So far only, as we endure temptation, have we any evidence that we 'have been born of God."" Blessed, then, is the man that endureth temptation. He is happy while he endures, and thrice happy when conscious that the ordeal is past and his Christian character is maintained. It is thus he gathers strength for every earthly trial, and a perfect discipline for the heavenly reward. "Temptations and trials, without and within, From the pathway of virtue the spirit may lure; THE CONTACT WITH DOUBT. The faith of God's people has been variously tested during the history of the world. Every age has had its peculiar form of opposition, sometimes secret and insinuating, and sometimes open and violent, but always malevolent and destructive. Who can explain why this is so? Wherein has Christendom. ever held to a single tenet that was practically harmful? How, in these latter days especially, has it merited the savage stabs which the enemies of the Cross have so energetically given? Who is any worse for gospel preaching, earnest Christian praying, and sincere religious testifying? Because through serious thought and simple faith humble souls come to a spiritual apprehension of Christ as a personal Saviour, and a hearty embrace of the Bible as an expression of the will and mind of God, are these good reasons why skeptics should rave and rail, scoff and blaspheme? Shocking indeed is the malignity of such infidel zeal, especially in view of the fact that skeptical sentiments beget in men only feelings of selfishness, hatred, and despair. The eloquent Robert Hall when discoursing on the infidelity of his day was so deeply moved with astonishment at its impudence and vileness that he solemnly exclaimed, " Eternal God! on what are thine enemics intent? What are those enterprises of guilt and horror, that for the safety of their performers require to be enveloped in a darkness which the eye of Heaven must not pierce? Miserable men! Proud of being the offspring of chance-in love with universal disorder, whose happiness is involved in the belief of there being no witness to their designs, and who are at ease only because they suppose themselves inhabitants of a forsaken and fatherless world!” The very thought of infidelity's mad purpose and gloomy existence is enough to drive reasonable men away from it. Indeed, such has frequently been the case. Richard Cecil contemplated his own wretchedness of soul through unbelief, and was driven to the examination of the claims of religion to find a better hope. Soame Jenyns, a member of the English Parliament, could find no rest for his spirit, and was thus impelled to search the grounds of his infidelity. The result was that he discovered his error, believed in the Saviour of mankind, and wrote a book in defence of the gospel. The case of the Earl of Rochester is well known,-"a great wit, a great scholar, a great sinner, and a great penitent." "He had sunk and wallowed," says Rev. John Kennedy, "in the very slough of wickedness, but when he came to himself' he regarded himself as the greatest sinner the sun ever shone upon, and wished he had been a crawling leper in a ditch rather than have offended God as he had done. One day, at an atheistical mecting in the house of a person of quality,' he told a friend afterward, 'I undertook to manage the cause, and was the principal disputant against God and religion; and for my performances received the applause of the whole company. Upon this my mind was terribly struck, and I immediately replied thus to myself:-"Good God! that a man who walks upright, who sees the wonderful works of God, and has the use of his senses and reason, should use them to the defying of his Creator." But there was no genuine conversion till the fiftythird chapter of Isaiah was read to him, together with some other parts of sacred Scripture, when it pleased God to fill his mind with such peace and joy in believing, that it was remarkable to all about him. Afterward he frequently desired those who were with him to read the same chapter to him; upon which he used to enlarge in a very familiar and affectionate manner, applying the whole to his own humiliation and encouragement. "O blessed God,' he would say, can such a horrid creature as I am be accepted by thee, who have denied thy being and condemned thy power? Can there be mercy and pardon for me? conferred on me? Shall the unspeakable joys of heaven be O mighty Saviour, never but through thine infinite love and satisfaction! Oh, never but by the purchase of thy blood!' adding, that with all abhorrence he reflected upon his former life, that from his heart he repented of all that folly and madness of which he had been guilty." Contemplate the benign effects of religion upon character and life. Behold the transformations which Christianity has wrought. Look at Saul the bitter and bloody persecutor changed in an hour to Paul the humble preacher and defender of the faith. "Come into our assemblies," said the Christian fathers in answer to the infidel argument, "and see whence we came; how the old hate and savagery have died out of our lives. Come and see how we recognize as our neighbor any one that needs our aid; how we forgive our enemies and do good to our persecutors. Come and see whether the gospel has made transformations among us or not?" Infidels have only to lift up their eyes and see how the gospel takes depraved men and makes of them new creatures in Christ Jesus. The more candid among them have owned this fact to be a puzzle. Hume, the prince of skeptics, was constrained to confess, that there was one thing that he could not explain by his deistical philosophy, that was "a Christian life." Bunsen said to his English wife, when dying, "My dear, in thy face I have seen the Eternal." It was said of the saintly Fenelon that you could not be in his company two hours without wishing yourself a Christian. It is told of Bradlaugh, the English atheist, that one day while lecturing he became very bold and before sitting down, challenged discussion. Who should accept the challenge but an old, bent woman, in most antiquated attire, who went up to the lecturer and said: "Sir, I have a question to put to you." "Well, my good woman what is it?" "Ten years ago," she said, "I was left a widow with eight children utterly unprovided for, and nothing to call my own but this Bible. By its directions, and looking to God for strength, I have been enabled to feed myself and family. I am now tottering to the grave; but I am perfectly happy, because I look forward to a life of immortality with Jesus in heaven. That's what my religion |