As, for example, the basis of simple, honest experiment. This is adopted readily enough in other matters; why should it be sneered at or recoiled from here? The experimental test of Christianity is the most valuable test of all, because it is one which all can apply if they will, and one, too, the satisfactoriness of which will almost instantly assert itself. Let a man have a spiritual experience of the gospel, and he may confront the most formidable disbeliever without fear. He may exultingly exclaim: "Ply your objections, O infidel, to your heart's content; I am proof against them all. I may not have wit enough to answer them, but they are harmless for all that! I am a believer, and he that believeth 'hath the witness in himself.' You may stigmatise this as fanaticism, but the giving of it an ill name will not drive it out of me. Suppose I sacrifice my faith to your objections, can you supply me with something worth having in its stead? I will not trust you; for I know that if I did I should be the sport of every wayward fancy which either my brain or yours might generate, if only that fancy could succeed, like the devil, in assuming a plausible guise. Don't suppose me capable of such weakness, for you might as rationally expect that a man who is carefully tracing a path, dangerous from surrounding bogs and pitfalls, will close his eyes to the blazing light, just because he cannot philosophically define to you the nature of light-state when, how, and under what circumstances the sun was created-and solve, to the satisfaction of every learned crossquestioner, all the complete problems which the phenomena of the heavens. may suggest."

And this argument from experience-so simple, so pure, so direct, so unsophisticated, so undeceptive, so satisfying-irrefragable as the connection between cause and effect-making its appeal to the whole man, and finding in the response that which gives back a blessing upon the whole man-will not only suffice for the vindication of our own faith, but will also invest us with power in the recommendation of our faith to others. To the challenge, "Give me a reason for the hope that is in thee," the reply is, "My hope is now its own reason. When it first sought my confidence I wished to know what to expect of it. It promised me enlargement of mind, elevation of character, happiness of life. I have tried it; not as it deserves, I well know; but, with all my imperfections, I have been somewhat under its influence, and as far as I have cordially and practically trusted it, so far have I found its promises fulfilled." Such a testimony, borne out by the demeanour of the witness, will never be without its weight even with stolid Prejudice herself. If it be still urged, "Your experience may suffice for you, but it cannot suffice for me, for the simple reason that it is not my own," the answer is: "Make it your own. Try Christianity as thousands more, constituted and situated similarly to yourself, have tried it. It will no more deceive you than it has deceived them. Lay aside your speculations for awhile, and come to actual experiment. One accessible and undeniable fact is worth any number of theories. A man who is sinking beneath the power of some fell disease sends for the best doctor he can obtain; and when the remedy is offered, it is accepted without any questions respecting the ingredients which compose it, or the reasons which have governed their selection. After the patient has recovered, or even while the process of cure is going on, inquiries on that subject are admissible; but if made beforehand, the man would die, and would be chargeable with the crime of self-murder." The analogy is obvious. Men are spiritually diseased-you among the rest. There is no time to be lost. Something must be done quickly.

You want a remedy. Let the experience of others, who were once in the same sad plight as yourself, but have been rescued, guide your choice. The history of the world proves that nothing of any solid value has been done spiritually for man save what has been done by Christ, the Physician of souls. What better testimony do you want? Be no longer the victim of these speculations, and doubts, and objections, and ifs, and buts, and it may be so's, and multitudes of other insect puerilities which will draw from your spiritual nature every drop of its life-blood unless you persistently beat them off. Encouraged by the experience of others, trust yourself implicitly to the power of Christ. Your own experience will soon confirm the wisdom of such a trust; and you will gratefully sing with all redeemed ones around you,

"JESUS, the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrow cease!

"Tis music in the sinner's ears ;

Penzance.

'Tis life, and health, and peace!"

J. P. BARNETT.

PASSAGES FROM THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE REV. WILLIAM RHODES, OF DAMERHAM. (Continued from p. 289.)

"A TENDER Providence shrouded him under her wings, and the prophet was fed in the wilderness; and his great worthiness procured him friends, that supplied him with bread and necessaries." So wrote Bishop Rust of Jeremy Taylor; and so we may write of Christ's humble minister, William Rhodes. But from this extremity of weakness he was gradually restored to comparative strength; and then, partly by working at his original trade, and partly by means of a small income which he received from a friend, in acknowledgment of inestimable spiritual services, he contrived not only to live free from the worst effects of poverty himself, but to be a generous benefactor to others. In the course of the next few years he built a cottage for his sisters; he also received into his house some afflicted relatives, and was their watchful attendant and sole supporter till they died. Speaking of this attendance at certain periods, he said to a friend, It is my work night and day, and the labours of a ploughman are mere play to it. I have a hundred times fainted almost to death at the sight of the distressing sufferings of my charge; but I bless God my patience never failed." The spirit of his daily life is thus described in a letter written during 1824:

"There are few things for which I have more reason to thank my Saviour than for the power he has given me of combining high thoughts with humble doings. This power to unite noble and devotional contemplations with constant attention to the numerous cares and toils, and trifles and nursings of my little family, is a great delight to me. It unites into harmony the extremes of existence; the intellectual and the sensible; the lofty and the mean; the cares of the present with the prospects of the eternal. This is a sort of living at the same time all over the universe of our being. The things themselves are very remote; strong exercises of the intellect and the habitual contemplation of heaven -and a minute regard to bread and tea, firing and candles. Yet no reason can be given why a person should not try to be a tender and diligent nurse, a prudent and frugal housekeeper, and all the time an intellectual and elevated Christian."

Prevented simply by physical infirmity from being the light of a refined circle, and the teacher of electrified multitudes, he cheerfully accepted the lot assigned to him; and since he could plead for Christ in no wider sphere, it was

now his ambition to collect a few farm-servants in the village, and live as their pastor. But even in this he seemed to be doomed to disappointment. • Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren and his sisters, are they not all with us ?"

Treading in the steps of Jesus, his course was impeded by the very same class of obstacles; and at first "the prophet had no honour in his own country." Indeed, the people of Damerham in those days were, intellectually and morally, even less prepared than many other villagers to appreciate and honour the qualities which make the signs of "a true prophet." Perhaps a sentimental tourist, visiting the spot, would have been charmed with the air of exquisite peace, and the indescribable sense of remote seclusion which belonged to it; he would have thought that he had at length found human nature in its fresh and elementary simplicity; and that here, where "life had stood still for centuries," where the green leaves and flower-clad cottages looked just as they did in the times of the Tudors and Stuarts, and where the fashions of the great world were unknown, the vexed and tired spirit of a good man would find everything to heal its fever, and nothing to baffle its love. It must be an easy and delightful thing," he might have thought, "to be a pastor here."

The pastor, however, had a different report to make. Whatever were the scenical enchantments of the place itself, many of the natives answered to good Robert Herrick's somewhat testy description of his own parishioners :

"A people, currish, churlish as the seas,

And rude almost as rudest salvages."

-

It was long before he made much way in his endeavours to lift them from a life of mere sensation—a coarse depravity; but as he laboured on, “being determined to know nothing among them save Jesus Christ and him crucified," a few drunkards were reclaimed, a few weary sufferers comforted, a little band of communicants gathered round him, and so decidedly did the Spirit of God bless his word, that, about the year 1829, it became needful to seek larger accommodation for worship by the erection of a chapel. This work was commenced and carried on in a manner something like that of the work which King David projected. Not that this house built for the Lord" was like that, "exceeding magnifical;" there were no chapiters," over which gold and silver light floated; no pillars crowned with "lily-work;" no miracles of rich sculpture and airy tracery; but the poor people brought their contributions to it on the same principle. Some brought stones, others wood; and after the labours of the field were over, some would help to raise the walls, others to thatch the roof; the pastor himself, trembling with weakness, making the benches and the little desk in the corner. The pecuniary cost of the edifice, and a cottage connected with it, amounted to £50, which he subscribed alone, the result of great self-denial and no little genius for finance. It was built in a similar spirit, had as true a consecration, and there were times when it was filled with as bright a glory. Here Mr. Rhodes ministered to the end of his days, not only without worldly remuneration, but meeting, from his own resources, every incidental expense; and though there was little external encouragement, it may be said, with reference to many a glorified spirit, "the Lord shall count, when he writeth up his people, this man was born there."

But his influence for Christ reached far beyond the sphere of his "bodily presence." Many who might have thought that "weak," and "his speech contemptible," were compelled to admit that "his letters were weighty and powerful." He was always writing, and always on one theme; for, like Luther, he might have written the great name "Jesus" as the motto of every letter. Many of these letters have been lately collected. There is a series, full of rich wisdom and love, addressed to a young clerical friend, on "The Church of England." Many are written to persons suffering under bereavements; others are on such subjects as "Irvingism," "Neglected Points of Christian Ethics," The Uses of the Atonement," The Work of the Holy Spirit," and "The Divinity of Our Saviour." Sentences occur in his private papers which afford touching illustrations of the spirit which prompted this corre spondence. Though he wrote no diary, not choosing "to make the world his

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confidant," it seems that sometimes while sitting, pen in hand, "waiting for an inspiration," he would, almost unconsciously, write on a scrap of paper close at hand some prayer that was rising in his heart; so that a person looking over the leaves of his almost illegible manuscript, will here and there light on words like these:

"Lord, help my poor perplexed friend at T." "Holy and blessed Father of lights, Father of my own poor and ignorant spirit, remote and sublime in infinitude beyond all thought, yet most condescending and close to me in thy presence, help me to think and write of thy blessed Son with all simplicity and reverence. Thou hast said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am always delighted; help me to be delighted in Lim as thou art. Dispose the heart of my friend to all this.

These secret prayers have been answered. One minister of Christ at least is, under God, unspeakably indebted to the letters of Mr. Rhodes for a clear and joyful faith in the "great mystery of godliness."

The following is a fragment of a letter, the first of a series, addressed in 1829 to a lady who was inclined to the adoption of Socinian views :—

"Such has been the adoring and happy state of my mind towards the blessed Saviour for many years past, that to hold any dispute concerning his nature has seemed to me to be an act almost tinctured with impiety-like turning adoration into controversy; but I cannot help telling you, in the most honest and affectionate manner, some of my views and feelings concerning the religious difference betwixt us. The difference, should you indeed embrace the views with which you confess a sympathy, is of the most grave and vital nature.

"Allow me to help you in searching the Scriptures, as the source of final and decisive information with regard to these great questions. It will be my aim to convince you, not by reasoning, but by these alone, that your faith may stand not in the word of man, but in the power of God.' It is for you, it is for me, to take the Scriptures in humble simplicity and love to remember that they are intended for the poor in spirit, and that the most natural and simple meaning is sure to be right. You must remember that the highest reason for believing any truth is because God has revealed it. Whatever he has affirmed is proved: proved by that final testimony in which we must repose, or be doomed to wander in perpetual uncertainty.

"Be honest and upright to the Bible. Trust it as a plain, sincere, and honest book. God means what he has said. This simple maxim, if adhered to, would banish all errors from the world. I believe in the divinity of my Saviour, because the Bible has declared it in numerous passages plain as the first commandment. There is a great want of intellectual rectitude, to say nothing of devotional reverence, towards the oracles of God. Be honest to this passage: In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him. The world was made by him.' There is the doctrine. Why do you not believe it on its own sovereign authority? The passage is disputed.' Yes, in three respects. Whether 'God' means God-whether 'created' means created-whether all things' and 'the world' mean all things and the world! that is all. One thing is evident. The God of heaven cannot speak plainer. I believe what he has said-I hope you will. Why not dispute the first verse of the Bible? "If the blessed God has given us information respecting his own nature, is it wise, is it safe, is it pious, is it reverential, for you to retain a different opinion? Differ in mind from the Father and Lord of our spirit, concerning himself! Read, pray, believe, become a little child before his presence! Do not be too proud to be taught by the Ancient of Days.' 'He gives grace to the humble, but the proud he knoweth afar off.'

"You object to the doctrine of the Trinity because of its mystery. I see all the facts which compose this doctrine plainly stated in the Scriptures. They tell me that there are distinctions in the Divine nature, and that there is unity. This is enough for any one who takes God at his word. I am not required to understand the great facts of the case, but to believe them on the clear testimony of God himself. How do I know that we are immortal; that there is a heaven; that penitent believers will be saved? Simply because God has declared these things. He has also declared this doctrine concerning his own nature. That it is mysterious is simply nothing against it. Is it wonderful that there is mystery in the Supreme nature while there is so much in our own?

"I cannot answer your questions respecting this sublime doctrine. Not one of them is answered in the Scripture, whence I gather every ray of knowledge that I have of it. "Look at that beautiful flower in your room. Will you tell me how it is tinted and coloured by the light-how it is enlarged and nourished by the air and soil-how it grows into such shapes of grace and enchantment? You cannot answer me. That flower contains an assemblage of mysteries as truly transcending all human conception as any truth of the Bible; yet you believe in it--you believe in its growth, its beautiful forms, and delicious colours.

"You are holding a thread in your hand. You have philosophy enough to be aware that this thread is composed of innumerable atoms finer than your sight can detect. How are they held together so as to compose the thread? No mortal has ever fully discovered this. "You are, yourself, a body and spirit, mortal and immortal. There is a broad distinction between these natures, yet they are united into one. I can far more easily conceive of the perfect union of two spirits, or of three, than of the union of such opposite natures in one person. If we hate mystery, we must hate ourselves, we must hate all things-you must hate your flower,

"While all things in the universe are thus teeming with mysterious relations and agencies, from the insects that people the leaf of a rose and the folds of a violet, up to our own wonderful nature, I confess it has always appeared to me to be the last of human presumptions to exclude what is mysterious from religion, which in its nature must be unspeakably more profound and sublime than the whole order of visible things; from religion, which comprehends all the interests of our existence, embraces all the moral concerns of time, and will spread its lights and benedictions through all the regions and periods of eternity. Higher still must be the presumption of attempting to exclude mystery from the nature of the blessed and Supreme Majesty, the modes of whose existence are beyond the reach of created thought, and, compared with whom, the whole universe of things and beings is a vain and fleeting shadow. Let all our thoughts of the most holy God be humble and reverential. When he has been pleased to speak of himself, let us receive every word with grateful submission of mind.

"I regard this most sacred doctrine entirely in a practical and consolatory light. That there are three in the Supreme nature is never revealed as a mere intellectual fact. They are revealed in action for the good of mankind. Each of the Divine personages is represented as sustaining a distinct office, and performing a distinct part in the glorious work of our salvation. There is not a single sentence of inspiration in which we are required to contemplate the Trinity apart from this work of saving mercy. The Father so loved the world as to send his Son to redeem it. The Son so loved the world as to become its Saviour, at the expense of profound humiliation and sorrow. The Spirit with equal benignity condescends to renew our hearts, and to preside over the formation of our characters for heaven. Such is the inspired view of the doctrine, full of life and grace. Thus it is mingled and incorporated with every part of our religion; with its source, its duties, its comforts, its hopes, its promises, as well as its contemplations. No one can give consistency and meaning to all the statements of Scripture without full belief in this. Let all these plain statements respecting all topics be fully believed, and this doctrine will grow out of

them.

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'The mysteries connected with this doctrine, and the divinity of the Saviour, form the grand point of scorn to your friends the Socinians. Yet it is a fact, that they have not removed mystery out of the Scriptures in their version; they have only changed its place. They have taken mystery out of the doctrines of Scripture, where it was venerable and worthy of the majesty of God, and have placed it in the language of Scripture, where it is repugnant to the sincerity of God. They have made the language abound in mysteries, which in its nature has none; but in the nature of the Great Eternal, which must be mysterious to man, they will not allow any mystery. The brightest wit that ever graced the world never even fancied a greater absurdity than this. Read some of the highest descriptions of the Saviour, given by inspired writers, in their sense-that he was only a man. Is not the language full of mystery? No man, no child, ever used such words for such a purpose. It is indeed mysterious that they should have used such a pomp and magnificence of glorious language to describe what is so simple and plain. The truth is, your friends have introduced far greater mysteries into the New Testament than they have laboured to exclude from it. My conviction is that the New Testament is either the most deceptive and insincere book in the world, or their view and rendering of it is perfectly wrong.