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gious sensibility inanimate as the imagery on the tombstones in the churchyard. There were times when he was depressed by the fear that, notwithstanding the crowd that filled the pews, aisles and stairs of his church, he was accomplishing little in the way of moral and spiritual reformation; but when he knew of any one receiving benefit from his ministry his heart was full of thankfulness to God. He writes:

"I have had to-day much joy and much humility. A woman told me that I had been blessed for the good of her soul, and given her joy and peace; and I think she gave evidence from what I saw of her that she is a true believer. She gave me likewise five shillings for any religious purpose. She will and does pray for me. I wept much at this proof of God's love. I-that I should be made such an instrument! But, blessed be God He can make a fly do His errands. He is good and gracious-and O! I hope I may save some; I pray I may bring some to Christ, for His sake. May I be humble for all God is doing for me! His blessings crush me! May they not destroy me! May Christ be magnified in me!"

A letter written "to a friend" during his residence in Loudoun is too valuable to be passed over :

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LOUDOUN, September 20th, 1838. "Your mind is a good, strong, vigor. ous one, but you are inclined to indolence. You require the stimulus of society and of external circumstances to go on your course. You are more of a sailing ship than a steam ship-the power which propels you must come from without more than from within. You are well built, have famous timber, a good compass, good charts; but you want a freshening breeze to follow.' You must then rouse yourself; set every sail, and catch the breeze you have. You have many things to stir you up. You have a noble moral experiment to try-the rearing immortal souls. It is no experiment, thank God! It is certainty, if the right means are used. If you do not study, you are gone. I beseech you, I implore of you, my dear old fellow, do not give up study. Beware of backsliding; beware of descending. It is a terribly accelerated motion ! Beware of the fearful temptation of think. ing that you have had sufficient evidence of being converted, and that as the Elect

never are lost, you may take some ease in Zion. This is not too much for the wicked heart of man to conceive. Remember, we must grow in grace we must ever fight if we are to obtain the victory. Christ waits to see of the travail of His soul.'

Let us not 'quench the Spirit.' The demand will bear a proportion to the work done. I thank you very much for what you said to me. It has cleared up the mist a little. You are very right about not seeking too much for evidence. I feel its truth. We are so anxious to be safe merely-more than to be holy. I am by no means satisfied that I have been really converted. From my natural constitution I am liable to be deceived. My feelings being easily excited to good as well as bad, I am apt to mistake an excited state of the feelings for a holy state of the heart; and so sure am I of the deception, that when in an excited state regarding eternal things, I tremble, knowing it is the symptom of a fall, and that I must be more earnest in prayer. Self-confidence is my ruin. I deeply feel, or rather I am clearly conscious of, a dreadful coldness regarding the saving of souls. I have seldom a glimpse of true love for a soul. It is an awful confession, but it is true. O this body of death! this soul-killing, this murdering sin! When, when will this Egyptian darkness be for ever past? when shall this leprosy be finally healed? O that my soul were but one half-hour saturated and filled with a sense of God's love to me a sinner! If I could only obtain one full and clear glimpse of the gulf to which sin has brought me and from which Christ has saved me, I know that I would go to the world's end if by any possibility I could lead another to see the same great salvation. Never, never can we succeed, as ministers, unless we are personally holy. Power, genius, learning, are mere skeletons-this the life; magnificent statues to call forth the highest admiration from men of taste and feeling, but not living things to love, to rouse to action, to point to heaven, to tell of heavenly things; and so it is my parochial visitations, my prayers at sick beds, my Sabbaths, my duties in school, that crush me most to earth. So little real love of God, so little real single-heartedness for the magnifying of Christ, so much self-satisfaction, that my only comfort is my having a good and great High Priest who can bear the iniquity of our holy things. Pray, praythis is the sheet anchor. I am going to establish prayer-meetings when I get my new eldership, and I trust they will be

spiritual conductors (so to speak) to | stipend and make himself agreeable bring down good gifts to this thirsty land." (Vol i., pp. 128-130.)

The following extracts from his Journal cannot fail to be interesting to Methodists:

"If Christ did not die for all men, how can it be said that God willeth all men to be saved? Can He will any to be saved for whom there is no atonement?

"If Christ did not die for all men, in what sense is He said to be the Saviour of all men, though specially of those who believe?

"If Christ did not die for all men, how can all men be commanded to believe? What are they to believe? Is this not inviting to a supper insufficient to feed all the guests if they came? If it is said, 'God knows they won't come,' I reply, this is charging God with conduct man would be ashamed of. If He died, and they may, yet won't believe, this is moral guilt, not natural inability. It is the guilt of the drunkard who cannot give up drinking; not the guilt of the man without legs who cannot walk, which is no guilt at all." (Vol. i., pp. 155, 156.)

In the Disruption, his sympathies were not altogether with either party. In religious sentiment and ministerial activities he coincided with the Evangelicals, and had an almost unbounded reverence for some of their leaders, but could not act with them in what seemed to him extreme and revolutionary measures. His glowing nature, with its intense desire for the salvation of souls, had no affinity with the iciness and the subdued Christianity of the Moderates, but he was with them in upholding what he considered the constitutional principles of the Church. He did his utmost to avert secession by uniting with Dr. Leishman and the "Forty" in advocating a policy of conciliation and compromise, but the Evangelicals

had

gone too far to recede, the Moderates acted as if they did not care how soon they were rid of men who practically asserted their conviction that a parish minister had something more to do than to draw the

to the heritors; and the fatal moment came when one part of the Assembly and the Church was

severed from the other. Had Mr. Macleod thought only of his own. ease and popularity, he would have gone out with the seceding ministers, but he felt himself bound to remain in, and help to rebuild the shattered Church. As a Free Church minister he would have found an ample sphere for his energies and gifts, and a position of high honour and large influence would have been assigned him. But it was well for the Establishment that he and others like-minded with himself adhered to it, and instead of allowing it to become the sepulchral monument of a vanished life, strove to keep it up as a temple, which, with the light of holy memories on its walls, and the glow of a Divine flame on its altars, should still be venerable in the eyes, and dear to the hearts, of the Scottish people.

The Disruption occasioned many vacancies in parishes, and seven applications were made to Mr. Macleod. He had no wish to leave Loudoun, but felt it his duty to accept Dalkeith. He settled there in December, 1843, and began his ministry in that town, in a quaint old church, in which gallery rose above gallery, each bearing an emblazoned device showing the guild to which it belonged. Preaching evangelical truth in simple and beautiful words, and in a manner that betokened earnest desire for the salvation of souls, he could not fail to be popular; but he was far from contenting himself with a large and appreciative congregation. His pastoral care was extended to men, women and children who had not been touched by religious influences; and he opened mission-stations, and instituted a number of agencies for

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the extension of the Gospel to the degraded parts of the town. did not labour in vain. The spirit in which he entered on his ministry in Dalkeith may be gathered from the following extract:

"I was yesterday inducted into my new charge. Another change; another great waterfall in the stream of time. I am weary of controversy and strife, and I shall devote my days and life to produce unity and peace among all who love Christ. I pray that God may make me more useful and holier now than I have ever been before, that I may be the means of saving others."

He soon found scope for all his intellectual and religious faculties. Dalkeith, though a small town, was not without its lapsed classes, to whom he extended his cares and labours. In order to interest his own people in evangelical work, he instituted week-day meetings, at which he gave reports of Missionary enterprise at home and abroad; members of the Church who had the necessary qualifications were employed in visiting the poor and neglected, and three mission stations were opened amidst haunts of squalor and vice. So beneficial were these operations that street brawls became far less common, and the police had to report a remarkable decrease in the number of arrests for drunkenness.

In 1845 Mr. Macleod was sent by the General Assembly as one of a deputation to the congregations connected with the Church of Scotland in British North America. The old romance of Morven life came back to him when shooting rapids, gliding over silvery lakes, or travelling through forests with the boughs of majestic trees bending in wide. arches over his head.

At Pictou the Deputation administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to a multitude of people who had come from different parts of the

country. The service was held on a grassy hill above the town, and Mr. Macleod thus describes the scene in one of his letters :-"I have seen grand and imposing sights in my life, but this far surpassed them all. As I gazed on that table, along which were slowly passed the impressive and familiar symbols of the Body broken and Blood shed for us all in every age and clime; as I saw the solemn and reverent attitude of the communicants, every head bent down to the white board, and watched the expressions of the weather-beaten, true Highland countenances around me, and remembered, as I looked for a moment to the mighty forests which swept on to the far horizon, that all were in a strange land, that they had no pastors now, that they were as a flock in the lonely wilderness—as these and ten thousand other thoughts filled my heart amidst the most awful silence, broken only by sobs which came from the Lord's Table, can you wonder that I hid my face and 'lifted up my voice and wept'? Yet how thankful, how deeply thankful was I to have been privileged to see a sight here in connection with the Church of Scotland which the Highlands of Scotland, even the Lowlands, could not afford!" Some of the Scotch were urgent for ministers, and an old doctor amused Mr. Macleod by saying to him, but not without much stammering, "We don't expect a very clever man, but would be quite pleased to have one who could give us a good plain every-day sermon like what you gave us yourself to-day."

The year after his return from America, Mr. Macleod attended meetings in connection with the Evangelical Alliance. His soul was refreshed and gladdened by communion with brethren who, though

known by different names, were one in Christian purpose. Writing to his sister from one of the meetings, he said:" Bickersteth, dear man, is in the chair, and Bunting, noble man, is now speaking. Angell James is about to follow, and Dr. Raffles has finished. It is mere chat, like a nice family circle, and I hope that our Elder Brother is in the midst of it."

Ronge and Czersky, who had headed a revolt from Popery in Prussian Poland and Silesia, having been at one of the meetings of the Alliance, some of its members were anxious to obtain fuller information as to the character of their work, and Mr. Macleod was requested to accompany Dr. Herschell on a mission of inquiry to their principal congregations. They found that the movement under Ronge had assumed a Rationalistic form, and was little more than a mixture of Socialism and Deism, gilded with the morality of the Bible, and having a strong political tendency towards communism." They were better pleased with Czersky and his people, who appeared to be simple, devout Christians. The interest of their visit was heightened by interviews with Neander and other German theologians, and they brought back some valuable facts in relation to religious life on the Continent.

The same year Mr. Macleod gave practical proof of his brotherly feeling for other denominations by preaching an anniversary sermon in the Wesleyan chapel in Edinburgh. He was the first minister of the Established Church to occupy that pulpit, and had the pleasure of preaching to a congregation that crowded the aisles and pulpit stairs. The death of his old teacher, Dr. Chalmers, in 1847, brought from him a fine eulogium of the man "whose noble character, lofty en

thusiasm, and patriotic views will rear themselves before the eyes of posterity like Alpine peaks, long after the narrow valleys which have for a brief period divided us are lost in the far distance of past history."

In 1848 he felt so severely the effect of overwork that he was compelled to retire for a time from all public engagements. For change of air he went to Shandon, a lovely spot slanting down to the placid waters of the Gareloch, and was conscious of reviving health, as he wandered over the heather, along the track of musical brooks, and by rocks having crevices filled with ferns and primroses. His meditations were in harmony with the scenes amid which he wandered, and the following passage only needs "the accomplishment of verse to be a true Wordsworthian poem:

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"How many things are in the world yet not of it! The material world itself, with all its scenes of grandeur and beauty, with all its gay adornments of tree and flower, and light and shade, with all its accompanying glory of blue sky and fleecy cloud, or midnight splendour of moon and stars-all are of the Father. And so too is all that inner world, when, like the outer, it moves according to His will; of loyal friendships, loving brotherhood; and the heavenly and blessed charities of home, and all the real light and joy that dwell, as a very symbol of His own presence, in the Holy of Holies of a renewed spirit. In one word, all that is true and lovely and of good report-all that is one with His will-is of the Father and not of the world. the world, then, pass away with the lust thereof! It is the passing away of death and darkness-of all that is at enmity to God and man. All that is of the Father shall remain for ever."

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In the beginning of 1851, Mr. Macleod experienced a great but not unsanctified sorrow in the death of his beloved and saintly friend John Mackintosh, who, after long and laborious preparation for the ministry of the Free Church, became the vic

tim of consumption. He died abroad, but his body was brought to Scotland, and we have this record: "We buried him on Wednesday last. The day was calm and beautiful. The sky was blue, with a few fleecy clouds. The birds were singing. Everything seemed so holy and peaceful. His coffin was accompanied by those who loved him. As I paced beside him to his last resting-place, I felt a holy joy as if marching beside a noble warrior receiving his final honours. O, how harmonious seemed his life and death! I felt as if he was still alive, as if he still whispered in my ear, and all he said-for he seemed only to repeat his favourite sayings -was in beautiful keeping with this last stage of his journey: 'It is His own sweet will;' 'Dearie, we must be as little children;' 'We must follow Christ.' And so he seemed to resign himself meekly to be borne to his grave, to smile upon us all in love as he was lowered down; and as the earth covered him from our sight it was as if he said, 'Father, Thou hast appointed all men once to die. Thy sweet will be done! I yield to Thine appointment! My Saviour has gone before me; as a little child I follow.' And there we laid him, and rolled the sod over him. Yet the birds continued to sing, and the sun to shine, and the hills to look down on us. But long after earth's

THE DUTCH PRIZE WITHIN the last few weeks a new work on Missions has issued from the press which is likely to attract much notice, as it is the work which gained the prize offered by the Dutch Society at the Hague for the best answer to the question: "What does the History of Missions teach,

melodies have ceased, and the mountains departed, and the sun vanished, that body shall live in glory, and that beautiful spirit be

'A Memnon shining in the great God light.""

The following passage throws a strong light on one aspect of Macleod's teaching at this period:

"There was one style of teaching which was especially characteristic of his later ministry in Dalkeith, and of his earlier time in the Barony. He felt that the metaphysical and doctrinal preaching which was still prevalent in Scotland had led men to deal with abstractions, ideas, names, rather than with the living God; and so he tried to produce a greater sense of the personal relationship of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The dealings of an earthly father with his child were continually used to illustrate what the Heavenly Father must, in a far higher sense, feel and do; and he evermore pressed his hearers to entertain the same trust and confidence towards Christ, as would have been proper and natural had He been present in the flesh. Such tender thoughts of the Father and the Son found fullest expression in his prayers, which, while most reverent, were so real that they sounded as if spoken to One visibly present. Their perfect simplicity never degenerated into familiarity. Their dig. nity was as remarkable as their directness. These views had also a marked influence on his character. What the Personal Christ must love or hate became the one rule of life. This Divine love inspired a deep 'enthusiasm of humanity.' He seemed to yearn over men in the very spirit of Christ-so patient, considerate, and ear nest was he in seeking their good." (Vol. i. P. 276.)

ESSAY ON MISSIONS.

with respect to the Appointment and Capability of Christianity to become the Religion of the World? And What Influence must the Experience of the Past have upon the Method of prosecuting Missionary Operations in the Future?"!

A sketch of missionary work from

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