103 Sermon Illustrations on Conversion

Some few years ago, two women and a man called one evening at the cabin of a schoolmaster, in Ireland, requesting a lodging for the night. The good man had just assembled his family for evening worship, having his Bible before him. He kindly requested the strangers to walk in, and began to read the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians. This he did slowly, and with emphasis, that he might secure the attention of his visitors to the important subjects on which it treats. They all appeared to pay attention, particularly the young man, whose countenance indicated the agitation of his mind. When the chapter was ended, he inquired what book that was out of which he had been reading. His host replied, it was the word of God. His agitation immediately increased; and, after remarking that he never before knew there was such a book, he began to inquire the meaning of some of the passages which had particularly arrested his attention; namely, "Dead in trespasses and sins;" "Walking after the course of this world;" "By nature the children of wrath," etc. To all these, the good man, in a plain and simple way, gave answers. The young man heard with the greatest attention, and could not suppress the sigh which indicated what was passing within. He was referred to those parts of Scripture which throw light on the chapter that had been read; and especially on the parts he wished to have explained. Then, looking at his host with great earnestness, he exclaimed, "It is indeed the word of God; it is all true; and my state is fully that which it describes. In this way I have been walking from my childhood; and, in the service of the god of this world, I undertook the journey which has brought me, my wife, and sister, to your house. Oh that our souls may be raised from that death in trespasses and sins in which I have been involved to this moment! I have long followed no other employment, but that of defrauding the ignorant poor at fairs and markets, by passing base money, which I coin; and for this purpose are we come here, on our way to attend the fair which is to be held to-morrow at——."

### 58. Conversion of Seamen.

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A father, residing not far from Columbia, S. C., was about sending his son to College. But as he knew the influence to which he would be exposed, he was not without a deep and anxious solicitude for the spiritual and eternal welfare of his favorite child. Fearing lest the principles of Christian faith, which he had endeavored to instil into his mind, would be rudely assailed, but trusting in the efficacy of that word which is quick, and powerful, he purchased, unknown to his son, an elegant copy of the Bible, and deposited it at the bottom of his trunk. The young man entered upon his college career. The restraints of a pious education were soon broken off, and he proceeded from speculation to doubts, and from doubts to a denial of the reality of religion. After having become, in his own estimation, wiser than his father, he discovered one day, while rummaging his trunk, with great surprise and indignation, the sacred deposit. He took it out, and while deliberating on the manner in which he should treat it, he determined that he would use it as waste paper, on which to wipe his razor while shaving. Accordingly, every time he went to shave, he tore out a leaf or two of the holy book, and thus used it till nearly half the volume was destroyed. But while he was committing this outrage upon the sacred book, a text now and then met his eye, and was carried like a barbed arrow to his heart. At length, he heard a sermon, which discovered to him his own character, and his exposure to the wrath of God, and riveted upon his mind the impression which he had received from the last torn leaf of the blessed, yet insulted volume. Had worlds been at his disposal, he would freely have given them all, could they have availed, in enabling him to undo what he had done. At length, he found forgiveness at the foot of the cross. The torn leaves of that sacred volume brought healing to his soul; for they led him to repose on the mercy of God, which is sufficient for the chief of sinners.

In an Irish school, in London, the children were allowed to take the New Testament home with them at night, to learn from it their lessons for next day. One of the boys read his Testament to his father and mother, who were Roman Catholics, and they felt much interested in what they heard. The wife was taken dangerously ill, and the husband requested a Protestant clergyman to visit her; whom he informed, that, in consequence of hearing the child read the Scriptures, they had renounced Popery, and regularly attended his ministry. "I have reason to thank God and you," said the man, "for teaching my son in the school. I have been all my life in ignorance, sin, and misery, until I heard that book. Now I am taught to put my trust in Christ alone for salvation." The woman, too, gave evidence in life and death of her dependence on the merits and intercessions of Jesus for eternal life. Her husband and son afterwards returned to Ireland, determined, by the Divine help, to make the Bible the only rule of their faith and practice.

In that part of Ireland from which I come, said the Rev. D. Stewart, at a public meeting in London, in 1830, there lived a boatswain of most immoral character, a breaker of the Sabbath, and a profaner of God's holy name. One Sunday, as he and a friend were rowing in a boat up the Liffey, whither they had resorted from the pot-house, they saw something sticking in the mud; which, on approaching, they discovered to be a fragment of the New Testament. The boatswain was, at first, inclined to leave it; but thought, by its means, of ridiculing the sacred truths of religion; and, for that purpose, took it home, read it often, and pondered over it well; which had, at length, an effect far different from that which he had anticipated. It convinced him that the dogmas of Romanism were incompatible with the free circulation of the word of God. This man was induced to attend the controversy then carrying on between the Catholic and Protestant clergy, which led him to think, read, and study. What was the effect? the immediate abandonment of the errors of Romanism, and his exercise of the right of free judgment. He began to grow fond of reading the New Testament, and now prized it beyond all he was worth in the world besides, as it led him to reflect on his past life with horror. He eventually became a true Christian.

At a meeting of the London Religious Tract Society, the Rev. James Hill, formerly of Calcutta, related the following fact respecting Captain Connolly, whose overland tour to India had lately been published.

The captain went out a stranger to God, and to true religion; but his sisters were pious ladies, and one of them happened before he went to put into his baggage a Bible. I think he had never read, never looked into it. It so happened, that on his journey to India he was taken captive by a tribe of the Turcomans, through the treachery of his guide. He was made prisoner for a short time. On one occasion he was loading a camel with his own baggage, which had been taken from him, and out dropped the Bible which his sister had given him. He took it up; he had never read it before, and he sat down on a portion of his own baggage, that he was employed in loading upon the camel, and he read of "the unsearchable riches of Christ." His mind was in a state to receive the truth; and he told me in Calcutta, that the first religious impression made on his heart was on that occasion, as he sat amidst the wilds of the Turcoman country.

From a speech delivered by Joseph John Gurney, Esq., at the meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1834, we learn that Mr. Wilberforce was in the 24th year of his age when he was elected member of parliament for Hull. He afterwards attended the county election, and such was the charm of his eloquence on that occasion, in the large castle area at York, that the people all cried, "We will have that little man for our member." He was then one of the gayest of the gay: not an openly vicious man, but peculiar for his wit, and his distinction in the fashionable circles. His wit became innocuous under Christian principles. He was said to be the "joy and crown of Doncaster races." He went to pay a visit to a relation at Nice, and was accompanied by the Rev. Isaac Milner, afterwards dean of Carlisle. Mention was made of a certain individual who moved in the same rank, an ecclesiastical gentleman, a man devoted to his duty. Mr. W. said, regarding him, "that he thought he carried things too far;" to which Mr. Milner said, he was inclined to think that Mr. W. would form a different estimate on the subject, were he carefully to peruse the whole of the New Testament. Mr. Wilberforce replied that he would take him at his word, and read it through with pleasure. They were both Greek scholars, and in their journey they perused the New Testament together. That single perusal was so blessed to Mr. Wilberforce, that he was revolutionized; he became a new man; and the witty songster, the joy and crown of Doncaster races, proved the Christian senator, and at length became the able advocate for abolishing the slave trade.

### 64. Conversion of the Heathen.

An individual in the interior of this state, says the Charleston Observer, gives the following account of the manner in which he was first arrested by the power of divine truth:

He had been one of those who had paid no regard to the subject of religion. "God was not in all his thoughts," though his awful name was frequently upon his lips in oaths and blasphemies. One morning as he arose, his eyes fell upon the Bible which lay upon a shelf immediately over his washstand, and it seemed to him a silent reprover of his ways. It had long occupied its present position, without exciting the slightest notice. He took it down, brushed the dust from it, and put it back again. The next morning, the first object that arrested his attention was that very Bible, and it continued there morning after morning to reprove him, till he became so much annoyed by its presence, that he resolved to put it out of the way. Taking it down with this view he opened it, and the first passage upon which his eye lighted, was descriptive of his own character. He continued to read, and was troubled and affected by the accuracy with which it delineated his own heart and life. He closed it, returned it to its former position, and engaged in the occupations of the day with a heavy heart. At length, while he was reading it one morning, supposing himself to be unobserved, he turned around to see whether his wife, who had not yet risen, was awake or asleep, and found her bathed in a flood of tears. She had long been anxious for his salvation, and she was much affected at seeing him morning after morning stealing a glance at the word of life. When he saw he was discovered, he remarked, "It is of no use to conceal it any longer. I am a poor miserable sinner, and I find there is no redemption but in Christ Jesus. Will you pray for me? and will you go to the house of God? for from this time forth I am resolved to prepare for heaven." And from that time forth he did become an altered man—a happy, consistent, humble, and devoted Christian. Thus the Bible, casually placed in the way of a wicked man, proved instrumental, through the Spirit, in bringing him to Christ, and in hiding a multitude of sins.

An elder of a church in Kentucky, on being asked the reason of his deep interest in the volume circulation, replied, that he was presented with a copy of Pike's "Persuasives to Early Piety" eight years since, by the Rev. Mr. Rice, the reading of which God blessed to his conversion. He then loaned it to a young man, Mr. M—, who told him three months after, on his death-bed, that it had led him to the Savior, who was now by grace supporting him in his dying moments. The book was again loaned to another young man, who was persuaded by it to come to Christ in the morning of life, and publicly profess him—giving so much promise by his piety of eminent usefulness, that an individual, proposed giving him a liberal education. The same book was placed in the hands of a fourth individual, who was a school teacher. After some weeks, the elder, as was his custom, made some inquiries respecting the contents of the book; when the teacher broke out with the exclamation that he had been at war with the book, but that now he had submitted his heart to the Savior, and desired to connect himself with the people of God.

I called one afternoon at the house of Mr. T—, writes Mr. S—, a colporteur, to leave a library until my return from another part of the State; and remarked to Miss T— as I left the house, that I hoped she would avail herself of the opportunity of perusing the books. I am very much obliged, sir, for your kind offer, said she, and would do so with pleasure if I thought they would prove as interesting as the new novels I have just received, at the same time proffering me a favorite one. I selected Pike's Persuasives to Early Piety, and requested her to promise on the honor of a Kentuckian, for my sake and that of her pious mother, to read it faithfully through, and the book should be her own. She replied that to her, such kind of reading was so dry and insidious, that she was fearful she could no, accomplish the task, and should thus cause me to distrust Kentucky veracity. With a little persuasion from the mother, however, she complied with our request.

You may judge what were my feelings, when, on my return, I heard the young lady had united herself with the church; stating that the book, and the circumstances by which it came into her possession, were the means, in the hands of God, of her conviction and conversion. She often laid it aside and took up a novel to wear off the impression—but her pledge must be redeemed. O that cruel promise! She read on—the Spirit of God accompanied the perusal of the book; her convictions deepened; and ere she finished reading the volume she was led to the foot of the cross, and enabled to make the language of the last prayer her own.

SPEARE.—Mr. P—, a valuable officer in one of the churches in Boston, stated at a meeting of the church to consider the expediency of establishing a concert of reading, that he came to that city in 1817, when a lad, and entered a store as clerk, where there were two partners. He had been religiously educated, and had a pious praying mother. In the desk of one of the partners he found a copy of Shakspeare's works, and in that of the other the Rise and Progress. He read several of the plays of the former, and had thereby a desire to see them acted. He had often left the store at night, and paced back and forth in front of the Federal-street theatre, listening to the clapping and shouts of the multitude, and longed to enter; but his conscience and the thoughts of his mother's prayers deterred him. On other occasions he would read Doddridge, and would be led by that to the Park-street prayer-meeting.

"Thus, for three months," said he, "my mind was swayed first by the influence of one book, and then of the other, and my soul balanced between heaven and hell, till at last the question was decided. Doddridge's Rise and Progress was the bar which God threw across my pathway to perdition; and all that I am and hope to be, I owe to the Divine blessing on that precious book!"

Rev. Mr. Willey, of New Hampshire, at a public meeting in Park-street church, Boston, gave the history of a lad in a retired part of the country, to whom a pious lady, after serious conversation, gave 'the Saints' Rest.' He read it, became deeply interested, and carried it to the barn where he was employed, weeping over its pages, and over his hardness of heart, and praying to be saved from the miseries of the lost. But these impressions died away; and some years after, on the Sabbath, in Boston, he wandered into the very church where the meeting was then assembled, where, under the appeals of the venerable Griffin, all his former solicitude for his undying soul was revived, and he was led immediately to apply to a clergyman of the city for the 'Saints' Rest.' After considerable trouble "the long sought volume (said Mr. W.) was found and read, — portions of it time after time during the week. On the Sabbath this youth was seen in this house a weeping stranger, sometimes in one part of it and sometimes in another. It was in that gallery, referring to the west gallery, as he has since ventured to hope, he poured out his soul unto God, and that light began to dawn upon him which has since been as the rising light of day. This youth was the eldest in a family of ten children, all of whom, together with both parents, have since been brought to hope in the mercy of God, and to unite with his people; and of the five sons four are in the Christian ministry.

# 75. In Promoting Revivals.

Dr. Buchanan, in giving an account of his conversion, says;—"It was in the year 1790 that my heart was effectually impressed in consequence of an acquaintance with a religious man. This gentleman having called one Sunday evening, out of complaisance I gave the conversation a religious turn. Among other things I asked him whether he believed there was such a thing as divine grace; whether or not it was a fiction imposed by grave and austere persons from their own fancies. He took occasion, from this inquiry, to enlarge much upon the subject; he spoke with zeal and earnestness, and chiefly in Scripture language, and concluded with a very affecting address to the conscience and the heart. I had not the least desire, that I recollect, of being benefited by this conversation; but while he spoke, I listened to him with earnestness; and before I was aware, a most powerful impression was made upon my mind, and I conceived the instant resolution of reforming my life. On that evening I had an engagement which I could not now approve; notwithstanding what had passed, I, however, resolved to go; but as I went along, and had time to reflect upon what I had heard, I half wished that it might not be kept. It turned out as I desired. I hurried home, and locked myself up in my chamber; I fell on my knees, and endeavored to pray."

The result of this interview with his religious friend was made conducive to Buchanan's conversion; and he became one of the most self-denying and useful men in modern times.

When Whitefield was preaching at Exeter, a man was present who had loaded his pockets with stones, in order to fling them at that precious ambassador of Christ. He heard his prayer, however, with patience; but no sooner had he named his text, than the man pulled a stone out of his pocket and held it in his hand waiting for a fair opportunity to throw. But God sent a sword to his heart, and the stone dropped from his hand. After sermon he went to Mr. W. and told him, "Sir, I came to hear you this day with a view to break your head, but the spirit of the Lord, through your ministry, has given me a broken heart." The man proved to be a sound convert, and lived to be an ornament to the Gospel.

A few years ago, on a voyage to the west of America, a young man sauntering on deck observing one of the sailors more sedate than his companions, stepped up to him, and abruptly asked him: "George, are you not a Christian?" His countenance brightened up as he replied: "I trust that I am; I think I can testify to the goodness of God in giving his Son to die for me." The manner in which he uttered this sentence interested his companion, who requested to know his history. His reply in substance was as follows

"I have always been a sailor. My father was a sailor before me. My mother was a pious woman; and whenever I went on shore to see her she used to say a great many things to me about my soul. I paid no attention to them; but lived as though I had no soul. I was a fool, as I said in my heart, 'There is no God.' Boldly did I profane his name. Thus I went on from year to year, till I entered a ship that was under a pious captain. He was a good man, and did much for the good of his crew. He read the Scriptures to us, and prayed with us. After some time, however, I began to tremble. The word of God convinced me of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment to come. I saw my danger, and felt it, too. My sins came up before me, and appeared as mountains that must for ever separate me from peace and happiness. I was a miserable man, and thought I must always be so. At last I opened my heart to the captain. He felt for me, and told me of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. With tears in his eyes he directed me to behold the Lamb of God which take the away the sin of the world. My heart broke. Tears of penitence ran down my cheeks; my faith took hold on the Son of God." 167. 168

# CHRISTIAN.

At this time the young man who had elicited the narrative was not truly religious. The narrative of the sailor, given with simplicity and deep emotion, went to his heart and brought him to the feet of the Savior. He soon after publicly professed his faith in Christ.

One of the most remarkable cases of conversion in the great revival at Wilton, Ct., in 1822, was that of an aged deaf man. This person had not been able to hear a sermon for thirty years, and had long been totally stupid on the subject of religion. But without knowing there was any such thing as a revival in the place, he became deeply impressed in regard to his soul. How or by what means he could not tell; but he was brought under pungent convictions, and at length led to hope and rejoice in Christ.

B— was a member of one of the New England Colleges, from a southern section of the country. He left his class before the completion of the College course, with habits of dissipation. As was anticipated, on his return to the south he plunged into vice without restraint. "My life," to use his own words, "was a continual round of dissipation, criminal in the extreme, and ruinous in its effects both to my body and soul."

But the lowest depth of depravity had not yet been reached. An extract from a letter dated Dec. 1832, will give his own account:—"I continued this course of life, as above described, until a few days before the protracted meeting commenced. And, sir, what think you brought me to a pause? Doubtless you will say, to compose my mind, and to strive for a blessing. Oh! no, sir; it was to prepare myself for mortal combat with a fellow being! The time of our meeting was fixed, and it happened to be the day on which the people of God were to assemble together. Within less than half a mile from that solemn assembly, we met, and exchanged shots with pistols. To give you an idea of my utter recklessness and depravity of heart at that time—when I saw the weapon of my antagonist directed to wards me, and by one who was esteemed sure and deadly in his aim, the last thought that I recollect was, that I should now have an opportunity of gratifying my curiosity respecting the nature of a future state! His ball struck the earth very near my feet—my own passed a few inches from his breast. I returned home to a mother and relations, halt dead with grief and anxiety."

Let us turn from this scene to one of a different character. "The next day found my antagonist and myself on the same bench at an inquiry meeting, overwhelmed with grief and tears for our sins. The conflict was truly great. For six days I seldom ate or slept. I was at last so much reduced and enfeebled I had scarcely strength to rise from my knees. A consciousness of pardon and acceptance with God was at length obtained—a new song has been put into my mouth."

Two Swiss soldiers, says the Western Recorder, had been brought up in ignorance of the great truths of the gospel. One of them became dangerously sick; and as his life was apparently near its close, began to see that he was a great sinner, to tremble with awful apprehensions about his future state, and to cry for mercy. The other, who was his cousin, had compassion upon him, and finally recollecting himself, he said, not comprehending the import of his own words—"I have heard that there is one Jesus somewhere, who saves sinners; you had better try to find him." It was enough. The sick man recollected indistinctly that he had heard such a name. He sought him; he found him; and contrary to all expectation recovered from his sickness, and became in his turn a successful preacher to his distant relative. Both went on their way rejoicing, ignorant and simple-hearted, knowing scarcely any thing about the subject of religion, excepting as they were taught by the Spirit.

From the written and published confessions of many converted infidels, it would be easy to show that the most violent opposers of the Bible are generally those who are most ignorant of its contents. An illustration of this remark may be drawn from the history of the unfortunate Count Struensee, prime minister of Denmark, under Christian VII. whose downfall produced the tragical revolution in the Danish Cabinet of 1772.

This distinguished individual had long been an avowed and zealous infidel, when he was suddenly hurled from the summit of power to the horrors and gloom of a dungeon. During the four months he spent in prison under the pious and zealous instruction of the Rev. Dr. Munter, he became thoroughly convinced of the truth of Christianity, and, as it appeared, a true penitent. In the memorable confession which he wrote before he went to the scaffold, he says, "My former unbelief and aversion to religion, were founded neither upon an accurate inquiry into its truth, nor upon a critical examination of those doubts which are generally made against it. They arose, as is usual in such cases, from a very general and superficial knowledge of religion on one side, and much inclination to disobey its precepts on the other, together with a readiness to entertain every objection which I discovered against it." In another place, after having carefully examined the evidences of Christianity and his former objections by the aid of Dr. Munter, he exclaims like a man awakened from a dream, "I never imagined that Christianity was founded on such strong evidences or that they would have convinced me so. After a calm examination I have found them to be unexceptionable, and none, if they only take the proper time, and are not against the trouble of meditating, can ever examine it without being convinced of its truth. Every thing is naturally and well connected, and recommends itself to a mind given to reflection. I never found in Deistical writings a system so well connected, and upon the whole I am inclined to believe there is no such thing as a regular system of infidelity."

# 213. Corruption of the Heart and Life.

A man who had been very much connected with infidels, was taken dangerously ill; and feeling that he could not recover, became alarmed for the safety of his soul. His infidel principles gave him no comfort. He began, for the first time, to examine into the Christian religion. He embraced it, and found it to be the power of God to his salvation, enabling him to triumph over the fear of death. In the mean time, his infidel friends hearing of his sickness, and that he was not likely to recover, showed a degree of feeling and integrity, which, it was hoped, might prove the first step towards their conversion. They were not aware that their dying friend had become a Christian. They called to see him, and actually told him that they came on purpose to advise him now to embrace Christianity: "Because," said they, "if it be false, it can do you no harm; but if it should prove true, you will be a great gainer." This, reader, is a fact. It was the united advice of a number of unbelievers to their dying friend.

A poor student, of the university of Leipsic, having occasion to undertake a journey to his distant friends, was in want of the money needful for the purpose, and was compelled to go to a Jew, to pawn his Hebrew Bible and Greek Testament. The latter contained the Greek and German text in opposite columns. The Jew, little as he valued this book, was prevailed on to give the student half a rix-dollar for it. During the absence of the student he determined to read it through, with a view of confirming his enmity against Jesus, and to be the better prepared to testify his zeal for the Jewish faith. He concealed it from his family, and commenced its perusal, which, as the young man was absent seven weeks, he had time to do. As he read, he was surprised and impressed, and at times was ready to exclaim, "Oh that Jesus was my Saviour!" When he had gone through the book, he was greatly perplexed and astonished, that he had been able to find nothing to increase his hatred to Jesus, but had rathered discovered much that was sublime and heavenly. He now charged himself with folly, and resolved to open the book no more. He adhered to this resolution for several days, but was soon compelled to peruse it a second time, with the determination to be more careful in ascertaining that Jesus and his apostles had deserved the hatred of Jews in all ages. Still he was unable to find what he wished; while he was impressed with the consolation it imparted to the afflicted, and the immortality of glory it revealed, which seemed to remove the anxiety he had long felt on this subject. He was compelled a third time to read the book; and now the history, the doctrines, and the promises of Jesus destroyed his opposition, and melted his soul. He was overcome to tears, and resolved on embracing the doctrines of the cross. He announced his change to a Christian minister, purchased the New Testament of the student, to whom he became a warmly attached friend, and continued to give evidence of being a consistent Christian.

At Southampton, Eng., the labors of the venerable William Kingsbury had been eminently owned and blessed by God, in the conversion of sinners, and the building up of the church. "One Sabbath after the morning service, a respectable-looking elderly woman had come in to the vestry, and requested to speak to Mr. Kingsbury. Being introduced, she said, she felt it her duty to take the first opportunity of meeting with him, to state that his ministry had been greatly blessed to her soul, and she hoped to praise God for it to all eternity. Mr. K. observed, that she was quite a stranger to him, he did not recollect having ever seen her before; and asked her where she resided, and how long she had attended his ministry. She replied, that she was a total stranger: having only heard him preach once before, and that more than forty years since, when she resided at Poole, in Dorsetshire. She was at that time young, gay, and thoughtless; and on the point of forming a matrimonial connexion with a young man of similar character. According to their usual custom, they set out for a Sunday stroll; and having heard that a stranger was preaching, dropped in out of mere curiosity. The preacher was Mr. Kingsbury; it pleased Almighty God to carry home the word with power to her heart. She returned home, no longer the giddy, thoughtless lover of pleasure; but deeply concerned to know what she should do to be saved. Her concern could not escape the notice of her companion, who endeavored to turn the matter into ridicule; but the "King's arrow was sharp in her heart," she could not forget the wound it had inflicted; nor could she find ease until relieved by the application of the "blood of sprinkling." The whole bias of her mind and pursuits now assumed a different direction; the pleasures of the world had no more charms for her; she could no longer idle away the precious hours of the Sabbath; she desired to hold communion with God in his house and ordinances. Under these circumstances, it very naturally occurred to her, "How can I make happy, or be happy with a partner in life, whose views and feelings on the most important of all subjects are the very opposite to my own?" She pursued the inquiry with fervent prayer for Divine direction, and came to the conclusion, candidly to state to her lover the change of which she had become the subject; and, though she felt herself bound in honor to fulfil her engagements to him, to appeal to him whether the difference were not likely to be a source of more lasting unhappiness between them, than an honorable dissolution of present engagements by mutual consent. The young man admitted the force of her reasonings; he said he was certain he should never imbibe her religious views, and he feared he should be little inclined to tolerate them; they therefore agreed on a friendly separation. Feeling uncomfortable at residing in the same town with her late companion, and where their intimacy was generally known, she gladly embraced an opportunity of engaging herself to reside with a pious family in the north of England. There she became acquainted with, and was in due time married to one who feared God; with whom she had ever since lived in domestic happiness, and had brought up a family of eight children, every one of whom she had the happiness of seeing walking in the ways of God, and two, or more, filling stations of distinguished usefulness in the Christian church. One of the sons had just returned from abroad in ill health, and was at a hospital near Portsmouth. This had occasioned the mother's journey, to conduct him home; and, being in the neighborhood, she gladly embraced the opportunity of hearing and introducing herself to the minister to whom she felt indebted, under God, in everlasting obligations. Her son, she feared, was in a very precarious state of health; "But," said she, "I have good evidence that he is safe for time and for eternity. Oh, how different are my circumstances and prospects from what they would have been, if I had continued unconcerned about my own soul, or even had married an ungodly man, and become the mother of an ungodly, or at best a divided family!"

A young priest, who was a zealous opposer of Christianity, resided in the district of Matura, in Ceylon. This spot is deemed the chief seat of Buddhism on the island. The chief priest resides here, and here also is the principal college of the Buddhist priesthood.

The priest was met incidentally, at the prison of Matura, by Mr. Lalmon, a Wesleyan assistant missionary. Both had come to the place to visit a native man, condemned to die. After some conversation, the missionary challenged the priest to produce a single proof from any of his sacred books, that a Savior for man had come into the world. The priest was highly indignant at the challenge. He went to his temple, and commenced a search for evidence from the Buddhist writings of the doctrine he was required to support. Though he continued his search at times for two years he was unsuccessful.

On visiting a neighboring district he met with another missionary, who gave him a copy of the New Testament, in Cingalese. This he took to his temple and read: but it was four years before the pride of his heart would allow him to divulge the struggle that was going on in his mind. The rank he held in the priesthood, being now second in the Island; his reputation for learning; and the influence he had among the people, were circumstances which induced him so long to resist that light and conviction which the perusal of the Scriptures had conveyed to his mind. The repetition of his visits, however, led to a disclosure of his condition. An alarm was raised, and he found it necessary to fly from the temple and take refuge in the house of the missionary.

The priests wrote a letter to him, which was signed by them all, stating that disgrace would befall them if he became a Christian; that were such a calamity to happen, their religion would receive an incurable wound. To this he paid no regard. In a second communication, they made him an offer of certain temples and emoluments, provided he would not renounce Buddhism. This likewise produced no effect. In a third letter, they declared that if he became a Christian, they would, by some means or other, take his life. This rather startled him at first. But he remained firm to his purpose, and after "learning the way of the Lord more perfectly" from the missionaries, he was publicly baptized in the presence of a very large assembly.

"The conversion of this man," said Mr. Clough, a Wesleyan missionary, "is so impressive an event, that it more than a thousand-fold rewards us for all the toils we have had in translating and publishing the Scriptures in Cingalese."

Cupido, a Hottentot, was remarkable for swearing, lying, fighting and drunkenness. His vices often laid him on a sick bed. He was sometimes afraid of God, though ignorant of him; and expected that his conduct would prove the destruction of his soul. He begged all he met to point out some mode of deliverance from the sin of drunkenness, supposing that to abandon his other vices would be easy. Some directed him to witches and wizards, whom he found miserable comforters; for they told him that when persons began to make such inquiries it was a sure sign of speedy death, and that his life was not worth a farthing. Others prescribed various medicines, which he found as unavailing as the counsels of the witches. He was providentially led to Graaf Reinet, where he heard, in a discourse from the missionary Vanderlingen, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, could save sinners from their sins. He said within himself, "That is what I want! That is what I want!" He repaired to the missionaries, expressing his wish to become acquainted with this Jesus. And he told all he met, that he had at last found one who could save sinners from their sins. Upon finding that the preaching of the missionaries fitted his own case, and laid open the secrets of his heart, he said, "This is not of man, but of God." After he had rejoiced in the hope of divine forgiveness, it was his practice to recommend Christ to others, as the only remedy for sin, who could destroy it, as he himself could witness, "both root and branch."

One day, while Mr. Wilson, a missionary, was preaching at Raiatea, one of the South Sea Islands, where he had recently introduced the Gospel, an old man stood up and exclaimed, "My forefathers worshiped Oro, the god of war, and so have I; nor shall any thing that you can say persuade me to forsake this way. And," continued he, addressing the missionary, "what do you want more than you have already? Have you not won over such a chief, and such a chief; ay, and you have Pomare himself! what want you more?" "All—all the people of Raiatea; and you, yourself, I want!" replied Mr. Wilson. "No, no," cried the old man; "me—you shall never have me! I will do as my fathers have done; I will worship Oro; you shall never have me, I assure you." Little, however, did this poor man understand the power and love of God. Such was the blessed effect of the Gospel on his heart, that, within six months from that time, this stanch, inflexible, inveterate adherent of Oro, the Moloch of the Pacific, abandoned his idol, and became a worshiper of the true God.

"Whenever I saw a man shed tears," said an Indian, "I used to doubt his being a man. I should not have wept, if my enemies had cut my flesh from my bones, so hard was my heart at that time: that I now weep, is of God, who hath softened the hardness of my heart."