o awaken a soul. All who
find Christ for themselves are impelled, by the holy necessity of
constraining love, to seek the salvation of others. Andrew findeth his
brother Peter, and Philip findeth his friend Nathanael. So was it in
the case before us. He no sooner knew Christ's righteousness as his
own covering, than he longed to see others clothed in the same
spotless robe. And it is peculiarly interesting to read the feelings
of one who was yet to be blest in plucking so many brands from the
fire, when, for the first time, he saw the Lord graciously employing
him in this more than angelic work. We have his own testimony. "_Feb.
26._--After sermon. The precious tidings that a soul has been melted
down by the grace of the Saviour. How blessed an answer to prayer, if
it be really so! 'Can these dry bones live? Lord, Thou knowest.' What
a blessed thing it is to see the first grievings of the awakened
spirit, when it cries, 'I cannot see myself a sinner; I cannot pray,
for my vile heart wanders!' It has refreshed me more than a thousand
sermons. I know not how to thank and admire God sufficiently for this
incipient work. Lord, perfect that which Thou hast begun!" A few days
after: "Lord, I thank Thee that Thou hast shown me this marvellous
working, though I was but an adoring spectator rather than an
instrument."

It is scarcely less interesting, in the case of one so gifted for the
work of visiting the careless, and so singularly skilled in
ministering the word by the bedside of the dying, to find a record of
the occasion when the Lord led him forth to take his first survey of
this field of labor. There existed at that time, among some of the
students attending the Divinity Hall, a society, the sole object of
which was to stir up each other to set apart an hour or two every week
for visiting the careless and needy in the most neglected portions of
the town. Our rule was, not to subtract anything from our times of
study, but to devote to this work an occasional hour in the intervals
between different classes, or an hour that might otherwise have been
given to recreation. All of us felt the work to be trying to the flesh
at the outset; but none ever repented of persevering in it. One
Saturday forenoon, at the close of the usual prayer-meeting, which met
in Dr. Chalmers' vestry, we went up together to a district in the
Castle Hill. It was Robert's first near view of the heathenism of his
native city, and the effect was endur