come here; pray come in." I immediately alighted and entered through the mill, into a small room, where, extended on a pallet bed, lay a woman, apparently not far removed from death. My time was short, for I had a long distance to travel, and night was coming on. I therefore immediately, after a few inquiries as to her bodily health, turned the conversation, and entered upon the main subject of importance, the state of her soul, and her future expectations. I found that she and her husband had lived for several years out of reach of the ordinary means of grace. They had come from the neighbouring state of V, where, I fear, the gospel is at a low ebb. They had thence removed from place to place, not like Abraham, by the call and direction of God, but as fancy or the prospect of worldly advantages allured. As might be supposed, this was not the way for keeping up personal heartfelt religion; and I found, without surprise, that none of it existed here. Mrs. T. had, indeed, been brought up by pious parents, who had warned her against the temptations of a world of sin, of the need of a Saviour, and of continual applications to the throne of grace; but in their wanderings all had been forgotten. Here, in consequence, were children unbaptized, the Bible laid aside, private prayer neglected, and family worship unknown. The Lord's sabbaths not only unobserved, but desecrated; the natural and unfailing results of such conduct wherever it is met with. Upon entering, however, into conversation with Mrs. T., I soon found that I had been led to this retired spot only to complete the work which the Lord had already begun. Mrs. T. was even now under conviction of sin, bewailing the corruption of her heart, and affected with deep, and as it proved, sincere repentance. But, as it often happens when the heart is first touched, she was a legalist, seeking salvation through her own works; not indeed altogether, but what is equally dangerous and derogatory to the honour of Jesus Christ, in connexion with his merits. She conceived that she must needs "do many things" to entitle her to the mercies of Christ, being ignorant of the precious truth, that our best and only claim to those mercies is the sincere conviction that we are lost and undone sinners, totally unable to save ourselves, or to do any, the least thing, towards our own salvation; that our only hope and dependance is in him; that his work is complete in itself, and could only be marred by any addition of ours. After combating Mrs. T.'s erroneous fears, and directing her to place her whole trust in the merits of Christ, I read to her some of the numerous portions of Scripture which support the comforting doctrine of justification through faith alone. I then calet the famly together, and prayed with and for them, beseecing de Lort to carry on the work he had aiready begin, and to bess my poor endeavours to his own gory and the good of the souls before me. I left some tracts on the bed, and was retaine, when Mrs. T. called me back to express her wishes that I would call in on my return and bajuze her rvu zatren, if between three and four years old, wich she had hinders kept from baptism under the idea hac sie jerseif was not good enough to have her children kim.tei na zvenant with God! Already, by the grace of Cars, vis is error removed from her mind, and she was HOW IS COMs are s surament administered as she I under been a reven: Already she had begun to see ze ui-sufficerer if Christ, and the fulness and comfort of De desne of ustrication by his merits, through faith. Vir vere de fuis of inch waiting. Her heart was overdowng with ove, and her most axis desire was, that all WH Were Tear and tear a her on earth, should be drawn near 3 Gal, ami le dengia win the pale of salvation. She mener at all her mani z me, and entreated that I would use n ofæene vith her husband to turn him from the error of his ways in the Luri, who bought him. He had, she said, inden af are Sama Jai company, and had begun to drink ardent surus and the very next day intended to break the sabbath by going out 3 hire a servant, & a distance of several leagues * me. I 200k him apart, and warned him of his error; but my works seemed to have no effect; and I drove away with mingei grei ani vy, On my return, I called again at the mill Mrs. T., though still fearfully weak and feeble, was somewhat better; she had foumi opportunity to read the tracts, and, in warm terms, expressed the comfort she had derived from them. We soon entered into further conversation on the one all-engrossing topic. The children were baptized I read another portion of the word of hire, and prayed by her bedside; but Mr. T. did not make his appearance. I inquired for him, and found that he had not returned from his Sunday's excursion. I feared he might have met with some severe accident, perhaps have perished in the snow; and waited in the momentary hope of seeing him return. But he came not, and the closing in of evening compelled me to leave his poor suffering wife in doubt and suspense. I learned afterwards that conscience had been at work with him also; that he knew he was acting wrong in spending the Lord's day as he did; and that between shame and fear he had purposely protracted his stay until he thought I should have left the mill; and that towards nightfall I had passed him on my way home, lying drunk at the bottom of his cariole. His wish was to escape from the stings of conscience, and the piercings of " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;" but the hand of the Lord was upon him to save him. Again I saw and spoke with him, and this time, by God's grace, with better success. The word of God penetrated his heart; and he, too, was brought to the conviction of sin, and as a proof of sincerity, to forsake intemperance. Since then I have frequently called at his mill, and instead of avoiding me, no one is now so glad to see me; none give me more hearty welcome, or express more anxious wishes for my return. I never arrive, but he hastens out to meet me, saying, "I am glad to see you, Mr. S.; let me put up your horse. Mrs. T. has been looking out for you. Come in; pray come in:" and when I leave he is sure to say, "I hope, sir, you will never pass this way without calling in; we shall always be glad to see you;" and I have known him more than once, when he expected me to pass, refuse to let his mill go, lest the noise should interrupt me while reading or praying. There is also a visible change in the outward demeanour of this family-the effect, I hope and believe, of the inward change which the mercy of Christ has produced. They are now frequent attendants in church in the city of whenever the weather, and Mrs. T.'s health, permit of their leaving home; and if unhappily detained from the Lord's house, they spend the time in reading the Scriptures. The eldest child, instead of being kept idle and ignorant at home, is sent to town for the benefit of religious education, and is a regular attendant at the Sunday school; and the two next in age are about to be sent to the same place, that they also may enjoy the same blessings. Tracts are received and read with avidity, and there is a quiet earnestness about religion, especially in Mrs. T., which is quite delightful. I have great reason to believe, that the tracts of the Religious Tract Society, and others, have been, under God, mainly instrumental in producing these happy results-results not confined to this little family, but by one of them extended, as it would seem, beyond the limits of this province. Among those which I left with Mrs. T., were two which were particularly blest to her, one "The Sinner's Friend," No. 463, the other "A Whole Family in Heaven," No. 352, of the Society's catalogue: both of these were read very carefully by Mrs. T., and the first returned, as I could only lend it, having but one copy, with an expressed wish that I would endeavour to procure one for herself; the other she retained. Being induced, in the course of the last summer, to pay a visit to her father's house in V——, in the hope of regaining her strength, for she was then convalescent, she determined to bring with her the last named tract, conceiving that God would further bless to the advantage of others what had been so eminently useful to herself. The event proved she was not mistaken: she found her sister upon the bed of death, and read the tract to her; and, to use her own words, "I never saw so many tears shed, sir, as over that tract-" tears, it is to be hoped, the evidence of true repentance and sorrow for sin. Thus have these two tracts been the happy means, under God, of conducing to the comfort and salvation of three precious souls-a fact most encouraging to the authors of them, to the Society who publishes, and to those who are engaged in distributing them. How wonderfully does the Spirit of God act, and with what feeble means! A small tract, published in London, finds its way to Canada; it is left in an obscure mill. It does its work there, and is then carried some hundreds of miles to work the will of God in another country! How many souls may it have been instrumental in bringing to the knowledge of Christ besides these! How far may its influence have extended! Well may we exclaim, in humble amazement, "O Lord! we are weak, but thou art strong! Perfect thy strength in our weakness, that the work of the Lord may have free course, and his name be glorified. Amen." "THE FATHER OF LIGHTS."-JAMES I. 17. Father of lights from whom alone Each good and perfect gift descends; Yet fallen man in darkness gropes, Till revelation's brighter ray Makes known the source of heavenly hopes, And turns his gloomy night to day. But revelation's purer light Will shine around us all in vain, Unless, to clear our mental sight, Thy Holy Spirit we obtain. Father of lights! to us send down Essex. J. B. OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS UPON THE WHETTING OF A SCYTHE. RECREATION is intended to the mind, as whetting is to the scythe-to sharpen the edge of it; which otherwise would grow dull and blunt; he therefore that spends his whole time in recreation, is ever whetting, never mowing; his grass may grow, and his steed starve: as contrarily, he that always toils and never recreates, is ever mowing, never whetting; labouring much to little purpose: as good no scythe as no edge. Then only doth the work go forward when the scythe is so seasonably and moderately whetted that it may cut, and so cuts that it may have the help of sharpening. I would so interchange, that I neither be dull with work, nor idle and wanton with recreation. UPON THE SIGHT AND NOISE OF A PEACOCK. I SEE there are many kinds of hypocrites. Of all birds, this makes the fairest show and the worst noise; so as this is an hypocrite to the eye. There are others, as the blackbird; that looks foul and sooty, but sings well: this is an TRACT MAG., THIRD SERIES, NO. 89, MAY, 1841. F |