6 6 'You But I, own sincerity. With this he endeavoured to grapple in the strength of reason, but found the accuser of the brethren' more than a match for him on that ground, and was compelled to betake himself to the unfailing resource of the tempted believer. His statement of the process and result of this machination, is interesting and monitory :-" After all your profession,” said the accuser, "you are only a hypocrite; you pray much, so do hypocrites-you are very exact in all you say, and in all you do ;—and, are not they, as touching the law, blameless ?" But I have faith.' think so, and do not they think the same?' have power over sin.' They likewise say they have, but deceive themselves, as you do.' 'I have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin.' 'So you conclude; but there is a generation that are pure. in their own eyes, and yet are not cleansed from their filthiness.' 'But the love of God and joy in the Holy, Ghost have been shed abroad in my heart.' 6 Many who have been deceived, have thought so. Herod heard John gladly, and did many things; and the stony-ground hearers received the word with joy.' Thus all my evidences were disputed as fast as I could produce them. I went into a field, and throwing myself upon the ground, cried, O Lord God Almighty! thou who searchest the hearts and triest the reins of the children of men; search and prove me; see if there be any wicked way in me. Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I would love thee with all my heart. If I am not in the way of life, Lord show it unto me.' Whilst I was yet speaking, he answered to the joy of my soul, so that I rose and returned, praising God. O what a blessing, to have a throne of grace so free of access. "When I first set out in the ways of religion, I thought, if I were but once converted, I should never feel the least wandering desire, or aversion to duty. I concluded, sin would be all destroyed, and I should know war no more. But how mistaken! Instead of knowing war no more, I found I was but just entering the field of battle. Oh! the depths of wickedness I saw still in my heart! Pride-self-unbelief-a hateful brood, loathsome to behold, and contrary to the nature and will of that God, whom in my heart, I loved. Yet they had not the dominion; the moment they were discovered, my heart rose in indignation against them. I hated, I abhorred them, so that they did not destroy my peace. I still felt the Spirit of God, bearing witness with my spirit, that I was a child of God. But a view of these things greatly humbled me; and showed me my continual need of the blood of Jesus Christ. It sent me many times to Calvary, where in the ears of my Lord I cried,— Whate'er in me seems wise or good, Or strong, I here disclaim; I wash my garments in the blood Of the atoning Lamb. ' "Never before had I so deep a sense of my vileness, or so great love to Jesus. I could sing with the happy poet, With me-no melancholy void; Who live to serve our God alone, And only him to know.' Now, my days did, indeed, glide sweetly away. I ould eat my bread with singleness of heart, praising God. God's ordinances were delightful to me. I went up to his house with gladness; and entered his courts with praise. His people were my dearest companions, and, in my view, the excellent of the earth. I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go up to the house of the Lord.' My Sabbaths became the most delightful days in all the year. They were market days to my soul; I fed on marrow and fat things. I mourned when the Sabbath was over, and longed for the return of the next. Time, I saw, was exceedingly precious, and I desired to improve every moment. could not bear that a single moment should pass without being filled up for God. Hence, when called to dinner, I grudged the time spent in eating, and frequently retired into my closet. I thought I would have time for prayer, if I even took that time from my meals." I Thus happy himself in the divine favour, and touched with the expansive sympathies of the love of Christ, he ardently desired that all might live for Him, who died for them. The first object of his anxious and prayerful solicitude was, that salvation might come to his father's house, that the whole family might obtain redemption. And the wonderful manner in which his prayers were answered, and his efforts crowned, in reference to this object, we have already seen in his letter to Mr. Wesley. This was matter of inexpressible gratitude, and afforded him high encouragement in his endeavours to be useful to others. He dilates, in his journal, with conscious satisfaction, on the blessed change produced in his father's family by their conversion to God:-And it will not be matter of surprise that, as he relates, he once heard his father, in conversation with an opposer of religion, triumphant ly appeal to its effects in his own family as a striking confirmation of its truth and utility; and allege, that hundreds of pounds would be a small consideration compared with the good, of which, even in a temporal respect, it had been productive to him. So true is it, that "godliness is profitable unto all things; having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." The prolific source, as well of domestic as of personal infelicity, is-a wrong state of heart. Before the effect cease, the cause must therefore be removed. Education and refinement, aided by a natural amiableness of temper, may indeed do much, in the absence of piety to God, to heighten the enjoyments that flow from all the charities of father, son, and brother.' These, however, are never so tenderly cherished, nor so advantageously exhibited, as when hallowed by the love of the Saviour. He bests consults the interest and happiness of himself and of his family in both worlds, who makes them acquainted with the holy scriptures, daily leads them to the domestic altar, and maintains, in the order of his household, a system of godly discipline. And it is gratifying to reflect" on what vantage-ground the conscientious Christian father here stands! The springs of public and social life may be greatly corrupted; the nation in which he dwells may degenerate into licentiousness, into idolatry, or into the most daring infidelity. Retiring then to this sacred enclosure, he may entrench himself, and there, lifting up a standard for God, either wait the approach of better days, or leave a few behind him, on whom the best blessings of those days will certainly descend. Though the heavens 'be shut up and there be no dew, the little enclosures which he cultivates, like the fleece of Gideon, will discover evident marks of the divine favour. It actually seems as though in the wide scene, where the vices of the age may and can reign triumphant, this were some secure and sacred retreat, into which they cannot, dare not enter."* Admitting the accuracy of this view of parental control, it must appear alike animating and awful,-animating, since it affords ground to reckon upon so high a remuneration of faithful effort-awful, because the amount of responsibility must be in proportion to the power of doing good. The preceding remarks are important and encouraging to pious youth who reside in families where religion has not acquired an ascendant influence. By adorning their profession with a coincident deportment, by cherishing a tender concern for the salvation of their parents, and the various members of the domestic circle, and expressing that concern in affectionate but unobstrusive endeavours to win them to Christ, they may be honoured, as the subject of our narrative was, in depositing a leaven of piety in the bosom of their families that will pervade and assimilate to itself all that are in the house. In the success which the Lord granted to Mr. Black's zealous efforts to build an altar to his name in the house of his father, there was afforded a cheering presage and pledge of the signal blessing that was destined to accompany him in the wider scene of exertion which soon opened before him. * Anderson on the Domestic Constitution. E |