_the
strangers_ about eternal things. Perhaps God has brought you together
just to save that soul." And then he refers to some instances which
occurred to himself, in which God seemed to honor a word spoken in
this incidental way.

In this spirit he was enabled for nearly three years to give his
strength to his Master's service. Sickness sometimes laid him aside,
and taught him what he had to suffer; but he rose from it to go forth
again to his joyful labors. Often, after a toilsome day, there were
inquirers waiting for him, so that he had to begin work afresh in a
new form. But this was his delight; it was a kind of interruption
which he allowed even on a Saturday, in the midst of his studies. He
was led to resolve not to postpone any inquirers till a future time,
by finding that having done so on one occasion at a pressing moment,
the individuals never returned; and so alive was he to the
responsibilities of his office, that he ever after feared to lose such
an opportunity of speaking with souls at a time when they were aroused
to concern. Busy one evening with some extra-parochial work, he was
asked if any person should be admitted to see him that night.
"Surely--what do we live for?" was his immediate reply. It was his
manner, too, on a Saturday afternoon, to visit one or two of his sick
who seemed near the point of death, with the view of being thus
stirred up to a more direct application of the truth to his flock on
the morrow, as dying men on the edge of eternity.

We have already observed that in his doctrine there was nothing that
differed from the views of truth laid down in the standards of our
church. He saw no inconsistency in preaching an electing God, who
"calleth whom He will," and a salvation free to "whosoever will;" nor
in declaring the absolute sovereignty of God, and yet the unimpaired
responsibility of man. He preached Christ as a gift laid down by the
Father for every sinner freely to take. In the beginning of his
ministry, as he preached the fulness of the glad tidings, and urged on
his people that there was enough in the glad tidings to bring direct
and immediate assurance to every one who really believed them, some of
his flock were startled. For he ever preached, that, while it is true
that there are believers, like Heman or Asaph, who do not enjoy full
assurance of the love of God, yet certainly no true believer should
remain satisfied in the absence of this blessed peace. Not a few had
hi