Ar length the awakened soul, brought back by God's mercy from its mistaken course, pursues the right path, and reaches the Wicket-gate-that strait and narrow gate through which the path lies to Zion; and standing there, admission is sought. "Knock,

and it shall be opened to you," is the promise that encourages the eager applicant; and having knocked, and having found the portal open, the soul eagerly desires

an entrance.

And then it often occurs, that the point of mercy becomes the point of danger. By the entrance

but

through the Wicket-gate we understand the entrance to the way to Zion through Jesus Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life"-the only door into the sheepfold, and the open door which no man can shut. That door which is strait and narrow, which has yet power to admit every believing sinner, is wide open· and wide, ay, wider than the world. But that moment when the soul is about to yield itself up to Jesus Christ, is often a season of special danger. It is then [that Satan discerns his prey escaping from him, the spiritual fowler; it is then that the great despot of the world marks his slaves about to escape from his dominion, and to become the servants of One to whom he is opposed; it is then that he gathers all his resources, and directs the shafts of his artillery against that trembling penitent soul on the point of believing in Jesus. It is now a time which attracts the notice of all heaven. Those angels who desire to look into the things which pertain to man's salvation are watching that soul-watching in sympathy, watching in love, watching with earnest hopes that Satan will not gain an advantage over him.

If I speak to any soul at this especial stage of Christian experience, let me say, You are to expect this. You are to expect fiercer assaults from Satan. You are to expect new temptations to be crowding around your path. You are to expect Satan to make his most strenuous efforts to keep his prey from escaping from him. Is it likely that he would easily lose his grasp of your soul? Is it likely that he would easily part from you, who have for so many years been grinding in his dark prison-house, as his willing slave? Believe me, he will endeavour, earnestly endeavour, to keep you. He will try hard to retain you in his cursed bondage. He will seek more than ever he has sought the destruction of your soul. He knows that when once you are a believer in Christ he has lost you for ever. He is

aware that when once you have gone through that Wicket-gate he shall never be able to triumph in his assaults upon your heart; and therefore it is now that he makes that fierce and strenuous effort which has so appalled your mind, and produced such anxiety of spirit, as if it were some strange thing" that had happened to you.

66

But if you tremble as you think of this, oh! remember that there is One mightier than Satan-that He who stands at that Wicket-gate is able and willing to protect you. Only we say to you, Make haste to get through; "tarry not in all the plain;" linger not at that open door, lest Satan's darts reach you, and destroy your soul. Oh! make haste through; make haste to believe in Christ. "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." "Tarry not; " Satan tarries not. 66 Tarry not;" Satan is sending against you some new legions of his obedient spirits. "Tarry not ;" everlasting interests hinge upon this present moment. Ask God at once to give you grace and strength to enter the blessed portals, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the awakened soul is not quite willing to give up the thought of present comfort; and again the question is asked, "How shall I get rid of my burden ?" And the answer is given, Think no more of that burden; you will lose it at the appointed time, and in the proper manner; your business is to go on, to believe in Jesus Christ, and you will lose the sense of guilt when God pleases. There are many believers in Christ who are disappointed here. They thought that the moment they believed in Jesus there would be joy and gladness in their minds. That for ever and ever the darkness would flee away, and the bright noonday sun of the Gospel cast upon them its enlivening beams. It was to be all joy, all assurance, all triumph, all glory. But we are to remember, that, if we are believers in Christ, the thing is

done on which our salvation depends. If we are believers in Christ we shall get to heaven. And if we get to heaven it will matter little, when we reach that blessed place, whether we got there through doubts and fears, or through much joy, assurance, and triumph. In the account of Paul's shipwreck it is said, that the passengers escaped, "some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship"-there were various methods of reaching the shore, but all got safe to land. That was the great business; not how they reached the shore, not whether they reached it easily and pleasantly in a boat, or whether, clasping their arms round some floating piece of timber, they dashed rudely on the beach. They all got safe to land. And if you get safe to land, if you reach the blessed shores of that world above, it will matter not to you if it was "on broken pieces of the ship."

After this, the awakened soul will not need to inquire anything further about his burden of guilt.

I speak again to those who are setting out on the Christian pilgrimage. And again let me put the question to you, Are your convictions of sin thorough and deep? Have you realized what it is to be a sinner? Oh! I beseech you, do not content yourselves with mere impulses. Do not lay down this magazine, and think, that because the reading has awakened some feeling you are therefore a Christian-that you are going safely on the way to heaven, and that all is done. Oh! it were easy to make an impression in a natural way upon the conscience. Any one who understands the mind, who knows how the emotions are awakened, and can present his appeals in a forcible manner, can do this. It is not difficult for those who understand the constitution of man's soul to arouse emotions which may be mistaken for religious principle.

Reader, who are now anxious about your soul, I repeat it, Are your convictions of sin thorough and deep? Is it from a realization of sin that you are

coming to be saved? Or is it from some vague notions of heaven as a happy place? Or is it because every human being desires to be happy that you express a desire to be a Christian? Oh! beware of that mistaken susceptibility-of supposing that because you are capable of strong impulses a moral change has been wrought in your minds, and you are now new creatures in Christ Jesus." Remember that your great duty is to believe in Christ. Nothing else will do. Convictions will not do. Obedience will not do. Endeavours to keep God's law, however earnest and sincere they may be, will not do. Nothing will do, until this one thing is done—the duty of believing in Christ.

Hast thou faith in Christ? Hast thou, O consciencestricken, awakened sinner, "taken hold of that hope set before thee in the Gospel"? Hast thou gone, just as thou art, with thy burden of guilt, with thy apprehensions, with thy trembling, with thy doubts, and taken hold of God's strength, by believing in His Son ? Hast thou given the credence of thine heart to the record contained in God's Word-that record which assures us that "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son," so that "whosoever believeth in Him hath everlasting life"? Dost thou believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Oh! believer you who know something of Jesus Christ, something of his power to save, something of his power to soothe an awakened conscience, something of the preciousness of his blood, something of the vigour of faith, something of the realization of those "things which are not seen' " and "eternal;" I beseech you, when you deal with awakened sinners, do not think it your duty to comfort them in their spiritual distress. You may be the means of much mischief. You may lead the soul far astray by your endeavours to minister to its peace. Are they distressed? Fear not to deepen that distress. Are they in anguish ? Fear not