for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

eth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us."

But perhaps you are ready to doubt the certainty of the Divine promise; perhaps you are unable to overcome the obstinacy of infidelity in your hearts; or, it may be, the very extraordinary nature of the blessings conferred, the consciousness of your own unworthiness and meanness, compared with the awful majesty and purity of Almighty God, are ready to startle you, and to counteract all the evidence upon which your hope is founded. Surely, my brethren, such doubts are unreasonable; surely the mere promise of a God who cannot lie, ought, in all reason, to bear down every doubt or suspicion which it is possible can enter the mind: and yet your gracious Father hath condescended even to that case. He hath not contented himself with a simple promise, however just a foundation that might be for the most unreserved confidence ; but willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, he hath confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, ye might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you."

But, had our blessed Lord remained under the power of death, his death would have profited us nothing. We should, in that case, have had no ground to depend upon him as our Saviour. He himself had foretold that he should rise again; if, therefore, he had not fulfilled his promise, "our faith had been vain, we had been yet in our sins." Besides, many parts of his office, as Mediator, remained to be executed after his resurrection. His death was not more necessary to atone for our sins, than his resurrection to apply the redemption he had purchased to the souls of his people; and blessed be his name, "as he died for our sins, so he rose again for our justification." He hath not only begun, but completed, the work of redemption. He hath thus given us complete evidence, that he was indeed sent of God-the "Messiah promised to the fathers." "He hath ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, receiving gifts for men, even for the rebellious and disobedient, that the Lord God might dwell amongst them." Now are we encouraged to believe that our Redeemer is able to fulfil all the gracious promises he hath made us in his Word. "It hath pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." "He hath put all things under And now, my brethren, what farther security his feet, and given him to be Head over all things can you demand, than that which God hath given to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of you? Is not your redemption already purchased? him that filleth all in all." "From whom thewhat remains for you, but to stretch forth your whole body, fitly joined together and compacted, by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love."

hand to receive it? Pretend not to excuse your-
selves, by saying that you are sinners. That is
just the reason which should induce you to come
to Christ, who died that he might save sinners.
"The whole," saith he, “have no need of the
physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Accordingly, his gracious invitation is free and
unlimited. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money,
come, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price."
"The Spirit
and the Bride say, Come. And let him that is
athirst, come; and whosoever will, let him come,
and take the water of life freely." Nay, for
your further encouragement, he hath sometimes
chosen the very chief of sinners as monuments of
his grace, that none may give way to despair. An
idolatrous Manasseh, an adulterous Mary Mag-
dalene, and a persecuting Paul, have all been made
partakers of that grace which they had either de-
spised or persecuted.

Behold, then, my brethren, the stability of tnat foundation on which your faith and hope are built. Although you have destroyed yourselves, yet in God is your help. Those very attributes of the Divine nature from which you could expect the least, those very attributes of the Divine nature which seemed to threaten wrath and destruction, are to you the foundation of peace and salvation. "If any man sin, he hath an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;" an Advocate, not an humble petitioner for mercy, but one who can demand the salvation of his people as matter of right-one who hath all the pleas of law and justice to support his claim-one who can demand it as the just recompense of his own obedience and suffering. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit; for But, you will say, how can I come to Christ? the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath I feel no spiritual desires after him, my heart is made me free from the law of sin and death. For averse from him, and he himself hath said, "No what the law could not do, in that it was weak man cometh unto me, except the Father, which through the flesh, God sending his own Son in hath sent me, draw him." True, my brethren, the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, hath con- but is not the Father, as well as the Son, willing demned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of to receive you? Hath he not given you the prothe law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not mise of his Spirit, to "help your infirmities, and after the flesh, but after the Spirit." For "who to make intercession for you with groanings which shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? cannot be uttered." Nay, if your convictions be It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemn-real, they can proceed only from himself; and

therefore, they are a token to you for good; and | you may rest assured, that He who hath begun a good work in you, will not leave it unfinished, but will carry it forward unto the day of Jesus Christ.

And now, my brethren, let me beseech those who have accepted the grace of the Gospel, to consider the obligations they are under to "walk worthy of the high vocation wherewith they are called, and to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour," by holy lives and conversations. "Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid." Yea, we establish the law." The grace of God, manifested in the Gospel, is founded upon the supposition, that the "law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Far, therefore, from weakening our obligations to obey, it sets them in a new and more striking light. It "teacheth us, that, denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, even our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

66

"As, therefore, we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so let us walk in him,”—in a dependence upon his grace, and in a conformity to his example; for the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his; and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

THE REV. HENRY MÖWES,

LATE PASTOR OF ALTENHAUSEN AND IVENRODE, PRUSSIA.

BY THE EDITOR.
PART III.

66

In the mysterious arrangements of an all-wise and over-
ruling Providence, Möwes was now thrown, with his
wife and family, upon the wide world, without the
means of earning a livelihood. Weak in body, and
poor in this world's goods, he was nevertheless rich in
faith, and an heir of the kingdom.
Life is a school,"
he wrote in a letter to a friend; "sacrifice and self-
renunciation are the lessons the Master appoints; in-
ward strength and tranquillity, the rewards which we
shall receive when all is borne." Under the influence
of reflections such as these, the afflicted saint maintained
an unruffled serenity amid the numerous trials to which
he was subjected. Not a day passed, at this period of
his life, without severe bodily suffering, and his consti-
tution was now reduced to a very low state. His per-
sonal distresses, however, did not engross his whole
mind; he often thought of his beloved flock, from whom
he was now separated, and he took a lively interest in
all that concerned them.

ever, were fruitless. Often were his hopes raised, and as often were they doomed to terminate in bitter disappointment. He made application to Government, and to prepare himself for some public situation, he obtained employment, though without remuneration, in the office of one of the Government secretaries. But his heart was in his divine Master's work; he embraced every occasion, therefore, of spreading around him the savour of his Redeemer's name, holding forth the word of life by his whole conversation and conduct. At this time he contemplated publishing a volume of sermons on the Epistles, but this project was never accomplished. He became an active member of a theological society which was formed in Magdeburg; and he entered warmly into the business of the society which had been established in the town, in aid of foreign missions. In the social intercourse of private society Möwes remarkably excelled. The ease, the gracefulness, the rich piety of his conversation, endeared him to a large circle of friends, in whose hearts his memory is still embalmed. Nor was he an inattentive spectator of the political movements of the times. Early in 1831 he composed two lyrics, entitled, "The Songs of the Prussian,”which were received and sung by his countrymen with great enthusiasm. These songs were composed under much pain and prostration of strength, but he looked forward to the spring, hoping that his strength would A journey to

To

revive as the weather became milder.
some distance was recommended; and in passing, he
spent a day in Altenhausen, where he visited some of
his friends and former parishioners; enjoying, in their
society, a pleasure which refreshed his drooping spirits.
He returned home to Magdeburg, however, without
any material improvement in his health, and in June
the most alarming symptoms began to appear.
wards autumn he rallied again. "I called from the
deep," he says, in a letter dated 14th September, "God
from above raised the sinking vessel, but otherwise
than I had thought; when it was weak, then it was
strengthened again; it had been almost stranded, but
it now once more floated, and was borne onward, though
slowly and wearily, over the sea of life."

The partial recovery to which the good man here adverts was but of short duration; it was only the gleam of sunshine which oft precedes the gathering storm. In October we find him once more at the gates of death. "His agony is great, very great," writes a friend; "yet is his couch of sickness a speaking witness that Christ has taken away the power of death." He was much reduced, by a serious expectoration of blood; and yet, in this season of suffering he composed two of nis sweetest little hymns. The struggles of this trying period he thus describes, in a letter to a friend :-

"It was not a short, passing conflict between life and death, but a whole week, during which death tried all his power on me. He came in a fearful form to my couch, and caused a scene of horrors to pass before the eyes of my beloved friends. He had long before lost the sting which he naturally has, through Him who has given us the victory; and when his power is at the highest, secure under the banner of Him who rose But again on the third day, I laugh at all he can do. this time he attacked me with another sting, to prove

While residing in Magdeburg, thus shut out from every opportunity of serving God in the Gospel of his Son, he made frequent exertions to procure a situation of my faith and truth; with wild and fearful sufferings, more intense and prolonged than I had before known. some kind or other, which might be the means of sup- It was only an introduction to the events of the coming porting himself and his family. His endeavours, how-week, that after a quiet night, on the Sabbath of the

The year 1833 opened somewhat favourably upon the distressed Möwes. But in the end of April he was seized with so severe an attack of spitting of blood, that his friends stood round his bed waiting for his apparently approaching dissolution. He himself thought that his end was near, and he arranged his temporal affairs, and took leave of his family, committing them to the care of the Almighty. The danger, however, passed away, and the good man was again raised from the bed of apparent death to the enjoyment of tolerable health. Expectations were still entertained by his family, that after recovering from such a severe shock he might yet be spared many days. Every day he increased in strength, and, indeed, he felt himself better than he had ever been since the commencement of his illness. He resumed his studies with vigour. On three successive Sabbaths he preached without sustaining any injury from the exertion. He indulged the hope that he might yet be able to resume the office of a pastor, in which he so much delighted. Nay, so steadily did he advance in increased vigour that he took steps for recovering the clerical office. On Christmas he was able to officiate in public, and after the festival his former friend and patron, the Count of Altenhausen unexpectedly entered the apartment, announcing that, by the determination of his majesty's cabinet he would speedily be reinstated in the pastoral office. The intelligence rejoiced the good man's heart and the hearts of all his friends.

harvest thanksgiving, while I was dressing, in order, if | several returns of expectoration of blood, which weakpossible, to go to church, I felt the still approach of a ened him much. He seemed destined to be throughout fearful time-the last solemn hour of existence, as I a child of suffering, and through much tribulation to thought. I feared I should scarcely have time to call my wife, to fall into her arms, and commend my spirit enter the kingdom of God. into the hand of my Father in heaven. She came, and another came; they had before them a dying man, from whom life was retreating, and who could only console them with the words of the Lord, I am the resurrection and the life.' But no! contrary to all expectation, he who was weakened to death was raised again, but raised to unimagined conflict. I go over this period with trembling-may you never know it in your own history-but by God's merciful help I have lived through it, and my soul, thereby refined, has, I hope, come out without loss. My spirit wrestled with all her strength to be free from the torturing body, and her prayers pierced through the clouds, even to the throne of God, to obtain the command for departure. I took leave of all: in comparatively calm hours, I arranged my little affairs: I was so happy, with my beloved wife on Saturday evening, to take the holy sacrament, in festal garments, the priestly dress, though, before the hour came, my eyes threatened every moment to close. I, however, lived to see the Sabbath, when A, one of the preachers at the cathedral, from whom I had the evening before received the sacrament, a man full of evangelic faith, and a powerful preacher of the old genuine truth as contained in the Scriptures, made known my situation in public. Many friends in consequence assembled round my bed after the service, and they can bear a joyful testimony to the power of the Prince of Life, to the life that he gives, and the strength he imparts. After this period of suffering and labour, after these festive and joyful hours, I became better. God helped me, not as I expected, but as he would; helped me to earthly life, alleviated my pain, and at last removed it; gave me rest, and so far weakened my disease, that after the crisis it became really less, and had more appearance of being ultimately eradicated than it had for weeks and months previously; so that, if I am not mistaken, a real and visible step towards probable recovery is made."

After the severe attack which he so graphically and affectingly paints, Möwes enjoyed for some time comparative ease. His health visibly improved, and he was so free from pain, as to employ himself in composing "The Pastor of Andouse," the work by which he is chiefly known. This beautifully written religious tale was published in 1832, and very favourably received by the public. It is intended to exhibit the contrast between the Christian and the worldling in an hour of trial and sore persecution; and the scene is laid in France, at the period when Louis XIV. began to extirpate the Huguenots from his dominions.

In the course of the winter of 1831 and the spring of 1832, Möwes seemed to improve in health, and his friends began to entertain hopes of his recovery. Unexpected circumstances led him, in the month of July, to leave Magdeburg and return to Altenhausen, the scene of his former labours, and where he hoped to close his days. Here he employed himself for a time in deep research, with the view of commencing another tale, under the title of " Magdeburg under the Ban of the Empire, 1552." To this work, in addition to his other theological and literary pursuits, he devoted much of his time. Occasionally also, when his strength permitted, he officiated for his successor in the pulpit of Altenhausen. Thus time passed pleasantly, and not without profitable employment. But he was never altogether free from pain. He had

Such were the cheering prospects with which Möwes entered upon the year 1834. He applied for the vacant parish of Weferlingen, but was disappointed. The military chaplain at Berlin received the benefice, and Möwes turned his eyes towards the chaplaincy which was thus rendered vacant. The most sanguine expectations were entertained by his friends that this application would be successful; but, alas! how uncertain are all the hopes of man!—while waiting in anxious suspense for the result of his suit, he was again seized with a severe attack of his former complaint. His distress, both of mind and body, was severe and overwhelming. His friends anxiously watched by the bedside, and ever and anon, to comfort them, the patient sufferer would repeat some consolatory passage of sacred Scripture. Thus, from Luther's version he would repeat the promise, "Out of six troubles I have saved thee, and in the seventh shall no evil befall thee;" adding, "He has said it to me who is the TRUE-six great troubles have passed over me, this is the last, then comes life." His feelings, on being brought out of this fiery furnace, may be learned from the following letter, dated 11th July:

"DEAREST FRIEND !-Pray only with me, that God, if he will let me continue longer here, may at last find me worthy to be released from the fiery ordeal which I have undergone so long, and which during these last months has glowed with such intensity. I pray, pray constantly; I have done so for years; morning and evening, and often during the day, I turn my eyes filled with burning tears to heaven, but the chain that irritates my wounds, and bows me down, falls not off. But I cease not to pray, and my last breath shall offer

me.

the prayer,
'Deliver me from evil.' Pray, then, with
You will conclude, from what has been acciden-
tally written, how it is with my health. It has been
better for a fortnight. I have risen from the depth
into which my God had allowed me to sink, to show
Satan and his legion whether, in extreme and long-
continued need, I would leave my Rock and throw
away my confidence, and after advancing some steps
towards heaven, fall back again into despair. You
know I have been led through many a dark valley, but
the last was horrible as none before had been. Other
men have often found something great in meeting the
face of death in full consciousness, in speaking of it
with tranquillity, and in greeting it with a serene coun-
tenance. Ah! this is easy for him who stands in the
faith of the Son of God. A much more difficult pro-
blem, a much stronger trial, dearest A, has just
been mine. I can only say thus much in writing. In
the dark valley through which I had then to pass,
death was the radiating point of light; in my readiness
to give my hand to this messenger in God's name from
the other world, to follow him was something little,
less than little. It is possible that my God, after I have
tasted the dregs of such a cup, may mercifully remit it
for the future. I have endured, and under the bitterest

It

which he commended his soul into the hands of his Redeemer; nor the ardency with which he prayed for his wife and children, that the Almighty would prove himself "the Father of the fatherless," and "the widow's Judge." The service was refreshing to his heart, and he called upon those around him to lose no time in closing with Christ, as "all their salvation, and all their desire." He lived for a few days longer. In the meantime, official information arrived, that his Majesty had directed that Henry Möwes should either be appointed to the military chaplaincy at Berlin, or if he preferred it, to the parish of Bahrendorf. The dying saint received the intelligence with undisturbed tranquillity. "To Bahrendorf, then, or to my grave," was his calm reply. He gradually sunk, and as life ebbed, the feeble cry would be heard from his distressed soul, My much-loved Lord, come !-wilt thou not come?" "My God, let it be the last time." The features now shrunk, the countenance assumed a ghastly paleness, the lips were livid, and the once bright eyes had lost their lustre; all betokening that the hour of death had come. The relatives stood around his bed, and, as he had for

requested, they engaged in singing his favourite hymn, "Christ is my life." His wife then read the hymn commencing, "There is a peace at hand." The pastor, who had faithfully attended him in his last hours, now engaged in prayer. Möwes was evidently sensible to all that was passing. He survived for some 'Dear Möwes," hours, but lay almost motionless. asked the pastor, "is our Saviour and God still your rod and staff in the valley of the shadow of death?" The expiring saint turned his head towards the inquirer, and This was feebly pressed his hand, in token of assent. his last effort, and in a few minutes his spirit took its flight to the mansions of the blessed.

agony my soul has not taken her eye off Him who pre-merly
sented the cup to her :-but I shudder to look back."
At this time Möwes composed a beautiful lyric, en-
titled, A Glance out of the Fiery Trial." This was
the last piece which came from his pen. The respite
which he enjoyed from suffering was brief; before the
end of April, he was again seized with expectoration of
blood, which continued, with very little intermission,
for a whole week. Although much reduced by this
severe attack, he rallied, and was able in August to pay
a visit to Magdeburg, where his strength rapidly in-
creased; and he was so much encouraged by his sen-
sibly returning strength, that he made application for
the parish of Bahrendorf, which was then vacant.
pleased the Almighty, however, to cast him once more
into the furnace of affliction; the bleeding returned
during the second week of his stay at Magdeburg, and
with such alarming symptoms, that he sent in haste for
his beloved wife. On receiving the melancholy tidings
she set out in haste, and on entering the room where
he lay, tears of joy flowed down his cheeks, and he
could only say, "Now I shall never again be separated
from you, my dear wife-never till death." They
returned without delay to Altenhausen. He became
gradually more and more enfeebled; still he was full
of holy resignation. “To die," he would exclaim, "is
heavy, but yet death is beautiful." He was not alto-
gether free from the suggestions of the Tempter, as he
lay on his bed of death; but he was enabled to over-
come, not in his own strength, but in the strength of
his Lord and Master.

Occasionally, as his end drew near, the hopes of his friends were raised by alleviations of his disease. These, however, were but the faint flickerings of the lamp of life, as it was about to expire. At length, after frequent alternations of hope and fear, he felt that he was about to encounter the last enemy. His friend, the pastor of Altenhausen, was suddenly sent for. The dying man wished to partake of the Lord's Supper. It was administered to him with great solemnity, in the presence of his afflicted wife and family. The prayer which the good man offered up, when on the brink of eternity, will never be forgotten by those who were present, -the unction, the fervour, the holy earnestness with

...

"The

Thus died, on the 13th October 1834, the truly holy and devoted Möwes. His remains were followed to the grave by many of his former parishioners, who still remembered the piety and apostolic zeal of their afflicted pastor. In less than a year after his decease, his eldest surviving daughter, Mary, was summoned from this vale of tears. After only three days' illness, she was cut down in the flower of her youth. Nor were her last hours without pleasing tokens that she had experienced the truth of the Divine declaration, promise is to you, and to your seed after you." She had, no doubt, been the child of many prayers, and these prayers were answered after he who offered them was gathered to his fathers. "Ah, I would go to my father," she exclaimed, during her brief but severe illness; "it must be lovely to be with the dear Saviour; but yet I am much too sinful: were I fit to be there, He would call me." And as the hour of her death drew near, she said, "Dear mother, I yet believe I shall go to my father; and though I have done much that is wrong, God will yet show me mercy; and I do so love Him!'

Surely, of all true believers, it may well be said, "Better," a thousand-fold "better, is the day of their death than the day of their birth." To them death is no longer the king of terrors; it is the messenger of peace. See then, O Christian, your high privilege; even "death is yours." He is not a conquering, but a conquered, foe; and as you grapple with him, let the O Death, where is thy triumphant song be yours, sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? The sting of