Part 22 (1/2)
”You reood position, whom I met last year They all professed to thank God for Christ's death; but yet they had no peace, and were not satisfied Seeing they were in real earnest, I proposed to go over the General Thanksgiving in the Prayer-book with them They did so, and thanked God for creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all--then as I eether, 'That is where we are wrong We have not 'put the redee love of God as shown in Christ's death, above all' These three ladies found peace and pardon that sa”
”That has beenme ”I have never put Jesus above all; but I do desire to do so, and that with all my heart”
”Then do so,” I said, ”and thank Hi His blood to wash your sins away”
”He shall have all , she knelt before the crucifix, and bowing gracefully andJesus first, and said, ”Thou art worthy! Glory be to Thee, for Thy great love toto me, said, ”Thank you so much! God bless you for your kindness and patience with me! I cannot tell you howabout Abraha up his son Isaac? You said, 'God the Father has done more than this for us; and yet ho cry to Hiht, and felt then, that you knew so to speak to you ever since Oh, I do thank you so much!”
”Dear friend, I cannot refuse your thanks, but I should like to see you thanking Godand play, so, pointing to the piano, I asked her if she would sing a hy?”
”Find 'When I survey the wondrous cross,'” I said
She did not need to find the an to sing, till the tears came into her eyes, and her voice broke down ”I never knew theof these words before,” she said; ”'Sorrow and love flow norant? 'Love so a, so divine,' does 'demand my life, my soul, my all!' O Lord, take it!”
After this, I had a few parting words with her, and pointing to the crucifix I said, ”Remember Christ is not on the cross now He died; that is past He is risen, and has ascended up on high The throne of grace is not the crucifix or the confessional, but where Christ sits--at the right hand of God; and we, as believers, may in heart and mind thither ascend, and with Him continually dwell Have done, then, with this dead Popery; you know better now Testify for the glory of God”
This lady's conversion vexed her husband greatly, and brought down the frowns and disapprobation of the reverend doctor; altogether, it did a deal of mischief in the camp The ”Sisters of Mercy” ho influence, and soon afterwards were altogether removed from the place There was one, however, a particularly hard-headed looking individual, who used to stare at h her round spectacles whenever I reat mathematician She looked like it; and evidently there was no fear entertained of her being converted She and one other were left behind; but otherwise the house, which had been built at great cost, was empty The lady was not allowed to speak to o to the true throne of grace, and not to the crucifix to a living, not a dead Christ
All this, doubtless, was intended to sicken me of my reverence for the Catholic theory I was evidently under an infatuation on the subject, which, for the tiinary fancy of spiritual catholicity beforebetter than the fleshy spirituality of Methodisreat dislike; but where to find this Utopia, or how to embody it, I knew not These specimens of catholic people I certainly had no sympathy with; nor had I any patience with their hollow devotion and their studied iht could have no fellowshi+p with darkness, or life with death I was more and more convinced that when aDissenters, he is not a living soul at all There is no necessity to go to one extreland (in her principles, at least) occupies the middle path between these two extremes, with the excellences of both, and the faults of neither I think I was permitted to be thus unsettled in le eye to God's glory
CHAPTER 27
Devonport, 1855
I was at this time invited to preach in a church in Devonport, where it pleased the Lord to give blessing to His word With this exception,confined to individual cases I will give an account of a fehich present the most instruction and interest
The first I will mention is that of one of the curates of the church in which I was asked to preach At this ti for confession, and his self-exaht him to see and feel that he was a sinner Under this course of preparation, the preaching of the Gospel had much effect upon him, and he came to tell me of his state I was able to show him from the Word of God that he was in a worse condition than he supposed--that actually, by nature, we are lost sinners now Under the operation of the Holy Spirit he was brought to feel this also, and was veryat a funeral, the Lord spoke peace to his soul; so great was his joy, that, he said, he could scarcely refrain fro aloud in the middle of the service After it was over he went about everywhere, telling of his conversion, and the Lord's dealings with his soul
The result of this was that his fellow-curate (as also preparing for confession) akened, and ca he ”could not say he was converted,” and that he was very unhappy He acknowledged that he should not like to die as he was, and therefore knew he ought not to be satisfied to live in that state
However, when I got to close dealing with hih he could not say he was saved, he certainly thought that he was being saved by continual absolution and the sacrao to the race, or even to the Lord's table, because he was saved, but in order to be saved; and that he orking for life, and not fro before he too found peace in believing
The tio, as usual, to confession They cao, by all means, to the reverend doctor, who usually received their confession, and to tell him in their oords how the Lord had convicted and converted them I said that Bilney, one of the first martyrs of the Reformation, when he was converted, went i so he became the means of his conversion ”Go, by all means; you do not knohat use the Lord ly, but did not meet with the happy success of Bilney, for they were sent indignantly away one after the other for saying their sins were pardoned and their souls save, and that by direct and personal faith in Christ, without the intervention of a priest The reverend confessor, unlike the honest Latithese instances of usefulness and encourageeneral work, and felt as if God had castdispensation through which I was passing, was not altogether such a barren desert as I felt it to be at the tiht with h I must confess I never revert to this period without many unhappy ht in this place, and then go on to other subjects
One war in entlereat haste, soer tointo the rooyman?”
I replied, ”Yes, I a, he went away I immediately took up my hat, and ran after hiate where he turned in, I walked leisurely to the sa for breath He had run so fast that he could not speak, butto a door, he badeso, I saw at once it was a sick-chamber, and foundup in the bed I bowed to her, and said, ”Can I help you?”
She said, ”Oh, no! it is too late!”
”Too late for what?”