.)

But, oh! my dear friends, has this solemn dispensation no warning voice for us? Are we as anxious for the salvation of souls as we ought to be? What, think you, would be the feelings of her Christian master and mistress now,

had they shown no anxiety about her soul? or made no effort to take her to the preaching of the gospel? What an awful reflection it would have been, had she died in her sins. Not that we can save the souls of our servants, or our children, but we can bring them in faith to the preaching of the gospel, as God's appointed means of salvation. And I know of no effort which the Lord has so signally blessed as that of believers bringing their unconverted friends and relatives to the preaching of the gospel. They listen and pray for their friends, and God's institution is honoured. And oh! what unspeakable consolation to the friends of Alice now, to know, to be assured, that her soul is with Jesus; and that though suddenly cut down with a fever raging in the brain, she was perfectly safe. Oh! beloved friends, are we all doing what we can to win souls to Jesus? Are our consciences clear before God as to those who live with us, whether they be servants, children, or friends? Are we ready to deny ourselves-to make personal sacrifices from love to souls, and faith in the gospel of God, as His means of their salvation? "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 Cor. i. 21.

And oh! what a solemn warning voice this event has to the careless and unconcerned sinner! Where, dear fellow sinner, would you have been this evening had her case been yours? Had the fever reached your brain last Monday, and proved fatal on the Tuesday, where would your soul have been at this moment? We know where the poor body would have been. The gloomy grave might have closed over it on the Thursday, but, oh! solemn! awfully solemn thought! where would your precious soul have been? The thought can hardly be endured now, though we realize these things so little. Oh! what a mercy that you are here this evening —that you are in the land of the living, and in the place of hope. May you believe the gospel now! May you flee for refuge to Jesus now! He bids you come!

Oh! refuse Him

not! Suffer not another evening to pass away unimproved! You may be listening to the gospel for the last time on earth.

Remember you have been warned-Remember you have been invited. If you die in your sins, you will have only yourselves to blame. The Lamb has been slain, the sacrifice for sin accepted. God is well pleased, and is now beseeching you to be well-pleased with His beloved Son, that you may live and not die. May you, this evening, "BELIEVE AND LIVE!" Forget not what took place last Monday. And, oh! who can tell that to-morrow may not bring fever with it to some one present? Tuesday is coming, and who can tell that it may not bring death with it? Thursday is coming, and who can tell that it may not bring an opened grave with it, to some one who is now sitting at his ease? We say not these things in order to drive you to Jesus, but that you may see the danger of delay. Jesus is worthy to be loved and trusted for His own sake. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. vi. 2.) May you be drawn to Him by the cords of love, and find immediate rest to your souls; and then, oh! then, come what may, you will be safe for ever.

"THE REGIONS BEYOND."

(2 Cor. x. 16.)

"To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you." These words, while they set forth the large-heartedness of the selfdenying and devoted apostle, do also furnish a fine model for the evangelist, in every age. The gospel is a traveller; and the preacher of the gospel must be a traveller likewise. The divinely-qualified and divinely-sent evangelist will fix his eye upon "the world." He will embrace, in his benevolent design, the human family. From house to house; from street to street; from city to city; from province to province; from kingdom to kingdom; from continent to continent; from pole to pole. Such is the range of "the good news," and the publisher thereof. " The regions beyond" must ever

be the grand gospel motto. No sooner has the gospel lamp cast its cheering beams over a district, than the bearer of that lamp must think of the regions beyond. Thus the work goes on. Thus the mighty tide of grace rolls, in enlightening and saving power, over a dark world which lies in "the region of the shadow of death."

"Waft, waft, ye winds, the story,

And you, ye waters, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory,

It spreads from pole to pole."

Christian reader, are you thinking of "the regions beyond you?" This expression may, in your case, mean the next house, the next street, the next village, the next city, the next kingdom, or the next continent. The application is for your own heart to ponder; but say, are you thinking of "the regions beyond you ?" I do not want you to abandon your present post, at all; or, at least, not until you are fully persuaded that your work, at that post, is done. But, remember, the gospel plough should never stand still. "Onward" is the motto of every true evangelist. Let the shepherds abide by the flocks; but let the evangelists betake themselves hither and thither, to gather the sheep. Let them sound the gospel trump, far and wide, o'er the dark mountains of this world, to gather together the elect of God. This is the design of the gospel. This should be the object of the evangelist, as he sighs after "the regions beyond." When Cæsar beheld, from the coast of Gaul, the white cliffs of Britain, he earnestly longed to carry his arms thither. The evangelist, on the other hand, whose heart beats in unison with the heart of Jesus, as he casts his eye over the map of the world, longs to carry the gospel of peace into regions which have heretofore been wrapped in midnight gloom, covered with the dark mantle of superstition, or blasted beneath the withering influences of "a form of godliness without the power."