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.60 THE EABNEST CHBIBTIAN AND. OOLDEN BULE.
BELIOIOUS EXPEBIENCE.
BY ISAAC N. EASTON.
IT has been eleven years the past
winter since I made my peace with
God, I was under the deepest convictions
for six weeks, untU I was enabled
to say.
Nay, bnt I yield, I yield,
I can hold oat no more.
The change was as great as the convictions
were deep, A victory had
been won for God, and all nature seemed
to participate. A lion had become
a lamiD; a sinner a child of God. Initead
of heaviness, darkness, and oppreslion,
light and joy prevaUed within
and without.
Then my Christian course began.—
Not a life of ease and self indulgence,
but rather the reverse. My first experience
was attended with few trials and
temptations. The Lord knew I was
young in the way, and covdd not stand
the trials of an old veteran. " Strong
meat belongeth to those of fiill age."—
Heb. V. 14. So.on ailer my conversion,
I attended Alfred University, N. Y.
Here I had an opportunity of letting my
light shine. This I did by talking with
my young associates, attending every
means of grace, and taking up the cross.
It was sometimes heavy, at other times
light and easy. These words came to
me often: "Grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the truth," My
faith being weak, He showed me my
duty very plain, and I began to have
severe trials and temptations. I thought
there must be something wrong, and
began to look about me.
I talked with those older in the way,
and found it to be the common lot of
all working Christians—trials and temptations
for hours, days, and perhaps
weeks, and then glorious blessings and
victories. Their experience encouraged
me to go on. And as I grow older, I
find it is a way of faith, and that he is a .
Father still, though he hides his face.
Now I submit my wiU to Him in aU
things, both spfritual and temporal.
Not without struggles. No! no! they
have been long and severe sometimes,
but at last faith would triumph. And
I can say:
" That in the darkest battle-fldd,
I have known where to strike."
A Hight Thought.
BY THE LATE MBS. JEVONS.
"Tea, thongh I walk through the valley of Uie
Shadow of Death, I wUlfear no evil, for Thon art
witii me."
IPsalm -TTHJ
Thon must go forth alone, my sonll
Tboa must go forth alone,—
To other scenes, to other worlds,
That mortal hatb not known.
Thou must go forth alone, my soal,
To tread the narrow vale;
But he, whose word is sure, hath said.
His comforts shall not fail.
Thou must go forth alone, my sool,
Along the darksome way ;
Where the bright sun has never shed
His warm and gla4some ray.
And yet the Sun of Righteousness
ShaU rise amidst the gloom.
And scatter from thy trembling gau,
The shadows of the tomb.
Thou must go forth alone, my soul!
To meet thy God above :
But shrink net—he has said, my sonl I
He is a God of love,
TTia rod and staff shall comfort thee
Across the dreary road.
Till thou shalt join the blessed ones.
In Heaven's serene abode.
ETEBNITY—Look backward, and time
was when souls were not; look forward,
and our souls shall be when time
shaUnotbe. Who wUl not deny himself
for a time that he may enjoy himself
forever? What is the world to them
that are in the grave, where our bodies
must shortly be ?
Resaember you are at the door of
eternity, and have other work to do
than trifle away time? those hours
which you spend in your closets, are
the golden spots of all your time ; and
will have the sweetest influence upon
your last hours. Our life is a passage
to eternity; it ought to be a medit»r
tion of eternity, and a preparation for
eternity.