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 OF THK 
 AT 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
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 SAMUEL AGNEW, 
 
 OF PHILADELPHIA, PAj 
 
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 BV 3705 .J34 1837 
 Young, John. 
 Jairus 
 
JAIRUS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE HOME MISSIONARY. 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF FACTS. 
 
 " Happy, if, with my latest breath, 
 I may but gasp His name; 
 
 Preach Him to all, and cry in death, 
 Behold, behold the Lamb!" 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN YOUNG. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR HOULSTON AND SON, 
 
 65, Paternoster-Row ; 
 
 AND AT WELLINGTON, SALOP. 
 
 1837. 
 
TO THE 
 
 GENTLEMEN FORMING THE COMMITTEE, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE FRIENDS IN GENERAL, 
 
 OF THAT VALUABLE INSTITUTION, 
 
 THE HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES 
 
 ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 

 
 
 Any individual who has felt the value of his 
 own soul, and been made to participate in the 
 blessings of salvation, will require no additional 
 argument to induce him to take a lively interest 
 in whatever is likely to promote the eternal wel- 
 fare of others. " Knowing the terrors of the 
 Lord, he will endeavour to persuade men:" and, 
 constrained by the love of Christ, he will prove 
 that difficulties and opposition will rather sti- 
 mulate his energy than paralyze his exertions. In 
 the present day, every thing that can excite and 
 invigorate all genuine Philanthropists, or those 
 who feel deeply concerned on account of the 
 moral degradation of human nature, is presented 
 in the cheering prospect increasing before them 
 of the renovation of the World, by the diffu- 
 sion of the Gospel of Christ. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 Among the numerous improvements in the 
 science of modern charity, the ^Author of this 
 Work regards as of the very first importance the 
 increased concern which is evidently prevailing 
 for the moral and religious advancement of our 
 country. As we are called a Christian nation, it 
 should be the concern of every believer in Divine 
 Revelation that we may soon become a Nation 
 OF Christians. And as God accomplishes his 
 gracious purposes by means, both in their nature 
 and number, suitably proportioned to his de- 
 signs ; we, in the belief of this, should deem our- 
 selves summoned to combine our infiuence with 
 the exertions of the myriads who are actually 
 engaged in promoting the glory of the Redeemer, 
 and the eternal welfare of souls. 
 
 The facts adduced in this volume have not 
 been collected to gratify curiosity, or to obtain 
 pecuniary help for public institutions, but to 
 illustrate the power and riches of Divine grace, to 
 shew the transforming influence of the Gospel, 
 to warn the young against some of the evils 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 which may assail them, to point out the existing 
 and essential difference between conversion and 
 conviction, to encourage those who are employed 
 by the Great Head of the Church in preaching 
 the word of life to persevere in their "work of 
 faith and labour of love," and especially to urge 
 on the attention of those who have in any degree 
 felt the power of religion, the importance of a 
 copious effusion of Divine influence on the bar- 
 ren soil of the moral wilderness, in order to its 
 appearing as the garden of the Lord . 
 
 It may possibly be supposed that the subject of 
 the following pages stood in connexion with the 
 respectable and important Society to which they 
 are inscribed : such, however, was not the case. 
 At the same time the writer has no doubt that in 
 spirit he was one with it, and that he sincerely 
 rejoiced in all its successful and useful designs. 
 
 The name of the Home Missionary Soci 
 ETY is placed at the head of this volume with a 
 view, if possible, to draw the attention of the 
 
VIII PREFACE. 
 
 Christian public more fully to that valuable in- 
 stitution, which (it is feared) is still too little 
 regarded. The Author, after much reflection, 
 fearlessly declares it as his settled conviction 
 that very much more than has yet been accom- 
 plished might, and should promptly be done for 
 its funds. No Society that at present adorns 
 and elevates the character of our beloved country 
 is more important, and none exists better calcu- 
 lated to be extensively and lastingly beneficial. 
 
 That Britain may soon become ** a holy na- 
 tion, a peculiar people," and consequently be 
 still more abundantly " zealous of good works," 
 and that this publication may, in some humble 
 measure, conduce to so desirable an end, is the 
 ardent prayer and hope of 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
f 
 
 
 ^^'^^ ^ 
 
 rifjE HOME MISSIONARY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "The soal, whose sight all-quickening sfrace renews. 
 
 Takes the resemblance of the good she views; 
 
 As diamonds, stripp'd of their opaque disguise, 
 
 Reflect the noonday glory of tlie skies: 
 
 She speaks of Him, her Author, Guardian, Friend, 
 
 Whose love knew no beginning, knows no end, 
 
 In language warm as all that love inspires, 
 
 And in the glow of her intense desires. 
 
 Pants to communicate her noble fires." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 " O, MY father ! " exclaimed Jairus, as he 
 appeared amidst the family circle, ** pardon the 
 apparently dictatorial language which my feel- 
 ings prompt me to employ; — we must, indeed 
 we must, have family- worship." A tremulous 
 emotion agitated the strongly-excited youth, and 
 prevented further utterance. Duty, fear, and 
 love pervaded his mind in rapid succession, or at 
 once mingled within him their varied and almost 
 overpowering influences. 
 
 B 
 
2 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 It was the close of a peaceful Sabbath-day, of 
 which, without any poetical exaggeration, it might 
 have been said, — 
 
 " If heaven be ever felt below, 
 
 A scene so heavenly, sure, as this 
 May cause a heart on earth to know 
 
 Some foretaste of celestial bliss:" 
 
 when he had just returned from a solemn meet- 
 ing, in which eventide's oblation, rising from the 
 heart in prayer and praise, had ascended to God. 
 His soul had recently realized the rich and sensi- 
 ble enjoyment of pardoning grace ; and as the 
 awful abyss from which, like ** a brand plucked 
 from the burning," he had newly felt himself de- 
 livered, yawned in undisguised horror before his 
 mind's eye, he felt the imminent danger threaten- 
 ing those who gave him birth, and he conse- 
 quently, with the intensest anxiety, sought their 
 salvation. 
 
 Awhile he stood in silence before his beloved 
 parents and the family; his eye, however, ex- 
 pressed the sentiments of deep affection and pow- 
 erful solicitude, which his lips were unable to 
 utter. At length, a bursting flood of tears relieved 
 his oppressed and heaving bosom, and he urged, 
 with all the force of rhetoric, prompted by power- 
 ful feeling, his former request, that a family altar 
 might be erected for the worship of God. **I 
 am welcomed with gratitude and gladness," re- 
 sumed Jairus, " by numerous pious individuals 
 and families whom I visit, and to some of whom 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 3 
 
 I am permitted to indulge the cheering thought, 
 that I have been made an honoured, though hum- 
 ble instrument of saving benefit ; but, amidst the 
 real gratification such a hope is calculated to 
 impart, one thing continues to embitter all my 
 pleasures, and robs me of the high enjoyment 
 I should otherwise possess ; — the afflictive and 
 dejecting consideration that, on returning from 
 those welcome visits of mercy and holy useful- 
 ness, I behold you, my beloved parents, igno- 
 rant and unconcerned about salvation, and our 
 entire household living awfully exposed to the 
 fearful curse denounced by Asaph, that the Lord 
 will "pour out his wrath upon the heathen that 
 have not known him, and upon the families that 
 have not called upon his name." Permit me, 
 therefore, I entreat you, successfully to plead 
 that here the Scriptures of Truth may regularly 
 be read, and a family altar erected." 
 
 Silence succeeded this request. The family in- 
 mates gazed on each other, while symptoms of 
 guilty confusion appeared visible chiefly on the 
 countenances of both the parents. With a view to 
 relieve the embarrassment, Jairus modestly pro- 
 posed that an answer to the request he had 
 made should be deferred until the following 
 evening, when he hoped his parents would at 
 least see the propriety, if they should not feel 
 the importance of compliance. 
 
 This proposal was willingly, although silently 
 agreed to ; and the members of the astonished 
 
4 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 group retired to their several apartments. Jairus 
 alone remained. Sleep pressed not, as yet, upon 
 his eyelids. His mind laboured amidst a variety 
 of contending feelings. Awhile hope fluttered 
 around him, and presented to his imagination 
 the lengthening train of rich and spiritual bless- 
 ings which would descend on his parental abode, 
 on the recognition of a mercy-seat where 
 
 '• Duly, as night came ronnd, or rosy morn 
 Unbarr'd the gates of day, incense mieht rise 
 Of lioly prayer and fervent praise to God." 
 
 Now, fear of a refusal, on the part of his pa- 
 rents, or, at most, a cold and unfeeling assent to 
 his request, oppressed his bosom, and blighted 
 at once, all the blooming prospects to which 
 hope's bright visions had given existence. At 
 length, falling upon his knees, in the deep and 
 sacred solemnity of his feelings, and with the 
 vehemence of holy fervour, and unfolding the 
 word of God before him, he pleaded its encou- 
 raging promises; and, as Abraham wrestled with 
 Jehovah for ungodly Sodom, he urged his peti- 
 tions before the Lord for his parents and bre- 
 thren and sisters after the flesh, earnestly be- 
 seeching that he might be rendered the honoured 
 instrument of banishing practical atheism from 
 his father's house, and of leadins; those throuoh 
 whom he had been brought to see the natural 
 light to behold **the light of the knowledge 
 of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 5 
 
 The tranquillity of faith then possessed his soul, 
 and commending himself and his connexions to 
 the protection of Him '* that keepeth Israel," 
 he retired to enjoy, on his peaceful couch, 
 
 "Tir'd natare's sweet restorer, baliny sleep." 
 
 How delightful is it thus to contemplate, in 
 actual life, an illustration of the truth of Scrip- 
 ture, " He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in 
 God." Not only is love inseparable from the 
 Christian character, but it is the vital spirit of 
 our holy religion; hence, "He that loveth not, 
 knoweth not God, for God is love." That per- 
 son who, calling himself a Christian, still feels 
 no yearnings of soul, nor any commiseration 
 towards those of his fellow-creatures who are 
 still under the condemning and degrading power 
 of sin, makes an unauthorized claim to the reli- 
 gion of the Saviour : or, to employ the language 
 of a distinguished and elegant writer of our 
 day, " He that would not compass sea and 
 land, if called to it, to save a soul, has not 
 learned the value of his own." It would be 
 equally improper to call such a man a Christian, 
 as it would be to denominate him a miser who 
 never felt any love for gold. 
 
 No sooner is the soul renewed by the Divine 
 Spirit than it enquires, with the apostle of the 
 Gentiles, ** Lord, what wouldst thou have me to 
 do?" It beholds the *' world lying in wicked- 
 ness," and feels anxious to interest others about 
 
6 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 that salvation of which itself, through grace, has 
 been made a recipient, by directing them to Him 
 who "came into the world to seek and to save 
 that which was lost." The sphere of such a 
 man's operation is that occupied by the imme- 
 diate connexions to whom, by the ties of blood, 
 he stands related, and also by the particular 
 circle amidst which, by the allotment of Provi- 
 dence, he is called to move. If found in the 
 bosom of a family where religion, even in form, 
 is not known, there all the energies of constrain- 
 ing Christian affection, and all the arduous and 
 ceaseless exertions which the word of wisdom 
 dictates, are employed by him ; and, in reference 
 to these especially, it may be said that he en- 
 deavours 
 
 "By tears, entreaties, prayers, to save, 
 And snatch them from the gaping grave. " 
 
 Such was the present situation of Jairus, and 
 such also were the views and feelings by which 
 his whole conduct was now regulated : by day 
 and night, he had, even with tears, sought their 
 salvation. Unspotted morality, even to conduct 
 wholly unimpeachable, characterized the entire 
 family. Indeed, nothing was more abhorrent 
 from their feelings than injustice or immorality in 
 any respect. The claims of misery were never 
 disregarded by them when they possessed ability 
 to attend to its plaintive solicitations. The cham- 
 ber of the sick and the couch of the dying, they 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 7 
 
 visited with alacrity and pleasure, to fulfil such 
 duties as humanity required, and to which they 
 were urged by the sensibilities of their nature. 
 
 With all these, and many other valuable quali- 
 ties which externally adorned them, one thing 
 was wanting — and one for which all others could 
 not compensate or make atonement — love to 
 GOD. The actions they performed, though ap- 
 parently good, indeed, in themselves, were still 
 not regarded as good by Him who "judges not 
 according to appearance," but by the rule of 
 ''righteous judgment;" and who thus saw that 
 they proceeded from an unholy — a selfish prin- 
 ciple. They were, consequently, " going about 
 to establish their own righteousness, " not having 
 "submitted themselves to the righteousness of 
 God ; " and were thus vainly seeking to "be jus- 
 tified by the deeds of the law." Jairus saw, and 
 wept, and trembled for their danger, while they 
 were relying upon their own imperfect works 
 instead of "the blood of the atonement." 
 
 The morning arrived of the day to which the 
 anxious youth had deferred the momentous i/es 
 or no, in answer to his filial petition. The same 
 unabated ardour animated his soul, while in his 
 morning supplications he exclaimed in devout 
 agony, addressing himself to God, "O that my 
 parents and family might live before thee!" 
 The thought was too distressing to be allowed 
 long to occupy his mind, that the awful possi- 
 bility existed that either or both of his beloved 
 
8 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 parents might be lost for ever ! or that the part- 
 ners of his childhood might not be sharers of 
 his own hoped-for heaven. The impression, how- 
 ever, which the thought had produced strongly 
 excited his mind, and operated as a stimulus to 
 his desires, urging him onward in prosecuting his 
 benevolent design. He wished for, and still half- 
 dreaded the return of evening. A short time 
 only had yet elapsed since he began to exercise 
 in public the talent given him, by leading the 
 devotions of others. Hence, a degree of false 
 shame, not wholly unaccompanied by timidity, 
 naturally struggled within him at the thought 
 of taking the lead in the devotional services of 
 the family, before his parents and the other 
 members of the household, supposing they should 
 accede to his wishes. These feelings, however, 
 were but of short duration ; he determined to 
 follow the path of duty marked out before him 
 by conscience and the word of God, and leave 
 to Him the result, to whom he could appeal to 
 vindicate the purity of the motives by which he 
 was now influenced. Evening returned — supper 
 was spread upon the table, around which the 
 family took their seats: the repast was finished, 
 the cloth was removed ; and now, Jairus, full of 
 anxiety, waited awhile for the movement of the 
 household. As no intimation was given of any 
 reference to the subject upon which his soul was 
 set, he diffidently requested whether an answer 
 could then be given to his last evening's ques- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 9 
 
 tion. All attempts to describe either his own 
 feelings or those of the family would be idle, 
 and might be considered by the unimaginative 
 only as a highly-wrought poetic fiction got up 
 to produce etFect. For some time, the father 
 gazed on his son in thoughtful silence : his mind 
 had been deeply affected by the request which 
 he had made. The recent conduct of Jairus had 
 been particularly noticed ; and his father had ob- 
 served how closely his conversation and manners 
 corresponded with his profession ; and, while in- 
 dulging his own private and unnoticed observa- 
 tions and reflections, he became powerfully con- 
 vinced of some change, for which he could not 
 account, having taken place within him. Aware 
 that he was naturally hasty and impetuous in 
 his disposition, his father had noticed with won- 
 der the meek and lovely spirit which he had 
 lately, on all occasions, displayed : hence, while 
 such reflections exercised his attention, convic- 
 tion fastened upon his mind ; and the favourable 
 moment had now arrived, when, through the in- 
 strumentality of his son, he was to be taght 
 the way of God more perfectly. 
 
 He continued, awhile, to look upon him, with- 
 out making any reply ; displaying, indeed, ** a 
 countenance more in sorrow than in anger," 
 until his growing feelings, forbidding any longer 
 control, bore all before them ; and, giving un- 
 restrained liberty to his emotions, he exclaimed, 
 while the tears, with which his eyes were suf- 
 c 
 
10 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 fused, plentifully bedewed his aged cheeks, " O, 
 Jairus, my beloved Jairus, while I feel proud of 
 such a son, I blush almost to look upon you." 
 He could add no more, articulation for the mo- 
 ment failed him, and he hid his face in his hands. 
 Astonishment ran through the whole company, 
 and the mother blended her tears with those of 
 her weeping- partner. 
 
 Jairus was the first who recovered from the 
 surprise into which so unexpected a scene had 
 thrown them. Silently, for a short period, he 
 looked on, and breathed out his gratitude to 
 God for what he had just seen and heard: and 
 then, seizing a hand of each of his still weeping 
 parents, he pressed them to his lips, and, while 
 the fast-flowing tears of joy and filial affection 
 gushed from his own eyes, he replied, " You 
 know not, my beloved parents, by what unut- 
 terable happiness my soul is, at this moment, 
 animated. Long, very long, have I prayed in 
 secret for your salvation ; and God, I trust, 
 has heard and answered my supplications." 
 
 " I hope, nay, I doubt not, he has," rejoined 
 the father. "But for those prayers, and your 
 example, under God, we had still, as in former 
 days, continued * ignorant and out of the way ;' 
 and, at last, we should have perished, even 
 while delusive hopes of heaven might have pos- 
 sessed us. O, how boundless," continued he, 
 lifting his still streaming eyes, and raising his 
 clasped hands towards heaven, " O, how bound- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 11 
 
 less is the love of that Being who has stooped 
 to invite and beseech rebels to be reconciled to 
 himself, and who encourages every trembling 
 sinner, by declaring, * Him that cometh unto 
 me, I will in nowise cast out.' But to your 
 mother and myself this love must surely appear 
 greater than to any others ; for, while we de- 
 layed, nay, refused to come, he sent you, my 
 Jairus, to conduct us to himself." 
 
 "And I hope," added the mother, casting a 
 look of tenderest affection around upon the fa- 
 mily, " I hope to bring with us his brothers and 
 sisters too." 
 
 This was too powerful an appeal to the feel- 
 ings of the juvenile part of the family to be 
 resisted ; and George, a younger brother, who 
 had hitherto sat a silent spectator of the mov- 
 ing scene, leaning on the lap of his mother, 
 rather astonished than affected, yielding to the 
 irrepressible emotions of nature, mingled his sobs 
 and tears with those of the rest of the group, 
 and exclaimed, *'0, brother Jairus, pray that 
 every one of us may become good, and go to 
 heaven with you and father and mother." 
 
 Never was a request made to Jairus to which 
 he attended with higher feelings of "pleasure 
 unalloyed and pure," than to that which the 
 simplicity of childhood had prompted George 
 to make. The family folio was immediately 
 taken down, and the dust wiped from its vene- 
 rable cover. Too long had it occupied in the 
 
12 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 house a station rather of ornament than use ; 
 or, if of any use at all, it had merely served 
 the purpose of a family Albujn, on the first 
 blank page of which, stood registered the births, 
 marriages, and deaths of numerous relatives, 
 together with various other memoranda of im- 
 portance, and of a sort of semi-sacred character. 
 
 Jairus opened the Holy Volume, and, silently 
 breathing from his heart a fervent prayer for 
 the Divine blessing, he read with solemnity a 
 suitable portion of its contents ; and, as he 
 went on, he attempted, with united simplicity 
 and earnestness, to explain and apply the sa- 
 cred text. The original fall of man, his total 
 depravity, redemption by the mediation of 
 Christ, the nature and necessity of Divine in- 
 fluence, and the subjects of Faith, Repentance, 
 Pardon, and Holiness, by turns, engaged his 
 attention ; and upon each of these important 
 topics, he spoke as one who had not only han- 
 dled *' the word of life," but who had felt 
 '* the powers of the world to come." 
 
 Thus, unintentionally, and, to himself, un- 
 consciously, he first appeared, in his father's 
 parlour, a preacher of the Gospel, before an 
 auditory for whose everlasting interests he felt 
 emotions as powerful, perhaps, as the human 
 heart could possibly cherish. 
 
 The chapter being concluded, Jairus, as the 
 priest of the family, presented their evening 
 oblation to the Lord. All knelt, sincerely and 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 13 
 
 reverentially, before the newly-raised family 
 altar, around which angels, doubtless, invisibly 
 hovered with an extacy which angels alone can 
 know. With a pathos and fervour peculiar to 
 himself, he poured out the unpremeditated effu- 
 sions of his heart, as "the Spirit gave him 
 utterance." With unfeigned humility and con- 
 trition of soul, like another Nehemiah, he con- 
 fessed and deplored the transgressions of him- 
 self and the family ; with lively faith he as- 
 sailed the throne of mercy and grace, and urged 
 the blood of Christ, as the exclusive plea for 
 pardon and salvation ; and then, with thank- 
 fulness, acknowledged, in language expressive 
 of lively gratitude, the unnumbered blessings of 
 which they were, and long had been, the un- 
 deserving recipients ; and affectionately com- 
 mending the family, himself, and the world, to 
 God, he gave demonstrative evidence that 
 prayer, to him, was no strange employment; 
 but that, like Jacob, he had frequently "wrest- 
 led with God;" and, like him, "prevailed." 
 
14 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Scripture is still a trumpet to his fears ; 
 What none can prove a forgery may be true, 
 What none but bad men wish exploded must : 
 That scruple checks him. Riot is not loud 
 Nor drink enough to drown it. In the midst 
 Of laughter his compunctions are sincere; 
 And he abhors the jest by which he shines. 
 Remorse begets reform." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 Perhaps the most eventful and dangerous 
 portion of man's being, as a probationer for 
 another world, is the season of his youth. While 
 animal health and vigour continue strong, and 
 his spirits almost unbridled and unbroken, 
 phantoms of pleasure flit before him in all the 
 magic of their most fascinating charms; and, 
 urged by the highly excited feelings of feverish 
 imagination, less disposed to moralize than to 
 enjoy, he is easily and powerfully allured to 
 enter upon the paths of error. And this lia- 
 bility to danger is most commonly increased in 
 exact proportion as the individual possesses na- 
 tive talent, a lively imagination, and pleasing 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 15 
 
 address ; or as he is the subject of an inclina- 
 tion (and who is altogether without it?) to 
 listen favourably to flattering applause. Gifted 
 with qualifications so eminently calculated to 
 amuse and interest, such characters become a 
 twofold snare, both to others and to themselves. 
 Their company is eagerly sought after, press- 
 ing invitations are tendered to them, and plans 
 are devised and prosecuted, to seduce and en- 
 snare their unwary steps, in cases where, other- 
 wise, it would be difficult to secure their ready 
 compliance with the wishes of their friends. 
 
 Such had been the circumstances of Jairus : 
 and while his history furnishes a fearful picture 
 of the snares by which youth is surrounded, his 
 preservation and deliverance demonstrate, as 
 evidently, the watchful regard of a gracious 
 Providence. Placed, in early life, in a seminary 
 near the metropolis, he was enabled, during the 
 hours of relaxation from academical pursuits, to 
 possess himself, in abundance, of that delusive 
 and demoralizing species of literary poison, 
 called Romances, Novels, Tales, &c. From 
 this course, his mind became wild and enthu- 
 siastic, and he, already, although but a strip- 
 ling little more than twelve years old, con- 
 ceived himself equal to some of the heroes of 
 the tales he had perused : he, therefore, sighed 
 for adventures improbable as theirs, and such, 
 not only as real life never experienced, but as 
 are mere caricatures and burlesques upon earthly 
 
16 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 existence itself. In addition to these evils, he 
 had frequently been permitted, during the vaca- 
 tions, and while visiting his friends, to attend 
 a country theatre, of which entertainment he 
 became passionately fond ; and twice he had 
 also been taken by his father to two of the 
 London Houses, to witness the histrionic talents 
 of Master Betty, then known to the world by 
 the title of *'The young Roscius." There the 
 oil of gratification was poured on the enkindled 
 embers of romantic ardour. The splendour of 
 the houses, the crowds of company, the capti- 
 vating charms of music, the dazzling scenery, 
 and the commanding talents of the performers, 
 all conspired to transport his mind to the un- 
 substantial and seductive region of fancy, and 
 to inflame the passions of his fallen nature by 
 the intoxicating and destructive pleasures of the 
 world. He returned to his studies, but his 
 heart was far less engaged in them than for- 
 merly. The celebrity which Master Betty had 
 attained, and the prodigal and unprecedented 
 measure of eulogy heaped upon him by an in- 
 sane populace, wrought powerfully, and, for a 
 time, perilously, upon the ardent feelings of 
 young Jairus. 
 
 " His mind was wilder'd by the glare of fame. 
 All now he wish'd for was — a player's name." 
 
 His leisure hours, from this period, were em- 
 ployed in reading and studying the principal 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 17 
 
 parts of those tragedies in which the Young Ros- 
 cius played with so much effect. Happily for him, 
 no opportunity occurred for him to try his ability 
 on the boards of the theatre: and, therefore, the 
 idle project which he had foolishly cherished, 
 was, at length, abandoned; only, however, for 
 the adoption of another, in the same department, 
 as the progress of his history will unfold. 
 
 The Midsummer vacation arrived, and a visit 
 to some of his relations in town gave a new 
 impetus to his theatrical phrenzy. The family 
 which he was visiting had, indeed, assumed the 
 Christian name ; but the reason why, had the 
 question been put to them, they would, in all 
 probability, have been unable to produce; ex- 
 cept, indeed, on ground unsolid as that on 
 which they would have rested their claims to 
 be called Mussulmans, had they been born in 
 Turkey, or Papists, had they first drawn breath 
 in any part of the earth subject to the Sovereign 
 Pontiff. The genuine religion of Him whose 
 name they falsely bore was not, even in pro- 
 fession, known by them. The splendid train 
 of gaiety filled the drawing-room on the even- 
 ings of every successive day, while the enervating 
 viands of luxury covered the loaded tables. The 
 Sabbath-day, like every other, was vilely squan- 
 dered and abused ; as, indeed, it appeared to be 
 known as such only by a suspension of the active 
 affairs of public life. Pleasure and parties uni- 
 ted to drown reflection, and huiTy their infatu- 
 
 D 
 
18 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 ated votaries into the vortex of dissipation, and 
 to sink them into the gulf of eternal misery. 
 
 Here, a very clever young man, an upper-ser- 
 vant in the family, became the almost constant 
 companion of Jairns, the affability and freeness of 
 whose disposition secured for him, from Robert, 
 the kindest attentions ; while those attentions pro- 
 duced a similar influence in favour of the person 
 from whom they proceeded. With him, he ram- 
 bled about London and its environs, witnessed 
 its vanities, wondered at its splendour, and, with 
 all the enthusiasm of a devotee at the shrine 
 of pleasure, drank into its spirit. 
 
 On the evening of a sultry day, in the begin- 
 ning of August, after a fearful tempest of thunder 
 and lightning, (a cause by which the feelings 
 of Jairus were always considerably affected,) he 
 took up a night-quadrant which lay near him, 
 and on his looking through it, the whole visible 
 atmosphere presented him with a most awful ap- 
 pearance. A lurid fiery sheet seemed to cover 
 the heavens, excepting, here and there, a huge 
 murky space, which appeared to increase the 
 horror excited by the awful scene. These ap- 
 pearances were occasioned partly by the colour 
 and defective qualities of the glass, and partly 
 by the nervous agitation of his feelings, aroused 
 by the recent storm. 
 
 The day ha^d been extremely hot, so much so 
 as to produce oppressive breathing. No fanning 
 zephyr relieved the sickly atmosphere, or re- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 19 
 
 moved the clammy dampness which rested on 
 the aching forehead. A sudden and overpower- 
 ing tremor seized Jairus as he gazed on the fear- 
 ful spectacle ; and, like the impious Belshazzar, 
 when he beheld the lingers of a man's hand- 
 writing on the wall of his palace, " the joints 
 of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote 
 one against another." Already, in imagination, 
 he beheld passing before him, as in solemn re- 
 ality, the sublime descriptions of the poet — 
 
 "The cloud-capp'd towers, the goreeous palaces. 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Vea, all that it inherit, shall dissolve. 
 And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 Leave not a wreck behind ! " 
 
 This awful impression fearfully alarmed him. 
 Those scenes of vanity in which he had been 
 indulging himself, and which had afforded him 
 some merely fleeting gratification, now assumed 
 a different character in his estimation. He felt 
 that, however such empty delights might amuse, 
 in life and thoughtlessness, they could not com- 
 fort the soul, with eternity and judgment full in 
 view. An inexpressible sense of misery almost 
 crushed him with its weight ; and he knew not 
 where to look for help, or how to relieve himself 
 from the oppressive load. To fly from himself 
 was impossible ; thought returned afresh with 
 increased power after every attempted repulse, 
 and conscience alarmed and condemned, him. 
 Of Christ he had never heard, at least, not 
 
20 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 as a Saviour ** able to save to the uttermost 
 all them that come unto God by Him." His 
 name had commonly been mentioned in his 
 hearing, either in blasj3hemy or derision. Where 
 to flee, he was ignorant : no refuge appeared, 
 nor was any friendly retreat presented, to which 
 he might repair for safety. Had some kind 
 Christian friend or any minister of the Gos- 
 pel been present at this season, to inform and 
 relieve his bewildered, yet enquiring, mind, with 
 what eager gladness would he, doubtless, have 
 listened to that ** faithful saying which is wor- 
 thy of all acceptation J that Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners ; " and that He 
 is is a refuge and a hiding-place— a covert from 
 the tempest and the storm, as well as "a very 
 present help in time of trouble ; " and thus 
 proving himself "mighty to save." But, alas! 
 no man was near that "cared for his soul;" no 
 messenger was with him, "an interpreter, one 
 among a thousand ; " and, consequently, in his 
 ignorance, he endeavoured to derive repose from 
 the dangerous but too common opiate, by form- 
 ing resolutions, and making secret promises of 
 future amendment ; and thus, by a purposed 
 reformation of life, and the rigid performance 
 of self-imposed austerities, by way of penance, 
 he hoped to recommend himself to God. 
 
 Thus purposing, he retired into secrecy, to 
 repeat those prayers which, during the days of 
 infancy, he had been taught in the nursery, and 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 21 
 
 which he had been in the habit, when nothing 
 occasioned him to forget it, of saying by rote. 
 Each morning's returning light beheld him on 
 Iiis knees, in retirement, reading the Scriptures, 
 which he had now obtained ; and with servile 
 fear, like a trembling slave, or, in the conceited 
 pride of pharisaical boldness, he presented his 
 offering for acceptance on the altar of his per- 
 sonal merit. 
 
 An external change, also, to a certain extent, 
 became observable in him, and the unaccountable 
 alteration attracted the attention of his friends ; 
 and while he vehemently inveighed against the 
 follies of the world, and especially those of his 
 former pursuits, and his attachment to theatrical 
 amusements, they pitied his delirium, or laughed 
 at his weakness. 
 
 The period arrived that had been tixed for 
 his return to his parental abode, and Jairus bid 
 adieu to the gay and giddy scenes of London, 
 determining in his own mind to be no more 
 entangled in their ensnaring bands. But, ah ! he 
 knew not the deceitfulness of sin ; those feelings 
 were " like the morning cloud," and his deter- 
 minations "as the early dew, which soon pass 
 away." He was as yet ignorant of Satan's devi- 
 ces and the depravity of his own heart: he cried 
 "peace, peace," when God had not spoken 
 peace. He still carried about with him all the 
 natural elements of enmity to God and Christ : 
 his former acquaintance poured in upon him ; 
 
22 JARIUS; OR, THE 
 
 courtesy demanded a polite attention to them ; 
 and, in proportion as the impressions which had 
 lately depressed his animal spirits lost their 
 strength, so did his former engagements and 
 delights present themselves to his view, as harm- 
 less, lawful, nay, absolutely necessary, to the 
 proper enjoyment of life. 
 
 Conscience was thus for a while disregarded, 
 or compelled for a season to suspend its faithful 
 admonitions. The impressions, however, of his 
 real state were not wholly effaced. There were 
 occasions, and they were not few^ when they 
 presented themselves in opposition to his wishes. 
 But, as yet, the partial light which his mind had 
 received was scarcely perceptible amid the dark- 
 ness by which it was surrounded. 
 
 His former passion for the stage revived with 
 gradual, and almost imperceptible influence. 
 Still, several insurmountable difiiculties obstruct- 
 ed the way to his entering upon, what he fancied, 
 so delightful a road to fame and glory. He there- 
 fore relinquished entirely, although reluctantly, 
 the fascinating idea ; and, with it, even the hope 
 of becoming a player. He, however, determined 
 that he would supply the place of such gratifi- 
 cation by commencing author for the stage, and 
 emulate the genius of Shakspeare himself. 
 
 This new project, as soon as formed, he began 
 to execute. Now, midnight's silent hour, and 
 the early dawn, frequently found him lost in deep 
 cogitation, or eagerly embracing some new-born 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 23 
 
 thought, and dressing the fugitive foundling in 
 tlie choicest ornaments which his mental ward- 
 robe furnished. 
 
 While the sports of the field called together 
 the youthful bands with which, until now, he had 
 closely associated, to display their agility and 
 skill, or while the beauties of nature invited and 
 allured others abroad, where 
 
 "Admiration, feeding at the eye. 
 And still onsated, feasts upon the scene," 
 
 or, 
 
 " To soothe and satisfy the human ear. 
 
 Ten thousand warblers cheer the closins; day," 
 
 Jairus eagerly sought his loved lone study, and, 
 after considerable toil, produced his firstling. 
 This was submitted to the inspection of a literary 
 gentleman, with whom he had recently formed 
 an acquaintance. Flattery, that poison of the 
 mind, was inconsiderately and copiously admi- 
 nistered, and the genius of the author was most 
 oppressively lauded. The production, however, 
 which had thus been ushered into being, from 
 the airy cranium of the young aspirant after 
 fame, was presented in the simple, unattractive 
 garb of prose ; but, as blank-verse (maugre all 
 the strong and serious objections urged by the 
 great lexicographer, Johnson, to that species of 
 composition) better suits the Melpomene muse, 
 whose inspiration Jairus had invoked, the advice 
 and instruction of his friend were thankfully 
 received and regarded, and the entire production 
 was, in a short time, recomposed. 
 
24 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 Another and another piece flowed from the pen 
 of the juvenile author ; none, however, had as 
 yet become known beyond the circle of his inti- 
 mate acquaintances ; but from these he received 
 such gratulatious as friendship or ignorance 
 might be supposed to award. 
 
 A periodical publication, at this stage of our 
 newly-created bard's existence, announced to the 
 world that scarce and original songs were much 
 in demand, and that a high price would be given 
 to any who could furnish them. This advertise- 
 ment caught the eye of Jairus, and aroused, into 
 active operation, the poetic feelings of his ro- 
 mantic mind. A volume of original ballads, in 
 manuscript, was, soon afterwards, the result ; for, 
 having some months before this period quitted 
 the academic bowers, his whole time was thus, 
 worse than uselessly, employed. 
 
 While thus busily engaged in his last literary 
 worii, so much to the dishonour of God, as well 
 as to his own injury, he was, through an acci- 
 dent, confined to his chamber; yet, even there, 
 he did not relinquish his favourite pursuit. The 
 ** ruling passion" was strong, even while he was 
 writhing under excruciating pain. He was, one 
 day, deeply involved in thought for the said vo- 
 lume, when a gentleman of his acquaintance 
 called, to enquire after his health. Jairus ob- 
 served him as he approached the house ; and, 
 knowing him to be a steady professor of religion, 
 a blush, for a moment, tinged his cheek, as, with 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 25 
 
 precipitation, he removed the manuscript song- 
 book, and placed open before him the Book of 
 Common Prayer ! By this act he tacitly passed 
 sentence against himself; while he, nevertheless, 
 continued the work which he thus condemned. 
 He appeared to be " led captive by the devil at 
 his will." The words of a heatheji poet, trans- 
 lated and modernized, were, by his conduct, fully 
 and sadly exemplified, — 
 
 " r see the right, and I approve it too. 
 The wrong condemn, and yet the wrong pursue." 
 
 It may, indeed, be asserted that at no period 
 of his life were those vicious and disgraceful 
 crimes which, from youth, degrade the charac- 
 ter of too many, committed, or even approved, 
 by him : but his heart was still at enmity with 
 God ; and if he did not *' run to the same excess 
 of riot'* as others, it was doubtless because those 
 temptations had never come in his way; or ra- 
 ther, because, by the restraining grace of God, 
 he was withheld from indulging in them. His 
 heart, however, as the case just mentioned de- 
 monstrates, was *' deceitful above all things, and 
 desperately wicked." 
 
 "Sincerity, 
 Thou first of virtues, let no mortal leave 
 Thy onward path ! although the earth should gape. 
 And, from the gulph below, destruction cry. 
 To take dissimulation's winding way." 
 
 He soon became convalescent : returning health, 
 
 E 
 
26 JARIUS ; OR, THE 
 
 however, only appeared to bring with it a fresh, 
 and, if possible, a stronger disposition to devote 
 himself to the service of sin, by the abuse of the 
 talents intrusted to his stewardship, in such a 
 way as accorded neither with the law of Him 
 who had benevolently bestowed them, nor with 
 the important and useful purposes to which they 
 were applicable. 
 
 Most towns, in our country, of any note, are, at 
 some season of the year, visited by theatrical 
 performers ; and in not a few of these towns 
 there are regularly licensed buildings for the 
 purpose of such exhibitions; and wherever these 
 are maintained in any thing like prosperity, the 
 fact is incontrovertible, that a degree of crime is 
 found, and that of the rankest description, sur- 
 passing what other towns exhibit : and within the 
 radius of these hotbeds for vice unblushing im- 
 piety attains a vigour and luxuriance of growth 
 which, like the poisonous dews of the Upas tree, 
 pollutes and destroys all that comes in contact 
 with them. If but half, nay, only a tithe, of 
 the zeal and activity which are employed by the 
 abettors of such impious and infectious haunts, 
 were manifested by the friends of Truth and Re- 
 ligion, the beneficial results to our country and 
 the world would surpass all possible calculation. 
 
 The morning of a brighter day already dawns 
 upon our land; the discouraging circumstances 
 of our metropolitan theatres, the loud complaint 
 of the want of natural and acquired talent, the 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 27 
 
 divisions and hostilities among the rival places, 
 and the announcement of no less than eighty- 
 four playhouses for sale in England, must diffuse 
 gladness through the hearts of those who sincere- 
 ly pray, '*Thy kingdom come." 
 
 In Jairus's native town, at the period to which 
 we refer, a theatre existed ; (even that, however, 
 by the active exertions of a highly respectable 
 minister has since been converted into an excel- 
 lent school-room, on the Lancasterian plan ;) and 
 a circumstance of a public nature having made a 
 demand upon his pen, he furnished *'aw occa- 
 sional songy' which the manager of the theatre, 
 in the character of a British Sailor, sung on two 
 several nights. Inflated with vanity, by the ap- 
 plouse which this received, he wrote, and pre- 
 sented to the same person, a musical after-piece 
 in two acts, intending, by this means, to make 
 way for his larger pieces, two or three of which 
 he now had by him. But here, the restraining 
 providence of God was signally displayed; for, 
 after some weeks, the piece was returned to the 
 author, without having been performed, because 
 (as the caterer for the public taste reported) of 
 its similarity to a play already on the stage; 
 which, however, there are solid grounds for be- 
 lieving was not the true reason, which, it is more 
 than probable, was a desire to obtain, by copy, 
 the work in a cheaper way, than by purchase. 
 
 The talents of Jairus, as a writer of ballads, 
 had become celebrated: no circumstance occur- 
 
28 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 red, but they were put into requisition: both 
 friends and fancied enemies shared in the ready 
 turns of his wit, in the way either of playful 
 raillery or caustic satire; while, to himself, it 
 became a source of imminent danger; and his 
 total ruin was, by a miracle of grace, alone, 
 prevented. 
 
 A certain satellite of the vagrant company 
 already referred to, whose attractive vocal powers 
 had gained him considerable popularity in the 
 town and vicinity, heard, by some means, of the 
 manuscript volume of songs which Jairus pos- 
 sessed. A strong desire to get them, if possible, 
 into his own hands induced him to employ every 
 method which his crafty invention could devise. 
 Unconscious of the ruinous snare which was art- 
 fully laid for him by the hero of the buskin, he 
 was, as usual, seated with the other members of 
 the family, at dinner, when a gentleman was an- 
 nounced who expressed a wish to be favoured 
 with an interview with him. He immediately 
 left the table, and hasted to give the desired 
 audience, when to his astonishment, on the in- 
 troduction of the *^ gentleman,'' the sallow coun- 
 tenance and threadbare coat of the strolling 
 singer met his distended visual organs. 
 
 Jairus received him with courtesy, and, in a 
 few moments, felt his vanity gratified by the at- 
 tention paid to him, and the well-turned compli- 
 ments presented by the pseudo-gentleman. The 
 purport of his visit, after certain preliminaries 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 29 
 
 / 
 
 dictated by good breeding had been passed 
 through, was announced, which was to inform 
 Jairus that a few select friends were, on an ap- 
 pointed evening, to meet at the B inn, where 
 
 they intended to devote the closing hours of the 
 day to conviviality, — alias, to Bacchus; which 
 meeting he was solicited to favour with his com- 
 pany; and, at the same time, it was delicately 
 stated that his talents had been a subject of fre- 
 quent conversation among his friends, many of 
 whom, with himself, would feel the favour of his 
 attendance greatly enhanced by his bringing with 
 him the manuscript songs of which they had 
 heard. 
 
 Well might we tremble for Jairus : his feet, in- 
 deed, stood in slippery places. The disciples of 
 infidelity and adepts in vice sought and entreat- 
 ed his company, and, before the emissary of 
 wickedness and mischief departed, Jairus gave 
 him the promise of his presence. 
 
 Into what danger are we not likely and almost 
 certain to fall, when we heedlessly go forth, 
 leaning to our own understanding : how neces- 
 sary is the enquiry, *' Wherewithal shall a young 
 man cleanse his way ?" and how satisfactory the 
 answer, " By taking heed thereto, according to 
 thy word." But Jairus had now forgotten the 
 word of the Lord, he had cast it behind his 
 back; and eagerly he pursued the phantom which 
 flitted before his excited imagination, but the 
 ** airy nothing" failed to fill his anxious grasp. 
 
30 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 The appointed evening came, when he was to 
 go to the nocturnal revel. To such meetings he 
 was an entire stranger, and, consequently, a 
 something similar to hesitancy, and very much 
 like a wish not to attend this, struggled within 
 him, and, more than once, he questioned the 
 propriety of compliance. Again and again he 
 wished the appointment had not been made. 
 His enlightened understanding and half-awaken- 
 ed conscience convinced him it was wrong, and 
 thus made him wretched. Reflection had now 
 taken such a hold of him that he could not 
 readily get rid of its grasp, so that his mind was 
 brought into a sort of state of equilibrium. 
 
 To go, or not to go, that was the question j 
 Whether 'twere better, in the mind, to suffer 
 The stings which an eniighten'd conscience gave. 
 Or, by a wise resolve, at once to break 
 The spell that bound him, and, so, be at ease:— 
 
 when the thought occurred to him that he had 
 promised, and, therefore, he ought to go; besides, 
 his doing so lay directly, as he fancied, in his 
 way to the temple of fame, and, therefore, he 
 must go. 
 
 With what ingenuity does the perverse iclll 
 seek for reasons to sanction and defend practices 
 against which the judgment often raises the voice 
 of disapproval, and how easily are we, therefore, 
 induced to adopt those measures to which a pre- 
 judiced inclination may dispose us, even when 
 conviction strongly opposes such a course ; so 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 31 
 
 little seems to be the trouble of surmounting dif- 
 ficulties, when our depraved propensities prompt 
 and pursue the plan. 
 
 The deepening shades of night contracted the 
 circle of vision, and every moment rendered the 
 face of nature and the habitations of man in- 
 creasingly indistinct, when the time, the half- 
 dreaded time, came for Jairus to mix with the 
 society of those who *' love darkness rather than 
 light." He left his abode of comparative peace 
 and tranquillity, and hasted to the disorderly 
 party. The room in which they usually met was 
 spacious and brilliantly illuminated, and already 
 the crowded company had taken their places. At 
 the further end of the apartment, and immediate- 
 ly opposite the entrance, there appeared a highly- 
 raised throne, surmounted by a gaudy canopy, 
 the front of which was emblazoned with emble- 
 matical figures, encompassing a circular motto, 
 in letters of gold — " sacred to the sons of 
 HARMONY." Several steps, of easy ascent, con- 
 ducted to the royal seat, on which lounged a 
 swollen creature who might easily have been 
 taken for dissipation and disease personified; 
 his companions denominated him, " most no- 
 ble GRAND." On each side of him, in antique 
 arm-chairs, sat his prime-ministers, looking like 
 Want and Despair, and distinguished by the 
 high-sounding titles of *' noble," and "vice 
 noble grand;" while, ranged in such kind of 
 order as well comported with the character of 
 
32 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 the assembly, were spread over an area, before 
 the throne, the subjects of the presiding sove- 
 reign. 
 
 Jairus had not reached the place in time to 
 witness the enthronization, and was, therefore, 
 ignorant of the ceremonies accompanying that 
 imposing rite. The right hand of the *' Most 
 noble Grand'' held a small wooden hammer, 
 similar to those used by auctioneers, with which 
 he frequently struck against the seat of his 
 throne, when the confused hubbub of the unruly 
 multitude demanded it, or when the obstreperous 
 roaring of a quarrelsome individual required royal 
 interference. In his left hand, he grasped a long 
 earthen tube, which might have been taken for a 
 sceptre, or, at least, for something denoting roy- 
 alty, had it not been observed that each of his 
 prime ministers, and even every one of his sub- 
 jects, bore a similar instrument, one end of which, 
 some most sagaciously placed in their mouths, 
 while others, during a clamorous roar, brandish- 
 ed theirs wildly above their heads, with gesticu- 
 lations so novel and ludicrous as might quickly 
 have prompted a nervous visiter to make a hasty 
 retreat, even though it had been by the window, 
 not doubting that several cases of aggravated 
 lunacy appeared before him. 
 
 Scarcely had Jairus put his head within the 
 entrance of the royal apartment, before an al- 
 most suffocating fume, which issued in rising 
 clouds from the said tubes of clay, assailed. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 33 
 
 alike, his eyes and powers of breathing. He was 
 hastily retreating, to recover his sight, which he 
 had almost lost the faculty of using, as well as to 
 recruit his nearly disabled respiration, and, in 
 fact, under the influence of a more than half- 
 formed determination to leave these offensive 
 orgies altogether, when he was recalled by a 
 familiar and significant beck from one of these 
 select friends y who, with all the politeness of bar- 
 barism, and accompanying the invitation by a 
 suitable action, seized him by the hand with the 
 grasp of a bear, and, hurrying him to the foot of 
 the throne, presented him as a bashful son of 
 conviviality. Jairus was immediately received 
 by a gracious notice from the royal seat, which 
 filled him with more fear than confidence. A 
 scene so strange and unruly, presented, in the 
 liveliest possible manner, to his poetic mind, a 
 sort of living portrait of the interior of Milton's 
 pandaemonium, where 
 
 " Devils, with devils damn'd, firm concord hold." 
 
 "Make him, Dick," roared out the "Most 
 noble Grand" to one of his supporters, "he's a 
 hearty chum." — " I don't know as how we may, 
 Sam," vociferated " Despair," — " But, if the 
 gemman wishes it, we'll :" — " O, by no means," 
 hastily interrupted the alarmed and trembling 
 Jairus, who expected nothing less, than that some 
 dreadful operation was about to be performed 
 upon his body. — " I fear, gentlemen," he conti- 
 
 F 
 
34 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 nued, as well as his fluttering heart would allow 
 him, ** I fear I have made a mistake, — I beg 
 pardon, 1 was invited to a meeting of ^select 
 friendSy this evening, and have, I believe, en- 
 tered the wrong room." — **No pologies, my fine 
 fellow," exclaimed the throned being, ** we are 
 all selectable friends, here, and well met; and, 
 now I remember," continued he, and looking full 
 in Jairus's face, with most knowing observation, 
 
 *'you are the chap, I suppose, what Jack T 
 
 invited. He told us you'd be here; he's got a 
 pointment this here evening, and, so, can't come, 
 
 but," " Silence, for a song" from half-a 
 
 dozen voices in a distant part of the room, di- 
 verted the attention of the "Most noble Grand" 
 
 from Jairus, " Silence, gentlemen, for Mr. 
 
 D — 's song ; " and a volley of strokes from the 
 wooden hammer quieted for the time the head- 
 distracting uproar. During the discordant notes 
 of the chorister, — (the clerk of the parish- 
 church,) — Jairus, sitting in silence, surveyed the 
 motley group, presenting an assemblage of old 
 and young, promiscuously mingled together, even 
 from the stripling of sixteen, to the hoary head of 
 sixty. Here, the master-tradesman and the ap- 
 prentice drank at the same table, and (as far as 
 evidence could be obtained from sight and sense 
 concurring to make assurance doubly sure) even 
 the prince of the soot-bag, also. Order and 
 distinction were unknown ; neither age, rank, 
 nor circumstances, appeared to be regarded : the 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 35 
 
 levelling system of modem infidelity was here re- 
 alized and displayed in frightful epitome. Could 
 the most distant possibility ever have existed, that 
 the Divine Being had introduced such confusion 
 into his moral government, then, indeed, the 
 Paines, and Carlisles, and Taylors, of the age, 
 might, with some appearance of propriety, have 
 urged forward the system of Robespierre and his 
 coadjutors. While, however, the very men who 
 arraign the wisdom of the Eternal at the bar of 
 their perverted reason are among the number of 
 those who abet and establish such heterogeneous 
 associations, in defiance, not only of all the pro- 
 hibitions of God, but even to the outrage of 
 secular order and propriety, what must we not 
 think of their system? And the scene here por- 
 trayed is not a solitary one, but a mere sketch of 
 many which, at this hour, are spreading degrada- 
 tion and mischief through our land. 
 
 Jairus shuddered at the appalling spectacle : it 
 neither accorded with his habits nor his inclina- 
 tions. He wished to make a hasty retreat, and, 
 yet, seemed not to possess suflicient power to 
 break the invisible, potent spell by which he was 
 detained. "This is, indeed, a select assembly," 
 thought he, " such as my eyes never before beheld, 
 such as I could never have imagined, and such, 
 especially, as I hope never again to witness ; select- 
 ed from the very dregs of society." Once again 
 he gazed round upon the bacchanalian assembly, 
 as he indulged this soliloquy, and felt wretched. 
 
36 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 He was aroused from his reverie by a tremen- 
 dous roar of applause, expressed in boisterous and 
 discordant "Bravos," accompanied by the clap- 
 ping of hands, thumping on the tables, stamping 
 on the floor, and other equally mad expressions 
 of enthusiastic approbation. The uproar might 
 have been taken for the terrific yell of an Indian 
 war-whoop, or the confounding shout which ac- 
 companies the advances of the ponderous Car of 
 the Idol Juggernaut, rather than from inhabitants 
 of the most enlightened part of the world, and 
 who had assumed the epithet — (Oh! "Tell it 
 not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of As- 
 kelon, lest the uncircumcised rejoice!") — who had 
 assumed the epithet of CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Strong beer and ardent spirits were now, in 
 great quantities, poured down the parched throats 
 of the applauding company, until inebriety, in its 
 magnifying and blinding influences, stole upon the 
 assembly. Some, now, beheld tivo persons, where 
 but one actually existed ; while others could not 
 perceive one, where two were evidently present. 
 
 And, now, almost every pair appeared to be 
 engaged in their separate conversazione, and all 
 seemed, suddenly, to have become logicians, if 
 not of the most subtile, at least, of the most in- 
 flexible, order ; hence, between the singing of 
 loose and ofi'ensive songs, and the loud din of 
 declamation, arising from different disputants, on 
 a variety of subjects, a melange was made up, of 
 the most discordant and injurious character. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 37 
 
 Among a number of other matters of debate 
 which were abruptly lugged into the arena, — 
 Religion and Politics (as is usual on such occa- 
 sions) were paramount; and, as might be expec- 
 ted, were, of course, most sagely discussed. Had 
 Henry and Blackstone been present, or Chalmers 
 and Brougham helped to make up the party, 
 they might have been furnished with matter such 
 as their books do not contain, and have met with 
 ideas of a description with which their craniums 
 were never enriched . 
 
 In the estimation of not a few. Religion was 
 the craft of lazy, lying, tithe-taking parsons ; ac- 
 cording to others, it was well enough in its place : 
 some, wisely and gravely asserted that every man 
 was as he was; and, from such sage premises, 
 they produced equally rational deductions, and 
 argued, most conclusively, that every man pos- 
 sessed a right to do as he pleased ; while others, 
 who were either too ignorant, or too much under 
 the influence of intoxication, to think at all, 
 merely reiterated the noble sentiment, and boist- 
 erously affirmed that to eat, and drink, and en- 
 joy one's self, were the only purposes for which 
 man was made. Amid the contention which pre- 
 vailed, occasioned by the conflicting opinions of 
 the company on minor points, it appeared to 
 the whole an established principle, amounting 
 even to an axiom, that the less Religion and 
 Death were thought of, the more happy life was. 
 With respect to Politics, they did not appear to 
 
38 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 be so perfectly unanimous in their opinions, as 
 in their views of Religion. The existing consti- 
 tution was, indeed, very commendably to be over- 
 turned ; but, then, they could not so readily de- 
 termine on the form of Government by which it 
 could be replaced, so as to satisfy all the dispu- 
 tants. Had it, however, been put to the vote, 
 whether a raonarchial or a republican system were 
 most desirable, it is likely that the Ayes, for the 
 latter, would have overwhelmed the Noes, by 
 dozens. 
 
 The attention of the discordant and clamorous 
 parties was, rather unexpectedly, arrested, and 
 drawn to one point, by the falling of the " Most 
 noble Grand'' from his elevated throne. His 
 unmanageable carcase rolled to the foot of the 
 royal ascent, and was there arrested in its pro- 
 gress by one of the benches on which some of the 
 company sat. 
 
 The beastly president of this state in embryo, 
 like some who have reigned over large and popu- 
 lous countries, had proved his love of ruling to 
 be equalled only by his love of drinking; and, 
 therefore, having taken too many large potations 
 of the intoxicating fluids into his distended body, 
 the stupifying fumes of the much-loved poison 
 had ascended to his brain, and deprived him not 
 only of what small portion of rationality he might, 
 a priori, have laid claim to, but had likewise rob- 
 bed him of the power of maintaining his equili- 
 brium on the seat. He was, however, soon re- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 39 
 
 placed upon the vacated throne, without sustain- 
 ing any other loss than that of a quantity of 
 blood which plentifully flowed from more than 
 one orifice in his face. "Oh," thought Jairus, 
 ** that a man should put an enemy into his 
 mouth, to steal away his senses." His feelings 
 were now excited to their utmost stretch of en- 
 durance ; he could no longer bear to witness the 
 degrading scenes which continued to present 
 themselves : and therefore, rising precipitately 
 from his seat, he sought by immediate flight an 
 escape from the infection of such a moral pest- 
 house, and left the chamber of infamy, disease, 
 and death. 
 
 The silver moon was performing her silent and 
 unclouded course when he reached the street. 
 The spacious arch of heaven was brilliantly illu- 
 minated by glittering gems, more splendid than 
 those of the finest water which adorn the crown 
 of the most mighty monarch. A profound still- 
 ness prevailed around, save only when the hoarse 
 voice of the nightly patrol fell upon the ear. 
 Jairus could not resist the powerful impression 
 produced on his mind by the consideration of the 
 striking difference between the present lovely scene 
 and that which he had just left. For a moment 
 he stood, as if spell-bound, and gazed upon the 
 blue expanse, while his spirit seemed to sympa- 
 thize with the poet's language — 
 
 " How sweet and solemn is this midnigbt scene! 
 The silver moon, unclouded, holds her way 
 
40 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 Throuch skies vvheie I could count each little star ; 
 The fanning west-wind scarcely stirs the leaves; 
 The river, rushing o'er its pebbled bed, 
 Imposes silence with a stilling sound. 
 In such a place as this, at such an hour. 
 If ancestry can be in aught believM, 
 Descending spirits have convers'd with men. 
 And told the secrets of the world unknown." 
 
 His spirits, however, were too much under the 
 influence of unnatural excitement to allow him 
 long to indulge in that calm reflection which the 
 tranquillity and beauty of the scene might other- 
 wise have induced : he therefore, with a hurried 
 step, passed on, as if fearing the pursuit of one 
 or more of the select friends^ the din of whose 
 discordant voices, although gradually becoming 
 fainter, was still heard by him. 
 
 As he entered the abode of his parents, a 
 neighbouring clock proclaimed the hour of mid- 
 night by striking twelve. He hasted to his apart- 
 ment, and sought relief for his bewildered and 
 aching head in the tranquillity of repose. 
 
 Of haunts of vice similar to that from which 
 Jairus had just escaped, many are to be found, 
 not only in the metropolis and its immediate vici- 
 nity, but in almost every large town in the king- 
 dom ; and it is not too much to say of them, that 
 they are the most fruitful sources which can well 
 be conceived of every species of iniquity and de- 
 predation. Here, 
 
 " All learned, and all drunk, they learn 
 The road that leads, from competence and peace, 
 To indigence and rapine; till, at last, 
 Society grows weary of the load. 
 Shakes her encumber'd lap, and casts them off." 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 41 
 
 Issuing from these physical and moral pest- 
 houses, numbers of profligate and prodigal 
 sharpers are ripe for the perpetration of any 
 nefarious practice which can be executed : 
 
 "Quenchless tliirst 
 Ofru'mous inebriety prompts 
 Their every action, and imbrutes the man." 
 
 Not a few, from youths, who, otherwise, might 
 have become the glory of our land, are here 
 allured to disgrace and ruin. 
 
 Young tradesmen of previously promising cha- 
 racter, yet, from their growing fond of company 
 and frantic mirth, join in these disgraceful re- 
 vels, and, neglecting their families and callings, 
 their respectability declines, trade falls off, em- 
 barrassment follows, and, while a rising progeny 
 is ruined, themselves are either committed to pri- 
 son, or, eluding the vigilance of noisy creditors, 
 they commence a course which ends in infamy, or 
 perhaps in death ! 
 
 How repulsive is this picture, (which, however, 
 numerous instances, alas! prove to be too true,) 
 when contrasted with that which Religion presents 
 to our admiring view ! 
 
 Positive statements are confirmed by actual 
 facts, that " The laughter of fools is madness." 
 "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 
 The wise Eastern king, returning from a long, 
 unsuccessful, and dangerous pursuit after happi- 
 ness in present enjoyments or creature good, 
 inscribed upon the monument which stands as a 
 
 G 
 
42 JARIUS; OR, THE 
 
 record of the fallacy of his views — "Vanity of 
 vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit." 
 While, on the contrary, Religion secures to its 
 possessors the solid advantages of both worlds, 
 ''having the promise of the life that now is, and 
 of that which is to come :" the true enjoyment of 
 life, in the present state, with a supply of all 
 things absolutely necessary; and superadded to 
 it, the promise, the immutable promise of that 
 which is to come — eternal life! 
 
 This is the only corrective of all the cares and 
 evils of human existence ; and this can, and it 
 does, either remedy, or render bearable and con- 
 vert into blessings, all the evils which compel 
 man to groan. 
 
 " 'Tis Religion that can give 
 Sweetest pleasures while we live ; 
 'Tis Religion must supply 
 Solid comforts when we die." 
 
 "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 
 paths are peace." 
 
 " Sweet peace she brings wherever she arrives, 
 She builds our quiet as she forms our lives ; 
 Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even, 
 And opens in each breast a little heaven." 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Grace makes the slave a freemaa. 'Tis a change 
 
 That tarns to ridicule the turgid speech 
 
 And stately tone of moralists, who boast, 
 
 As if, like him of fabulous renown. 
 
 They had, indeed, ability to smooth 
 
 The shag of savage nature, and were each 
 
 An Orpheus, and omnipotent in song. 
 
 But, transformation of apostate man, 
 
 From fool to wise, from earthly to divine, 
 
 Is work for Him that made him : He alone 
 
 Achieves the wonder, overpowering strength 
 
 By weakness, and hostility by love." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 There is, in the breast of every man, an 
 accordance or a harmony illustrative and con- 
 firmative of the veracity of the word of God. 
 Not only does the experience of the devoted 
 Christian demonstrate the truth and infallibility 
 of Scriptural declarations; but the sceptic, and 
 infidel, and flagrant blasphemer, both in their 
 consciences and in their lives, furnish arguments 
 in its favour. By the latter, they fulfil the pre- 
 dictions long since made concerning such charac- 
 ters, that *' scoffers would arise ;" and by the 
 
44 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 former, they echo its startling declarations, that 
 *' There is no peace to the wicked," — that ** Many 
 sorrows shall be to them," — and that "The way 
 of transgressors is hard." 
 
 Jairus realized the fact, although, at the time, 
 he was ignorant of the declarations. From broken 
 and restless slumbers, during which he had been 
 scared by terrifying dreams, he arose, languid 
 and unrefreshed. A feverish dryness discoloured 
 his parched lips, his eyes presented a livid and 
 sunken appearance, while his whole demeanour 
 bespoke languor and want of ease. During the 
 hours while he had been stretched upon his bed, 
 "seeking rest and finding none," fancy, in her 
 excursive flights, bore him to dizzy heights, over- 
 hanging fearful precipices, whose bases were not 
 discoverable, adown whose crumbling sides, some 
 fragile shrub awhile delayed his descent, and, 
 the next moment, breaking in his grasp, he seem- 
 ed dashed into the profound abyss ; when, up- 
 starting, with a cry of agony upon his lips, gasp- 
 ing for breath, and bathed in perspiration, he 
 trembled with terror. Again, he composed him- 
 self to sleep, and now, conscience presented be- 
 fore him the sins of former years ; and he beheld 
 them in all their deep-dyed aggravations of num- 
 ber and enormity. The conflagration of the 
 world, the end of all sublunary things, appeared, 
 to his disordered imagination, as having arrived. 
 He saw the devouring element rapidly approach- 
 ing the broken point of earth on which he stood : 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 45 
 
 the dust of the ground, apparently, became brim- 
 stone, and the waters of the sea a fiery lake. 
 He heard the appalling shrieks, the doleful cries, 
 the expiring groans, of those already perishing : 
 still, the sea of fire rolled on, it gained upon his 
 standing ; he attempted to flee from the sight, to 
 close his ears against the sounds, to escape the 
 danger; but the attempt was vain. His agony 
 was intense ; he seemed to be stationary ; some 
 invisible and unconquerable agency detained him. 
 Trembling, with indescribable horror, and covered 
 with death -like sweat, he awoke ; 'twas but a 
 dream ! yet, it might be the presage of some 
 coming evil : like the fingers writing on the walls 
 of Belshazzar's palace, it appeared to indicate 
 something awfully portentous ; and, while his re- 
 collection reviewed the scenes of his vision, he 
 shuddered at the terrifying consideration of that 
 awful day — 
 
 " That day for which all other days were made. 
 That day of dread, decision, and despair;"— 
 
 when, even in the absence of all other proofs of 
 guilt, his conscience would be as a thousand wit- 
 nesses, and God as a thousand consciences. 
 
 All the resolutions which he had formerly made 
 were again summoned to his assistance, with the 
 aid of others, now newly-formed. He purposed, 
 and conceived it possible, with a stronger deter- 
 mination, to carry out his resolves into all the 
 lengths and breadths of positive action ; and, by 
 firmly resisting the allurements of vice, to cease 
 
46 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 from sin altogether ; and, thus, to prepare himself 
 for the event which, he felt assured, must prove 
 inevitable. How many have purposed with simi- 
 lar resolutions, and proved, alas ! with Jairus, 
 that *' To will was present with them, but how to 
 perform that which was good, they found not;" 
 but that all determinations, so made, have been 
 *'like the morning cloud, and, as the early dew, 
 they have passed away." 
 
 It was now the Sabbath-morning — 
 
 " That day of rest, to mortals given, 
 
 To seek the grace which leads to hearen ;"— 
 
 but it was too far advanced to be in timely atten- 
 dance at the morning lecture in the parish church. 
 As a partial atonement, however, for neglecting 
 that service, he decidedly determined upon at- 
 tending the religious exercises of the evening. 
 In the afternoon, although, with a degree of mis- 
 giving of conscience as to the lawfulness of the 
 practice on the Sabbath-day, which God has 
 commanded to be kept holy, he amused himself 
 in strolling amidst the 
 
 "Sequester'd bowers, by nature form'd," 
 
 in a wood, in the vicinity of the town : and, in 
 the evening, he punctually fulfilled the engage- 
 ment into which he had entered with himself, 
 and attended at the established church, where 
 he heard enforced, as a foundation on which to 
 build his hopes of heaven, a routine of rigid 
 morality, to be performed in his own strength, 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 47 
 
 similar to that which he had already laid down ; 
 and in which he purposed to walk. In a good 
 degree, he felt satisfied with himself, and retired 
 from the gothic pile with as much self-compla- 
 cency as if, by attending the house of prayer, he 
 had either done God a service, or, at least, had 
 made some atonement for his former evil conduct. 
 All now, by his own calculations, appeared 
 for a time to bid fair with him for eternal hap- 
 piness : and, as if sailing with favourable wind 
 and tide, he seemed to steer his safe and steady 
 course towards the heavenly harbour; except, 
 indeed, when occasionally he turned his eyes in- 
 ward, or read, in the word of God, the terrifying 
 language — "Cursed is every one that continueth 
 not in all things written in the law, to do them." 
 He then found himself deficient ; he fell short of 
 fulfilling those extensive requirements which the 
 law demands of those who, by it, seek to be saved. 
 Pride, anger, and lusts of various kinds still re- 
 mained and reigned within him. He was in "cap- 
 tivity to the law of sin and death ;" he knew not 
 yet that " Christ is the end of the law for righ- 
 teousness to every one that believeth ;" or that 
 " He was made sin for us, that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God in him," Salvation, by 
 grace alone, through faith in the merits of ano- 
 ther, was a mystery to the very existence of which 
 he was yet an entire stranger. He struggled and 
 toiled to free himself from guilt, and to recom- 
 mend himself to the favour of God : and, like 
 
48 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 young Samuel, who knew not, at first, the voice 
 of the Lord, so Jairus was as yet ignorant of the 
 voice of God which, by conscience, spoke within 
 him. 
 
 His attendance at church now became appa- 
 rently devout, with the strictness of a Pharisee, 
 and somewhat regular also, excepting on certain 
 occasions, when, at the solicitations of some 
 youthful acquaintances, from whom he had not 
 yet separated himself, or, when led away by the 
 attractive scenery of nature, aided by the alluring 
 influence of an unclouded summer's-evening sky, 
 he strayed to where 
 
 " The wholesome airs, richly perfum'd with sweets. 
 And groves, harmonious with the song of birds. 
 Tempted th' unstable mind to rove abroad 
 T' regale the senses, and amuse the ear." 
 
 After the cheerless formalities of the day of 
 God spent in church services, wearisome to the 
 flesh, and burdensome in the extreme where the 
 heart is not engaged, Jairus was in the habit of 
 mingling with the sportive multitude on a neigh- 
 bouring parade. The cheerful countenances and 
 diversified drapery of the loungers, accompanied 
 by the soul-subduing sounds of music (of which 
 he was passionately fond) played by a fine mili- 
 tary band, more fully, if possible, to desecrate 
 the holy evening of the sacred day, were attrac- 
 tions which he found it not easy to resist. It is 
 true, that, sometimes, the anticipation of the 
 pleasures of this favourite promenade, even while 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 49 
 
 he was engaged, professedly, in the devotional 
 services of the sanctuary, occupied his mind, and 
 caused the holy exercises to seem dull and tedi- 
 ous ; and, consequently, his deceived heart was 
 pleased by no part of the service so much as by 
 the solemn pronouncing of the benediction ; and 
 then, when the thoughtless worshipers hurried out 
 from the temple of God to enjoy what they deem- 
 ed the more congenial recreations of the crowded 
 green, the buoyancy of our hero's spirits rose to 
 its highest pitch of delight. 
 
 Not unfrequently, on such occasions, conscience, 
 that faithful monitor, might have been most ap- 
 propriately addressed by him, as Ahab accosted 
 the prophet Elijah — "Hast thou found me, O 
 mine enemy?" 
 
 While in this giddy. Sabbath-breaking circle, 
 he found that although music may have charms 
 to sooth the savage breast, it still does not pos- 
 sess an influence sufficiently mighty to relieve a 
 wounded spirit, or to tranquillize an awakened 
 conscience. Aroused by the faithful dictates of 
 this internal monitor, he gladly availed himself 
 of every apparent subterfuge which seemed to 
 off'er an escape from its upbraidings. Amid the 
 loud-toned instruments, at whose sound pleasure 
 seemed to sparkle in every eye, a witness and 
 censor of his actions, invisible, indeed, but not 
 the less felt, and sometimes feared, demanded, 
 with a voice to which he could not turn a deaf 
 ear, "What dost thou here, Jairus?" and taxed 
 
 H 
 
50 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 him with the impropriety of his conduct. The 
 inventive mind of man, however, is ever fertile in 
 devising excuses for his own allowed practices, 
 and so was this pharisaic youth's. 
 
 Jairus beheld, tripping with the thoughtless 
 throng, — (O, proclaim it not in the streets of the 
 city, — let not the breath of rumour bear it abroad, 
 — lest the winds of heaven waft and take it through 
 the universe, and the enemies of truth rejoice at 
 it,) — he beheld the man whose duty it was to 
 "Blow the trumpet, and sound the alarm in 
 God's holy mountain," — to warn the people of 
 their sin and danger, and exhort them to "flee 
 from the wrath to come," and to " beseech them, 
 in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to God," — yes, 
 the Minister, with the flock, was there ; he 
 who, just before, had been leading 
 
 "The sacramental hosts of God's elect." 
 
 O, soul -seducing influence, of all profanity the 
 worst, the foulest, basest, execrable beyond the 
 power of human language to express. Not con- 
 tent with ruining immortal souls, by proclaiming 
 doctrines, in the name of the Most High, which 
 are " not according to godliness ;" but, as if im- 
 pelled forward with a Satanic purpose, yet more 
 efl'ectually to do the work of ruin, — placing, also, 
 before the thoughtless and unholy, the influence 
 of his own baneful example ; and that, too, at a 
 time when the secret chamber should have found 
 him weeping before God, and wrestling, because 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 51 
 
 of the abominations of the people. Thanks be to 
 God, however, all are not such, — no ; 
 
 " All are not lost, there are, though few, 
 Who faith prefer, and piety to God." 
 
 Still, our church possesses some, on whom this 
 stigma would in vain be sought; some whom, 
 from my very soul, I love and venerate — 
 
 " Men, whose hearts are warm, 
 Whose hands are pure, whose doctrines and wlio.^e life. 
 Coincident, exhibit lucid proof 
 That they are honest in the sacred cause. 
 To such I render more than mere respect. 
 Whose actions say that they respect themselves." 
 
 Jairus, seeing his Pastor present, naturally 
 concluded there could be no very great impro- 
 priety in being there himself. So he reasoned, 
 and thus, with all the ingenuity of a sophist, en- 
 deavoured to satisfy and soothe the internal rest- 
 less and unwelcome intruder on his amusements. 
 
 That all the affairs of man are under the con- 
 trol of a wise and benevolent superintending 
 Providence, is what every consistent believer in 
 revelation will readily admit, while it declares 
 " The very hairs of your head are all numbered :" 
 and even, intentions and pursuits which, in them- 
 selves, do not allow of either defence or pallia- 
 tion, are, as in the case of Paul's journey to 
 Damascus, overruled, so as to subserve the Sove- 
 reign purposes of Jehovah. 
 
 Trivial as some circumstances may appear, 
 they evidently contain and supply the germ of 
 great and wonderful events. Frequently, in con- 
 
52 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 teinplating the history of nations, are we asto- 
 nished while we behold what were (separately 
 considered) positively insignificant matters, lead- 
 ing to the destruction of one mighty empire, and 
 the erection of another. As in nations, so is it 
 also in the cases of individuals. The partiality 
 of a parent for one particular member of the fa- 
 mily, as in the case of old Jacob towards his 
 favourite Joseph, may, instrumentally, produce 
 events beyond the power of human calculation. 
 Luther's disagreement with a popish priest led to 
 a private pique, out of which arose that reforma- 
 tion, the glorious effects of which we now enjoy : 
 and thus, those things which frequently, to all 
 appearance, are among the most trivial and mi- 
 nute in life, yet, by easy and natural progression, 
 continue to advance, until the deep-laid and glo- 
 rious designs of God, unfolding themselves, in all 
 the beauty of harmonious perfection, to our ad- 
 miring attention, prompt us, with the mingled 
 emotions of rapture and amazement, to exclaim, 
 *' What hath God wrought ! " — ** It is the Lord's 
 doing, and marvellous in our eyes !" 
 
 The hoarse bawlings of a sometimes more than 
 half-intoxicated clerk, and the powerful and dis- 
 cordant tones of an organ, in the parish church 
 at which Jairus attended, suggested the propriety 
 and importance of the formation of a choir of 
 singers; and, eventually, prepared the way by 
 which he was led to listen to the glad sound of 
 the Gospel. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 53 
 
 Fond of the pleasing art of singing, though 
 with but little voice for the exercise, and less 
 judgment, he nevertheless gladly became one of 
 the tuneful band. Masters were obtained by the 
 young aspirants after fame in the syren-art, from 
 whom to receive instruction. The gamut was 
 conquered ; several psalm-tunes were learned and 
 sung ; and, on the morning of the day on which 
 our Saviour's nativity is commemorated, "Arise, 
 shine," in full chorus, was given to the gaping 
 listeners. By frequent meetings for rehearsals, 
 the infant choir became adepts in the science, 
 and expert in the power of harmony. But such 
 associations had, in a moral point of view, nearly 
 proved fatal to Jairus. The gleam of truth, which 
 had flickered before his mind with fleeble influ- 
 ence, had already lost much of the small power 
 which it had previously exerted: and, conse- 
 quently, the murmurs of conscience became less 
 frequent and more faint. 
 
 It is usually found that regular bodies of 
 singers possess more love for music than for reli- 
 gion ; and, in many places of worship, where 
 choirs are established, it is peculiarly painful to 
 notice the evident indifference which is manifested 
 by that useful body of persons, to every part of 
 the service, excepting only the tunes they sing, 
 if, indeed, their attending merely to these may 
 be regarded as any part of divine service. Not 
 unusually is the sermon, however good it may 
 be, entirely lost to themselves, and the atten- 
 
54 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 tion of others distracted, by their interrupting 
 the solem proclamation of the word of God, by 
 turning over the pages of their music-books, to 
 select a proper tune with which to conclude the 
 service. 
 
 There were, indeed, one or two of those with 
 whom Jairus stood connected in those sin2:in£f 
 exercises, for whom he justly entertained a high 
 regard, and with whom, in after years, he fre- 
 quently met, to their mutual pleasure and profit : 
 the greater number, however, of this tuneful 
 company were totally destitute of the fear of 
 God ; even the form of godliness was discarded 
 by them. Frequently, to avoid the penalty of a 
 tine which was imposed both on occasional absen- 
 tees from the singing-loft, and likewise on those 
 who gave but a late attendance, they have hurried 
 from a country alehouse, to which their after- 
 noon's walk had led them, in a state bordering on 
 inebrity, and, entering the temple of the Most 
 High, have composed themselves to sleep, until 
 the closing part of the service required their 
 attention to the proposal of the clerk by singing 
 to what he impiously called, "the praise and 
 glory of God." Awful profanation ! Mockery of 
 sacred^service ! Nay, so far was the glory of God 
 from forming any part in their singing engage- 
 ments, that, even at their meetings for rehearsal, 
 which were held in a large pew in the gallery of 
 the church appropriated to their service, songs, 
 glees, and catches were proposed to constitute a 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 55 
 
 portion of their exercises. This, however, on the 
 part of some was objected to, as it might not be 
 pleasing to some of the acknowledged authorities, 
 and the motion was therefore lost. 
 
 This statement is not intended to convey an 
 idea that similar conduct is necessarily connected 
 with such associations : by no means. The wri- 
 ter knows, from personal observation, that far 
 otherwise is, happily, the case. The principal 
 objects intended here are to exhibit the dangerous 
 circumstances in which Jairus had placed him- 
 self; and the consequent improbability, in merely 
 human estimation, that such would have been the 
 means through which his wandering mind would 
 be led to the love and service of God ; and to 
 demonstrate, at the same time, that nothing is 
 " too hard for the Lord." Nevertheless, that there 
 is great danger to the best interests of young 
 people in such meetings cannot be questioned, 
 where, perhaps, two-thirds, or a still larger pro- 
 portion, of the party, are not even seriously in- 
 clined, and where, frequently, perhaps, the prin- 
 ciples of not a few are scarcely a degree above 
 semi-deists. 
 
 On a particular and public occasion, an evan- 
 gelical minister, whose clear views of truth and 
 luminous method of exhibiting it had rendered 
 him justly popular, came to preach at the parish 
 church. The news spread through the town and 
 neighbourhood like wild-fire among dry stubble, 
 and dissenters of every name, and from every 
 
56 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 quarter, flocked with eager desire to hear the 
 enlightened and earnest advocate of Divine truth. 
 At an early hour, every avenue leading to the 
 sanctuary was thronged, and long before the ser- 
 vice commenced, the spacious building, even to 
 the aisles and deep gothic windows, was filled 
 with those who had assembled, like the attentive 
 congregation in Cornelius's house, to hear from 
 the mouth of the preacher ''whatsoever things 
 should be commanded him of God." 
 
 How gratifying and how different the scene 
 which was now presented in the well-filled 
 church, from the usually almost empty pews. If 
 it is desirable to see our established places of 
 worship Ji I led with worshippers, let Evangeli- 
 cal Ministers fill the pulpits, and the attend- 
 ance will be in accordance with their character : 
 and if to expel the drones from the hives be ad- 
 visable, and to clear the vineyard of the Lord of 
 the palmer and canker-worms be deemed impor- 
 tant, let the free-will offerings of the people be 
 supplied to those alone whom, in their own en- 
 lightened judgment, they shall carefully select: 
 then, the reformation will be effected, and the 
 important work speedily accomplished. Let this 
 be done, and the good, and the wise, and the 
 laborious ministers of the cross, who alone are 
 ** worthy of their hire," will then enjoy the hire 
 of which they are worthy, but of which, at the 
 present day, they are unrighteously deprived ; 
 while those who care not for the flock, and who 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 57 
 
 seek only the fleece, are fattening in idleness, and 
 ruining the cause they profess to advance. 
 
 Jairus was present, as a singer, on this inte- 
 resting occasion, although with difficulty he had 
 gained his seat. Never before had he witnessed 
 such a sight ; on which gazing for a while, he felt 
 confounded at what he beheld, and was half in- 
 clined to enquire why such anxious desire, as evi- 
 dently manifested itself, was cherished to hear an 
 individual preach : and his wish to have the pro- 
 blem solved would, probably, have prompted the 
 proposal of the well-nigh half-uttered question, 
 had he not been checked by the fear of being 
 laughed at for his ignorance. 
 
 After the previous portions of the service had 
 been performed by the rector of the parish, the 
 reverend stranger, who had excited such powerful 
 feeling, ascended the sacred desk, and, with the 
 fervour of one ddeply impressed with the awful 
 importance of his work, implored, at the hand of 
 God, the Divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, by 
 his sacred influence to inspire and direct his 
 thoughts, and to render the words he should utter 
 powerful to the accomplishing of his own gracious 
 purposes, in the subverting the strong holds of 
 Satan, and the enlargement of the kingdom of 
 Christ. He then drew from his pocket a small, 
 plain Bible, which having opened, he turned to 
 the prophecy of Isaiah, and, from the sixty- third 
 chapter, and fifth verse, read, with peculiar em- 
 phasis and solemnity, his text, — ** I looked, and 
 I 
 
68 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 there was none to help ; and I wondered that 
 there was none to uphold : therefore mine own 
 arm brought salvation unto me ; and my fury, it 
 upheld me." 
 
 The assistance which he had earnestly implored 
 was freely imparted : the word was with power. 
 The pleasing eloquence of the orator was forgot- 
 ten amidst the importance of the truths he deli- 
 vered. The eyes of numbers were suffused with 
 tears, and many a broken-hearted penitent deeply 
 groaned for salvation, or obtained the peace which 
 passeth all merely human understanding. But 
 Jairus regarded not the striking proofs of earnest 
 feeling which were apparent throughout the place ; 
 his mind was too intent on the conviction of his 
 own moral character, as he now heard it accu- 
 rately and strikingly described. To gaze upon 
 others, or even to think of them, seemed impossi- 
 ble : for the first time, although amidst crowding 
 numbers, he felt himself alone. On the service 
 being closed, he retired from the church, not, 
 however, as formerly, to revel in the sports of the 
 green, or sauntering amidst fashionable numbers, 
 to weaken and dissipate the savour of what he 
 had heard : no ! he rather sought some secret 
 place in which to pour out his heart in prayer, 
 give utterance to a feeling sense of his wants, and 
 cry for the salvation of which he was now deeply 
 sensible of his need. His stricken soul bowed 
 down in complete prostration before God, while, 
 turning from empty pleasures, which had now 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 59 
 
 lost their power to gratify, he beseechingly cried, 
 
 "Mercy, good Lord, mercy 1 ask, 
 
 This is the total sum; 
 For mercy, Lord, is all my suit, 
 
 let thy mercy come." 
 
 Thus passed away, in the incessant lapse of 
 time, several months; during which period, the 
 vivid feelings of Jairus's mind had considerably 
 subsided, and, in a great degree, given place to a 
 cold and unmeaning formality and pompous pha- 
 risaism, which again either mingled themselves 
 with or constituted the principal features in his 
 professedly devotional exercises. All his pleas- 
 ing and cherished, though delusive, hopes of sal- 
 vation, in part, by the merit of his own perform- 
 ances, were not yet given up : he still needed to 
 be instructed in "the ways of God more per- 
 fectly." 
 
 About this period, on a lovely Sabbath morn- 
 ing, a stranger unexpectedly entered the pul- 
 pit, shortly after Jairus had taken his seat. His 
 form and general appearance alone were suffi- 
 cient to inspire with a degree of reverential awe 
 the mind of any individual already partially 
 awakened to a sense of personal transgression 
 and consequent danger. His step, as he ap- 
 proached and ascended the pulpit stairs, was 
 solemn dignity itself, which the idle apes of 
 ministerial mock majesty, for the purpose of pro- 
 ducing effect^ would strive in vain to imitate ; — 
 it was the tread of nature unsophisticated by the 
 
60 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 trickery of art. In lieiglit, he was considerably 
 above the ordinary stature : a peculiar degree of 
 abstraction of mind from all surrounding objects 
 was evidently realized by him, of which fact, his 
 strongly marked countenance was an accurate 
 index. His large and sunken eyes, strikingly 
 piercing, were shaded by thick arched eyebrows, 
 while the deep lines in his sallow face, and his 
 fine mountain forehead, plainly bespoke the ha- 
 bitual presence and power of that close thought 
 which was wearing out nature. He read, for his 
 text, the fifty-third verse of the one hundred and 
 nineteenth Psalm, — "Horror hath taken hold 
 upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy 
 law." The eyes of all present were fastened upon 
 him ; to turn them towards any other object was 
 impossible. He stood, majestic in appearance, like 
 
 " The Legate of the skies ! his theme divine, 
 His office sacred, his credentials clear. 
 By him the violated law spoke out 
 Its thunders." 
 
 His deep, sepulchral tones reverberated round 
 the lofty building, and might almost have led his 
 auditory to conceive that a being from the world 
 of spirits addressed them. With an impassioned 
 energy he addressed his discourse to the con- 
 sciences of sinners, rather than to their passions ; — 
 from his lips the dreadful thunders of the violated 
 law of God rolled forth with appalling volubility 
 and power : he spake of the unseen state and its 
 dread realities, as though himself had already trod 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 61 
 
 " The vale of Death ! that hush'd Cimmeriau vale, 
 Where darkness, brooding o'er unfinish'd fates, 
 With raven-wing, incumbent, waits the day 
 (Dread day!) that interdicts all future change." 
 
 Like as the dawning light of day, ascending 
 above the horizon of our earth, dispels, from the 
 tops of the mountains, the mists and darkness 
 which closed around and enveloped them, until, 
 at length, the full meridian glory diffuses its en- 
 livening influence over the hemisphere below, so 
 the mind of Jairus became gradually illuminated 
 by the Holy Spirit. A deeper, clearer, and more 
 comprehensive conviction of the entire depravity 
 of his heart was experienced ; his every refuge 
 and hope appeared to be alike pulled down and 
 uprooted ; and, inwardly groaning, he exclaimed, 
 ** Oh ! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver 
 me ?" He was agitated by indefinable emotions, 
 in which sorrow and fear, together with some 
 faint, glimmering ray of hope, seemed each to 
 wrestle for the ascendancy within his bosom. 
 Formerly, a sort of raging phrensy seemed to 
 characterize his feelings, while they continued 
 excited ; his personal danger alone, at those sea- 
 sons, pressed upon him ; his wishes and attempts 
 towards amendment proceeded entirely from a 
 fear of punishment, and not from any abhorrence 
 of sin. Could he then have believed it possible 
 to escape the misery to which his sins exposed 
 him, and still have continued amidst their indul- 
 gence, he would gladly have done so; and, in- 
 deed, he did so act; for even the abandonment 
 
62 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 of some species of sin became, in a sense, a sin to 
 him ; as, in his heart, he flattered himself with 
 the claim of a right to eternal life, for such re- 
 linquishments. His love to transgression was in 
 no degree weakened : as the vivid imagery of 
 danger, which passing events might have im- 
 pressed upon his mind, became weaker and 
 fainter, his fears subsided ; his resolutions, which 
 had been made while apprehension amounting 
 almost to despair enthralled him, were subse- 
 quently forgotten, and sinning appeared a neces- 
 sary part of his existence. But noiv, the love of 
 sin itself received its mortal wound in his aff*ec- 
 tions ; he hated it for its own deformity ; sin 
 appeared ''exceeding sinful." His alarm for his 
 personal and eternal safety was not, indeed, at 
 this time, less than on any former occasion ; he 
 still felt that, as a sinner, he stood justly exposed 
 to its deadly penalty ; he knew that it was writ- 
 ten, — **The soul that sinneth, it shall die:" — 
 but a new emotion was now added, which at once 
 tempered and gave a hopeful and right direction 
 to the strong sense which he had of the evil of 
 sin. A godly sorrow, as well as a terrifying fear, 
 took possession of him, and, blending themselves 
 in a manner alike inexpressible and conceivable 
 only by experience, they became one. His re- 
 pentance, which was genuine, was deep and abid- 
 ing: like David, he could say, "All the night 
 make I my bed to swim, I water my couch with 
 my tears." Those of his former engagements 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 63 
 
 which were not relinquished, (as, indeed, was the 
 case with many of them,) were fulfilled in another 
 spirit than formerly, and with other ends in view. 
 It may, perhaps, appear singular to some, that 
 his singing companions were not abandoned ; but 
 he was, as yet, only imperfect in knowledge, and 
 considerable darkness remained, although much 
 light had been imparted. He was, however, firm 
 and decided before them, nor did he allow them, 
 in any degree, to persuade him into any compro- 
 mise of principle or conduct. 
 
 The time at which the singers usually met for 
 practice was after the week-evening lecture. Jai- 
 rus, however, waited not now, as he had, together 
 with his companions, before been in the habit of 
 doing, until those services were closed : gladly 
 did he note the index of time pointing to the hour 
 appointed for the commencement of the evening 
 sacrifice, and frequently stealing silently and alone 
 to one of the galleries, he sought and enjoyed the 
 luxury of yielding to the overflowing emotions of 
 his soul, by pouring out his heart before God. 
 
 The external character which he had before 
 maintained had engaged the attention, and ob- 
 tained for him the respect of the circle in which 
 he moved : but now, his conduct procured much 
 more than common respect^ and especially from 
 the pious with whom he was acquainted. With 
 an earnest and truly praiseworthy zeal, unnoticed 
 by himself, they observed and watched over him 
 with expectations of promising character and 
 
64 JARIUS; OR, THE 
 
 peculiar delight. They saw in him the evidences 
 of the grace of God, and were glad. 
 
 Until this period, he had been enthusiastically 
 and blindly attached to the established church; 
 and, like many others, considering himself a 
 member of it, while living in the known neglect 
 of many of its sacred duties, and in a wilful 
 abuse and perversion of others, was ready, with 
 the degenerate race of Jacob, in the days of 
 Jeremiah, to exclaim, "The temple of the Lord, 
 the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord 
 are these." But now, this partiality and preju- 
 dice in its favour, to the exclusion even of com- 
 mon charity towards other denominations, ceased 
 to maintain its influence over him ; and, there- 
 fore, instead of uniting wdth numbers, in breath- 
 ing out fearful anathemas on different and se- 
 parate bodies of professing Christians, for their 
 conscientious regard to views with which he was 
 unacquainted, he accepted an invitation from a 
 singer, connected with a respectable congregation 
 of Christians in the town, to assist them on a 
 certain occasion, in conducting the tuneful por- 
 tion of the worship of God. Sects and names 
 were now scarcely thought of by him : he was 
 seeking Truth, and whether he found it in the 
 splendid cathedral or the humbler meeting-house 
 was to him of no importance. 
 
 He approached the sanctuary of the Lord with 
 feelings of sacred reverence. It was a neat and 
 commodious building, situated in a retired part 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 65 
 
 of the town ; connected with it, was a dweUiug- 
 house, for the minister; and behind it, a small 
 garden, neatly laid out, afforded a supply of 
 kitchen requisites, and a few flowers, to charm 
 the eye by their beauty, and regale the senses 
 with their perfumes. In the front of the build- 
 ing was a burial ground, " the house appointed 
 for all living," and in which many of "the Fa- 
 thers" slept, and where the ashes of not a few 
 who had worshiped together upon earth waited 
 for the resurrection once more to re-unite, both 
 soul and body, in the same delightful employ, in 
 songs of loftiest praise which will never end. 
 The whole of the premises were surrounded by a 
 high and strong wall, a means, at the same time, 
 both of security and comfort. 
 
 Jairus had arrived some time before the service 
 was to be commenced : his anxiety for the enjoy- 
 ment of the worship of God caused the hours to 
 seem to proceed with unusual tardiness. It was 
 on a lovely evening, towards the close of autumn. 
 The sun shed his departing rays around the sacred 
 spot ; the tranquillity of the scene invited medi- 
 tation, or, rather, seemed almost insensibly to 
 conduct the mind to it. The mental associations 
 arising from the place itself naturally suggested 
 serious thought, and coincided with the suscep- 
 tible emotions of the pensive youth. Straying 
 amidst the little hillocks which had been raised 
 to distinguish the several spots where the moul- 
 dering ashes of the dead were deposited, and, 
 
 K 
 
66 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 seemingly, lost to all worldly influences, in pleas- 
 ing, mournful thought, the following lines, from 
 his pencil, gave expressive evidence of the cha- 
 racter of his feelings and reflections : — 
 
 "THE HOUSE APPOINTED FOR ALL LIVING." 
 
 Solemn and mute, wiUi sacred awe, 
 Great monarch, Death, to wliose high law 
 
 All must their homage pay; 
 Amid thy silent, dark domains. 
 Drear rest-honse from terrestrial pains. 
 
 Thoughtful and slow I stray. 
 
 An awe inspiring sadness round 
 
 These gloomy mansions hangs, profound, 
 
 As though her last deep groan 
 Nature herself had heard, and, from 
 The world retiring to the tomb. 
 
 Deep silence reign'd alone. 
 
 Pride and ambition are unknown, 
 A grassy hillock, or a stoue 
 
 Sepulchral, marks the spot 
 Where, luU'd, profound, the once crown'd head 
 And humbler poor have made their bed. 
 
 Both left alike to rot. 
 
 Here, side by side, in quiet state, 
 Nor fell revenge nor feverish hate. 
 
 Disturbs the mouldering bust; 
 Sworn foes and angry chiefs reside. 
 Nor former feuds can now divide 
 
 Th* incorporated dust. 
 
 Newtonian sages, white with years. 
 Whose sleeping dust, bedew'd with tears. 
 
 Which Genius' self has shed. 
 In low prostration, with the child 
 Whose speechless tongue no care beguil'd. 
 
 Are number'd with the'dead. 
 
 If Genius weeps, when crown'd with wreaths 
 Of well-earn'd laurels, or, whose sheaves 
 
 Stand thickly all around. 
 Her veteran sons, at close of day. 
 From her embraces torn away. 
 
 To rest from thought piofound: 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. G7 
 
 How high must grief tumultuous rise, 
 How deep must be her widow'd cries, 
 
 When giant youths are slain 
 Whose opening glories, dazzling bright, 
 Appear'd awhile to cheer our night. 
 
 And then were lost again ? 
 
 *Spencerha.s fallen! woe-fraught sound. 
 As, newly given, the deep made wound 
 
 Continues still to flow ; 
 The soft, persuasive lore which hung. 
 Or fell, like manna, from his tongue 
 
 The world no more can know. 
 
 Glasgow still weeps at Durant's name 
 Snatch'd early from the fields of Fame 
 
 So well prepar'd to reap : 
 Martyn, and IFhite, and Taylor too, 
 And martyr'd Smith, are lost to view : 
 
 Genius must more than weep. 
 
 Insatiate monster ! stay thy hand. 
 Nor deeper drench our mourning land 
 
 In floods of briny woe: 
 But hush ! my murmuring, cease my grief. 
 This thought, reviving, gives relief. 
 
 Wisdom appoints it so. 
 
 Mystery conceals in passing night 
 The reasons of the Infinite 
 
 From man of mortal days : 
 »Tis ours to bend, adoring low. 
 And, where we cannot fully know. 
 
 To justify His ways. 
 The universal doom is seal'd. 
 And all that earthly is must yield. 
 
 That, mortal, moves or lives : 
 Changeless as Mede and Persian law, 
 This great, this unremitting war 
 
 Nor spares, nor discharge gives. 
 Honour, nor wealth, nor power can save. 
 Nor talent bribe the greedy grave. 
 
 Nor Beauty's self can move ; 
 The wit, the fool, the base, the good. 
 The man of peace, the man of blood. 
 
 The same event must prove. 
 
 • See an interestiDg memoir of this able young minister, by his popular 
 successor, Dr. Raffles. 
 
68 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 •Byron mnsllfoU, bis sceptic mind. 
 High taueht, sliall still iustrnction find ; 
 
 But all ! liort- sad to liiiow 
 Mistake of all mistalies the worst, 
 Each scatter'd particle of dust 
 
 Gather'd, for endless woe. 
 
 The tuneful lyre of Sheffield's bard 
 Must be unstrung, its music marr'd, 
 
 Montgomery must die : 
 Death has no ear for sweetest sound. 
 Or Sheffield's bard would ne'er be found 
 
 Among the saints on high. 
 
 My musings too will soon be o'er, 
 This palpitating heart no more. 
 
 With joy or woe, shall beat ; 
 Death's film shall o'er my eye-balls spread, 
 The lonely sod shall be my bed. 
 
 Where friends no more can greet. 
 
 Bnt, from the tomb, a voice I hear, 
 J ts mystic sounds revive and cheer ; 
 
 'Tis Jesus speaks, in love, 
 " He that believes shall never die. 
 But, through Death's gate, to realms on high. 
 
 Shall pass, and glory prove." 
 
 Enough ! my fears be gone! no more 
 Death's roaring waves, from Canaan's shore, 
 
 Sliall fright my soul away; 
 Cheerful, I'll pass the valley through, 
 His grace shall bear, and guide me too, 
 
 To heaven's unclouded day. 
 
 A courteous salutation from a friend put a 
 period to Jairus's meditations, and, with him, he 
 entered into the house of God. Simplicity and 
 neatness appeared to constitute the leading cha- 
 racteristics both of the place and of the people. 
 The devotional exercises which were engaged in, 
 together with the novel character of the whole 
 
 * This wa« writteo about ten days before the news of his Lordship's death 
 arrived in England. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 09 
 
 service, being essentially diflferent from the parade 
 and form to which he had been accustomed from 
 infancy, occupied and fixed his attention; while 
 the sacred truths which were inculcated, with 
 impassioned and impressive eloquence, improved 
 his heart. Neither pomp nor empty ceremony 
 interrupted the pious ardour which devotion's 
 flame had lighted up. The deliberate and unbi- 
 assed judgment of Jairus acknowledged that the 
 sublime and holy devotion of the heart, which 
 alone can be acceptable to God, required not the 
 trickery of art, nor the ostentatious display of 
 popish garniture, either to produce or promote it. 
 All that could raise and fix the pious affections of 
 genuine worshipers seemed to be here, and he 
 approved it. In the experience and approval of 
 such sentiments a few weeks passed jaway, during 
 which period, he constantly attended the services 
 of this sanctuary, whenever its doors were opened 
 for public worship. 
 
 Up to this time, Jairus continued a broken- 
 hearted penitent, and 
 
 " Hopes and fears by turns prevail'd;" 
 
 when, on a memorable evening, (never, it is 
 imagined, will it be forgotten by him,) under the 
 ministry of a man of God, who has since taken 
 his place among the witnesses before the throne 
 of the Eternal, a clear and saving view of Christ 
 as his Saviour was imparted to him. The dis- 
 course to which his prayerful attention was then 
 
70 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 directed, was founded on those interesting words 
 in John, sixteenth chapter and thirty-tirst verse, — 
 " Do yc now believe?'' The preacher clearly 
 pointed out the nature of justifying faith, demon- 
 strated its necessity, in order to salvation, and, 
 with all the perspicuity and energy of a scribe 
 well instructed in the things of God, directed his 
 hearers to Christ alone as the suitable and exclu- 
 sive object of faith, and urged an immediate and 
 unreserved dependence upon him for pardon and 
 peace ; and while the preacher was applying the 
 important question, — "Do ye now believe?" 
 the trembling Jairus was divinely enabled to 
 answer in the affirmative, and, inwardly, he ex- 
 claimed, *' Lord, I believe!'' The Spirit, from 
 on high, was present to heal, and He was given, 
 to bear witness with his spirit, that he was a 
 child of God. Hence, adopting the language of 
 the poet, he sang — 
 
 " No condemnation now I dread, 
 
 Jesus, and all in him, is mine ; 
 Alive in him, my living Head, 
 
 And cloth'd with Righteousness Divine, 
 Bold, I approach th' Eternal throne. 
 And find, through Christ, the crown my own." 
 
 As his repentance had been deep, so his joy 
 now became strong ; and, *' having had much 
 forgiven, he loved much." His conversion be- 
 came manifest to all. He was soon received as a 
 member of this Christian church, and, possessing 
 some talent, he was, after a suitable period. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 71 
 
 engaged, in connexion with some aged indivi- 
 duals, in visiting the neighbouring suburbs, hold- 
 ing meetings for prayer in private houses, and 
 attending the chambers of the sick and dying. 
 By these means, his talents were, at once, eli- 
 cited, exercised, and improved ; and in these and 
 other exercises, he was rendered useful to many 
 penitents : and it was from one of these visits of 
 mercy, with his mind more than ordinarily im- 
 pressed by deep concern for the salvation of his 
 parents and family, that he returned home, and, 
 in the language with which the first chapter of 
 the narrative commences, displayed the ardour 
 and simplicity of his feelings, by exhorting his 
 father and mother to "flee from the wrath to 
 come," and exclaiming — " We musty indeed, we 
 must have Family Worship ! " 
 
72 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "The chamber where the good man meets his fate 
 Is yrivileg'd beyond the common walk 
 Of virtuons life.jnst on the verge of heaven: 
 Fly, ye profane ! if not, drav? near with awe, 
 Receive the blessing, and adore the chance 
 That threw in this Bethesda your disease : 
 If nnrestor'd by this, despair your cure, 
 For here resistless demonstration dwells." 
 
 Vouug. 
 
 No sight can be more acceptable to a pious 
 mind, than to behold an individual in the morn- 
 ing of life rescued from the delusive follies and 
 ensnaring vices of the age, and, with an unremit- 
 ting assiduity, devoting his time and talents to 
 the glory and service of God. And such, now, 
 were the circumstances and the conduct of Jai- 
 rus. The Scriptures were regularly read, and 
 family devotion was attended to : he had no 
 longer to urge the entreaties which once he em- 
 ployed ; on the contrary, if the usual hour for 
 family-worship arrived unnoticed by him, he was 
 reminded of it by his parents, and requested to 
 engage in the service. Appearances now were in 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 73 
 
 favour of family religion. Order and regularity 
 appeared even in indifferent things. His parents 
 and other members of the household cheerfully 
 and regularly attended, with himself, to hear 
 from the lips of his spiritual father the words of 
 eternal life. 
 
 He had just entered his nineteenth year, a 
 season of life at which all the warmth and enthu- 
 siasm of feeling generally begins to attain its 
 full vigour; when difficulties which would ener- 
 vate an individual of threescore years serve only 
 to fan the flame of desire, or excite the soul to all 
 the activity of resistless ardour. A season, this, 
 when the mind, sensitive and impressible, is soon 
 afi^ected by the plaintive voice either of want or 
 woe : and when, unburdened by the cares of life 
 and the disappointments and anxieties which fill 
 up the chequered scene of this " mortal coil," and 
 enjoying all the liberty of exemption from prior 
 engagements, it seeks for exercises congenial with 
 its own capacities and disposition. 
 
 It has frequently been found, in the experience 
 of mankind, that the mind, diverted from its 
 eager pursuit of one object, has tended with equal 
 impetuosity towards its contrary both in nature 
 and design: hence, Saul of Tarsus no sooner 
 became a convert to the faith of Christ, than the 
 same invincible spirit and the same unyielding 
 zeal were displayed by him in the overthrow of 
 that system which he had previously endeavoured 
 to establish, and in the extension of that he had 
 L 
 
74 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 in vain laboured to destroy. His exclusive glory 
 was in the cross of Christ; and it was his highest 
 ambition to suffer in his Master's service. 
 
 A leading principle, similar to that which in- 
 fluenced this great apostle, actuated the now 
 regenerated Jairus, and, in his humble measure, 
 he proved the prevalence of the same spirit. He 
 was decidedly pious: and if the definition of 
 enthusiasm, as given by the celebrated Doctor 
 Zimmerman in his beautiful work on solitude, be 
 correct, he had become an enthusiast in his regard 
 to religion. ** Enthusiasm," observes that author, 
 " is a lively and transporting eifervescence of the 
 soul raised by the contemplation of objects whose 
 novelty awakens attention: by its truth and 
 grandeur it dilates the fancy and excites the 
 passions, and prompts, while it empowers, to 
 daring and extraordinary efforts. When inspired 
 and actuated by a just enthusiasm, the mind does 
 not abandon reason or nature, it only soars above 
 the level, exploring new tracks of thought, and 
 tempting to new sources of action. This elevation 
 exposes the enthusiast to be misunderstood by 
 calm and sedate understandings : it subjects him 
 to the contempt of the witling, and the sentence 
 of the dunce ; while it renders him an object of 
 wonder to the ignorant and vulgar, who either 
 bow to him as a genius, or scoff at him as a 
 lunatic. 
 
 *' This exaltation of mind, however, courage- 
 ously makes way through all difficulties and perils 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 75 
 
 with an address which is enabled to accomplish 
 actions apparently impracticable: those, there- 
 fore, on whom its influence has been most power- 
 ful and manifest, have been regarded as inspired ; 
 that is, directed by the counsels and sustained 
 by the energies of a superior nature. To this 
 quality it is that we owe every thing in human 
 character and productions most elevated and 
 transcendent." 
 
 Jairus had now long since given up the prac- 
 tice of writing on those subjects in attention to 
 which he had previously taken so much delight. 
 By this time, however, he had by him, in manu- 
 script, as much as would have furnished materials 
 for some octavo volumes,— the work of many 
 hours, — and which, during the silent period 
 " when the sable goddess, from her ebon throne, 
 in rayless majesty, stretches forth her leaden 
 sceptre over a slumbering world," he had pre- 
 pared. Although these papers contained nothing 
 either subversive of morality, or even at variance 
 with it, he now regarded their tendency as not 
 directly promoting the glory of God; and he, 
 therefore, with a degree of inconsiderate precipi- 
 tancy, although, at the same time, with a com- 
 mendable motive, committed the whole to the 
 flames ; determining, hereafter, to consecrate his 
 body and mind to those subjects and pursuits 
 of which God was both the author and the end. 
 
 In connexion with nearly every denomination 
 of Christians in the present day, there are stations 
 
76 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 of various gradations for the exercise of taleut, 
 in which almost any individual who feels the 
 disposition may engage. 
 
 It can hardly be conceived that Jairus could 
 stand idle : no, we have already noticed his 
 engagement in the holy and elevating exercise 
 of prayer, in those places which were opened 
 for public devotion. This alone, however, did not 
 furnish him with full employment. A neighbour- 
 ing village, in which a Sabbath-school had been 
 established, called for his assistance : there the 
 harvest promised, indeed, to be great, but the 
 labourers were few: with the highest pleasure, 
 therefore, he immediately engaged in this *' work 
 of faith and labour of love," for 
 
 " 'Twas love that made his cheerful feet 
 In swift obedience move." 
 
 With delight beaming from his eyes, as regu- 
 larly as the Sabbath morning returned, he was 
 seen directing his course towards the building 
 in which the assembled ** little ones' were eagerly 
 waiting to welcome his arrival, and receive the 
 instructions he was anxious to impart. 
 
 Surely, a number of active and pious Sunday- 
 school teachers are among the best and most 
 effectual coadjutors in the work of the Lord 
 which a minister of the Gospel can employ. 
 Here, while the unfolding talents of the teacher 
 develop themselves, and are, at the same time, 
 invigorated and advanced, he appears, in refer- 
 ence to the minister, to do what a pioneer does 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 77 
 
 for an army : he goes on before, and removes 
 and throws aside out of his way much of the 
 ignorance and prejudice with which he would 
 otherwise have to contend. Such characters are 
 public blessings to the land in which they live, 
 and benefactors to the world at large. 
 
 A beloved friend, with whom Jairus had fre- 
 quently joined on those errands of love, while 
 locked arm in arm they had walked in company 
 to the house of God, became incapacitated 
 through debility of body any longer to unite with 
 him in the work to which his whole soul was 
 devoted. He had long been struggling with the 
 slow but progressive stages of inward consump- 
 tion, and nature at length sank beneath its own 
 exertions to sustain itself. 
 
 Jairus was urgently summoned to attend his 
 chamber, and, with mournful pleasure, he hasted 
 to the bed-side of his dying friend. He was 
 some few years older than Jairus, and enjoyed, in 
 an amiable and affectionate wife and infant child, 
 together with an easy and respectable situation 
 which he filled, all the comforts this life could 
 afford : and, in addition to these, he possessed 
 
 •'The good man's wish,— 
 Riches of grace and love already given, 
 And heirship to a throne prepar'd in heaven." 
 
 On entering his chamber, the feelings of Jairus 
 became almost overpowered by the scene before 
 him. The closely-drawn curtains nearly excluded 
 the light of day ; a solemn silence, like the still- 
 
78 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 ness which reigns in the tomb, prevailed, except- 
 ing when the half-stifled sighs of the weeping and 
 tender wife were heard, as she gazed in agony on 
 her dying husband, and pressed to her agitated 
 bosom the lovely pledge of their mutual affection, 
 a sweet infant of two years old. Jairus softly 
 drew near the bed, fearful of breaking in upon 
 the slumbers of his friend, and, breathing a silent 
 fervent prayer for his peace, stood awhile, atten- 
 tively viewing him. His breath was considerably 
 affected, and hence his slumbers were unsound 
 and short. He soon awoke, and beheld Jairus by 
 his side ; his eyes, for a while, appeared to beam 
 with their wonted vivacity : stretching out towards 
 him his feverish hand, he exclaimed, '*Ah! 
 Jairus, my friend, I am glad to see you ; my work 
 is almost done, I feel I cannot long survive, — life 
 ebbs fast away. My breath is very troublesome," 
 added he, gasping as he spoke; "death presents 
 an awful aspect, even to a good man; nature 
 shrinks from its icy grasp, — an instinctive disin- 
 clination presses upon us: O, my friend," he 
 continued, looking stedfastly in Jairus's face, and 
 pressing his hand more firmly, — ** death, in the 
 view we take of it from the mount of health, is 
 far different from its appearance in the valley 
 of sickness and on the confines of the eternal 
 world." 
 
 " Yes," rejoined Jairus, — 
 
 " • A death-bed's a detector of the heart, 
 Here, tir'd dissimulation drops the masl< :— • 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 79 
 
 but," added he, " you have no reason to be afraid 
 of death ; you have not at this moment to look 
 back with painful regrets, reflecting on a life the 
 whole of which has been devoted to sinful plea- 
 sures: from your youth up you have served the 
 Lord ; you have been engaged, and not unsuccess- 
 fully, in bringing others to the knowledge of the 
 
 truth, and above" 
 
 " And," — hastily and expressively said his 
 friend, without allowing him to finish his sen- 
 tence, — " amidst the whole your kindness would 
 enumerate, I behold so much defection, — so much 
 sin, — so much precious time wasted, — so many 
 opportunities lost; — but if in all these respects 
 I had been guiltless, still nothing that I could 
 have done could in any measure have procured 
 my salvation; — 
 
 * None bat ChrUt to me be given, 
 None but Christ ou earth, in heaven.'" 
 
 And then, with an energy almost supernatural, 
 in a seeming transport, he exclaimed, with his 
 eyes and hands devoutly raised, 
 
 " 'To man the bleeding cross has promis'd all. 
 The bleeding cross has sworn eternal grace; 
 Who gave his Son, what gift can he deny? 
 **♦*«**« Survey the wondrous cure. 
 And, at eacli step, let higher wonder rise: 
 Pardon for infinite offence ! and pardon 
 Through means that speak its value infinite: 
 A pardon bought with blood, with blood divine, 
 With blood divine of him I made my foe. 
 Persisted to provoke, though woo'd and awed, 
 Bless'd and chastis'd, a flagrant rebel still .' 
 A rebel midst the thunders of his throne. 
 Nor I alone, a rebel universe. 
 
80 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 My species up in arms, not one exempt, 
 Yet for the foulest of the foul he dies! 
 Bound every heart, and every bosom burn ; 
 O, what a scale of miracles is liere ! ' " 
 
 Here nature appeared overpowered, — he fell 
 back from his half-raised posture, exhausted by 
 this exertion, and breathed with difficulty. 
 
 Jairus would have spoken, but articulation for 
 a while failed him : he gently wiped the rolling 
 perspiration from the face of his friend, and, 
 drying the tears from his own, he rejoined, — 
 " How delightful it is thus to hang upon our cru- 
 cified, or rather, our risen Saviour, and, by faith, 
 to be enabled to look * within the vail,' where 
 
 ' Not a wave of trouble rolls 
 Across the peaceful breast,' 
 
 and where all is * quietness and assurance for 
 ever.' " 
 
 ** Yes," faintly articulated his dying friend, 
 ** I feel I shall soon be there ; 
 
 ' For me my elder brethren stay, 
 And angels beckon me away. 
 And Jesus bids me come.' " 
 
 Time had rapidly glided by while Jairus was in 
 conversation with his friend, and it was now 
 growing late ; so that, fearful lest his longer stay 
 should deprive him of rest, he determined, 
 although unwillingly, to prepare for returning 
 home : he, accordingly, read a chapter and pray- 
 ed, and then bade him "farewell,'' to converse 
 with him no more until the morning of the resur- 
 rection. Ere the light of another sun had dawned. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 81 
 
 his happy spirit had entered the realms of 
 ineffable bliss, and was introduced to a glory, the 
 splendour of which the heavy eyes of embodied 
 mortals could not endure. His loss was deeply 
 felt by Jairus : he mourned for his friend as a 
 brother; while his mind, which before had been 
 considerably weaned from the pleasures and 
 follies of the world, now became still more so; 
 and the zeal and activity with which he had 
 already engaged in the work of the Lord became 
 doubled. Thus did he realize, what the immortal 
 Young so beautifully expresses, that 
 
 "Smitten friends 
 Are angels sent on errands full of love; 
 For us they sicken, and /or us they die." 
 
 Jairus had already found that ** it is more 
 blessed to give than to receive : " hence, fre- 
 quently, while visiting the abodes of want and 
 misery, where " the blessing of those who were 
 ready to perish came upon him," he had enjoyed 
 a heartfelt luxury to which the bosom of the 
 voluptuary must ever be a stranger. 
 
 The declaration of Jehovah to Moses, that *• the 
 poor shall never depart out of the land," is 
 verified, in the most strict and literal sense, even 
 in the present day, with respect to every parish, 
 and town, and village in our own land. The 
 benevolence of the pious, however, in all well- 
 regulated Christian churches, has tended much 
 to lessen the aggregate of human woe, by the 
 establishment of societies specifically formed for 
 M 
 
82 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 the purpose of relieving the temporal, and thus 
 seeking an opportunity of knowing the spiritual, 
 wants of the poor. Of such a society Jairus was 
 an almoner. Its principles were of the most 
 charitable and comprehensive nature, withholding 
 its benefits from no suitable object that came 
 under its notice, whatever were their sentiments, 
 or age, or profession. To know that they were 
 in circumstances of real distress was of itself 
 sufficient to constitute them proper subjects for 
 its relief. 
 
 During the inclement season of winter, when 
 the loud and chilling blast blew keenly, or the 
 fast falling snow filled up and concealed the 
 beaten roads, Jairus allowed no evening to pass 
 away, during which he was not engaged in 
 searching out and visiting the miserable abodes 
 of cheerless poverty and want, or the dwellings 
 where affliction of body or mind called for imme- 
 diate assistance. Frequently has " the widow's 
 heart been made to sing for joy," by his visits. 
 Sinners, by his earnest and persuasive appeals, 
 at once prompted and applied by the Divine 
 Spirit, have been convinced of their sins and 
 ** converted from the error of their way : " the 
 mourning penitent has been encouraged to hope 
 in God ; the wanderer reclaimed ; and the 
 noisy blasphemer silenced, sometimes, before 
 him. 
 
 An additional opportunity, beyond what had 
 hitherto been presented, was now afforded to 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 83 
 
 Jairus to prosecute a work in which his soul 
 delighted — 
 
 " To seek the wandering souls of men," 
 
 by the division of the town into districts, for the 
 purpose of enquiring what destitution and desire 
 of the Scriptures might exist among its poor 
 inhabitants. A large number of respectable 
 gentlemen, residents in the town and its vicinity, 
 in a manner that reflected the greatest honour 
 upon them, came forward on this occasion. The 
 
 learned and truly Christian Dr. G presided 
 
 at the several meetings which were held. After 
 a judicious and convenient division of the town 
 had been made, the members of the committee 
 went forth to their several districts on the same 
 sociable and helpful principle as that on which 
 the apostles were first sent out by our Lord, 
 " two and tico' together. That division to which 
 Jairus and his fellow-labourer, a minister of the 
 Gospel, were appointed, was one which contained 
 an exceedingly poor and widely-scattered popula- 
 tion, many of whose members he visited by him- 
 self, numerous engagements not always allowing 
 his friend to accompany him. He entered several 
 miserable hovels throughout which ignorance and 
 darkness, in reference to religion, prevailed in 
 the greatest and most lamentable degree : and, 
 in some instances, he found whole families in 
 which were six, eight, and ten children, not one 
 of whom could read the Scriptures ; while the 
 
84 JAIRUS; OK, THE 
 
 parents themselves were equally ignorant. Since 
 this period, however, the town has been can- 
 vassed by zealous Sunday-school teachers ; and, 
 through their instrumentality, several of those 
 objects of pity have been delivered from igno- 
 rance and its consequent vice. Arriving one 
 evening, some time after day-light had departed, 
 at a wretched hovel which was surrounded by 
 several others of a similar kind, many of which 
 he had already entered, Jairus gently knocked 
 at the door, when a voice from within bade him 
 enter. Accordingly, lifting the latch of the door, 
 he opened it, and, on entering the hut, he disco- 
 vered, through the almost stifling smoke, a 
 number of miserable-looking beings, sitting on 
 low stools around a fire which was made upon 
 the hearth. A few dying embers furnished the 
 only light the hut afforded, and their feeble 
 glimmering served only to render visible the 
 extreme wretchedness of the place. The indivi- 
 duals who formed the group merely, as it appear- 
 ed, by instinct, turned their heads as he entered, 
 and, without rising, continued with a vacant 
 stare to gaze upon 'the intruder until one of 
 them, in a rough tone, enquired, " Who are 
 you?" 
 
 Jairus mildly answered, ** A friend ; " and 
 began to make something like an apology for 
 having disturbed them. 
 
 "What do you want?" was sourly demand- 
 ed. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 8a 
 
 With the utmost kindness of tone of which he 
 was capable, he replied, " 1 have come to enquire 
 if you have a Bible in your habitation." 
 
 '* And what is that to you?" was asked in the 
 same uncivil tone as before. 
 
 *' Because, if you have not," returned Jairus, 
 " I should like to be informed if you feel a desire 
 to possess one." 
 
 *' No, we haven't got one," was grumbled 
 out. 
 
 "Do you desire to have one?" demanded 
 Jairus, 
 
 "No;" replied the surly speaker. 
 
 Jairus was not a little confounded at all this ; 
 and the more so, because, at other places, if a 
 Bible was not wanted, they, at least, declined 
 it in a civil manner. At length it occurred to 
 him, that, perhaps, the poor people conceived he 
 was a travelling bookseller who was desirous 
 of trading with them : and he, therefore, still 
 further enquired, ** Will you accept of one if 
 I give it to you ? " 
 
 In the same snarling surly tone as that in 
 which he had already been spoken to during this 
 conference, he was again answered, " No, we 
 don't want one.'' 
 
 Still more confounded than before, he urged 
 them to receive one, recommending and explain- 
 ing its excellency. They were, however, inexora- 
 ble and unyielding in their determination not 
 to have one. Finding it in vain any longer to 
 
86 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 solicit them on a subject so evidently disagreeable 
 to them, pitying their condition, and praying 
 that light might be given to them, he left the 
 doubly dark habitation. He afterwards learned 
 they were Roman Catholics, and that they were 
 forbidden by their priest to read the Bible. 
 
 On his return home, he learned that a near 
 relative who had for some time been confined to 
 her bed, had requested that he would visit and 
 pray with her. It was not necessary that, to him, 
 such a message should be repeated ; and he, 
 therefore, hasted, though with fear and trembling, 
 to the sick chamber. The fall of man, the depra- 
 vity of human nature, our exposure to misery and 
 ruin, and utter inability to save or help ourselves, 
 were subjects with which, by personal experience, 
 he had been rendered familiar, and on which he 
 was ever ready seriously to discourse, when visit- 
 ing those who during all their former lives had 
 been either profligate sinners, or proud pharisaical 
 professors; while, to the trembling penitent, he 
 as earnestly proclaimed the richness and freeness 
 of sovereign grace. On the former subjects, 
 however, he felt it necessary to converse with the 
 person he was now called to visit : he realized 
 the importance which belonged to his character 
 as a visiter of the sick and dying ; and hence, 
 with plainness and fidelity, he warned the wicked 
 of their way. There was, indeed, on the part of 
 his relation, a general acknowledgment of sin; 
 but there appeared to be also a total want of any 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 87 
 
 internal sensibility with respect to its nature in 
 its guilt and pollution. Vows were made by her, 
 and promises multiplied, of what, should her 
 life be spared, she would become on her restora- 
 tion to health. But ah, the deceitfulness of sin ! 
 Of this Jairus had become partly aware ; and he, 
 therefore, warned and cautioned her against 
 deceiving herself; and also urged her, instantly, 
 by fervent prayer, to seek an immediate interest 
 in redemption through the blood of Christ, by 
 the forgiveness of all her sins. On his leaving 
 her, she expressed her obligation to him for his 
 kind attention, and requested another early visit 
 from him. He continued to attend her until 
 she considered his visits no longer necessary, 
 in consequence of her perfect recovery. A few 
 weeks only had elapsed, when the removal of the 
 appearance of immediate death banished also 
 all fear of death from her mind ; and, with the 
 removal of the fear, there was obliterated from 
 her heart every sense of obligation and feeling 
 of gratitude. All her fear-extorted resolutions 
 were at once given up and nearly forgotten. 
 The pious sentiment of the then newly-recovered 
 Psalmist found no place in her bosom, — " What 
 shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits 
 towards me ? " neither, of course, was any part 
 of his holy determination regarded by her, — " I 
 will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, 
 and I will call upon the name of tlie Lord ; I 
 will praise him while I have my being; while 
 
88 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 I have breath, I will sing praises to thy name, O 
 thou most High." Her resolutions were "like 
 the morning cloud," and her good desires " like 
 the early dew ; " both passed quickly away. 
 Jairus met her at his father's ; and, on hearing 
 her make use of some expressions of a worldly 
 and trifling nature, totally at variance with her 
 recent promises of dedication to God, he gently 
 rebuked her, and pointed out the inconsistency 
 of her conduct ; when, turning upon him with 
 a look expressive of insulted consequence, she 
 declared she never had conceived he could have 
 the impudence to reprove her who was old enough 
 to he his mother. 
 
 " I admit," replied he, " the correctness of 
 your remark, in point of your superiority of age ; 
 and from that consideration I have been compell- 
 ed to do violence to my feelings, in attempting 
 thus to speak to you : but," continued he, and 
 raising his voice as he spoke, " age gives no 
 license to sin, and Paul, writing to the youthful 
 Timothy, directs him, under the influence of the 
 Holy Spirit, not only to command and teach, but 
 to reprove^ rebuke, and exhort; adding, * Let no 
 man despise thy youth' " 
 
 ** So, then," she sarcastically replied, " Mr. 
 Timothy, I suppose you are one of these inspired 
 ones who are at liberty to reprove and find fault 
 with us elder people as you please?" 
 
 '* I make no pretensions," replied Jairus, 
 '* to that kind of inspiration with which the 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 89 
 
 apostles were favoured, and by which they were 
 qualified for their very extraordinary work, and 
 were thus distinguished from all other men : yet 
 I do conceive it necessary now, as it was in their 
 days, that the Holy Ghost should be received 
 by every individual who becomes a real Christian. 
 The Bible asserts that * No man can call Jesus 
 Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.' We can neither 
 ' repenty nor * believe, nor be ' born again,' 
 without the internal influence of the Holy Spirit. 
 And if, except we repent, we must perish ; if 
 only by believing we can (instrumentally) be 
 saved ; and if, except we be born again, we 
 cannot either enter or perceive the correct nature 
 of the Kingdom of God ; it necessarily follows, 
 either that no man can now be saved, or that 
 the Holy Ghost must now be received into the 
 heart J" 
 
 " I am no heathen ! " was returned with confu- 
 sion; "this may all be very true, and I don't 
 dispute it : but you young people should not take 
 upon you to direct, and catechise, and teach 
 those who " 
 
 '* Ah !" exclaimed Jairus, " I feel grieved for 
 you : I was not deemed too young, a few weeks 
 since, when death stared you in the face, and 
 eternity appeared to be bursting upon your 
 terrified sight. Remember, * the vows of God 
 are upon you! pay your vows unto him.' " 
 
 Evidently indignant cit these faithful admoni- 
 tions, and yet convinced of their propriety, she 
 
 N 
 
90 JARIUS; OR, THE 
 
 felt herself awkwardly circumstanced, and knew 
 not how to reply. The power of truth appealed 
 to her conscience, and she seemed disposed to 
 yield to its influence : but the pride of human 
 nature forbade it. This would be making too 
 much concession ; and hence, swayed by her 
 heart's predominant principle. Pride, she turn- 
 ed away in disdain ; and, stifling her rising- 
 spleen, angrily left the room. 
 
 " Ah," thought Jairus, *' true, indeed, is it, that 
 
 * Knowledge, ala? ! is all in vain, 
 
 And all in vain our fear; 
 Our stubborn sins will fight and reign, 
 
 If love be absent there.'" 
 
 He had now beheld a striking and painful evi- 
 dence of the fact, so plainly proclaimed by the 
 voice of inspiration, *' The carnal mind is enmity 
 against God." He saw the fallacy of what 
 merely appeared a sick-bed repentance ; and was 
 more than ever firmly persuaded that, whatever 
 expressions and promises fear may extort from 
 the lips, the power of God alone can renew and 
 purify the heart. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " Now then, my God, thou hast my soni ; 
 
 No longer mine, but thine I am : 
 Guard thou tliine own, possess it whole. 
 
 Cheer it witli hope, with love inflame: 
 Thou hast my spirit, there display 
 Thy glory ' to the perfect day.' 
 
 " I would my precious time redeem. 
 And longer live for this alone— 
 
 To spend and to be spent for them 
 Who have not yet my Saviour known; 
 
 Fully on these my mission prove. 
 
 And only breathe to breathe thy love." 
 
 Wesley. 
 
 That Christianity is divine in its origin, and 
 spiritual in its nature, every unprejudiced inves- 
 tigator of the Scriptures must admit. It is, in- 
 deed, conceded, that it involves mysteries beyond 
 the limited grasp of created and finite intellect; 
 — an admission which, by its enemies, has fre- 
 quently been urged as an objection;— and that, 
 therefore, to merely superficial observers seeming 
 contradictions may appear. Far, however, as the 
 sublime discoveries of revelation transcend human 
 reason, there are none contrary to right reason 
 
92 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 properly exercised. And whatever discrepance 
 might seem to exist, it does so only in the per- 
 verted mind of the caviller, not in reality: and 
 so far is our incapacity ywZ/?/ to comprehend and 
 harmonize all that is contained in the revelation 
 of God from really furnishing any solid argument 
 against the Scriptures, that it the more fully 
 strengthens and establishes them as being a su- 
 pernatural and divine revelation. If, in the mi- 
 nority and incapacity of our present state of 
 existence, we did completely understand and 
 could explain all the discoveries of the sacred 
 record, we might well dispute its claims to divi- 
 nity, and regard it as no more than the produc- 
 tion of some fallible creature, with mental powers 
 as shallow and feeble as our own. 
 
 The Divine Providence and power of the Al- 
 mighty are conspicuously displayed both in the 
 original planting of Christianity and in its con- 
 tinued progress and preservation. As the holy 
 apostles were separated and qualified by God 
 himself for the work of the ministry, so has he 
 also been pleased to provide and dispose other 
 individuals of humbler character instrumentally 
 to maintain and diffuse it in every succeeding 
 age. 
 
 ** The Gospel," says Eusebius, " like the sun, 
 enlightened the world at once ; and, to perpe- 
 tuate the work, the Lord raised up a great num- 
 ber of evangelical men who imitated the apostles 
 in their life and doctrines." The same Spiiit 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 93 
 
 who constrained Paul to pray the heathen to he 
 reconciled to Christ, moved Xavier, and Coke, 
 and Toivnley to visit India, and has induced 
 others, in our native land, to publish the way of 
 salvation. 
 
 The mind of Jairus, from the first moment of 
 his conversion to God, had been actively em- 
 ployed in aiming to promote the welfare of his 
 fellow-mortals. He had, with devout punctu- 
 ality, attended on the ministry of the Gospel : 
 the Bible and "the excellent of the earth" were 
 his constant companions. In order to become 
 familiar with the word of God, he every evening 
 committed to memory a portion of its contents, 
 which, while it increased his mental store, fur- 
 nished him also with pleasing and profitable 
 subjects of contemplation during the day. Fre- 
 quently, at this period especially, did his eyes 
 bear witness to the feelings of his heart, while 
 he observed the debasing wickedness of the in- 
 fatuated multitude, and the criminal indifference 
 of the professors of the Gospel. His soul in- 
 creasingly expanded with rising desires to be 
 employed for God ; but, like young Samuel, 
 when at first the Lord called him, so he knew 
 not for a while the voice which spake within him. 
 He had already been usefully employed : his gifts 
 had improved by exercise, and his zeal had in- 
 creased by exertion. He almost trembled when 
 the thought arose, (and yet it would frequently 
 obtrude itself,) that he was called to preach the 
 
94 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 Gospel. His mental conflicts now became strong, 
 and were of a peculiar nature : he reg;arded the 
 work to which he now tremblingly aspired, as wor- 
 thy of the superior powers of angelic minds ; and 
 feelingly, therefore, he exclaimed, " Who is suf- 
 ficient for these things?" Not only in his waking 
 hours, but frequently during his midnight slum- 
 bers, when the members of his body were pinioned 
 in sleep, his mind, unbound and active, was em- 
 ployed in the work. 
 
 On his return home, one Sabbath evening, 
 from the public worshiping assembly, he, as 
 usual, conducted the priestly duty at the family 
 altar, and then retired to rest. Fancy, ever 
 active, seemed to place him in the sacred desk. 
 The place of worship to which, in these visions 
 of the night, his mind was now transported, was 
 situated in an adjoining village. The building 
 appeared to him to be filled with people : novelty, 
 he conceived, had attracted the multitude. He 
 surveyed the congregation, and, feeling his insuf- 
 ficiency, hastily left the pulpit. An aged disciple 
 of the Redeemer met him at the foot of the stairs, 
 and, seizing his hand, burst into tears, and ex- 
 claimed, " Jairus, you must preach." With 
 reluctance he resumed his forsaken station, open- 
 ed his Bible, selected his text, and, ere he could 
 commence, his agitation awoke him, and he found 
 that all was but a dream. The nature of the 
 circumstances, however, although trivial in their 
 character, made a strong impression on his mind. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 95 
 
 as was, doubtless, quite natural, considering the 
 sentiments of which he had long been the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 On the following evening, according to his 
 usual custom, he attended at the place of which 
 he had dreamed, to assist in singing : several 
 other persons were also there, who, as well as 
 himself, had come before the appointed time of 
 service had arrived. The spreading foliage of a 
 majestic tree which stood before the door of the 
 sanctuary offered an inviting retreat from the fer- 
 vent rays of a summer's sun. Thither a company 
 had retired, to enjoy the refreshing breeze of 
 balmy Zephyr, and enjoy the pleasant shade. 
 Jairus was of the number. An animated and 
 profitable conversation on the pleasures of reli- 
 gion engaged the party until the time for public 
 service had arrived ; but no minister had yet ap- 
 peared. Jairus had already interested them by 
 the recital of his recent dream ; and, although no 
 credulous believer in the merely marvellous, still 
 he could not but be struck by the singular coin- 
 cidence between (what Dr. Johnson calls) his 
 *' Phantasm of Sleep" and their probable present 
 destitution of a minister. Time was rapidly pass- 
 ing away, the congregation had long been seated, 
 and imagination and anxiety were busy ; still the 
 prophet and priest continued absent. 
 
 Jairus had long attracted the attention of seve- 
 ral, whose hopes concerning him were rather san- 
 guine. They had watched over and carefully 
 
96 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 uotice(l his progressive course ; each stage of his 
 religious career had been observed by them ; and 
 some of these persons wese now present. They 
 had heard the artless tale of Jairus; they were 
 now placed in circumstances precisely similar to 
 those of which he had dreamed ; and they, there- 
 fore, most sagely concluded, that this was an 
 infallible evidence of his call to preach on this 
 occasion; and hence they warmly urged him to 
 ascend the pulpit. 
 
 If Jairus were not habitually more wise, he at 
 this time at least acted more discreetly than to 
 yield to the solicitations of his mistaken friends. 
 
 While he desired to be engaged in the work of 
 the ministry, he perceived, at the same time, 
 something of its arduous nature. He felt that 
 he was then altogether unprepared ; and he dared 
 not, in a heedless, inconsiderate way rush forward 
 to speak, as by the mouth of God, to the people: 
 and, therefore, he mildly yet positively refused. 
 He, however, complied with the request of the 
 people, and commenced the service by singing 
 and prayer, in which others present followed him. 
 
 All the circumstances of the case connected 
 with this service soon became noised abroad ; 
 and many, who were more skilled in the know- 
 ledge of dreams than of their Bibles, saw most 
 clearly that Jairus ought to have preached. He 
 himself also had had his thoughts on the 
 subject : his views, however, were not quite so 
 luminous; and he, therefore, wished rather to 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 97 
 
 be led than followed by the Divine Spirit in so 
 important an affair. The conduct of these indi- 
 viduals reminded him of the words of the poet — 
 
 " Poor, humble sonh, they with a right good will 
 Admire his progress till he stands stock still." 
 
 Happy would it be if all who aspire to the 
 ministerial character were equally willing, with 
 Jairus, to ascertain "the mind of the Spirit" on 
 this point. 
 
 Just at this time, an opening, in the south of 
 France, for missionary exertions afforded an op- 
 portunity for any qualified individual to enter a 
 wide field of usefulness. Jairus heard the de- 
 plorable condition of the inhabitants of that 
 country, in reference to religion, pathetically de- 
 scribed by his father in the Gospel : he wept for 
 their awfully destitute circumstances, and regret- 
 ted his want of ability to enter upon so blessed a 
 work. Under the impulse of the moment, he 
 determined immediately to commence the study 
 of the French language, and devote himself to the 
 work of a missionary. It occurred to him, how- 
 ever, that more than a mere knowledge of the 
 language was necessary fully to furnish him for 
 such a service. He had never preached, and 
 therefore knew not whether he possessed, in any 
 humble measure, talents suitable for the work. 
 
 He now^ sought for and obtained frequent in- 
 terviews with an individual who had for some 
 years been engaged in preaching in the surround- 
 
98 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 ing villages. To him he unbosomed his feelings, 
 and received from him a pressing invitation to 
 accompany him, on the next Sabbath, to a distant 
 station, and take part with him in preaching the 
 Gospel to the peoj)le. After some hesitation, he 
 consented, and then retired home in order to pre- 
 pare himself for this anticipated exercise. He, 
 however, who had found it comparatively easy, 
 by frequent repetition, to converse with an indi- 
 vidual on a sick-bed, or speak to a few children 
 in a Sabbath-school, felt it more difficult to de- 
 vote his mind attentively to any subject on which 
 to address, in public, a company of adults, by 
 delivering a sermon. Destitute of proper books 
 to assist him, and unacquainted with the method 
 of sermonizing or dividing a text of Scripture 
 according to the popular mode of preaching in 
 the present day, he felt bewildered in the mazes 
 of perplexity. All the assistance of which he 
 could avail himself seemed to suit him no more 
 than the armour of Saul did David when going 
 against the champion of the Philistines. Still, 
 the morning of the Sabbath-day arrived, and 
 Jairus seemed to be scarcely better prepared for 
 his work than he was on the day when he had 
 promised to attempt to preach. He had, indeed, 
 fasted, and prayed, and wept; but a continual 
 degree of perturbation appeared to incapacitate 
 his mind for the communication of any ideas with 
 which he attempted to store it. 
 
 It was an unusually fine morning, towards the 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 99 
 
 approach of the spring : not a cloud was seen 
 floating within the atmosphere. The scene was 
 peculiarly delightful; the road along which they 
 passed lay in the bosom of a rich and highly 
 cultivated country, which was rendered especially 
 picturesque and interesting by the lofty hills and 
 gently sloping valleys which on either hand alike 
 gratified the eye and cheered the spirits. The 
 variegated and prolific charms of nature had al- 
 ready clothed the whole country with richest ver- 
 dure. The sun, which appeared " like a strong 
 man" to *' rejoice to run a race," darted his rays 
 of fire through the opening foliage of the trees 
 and hedges, which now and then were agitated 
 by a gently fanning breeze ; while 
 
 "Thousaods of drops of pearly dew 
 Huug pendaut from the boughs," 
 
 and appeared, while they glittered in the sun- 
 beams, as though the hedges were bestudded 
 with silver, or adorned with sparkling gems. 
 The feathered minstrels of the grove warbled 
 their matin hymn of praise to Him who *' maketh 
 the outgoings of the morning and the evening to 
 rejoice ; " while tens of thousands of insects, by 
 their unintelligible hum, appeared as if they en- 
 joyed the bounties of nature with gratitude, while 
 man alone, for whom they are provided, received 
 them with heartless unconcern. 
 
 On a mind such as Jairus possessed, exquisitely 
 alive to the perception of nature's finest strokes, 
 the scene before him could not fail to exert a 
 
100 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 powerful influence : the grand sentiment of the 
 psalmist appeared insensibly to fix and gain upon 
 his mind, — ** All thy works praise thee, O Lord, 
 and thy saints bless thee!" — and, with Milton, 
 he felt 
 
 " These are thy glorioas works, parent of good, 
 
 Almighty I thine this universal frame, 
 
 Thus wondrous fair, thyself \\ovi wondrous, then ! " 
 
 The scenes by which the friends were sur- 
 rounded appeared so fully to have absorbed their 
 attention, that they had proceeded far in silence, 
 excepting occasionally when a slight observation 
 escaped them, extorted as it were by the sudden 
 and unexpected prospects which, at successive 
 periods, burst upon their view, as they descended 
 the winding paths before them, or gained the top 
 of some lofty eminence over which they had to 
 pass. 
 
 At length, the mysterious work of human re- 
 demption engaged their attention, and abundantly 
 furnished them with matter for interesting and 
 instructive conversation ; as if they were 
 
 " led by nature up to Nature's God." 
 
 Astonishment and devout admiration for a time 
 closed their lips in silence, while they reflected 
 on that Being condescending to become incarnate, 
 and, thus, to be aflflicted, reviled, condemned at 
 Pilate's bar, and crucified at Golgotha; who, 
 self-existent, happy in himself, and independent 
 of all his creatures, upholdeth the world by his 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 101 
 
 power, who " spreadeth out the heavens as a 
 tent to dwell in," who " rideth upon the wings of 
 the wind;" yea, whom "the heaven, even the 
 heaven of heavens cannot contain." 
 
 " 'Tis mysfery all ! the Immortal dies; 
 
 Who can explore the strange design? 
 In vain the first-born seraph tries 
 
 To sound the deptlis of Love Divine! 
 'Tis mystery all ! let earth adore; 
 Let angel-minds enquire no more." 
 
 " But," said Jairus, after a while, his eyes 
 sparkling with grateful vivacity while he spoke ; 
 ** to feel that we are personally interested in 
 that mercy, to knotv that ive have redemption 
 through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness 
 of all our sins; O, what an exalted privilege! 
 O, what a heaven on earth is this ! " 
 
 *' Yes," rejoined his friend, *' this is to enjoy 
 religion ; this is, in some sense, to understand a 
 mystery to the knowledge of which the world, 
 while unregeuerate, can never arrive." 
 
 *' And this," added Jairus, '* is the knowledge 
 which I am anxious to communicate to others ; 
 for I am certain, that 
 
 ' If the whole earth my Jesus knew. 
 
 Sure, the whole earth would love Him too!'" 
 
 ** There," observed his friend, pointing to a 
 village, part of which became visible to them as 
 they suddenly arose from a deep glen where they 
 had been walking, " there is the place where, 
 to-day, we are to proclaim in our humble way 
 the unsearchable riches of Christ." 
 
102 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 A sudden tremor agitated Jairus, as he thought 
 of the situation in which he was that day to be 
 placed — the solemn office he was to fill. '* May 
 that gracious Lord whose name we bear assist 
 us!" prayed Jairus: "may our eye be single; 
 so shall our bodies be full of light." 
 
 On entering the village, the mind of Jairus was 
 considerably affected at witnessing the apparent 
 heathenism which, on all sides, evidently prevail- 
 ed. A. number of young men were busily engaged 
 in a species of gambling on the road -side : the 
 earnestness with which they promoted their own 
 ruin was manifest in their vehemence of arguing 
 every contested point, and by the awful expres- 
 sions which broke from their lips. " These," 
 thought Jairus, *' are, indeed, ' without God and 
 without hope in the world.' " The sound of 
 approaching footsteps attracted their attention, 
 and, on turning, they beheld Jairus and his friend 
 advancing towards them. A degree of shame, or 
 fear, or, perhaps, both, appeared to seize upon 
 them, for they instantly dispersed, and quickly 
 hurried out of sight. 
 
 Proceeding further into the village, a number 
 of untaught children, dirty and ragged, were 
 seen running in all directions, either seeking 
 or engaged in amusement. The open door of 
 a public-house, and the confused noise of its 
 inmates, reminded Jairus of the strikingly cha- 
 racteristic description given by Cowper of those 
 low places of resort. — 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 103 
 
 " Pass where we may, through city or through town, 
 
 Village, or liainlet, of this merry land, 
 
 Though lean and beggar'd, every twentieth pace 
 
 Conducts the unguarded nose to such a whiff 
 
 Of stale debauch, forth issuing from the styes 
 
 That law has licensed, as makes temperance reel." 
 
 ** O'!" thought Jairus, *' if those who oppose 
 the instruction of the ignorant by Sunday-school 
 tuition, or by village preaching, were here to 
 behold, on a Christian Sabbath-day, such scenes 
 as these, so deeply disgraceful to our land, 
 surely their opposition would be exchanged for 
 unremitting exertions to banish vice and igno- 
 rance from our hardy rural population. The 
 nakedness of the land is, indeed, but very parti- 
 ally known. Many populous villages are yet 
 destitute of the Gospel, and, consequently, as 
 ignorant of the Saviour as are the untaught 
 savages of southern Africa, or of the islands in 
 the Pacific Ocean. But the Lord's work is 
 advancing : many are * running to and fro,' and, 
 even in our own land, knowledge is rapidly 
 increasing. Those laborious individuals, the 
 active and zealous men of God, who are employed 
 as agents for the * Home Missionary' Societies, 
 are sowing on all sides the seed of eternal life, 
 and darkness gives way before them." 
 
 During this soliloquy, the steps of Jairus and 
 his friend had brought them to the house of an 
 individual who, like the benevolent Puhlius of 
 old, " received them courteously." 
 
 After partaking of some refreshment, which 
 
104 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 the length of the journey they had performed 
 rendered both necessary and welcome, Jairus pre- 
 pared, with trembling, for the work before him. 
 
 On entering the place of worship, they found 
 the rustic congregation already assembled ; seve- 
 ral of whom had come from afar, hungering and 
 thirsting " for that meat which endureth unto 
 everlasting life." They met in a large room, 
 where several long forms were placed for the 
 accommodation of the worshipers. At the fur- 
 ther side from that on which they entered was 
 placed a desk, which served the purpose of a 
 temporary pulpit. Jairus stepped behind it, and 
 immediately the eyes of all present were fastened 
 upon him. A stranger's presence at the desk 
 never failed to produce surprise and excite atten- 
 tion : but he was a youthful stranger; and his 
 presence was, therefore, productive of more than 
 ordinary interest and regard. The evident emo- 
 tion under which he laboured called forth the 
 fervent prayers of the simple and pious congrega- 
 tion. A hymn was sung, and Jairus prayed with 
 a feeling and fervour which were at once pleasing 
 and edifying. Again they sung, and '* made 
 melody in their hearts to the Lord ; " at the close 
 of which he opened the Bible before him, and 
 read, from John ix. 27, " Will ye also he his dis- 
 ciples?'' 
 
 If what Jairus said from these words, while 
 attempting to illustrate and apply them in their 
 connexion, did not partake of all the eloquence 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 105 
 
 and order of modern sermons, it did not fall 
 below many of such productions in energy and 
 persuasive pathos : " out of the abundance of 
 the heart his mouth spake." He besought the 
 people, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled to 
 God, and urged the importance of their becoming 
 the disciples of Jesus Christ. Praise was again 
 offered to God by the little company, as they 
 
 " See, Jesns ! thy disciples see, 
 The piomis'd blessing give; 
 
 Met in thy name, we look to thee, 
 Expecting to receive. 
 
 With us thou art assembled here, 
 
 But, 0, thyself reveal ; 
 Son of the living God, appear. 
 
 Let us thy presence feel. 
 
 Breathe on us, Lord, in this our day. 
 And these dry bones shall live; 
 
 Speak peace into our hearts, and say, 
 ' The Holy Ghost receive.' 
 
 Whom now we seek, O, may we meet, 
 
 Jesus the crucified : 
 Shew us thy bleeding hands and feet. 
 
 Thou who for us hast died." 
 
 At the close of this expressive hymn, the 
 Divine Being was again solemnly and fervently 
 invoked by Jairus, for the bestowment of the 
 Holy Spirit's influence to render graciously effec- 
 tual his first feeble attempt to shew to his fellow 
 men the way of salvation. 
 
 After the close of the evening service, the 
 friends prepared again to return home ; and left 
 the village followed by the blessings of those 
 p 
 
106 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 who feared God, which were simply yet sincerely 
 and warmly expressed in earnest prayers for 
 their welfare. 
 
 The calm and tranquillizing- influence of the 
 evening was cheering to their languid frames, 
 and soothing to their sensitive spirits, whose 
 views and feelings seemed to be in a state of close 
 and pleasing accordance with the scene around 
 them. Not a sound was heard to interrupt the 
 repose of their minds, excepting, now and then, 
 the distant bleating of the lambs, or the lowing 
 of the herds which grazed upon the surrounding 
 hills; and, at intervals, the chirping of the 
 grasshopper, or the sweet and varied warblings 
 of the nightingale struck upon the ear, and 
 pleasingly tended to diversify the tribute of grate- 
 ful adoration which universal nature appeared 
 to be offering to Him 
 
 " Whose temple is all space, 
 Whose altar earth, sea, skies." 
 
 The last rays of the declining sun deeply 
 tinged the western horizon, adorning it with 
 colours more varied and brilliant than the rain- 
 bow's, while its light, gleaming from the tops of 
 the surrounding hills, glanced down upon the 
 path of the travellers. It seemed to be a season 
 sacred to the muses ; while, under the influence 
 of feelings which such scenery and circumstances 
 could not fail to inspire, Jairus wrote the follow- 
 ing farewell to 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 107 
 
 THE SETTING SUN. 
 
 Regent of Day, farewell! 
 Thy fast declining rays 
 A solemn moral tell 
 Of man's fast fleeting days; 
 They mark his fading glory here, 
 Which soon, like thine, will disappear. 
 
 With pleasare thousands hall'd 
 Thy morning's golden light. 
 Gaily o'er life they sail'd. 
 Nor thought of death's dark night. 
 Whose race is rnn, whose rays, like thine, 
 Are lost, on earth no more to shine. 
 
 Here, though alone I stand, 
 
 And view thy lessening light. 
 Many, throughout our land. 
 With me, admire the sight, 
 Whose death-bound eyes shall ne'er behold 
 Thy rising glow of fire and gold. 
 
 Emblem of purity. 
 
 In thee we may behold 
 The saints' serenity 
 When death's dark gates unfold : 
 Peaceful they sink from mortal view 
 To shine with splendours ever new. 
 
 Like thee, the saints shall rise 
 
 In Resurrection's morn: 
 
 Glory shall cheer their eyes. 
 
 And all their souls adorn— 
 
 Shall rise, to set no more in night, 
 
 But shine amidst increasing light. 
 
 Conversation, at once pleasing and profitable, 
 beguiled the tedious length of the way till the 
 friends were brought to the place from which 
 they had jointly started in the morning. An 
 affectionate farewell for the night and a hearty 
 shake of the hand were mutually given ; and 
 each, wearied in body, but invigorated in mind, 
 hasted to the bosom of his family; and, from 
 
10» JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 thence, having commended themselves to God, 
 retired to enjoy the soothing and strengthening 
 refreshment of sleep. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 109 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " Heaven is all love, all joy in giving joy; 
 It never had created but to bless : 
 And shall it, then, strike oflf the list of life, 
 A being bless'd, or loorthy so to be? 
 Heaven starts at an annihilating God." 
 
 Young. 
 
 Of the ** Athenians and the strangers" who 
 visited that famous city, it is recorded, that '* they 
 spent their time in nothing else but either to tell 
 or to hear some new thing." The same rage for 
 novelty still exists, and is as notoriously evident 
 in the present day. Any new circumstance, or 
 an event of a novel character, is certain to gain 
 attention, and, generally, draws admirers. 
 
 The fact of Jairus's having preached was soon 
 noised abroad : the information spread like wild- 
 fire, being eagerly received, and as readily re- 
 ported, by the slavish retailers of novelty. 
 Undoubtedly, very different motives influenced 
 various individuals, both as they listened to, and 
 as they circulated, the tale. Some assumed the 
 supreme chair usually occupied by the Roman 
 
110 , JARIUS ; OR, THE 
 
 Pontift*; and, professing to have attained "the 
 discerning of spirits," began avowedly to discover 
 and proclaim his motives. Others, somewhat 
 less aspiring, yet, without informing us at what 
 precise age the Holy Spirit influenced the mind 
 of the youthful Timothy, in calling him to the 
 Gospel ministry, or even without pretending to 
 define the exact period of life at which, in our 
 day, pious individuals are publicly to exercise 
 the preaching talents with which they may be 
 intrusted, intimated, with an affected concern, 
 (signified by a sort of palsied movement of the 
 head, accompanied with a deep-drawn sigh,) 
 " his youth:'' while others, who 
 
 " Hated the excellence they could not reach," 
 
 hinted " his unqualified state for the work." 
 None felt the force of the last- mentioned weighty 
 reason, urged by ^' a friend to silence,'' (except 
 when they themselves speak,) more than did 
 Jairus : — no, not even these sympathizing and 
 *' silent" friends. His own sense of incompetency 
 for the work deeply atFected him; and, had not 
 a persuasion similar (at least, in kind) to that 
 realized by the apostle, as he exclaimed, ** Woe 
 is me if I preach not the Gospel," urged Jairus 
 to attempt it, he would, notwithstanding the 
 solicitations of many, still have continued silent. 
 In reference, however, to his motive, he could, 
 like Peter, appeal to omniscience in vindication 
 of its purity. He was, indeed, young; having 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. Ill 
 
 just entered his twentieth year : many, liowever, 
 still younger had been, and several such then 
 were, usefully engaged in preaching the Gospel. 
 But, amidst all the clamour of little minds, he 
 had at least one friend, to whose earnest and 
 unabating concern for his welfare he was greatly 
 
 indebted, — the Rev. W Y . This was a 
 
 gentleman, in the proper sense of the term, of 
 highly respectable connexions, possessing talents 
 much above the ordinary rank, a well-furnished 
 mind, and acute penetration, with warm and 
 unaffected friendship, besides (what imparted 
 lustre and solidity to his other qualifications) 
 fervent piety. 
 
 Some time had now elapsed since Jairus's first 
 attempt at preaching, when, on their unexpectedly 
 meeting, he thus accosted him, with all the 
 pleasing and easy familiarity of kind acquaint- 
 ance, — *' Well, Jairus ; so, I hear, you have 
 begun to preach." 
 
 This was rather unlooked for. Jairus was 
 silent, and, while he hung his head, a blush 
 crimsoned his cheek: he felt confused, and knew 
 not for the moment what reply to make. Mr. Y. 
 perceived his embarrassment; and, wishing to 
 relieve it, " Well," he continued, " how did you 
 succeed t I hope you had a good congregation." 
 
 ** The congregation, Sir," replied Jairus, *' was 
 good for the place ; but how I succeeded I cannot 
 say ; I fear, badly enough. Sir." 
 
 " Well, don't be discouraged," said Mr. Y. 
 
112 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 *' there was a time when the immortal Newton 
 was learning, at his mother's knee, the characters 
 which compose our alphabet. Live near to God ; 
 if he has called you to the work, he will fit you 
 for it : he never sent any man a warfare at his 
 own charges. If I can render you any assistance, 
 I shall feel myself happy to do so : any books 
 which my library contains are at your service ; 
 and you may at all times command any informa- 
 tion I may be able to impart." 
 
 Jairus could only bow in silence, and thus 
 acknowledge his sense of the reverend gentleman's 
 kindness. If he could have given utterance to 
 his feelings, he would have thanked him in lan- 
 guage as sincere and ardent as that in which 
 he had been addressed. With a friendly invita- 
 tion to pay him an early visit, and kindly press- 
 ing the hand of Jairus, he took his leave. 
 
 Several weeks passed away, during which time 
 Jairus continued to receive advice and assistance, 
 both from the personal and edifying counsel, and 
 also from some well-chosen publications out of 
 the library of Mr. Y. None of his former en- 
 gagements, however, were, as yet, given up ; 
 and although he continued, on various occasions, 
 to make trial of his talents for preaching the 
 Gospel, his regular attendance, according to 
 appointment, at the Sabbath-school, was rarely, 
 if ever, omitted. Neither were his visits to ** the 
 house of mourning" or the chamber of sickness 
 and death, less frequent than formerly, but rather 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 113 
 
 increased in number : he had learned to husband 
 well his time, and, " gathering up the fragments, 
 nothing was lost." 
 
 A sick friend, whom he had long intimately 
 known, with whom he had frequently walked to 
 the house of God, and whose sincere and ardent 
 piety had often engaged his attention, solicited a 
 visit from him. He found him in the last stage 
 of a rapid consumption, confined to his room, and 
 surrounded by his wife and children. His mind 
 was beclouded ; a heavy and settled gloom ap- 
 peared to oppress him. Nature appeared reluc- 
 tant to meet the chilling embrace of Death : the 
 dissolution of the body and the darkness of the 
 grave presented to his mind unconquerable hor- 
 rors. During a familiar conversation, Jairus 
 stated what had recently afforded him inexpress- 
 ible delight, — the contemplation of the immorta- 
 liti/ of the soul, — the pleasing belief of future 
 everlasting existence. 
 
 "O!" exclaimed the dying man, "that is the 
 subject which, above all others, frequently renders 
 me unhappy, — nay, more, — quite miserable; I 
 seem to envy the very brutes their annihilation." 
 
 Jairus started : his surprise almost overcame 
 him. Not a moment's doubt of his friend's per- 
 sonal piety could ever be admitted; and yet he 
 now heard from his own lips the distressing testi- 
 mony of the absence of peace and hope, arising 
 from the present want of an experimental sense of 
 a personal interest in the " redemption that is in 
 Q 
 
114 JAIRUS.; OR, THE 
 
 Christ Jesus." It was now with him "the hour 
 and the power of darkness : " Satan was, for a 
 while, left at liberty to harass him : he was more 
 than **in heaviness through manifold tempta- 
 tions : " he was under apparent darkness and 
 desertion, and in some sense might have cried 
 out, with the Saviour himself, " My God, my 
 God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 
 
 Christ's full sufficiency to relieve the sinner's 
 necessity, his readiness to receive the vilest, the 
 dignity and value of his atonement, his j)erpetual 
 and prevalent intercession, — were themes at this 
 time clearly and comprehensively exhibited by 
 Jairus ; and his attempts to serve his friend were 
 divinely blessed to the relief of his mind. He 
 prayed earnestly both with him and for him ; and 
 he afterwards enjoyed the happiness of knowing, 
 that, prior to his friend's exit from this world, 
 (which took place before he could see him again,) 
 he was enabled, with the Psalmist, to declare, 
 " Though I walk through the valley of the sha- 
 dow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art 
 with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 
 My heart and my flesh faileth: but God is the 
 strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." 
 
 Jairus had been some time employed in preach- 
 ing in the surrounding villages, when his invaluable 
 
 friend, Mr. Y requested he would accompany 
 
 him to a place, about ten miles distant, where he 
 had engaged to preach on the following Sabbath ; 
 at the same time expressing a wish that he should 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 115 
 
 take the evening service; in which case he himself 
 would return towards home and supply another 
 pulpit in the way, and there wait until the arrival 
 of Jairus. After some few objections on the part 
 of Jairus, which were soon removed by his friend, 
 it was agreed, that on the day in question they 
 should journey forth together. 
 
 During the remainder of the week, Jairus was 
 busily employed in preparing to enter upon the 
 proposed new ground ; that, while he endeavour- 
 ed, with affectionate zeal, to instruct the congre- 
 gation which he should then meet, he might neither 
 discredit the cause nor disgrace himself. 
 
 The dark and stormy days of November had 
 now set in, and therefore no dependence could be 
 placed upon the weather. The morning of that 
 Sabbath-day, which again summoned Jairus to 
 public duty, had now dawned. The roar of the 
 northern blast, and the heavy falling of the rain, 
 seemed to forebode an unpleasant journey; and 
 as their intended course lay along a cross-country 
 road, no conveyance could conveniently be ob- 
 tained. The hour at length arrived for their 
 departure, and the friends essayed to go forth. 
 The rain had abated, although a little still con- 
 tinued to fall ; but the wind had considerably 
 increased. The work, however, in which they 
 had engaged was one of infinite importance. The 
 people to whom they were going possessed souls 
 at once guilty, accountable, and immortal; time 
 was rapidly passing away; and its very flight 
 
116 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 urged them to " make full proof of their ministry :" 
 besides which, they were divinely commanded to 
 "endure hardness as good soldier^of JesusChrist." 
 
 The sweeping tempest, as it howled along the 
 open commons over which they had to pass, was 
 almost more than a match for their strength, and 
 it blew directly in their faces ; the rain, too, began 
 again to fall heavily : still, however, they pressed 
 onwards. "There is one consolation," observed 
 
 Mr. Y , as he tightly folded round him his 
 
 travelling-coat, which had blown open, "there is 
 one consolation — it might have been worse." 
 
 " It might indeed," rejoined Jairus; " it bears 
 no comparison with that tempest with which the 
 cities of the plain were visited." 
 
 " No, nor with that, either, of which David 
 thus speaks — 'Upon the wicked he shall rain 
 snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tem- 
 pest; this shall be the portion of their cup.' " 
 
 " What unparalleled mercy it is," observed Jai- 
 rus, " that Jesus Christ is proclaimed as * a refuge 
 and as a covert from the storm and from the rain !' 
 and that * his name is a strong tower,' into which 
 whosoever runneth is safe ! " 
 
 " Mercy indeed," replied Mr. Y : "there 
 
 rests all our hope. Well might the immortal 
 Young, in contemplating so divine a theme, be- 
 come inflamed with ardour, and almost trans- 
 ported into a state of sacred ecstasy; well might 
 he, while giving vent to the impassioned feelings 
 of his soul, exclaim — 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 117 
 
 ' Bounil, every heart, and every bosom, barn ! 
 O, ye cold-hearted, frozen formalists, 
 On such a theme 'twere impious to be calm; 
 Passion is prudence,— transport temper here I'" 
 
 Many parts of the road through which they now 
 went were rendered almost impassable, both by 
 the rains which had fallen, and by the naturally 
 swampy state of the soil. It therefore became 
 necessary for them to take great care at every step. 
 Turning up their trowsers, to save them from the 
 miry clay into which they sank as they proceeded, 
 
 " They plodded ou their way." 
 
 The rain at length had ceased to fall, and a 
 gleam of sunshine now and then darted upon 
 them its cheering rays from the parting clouds, 
 which, still driven wildly by the wind, rolled in 
 heavy and mountain-like forms over their heads. 
 Yesterday's little rippling brook had swollen to a 
 river, which, rushing from the tops of the lofty 
 hills with impetuous violence, threatened to inun- 
 date the little cottages of the woodmen below. 
 Frequently, as the flood fell into some newly-made 
 cavity, the ear was saluted with sounds not wholly 
 unlike the roaring of the famous falls of Niagara, 
 when heard from a great distance. 
 
 The circling columns of smoke, which were now 
 seen rising before them, presented a pleasing pros- 
 pect of their soon reaching their journey's end. 
 Wet and fatigued, they at length entered the 
 town, and soon found, by the fireside of ** an old 
 disciple," a comfortable resting-place for their 
 
118 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 wearied bodies, and a seasonable supply to recruit 
 their almost exhausted strength. By the time 
 they had become pretty well dry, the appointed 
 hour for public service had arrived: they there- 
 fore proceeded to the house of God, and in the 
 midst of the congregation offered up their thanks- 
 giving to the Most High for his kindness towards 
 tliem. 
 
 At the close of the afternoon service, Mr. Y 
 
 repaired to the place intended for his evening's 
 labour, leaving Jairus to perform the evening ser- 
 vice at B . 
 
 The weather had now considerably cleared, and 
 was become tolerably fine, the wind too was greatly 
 abated ; and the friends of our Missionaries in- 
 dulged the hope that their returning at night 
 would at least be more favourable than had been 
 their coming in the morning. 
 
 The frequent opportunities with which Jairus 
 had lately been favoured for exercising his gifts 
 had given him, comparatively, the confidence and 
 readiness of experience; and he was therefore en- 
 abled this evening to preach with acceptance and 
 benefit to the people. 
 
 Having fulfilled his mission for that day, he 
 hasted to rejoin his friend. It was now eight 
 o'clock, p. m. ; and he had to walk, alone, five 
 miles through an unknown part of the country. 
 When he set out, the night appeared likely to be 
 fair; he had not, however, proceeded above one 
 mile on his journey, before the gathering clouds, 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 119 
 
 and the distant, hollow roar of the winds, sweep- 
 ing through the valleys, or breaking- on the woods, 
 by which on both sides the road was bounded, 
 seemed portentous of an approaching storm. 
 
 As Jairus and his friend had passed on in the 
 morning, every place was carefully noticed, in 
 order to assist his return in the evening. All 
 then appeared quite plain to them, but now the 
 face of nature was changed ; for 
 
 "A sable gloom hung, thickening, all around." 
 
 A stile, over which he should have passed, and 
 which would have led him directly in his way, 
 had already escaped his notice ; and he still con- 
 tinued to wander onward, renewing his speed 
 every moment, as his situation appeared to him 
 increasingly unsafe or unpleasant. At length, a 
 conviction, amounting to certainty, possessed him, 
 that he had mistaken his way; still he went for- 
 ward, hoping to find an outlet. He remembered 
 to have seen, in the morning, a cart-road, which 
 he conceived must be still before him, and which, 
 though by a way rather circuitous, would lead 
 him to a part of the road with which he consi- 
 dered himself well acquainted. 
 
 Jairus now, by a sudden turning of the road, 
 entered a place which must have borne at least 
 some resemblance to that which the mind of Bun- 
 yan imagined when he wrote his description of 
 " the Valley of the Shadow of Death.'' The 
 over-arching branches of the forest oak excluded 
 
120 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 even the little light which was left iu the atmos- 
 phere. Imagination frequently presented to the 
 mind of Jairus a high wall before him, which 
 terminated his progress. Suddenly starting back, 
 he stood a while, and then, with cautious step, 
 slowly advanced. The clouds, which had assum- 
 ed a threatening aspect, now began to pour down 
 their overcharged contents. Not knowing whither 
 he wandered, he still continued to press on : 
 an opening, which admitted a little light, at 
 length relieved his anxiety ; a side-road disco- 
 vered itself, down which he immediately turned, 
 expecting this would conduct him to the place he 
 sought. The lane was of considerable length ; 
 and, at every step he took, plunging in the deep 
 furrows made by the cart-wheels, he was fre- 
 quently half-way up his boots in mud and water, 
 and often found it difficult to keep himself from 
 falling. The end, however, of this road, at 
 length, appeared, when an extensive common, 
 wide as, by the light around him, the eye could 
 reach, and without any discernible path, present- 
 ed itself to his view. Conscious that he was 
 wrong, and conceiving it worse than folly to 
 adventure himself on this wild and dreary place, 
 he retraced his steps, still hoping, in that way, 
 to discover the path he was seeking. 
 
 Having reached the place from whence he 
 turned into the lane, he walked on in the 
 same direction as before. He had now proceed- 
 ed thus a considerable distance, until, wearied 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 121 
 
 and confused, he halted, and almost determined 
 to abandon as fruitless and impracticable, any 
 further attempt to find his way. Irresolute, for a 
 moment, what course to take, he stood still, when 
 a distant sound arrested his attention ; he listen- 
 ed, and fancied that it drew nearer; he soon 
 clearly distinguished it to be the galloping of 
 a horse. Who might be its rider at that late 
 hour of the night, and in so lonely a place, he, 
 of course, could not conceive. Conjecture began 
 to be busy : he felt apprehensive for his personal 
 safety. Presently, the snorting of the animal 
 assured him of the near approach of the stranger. 
 He now looked, and saw, or fancied he saw, 
 a tall figure, all white, bestriding the horse : 
 his increasing nearness confirmed him in his 
 conjecture ; he could now plainly distinguish a 
 man's form, dressed in white from head to foot. 
 His uncomfortable feeling increased ; at length, 
 however, he determined to speak to the appari- 
 tion. It came nearer; — he hallooed, — and re- 
 ceived an answer from a human voice. — " Who 
 are you? what do you want?" demanded the 
 stranger, as he held in his horse, and drew up 
 to Jairus. 
 
 *' I am a traveller," returned Jairus, '* and 
 
 have lost my way : can you direct me to C 
 
 common ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied the stranger, ** I am going 
 thither; and if you will walk by the side of my 
 horse I will conduct you." 
 
 R 
 
122 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 Jairus thanked him, and accepted his offer: 
 still, his mind was not perfectly free from appre- 
 hension of what might be the character of his 
 guide. He did not appear disposed to enter 
 into any conversation, and yet continued to 
 walk his horse at an easy pace. It seemed as 
 though there was much more than mere kindness 
 would have induced an utter stranger to per- 
 form. 
 
 Suddenly they turned into an opening which 
 Jairus had not before observed, and which con- 
 ducted them to a deep valley. Immediately, 
 the words of Shakspeare irresistibly possessed 
 his mind. 
 
 •Murder, though it hath no tongue, doth speak 
 
 With most miraculous organ." 
 
 Every moment he expected to see a pistol 
 leveled at his head, or to receive its contents 
 in his body. A profound silence continued on 
 the part of the horseman, while Jairus, in order, 
 if possible, to dissipate his own fears, hummed 
 to himself part of his favourite hymn — 
 
 " From all that dwell below the skies, &c." 
 
 Again they ascended some rising ground, when 
 Jairus readily recognized the place he had long 
 been seeking. The silver moon at this moment 
 broke forth from behind a cloud, and, shining 
 clearly on the person of the mysterious stranger, 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 123 
 
 discovered to Jairus— a— -Miller ! In a courte- 
 ous manner he informed Jairus that he was at 
 the place for which he had asked ; and enquired 
 whether he was now acquainted with his way. 
 Jairus answered in the affirmative, and heartily 
 thanked him for his guidance. The miller 
 turned his horse's head, wished him a good 
 night, and instantly galloped off to his mill. 
 
 While Jairus was wandering in the lanes, Mr. 
 
 Y and his friends were, with much anxiety, 
 
 expecting and waiting for him. A full hour 
 beyond the utmost time which, had he not missed 
 his way, would have been requisite to perform 
 his journey had now elapsed, and still he did 
 not appear. At length, they concluded, from 
 the inclemency of the evening, that he had been 
 
 induced to continue at B ; and, hence, 
 
 Mr. Y , taking leave of his friends, hasted 
 
 towards home. 
 
 Amidst this state of things, Jairus arrived at 
 the place where he expected to meet his friend. 
 All was silent. The inhabitants of the village 
 had retired to rest. It now appeared certain he 
 must perform the whole of his journey alone : 
 and, therefore, adjusting a little his hat and 
 coat, and tying a dry silk handkerchief round his 
 neck, he set forward, commending himself into 
 his hands who is ever present — 
 
 " lu the wide waste, as in the city full." 
 
 Without meeting with any thing further worthy 
 
124 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 of notice, he arrived at home about midnight, 
 thankful for his preservation, and happy he was 
 counted worthy to suffer, even fatigue of body, 
 for the name of Jesvs. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 125 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " Honour, and might, and tliauks, and praise, 
 
 I render to my pardoning God ; 
 Extol the riches of thy ?race, 
 
 And spread thy saving name abroad, — 
 That only name, to sinners given, 
 Which lifts poor dying worms to heaven." 
 
 JVesley. 
 
 The doctrine of a superintending Providence, 
 whether carried on by the agency of angels, or by 
 other subordinate and inferior beings, appears so 
 very obvious to unprejudiced and reflecting 
 minds, that, if it had not been revealed in the 
 Scriptures, we must have admitted it to a certain 
 extent. Those who presume to deny the doctrine 
 do so, not so much from want of proof, nor, in- 
 deed, it is to be feared, even of conviction of its 
 truth, as because of its ultimate and, perhaps, 
 inseparable connexion with the fact of the im- 
 mortality of the soul : and hence, probably, it is 
 that our modern Sadducees maintain " there is 
 neither angel nor spirit." 
 
 To admit the supernatural existence and 
 agency of some invisible cause, is equally to ad- 
 
126 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 mit a state distinct and separate from this in 
 which we now exist, and by which our actual 
 knowledge is bounded : and to do this would, cer- 
 tainly, go far to explode their own irrational 
 notion of annihilation ; for which, indeed, they 
 fondly hope, but which is not, therefore, the less 
 unfounded and absurd. But where the flight of 
 human reason fails to assist our enquiries on this 
 point, Revelation condescends to our aid ; and, 
 in the most plain and positive manner, demon- 
 strates the fact and power of a superintending 
 Providence ;—aflirming, "He shall give his an- 
 gels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
 ways ; they shall bear thee up in their hands, 
 lest thou dash thy foot against a stone:" and, 
 ** Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth 
 to minister for them who shall be heirs of sal- 
 vation ? " 
 
 But, while many admit the truth of a general 
 Providence, as directing and managing the aflfairs 
 of the world at large, they strenuously object to 
 the belief that this supervision and influence 
 minutely regards particular and individual causes 
 and characters. The objection, however, must 
 appear equally superficial and absurd to those 
 who believe that "the steps of a good man are 
 ordered by the Lord ;" and, "the very hairs of your 
 head are all numbered." And, indeed, as to ad- 
 mit the truth of any general statement of facts, is 
 to admit the truth of all those particulars which 
 that statement necessarily involves ; so, to assent 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 127 
 
 sincerely to the doctrine of a general Providence, 
 cannot but be to admit the belief of those parti- 
 cular facts, the management of which constitutes 
 that general Providence itself. 
 
 On Jairus's return home, as already stated in 
 the preceding chapter, his active mind engaged 
 in reflections concerning the exposed situation in 
 which he had been placed : and, while gratefully 
 reviewing the occurrences and risks which had 
 attended his journey till his arrival at his father's 
 habitation, his mind became powerfully impressed 
 with a sense of the providential care of his hea- 
 venly Parent ; and he gave utterance to his feel- 
 ings, exclaiming, — 
 
 " In all my ways, thy hand I own, 
 
 Thy ruling Providence I see. 
 Assist me still my course to run. 
 
 And still direct my paths to thee. 
 Foolish, and impotent, and blind, 
 
 Lead me a way I have not known, 
 Bring me where I my heaven may find, — 
 
 The heaven of loving thee alone." 
 
 Every succeeding day he made renewed effbrts 
 to serve the purposes of his existence, in acts of 
 mercy and kindness, directed alike to benefit both 
 the bodies and souls of his fellow mortals. 
 
 He had now, for a considerable time, been em- 
 ployed in preaching the Gospel ; and he frequent- 
 ly travelled, on foot, thirty to forty miles a week, 
 preaching four, six, and more, times, within that 
 period, besides attending to various calls of 
 mercy, made by the children of poverty, afflic- 
 
128 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 tion, and sorrow. From the frequency of his 
 public ministrations, he was (though very reluct- 
 antly) necessitated to relinquish an employment 
 in which he much delighted, and which had, in- 
 deed, improved his talents for the performance of 
 a more arduous duty. He could no longer attend 
 the Sabbath-school where, while addressing the 
 rising generation, he had often felt his own soul 
 animated and blessed, and had become encouraged 
 to stand, with growing confidence, before an adult 
 auditory. 
 
 Thus he continued to advance in his career : 
 nothing appeared likely to occur to disturb his 
 peace, or to blight his prospects. A storm, how- 
 ever, was rising which, as yet, he did not per- 
 ceive. He was assailed by a strong temptation 
 to abandon, at once, all the exercises in which 
 he was engaged. This suggestion continued to 
 grow upon him, and rendered him proportion ably 
 unhappy: the high delight he had formerly ex- 
 perienced in *' preaching peace by Jesus Christ " 
 was no longer enjoyed: he now trembled to 
 engage in what had been to him a source of the 
 highest and surest pleasure : he prayed, he wept, 
 he agonized ; and still the impression increasing- 
 ly urged him, that he ought to give up his engage- 
 ments in preaching, praying publicly, and such 
 sacred exercises, and, at once, to sit down in 
 inglorious inactivity and sloth. 
 
 The principal cause, apparently, of such feel- 
 ings was the circumstance of his having, for some 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 129 
 
 months past, continued to labour, without anv 
 satisfactory evidence that his preaching was 
 rendered effectual by God : and, that such should 
 be the case, was, to him, wholly unaccountable. 
 God, however, was thus teaching him a lesson 
 with which it was necessary that he should be- 
 come much more conversant than he yet was, — 
 to qualify him " To sow in hope, and toil with 
 humility.'' He had already been rendered instru- 
 mental in the conversion and the establishment in 
 the faith of several individuals, prior to this 
 period ; and he was, therefore, in no little danger 
 of regarding his success as a necessary result of 
 his own piety, or the exercise of his own mental 
 power. Spiritual pride began to suggest to him 
 ideas of his own importance ; and he was likely 
 to '* fall into the condemnation of the devil ;" 
 when that sovereign Power, possessing "the re- 
 sidue of the Spirit," was pleased to convince hmi 
 of his own thorough impotence, and to teach him 
 that, whatever good is done in the earth, the 
 Lord alone doeth it ; and that it is " Not by 
 might, nor by power ; but by my Spirit, saith 
 the Lord : " and, hence, it was that, for some 
 months, God either did not work by him, or he 
 concealed from him the good of which, still, he 
 was the instrument. 
 
 He was in these circumstances, and on the very 
 
 point of erasing his name from the list of agents 
 
 in the cause of religious activity, or abandoning 
 
 his work as that in which, he conceived, he had 
 
 s 
 
130 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 no authority to be engaged ; when the gracious 
 condescension of the Almighty was manifested in 
 regarding his cry, and reviving him with unequivo- 
 cal testimony of the Divine approbation of his la- 
 bours, in the conversion of two individuals ; one 
 of whom had been a proud, pharisaic worshiper, 
 or empty professor of religion, during the pre- 
 vious fourteen years. The broad seal of God's 
 sanction being thus, most signally, and at a time 
 the most seasonable, put to his ministry, his 
 soul exulted anew in the Lord, while, with all 
 humility, he exclaimed, *' Not unto us, O Lord, 
 not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for 
 thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." 
 
 During this season of painful exercise, he had 
 experimentally learned his own inability; and his 
 unreserved dependence was, therefore, now re- 
 posed on the might and sufficiency of the Spirit 
 and power of God. 
 
 Taught by thy teaching, here, at last. 
 My weakness on thy might 1 cast; 
 And, here, to thee the whole resign. 
 Thine is the work, and only thine. 
 
 That much mental darkness and ignorance may 
 exist in characters which are, nevertheless, imme- 
 diately surrounded by light and the means of 
 knowledge, is too evident a fact to be for a mo- 
 ment disputed : and that, amid much unhesitating 
 profession, there is an awful possibility of there 
 being great self-deception on a subject of inlinite 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 131 
 
 importance, is a fact, alas ! but too fatally evident. 
 Individuals may frequently be found who readily 
 take for granted vvliat themselves could never 
 prove; and, hence, they sit down in com- 
 placency with the meagre satisfaction of a hi- 
 lacious hope, or an unwarranted expectation, in 
 reference both to their present peace and eternal 
 salvation. 
 
 A most appalling and egregious case of this 
 character came immediately under the notice of 
 Jairus. 
 
 After the close of a Sabbath- morning's ser- 
 vice, at a certain place where he had been preach- 
 ing, he was requested to visit a lady, at some 
 little distance, in order to converse with her on 
 the subject of experimental piety, and, if possi- 
 ble, to ascertain what were her real views in refe- 
 rence to religious truth. Ever happy to engage 
 in such exercises, and especially when requested 
 to do so, he cheerfully accompanied a gentleman 
 who conducted him to her dwelling, and was, by 
 him, introduced to the lady. On entering her 
 apartment, he beheld an aged woman, whose 
 wrinkled countenance bore but a very faint re- 
 semblance to a once more pleasing aspect. Her 
 silver tresses, now occupying the former place of 
 auburn ringlets, gave a peculiar grace to her 
 venerable exterior, while her whole appearance 
 plainly indicated that she had arrived nearly to 
 the boundary of the period usually allotted to 
 man in his probationary state. 
 
132 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 As Jairus entered, she arose, and received him 
 with all possible courtesy. After the necessary 
 ceremonies demanded by politeness, the subject 
 of religion was easily introduced by Jairus. In 
 reference to its excellence and importance, the 
 old gentlewoman answered freely, and spoke of 
 the Scriptures in terms of the highest commenda- 
 tion ; but, at the same time, in a strain of re- 
 mark not at all satisfactory to the mind of Jairus, 
 who well knew that, to admit their Divine autho- 
 rity and imperative claims, would be of no essen- 
 tial advantage to a soul destitute of a practical 
 acquaintance with their saving influence upon the 
 heart. He, therefore, appealed to her personal 
 experience, expressing the hope that she herself 
 had participated in the blessings of that redemp- 
 tion which it reveals. With the same readiness 
 and freedom as before, she answered in the aflir- 
 mative, and immediately drew from her pocket 
 a visible witness and voucher for the correct- 
 ness of her statements. It was a small volume 
 of prayers, which she declared she had car- 
 ried about with her for many years, and from 
 which she was regularly in the habit of read- 
 ing daily portions. Its appearance, indeed, bore 
 ample testimony to her assertions, as the edges 
 of many of the leaves were much worn, and, 
 in many places, several words were entirely 
 lost. 
 
 Jairus received the presented relic of devotion 
 into his hand, and, turning over its idolized 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 133 
 
 pages, the word ** Trinity" caught his eye, as it 
 glanced at the close of one of the prayers, in 
 which the Triune Deity was addressed. With a 
 view to give a natural turn to the conversation, 
 on a subject which had already been begun to be 
 evaded, he asked her what she understood by the 
 word '* Trinity.'' For a moment, she hesitated, 
 and was evidently confused, seemingly revolving 
 in her mind what reply to make : at length, as if 
 recollecting herself, she answered — " I suppose 
 it means a company of good people met together 
 for prayer.'' 
 
 On receiving such an answer, from such a per- 
 son, on such a subject, it was difficult to say whe- 
 ther, for the moment, his risible faculties or his 
 surprise was most aroused. A mingled feeling, 
 however, composed of grief and wonder at the 
 deplorable ignorance of such an aged individual, 
 instantly possessed him ; and a consideration 
 tending greatly to increase this feeling, was his 
 knowledge of her former circumstances in life. 
 Sh€ had been possessed of considerable property, 
 and had, therefore, had means of obtaining in- 
 formation which the poorer classes of society 
 could not command. In addition to this she 
 had regularly attended the Established Church, 
 and was a stated communicant at the table of 
 the Lord. 
 
 After the first moment of surprise had passed 
 away, he endeavoured to acquaint her with her 
 mistake. Several other plain questions were then 
 
134 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 proposed, to each of which she gave equally sim- 
 ple answers; and, at length, endeavoured to 
 screen herself from the charge of ignorance, which 
 she appeared to dread more than ignorance itself y 
 by pleading a want of recollection. To no one 
 single article of the Christian Faith could she affix 
 any definite meaning; nor, to any easy and plain 
 question, give a reasonable answer. So com- 
 pletely had she intrenched herself in the strong- 
 holds of delusion, as being " a member of the 
 true Christian Church,'' that she was perfectly 
 invulnerable to the shafts of sound and scriptural 
 reasoning, and unmoved by any attempt which 
 could be made for her conviction. Her case 
 strongly reminded Jairus of the anecdote of '* the 
 ignorant collier examined." — " What," asks an 
 enquirer, "do you believe?" — "I believe," he 
 answered, "what the Church believes." — "And 
 what," rejoined the other, " does the Church be- 
 lieve?" He readily replied, " The Church believes 
 what I believe." The querist, desirous if possible, 
 to bring him to particulars, once more resumed 
 his enquiry. — " Tell me then, I pray you, what 
 is it which both you and the Church believe?" 
 The only answer the collier could give was, — 
 "Why, Sir, both the Church and I believe the 
 same thing." 
 
 Jairus spared no labour to endeavour to bring 
 her to a knowledge of her state. Argument 
 after argument was produced, but, to all ap- 
 pearance, all in vain. She either could not un- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 135 
 
 derstand, or she would not acknowledge that 
 she did so. 
 
 Perhaps, never before did Sunday-schools ap- 
 pear, to Jairus, in so estimable a light as on this 
 occasion : he had, indeed, ever since he himself 
 had become acquainted with Gospel truth, highly 
 esteemed them as eminently calculated to coun- 
 teract the joint influence of ignorance and vice, 
 and as among the most effectual means which 
 could be devised to diff'use knowledge and happi- 
 ness. He now saw their efl'ects and advantages 
 more impressively illustrated, by the deplorable 
 contrast before him. *' Probably," thought Jairus, 
 ** not a child of six years old, can be found in any 
 of our Sunday-schools which could not instruct, 
 in the leading truths of the Gospel, this pitia- 
 bly ignorant dotard of nearly threescore years 
 and ten." 
 
 In no case, perhaps, can a more striking ex- 
 emplification of the beneficial efl'ects of Sunday- 
 school instruction be adduced, than in an excel- 
 lent work, lately laid before the public, by a well- 
 informed dissenting minister, and bearing the 
 unassuming title of *' Pastoral Recollections." 
 Every Sunday-school library should be enriched 
 by a copy of it ; and every cottage-family 
 (especially within the range of a Home Mis- 
 sionary station) should be privileged by its 
 possession. 
 
 Jairus, after praying for the Holy Spirit's illu- 
 minating influence, to enlighten the dark and 
 
136 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 ignorant mind of the old lady, took his leave; 
 and hastened, with his friend, to his post of duty, 
 to exhort the people to " acquaint themselves now 
 with God, and be at peace,'^ 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 137 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Come, then, and added to thy many crowns. 
 Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth. 
 Thou who alone art worthy I It was thine, 
 By ancient Covenant, ere Nature's birth ; 
 And thou hast made it thine, by purchase, since. 
 And overpaid its value, with thy blood." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 The revolving periods of time, in their cease- 
 less circuits, again brought round the season 
 when the jubilee of the religious world, " the 
 Missionary Meetings y' were to be held. The 
 heart of every Christian seemed to beat high 
 with pleasing anticipations, and their counte- 
 nances assumed a more than ordinary degree of 
 vivacity, as the day approached. The friends of 
 the Redeemer, the constant burden of whose 
 prayer is, '* Thy kingdom come,^^ were anxious 
 to hear how far their warmest wishes had been 
 realized, in the extension of the knowledge of his 
 name. Relatives and acquaintances, who had, 
 from their local circumstances, been separated dur- 
 ing the year, fondly looked forward to a meeting 
 on this occasion : while various parties, at a dis* 
 
 T 
 
138 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 tance from the immediate scene of operation, 
 were forming themselves into friendly bands, and 
 providing; conveyances against the looked-for pe- 
 riod. The surplus which, from a small income, 
 a rigid economy had, week after week, laid by, as 
 sacredly dedicated to the service of God, and 
 larger sums which, throughout the year, the libe- 
 ral beneficence of more wealthy individuals had 
 raised, in addition to their regular subscriptions, 
 were carefully gathered up by their various con- 
 tributors and collectors, in readiness to be cast 
 into the treasury of the Lord. 
 
 With whatever degrees of pleasure thousands 
 hailed the approaching morning, none experienced 
 a greater measure of joy than Jairus, in looking 
 forward to the coming festival. Every thing hav- 
 ing, even in the least degree, a reference to the 
 Missionary work operated, in his estimation, with 
 an influence more attractive than that possessed 
 by almost any other object : and, consequently, 
 it is not to be wondered at that he felt an interest 
 scarcely yielding to any other respecting the pro- 
 ceedings of the Parent Missionary Meet- 
 ing. 
 
 In addition to those ardent feelings of his mind 
 which, from the first day of his conversion to God, 
 he had cherished towards his fellow men, and 
 which, from the constitutional warmth of his 
 disposition, might, indeed, almost be termed 
 natural to him, he had been roused to a consider- 
 able degree of holy energy by reading of the al- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 139 
 
 most unexampled zeal and usefulness of Xavier 
 and Brainerd, as well as by perusing the more 
 recent journals of self-denying and laborious in- 
 dividuals, as Coke, Martyn, Marsden, Campbell, 
 and others of the same class. 
 
 The day, so long anticipated by the friends of 
 the heathen, at length arrived. The God of 
 Missions appeared to favour the pious intentions 
 of the multitudes which were hasting from every 
 part to attend the anniversary. An unclouded 
 horizon shot forth the brightness issuing from the 
 refracted rays of the rising sun, and gave, in the 
 early part of the morning, a cheering promise of 
 a clear and pleasant day. 
 
 Locked arm-in-arm with a beloved friend, Jai- 
 rus left home, intending, as the distance was but 
 a few miles, to enjoy the rural pleasantness of the 
 road by performing the journey on foot. Nature 
 was exhaling her sweets and dispensing her beau- 
 ties in rich and unsparing profusion : the very 
 ground on which they walked appeared teeming 
 with vegetative life : the trees of the gardens by 
 which the road was skirted, and the hedges com- 
 posed of the blackthorn and May-bush diffused 
 an enlivening fragrance, and perfumed the air. 
 The reviving state of blooming nature appeared 
 emblematical of that which it is believed will soon 
 characterize the appearance of the moral world, 
 when " the Loi'd shall comfort Zion, he will com- 
 fort all her waste places, and he will make her 
 wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the gar- 
 
140 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 den of the Lord : joy aud gladness shall be found 
 therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." 
 
 The beloved friend with whom Jairus now was 
 had been engaged about twelve months longer 
 than himself in preaching in the neighbouring 
 villages, and therefore they had mutually con- 
 tracted a friendship of a solid and fervent cha- 
 racter. A recent offer which this friend had 
 made to go on a mission to the heathen had been 
 accepted. He had not, however, yet received his 
 appointment ; and was, therefore, uncertain what 
 part of the world might be his destination. 
 
 They arrived at the appointed place some time 
 before the doors were opened : several persons, 
 however, were beforehand with them, and eagerly 
 crowded around the entrance. Conceiving it 
 advisable to procure some refreshment, which, 
 from the expected length of the service, they 
 might, otherwise, regret the want of, they walked 
 a little further, and, having obtained what was 
 necessary, returned. The throng which had now 
 assembled was considerable ; so great was the 
 earnestness now manifested to obtain a place 
 in the meeting, that, from the uncommon press 
 which existed, danger was justly apprehended. 
 To counteract this risk, every practical precaution 
 was adopted ; and, providentially, no serious 
 injury was sustained. On the doors being open- 
 ed, a sudden rush took place, and the spacious 
 building was very soon completely filled. 
 
 A large and well-constructed platform, erected 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 141 
 
 for the accommodation of the speakers, was 
 raised upon the copings of the pews, both in 
 front and at the sides of the reading-desk. 
 Several highly respectable gentlemen, both of the 
 clergy and laity, and episcopalian and dissenting, 
 soon appeared on the boards to support and ad- 
 vocate the interests of the missionary cause. 
 
 The spirit of harmony and catholic feeling 
 which evidently prevailed throughout the whole 
 body seemed to animate each individual, and thus 
 constituted a bond of union which imparted to 
 the cause of their common Lord, beauty, stability, 
 and effect. They appeared to have merged their 
 minor differences in one united and general flow 
 of love to God and good-will towards men ; and, 
 without yielding any important point, or compro- 
 mising a single principle of doctrine, the church- 
 man and the dissenter, the presbyterian and the 
 independent, the baptist and the methodist, were 
 seen harmonizing their counsels, blending their 
 energies, and uniting their efforts, in active opera- 
 tion against the common foe. The spirit of har- 
 mony and union which prevailed, powerfully 
 enabled the mind both to perceive and enjoy a 
 foretaste of the unalloyed delight of that world 
 where the Church triumphant will be perfectly 
 united in heavenly exercises, undivided by any 
 of those exclusive feelings of prejudice which, 
 unhappily, have too long distracted and divided 
 the Christian world on earth. 
 
 But, on the contrary, there. 
 
142 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 " In bless'd communion of his love, in praise. 
 High choral praise, strung to the golden harp 
 In unison eternal with the throne, 
 Thonsands of thousands, that surround his throne. 
 Shall feel his praise their glory and their bliss." 
 
 A reverend gentleman arose, and opened the 
 services of the day by giving out the following 
 hymn, which was sung with spirit by the whole 
 congregation. 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus' name ! 
 
 Let angels prostrate fall. 
 Bring forth the royal diadein, 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Let heaven-born seraphs tune the lyre, 
 
 And, as they strike it, fall 
 Before his throne who tunes their choir, 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Crown him, ye morning stars of light. 
 
 Who fix'd this floating ball; 
 Now hail the strength of Israel's might, 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Crown him, ye martyrs of your God 
 
 Who from his altar call. 
 Extol the stem of Jesse's rod, 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Ye seed of Israel's chosen race. 
 
 Ye ransom'd of the fall, 
 Hail him who saves you by his grace, 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Hail him, ye heirs of David's line. 
 
 Whom David Lord did call, 
 The God incarnate, man Divine, 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget 
 
 The wormwood and the eall. 
 Go, spread your trophies at his feet. 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 Let every tribe, and every tongue. 
 Upon this earthly ball. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 143 
 
 Now shout the universal song, — 
 The crowned Lord of all." 
 
 After the hymn was ended, prayer was offered 
 for the Divine blessing upon missionary efforts, 
 and thanksgiving presented for the signal success 
 which had crowned the exertions of the various 
 Missionary Societies. A member of the British 
 parliament was then, by a unanimous show of 
 hands, invited to preside; with which invitation 
 he, according to his accustomed urbanity, readily 
 complied ; and, in an elegant and pathetic speech, 
 stated the object and design of the meeting, and 
 urged an attentive regard to its claims. One of 
 the general secretaries followed, and, in a report, 
 which had been carefully drawn up, detailed the 
 society's proceedings during the past year; and, 
 in a cursory view of the stations which the society 
 occupied throughout the world, gave an animating 
 view of the encouragement with which, in almost 
 every direction, missionary exertions were reward- 
 ed : and he concluded by stating the still nume- 
 rous and pressing calls urged by the benighted 
 moral condition of various parts of the world, 
 whose depraved and degraded conditions seemed 
 imploringly to say, "Come over, and help us;" 
 but to which calls they were, from the want of 
 funds, unable to attend. The meeting was, more- 
 over, addressed by several persons in speeches of 
 the most impressive character: many irresistible 
 appeals were made to the sympathies and bene- 
 volence of the large and respectable assembly; 
 
144 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 while the ignorant and deplorable condition of 
 the heathen population was declared so as to de- 
 monstrate that they were, in the most awful sense, 
 as those *' having no hope, and without God in 
 the world." But one sentiment appeared to in- 
 fluence the meeting — that of the importance and 
 obligation of renewed exertion and devotedness in 
 the cause of missions ; and to this they cheerfully 
 pledged themselves. A liberal collection was then 
 made ; and the present business of the meeting 
 closed by singing — 
 
 •' From all that dvvell below the skies 
 Let the Creator's praise arise, 
 Let the Redeemer's name be sung 
 Through every land, by every tongne. 
 
 Eternal are thy mercies, Lord, 
 
 Eternal truth attends thy word; 
 
 Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore, 
 
 Till suns shall rise and set no more." 
 
 During the striking details which were made 
 at this meeting in reference to the awful state of 
 pagan nations, the sympathies and emotions of 
 Jairus towards the missionary work received an 
 additional stimulus. He glowed with fervent de- 
 sire to fly, on the ** swift feathered wings of love," 
 to the succour of the heathen world. Diflidence, 
 however, kept him at present from oflering him- 
 self a willing candidate for the work ; and there- 
 fore, on reflection, he wisely determined to return 
 and still prosecute with renewed ardour the duty 
 assigned him, and wait and notice the further 
 openings of Providence; resolving, in the mean 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 145 
 
 time, to improve every opportunity which might 
 in any way afford him the means of increasing 
 preparation for the arduous undertaking to which 
 he so earnestly aspired. With these determina- 
 tions, he accompanied his friend homewards, con- 
 versing by the way on the theme in which they 
 were equally and mutually interested, — the state 
 of '* those who were ready to perish for lack of 
 knowledge," and concerning whom it might, in 
 the most literal sense, be said, that, too long, 
 " No man had cared for their souls." 
 
 The strong missionary feeling which had taken 
 possession of the minds of Jairus and his friend 
 was not confined to them. A more than ordinary 
 degTee of solicitude was excited among different 
 denominations of Christians in behalf of the same 
 interesting object. Jairus's native town shared 
 largely in this impulse. An auxiliary Missionary 
 Society had some time since been formed there, 
 in connexion with the church of which he was 
 a member; but, from various causes, it could 
 now be scarcely said to exist. This again was 
 revived : a public meeting was held, when a 
 lively and encouraging evidence was afforded of 
 the general interest which was felt in favour of 
 this scriptural and universal plan of benevolence. 
 An assembly of fourteen or fifteen hundred per- 
 sons was convened, and a very liberal collection 
 was made. The town was divided into districts, 
 and personal appeals, from door to door, were 
 made to the respectable part of the inhabitants 
 
146 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 for their contributions in aid of the funds of the 
 Society. This measure was attended with general 
 success, and, by the means of diligent and zealous 
 collectors, a considerable sum was obtained, and 
 a degree of stability given to the cause in that 
 place by which it had not before been characteriz- 
 ed. To the credit and honour of the military 
 class, a large body of whom were in the town, 
 it ought to be stated that, the sum raised from 
 among them, if it did not surpass, was, at least, 
 equal to that contributed by all the civil popula- 
 tion. One circumstance, alike remarkable and 
 pleasing, appeared strikingly evident, — that, in 
 those churches which made the greatest exertions 
 in behalf of the heathen w orld, there real religion 
 most evidently prospered. 
 
 As it was altogether uncertain when Jairus's 
 friend might be called upon to depart " far hence, 
 to the Gentiles," and, at once to relinquish the 
 pleasures and comforts of civilized society, for 
 the company of untutored savages; and, as far 
 as local separation can do it, to burst the bond of 
 union between relations and friends ; his mind 
 was, consequently, unsettled, and his time consi- 
 derably occupied in making some necessary ar- 
 rangements : he was, therefore, incapable of 
 fulfilling those engagements which pledged him 
 to preach from time to time in the surrounding 
 villages. Anxious, however, to fulfil, at least in 
 part, for, what it probably appeared would be, the 
 last time, his engagement at B , he solicited 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 147 
 
 Jairus to preach for him on the former parts of 
 the day, promising that he would join him, and 
 undertake the evening service. The combined 
 feelings of friendship and duty on the part of 
 Jairus, urged him to comply with this request ; 
 and, calculating on enjoying the pleasure of his 
 friend's company homeward, he consented. 
 
 The interest with which we either receive or 
 retain any of the various blessings proceeding 
 from providential favour, whether they come to 
 us through the medium of our fellow-creatures, 
 or flow, more directly, from God himself, is usu- 
 ally proportioned more to the estimation in which 
 we hold them, than to their own intrinsic value. 
 The benefits, therefore, which we obtain easily, 
 and which there appears no probability of our 
 being, at least, very soon deprived, although they 
 may be exceedingly valuable in themselves, are 
 received and estimated but as common things ; 
 while others, which in themselves may be positively 
 inferior, yet, because they are seldom met with, 
 are obtained with difficulty, or are likely soon to 
 be taken from us, are often greatly overrated. 
 This incorrect rule of judging is generally applied 
 to all persons and things with which we become 
 conversant. 
 
 Those who had frequently heard Jairus's friend 
 before, did not, until now that they were about to 
 lose him for ever, either express or experience 
 any emotion beyond mere common-place feelings; 
 but now, the most lively interest was excited. 
 
148 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 A crowded audience hung upon his lips while 
 he exhibited, with much propriety and affection, 
 the Nature^ the Means, and the immediate Re- 
 sults, of a sinner s justijication before God, from 
 the language of Paul to the Romans, — " There- 
 fore, being justified by Faith, we have peace with 
 God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Every 
 sentence appeared to be received with avidity, 
 and every word possessed and communicated an 
 influence. The congregation was dissolved to 
 tears under the impression " that they should see 
 his face no more ; " while they closed the service 
 by singing — 
 
 " God of all consolation, take 
 
 The glory of thy grace; 
 Thy gifts to thee we render back, 
 
 In ceaseless songs of praise. 
 
 Through thee, we now together came. 
 
 In singleness of heart, • 
 We met, 0, Jesus, in thy name. 
 
 And, in thy name, we part. 
 
 We part in body, not in mind. 
 
 Our minds continue one; 
 And, each to each, in Jesus join'd. 
 
 We, hand in band, go on. 
 
 Subsists, as in us all, one soul, 
 
 No power can make us twain ; 
 Mountains may rise, and oceans roll. 
 
 To sever us, in vain. 
 
 Present we still in spirit are, 
 
 And intimately nigh; 
 While, on tlie wings of faith aud prayer, 
 
 We, each to other, fly. 
 
 Then, let us hasten to the day 
 
 When all shall be brought home; 
 Come, Redeemer, couic away! 
 
 O, Jesus, quickly come ! " 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 149 
 
 Several of the congregation crowded round 
 him as he retired from the place, each evidently 
 appearing anxious to obtain his parting blessing, 
 and to bid him the final farewell. The fast- 
 flowing tears of many were more eloquent than 
 words, while they held his hand and bedewed 
 it with warm yet silent expressions of their feel- 
 ings. 
 
 " God bless and preserve you," said an old 
 disciple. 
 
 " God bless you," rejoined the missionary, as 
 he took the arm of Jairus, *' and multiply you a 
 hundred fold." 
 
 *' Farewell, Sir," resounded from the company 
 at half a dozen places. 
 
 ** Farewell!" returned Mr. E , as he 
 
 walked away, " if we meet not again on earth, 
 meet me in heaven, — 
 
 •• * Where congregations ne'er break up. 
 And Sabbaths never end.' " 
 
 Their looks continued to follow him until he 
 abruptly turned a corner which suddenly conceal- 
 ed him from their sight, when they retired to 
 their several habitations; and Jairus and his 
 friend pursued " the even tenor of their way" 
 towards home. 
 
 The season was near the close of July. The 
 day had been unusually hot, and now, the heat, 
 increased by the clouds of dust raised by passing 
 carriages, became quite oppressive. 
 
160 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 They had not proceeded far on their journey, 
 before there were plain indications that a heavy 
 storm was near: they, therefore, hastened to 
 reach a village which lay at some distance before 
 them. Not a breath of wind had been observed, 
 during the day, to move a single leaf; but, now, 
 sudden and violent gusts rushed through the 
 woods by the sides of the road : the very birds 
 appeared to be at once aware and in dread of the 
 rising fury of the elements ; and, hence, ceasing 
 their cheerful notes, they cither retired to their 
 mossy cells, or sat, perched in silence, among the 
 branches of the trees. 
 
 About three miles on their road, they saw, 
 lying by the way-side, a man apparently asleep, 
 but, on approaching him, they found he had so 
 far yielded to the sensual influence of his nature, 
 as to have become quite insensible by intoxication. 
 All attempts on the part of the friends to arouse 
 him were useless ; and they were, therefore, with 
 great reluctance, compelled to leave him where 
 they found him, lying beneath the hedge. 
 
 *' There is a specimen of human nature," ob- 
 served Jairus, " concerning which some speak 
 in terms of high commendation : here, however, 
 is one instance out of many in which man appears 
 as the slave of Satan, serving divers lusts and 
 pleasures, and whose glory is his shame." 
 
 ** And," continued Mr. E , " if grace pre- 
 vent not, whose end will be destruction, — eternal 
 ruin, — everlasting misery." 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 151 
 
 " In this unhappy individual," said Jairus, 
 *' we learn our obligations to Divine grace; for 
 what have we that we have not received ? or who 
 hath made us to diti'er? May not each of us say, 
 
 " ' Jesus soiiL'ht me when a stranger, 
 
 VVauderinc from the fold of God: 
 He, to save my soul from danger, 
 
 luterpos'd his precious blood ? ' " 
 
 " Yes," rejoined Mr. E , *' we must each 
 
 acknowledge, * By the grace of God I am what 
 I am.' But," continued he, referring to the indi- 
 vidual who had excited their sympathies, ** he 
 will be dreadfully exposed to the tempest by 
 which, it appears, we shall soon be overtaken; 
 and yet, alas ! he is ignorant of his danger ; and 
 not only of his bodily peril, but also of that storm 
 of Divine wrath to which his sins expose his soul." 
 
 A vivid flash of lightning darted its sudden 
 glare through the dark clouds, and was almost 
 instantly succeeded by a violent clap of thunder. 
 Mr. E evinced some alarm. " If your desti- 
 nation should be South Africa," said Jairus, *' you 
 will be no stranger to such weather as this: as 
 God, however, has promised his protection and 
 presence, we need not fear." 
 
 " I trust," replied Mr. E , " the sensation 
 
 which now agitates me does not arise from any 
 apprehension about my soul's safety; no, I can 
 even now rejoice in God; but it is a feeling re- 
 sulting from my physical constitution : it will not, 
 however, be of long duration." 
 
152 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 Another and another Hash of lightning blazed 
 around them, and appeared to threaten instant 
 destruction ; while loud peals of thunder seemed 
 to rend the air and cause the earth to tremble. 
 The rain descended in torrents from the bursting 
 clouds, and rendered the roads almost impass- 
 able. 
 
 Jairus and his friend, inconsiderately, took 
 refuge for a while beneath the wide-spread 
 branches of a majestic oak, instead of keeping in 
 the middle of the road, where their risk would 
 have been much less than that to which they were 
 exposed from the frequently fatal effects of the 
 lightning when it is attracted, as is often the 
 case, by a covert of the nature of that under 
 which they had taken shelter. The scene now 
 became awfully grand, as though the elements, 
 blended in frightful confusion, were engaged in 
 dreadful conflict; and the wind, and rain, and 
 lightning, and thunder, each exerted its utmost 
 rage for the mastery. 
 
 ** This is a fearful storm," said Jairus; " what 
 must be the condition of that wretched being 
 whom we left lying under the hedge ! " 
 
 " A fearful storm, indeed ! " replied Mr. E , 
 
 as a blue flame appeared to envelope them in one 
 wide and wavy sheet of fire, and a tremendous 
 peal of thunder, in long vibration, rolled over 
 their heads : "at such a season as this, the 
 sublime description given by Peter, of the dissolu- 
 tion of the world, cannot fail seasonably to im- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 153 
 
 press the iiiind : — ' The heavens shall pass away 
 with a great noise, and the elements shall melt 
 with fervent heat ; the earth also and the works 
 that are therein shall be burned up.' " 
 
 ** Ah ! " said Jairus, " thus contemplating the 
 future, while it urges the soul to self-examination, 
 also demonstrates the value and importance of 
 an interest in the great atonement and prevailing 
 merits of the Saviour : and, sensibly enjoying 
 such an interest, we are able, even in the very 
 prospect of that period, to say — 
 
 " ' We, while the stars from heaven shall fall, 
 And mountains are on mountains hurl'd, 
 
 Shall stand, unmov'd, amidst them all, 
 And smile to see a burning world.' " 
 
 The rain, which had continued for some time 
 to fall in torrents, was now considerably abated. 
 The distant thunder, which at intervals was 
 heard rumbling amidst the clouds, gave assur- 
 ance that the tempest was gone by; while the 
 last rays of the setting-sun darting through the 
 falling drops of rain, played on the tops of the 
 hedges, and stood, as the variegated and beauti- 
 ful Bow of Promise, in the heavens. Invited by 
 the prospect, the missionaries left their retreat, 
 and directed their course towards home, where 
 they arrived in safety, thankful for the protection 
 which had been afforded them, and the deliver- 
 ing mercy they had so signally experienced. 
 
154 JAIRUS: OR, THE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Ri.5e, ye heralds of salvation, 
 On tlie wings of love upborne, 
 
 Fly to every heathen nation. 
 Loud proclaim the jubal morn; 
 Till the Go5.pel 
 
 With its blessings fill the world. 
 
 He who sends yoa forth, go with you. 
 Save in danger, grant success, — 
 
 With all needful good enrich you. 
 Guide, and with his blessing bless, 
 Till, enraptur'd, 
 
 You shall hear him say, " Well done! 
 
 The warm friendship which subsisted between 
 
 Jairus and Mr. E was not a hastily -formed 
 
 acquaintance which first sight and sudden im- 
 pressions sometimes produce, and which is easily 
 dissolved, and even while it lasts is but rarely 
 productive of good : no ; it was the growth of 
 years, and was founded upon an increasing know- 
 ledge of each other's character, together with a 
 mutual and anxious desire to advance each other's 
 spiritual interests, and promote the glory of God. 
 
 Mr. E was about the same age as Jairus, 
 
 decidedly pious, and characterized by tljat genu- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 155 
 
 ine simplicity which never sought to obtrude it- 
 self, but rather shrunk from than courted public 
 observation. He had not, indeed, been favoured 
 with those advantages of education which it had 
 been the privilege of Jairus to enjoy : as educa- 
 tion, however, cannot give mind where it does 
 not exist, but only strengthens and developes it, 
 he did not fall short of his friend in many of his 
 attainments. He had studiously and with earnest 
 prayer perused the Bible; and was, therefore, 
 like ApoUos, "mighty in the Scriptures:" he 
 had read many of the most respectable authors in 
 theology, and diligently improved every passing 
 moment of his time. Diffident, to a proverb, it 
 required no ordinary penetration to decide upon 
 his character, or, rather, to do so might be deemed 
 a task to which a stranger was unequal. To great 
 simplicity of manners, amiableness of disposition, 
 and warmth of affection, was added fervent piety. 
 Of him it might be said, as of Goldsmith, he was, 
 
 " In wit, a man— simplicity, a child." 
 
 Jairus knew his value, and prized his friend- 
 ship: but the moment was at hand when they 
 were to be separated, perhaps for ever. A letter 
 
 reached Mr. E , from which he learned that his 
 
 destination was fixed for South Africa, to labour 
 in the interior of the Cape of Good Hope, among 
 the Namaquas. By the same letter he was re- 
 quested to proceed, as early as possible, to Lon- 
 don, to prepare for his immediate departure. He 
 
166 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 joyfully obeyed the summons, as he considered 
 himself ** no longer his own," but entirely the 
 Lord's; and henceforward purposed to devote 
 himself and all he possessed to the Missionary 
 cause, for the sake of his Saviour, exclaiming, 
 
 •' My life, my blood, 1 here present. 
 If for thy truth they may be spent; 
 Fulfil thy sovereign counsel, Lord! 
 Thy will be done, thy name ador'd. 
 
 For this let men revile my name ; 
 No cross I shun, I fear no shame: 
 All-hail, reproach ! and welcome, pain ! 
 Only thy terrors, Lord, restrain." 
 
 On his arrival in town, a few weeks only could 
 be allowed him to make the necessary prepara- 
 tions for his departure. The proposed time had 
 expired, and the vessel which was to bear the 
 missionary of the cross to the untutored Hotten- 
 tots proceeded down the river. To sail away, 
 however, from his native land without bidding 
 what might prove a last farewell to his beloved 
 friend Jairus was impossible : when, therefore, 
 the darkness of the evening rendered it advisable 
 to moor the vessel for the night, he hasted on 
 shore, and entered unexpectedly amidst the family 
 circle of his friend. Their mutual emotions can- 
 not be portrayed ; the hours of the night flew 
 rapidly away, while they conversed together under 
 the impression that it was for the last time. 
 
 On the next morning, they appeared together 
 at the break fast- table. Jairus perceived that his 
 friend laboured, in a considerable deoree, under 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 157 
 
 depression of spirits, which, although it might 
 Justly be regarded as a natural consequence of 
 his circumstances, gave him n)uch concern : he 
 therefore endeavoured to cheer him. 
 
 "Ah, Jairus," said he, "you cannot conceive 
 what it is to part from a large and beloved circle 
 of relations and friends : but I am persuaded this 
 gloomy feeling is but temporary : when I recom- 
 mence my voyage, every additional league over 
 which I shall be wafted from my native land will 
 proportionably remove my present depression, as 
 I draw towards the place where I am to ' preach 
 among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ.' " 
 
 Time appeared to them to advance with more 
 than its usual rapidity. It became necessary that 
 some movement should be made. An affection- 
 ate parting took place between the relatives of 
 Jairus and Mr. E ; and then, locked arm-in- 
 arm, the two friends hasted towards the vessel, 
 where, solemnly " commending each other to God, 
 and to the word of his grace," they parted. Jai- 
 rus retired to give vent to his feelings in secret, 
 and, by prayer, to implore for his friend the pro- 
 tection and guidance of "the God of salvation." 
 
 The eventful period at which the world has 
 arrived appeals powerfully to every individual 
 sustaining the character of a Christian to manifest 
 a devout solicitude and progressive activity in the 
 Redeemer's cause. Whoever observes, even though 
 but partially, "the signs of the times," or the 
 
168 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 transpiring events of the present day, at the same 
 time comparing these with the prophecies and 
 general truths of the Scriptures, cannot fail of 
 being so impressed with their mutual and striking 
 coincidence, as to be almost compelled both to 
 believe and rejoice in the assurance, hereby af- 
 forded, that we live at least in the dawn of that 
 latter day glory towards which the predictions and 
 promises of Divine revelation tend, when " the 
 glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh 
 shall see it together." 
 
 A general movement in favour of the univer- 
 sal diffusion of scriptural knowledge is excited 
 throughout the Christian world. To promote this 
 great purpose, the child of but few years, the de- 
 licate female, and the man of hoary age, solicit 
 the aid of friends and visiters, or, braving alike 
 the season's inclemency and the infidel's sneers, 
 and animated by a holy philanthropy, go round 
 from door to door, and gather up in fragments 
 the liberality of the multitude. To accomplish 
 this, the man of wealth pours forth of his abun- 
 dance ; the men of letters and of eloquence em- 
 ploy their talents and influence; and the pious 
 youth and the mature veteran, voluntarily aban- 
 doning the comforts and prospects which the pre- 
 sent world alone holds out, fly on the wings of 
 love to save those '* who are ready to perish." 
 Prejudice and superstition give way ; the prayers 
 of the faithful prevail; "Ethiopia" is seen 
 ** stretching out her hands unto God ; the wil- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 159 
 
 derness and the solitary places are made glad ; 
 the desert rejoices and blossoms as the rose." 
 
 It must, indeed, be admitted, that there are 
 now, as there ever have been, enemies to the 
 truth, ** men of corrupt minds," who, at the in- 
 stigation of their master, and by the permission 
 of God, to accomplish his own purposes, do, 
 when opportunity offers, "put forth their hands 
 to vex the Church," by resisting and opposing 
 the labours of some of our evangelists to the hea- 
 then, and by imprisoning and murdering others. 
 Yet *' He who sitteth in the heavens shall laugh" 
 them to scorn, "the Lord shall have them in de- 
 rision." As, in ancient times, the blood of the 
 martyrs became the seed of the Church ; so, now, 
 the infuriate opposition and cruelty which were 
 lately manifested in the Western icorld have al- 
 ready tended " to the. furtherance of the Gospel." 
 Persecution is not a principle of our political 
 code, even by way of toleration ; and, when occa- 
 sion shall require, it will be evident that the Bri- 
 tish Constitution, in practical operation, is not 
 only able, but equally disposed, to vindicate per- 
 secuted innocence, and chastise its oppressors. 
 But, 
 
 " God moves in a mysterious way. 
 
 His wonders to perform ; 
 He plants his footsteps in the sea, 
 
 And rides upon the storm. 
 
 Deep in unfathomable mines 
 
 Of never-failinc; slvill 
 He treasures up his brigiit designs. 
 
 And works his sovereign will." 
 
160 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 The encouragement to persevering, yea, to pro- 
 gressive effort in this holy warfare, is great, and 
 is founded on the power and promises of Hi?n in 
 whose work we are thus engaged. He has de- 
 clared, " Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be made low, and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough 
 places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be 
 revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." But 
 while such encouragement is afforded, the neces- 
 sity of fervent prayer, on the part of all denomi- 
 nations of serious Christians, must also be obvious. 
 The spiritual wants of the heathen, whether in 
 our own villages around us, or in the islands of 
 the South Seas, and elsewhere, can be supplied 
 only by the Holy Spirit's sanctifying influence. 
 The word of the Lord, although " sharper than 
 any two-edged sword," and thus even by *' the 
 letter killing'' those who reject it; yet, without 
 this Divine influence, will, nevertheless, fail to 
 produce any saving effect. The active and holy 
 Missionaries of our various societies, who labour 
 at home, amidst the numerous and perishing po- 
 pulation of our towns and villages, and those who 
 toil in more distant regions, — some under the fri- 
 gid zone of frozen Tartary, and others who preach 
 to the inhabitants of the burning sands of Hindoo- 
 stan, — all address to us, on their own behalf, the 
 language of the apostle, " Brethren, pray for us.'' 
 And, surely, having sent them forth, we should 
 follow them with our prayers: this is an act to 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. i(jl 
 
 which piety prompts, which necessity requires, 
 which justice demands. Probably, amidst the 
 discouragements which laborious and faithful 
 missionaries have to encounter, nothing tends 
 more to cheer and animate them than the assu- 
 rance and recollection that the ten thousands of 
 the people of God are sending up, on their behalf, 
 petitions to **the throne of grace." When, but 
 for this thought, their minds would faint with 
 dejection, on its recurrence, they are inspired 
 with courage, and proceed with faith and dili- 
 gence in their benevolent and sacred work. 
 
 Five months had now rolled away since Mr. 
 
 E parted from his friend and embarked for 
 
 the heathen world. With considerable anxiety 
 Jairus had waited in expectation of hearing from 
 him. The long-looked-for epistle at length ar- 
 rived. He received it with ecstacy: it was dated 
 " Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope," and com- 
 menced with grateful effusions to the Supreme 
 Disposer of events for preserving and delivering 
 mercies. It presented a circumstantial account 
 of his voyage, his prospects, and his determina- 
 tions, in reference to the sublime enterprise for 
 which he had left his native land, and on which 
 subject he thus wrote: — *' My dear brother, I do 
 not repent having left my native land to preach 
 the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathen ; it is 
 a glorious work in which to be engaged." At the 
 time of writing, he expected, in the course of a 
 few days, to proceed from Cape Town to the in- 
 
162 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 terior, where, it was calculated, a mission might 
 be established among the Namaquas, a numerous 
 and benighted race of that part of Africa, at a 
 distance of about four hundred miles from Cape 
 Town. 
 
 Jairus wept over the letter, and implored bless- 
 ings on the head of his friend: his tears were 
 those of undissembled affection, and they were 
 accompanied by "the prayer of faith." 
 
 Scarcely had he dried the tears occasioned by 
 
 the loss of his friend Mr. E , before he was 
 
 again called to renew the same painful emotions 
 attendant on sympathy and separation, occasioned 
 by the unexpected departure of another beloved 
 friend in the same interesting and important work. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. T had long been an intimate 
 
 and highly valued acquaintance of Jairus ; but, in 
 consequence of the distance between their resi- 
 dences, their communications were rarely other- 
 wise than by epistolary correspondence. A letter 
 which he received from him about this time in- 
 formed him that he himself expected soon to leave 
 England for the frozen regions of Nova Scotia. 
 This intelligence was, at first, the subject of equal 
 regret and surprise; — of regret, at his losing thus 
 suddenly another valuable friend ; and of sur- 
 prise, inasmuch as Jairus had not previously re- 
 ceived the least intimation that his friend had 
 ever seriously thought of leaving his native land. 
 
 A few days only had elapsed, when Jairus was 
 favoured with a visit from his beloved brother in 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 1G3 
 
 the Gospel, in the place and presence of whom 
 lie had frequently preached, in London and its 
 vicinity. The time they spent together was so 
 occupied as appeared best calculated to promote 
 their mutual personal advantage, and subserve 
 the glory of God. Mr. T was by a few- 
 years the senior of the two : he was married , and 
 at this time had one child, a charming boy. His 
 wife was a lady who appeared formed to make 
 her husband happy. Her constitution, indeed, 
 was rather delicate: yet seeing, as she believed, 
 the providence of God pointing out the way in 
 which her beloved husband was to go, she also 
 readily consented to adopt it; and, hence, fear- 
 lessly and joyfully undertook to accompany him 
 to the shores of strangers. 
 
 As the time for separation drew near, Mr. 
 T , who sat opposite to Jairus at the break- 
 fast-table, drew from his pocket a little volume 
 in handsome binding. *' I have here," said he, 
 addressing himself to Jairus, *'a little memento: 
 perhaps you will accept it, my dear Jairus; and 
 when your friend is landed on those shores whi- 
 ther he is destined, you will look on it, and some- 
 times think of him from whom you received it, 
 though mountains may rise and oceans roll be- 
 tween us." 
 
 ** I receive it," replied Jairus, taking the pre- 
 sented volume, *'as a token of your friendship; 
 as a * memento' it will not be necessary : I cannot 
 forget my friend." 
 
164 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 He opened the book : it was a copy of the 
 Scriptures. *' This," said he, *' shall be my 
 companion in my future journeys; and while my 
 mind, laughing at the distance which separates, 
 shall in spirit unite with the giver, O how de- 
 lightful the reflection, that that Being, whose 
 revelation it is, is ever present with us both, and 
 that his love is the bond of heavenly union which 
 makes us inseparably one I 
 
 " ' Join'd. in one body, to our Head, 
 
 Where he appoints we go; 
 And still in Jesus' footsteps tread, 
 
 And spread hi? praise below.' " 
 
 ** And may we not," added Mr. T , ''con- 
 tinue the sentiment of the poet, in the exhortation 
 and encouragement of his lines, and say, 
 
 " ' Then let us hasten to the day 
 
 Which shall our flesh restore; 
 When death shall all be done away. 
 
 And bodies part no more?' " 
 
 Jairus bowed assent, and, stepping into an 
 adjoining room, took down a volume from the 
 shelves. It contained some choice sermons by 
 Dr. Watts, and his incomparable essay on the 
 '* Flesh and Spirit." He returned to his friend, 
 and, smiling as he presented him with it, said, 
 " I do not imagine that this trifle is necessary to 
 bring me to your remembrance at any future pe- 
 riod, when a wide space shall locally separate us; 
 — no, I believe the afl'ection of my friend equals 
 my own. I present this merely as a feeble ex- 
 pression of my regard towards you. With it, you 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 165 
 
 have, and shall unalterably retain, my most ar- 
 dent though humble prayers for your welfare." 
 
 Mr. T received the volume: the tears glis- 
 tened in the eyes of both : all present for a while 
 appeared deeply affected. After a lapse of some 
 
 minutes in silence, Mr. T resumed his wonted 
 
 firmness and composure. ** Perhaps," said he, 
 '* we may not meet again • till the heavens be no 
 more;' let us now commend ourselves to God." 
 
 They kneeled down ; a more than ordinary 
 measure of Divine influence appeared to rest 
 upon the company ; Mr. T prayed with fer- 
 vour and humility, and solemnly commended his 
 friend, himself, his wife, and little one, together 
 with the world at large, to the protection and 
 blessing of Almighty God; and then, rising, they 
 united in singing, 
 
 " Here, in body, as we part. 
 
 Let us all ourselves commend 
 To the gracious eye and heart 
 
 Of oar ever present Friend. 
 
 Jesus, hear our humble prayer, 
 
 Tender Shepherd of thy sheep ; 
 Let thy mercy and thy care 
 
 All our souls in safety keep. 
 
 If, on earth, we meet no more. 
 
 Grant we may, around thy throne, 
 With the hosts above, adore 
 
 The One in Three and Three in One.'" 
 
 The carriage which was to convey Mr. T 
 
 to town being ready, they shook hands most af- 
 fectionately, and parted. 
 
166 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " lleliijion's all ! 
 Religion— Providence— an atter-state;— 
 Here is firm footing; here is solid mck. 
 This can support us : all is sea besides ; 
 Sinks under us; bestorms, and then devours. 
 His hand the good man fastens on the skies, 
 And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl." 
 
 Young. 
 
 It has been frequently and correctly remarked, 
 that "there can be no religion without feeling," 
 but that ** there may be feeling without religion." 
 Now, as this sentiment is justly admitted, it must 
 surely appear especially desirable that, on a sub- 
 ject of such vast importance as our souls' salva- 
 tion, we should possess a standard by which, even 
 in the absence of those lively feelings that are 
 sometimes regarded as the measure of our Chris- 
 tian experience, we may be able, distinctly and 
 correctly, to estimate our religious character as 
 in the sight of God. 
 
 This rule of judgment the apostle has given us 
 in the declaration — " None of us liveth to him- 
 self, and no man dieth to himself. For whether 
 we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 1G7 
 
 die, we die unto the Lord ; whether we live there- 
 fore, or die, we are the Lord's." An habitual 
 consecration of ourselves and our possessions to 
 the Lord, in visible instances of holy conduct, 
 proceeding from a heartfelt, evangelical principle 
 of holy desire to advance the interests of the Re- 
 deemer's kingdom, affords the most solid and sa- 
 tisfactory evidence, both to ourselves and others, 
 that **we have passed from death unto life;" for 
 *'as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
 are the sons of God." 
 
 Jairus not only assented to the unquestionable 
 truth that "we are not our oivn,'' but he also 
 really endeavoured to act up to the apostolic de- 
 claration — " None of us liveth to himself, and no 
 man dieth to himself." He sought that, both 
 living and dying, he might prove himself the 
 Lord's. Notwithstanding the strong desire which 
 he cherished to be engaged in a mission to the 
 heathen, he waited to see his way providentially 
 and clearly marked out before him ; at the same 
 time earnestly praying that a door of admission 
 to the work might be opened by which he might 
 be enabled to enter. So far was this desire to be 
 engaged in a. foreign mission from damping in any 
 measure the flame which was kindled in his bosom 
 on behalf of the population of the surrounding 
 villages, that, on the contrary, it caused the fire 
 to glow with greater brightness. He saw and 
 lamented the ignorance and depravity of his fel- 
 low-countrymen: but these views were not merely 
 
168 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 productive of pity, or allowed to evaporate ill 
 useless wishes; — no, he cherished and applied 
 those feelings till they urged him to active and 
 increasing eftbrts to benefit them. 
 
 Hence he readily entered every open door which 
 opportunity presented, "preaching the kingdom 
 of God, and teaching those things which concern 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence." 
 
 Some, indeed, there are who assert that the 
 Gospel has been so fully preached in our own 
 land, that now little more remains for its minis- 
 ters to do than to maintain possession of the 
 ground they have already won. 
 
 While it must certainly be admitted, both with 
 pleasurable feelings and gratitude to God, that 
 much has been done, and that, in reference to 
 many towns and villages, it may indeed be said, 
 *'The people which sat in darkness saw a great 
 light, and to them which sat in the region and 
 shadow of death light is sprung up;" — yet, alas! 
 unaccountably strange as the fact may appear, 
 hundreds, yea, thousands, in a small circumfe- 
 rence, may be found to whom the Gospel has not 
 yet come, and who, as regards any knowledge of 
 the way of salvation, are equally ignorant with 
 the barbarous and unenlightened savages in the 
 lone wilds of America. 
 
 Many of those pious and disinterested charac- 
 ters who labour in the connexion which acknow- 
 ledges that late distinguished servant of the Most 
 High, the Rev. John Wesley, as, under God, its 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 169 
 
 founder, have done much towards searching out 
 the dark regions of our land, and diffusing the 
 light of truth. But it remains for the agents of 
 the "Home Missionary Societies" fully to 
 explore the religious state of the country. The 
 very character they sustain, and the specific ob- 
 ject they propose, if maintained and prosecuted, 
 cannot fail ultimately to produce such effects 
 throughout England as are predicted in the Pro- 
 phecies of Scripture, when *' the deaf shall hear 
 the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind 
 shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness; 
 they also that erred in spirit shall come to un- 
 derstanding, and they that murmured shall learn 
 doctrine." These things shall surely come to 
 pass ; for " the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 One fine morning, in the month of January, 
 Jairus set out, accompanied by a friend, to preach 
 
 in the town of B , at a distance of between 
 
 nine and ten miles from his residence. His fellow- 
 traveller, who was engaged in the same work with 
 himself, was journeying to a village a considerable 
 part of the way to which lay in the same direc- 
 tion as the road by which Jairus travelled. Hav- 
 ing arrived at the place where their respective 
 routes took different directions, they parted, hav- 
 ing previously engaged to rejoin each other at a 
 house in the same place, by a given hour of the 
 evening. 
 
 Jairus, for some time, continued his course, in- 
 dulging the pleasing reflections suggested by the 
 z 
 
170 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 words of the Psalmist — "Amidst the multitude 
 of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight 
 my soul;" — when he perceived, at some little dis- 
 tance, a female advancing towards him, apparent- 
 ly with an inclination to accost him. On her 
 nearer approach, he discovered, by her costume, 
 and the copper colour of her skin, that she be- 
 longed to that disregarded class of people who, 
 like the wandering Arabs, have no certain dwell- 
 ing place, but are 
 
 -houseless rovers of the silvan wild," 
 
 who live by craft and plunder, and are known by 
 the usual appellation of *' Gipsy." Evident 
 confusion marked her countenance, on a nearer 
 view of Jairus : she had, at a distance, mistaken 
 his person, and only now perceived, by the craft 
 so common to her tribe, that he was not a suita- 
 ble object on which, with any hope of success, 
 she might attempt to exercise her pretended skill 
 in palmistry and physiognomy. She therefore 
 accosted him in another tone than otherwise she 
 had intended, and now enquired her nearest way 
 
 to H W Street. Jairus, not knowing, 
 
 was, consequently, unable to inform her: she, 
 however, turned back, and retraced her steps 
 along the road with him. 
 
 *' Pray, where do you live?" enquired Jairus. 
 
 "Our company," rejoined the gipsy, "is on 
 the other side of yonder field," pointing, as she 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 171 
 
 spoke, towards the right side of the road, to a 
 gate which opened to the inclosure. 
 
 " Aud how do you get your living?" asked 
 Jairus. " What employment do you follow? or 
 do you follow any employment at all?" 
 
 *'0 yes, Sir," replied the wandering female, 
 with a degree of confidence created by the fami- 
 liar manner in which Jairus accosted her; "my 
 father is a tinman and brazier, and he and my 
 brothers and grandfather make and mend ket- 
 tles and saucepans, and then my mother and sis- 
 ters and myself go round about to the villages, 
 and sell them." 
 
 " And do you do nothing besides this, to sup- 
 port so large a family ? I suppose you sometimes 
 tell fortunes, do you not?" asked Jairus, looking 
 her full in the face. 
 
 For the first time, perhaps, in her life, she felt, 
 or appeared to feel, something like ashamed of her 
 profession: she looked confused, and hesitated to 
 reply; held down her head, and began to adjust 
 her apron. 
 
 *' Could you not tell me my fortune?" continued 
 Jairus. 
 
 **0 yes. Sir," returned the gipsy, with some 
 degree of animation, " if you wish it. " 
 
 ** From whom did you learn the art? " enquired 
 Jairus. 
 
 " My grandfather taught me," was the answer. 
 
 " And can you tell me where I am going? If 
 you can, you shall tell me my fortune." 
 
172 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 She smiled, again hung down her head, and 
 acknowledged she could not. 
 
 "Well then," said Jairus, **I am a fortune- 
 teller, and I will tell you yours." 
 
 A look of surprise and curiosity was directed 
 by the gipsy towards him ; when he added, 
 in a tone deeply serious, ** Continuing your pre- 
 sent course, you will undoubtedly arrive at " 
 
 ** At where?'' eagerly demanded the gipsy. 
 
 *' At endless punishment ! " vociferated Jairus : 
 *' for thus it is written in the book whence I obtain 
 my information, and which is certainly true, ' The 
 wicked shall be turned into hell, with ail the na- 
 tions who forget God.'" 
 
 **I hope not, Sir," replied the half terrified 
 fortune-teller. 
 
 " You may hope not, but why do you hope 
 not? " asked Jairus. ** Do you ever pray t " 
 
 " O yes. Sir," replied the gipsy, "every night, 
 before I go to sleep." 
 
 "And to whom, and for what, do you pray V 
 
 This was an unexpected question, simple, in- 
 deed, but too difiicult for the present catechumen 
 immediately to answer. After revolving the en- 
 quiry in her mind, she freely confessed she did 
 not know, but that she certainly did pray. 
 
 "This is most wonderful," said Jairus : — "you 
 pray, and yet know neither to whom nor for what 
 you pray." 
 
 With a look of sympathy, he gazed at her 
 awhile, and then acquainted her, in a brief and 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 173 
 
 familiar way, with the fall of man, and his conse- 
 quent guilt, and danger, and helplessness; the 
 atonement of Jesus Christ ; the necessity of par- 
 don through his merits; the way to obtain that 
 pardon ; and then urged her, as a guilty creature, 
 to make instant application for mercy. 
 
 She vaguely admitted the possibility that what 
 had been stated to her might be correct. The 
 inherent pride of human nature, however, in a 
 gipsy, as in the most politely educated lady in the 
 land, is the same ; and it was not easily to be 
 overturned. She persisted in affirming that she 
 had ** done no harm.'' 
 
 "I maintain," said Jairus, "there is not one 
 of God's holy commandments which you have not 
 broken ; and, even at this moment, you are living, 
 quite evidently, in direct opposition to a most plain 
 and positive command — * Remember the Sabbath- 
 day, to keep it holy.' Now, walking here, you 
 know, is not keeping holy this sacred day." 
 
 With a shrewdness by which Jairus could not 
 avoid being particularly struck, she, taking up the 
 last expression he had uttered, archly enquired, 
 *' Are not you breaking the Sabbath-day by walk- 
 ing here 1 " 
 
 ** Works of mercy and of necessity," answered 
 Jairus, ** may be performed without polluting the 
 Sabbath. My office requires that I should be 
 here : I am on my way to preach the Gospel, 
 at a place where, if I were not to go, the people 
 could not hear it, at least, not to-day." 
 
174 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 By this time they had arrived at a gate at the 
 head of the road which turned out of that in 
 which they were walking. 
 
 "This," said the gipsy, standing still, and 
 evidently happy to escape from any further con- 
 versation on the subject of religion, "this is my 
 way to H W Street." 
 
 Jairus affectionately exhorted her to abandon 
 the ways of sin, and apply for mercy at " the throne 
 of grace," through the Saviour. 
 
 She thanked him for his advice, and hastened 
 down the road ; while Jairus continued his course, 
 regretting that time did not allow him to visit the 
 gipsy tribe at their place of encampment. 
 
 "How lamentable," thought Jairus, "and how 
 
 ♦' • Strange! that a creature rational, and cast 
 In human mould, should brutalize by choice 
 His nature; and, though capable of arts 
 By which the world might profit and himself. 
 Self banish from society, and prefer 
 Such squallid sloth to honourable toil ! •" 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 The conversation which he had held with his 
 brunette companion had somewhat detained him ; 
 he, therefore, found it necessary to quicken his 
 pace, in order to reach the place appointed in 
 due time for the commencement of the public ser- 
 vice, which, however, he managed with tolerable 
 ease. He had been at this place but once since he 
 was here in company with his friend, Mr. E . 
 
 Time, which had for ever passed away, had not 
 obliterated from his memory any even of the tri- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 175 
 
 fling occurrences which took place on that occa- 
 sion ; neither had its lapse rendered him indiffe- 
 rent to the consideration of those also which, he 
 deemed it probable, had taken place since in re- 
 ference to his friend. He affectionately bore him 
 before God in his public prayers, in which the 
 hearts of the whole congregation sincerely uni- 
 ted. The services of the day were both pleasant 
 and profitable, as well to himself as to others. 
 
 On leaving the house of God in the evening, 
 he was surprised to find that, during the service, 
 a considerable quantity of snow had fallen, and that 
 it still descended in large and heavy flakes. He 
 retired to the house of a friend, to take some 
 refreshment, and prepare for his journey. The 
 strongest persuasives were employed to prevent, 
 if possible, his venturing out on so inclement and 
 threatening a night. The entreaties of his friends 
 were, however, unavailing. 
 
 "I must endure hardness as a good soldier," 
 said Jairus; "besides, I have promised to meet 
 
 Mr. A , at a house on C common, by a 
 
 certain hour : if I had not made this engagement, 
 the case would, indeed, be different." 
 
 They urged the justifiable excuse he had in the 
 severity of the weather, together with the proba- 
 bility that Mr. A would not be there amidst 
 
 such circumstances. All, however, was in vain : 
 he was sensible of their kindness, and, while he 
 heartily thanked them for it, he buttoned tightly 
 round him his great-coat, tied a large silk hand- 
 
176 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 kerchief over his mouth, drew on his gloves, and 
 then, commending his friends and himself to God, 
 set forward on his journey. 
 
 He had not, however, been long on the road, 
 before he almost repented of having engaged to 
 meet his friend. The blustering north wind blew 
 hard, and whirled aloft, in large quantities, the 
 snow which had already fallen, and which, being 
 scattered in wild confusion, rendered it very diffi- 
 cult for him either to see or to walk. He had 
 gone over about three miles of his journey, when 
 the silver moon retired from our hemisphere, and 
 left Jairus to grope his way, aided only by the 
 light reflected from the drifted snow. His situa- 
 tion now became not only unpleasant, but peri- 
 lous. Reflecting, however, on the gracious de- 
 claration, "He shall give his angels charge con- 
 cerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear 
 thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot 
 against a stone;" he took fresh courage, and 
 pushed forward. 
 
 Entering a deep glen, he found a measure of 
 relief for his already half fatigued limbs ; being 
 now screened, on both sides, from the bellowing 
 wind which howled around him, and also partially 
 sheltered from the keen air, which had benumbing- 
 ly pierced him on the higher ground. Almost at 
 every step he took, his journey appeared to be 
 beset with fresh difficulties : he had now to ascend 
 the opposite side of the valley in which he had 
 been walking; and, in order to accomplish this. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 177 
 
 a more than ordinary degree of physical energy 
 was required, together with no common share 
 of patience. Frequently, owing to the slippery 
 footing of the frozen snow, and the steep ascent of 
 the road, in attempting to gain one step, he lost 
 two ; for, after having, with much difficulty, reach- 
 ed a certain point, a single slip would either send 
 him back again, or place him in a position similar 
 to that in which Goliath appeared when the stone 
 which was hurled from the sling of David entered 
 his brawny forehead. 
 
 After considerable labour, he gained the summit 
 of the hill, and then discovered, if possible, great- 
 er obstacles to his progress than he had previous- 
 ly met with. The heavy snow, which had now 
 been falling for several hours, had so completely 
 covered all the extensive common before him, as 
 to render the whole scene, as far as the eye could 
 reach, one unbroken waste of white. Not the 
 slightest trace of any footpath was visible, nor 
 were there any landmarks by which he could as- 
 certain the direction he was to take. For a few 
 minutes, he hesitated to proceed, and deliberated 
 in his mind what course to pursue. At length, 
 he resolved to turn off directly to the right, as, in 
 that direction, he was certain, if nothing occurred 
 to obstruct his progress, he should arrive at the 
 boundary wall of some extensive premises, situa- 
 ted in the centre of the heath ; and then, by keep- 
 ing along under it, he expected to be directed into 
 the main road, and thence to the house where he 
 
 A A 
 
178 JAIRUS : OR, THE 
 
 hoped to join his friend. This plan, as the 
 only one he could adopt with any probability of 
 success, he immediately acted upon, although it 
 led him far out of his direct course; and, with 
 much difficulty and many a stumble over the furze 
 and brake which grew in abundance on the heath, 
 but now was covered and hidden by the snow, he 
 reached the wall, and, following its windings, arri- 
 ved at the house where he expected Mr. A 
 
 would already be waiting for him. 
 
 Entering the welcome shelter from the wind and 
 snow, he enquired after his fellow missionary, and 
 received the mortifying answer, that no such per- 
 son had arrived thither. How to account for this, 
 Jairus could scarcely conceive, as it was already 
 an hour later than the time at which they had ap- 
 pointed to meet. He sat down in a small room 
 into which he had been shewn, and ordered a pint 
 of ale and some cakes to be brought to him ; de- 
 termining to wait awhile, and expecting, every mi- 
 nute, to be informed of his friend's arrival. Half 
 an hour passed away, when, hearing nothing of 
 his coming, Jairus concluded he had deemed it 
 
 advisable to continue all night at C ; and he 
 
 himself, therefore, regretted he had not taken the 
 
 advice of his friends, and remained at B . 
 
 Under the impression that to wait longer would 
 only be uselessly delaying time, he paid for his 
 refreshment, and prepared to depart. On his 
 passing towards the door, the hostess enquired 
 how far he was journeying, at so late an hour, and 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 179 
 
 on Jairus's informing her, she expostulated on the 
 impropriety of his adventuring to go so lonely a 
 road, at such an hour, and on so dismal a night. 
 Feeling no disposition to stay where he was, he 
 said '* Good-night" to the landlady, and turned, 
 to leave the house, when he noticed that the door 
 of the tap-room was standing open, which he had 
 not before observed, Around a large fire, stood 
 five or six rude looking men, who seemed to be 
 attentively surveying him, and, as he conjectured 
 from their signs and whispers, plotting concern- 
 ing him. For a moment, he felt alarmed at his 
 situation, but, affecting more courage than he 
 actually possessed, he pushed from the house to 
 brave 
 
 " The pitiless pelting of tlie storm." 
 
 Fear gave wings to his feet, and added to his 
 speed, till, after frequently looking behind him in 
 vain for the pursuing robbers, whose footsteps he 
 every moment imagined were following him, he 
 began to draw breath with less palpitation. He 
 had not yet, however, left behind him all the 
 unpleasant parts of the road : a dreary lane, of 
 nearly three miles in length, still lay between him 
 and the next village. On entering this lane, he 
 began singing to himself, as he proceeded. 
 
 " Guide rae, thou great Jehovali, 
 Pilgrim through this barren land; 
 
 I am weak, but thou art mighty; 
 Hold me with thy powerful hand." 
 
180 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 Having gone through about two miles of this 
 gloomy passage, a most appalling sight presented 
 itself at a short distance before him. For a mo- 
 ment he became stationary, his eyes fixed on the 
 awful and mysterious object : his heart beat with 
 an unusual motion ; a cold sweat bedewed his 
 temples ; and then a feverish heat ran through 
 his frame. Two balls of fire, rolling with hideous 
 glare, appeared at some height above the hedge. 
 Now they seemed to dart forward towards him, 
 and then receded to their former position. A 
 terrific monster rose to his view, and lifting up 
 its gigantic arm, crushed the hedge beneath its 
 ponderous weight, and then appeared as if just 
 preparing to rush on its trembling prey. To at- 
 tempt to flee was impossible : he felt himself in a 
 most perilous situation. At length, mustering 
 up courage, he slowly and cautiously advanced, 
 when, lo ! the monster at a distance, on a nearer 
 
 approach, became evidently a white horse! 
 
 with one of his fore-legs thrown across the 
 hedge. 
 
 Jairus laughed at his own credulity, and, with- 
 out meeting with any injury, entered E , 
 
 whose inhabitants appeared, from the profound 
 silence which reigned, to be the willing imitators 
 of the drowsy god Sommis. Passing through 
 
 E , he, in order to reach the highroad, 
 
 entered a field which he had to cross, and, when 
 about midway through which, he heard the 
 shoutings of a man behind him. On turning his 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 181 
 
 head, he saw a person running towards hira, and 
 brandishing a massy club. Jairus, fearing the 
 danger which threatened him, ran swiftly away ; 
 the stranger followed with equal speed, and still 
 hallooing with increasing vehemence. Nearly 
 exhausted by his previous frights and fatigue, 
 Jairus stood still, when, most wonderful and wel- 
 come ! his friend, Mr. A , soon stood before 
 
 him. He had arrived at the house where Jairus 
 rested, shortly after he left it, and, with all pos- 
 sible speed, had followed him homewards. 
 
 The unexpected meeting was cheering to both, 
 and, journeying together, they arrived in safety 
 at home, with no after alarm or accident befal- 
 ling them, excepting that Mr. A , a person of 
 
 Falstaff 's make, getting too near the margin of a 
 deep ditch filled with snow, tumbled into the soft 
 bed ; from w^hich, however, with a little assist- 
 ance from Jairus, he soon arose, and, thankful 
 and happy, they proceeded towards home. 
 
182 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Glory to God, whose sovereign grace 
 
 Hath animated senseless stones, 
 Call'd us to stand before thy face. 
 
 And rais'd us into Abraham's sons. 
 
 Thou only, Lord, the work hast done. 
 And bar'd thine arm in all our sight, 
 
 Hast made the reprobates thine own. 
 And claim'd the outcasts as thy right." 
 
 Wesley. 
 
 " O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of 
 the years, in the midst of the years make known, 
 in wrath remember mercy." Thus prayed the 
 prophet Hahakkuk; and in similar language 
 did the sweet Singer of Israel cry to God, 
 ** Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord ; O Lord, 
 I beseech thee, send now prosperity." The 
 same hallowed feelings of sacred solicitude have, 
 in all ages of " the Church of God," more 
 or less influenced the hearts and prompted the 
 prayers of all the truly benevolent and pious : 
 and, indeed, next to his own salvation, nothing 
 is so pleasing to the *' man of God" as to witness, 
 or to hear of, the prosperity of Zion. ** If I for- 
 get thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 183 
 
 her cunning : if I do not remember thee, let my 
 tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer 
 not Jerusalem above my chief joy." For this 
 Jairus had long prayed ; for this he had la- 
 boured according to his ability : and now the 
 seed sown by himself and others began to spring 
 up; in many places "the desert became a fruit- 
 ful field, and the wilderness like the Garden of 
 the Lord." 
 
 The attention of the Christian world had been 
 directed to the imploring of the important bless- 
 ing which the Almighty had promised to the 
 Church, by his servant Isaiah : "I will pour 
 water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon 
 the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy 
 seed, and my blessing upon thine otFspring." 
 In several parts of the kingdom, earnest prayer 
 was off'ered, and the heavenly gift was evidently 
 imparted. 
 
 The sphere of Jairus's more stated labours was 
 not disregarded: many, within its range, were 
 made the happy recipients of this saving and Di- 
 vine influence, and, '* walking in the fear of the 
 Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were 
 multiplied." During this revival of the Lord's 
 work, Jairus's whole soul was engaged : he became 
 doubly active : the language both of his heart and 
 voice was 
 
 "0, Jesus, ride on till all arc subdued, 
 Thy mercy make known, and sprinkle thy blood. 
 Display thy salvation, and teach the new song 
 To every nation, and people, and tongue." 
 
184 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 He had already, some time since, offered him- 
 self for a foreign mission, in which, with all he 
 possessed, he longed to be engaged. 
 
 " To spend, and to be spent, for those 
 Who had not yet his Saviour linown." 
 
 He now received a letter enquiring whether he 
 was willing to engage in a Mission to Sierra Leone, 
 Western Africa. This was not the particular 
 place to which, in idea, he had chiefly directed 
 his attention. South Africa was the point to- 
 wards which the needle of his inclination tended, 
 and for which he wished to embark. He did 
 not, however, hesitate : willing tt) labour wherever 
 his services were required, he immediately answer- 
 ed the letter, expressing his entire readiness im- 
 mediately to engage in the work, at the station 
 thus specified. In consequence of some delay 
 attending the conveyance of the letter which 
 was sent to him, nearly three weeks had elapsed 
 before his reply was received; and, during this 
 time, another person had been applied to, and, 
 having accepted the appointment, was preparing 
 for his departure. 
 
 Jairus felt himself greatly disappointed by this 
 occurrence: after some time, however, his mind 
 was forcibly impressed by considering the evident 
 and preserving providence which had prevented 
 his going. A raging fever prevailed, in a most 
 awful degree, throughout the colony, at the pe- 
 riod when the person who took his place landed, 
 and to which disease he fell an early victim. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 185 
 
 Thus are we, frequently, by merciful instruc- 
 tions, taught to see our ignorance: and, some- 
 times smarting beneath the rod which our own mis- 
 guided choice has prepared, we are also made to 
 feel it. It is an incalculable benefit when, endea- 
 vouring to submit ourselves to an infinitely wise 
 providence, we are enabled to exclaim, '*Not my 
 will, but thine be done." 
 
 A letter, which Jairus received from a beloved 
 
 brother in the Gospel, the Rev. Mr. D , called 
 
 him hastily to H -, to take his final farewell of 
 
 the wife of his friend ; a woman for whom Jairus 
 had long entertained a most affectionate Christian 
 regard. A few months before, the insatiate mon- 
 ster, Death, had torn from them ** the desire of 
 their eyes with a stroke," by bereaving them of 
 their only offspring, an engaging child rather more 
 than two years of age. The loss of this beloved 
 infant together with the tragic circumstances of her 
 death in being killed by accident, while playing 
 at the door of her parents, was more than the mo- 
 ther's exquisite sensibility of feeling and extreme 
 delicacy of constitution could long sustain : she 
 gradually, and yet rapidly, sank beneath the 
 stroke. 
 
 At the period when Jairus was summoned to 
 visit her, the weary wheels of life revolved but 
 slowly, the vital spark was nearly extinct: she was 
 perfectly sensible, although extremely weak from 
 the exhausted state of her corporeal system . With 
 a courteous and heavenly smile, she welcomed 
 
 B B 
 
186 JAIRUS; OK, THE 
 
 jairus, expressed her perfect composure of mind, 
 in prospect of the event which, she was aware, 
 was not far distant, and, although labouring under 
 excessive pain, she was enabled to rejoice in the 
 sensible confidence of being, in a short time, with 
 her child, in glory. 
 
 The season which Jairus spent with her was 
 rendered profitable to his own mind. "Ah," 
 thought he, as he gazed upon the dying saint, 
 '* glory is not far distant, or rather, it appears to 
 encircle us, in this sacred place. It is, indeed, 
 ' better to go to the house of mourning than to the 
 house of feasting: for that is the end of all men ; 
 nnd the living will lay it to his heart.' 
 
 " Our dying friends come o'er us lil<e a cloud, 
 To damp our brainless ardour, and abate 
 Tliat glare of life whicli often blinds the wise. 
 Our dying friends are pioneeru, to smooth 
 Our rugged path to death, to break those bars 
 Of terror and abhorrence nature throws 
 'Cross our obstructed way, and thus to make 
 Welcome, as safe, our port from every storm." 
 
 At his taking leave, she requested he would not 
 be long before he visited her again : his, however, 
 was the impression that now they parted for the 
 last time upon earth. The presentiment in his 
 mind was correct: he bade her the final adieu till 
 they should meet where farewells and adieus are 
 sounds wholly unknown. 
 
 A few days after his return home, he received 
 another letter, both the post-mark and the black 
 seal of which left him no room to doubt what 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. IHl 
 
 iiiisj;ht be the cliaracter of its contents. Jairiis 
 tore it open, and, with lively sympathy, read as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 "H 
 
 *'My very dear Friend, 
 
 ** I hasten to inform you 
 
 of my painful loss : my dear Elizabeth is no 
 
 more ; her immortal spirit is fled, to mingle with 
 holy beings, in a purer region than this ; her life 
 less clay is all that remains with us. The distress 
 of my mind prevents my saying more. I seem just 
 to have awakened from a fearful dream, but ah ! 
 it is a true, a painful reality. 
 " Pray for your afflicted 
 
 ** And affectionate Friend, &c. 
 
 *' W. D. . 
 
 "P. S. On Sunday next, the mortal remains of 
 my beloved Elizabeth will be consigned to their 
 last earthly resting-place. You will not fail, I 
 hope, to be present." 
 
 "Farewell! for ever farewell, in this world, 
 wife of ray friend," sighed Jairus, as he wiped the 
 tear from his eye, and refolded the messenger of 
 mournful tidings. " But why," continued he, 
 "should our tears flow? unless, indeed, they are 
 tears of joy that the spirit, ' made meet,' has en- 
 tered the mansion ' prepared,' by Christ, for its 
 ' fulness of joy.' Soon may we meet again ; the 
 distance that separates us is but short : * there is 
 but a step between us and d^ath.'" 
 
188 JAIRUS; OK, THE 
 
 " A good man and an angel I these between 
 How tliin the barrier ! what divides their fatc? 
 Perhaps, a moment, or, perhaps, a year; 
 Or, if an age, it is a moment still I 
 A moment, or Eternity's forgot." 
 
 Witii mournful pleasure, Jairus attended on the 
 appointed day, and beheld all that was mortal of 
 
 Mrs. D consigned to the tomb, there to slee]) 
 
 in undisturbed repose till the shrill blast of the 
 Archangel's trump shall awake the slumbering 
 dust, when, reunited to its now glorified spirit, it 
 shall **shine forth" in all the brightness of " the 
 sun, in the kingdom" of eternal glory. 
 
 " Hark! a voice divides the sky, 
 
 ' Happy are the faitliful dead 
 In the Lord who sweetly die, 
 
 They from all their toils are freed. 
 Them, the Spirit hath declar'd 
 
 Blest, unutterably blest; 
 Jesus is their great reward, 
 
 Jesus is their endless rest.'" 
 
 By an unexpected providential occurrence, 
 Jairus was now introduced to an intimate acquain- 
 tance with the Rev. Mr. J , in whose charac- 
 ter, ministerial talents, exalted piety, and high 
 classical attainments, were eminently combined. 
 Jairus had frequently, when opportunity offered, 
 attended his ministry, and had sometimes met 
 with him on public occasions; but now, it be- 
 came his happiness to form with him a close anfl 
 affectionate intimacy. 
 
 This connexion, with which various circumstan- 
 ces were associated, appeared to constitute a new 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. IHJ) 
 
 era in the life of Jairus. His mind, naturally in- 
 quisitive and disposed to imbibe knowledge from 
 every accessible source, received, from his new 
 and generous friend, such information as greatly 
 tended to improve him in a growing acquaintance 
 with religion, and also more fully qualified him 
 for the important work of instructing others. 
 
 With this beloved and interesting family he 
 was in the habit of spendino" one or two evenings 
 weekly; on which occasions he was received, 
 both by his friend and his truly Christian lady, 
 with such an easy and cordial welcome as even to 
 render him perfectly at home. Frequently has 
 Jairus, while surrounding the family altar with 
 these interesting friends, enjoyed a high relish of 
 the influence of that Divine Spirit whose blessing 
 rests upon the tabernacles of the righteous. 
 
 An extensive and valuable library was here 
 thrown open to his use, and the experience and 
 judgment of his friend were exercised, on his be- 
 half, in the selection of such books as were most 
 likely to serve his purpose and promote his real 
 advantage. The important benefits conferred 
 upon young men by the friendly counsel of their 
 well-informed seniors in reference to the purchas- 
 ing and perusal of useful and suitable books 
 cannot be duly appreciated. 
 
 Much loss both of time and money is thus un- 
 questionably prevented which would otherwise be 
 worse than uselessly expended. Had Jairus, in 
 earlier life, been favoured with the valuable 
 
190 .lAIRUS; OK, THK 
 
 friendship he now enjoyed, the advantage to 
 himself would have been very considerable ; while 
 he might, probably, in equal proportion, have 
 been beneficial to others. 
 
 The warm and disinterested friendship of Mr. 
 
 J imperceptibly gained upon the mind of 
 
 Jairus: to his unremitting kindness he became 
 deeply indebted ; and never, it is conceived, can 
 it be forgotten, while memory retains her seat; 
 nor while his heart continues to palpitate, can it 
 cool in ardent affection to his friend. 
 
 Friendship founded upon genuine piety will not 
 fail increasingly to (levelope its refined and dig- 
 nified character in the diversified acts which will 
 result from its influence. This eff^ect was mani- 
 fested, in all its lovely amplification, by Mr. J 
 
 towards Jairus : no opportunity, in which he could 
 serve his interests, was allowed to pass by unim- 
 proved. Jairus found, with pleasure and gratitude, 
 that through his intimacy with Mr. J , the cir- 
 cle of his acquaintances rapidly increased even 
 beyond all his ardent mind could have imagined, 
 and these too were "the excellent of the earth," 
 "in whom" the Lord himself has "his delight." 
 One interesting character to whom, among others, 
 he was thus introduced, was the Christian philan- 
 thropist T W , Esq. a gentleman whose 
 
 praise cannot fully be expressed, but whose "re- 
 cord is on high," and whose "memory will be 
 blessed" on earth, and his name gratefully men- 
 tioned by a Christian public, when the revolution 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 101 
 
 of years shall have eflfaced from tlie tablet which 
 will one da\ be erected in remembrance of his 
 worth the characters marking the date when his 
 purified spirit rested from its labours, and entered 
 the paradise of God. 
 
 This gentleman requested Jairus to supply, for 
 
 a few Sabbaths, at G H Chapel: with 
 
 which request he cheerfully complied ; and conti- 
 nued, for six months, alternately with other mi- 
 nisters, to preach at this place. During his stay 
 here, a gentleman who resided in the same house 
 with him, prompted by curiosity, on a certain 
 evening, attended the chapel to hear him. Jairus's 
 subject of discourse, on that occasion, was the 
 Divinity of Christ. This, however, did not accord 
 with the views of his *' rational hearer, and, 
 consequently, although he afterwards approached 
 the door and listened, he did not again enter the 
 sacred edifice. Jairus was not yet aware of his 
 principles : he had frequently met him at the 
 dinner and tea-table, and as often had they en- 
 tered into conversation ; but on no one occasion 
 had he given the slightest intimation of his reli- 
 gious creed. One afternoon, when the lady of 
 the house and themselves were taking tea toge- 
 ther, he asked Jairus whether he had ever read the 
 life of Doctor Priestley. On receiving a reply in 
 the negative, he politely proposed the loan of it, 
 and instantly left the room ; presently, however, 
 returning, he presented Jairus with the esteemed 
 volume. 
 
192 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 On the book being put into his hand, he looked 
 upon it, and, without disturbing its pages, observ- 
 ed, **I cannot, 1 confess, conceive how any man 
 holding the principles which this man taught 
 can possibly be saved." 
 
 This was, though unintentionally on the part of 
 Jairus, throwing down the gauntlet, and, being 
 thus indirectly challenged to defend his creed, 
 the gentleman avowed himself a Socinian. 
 
 "And, pray, Sir," said Jairus, "allow nie to 
 ask. Do you expect to be saved ?" 
 
 "Certainly, I hope so," was the reply. 
 
 "May I enquire," continued Jairus, "on what 
 your hopes of salvation rest?" 
 
 "On the mercy of God." 
 
 "Far be it from me. Sir," replied Jairus, "to 
 attempt to lower, even in your estimation, the 
 mercy of God : it cannot be too highly distin- 
 guished, but it may be improperlg so: and, by 
 so doing, 
 
 " ' We set at odds God's jailess attributes, 
 And by one excellence the others maim.' 
 
 " One attribute of the Deity never can be exalted 
 at the expence of another; and hence, until the 
 designs of God's mercy and the claims of his jus- 
 tice are reconciled, in his pardoning the trans- 
 gressor, no sinner can possibly be saved. Do 
 you believe, Sir, that we are fallen and guilty 
 creatures? that God is infinitely holy, and inflex- 
 ibly just, and cannot allow the breach of his law 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 193 
 
 with impunity? That we have broken the law, 
 we cannot deny; and that transgression is justly 
 exposed to punishment is certain: now, Sir, by 
 what means, I ask, is the guilt of our sins to be 
 removed, and their punishment remitted?" 
 
 "By our afflictions and sufferings in the present 
 world," answered the disciple of Doctor Priest- 
 ley. 
 
 Jairus, for a while, looked upon the speaker 
 with a mixture of surprise and pity : he could 
 talk eloquently on almost any subject save that 
 system on which he professed to rest his hopes 
 for eternity. "So, then," replied Jairus, "you 
 transfer the divinity of Jesus Christ to your oion 
 sufferings, and reject him, as a Saviour, in order 
 to depend upon them?'' 
 
 He became evidently confused, and acknow- 
 ledged that he was not fixed in his sentiments, 
 and was anxious to obtain information. 
 
 Jairus assured him that he should ever feel the 
 highest pleasure in rendering him any assistance 
 in his power; and exhorted him, in the mean time, 
 to apply, in prayer, to that Being who says, " If 
 any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that 
 giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, 
 and it shall be given him." 
 
 Whether his professions were sincere, or whe- 
 ther he applied, as directed, to God for wisdom, is 
 not known. He conversed with Jairus no more. 
 
 c c 
 
194 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 CHAPTER XII, 
 
 "Tis inoiiiintr; and the sun, with ruddy orb 
 Ascendine, fires tlie horizon ; while the clouds 
 That crowd away before tlie driving wind, 
 More ardent as the disk emerees more, 
 Resembles most some city in a blaze 
 Seen through the leafless wood." 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 Jairus was now preparing for a long journey; 
 not indeed to Africa, to preach the Gospel of sal- 
 vation ; but, for the same purpose, he was about 
 to leave home, although only to go a much short- 
 er distance. He had been desired to spend a 
 
 few Sabbaths at W ; and, to do so, it was 
 
 requisite for him to undertake a journey of about 
 one hundred miles. In order to be in readiness 
 for the coach, which started early in the morning, 
 he deemed it necessary to be in the Metropolis on 
 the preceding evening. To this unavoidable ne- 
 cessity he therefore submitted; and thus, conse- 
 quently, became liable to the impositions of a 
 London tavern. 
 
 On reaching town, his first concern was to 
 secure for himself, by booking, a place by the 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 195 
 
 coach ; and then to engage accommodations for 
 the night. 
 
 These preliminaries to his journey were soon 
 and easily accomplished; and, after partaking of 
 a slight supper, he retired to rest. At five o'clock 
 the next morning, a loud knocking at his cham- 
 ber door announced the hour for rising : he 
 dressed in haste, but, on leaving the room, found 
 himself in an awkward predicament, as he had 
 not sufficiently noticed, on the preceding evening, 
 the way by which he was conducted to his cham- 
 ber, and he was now at a loss how to descend to 
 the stable-yard. Before he was aware of it, he 
 had rambled into the kitchen, from which he 
 made a hasty retreat in order to find a more 
 direct way of egress from the house, and also 
 fearing lest, should he be found in this situation, 
 he might be dealt with as a robber. After con- 
 siderable difficulty, he accomplished his aim, and 
 entered the yard just as the horses were got 
 ready ; when, after some enquiry respecting the 
 place of his destination, he learned that he had 
 booked himself for the wrong coach ; as that by 
 which he was now about to go would travel wide 
 of the place through which he expected it would 
 have passed, and was going eight miles beyond 
 it. There was now, however, no alternative; 
 he must either go by this coach or not at all. 
 Mounting, therefore, the vehicle, as his only re- 
 source in emergency, he determined to make the 
 best of the matter, hoping that at N , where 
 
196 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 the coach stopped, some conveyance might be 
 
 obtained, by which he could proceed to W . 
 
 The morning was unusually fine for the season 
 of the year, which was the month of October, and 
 afforded a promising prospect of a pleasant day. 
 They had proceeded a few miles from London, 
 when a sportsman, who was attentively observing 
 the appearance of the weather, exclaimed, "There 
 is a sight which half London will not see to-day." 
 The heads of all the passengers were immediately 
 turned to behold the object thus pointed out to 
 their attention. It was, indeed, a most glorious 
 sight. The sun, just rising from his bed, appear- 
 ed adorned with more than regal splendour, and 
 seemed "rejoicing like a strong man to run a race," 
 scattering, at his approach, the misty damps and 
 vaporous exhalations which ascended from the 
 brooks and the fields. Various were the topics of 
 remark to which the luminary gave rise; while, 
 from Jairus, it produced the following address to 
 
 THE RISING SUN. 
 
 Regent of day, all hail ! 
 
 Thy soul reviving light 
 
 Throughout our earthly vale 
 
 Dispels the gloom of night, 
 
 And sheds, from yonder hemisphere 
 
 Of eastern worlds, thy glories here. 
 
 Ten thousand beauties vie 
 
 T' entrance the wondering sight. 
 Until the dazzled eye, 
 O'erpower'd by streaming light, 
 Turns from its bold, excursive view, 
 To ease, recruit, and gaze anew. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 19": 
 
 Ocean's extensive plain, 
 
 Bespangled with thy rays, 
 Bears witness to thy reign, 
 Thy cheerini? power displays, 
 Heflects abroad, through space unknown, 
 A lucid brightness not its own. 
 
 Around the mountain's base 
 And on its clond-topt head 
 Thy genial influence plays. 
 Thy splendid beams are shed. 
 Travelling in strength, and, rising higher, 
 Fresh glory spread of brightening fiie. 
 
 Rais'd from his gra;sy cell. 
 
 By thy reviving light. 
 His native joys to tell, 
 And guide the wonderinglsight. 
 The skylark soars the clouds among. 
 And cheers us by his matin song. 
 
 A gentle murmuring sound. 
 From various insect bands, 
 Spreads, widening all around. 
 As though the teeming lands 
 Would hail the first illuming ray 
 Darted^from thee, bright orb of day. 
 
 The sleeping hamlet wakes. 
 
 Its hardy sons arise. 
 The brawny ploughman shakes 
 Sleep from his half-clos'd eyes. 
 With transport views thy golden train, 
 And, blithe, goes forth to toil again. 
 
 But, ere the golden beams 
 Emitted from thy vest. 
 Whence dazzling brightness streams. 
 Again shall paint the West, 
 What crowds who now behold thy light 
 Shall sink ingulf'd in Death's dark night. 
 
 But Faith disrobes the tomb 
 
 Of its terrific dress. 
 Scatters its sable gloom. 
 And fills with joy and peace, 
 Pours light across the dark abyss. 
 And seals the soul to endless bliss. 
 
198 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 Emblem of truth divine ! 
 
 In thee our faith belioids 
 How far the truth shall shine 
 Which sacred writ unfolds : 
 On all, *' the Sun of Ki^hteousness" 
 Shall rise, and every nation bless. 
 
 Jairus'sjourney was, upon the whole, pleasant ; 
 and the travellers entered the ancient city of 
 
 N at about eight in the evening. Here he 
 
 received the unpleasant information that no con- 
 veyance from thence to W could be obtained 
 
 until the following morning. With all the com- 
 posure which his disappointment allowed, he 
 sought refreshment for his weary limbs in rest and 
 sleep ; and, on the next morning, he reached the 
 place of his destination in safety, and received a 
 sincere and friendly welcome from Mr. T— — 
 and family. 
 
 During Jairus's stay at W , he felt himself 
 
 attached to the place and people in no ordinary 
 degree ; both on account of the particular kind- 
 ness shewn him, and the freedom and pleasure he 
 enjoyed in ministering the word of life. Here was 
 an excellent and spacious place of worship, capa- 
 ble of containing from six to eight hundred peo- 
 ple, and which was usually filled on the Lord's 
 day. Connected with the place, was a flourish- 
 ing Sunday-school, in which several respectable 
 individuals laboured assiduously for the benefit of 
 the rising population. 
 
 From some reasons of a local and others of a 
 more remote character, it presented a lield of 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 199 
 
 exertion highly desirable for the exercise of 
 the active and benevolent energies of a Gospel 
 minister. 
 
 Here, the inscrutable and mysterious providence 
 of God, in its bereaving dispensations, had been 
 severely felt. In the space of about eighteen 
 months, the Church had been deprived, by death, 
 of two useful and beloved pastors. God's *'way 
 is," indeed, " in the sea, and his path in the great 
 waters:" he manages all the affairs of heaven and 
 earth; and none can stay his hand, or authorita- 
 tively say unto him, "What doest thou?" for he 
 " giveth not account of any of his matters." 
 
 The latter of those worthy men, the Rev. Mr. 
 
 E , had been recognised as their pastor only 
 
 a few months: his ordination charge had scarcely 
 lost its sound upon the ears of the people, when 
 the same reverend gentleman who delivered it 
 addressed to a weeping congregation his funeral 
 sermon. 
 
 On Sunday, November , he delivered, with 
 
 his usual animation, three sermons; and, on the 
 following day, was united, in that sacred estate 
 which God has pronounced "honourable," to the 
 
 amiable Miss T , a lady in whom were united 
 
 piety, affability, and a cultivated understanding; 
 qualifications which should ever be found in the 
 wife of a minister of the Gospel. The Sabbath 
 just adverted to was the last time he ever entered 
 the pulpit. He, who had, by precept and exam- 
 ple, taught the people to live, was now called, as 
 
200 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 a Christian, to teach them, by example, how to 
 die. He returned from a short tour he had made 
 with Mrs. E immediately after the solemni- 
 zation of their union, much indisposed: the in- 
 disposition rapidly gained upon him, until his 
 disembodied spirit took its flight to the regions 
 of immortality and bliss. 
 
 During his illness, the reverend gentleman who 
 held the curacy of the parish paid him the most 
 Christian and praiseworthy attentions. To his 
 honour must it ever be mentioned by those who 
 know the facts, that he evinced, by the clearest 
 proofs, the benevolence of his heart, unencum- 
 bered by those irrational hindrances with which 
 prejudice of Caste^ shackles the untutored Hindoo 
 and, but too frequently, the polite and educated 
 ministers of the Cross. He recognised in him, 
 and cordially acted towards him as, a brother in 
 Christ, and a fellow-labourer in the ministry of 
 the Gospel, although cultivating, in the same vine- 
 yard, a different spot from his own. Hour after 
 hour, he watched by his bed-side, and endea- 
 voured to soothe the mind of his afflicted partner; 
 and, with his own hand, he tenderly administered 
 the medicines prepared. May the number of 
 such men be multiplied a hundred and a thou- 
 sand fold in the Church ! 
 
 The last Sabbath that Jairus spent at W , 
 
 was the anniversary of Mr. E 's closing his 
 
 * " Castes" are the different classes of the Hindoos. 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 201 
 
 brief but bright career : on that clay twelve 
 months, he finished his public work. Jairus's 
 own mind was impressed by this consideration ; 
 and he endeavoured to improve the occasion, to 
 an assembled multitude, from the words of the 
 Woman of Tekoah to David — " We must needs 
 die.'' The season was solemn and affecting: the 
 reflection that their beloved pastor, whose memory 
 they still revered, and whose mortal remains lay 
 buried in the midst of them, had, that day twelve 
 months, filled the place which he now occupied, 
 and had addressed them in the language of the 
 same inspired volume, '* beseechins; them to be 
 reconciled to God," and would one day appear as 
 a swift witness either for or against them, was 
 urged with forcible and visible efl'ect, as an irre- 
 sistible motive to ** prepare to meet their God'' 
 
 The following morning, Jairus, though strongly 
 importuned to stay, was under the necessity of 
 leaving this interesting people, to whom he al- 
 ready felt himself bound by strong ties of attach- 
 ment. The morning being raw and cold, and 
 Jairus not having his travelling-coat with him, 
 Mr. T , with the kindness which had uni- 
 formly characterized his conduct towards him, 
 insisted that he should take his, and leave it at 
 
 his warehouse in London; while Mrs. T as 
 
 readily prepared some choice refreshments for his 
 comfort upon the road. To them, truly, seemed 
 justly applicable the approving language, " Inas- 
 much as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
 D D 
 
202 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.'' 
 Two gentlemen, Messrs. W and J , kind- 
 ly attended him to the coach, and took care that 
 his luggage was safely placed in the boot. As 
 the carriage passed through the town, several 
 persons were standing at their doors, to bid him 
 the last and friendly " farewell." 
 
 Never before did Jairus, at leaving any place 
 or people, feel regret equal to what he now ex- 
 perienced. He continued to gaze at the tower 
 of the church, the last object his eye could dis- 
 cern at W , until, receding from his sight, 
 
 it was lost in the distance. 
 
 How desirable, thought Jairus at that moment, 
 is that period when parting feelings shall for ever 
 be unknown. 
 
 " There we shall meet a^ain, 
 
 When all our toils are o'er, 
 
 And death, and grief, and pain, 
 
 And parting are no more ; 
 
 We shall with all our brethren rise. 
 
 And meet our Jesus in the skies." 
 
 Among Jairus's travelling companions was a 
 young coxcomb whom, for his garrulity, he could 
 not in his own mind but regard as having a head 
 not unlike a hollow sonorous instrument of war, 
 which, when struck, is at once full of noise, and 
 as full of emptiness. He was, however, an adept 
 in what has become much too fashionable, and 
 by some is deemed a necessary qualification to 
 complete the gentleman, — Swearing. His con- 
 versation not being directed to Jairus, he con- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 203 
 
 €eived that a more convenient opportunity than 
 the present might ofter to reprove him ; knowing 
 that to administer reproof prudently would leave' 
 the only probability of his doing it with success. 
 
 A person on the fore part of the coach, whom 
 Jairus had observed at the place where they last 
 stopped for refreshment busily distributing tracts, 
 enquired if there was any room behind, and was 
 answ ered in the negative ; the swearing gentleman 
 declaring with an oath, they wanted no Methodist 
 Parsons there, at the same time appealing to 
 Jairus, who sat opposite, for a confirmation of 
 what he had said. 
 
 *' Sir," replied Jairus, with a look which could 
 not easily be misunderstood, accompanied by a 
 correspondent tone of voice, — ** We are quite full, 
 but we had better have a Methodist Parson than 
 worse company.'' The intended reproof appeared 
 to be taken, and silenced the noisy babbler. 
 
 Stopping shortly after to dine, the gentleman 
 who had wished to change his place, the de- 
 claimer against Methodist Parsons, and Jairus, 
 met in the same room. Jairus was immediately 
 recognized by the gentleman, who enquired if he 
 had not had the pleasure of hearing him preach 
 
 at P . Jairus admitted it was probable he 
 
 might, as he some time since was so engaged there. 
 With great cordiality the gentleman shook hands 
 with him, and expressed the pleasure he felt at 
 their thus meeting. 
 
 During this conversation the young man re- 
 
204 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 ferred to looked on, evidently much confused : 
 until now, he had no knowledge of the character 
 Jairus sustained. At length he advanced towards 
 him, and in the most respectful manner apolo- 
 gized for his previous conduct and conversation, 
 assuring Jairus that in what he had said nothing 
 was personally intended. The concession was 
 accepted, and a suitable admonition given by 
 Jairus, who, during the remainder of the journey, 
 received the utmost attention from the ** man of 
 pleasure," and was no more annoyed by any in- 
 stance of his vulgarity or profaneness. 
 
 A few weeks after Jairus had arrived at home, 
 the providence of God directed him to another 
 part of his vineyard in an opposite direction from 
 
 W , and where, at the request of the people, 
 
 he consented to continue and serve them in the 
 Gospel of the Son of God; still, however, che- 
 rishing the same missionary feeling, and ready, 
 whenever the call shall be given by Him whose he 
 is, and ''whom he serves with his spirit," in the 
 Gospel, to forego all the comforts and honours of 
 his native land, or of civilized life ; that he 
 " might preach among the gentiles," in foreign 
 lands, " the unsearchable riches of Christ.'' 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Urg'd by no speculative view 
 
 Ur low ambition, in 
 Diotrephesian spirit true 
 To study, and to win 
 The literary cbaplet, and 
 Be known as D. D. throug'i the land. 
 
 Nor motives mean, as filthy gain, 
 
 Or popular applause 
 Empty as air, and hard t'attain, 
 Mov'd to the sacred cause ; 
 Love, ardent, pure, impell'd; they ran, 
 Servants of God, and friends to man. 
 
 Having, in the preceding Chapters, followed 
 Jairus through some of 
 
 " the mazy labyrinths of life's rough road," 
 
 a few concluding reflections may not, perhaps, be 
 altogether unsuitable or useless; and in thus at- 
 tempting to " gather up the fragments, nothing" 
 may " be lost." 
 
 There arc several parts of the narrative to 
 which the attention, especially of juvenile read- 
 ers, might be directed with profit, as furnishing 
 
206 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 materials for instructive caution, or solemn warn- 
 ing: but it is intended now to point those who 
 may peruse these pages to some considerations 
 rather remotely than immediately connected with 
 the work, and to refer to the work itself only by 
 way of illustration, or to confirm the sentiments 
 advanced. The multiplied and various moral 
 dangers to which the unwary season of youth is 
 exposed, are of the most subtle nature, assuming 
 all the diversified and fascinating forms which 
 depravity can invent, or those who lie in wait to 
 deceive can devise and exhibit: and they are 
 awfully calculated to work upon the passions and 
 lead the heart further and yet further from the 
 ways of God. 
 
 The pride of human nature, ever anxious for 
 " the bubble reputation," and the gratification of 
 the sensual appetites, are the grand means by 
 which *' the God of this world blinds the eyes" of 
 his vassals and " leads them captive at his will." 
 The adulation of the ignorant, and the intoxicat- 
 ing praise of mistaken friends, inflates and be- 
 wilders. the youthful mind with vanity; so that 
 frequently a spark of genius, which with proper 
 attention and by careful cultivation might have 
 shone in pleasing and useful lustre, has been, by 
 the injudicious influence of its flatterers, either 
 entirely extinguished or excited to blaze out in 
 the faint and sickly productions of mere mental 
 ignesfatui; thus rendering its possessors, who 
 might have been hai)py in themselves and bless- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 207 
 
 ings ill their various spheres of influence, per- 
 sonally miserable and evident pests of society. 
 
 Such were the circumstances amidst which 
 Jairus was early placed; a few puerile produc- 
 tions from his pen, and some little occasional 
 display of natural vivacity, exposed him to the 
 snare of flattery from the imprudent commenda- 
 tions of his friends and acquaintance. Pleasure- 
 taking parties sought and solicited his company, 
 while various and attractive avenues to ruin open- 
 ed wide their portals to receive him. " Where- 
 withal," it may indeed be asked, " shall a young 
 man," placed in such circumstances, '' cleanse 
 his way ? " Only " by taking heed thereto, accord- 
 ing to thy word," O God! 
 
 Nor are the gratifications of sense, or merely 
 animal enjoyments, when inordinately pursued, 
 less dangerous or destructive in their nature and 
 tendency, than the pride of the human heart 
 which so eagerly catches at the phantom of praise. 
 And while the means of such gratifications are 
 so multiplied and easy of access, especially in 
 and about our cities and populous towns, none 
 can feel too deeply anxious for the moral and 
 religious character and welfare of the young. 
 
 The ball-room, the tavern, the theatre, mid- 
 night-assemblies, horse-races, fairs, routs, the 
 gaming-table, and various public gardens, are 
 among Satan's strong holds, and are dangerous 
 beyond expression. Here associations of the 
 worst kind are too frequently formed, and prin- 
 
208 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 ciples early imbibed which, it has been proved in 
 too many painful instances, have produced habits 
 that could never be eradicated, but have ended 
 in disease and infamy, and even in poverty and 
 death. 
 
 That in a country professedly Christian, so 
 much that is directly opposed to Christianity 
 should not merely exist, but be tolerated, nay, 
 more, be by law maintained and defended, and 
 even supported by dignitaries both m Church and 
 State, is lamentable in the highest degree. These 
 things prove powerful and plausible obstacles to 
 the formation and growth of the moral character 
 of our youth, — the hope and glory of our nation. 
 The reproach however is rolling away : light and 
 knowledge are majestically marching through the 
 land, and the powers of darkness flee before the 
 heralds of the Cross The self-confuting dogma 
 of anti-christian policy, that '* ignorance is the 
 mother of devotion,'' no longer bears sway ; the 
 secret spring of human action has been touched 
 by the ready hand of the philanthropist, a desire 
 for learning has been produced, and the informa- 
 tion sought has been abundantly aflforded, and is 
 still richly supplied. 
 
 A fact of the most pleasing kind has lately 
 occurred in the very town where Jairus received 
 his birth, and the knowledge of which cannot fail 
 to impart, to every decided friend of God, the 
 highest gratification ; while, at the same time, it 
 affords demonstrative evidence that in proportion 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 209 
 
 as knowledge is imparted, the works and the 
 abettors of moral darkness will disappear. The 
 Theatre, which had nearly proved the ruin of 
 Jairus, has lately been purchased by some friends 
 to the rising generation, and converted into 
 spacious and commodious rooms in which the 
 children of the poor are to be instructed in the 
 principles and doctrines of the religion of Jesus! 
 A population of from twelve to fourteen thousand 
 persons have thus proved their practical rejection 
 of this powerful incentive to wickedness, by with- 
 holding both their support and countenance from 
 this temple of Satan, and now they no longer 
 retain the stigma of even having a theatre among 
 them. 
 
 From the dangers to which we have now briefly 
 adverted, Jairus was graciously delivered : he was 
 saved, however, as '' a brand plucked out of the 
 fire," or, as the adage expresses it, " by the skin 
 of his teeth." The circumstances which sur- 
 rounded him and their influence upon him have 
 already been seen ; his experience and practice by 
 nature, plainly proved that " the heart of man is 
 deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." 
 Every struggle and eff^ort which the mind, how- 
 soever enlightened, yet unaided and alone, can 
 make to free itself from the shackles of sin is 
 unavailing till the Divine power of sovereign 
 grace sets it at liberty. The great agent there- 
 fore in the regeneration and conversion of the 
 soul, is the Holy and Divine Spirit. Education 
 
 E E 
 
210 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 by its restraining power may do much to influence 
 the external conduct, both by discovering on the 
 one hand the evil and disgrace of notorious 
 crimes, and on the other by presenting to view 
 the beauty and advantage of morality. The 
 force of example and habit, and the judicious 
 exercise and application of parental discipline, 
 may go far towards regulating the practice; but 
 all this and much more may be employed, (and, 
 indeed, they absolutely should be,) but they can- 
 not cure because they cannot change the heart. 
 To change, renew, and sanctify the soul, is work 
 for Him who made it : He only can 
 
 Nature's blindness remove, and conquer the will. 
 
 Foul enmity slay, and remove 
 The guilt of transgression by mercy, and fill 
 
 The soul with a heaven of love. 
 This, this is His work, and his too alone 
 
 'Tis to pardon the present and past ; 
 And He who for sinners once died to atone. 
 
 Will bring us to heaven at last. 
 
 Upon whatever individual such spiritual mira- 
 cle has been performed, the change, in the entire 
 renovation of the grand principle of moral action, 
 and the complete transformation of the character, 
 is equally obvious as if a departed spirit had 
 been re-called from the invisible state again to 
 inhabit and inspire with natural life the recently 
 putrid animal frame. 
 
 It is, however, acknowledged that all are not 
 in an equal degree impelled, when this important 
 change takes place, much less are all influenced 
 in a similar manner, so as to adopt the same 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 211 
 
 course in reference to their future conduct, or to 
 think and profess precisely alike on every point in 
 theology. The natural constitution undergoes no 
 change in this spiritual operation ; neither is the 
 constituent temperament of the man destroyed, 
 and replaced by that of a contrary character. 
 The same constitutional feeling, whether of gra- 
 vity or vivacity, is still realized and manifested, 
 although the power of grace prevents the former 
 from degenerating into moroseness and ill temper, 
 and preserves the latter from giving way to fri- 
 volity and criminal levity. And hence it is that 
 the conduct of the individual newly converted 
 assumes a character correspondent to his natural 
 disposition. In some is seen a backwardness 
 like that of Moses when he made repeated at- 
 tempts to excuse himself from the service enjoined 
 upon him by Jehovah, to whom he replied, *' O 
 Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor 
 since thou spakest unto thy servant: but I am 
 slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." In others 
 we behold the impetuosity of James and John, at 
 once disposing them to call for fire from heaven 
 to consume those who act not with themselves. 
 While some may be found to possess all that 
 gentle placidity, together with the fervent love, of 
 the favoured apostle John, who leaned upon the 
 bosom of his Lord, as if anxious to catch at once 
 the gracious words which fell from his lips, and 
 the spirit by which they were inspired. The 
 habitual and uniform characteristics of the true 
 
212 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 children of God, however, are a heartfelt detesta- 
 tion of all sin, and earnest solicitude on behalf of 
 unawakened and unpardoned sinners, who are 
 still heedlessly rushing towards impending ruin. 
 
 Who can either describe or conceive the feelings 
 of an affectionate parent whose eyes are spiritu- 
 ally opened, and whose heart, participating in 
 the love of God, enjoys comparatively a present, 
 and looks forward to a future heaven; but still 
 beholds himself surrounded by a numerous fami- 
 ly, every member of which, it may be, is ** dead 
 in trespasses and sins : " neither counsel nor 
 reproof is regarded by them ; each, perhaps, 
 appears desirous to surpass the others in trans- 
 gression. Frequently the painful, the distressing 
 thought, darts irresistibly across his mind, as he 
 beholds disease undermining the health of one 
 and another of the family circle, — that his own 
 children, those over whom, during the days of 
 infancy and childhood, he watched with parental 
 solicitude and fondly cherished in his bosom, will 
 finally he lost. The thought is too distressing to 
 bear, — it fills his mind with partial distraction, — 
 how fervently he prays, how earnestly he en- 
 treats, with what inexpressible solicitude he urges 
 his petition — •* that my sons, — my daughters, 
 might live before thee!'' 
 
 The period of life at which J air us discovered 
 the influence of the saving grace of God, was the 
 most interesting and favourable both to himself 
 and others. The sacred name of parent or of 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 213 
 
 husband did not apply to him ; the concerns and 
 cares of such relationships did not engage his 
 attention : his entire time, and talents, and influ- 
 ence, were therefore consecrated to the highest, 
 noblest acts of charity, — those which regard the 
 soul. At such a season how lovely are the gra- 
 dual developments of grace ; how delightful is it 
 to watch the earnest career of the newly con- 
 verted stripling; to observe his growth from the 
 *' babe' in Christ, tottering and trembling at every 
 gust, until he arrives at the comparative stability 
 of the *' young many' hardy, robust, and well 
 disciplined in the cause of truth ; and then to 
 mark him eventually crowned with the honours 
 of righteousness, attaining the usefulness and 
 dignity of a '* father in Israel,'' instructing by his 
 sage advice, and animating by his holy example, 
 the youthful competitors for the imperishable 
 crown of eternal life; till, richly laden with spiri- 
 tual treasures, and preparing for his final rest, he 
 triumphantly exclaims, '* I have fought a good 
 fight, 1 have finished my course, I have kept 
 the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me 
 a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and 
 not to me only, but unto all them also that love 
 his appearing." 
 
 The first sacred feeling of new converts is fre- 
 quently an ardent desire to impart to others 
 something of the high enjoyments with which 
 themselves are favoured. Forgetting what were 
 
214 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 but recently the feelings ol' their own hearts, they 
 almost wonder at the folly of those by whom they 
 are surrounded, and who still continue in their 
 sin; and they conceive the work comparatively 
 easy to persuade others to renounce their evil 
 ways by the bare recommendation of religious 
 truth, or by the simple narration of their own 
 change of character. So thought Jairus, and so 
 he acted too, until painful experience taught him 
 otherwise. 
 
 Enviable indeed is the condition of those per- 
 sons who, upon their conversion to God, are 
 providentially so situated as to have the benefit 
 of the watchful eye and kind attention of some 
 faithful minister of the Gospel; or who can at 
 least enjoy the counsel of a judicious, affection- 
 ate, and devout aged Christian. Placed amidst 
 such circumstances, the ardour and zeal and 
 forwardness of some have been prevented from 
 prompting them to any injurious or censurable 
 measures ; while the talents of others, who were 
 naturally diffident and reserved, have been gra- 
 dually elicited and developed, and advantageously 
 employed. 
 
 Scarcely any degree of reprehension can be too 
 severe towards some grave professors of religion. 
 Grown old in spiritual sloth and inactivity them- 
 selves, their tempers are similar to a disposition 
 ably exposed in a fable of iEsop : they have no 
 inclination nor ability to be actively employed 
 themselves in the cause of truth, and they there- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 215 
 
 fore urge every conceivable objection their saga- 
 city can invent, against those young persons 
 especially who are ardently pressing forward " to 
 the help of the Lord against the mighty." They 
 disapprove and condemn the ardour which them- 
 selves never possessed, 
 
 " Or hate the excellence they cannot reach." 
 
 How unlike the Diotrephesian spirit of these 
 sages was the noble example of Moses, who, when 
 told that Eldad and Medad prophesied in the 
 camp, exclaimed, upon being requested by Joshua 
 to forbid them, — *' Enviest thou for my sake? 
 would God that all the Lord's people were pro- 
 phets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit 
 upon them." Such characters should go for 
 instruction to our Lord, who, when his disciples 
 informed him that on " seeing one casting out 
 devils in his name, they forbade him, because he 
 followed not with them," replied, by way both of 
 counsel and reproof, " Forbid him not, for he 
 that is not against us is for us." 
 
 Evil, generally speaking, is of no particular 
 form or aspect, but, like the Chamelion, changes 
 its appearances according to the influence, more 
 or less qualifying, which may be exerted upon it 
 by existing circumstances; and, therefore, while 
 the evil already complained of is much to be 
 deplored, there is another, which although ope- 
 rating with a contrary tendency, is equally lamen- 
 table. The external conduct of an individual 
 previously irreligious, but whose mind, perhaps. 
 
216 JAIRUS ; OR, THE 
 
 has been impressed during the delivery of an 
 alarming discourse, or by the merely natural 
 operation of some particular providence, has no 
 sooner undergone a partial reformation, than 
 some superficial and inconsiderate professor ea- 
 sily persuades both himself and the person thus 
 apparently altered, who is naturally disposed to 
 think vi^ell of himself, that the work of saving 
 grace is wrought in his heart: he is therefore 
 urged, whether possessing suitable talents or not, 
 to take the lead in certain social exercises of de- 
 votion; and, because a measure of boldness and 
 readiness may perhaps be manifested by him, he 
 must therefore publicly stand forward to exhort 
 sinners " to flee from the wrath to come:" and 
 thus he, who probably but a few weeks before 
 had not even made a profession of Christianity, 
 is now fearlessly thrust into the sacred desk, and 
 both runs himself, and is pushed by others, into 
 the important and awful work of the ministry; 
 and thus ill-prepared and unprepared, 
 
 " Negotiates between God and man, 
 As God's ambassador, the grand concerns 
 Of judgment and of mercy." 
 
 But, 
 
 " Fools will rush in where angels fear to tread."- — Young. 
 
 Admitting even the actual conversion of such 
 individual, still ** these things ought not so to 
 be," except perhaps in some very particular and 
 extraordinary cases. Many it is to be feared, to 
 the disgrace and reproach of such a ministry, 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 217 
 
 have thus been iiilroducecl to various parts of our 
 country, *' understanding neither what they say, 
 nor whereof they aftiriu. " 
 
 Is then the Christian Ministry the only work 
 in the world for which no preparation, by pre- 
 vious instruction and information, is necessary? 
 Must those who labour at the Bar, or who prac- 
 tise for the health and comfort of the human 
 body, or who plead in the Senate, undergo a toil- 
 some course of studious preparation, in some 
 measure to qualify them for their respective 
 offices, and he alone who is professedly engaged 
 about the infinite concerns of souls and their 
 eternal interests be supposed to require none ? 
 Nay, must the lowest artisan submit to toil and 
 drudgery before he can attain a knowledge of his 
 profession so as to instruct others, and shall the 
 high, and holy, and arduous, and responsible 
 duties of the ministry be undertaken without any 
 previous knowledge or consideration, and with 
 the mind beclouded and confused about even a 
 bare acquaintance with the leading and peculiar 
 doctrines of the Gospel? So thought not the 
 apostle when, contemplating the important cha- 
 racter of his ministerial engagements as being 
 *' the savour" either " of life unto life," or *' of 
 death unto death," he exclaimed, " And who is 
 sufficient for these things?'' 
 
 By such crude and barren declaimers, " Coun- 
 sel is darkened without knowledge," and *' Ig- 
 norance," even among Protestants, is thus, by 
 
 F F 
 
218 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 the heedless, made to appear as ** the mother of 
 devotion." 
 
 To this it may perhaps be said, God has a 
 right to call whom he will to the ministry of his 
 own word: and that, as of old he summoned 
 Elisha from driving oxen and guiding the plough, 
 and Peter from his fishing- boats, and endued 
 them with his Spirit, sending them forth imme- 
 diately to the work to which he had appointed 
 them; so now he can, without human aid, raise 
 up and qualify men for the same important duty. 
 
 No truth, it is presumed, will be more cheer- 
 fully admitted than that it is the prerogative of 
 God alone to call and appoint whom he will to 
 this distinguished office; and when Scriptural 
 evidence is furnished that those who are engaged 
 are thus divinely appointed^ none dare attempt, 
 nor, indeed, will any with impunity endeavour to 
 raise an objection. 
 
 The day however in which ive live is a day of 
 means, and not of miracles: what the Eternal 
 can do, and what he has given us warrant to 
 expect he will do, are most clear and important 
 distinctions. He could convert the whole world 
 without the agency of any of his creatures, or the 
 employment of any means, and that too without 
 an hour's delay : but he chooses not thus to act. 
 As in the natural so also in the moral world, he 
 has been pleased to confer important privileges 
 upon his creatures by usefully employing them ; 
 and through them he continues to accomplish his 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 219 
 
 own unchangeable and eternal purposes. Nor are 
 we to expect that any of those sudden and ex- 
 traordinary qualifications adduced, will in the 
 present day be imparted to any man : neither, 
 indeed, are those crude and imbecile characters 
 referred to, as such reasoning certainly assumes, 
 in any degree the subjects of such preparation. 
 
 While no office upon which mortal man can 
 enter is more dignified and honourable than that 
 sustained by the minister of the Gospel, so none 
 can be selected in which greater or more severe 
 trials are to be experienced. The immediate 
 causes of affliction and discouragement with 
 which such have to contend are numerous and 
 diversified, and arise not un frequently from quar- 
 ters whence better things might have been ex- 
 pected, and ought to have been experienced. The 
 coldness and unkinduess of those who, on the 
 contrary, should have held up his hands, as Aaron 
 and Hur did those of Moses, the treachery of 
 false brethren, the instability and fickleness of 
 some who profess to be Christians, and the undis- 
 guised world liness, both in spirit and conduct, of 
 others; — these, in connexion with other painful 
 considerations with which he must expect to con- 
 tend, are, to the diligent and faithful minister, a 
 fruitful source of heartfelt sorrow and inconceiv- 
 able mental depression. But, of all the causes of 
 distress which agitate his bosom and disturb his 
 peace, none, perhaps, exceeds that occasioned by 
 a want of evidence of success in his efforts for 
 
220 JAIRUS; OR, THE 
 
 the conversion of sinners and the edification of 
 the body of Christ. And this frequently may be 
 the experience of those, especially, who are called 
 to sow the seed of eternal life over widely extend- 
 ed tracts of country, or whose spheres of exertion 
 comprise numerous and scattered populations. 
 Rendered unable by such circumstances either 
 himself to enjoy, or to impart to others, the be- 
 nefits arising from pastoral visits, a minister's 
 knowledge of his people must, of necessity, be 
 extremely limited ; and hence, much of the real 
 good resulting from the Divine blessing on his 
 instrumentality may never become known to him 
 on earth. 
 
 Such circumstances as those just alluded to are, 
 it is conceived, not unfrequent. Would that they 
 were! if indeed this petition can be offered in 
 consistency with ** Thy will be done." Devoted 
 men of God, however, amidst such delays and 
 apparent disappointments, should be encouraged 
 to persevering exertion in the faithful discharge of 
 their duty, toilsome and disheartening as it may 
 seem, from the consideration, to them justly war- 
 rantable, that the disclosures of eternity may 
 probably lay open before their astonished and 
 enraptured view, a rich harvest of souls given as 
 the reward of their labours, although, while they 
 were here, not a single solitary ear of precious 
 grain was visible. To such, especially, " the 
 Lord of the harvest" emphatically says, ** In the 
 morning sow thy seed, and in the evening with- 
 
HOME MISSIONARY. 221 
 
 hold not thy hand : for thou knowest not whether 
 shall jn'osper, either this or that, or whether they 
 both shall be alike good." And such may also, 
 without being chargeable with presumption, apply 
 to themselves the cheering language of the pro- 
 phet, ** Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall 
 I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my 
 God shall be my strength." 
 
 Jairus himself, by this very circumstance, was 
 induced to exclaim, "I have laboured in vain, I 
 have spent my strength for nought and in vain : " 
 and when just on the eve of abandoning his work, 
 and ignobly quitting the field of honourable ex- 
 ertion, a reviving evidence was vouchsafed to him 
 that his "work was with his God," and that He 
 truly declares, '* My word shall not return unto 
 me void, but it shall accomplish that which I 
 please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto 
 I sent it." 
 
 The inspiring sentiment of the Poet should ever 
 be the principle impelling the heralds of the 
 cross to devoted exertion, and by the firm per- 
 suasion of which they should, at the same time, 
 be supported amidst their diversified and cease- 
 less trials and cares. 
 
 " Thy power and saving truth to shew, 
 A warfare, at thy charge, I go! 
 
 Strong in the Lord and thy great miglit; 
 Gladly take np the iiallow'd cross, 
 And suffering all things for thy cause, 
 
 Beneath thy blood-stain'd banner fight. 
 " Let me to every creature cry. 
 The poor and rich, and low and high, 
 
 Believe, and feel thy sins forgiven! 
 
222 JAIRUS; OR, THE HOME MISSIONARY. 
 
 Damn'd, til) by Jesus sav'd thon art; 
 Till Jesus' blood hath wash'd thy heart, 
 Thou canst not find the gate of heaven. 
 
 " When I have liv'd to tliee ulone, 
 Pronounce the welcome word ' IVell done ! ' 
 
 And let me take my place above; 
 Enter into my Master's joy, 
 And all eternity employ 
 
 In praise, and extacy, and love." 
 
 Tw 0fw Ao^a. 
 
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