they cannot be the means of getting it, or they would not be duties. A man's child, or his servant, or his wife, has to obey and be dutiful because they are his child, and so on. What they are bound to do could not be their duty if they were not children, or servants, or wife. Now, if I am a child of God, as Scripture speaks, and know I am one, that is the very reason I am bound to behave as a child. That is my duty, and cannot be my duty till I am one, and then we get strength as well as the duty. Scripture says, Scripture says, "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under law, but under grace," and, "My grace is sufficient for you." So it is just when I know I am a child of God that my duty becomes clear. Bill M. But you do not mean to say we may do as we like till we are what you call children of God?

James. Nay, nay; but we have done what we liked, a deal too much, little else when we could; but on that ground we are lost. Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. But I was answering what has been said; that if I know I am saved I can go on as I like after; whereas, if I am saved I am a child of God, and all my duties as a child of God just begin then. Instead of doing as I like, I am bound to walk, not merely as an honest man, but as a child of God, because I am one; and then that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and delights in the things of God, though he may have to resist temptations from within and from without, and if he is not watchful he will fail. And then they that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. But I speak of duty.

Bill M. Well, that is plain enough, that if we are in a place the duties of the place belong to us, and we are bound to fulfil them. But as for me, I want to know how to get into the place. Not that I understand well what it is either; and I do not understand how you can be so sure of yourself.

James. Not of myself, as you mean the words, Bill; God forbid but I am sure of what God says. True, the grace and spirit of God must work to dispose our hearts to care for such things, and to give us understanding with such hearts and minds as we have; but the

thing in itself is very simple. As Scripture speaks, when I receive the Lord's testimony, I set to my seal that God is true; hence am fully assured of what I find in His Word.

Bill M. Of course what God says is true; that is plain enough.

James. Well, if Christ, or even his Apostles have said anything, it is God's word, and we have to believe it.

Bill M. Of course, if we know what they have said. James. Well, there it is. The Spirit and grace of God bring the Word of God home as His word to the heart. It is not my poor wits setting up to judge about it or teach; a great deal I do not understand yet, and I must wait and hope to get on; but the Word comes down on me and tells me what I am (and I know it is true) and what God is, and His holiness, and love, and judgment of sin are revealed to my soul. Now I find there that by Christ, all that believe are justified from all things; that He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification; that he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; that God will remember their sins and iniquities no more; and many, many more comfortable words, and I believe them-I am sure they are true, because God has said so-just as sure as I am that if God had entered into judgment with me for my sins I should have been lost. I know I was lost in my sins, but Christ came to seek and to save what was lost, and died for our sins according to the Scriptures. I believe in Him. I know He is the Son of God, and God has pronounced his judgment on those that believe in Him, that they are justified and have eternal life; and I believe Him with all my heart. And it is because I see that He has His own self borne our sins in His own body on the tree that I have peace with God. That I could not say till I believed in Him; but I can say it now. Bill M. Well, I can't say it. Of course if you can you must be happy; anybody would. James. I understand that, too; I could not myself once, but God is very gracious, Bill. I was no better, and in myself am no better than you. I do not say you see clear, but I believe you are a changed man, Bill, thank God for it.

Bill M. Well, I do not see that I am changed, unless it is to be worse and more unhappy than I was.

James. That is the very reason I say you are changed. You have found out somehow that there is badness in you, and it makes you unhappy. It is not flippantly judging me because I trust with assurance in the Lord Jesus, nor talking of the Church that you know nothing about for yourself, only repeated it from others who had got hold of your mind. Now there is a real want in your own soul of something better and of peace; that is what the Holy Spirit always produces in us. It is not levity and judgment of others He puts into us, but a want in our hearts, and tenderness of conscience; and the gracious God will surely meet such a want, and make all plain in His own wise time. Doubtless you may get help from others as I did; but the work within is all His own. Till that is done, nothing is done; and He will do it for you, Bill. I feel confident the Lord is leading you on in His own blessed

grace.

Bill M. I hope He may. I am not there yet; but I do feel different towards you, and in myself, too; and somehow my confidence is shaken in Father O. Still, I am afraid of denying the true Church. The Lord guide me right.

James. He will, He will, Bill; trust Him for it.

Bill M. Well, good night now; I must be home. But I'll let you know how it all James. Good night, Bill. The Lord be with

goes on.

you.

Bill M. Good evening, Mr. O., will you kindly sit down. I am thankful to you for coming to see me; and Mr. N*, as I mentioned to you, is here.

Father O. I am sure it is of very little use arguing on these subjects; but I was willing to make one effort to save you from abandoning the Church, and ruining your soul for ever. For it is certain, as the holy fathers have said, that he who has not the Church for his Mother has not God for his Father. But I have little hope of you; for when once a person has begun to judge

VOL. III.-New Series. 9

for himself, and despise the faith of all holy men in all ages, to say nothing of the authority of the Church, he proves himself to be in a state of pride which makes him incapable of receiving the truth at all. However, the good shepherd will care for his flock, and I have consented to make one effort more. I had, indeed, much rather have seen you at my house, where I could have spoken seriously to you without any controversy; and this gentleman-I say it without wishing to be guilty of any offence-is a confirmed heretic, which makes it a still more unsatisfactory way of treating these holy subjects. However, I have consented to make a last effort to rescue you from falling down the fatal precipice, on whose edge you are standing; only remember that eternity is before you. This world will soon pass away, and if you are not in the true Church, then where will your soul be? Remember what a solemn and terrible thought eternity is, and think of your soul's salvation, and let no carnal or interested motives come in competition with that.

Bill M. Well, Mr. O., I have just begun to get really anxious about my salvation. As to interested motives, I can honestly eat my bread any way, and nobody has offered me anything to go back to where I was. And one thing that greatly attracted me to the Catholics was that they were so kind to me. I am much obliged to them, but that won't save a man's soul. As to eternity, I begin to feel it is a very solemn thing; and it is not only dread I feel, for that is all it was when I turned Catholic, but I want to be saved. Now, James and this gentleman tell me, and bring Scripture for it, that if a man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart he will be saved; and that if any one has the Spirit of Christ, he belongs to the true Church; that all such are united to Christ, who is the Head of the Church, and that their lives will prove whether this is really so; and you tell me that I must belong to the one true Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, or I cannot be saved, and I want to know the truth of it. I see what this gentleman says is in Scripture; but then I have been brought to think there must be a true Church, and I

should not like to be out of it; and what is the true Church is the very thing I have to learn.

Father O. It is just this pretending to read and judge of Scripture which will be the ruin of you. How do you know whether it is true, or how can you get at the right sense of it. St. Augustine says he would not have received the Gospel but for the Church. And then, besides that, you have only got a false translation.

Bill M. Excuse me, Father O., I have got the Catholic Testament as well as the Protestant one, and it is what has troubled me more than ever, because though there are hard words I do not understand in the one you approve of, and it is not such fine reading as the Protestant, yet one sees in a minute it is the same thing in the main -different words sometimes, but the same book. I do not pretend to judge all about it, of course, but I can see that the truths they insist upon are in your Testament as in theirs. I found where it was said in the Protestant Testament, there is no more offering for sin, it is said in the other, there is no more oblation for sin. And then, too, that he should not offer himself often, for then he ought to have suffered often; and that dashed me greatly about the mass that I used to think so much of. And it says in your Testament, too, that by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified; and that is just what James tells me. And then, too, I found in your Testament that it is said, he that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life; and I believe in the Son of God, sure enough, and why should I not believe I have eternal life too. I do not see clear, that is true; for I know I am not what I ought to be, but there is what they tell me in what you say is the Word of God, and the true translation.

are.

Father O. How should you be clear, pretending to judge all these things, and perplexing your mind with what you are quite unable to interpret, ignorant as you We had better see at once what the true Church is, and then you will be rightly guided. There is no end of disputing out of Scripture. Why, there is no end of sects and heresies, and all come from the Bible. Bill M. If you please, Sir, I shall be very glad to hear