66 be not afraid!" I was more than ever convinced, as the result of this short but severe visitation, that to live under the constant power of christianity is the only way to enjoy its hallowed peace. To talk about the powers of the world to come is one thing; to feel them is quite another. Occasionally to feel the influence of the Unseen is one thing; habitually to realize that influence is another. To guide men into the way of peace, while a storm rolls over the head of the guide, is just possible; but to be able honestly to cry, Come!" is a higher exercise of sanctified eloquence than to say, "Go! that is the way." Yet the doctrine of Solomon is full of encouragement to the honest expositor of truth; "The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth, shall be watered himself." The discipline of the spirit, however, cannot be made an occasional thing with safety; it must be habitual and regular. Evil creeps in at some of the heart crevices caused by the fall, if the watchman relax his vigilance but for a moment; and pastoral fidelity can never be the substitute of personal godliness. An apparently trifling offence, in word or action, is enough to make a conscientious person thoroughly wretched; and, of all agonies, those produced by a stormy conscience are the most intolerable. It is easy to do wrong or to omit right, but it is not pleasant to feel the rebound with which the spring of conscience sends back the error or omission upon the very vitals of the soul! That the severity of the training operation differs in different minds, is a trite observation ; yet the process which prepares a human spirit for "glory, honour, and immortality," must always be characterized by the severity of love, which is sufficient to make the least sensitive feel the ordeal. The man who has not gone through fire and water is not prepared to appreciate the wealthy place; and he who has not known the terrors of the Lord, will speak but feebly in his attempts to persuade men. How I longed for perfection; how I hated and loathed myself; how I wondered at the Divine patience; how I envied the disembodied; how I wanted the veil that conceals the upper world to rend, that I might see beyond it; and how I felt the mysteries of being thronging around as if insulting my poor feeble soul; it were long to tell, even if it were lawful to commit such things to paper. Yet, over all this, there occasionally glanced beams of beautiful light, which seemed to resolve themselves into the words, "We walk by faith, not by sight." So it is. Confidence in the word of the Unseen Lord is the condition of christian life. To "endure, as seeing the Invisible," is the authorized definition of faith. And this is power, this is consolation, this is victory. Trust, hope, wait. Time will unroll all God's parchments; or, which is the same thing, eternity will; for eternity, to a creature, is just time prolonged, only it is time without probation, time developing the issues of that probation under which the creature was placed in the early morning of his being. We shall have disclosures by-and-by, grand, wonderful, sublime, and, without doubt, perfectly satisfactory, "justifying the ways of God to man, and exhibiting the exact reason why heart-agonies, groans, fears, and fightings, were preliminaries of happiness, health, and peace. This certainly is not our rest. Then, "Hail! the heavenly scenes of peace, All the joys which death did sever, HOLINESS. HOLINESS is in religion, what taste is in the philosophy of mind. It is a state of the soul and not an emotion of the heart. It is not a distinct and specific virtue in itself, but it makes everything it affects and touches virtuous. It is not in itself an independent grace, but it gives the hue, and throws the odour of graciousness, or everything accomplished by a holy soul. The holiness of the Spirit is the sum of the aspects and tones which form the character of all his operations and of all his perfections. The mind cannot fix on any perfection or work of the Spirit which is not of the character denominated holy; nor can it detach, in conception, some element of character to call holy, apart from any other Divine attribute. The holiness of the church is like the holiness of the Spirit; it is the tone of its entire character, the absence of every jarring and impairing element, it is its taste for such an exercise of its virtues as shall appear free from their opposite sins, and their semblant counterfeits. Holiness, therefore, in the sacred Scriptures means a hallowed state, a full, entire, and impartial consecration to the service and the use of God, a definite separation and dedication to his purposes and pleasure, so as that to be otherwise employed would be a profanation. Dr. Jenkyn's "Union of the Spirit and the Church." PROVIDENCE AND GRACE. Some papers containing the journal of Brother John Edmonds, during a voyage from Liverpool to Canada, North America, have been placed in my hands, with a request that I would prepare them for the Bible Christian Magazine. The following extracts, illustrative of the sustaining power of Divine grace under trials of no ordinary kind, may be perused by your readers with interest and profit, should you consider them worthy a place in your useful periodical. 1 Yours affectionately, JOSEPH WOOD. Saturday, May 5th, 1855. went on board the ship Lochmaber Castle, then lying in the river Mersey. I found her crowded with passengers, having near 600 people on board about one half of these were Irish, near 100 Germans, and the remainder English and Scottish. Sunday 6th. What a contrast to last Sunday. Instead of our morning prayer-meeting, all is noise and confusion, and no religious service held on board during the day. In such a place, and with such company, I began to reason whether it would not be well to give up my profession for the present, as it seemed impossible to maintain it. I felt that to be a christian I must pray; to retire was impossible, to pray inwardly, I found by experience was not all that was required; and to kneel down before such characters as I was surrounded by, would be a sure way of getting sneers and scoffs, if not actual insult. This was the cross, and I shrunk from taking it up. Through the abundant mercy of God, instead of withdrawing his Holy Spirit, as I had deserved, he strove the more powerfully with me, until I was enabled at the commencement and close of each day, to kneel down and offer up my prayer and thanksgiving as I had before been accustomed to do; and although my ears were often greeted with oaths and curses, I felt relieved. I had done my duty. But to return to my narrative. We were now ready for sailing, but were detained by a strong head-wind, in consequence of which, a boat containing three men was capsized. They were at the time a little more than a mile from us: our men instantly lowered the life-boat and set off with all possible speed to their rescue. This was one of the most painful excite ments I had ever witnessed; two of the men were still clinging to the boat, which was upside down; the other poor fellow was strug gling hard with the waves for his life. The boat reached them just in time to save them from sinking, and they were all taken on board. One of them was quite exhausted and insensible, but on applying the usual restoratives, he recovered. Wed. 9th. We set sail. could not help admiring our splendid ship, as one sail after another was set to the breeze and she glided swiftly and majestically through the waters. I Sunday 13. About daybreak it began to blow a perfect gale. The wind whistled through the rigging, and the sea, which was running mountains high, would sometimes break over the deck with a deafening crash that seemed to threaten our total destruction. The scene was awfully grand, calculated to give a better idea of the power of the Almighty than anything else we are accustomed to see.* The change in the weather was not greater than that effected in the dancers of the previous evening. Some were counting their beads, others calling on the virgin Mary, or some patron saint for protection. While looking at the raging sea, my thoughts would invariably turn to its Almighty Creator, who then held its waters in His hand, and sing "This, this, is the God we adore, Our faithful, unchangeable friend. Sunday 20. Towards night the wind suddenly increased; immediatc orders were consequently given to reef the topsails; in carrying out these orders a young man of about 24 years of age fell from the top royal yard into the sea. While falling he gave one long, loud, despairing cry, then a sudden splash and we saw him no more. were sailing 12 miles an hour at the time, and it being nearly dark, any attempt to save him was considered useless. We "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy-work." We had very Sunday June 3. fine weather; in the evening we saw land. The day was spent by most on board in a very improper manner; some were actually playing cards until late at night. The next day was the eventful 4th of June. About 3 A. M., there arose a dense fog. To prevent coming in contact with other ships a large bell was kept ringing, and a horn blowing all the morning. We apprehended no danger, and most of the passengers were breakfasting, when we heard sudden exclamations of surprise from those on deck; all immediately rushed up to ascertain the cause. The Captain was giving orders to the crew, but none seemed to understand, or had power to obey, while every countenance bespoke terror or despair. About twenty yards to our left stood a rock, not less than 100 feet high, like some huge monster threatening us with destruction. The waves, that were constantly lashing its rugged sides, broke with a murmuring sound that seemed to all like the knell, not of a friend or relative but our own. In a few minutes after, the ship struck, with such violence as threatened speedily to separate her timbers. This continued for a short time, when she stood still on a bed of rocks about 10 feet under water. Boats were now sent out to ascertain if it were possible to land the passengers, but returned with the information that it would be impossible. Hundreds of tons of salt and rice, with which she was laden, were then thrown overboard and other means employed to get her off, but all were unavailing. We had now but one hope remaining, that was that some other vessel passing might see us, and come to our rescue. To our joy a barque bound for Quebec came to our assistance, which consented to take a part of the passengers on board, and the whole if possible. Orders were then given by the Captain to get out all the women and children first; about 200 were taken out in boats, but night came on, and with it a dense fog; the weather also became so rough that the Barque was obliged to leave us to our fate. Tuesday 5. Presented still a worse aspect than the previous day. Being very foggy, we could not expect any assistance, as we could not be seen. Added to this, a full gale of wind was blowing. About ten o'clock, the storm was complete. As the waves beat with such fearful violence, it seemed impossible that the ship could hold together long, and all that we could do with the pumps could not prevent her from filling to the level of the water. The storm continued throughout the day with unabated fury. About 4 P. M. the fore and main masts were cut away. The scene was awful! Nature seemed convulsed, and the elements at war, while in the midst of all, lay our late beautiful and stately ship, now a shattered hulk. To describe the state of the passengers who were left on board I must return to the morning about 11 o'clock. The last ray of hope had vanished. All will certainly be lost, were the cries and convictions of almost all; and now the cards and song-books were thrown away, and the neglected Bibles and prayer-books were eagerly sought after; instead of music and dancing there were tears and heartrending cries for mercy and for giveness. Among this large company there was one young man who seemed to be in greater agony than the rest; he was a backslider. With trembling limbs and cheeks wet with tears he came and asked me to pray with him, to which I readily consented; and for this purpose retired with him to a small room which had been used as an hospital and begun to pray. The voice of prayer was heard and soon the room was filled with those who were bitterly lamenting their past sin, and crying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" among whom were those who a short time before, found so many excuses for not being religious. Now they confess their past sinfulness, their present unfitness for heaven, and promise amendment if spared for the future. But it was not the fear of being drowned that terrified them so much as a consciousness of being unprepared to die. At least this was the language of the steward of the ship. I earnestly exhorted them to look by faith to Christ as the only hope of salvation as well as read to them several portions of Scripture; and although there was no one but myself who had professed religion [Protestant] since we came on board, yet we kept up constant devotion throughout the day. I felt the Lord was present to help, and had great liberty in prayer while interceding for those by whom I was surrounded. Their cries for mercy continued all the day, but not one professed to have obtained pardon. O, said one, that we had listened to your persuasions before. We would now most gladly believe in Christ, but have not the power. Towards evening the storm abated and hope again revived. Our assembly now broke up. I exhorted all who felt grateful for their preservation, and believed it to be of God in answer to prayer, to assemble again for a short time before retiring for the night. Accordingly at the appointed hour the room was quite filled. We began by singing, Praise God from whom all blessings flow," &c.. I think that not many among us had been accustomed to sacred music, yet our voices all accorded in singing the Old Hundredth. The words expressed the feelings of every heart, while tears of joy and gratitude filled almost every eye. It was to me one of the happiest and most interesting meetings I had ever witnessed. Through the scenes which I have been attempting to describe, the Lord condescended to keep my mind in peace. I thought of you my dear relatives and friends, and I knew if I met a watery grave, you would wish above all things to know what were my prospects in death, I therefore took a pencil and wrote two short notes, one I put in my box, the other in my pocket: the words were nearly as follows. Written on the wreck of the Loch maber Castle, June 4th, 1855. Dear Relatives and Christian Friends, I write you these few lines in momentary expectation of entering eternity. My last request to all is that you prepare to meet me in heaven. You will have no cause to grieve for me. In the face of death I can rejoice in Christ my Saviour, and feel resigned to my heavenly Father's will. Farewell. JOHN EDMONDS. During Tuesday night it was discovered that the sailors had agreed to take the boats and make their escape, but the plot was discovered before it could be carried into effect. The night was clear and calm, and all entertained hope of getting relief on the following day ; at length, daylight came, but with it another dense fog, which blasted our hope until about 8 a. m., when it cleared off, and to our joy we saw in the distance two small vessels, which came and offered us all the assistance that they could render, which was to take us to the nearest land. Orders were given that no boxes should be taken, but it was said that if the weather continued fine the luggage would follow. The greater part started with nothing more than what they stood upright in. I saw but little pect of ever regaining anything after we had left the ship. Consequently I dressed myself in three complete suits, made up a large bundle besides filling every pocket with smaller articles: by this time I had all the best of my things, but still I had to leave several pounds' worth in my box which I never expected to see afterwards. I left the wreck about 12 o'clock, and shortly afterwards we set sail for Brien Island. While we were making for the Island, a Spanish brig, bound for Quebec, came and took off about one hundred passengers, but could not take more as she was short of water. The rest were all safely put on shore during the evening. pros There is one incident more which I must not omit to mention as connected with our deliverance. The two vessels that came to our reseue were under the command of one captain, going from Boston to Labrador. He stated that during the previous night he had been troubled with uneasy dreams concerning the Bird Rocks, in consequence of which he gave strict orders to look out for them, for said he "There has something wrong happened there, or else we are in danger ourselves." Had it not been for this dream, there is no likelihood that they would have seen us, as they were so far off. "They that go down into the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up into the heaven, they go down again into the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distress. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Ps. cxxii. 23 to 31. The Island on which we landed was about seven miles long, and three and a half broad. It contains but two houses, one of them belongs to a farm, the other is a fisherman's hut. The owners received as many as they could, but we being above three hundred in number, the half could not find shelter, consequently a great number were obliged to remain in the woods. Many suffered very severely, and eight died, chiefly from want of the necessaries of life. Provisions were very short, we had but a few barrels of biscuit and a little tea and sugar brought from the ship. There were served out to each passenger, two biscuits each day, and tea and sugar enough to make tea once. I mentioned there being a farm, but it was not like the farms in the old country. The owner had |