Part 25 (1/2)

After I had left I received a letter fro ratitude and regard; hat they had had a penny collection ast themselves, which a to knohat I should like!

I wrote to tell the would please me better than a service of plate for coht this, and had a suitable inscription engraved, and then placed it under a glass shade in the Town Hall, on a certain day for inspection Hundreds of people came to see the result of their penny contribution After this public exhibition, the communion service was sent toators of the opposition to your work here; but the very first evening you spoke in the school-rooh theThe word hit lass Scores and scores of people will bless God to all eternity that you ever cast us”

The revival in this proverbially wicked place, created such a stir that the newspapers took it up, and thought for once that I ”was in the right place, and doing a good work!” Themy acceptance of the trifle” Who asked him, or why he sent it, I do not know; but the Lord knew that we needed help More than this, the vicar of the adjoining parish, who used to be very friendly with me in my unconverted days, but who had declared his opposition pretty freely since that ti by private hand, to be delivered tothat it was one of his usual letters, and knowing that I had visited soht I would not open it until Monday, and so placed it on theit there, said, ”I see you have a letter frory with you”

”I suppose he is,” I said; ”but it will keep till tohts to-day”

”Oh, do let me open it,” said my visitor; ”I shall not be here to-morrow, and I should like to hear what he has to say”

With my consent he opened it and read, ”Dear old Haslaood in that part of , in a feeeks, than I have done for years I enclose you a cheque for the a from there The Lord bless you more and more! Pray for me!”

It was a cheque for thirty-seven pounds The nextI went over to see my old friend newly-found, and to thank hiift Poor man, I found hi that I should talk and pray with hied before I left the neighbourhood, but I never heard that he declared hioney, Mr Aitken had found his way to the village whereat the church with his usual power and effect Night after night souls were awakened and saved The vicar's as in a towering rage of opposition Poor woo to Rome than be converted ;” and to Rome she went, but remained as worldly as ever

It matters very little whether unconverted people join the Church of Rome or not; they are sure to be lost for ever if they die in their unconverted state: for nothing avails for eternal salvation but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ

CHAPTER 30

Secessions, 1856

After mission which Mr Aitken had held, people came out so decidedly, that the vicar and curate, who had all along kept aloof, doubting, fell back into a kind of revulsion, and began to read and lend Romish books

Eventually, they themselves decided to join the Church of Rome Whether they were ever really converted or not, I cannot tell I thought and hoped they were, but they seldoht, and may have had some experience At any rate, they chose such a harlot as the Church of Rome for the object of their love, instead of Christ Himself

I loved the curate He was the man who had the unopened letter in his desk, of which he harboured such a dread Sad to say, he ended by falling away at last Poor man! he went over to Rome, and never held up his head any more Evidently disappointed, and ashaered on for some months, and then died

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See page 256

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Not long after his secession, we accidentally met in a quiet lane, in another part of the county, where I alking for meditation Perhaps he was led there for the sa so unexpectedly, there was no opportunity to evade one another I felt a tre him, and he was none the less moved We held each other's hands in silence, till at last I said, ”How are you? I love you still”

”I cannot stand it!” he said; and snatching his hand out of ain, butthat he is safe, and that he died in a faith more scriptural than that of the Church of Rome

Why do men secede; and break their own hearts, and the hearts of those who love them? Rome see its victiaze of the serpent is said to hold a bird, till it falls into its power; or as a light attracts a moth, till it flies into it, to its own destruction Such seceders mourn and dread the step; pray about it, think and think, till they are bewildered and harassed; and then, in a fit of desperation, go off to some Romish priest to be received A man who had an honourable position, a work and responsibility, suddenly becomes a nonentity, barely welcomed, and certainly suspected

Romish people coained them, they are afraid of them, for their respective antecedents are so different, that it is iet the sub in return froain hiard and sympathy of friends he had before, and with it all that once was dear to him; and he voluntarily forfeits all this upon the bare self-assertion of a system which claiive over his will, his conscience, and his deepest feelings to the keeping of his so-called ”priest” or to the Church, and is expected to go away unburdened and at peace Some there are, it is true, who actually declare that they have peace by this means; but what peace it is, and of what kind, I know not

Supposing that I was in debt and anxiety, and a man who had no money, but plenty of assurance and brass, ca, ”Do not fear---trust me; I will bear your burden, and pay off your debt”--if the , it would lift up the cloud of anxiety and distress; but, for all that, the penniless ht fancy he had done so or would do so; and then, when it was too late, the debt, with accu ruin, even though I had been ever so free froo to the priest instead of to Christ, and take his absolution instead of Christ's forgiveness

Any one who carefully reads the Word of God may see that the Church of Roive sins, as she professes to do The whole supposition is based on aof the text, ”Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained”