them. He was a person of peculiar refinement, even to fastidiousness. His studies up to that time, and the companions whose society he had sought, had been such as suited the tone of his mind; but the voice and the spirit of truth had penetrated to his heart, and its depths were opened and laid bare to a light which had never shined there till then, and the light like that of the sun was accompanied by a vital warmth which had never glowed there till then. The light and the warmth were indeed from Him, who is the Sun of righteousness.

As he stood hanging on the words of that extraordinary preacher, he began to see and know himself for the first time, as he really was; and for the first time the glorious gospel of the grace of God opened upon him in all its divine simplicity, its fulness, and its power. The sermon was over; but, he stood there, rooted to the spot, while the crowd were moving and dispersing around him. The concluding words of the preacher were still thrilling in his heart. "I would have you, my dear friends, feed on Christ by faith with thanksgiving; that is, real feeding on Christ. Those who know what it is to be born again can feed on Jesus Christ. I hope some of you are feeding on Jesus Christ, and I am sure you have precious food. I have been but a little while in Christ's service, but I hope I have fed on Him, and, O! He is mighty, mighty sweet. May God give you grace to feed on Him-as you grow in years so may you grow in grace. Let ministers preach Jesus, let them venture their souls for preaching Christ." The crowd was almost gone, but still Allan Temple stood absorbed in his own thoughts. With a deep sigh he woke up from his abstraction. -"What think ye of this preacher ?" said one who stood near him, to an old man, whose long white hair fell in waves upon his shoulders, and

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whose dress declared him to be a minister of Christ. My son," the old minister replied, "one of those men who have turned the world upside down has come hither-I say Amen to that sermon of his," he added, with deep reverence, " and I thank God for it with my whole heart. May God give his gracious Spirit to all of us who have heard it, and may the world be turned upside down in all our hearts." "But there were some mocking and jeering a' the time, gude sir," said another speaker. "It was the same in the auld time, my bairn," said the aged pastor. "When Paul himself preached, some mocked, but others said, we will hear thee again on this matter.-Gude friends," he continued, looking gravely round him, and as he did so his eye caught and fixed that of Allan Temple, "beware of dealing with the truths you have just heard, and with your own souls, in a light spirit-may the Lord, in his infinite mercy, give unto us all heavy and sorrowful hearts, till the burden of all our sins be laid upon Him, who alone can bear them, even upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am an old man, but I have never heard the gospel preached with such power and unction, as by that young English minister. I thank God for the day which has brought such a voice to the streets of our auld town, and to the braes of our bonnie Scotland. Gae yer ways hame, and thank the Lord Godbut gae to prayer for the Spirit, that the word ye have heard this day may witness not to your confusion and dismay, but to your joy and your salvation at the last great day,-and ponder it in your hearts, that when the word preached, is truly the 6 sweet savour of Christ unto God'-it will be no less and no other but, a savour of death unto death,' where it is not, as I pray it is to yourselves to-day-a savour of life unto life.' The testimony given by the old Scottish minister

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to the preaching of Whitefield, was in full accordance with the opinions formed both of him and of his preaching by other ministers in that northern land. "I look upon this youth," said one, as raised up of God, for special service, and spirited for making new and singular attempts for promoting true Christianity in the world, and for reviving it where it is decayed; and I see him wonderfully fitted and strengthened both in body and mind, for going through with his projects amidst the greatest danger and difficulties. I see the man to be all of a piece, his life and conversations to be a transcript of his sermons; it is truly a rare thing to see so much of God about any one man; to see one so eminent for humility in the midst of applause; for meekness and patience, under reproaches and injuries; for love to enemies; for desire to glorify Christ, and save souls; contentment in a mean lot; acquiescing in the will of God in all cases; never fretting under any dispensations, but still praising and giving thanks for everything. It is rare to see in a man such flaming fire for God and against sin, when in the pulpit; and yet to find him most easy and calm in conversing with men out of it; careful not to give offence to any, and yet never courting the favour of any."

Truly does this account agree with the character given of Whitefield by the most elegant, and most Christian of our English poets, Cowper.

"Leuconomus (beneath well-sounding Greek,
I slur a name a poet must not speak,)
Stood pilloried on Infamy's high stage,
And bore the pelting scorn of half an age;
The very butt of slander, and the blot
For every dart that malice ever shot.

The man that mentioned him at once dismissed
All mercy from his lips, and sneered, and hissed;
His crimes were such, as Sodom never knew,
And perjury stood up to swear all true;

His aim was mischief, and his zeal pretence,
His speech rebellion against common sense;
A knave, when tried on honesty's plain rule,
And when by that of reason, a mere fool;
The world's best comfort was, his doom was past,
Die when he might, he must be damned at last.-
Now, Truth, perform thine office; waft aside
The curtain drawn by prejudice and pride:
Reveal (the man is dead) to wondering eyes,
This more than monster in his proper guise.-
He loved the world that hated him; the tear
That dropped upon his bible was sincere;
Assailed by scandal and the tongue of strife,
His only answer was a blameless life;
And he that forged, and he that threw the dart,
Had each a brother's interest in his heart :
Paul's love of Christ, and steadiness unbribed,
Were copied close in him, and well transcribed.
He followed Paul, his zeal a kindred flame,
His apostolic charity the same.

Like him, crossed cheerfully tempestuous seas,
Forsaking country, kindred, friends and ease;
Like him he laboured, and like him content
To bear it, suffered shame, where'er he went;
Blush, Calumny! and write upon his tomb,
If honest eulogy can spare thee room,
Thy deep repentance of thy thousand lies,

Which aimed at him, have pierced the offended skies;
And say,-Blot out my sin, confessed, deplored,
Against Thine image, in thy saint, O Lord!"

This was the man, the preacher of the everlasting gospel, who stood forth as an ambassador for Christ, and from whom, on that memorable day, Allan Temple received and embraced the vital doctrines of the truth. No elegant Athenian in former times, had ever more ignorantly worshipped an Unknown God than he had. But the arrow of conviction had entered into his heart's core, aimed by the Spirit of God, and it was not extracted thence until the divine and healing balm was poured into the wound by the same mighty Agent.

The following day was the Lord's day; and Whitefield preached again on the morning and evening of that day. Among his hearers, humble and teachable as a little child, thirsting for the milk of the word, stood the young English clergyman. The truths he had heard had indeed sunk into his soul; and under God's "Great Ordinance of preaching," he who had before lightly taken upon himself the office of a preacher, was transformed in the spirit of his mind, and fitted by God's grace, to enter upon the work to which he had before given himself only by a formal and outward dedication.

CHAPTER THE SECOND.

"Glasgow, September 29, 1741. I AM led by the circumstances of the last few days, to think very sadly and very seriously of The Family Living. Alas it has well nigh proved a deadly snare to me. I was about to enter upon the charge of more than a thousand souls, with scarcely a thought of the awful responsibility of the office of a Christian Pastor. Competence-ease-an elegant retirement-the companionship of my sweet Lucy -my favourite books-my pleasant Rectory-the lovely scenery of Springhurst-these were the subjects uppermost in my mind. A vague idea floated before me, that I should wish to be a good clergyman, but so vague was it, that I had never attached any definite form to it, or been at the pains to do I have thought almost as much of becoming a shepherd on the mountains of Wales, and feeding sheep in the valley of Nant-y-Rhaider, as of taking

So.