s causeth us to
triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by
us in every place?_" II Cor. 2:14.

About this time, in one of his MSS., there occurs this sentence: "As I
was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost
overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven
or hell. Oh, how I wished that I had a tongue like thunder, that I
might make all hear; or that I had a frame like iron, that I might
visit every one, and say, 'Escape for thy life!' Ah, sinners! you
little know how I fear that you will lay the blame of your damnation
at my door."

He was never satisfied with his own attainments in holiness; he was
ever ready to learn, and quick to apply, any suggestion that might
tend to his greater usefulness. About this period he used to sing a
psalm or hymn every day after dinner. It was often, "The Lord's my
shepherd," etc.; or, "Oh may we stand before the Lamb!" etc. Sometimes
it was that hymn, _Oh for a closer walk with God!_ and sometimes the
psalm, "Oh that I like a dove had wings!" etc. A friend said of him.
"I have sometimes compared him to the silver and graceful ash, with
its pensile branches, and leaves of gentle green, reflecting gleams of
happy sunshine. The fall of its leaf, too, is like the fall of
his,--it is green to-night and gone to-morrow, it does not sere nor
wither."

An experienced servant of God has said, that, while popularity is a
snare that few are not caught by, a more subtle and dangerous snare is
to be _famed for holiness_. The fame of being a godly man is as great
a snare as the fame of being learned or eloquent. It is possible to
attend with scrupulous anxiety even to secret habits of devotion, in
order to get a name for holiness.[20] If any were exposed to this
snare in his day, Mr. M'Cheyne was the person. Yet nothing is more
certain than that, to the very last, he was ever discovering, and
successfully resisting, the deceitful tendencies of his own heart and
a tempting devil. Two things he seems never to have ceased from,--the
cultivation of personal holiness, and the most anxious efforts to save
souls.

[20] How true, yet awful, is the language of Dr Owen (quoted in
Bridges' _Christian Ministry_, p. 168), "He that would go down to
the pit in peace, let him obtain a great repute for religion; let
him preach and labour to make other better than he is himself, and
in the meantime neglect to humble hi