which was ever uppermost in his mind, viz. the return of his master. 'To-day, nephew,' he said, 'I hope that you will commence that work for which you have been called to this blessed service. We are as it were waiting for the coming of the best of Masters,' and if we are here long enough we shall assuredly have the pleasure not only of witnessing his approach, which will, as his letters assure me, be such a sight as never yet blessed the eyes of man: or in case that we are not permitted to remain here till that period, we shall be allowed to make a part of his glorious train, when he comes to take possession of his own, so that, turn the matter which way you please, nephew, we are to be the gainers by his coming, and to be the partakers of his triumph over that enemy who has lorded it so long over his inheritance.'

2

Here I interrupted my uncle, to ask what he meant by that expression which he had used, to wit, if we are not permitted to remain here.

1 "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. i. 4-7.

2 "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. iv. 16-18.

2

Nephew,' he replied, you must understand that the servants of this house, and the tenants of this estate are often changed. The master calling one another from time to time into his presence in some place far distant, where he keeps his court, but of which we,' continued my uncle, have but little account, inasmuch as none of those who have visited it have ever returned to give us the description of it. Yet we are assured by my master's letters that they who love him are there entertained in a very agreeable manner; although no such hopes are held out for those servants who have been unfaithful. But whilst we feel that perfect assurance that our master (who as I have often before said is one of ten thousand) being altogether without fault, will assuredly provide for those whom he hath loved and redeemed from the slavery to which his enemy had subjected them, yet we have many fears, (and those well-grounded,) for the case of such as have refused his service. But nephew, to return to that from which I set out, and that is your peculiar case, which I desire especially to explain to

1 "As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." Job vii. 9, 10.

2 "And if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." Eccles. xi. 3.

3 "The Lamb without blemish, and without spot." 1 Peter i. 19.

you, and that more largely than I could by letter, You were a wanderer in a strange land, hungry and clothed in rags, when the call came to you through my instrumentality, but through the suggestion of the Lord, to turn your steps hitherward; not that you were accounted worthier than others, for truly, nephew, there is no good in you, nor excellency of any kind to render you acceptable in the sight of our master; nevertheless it has pleased him to call you, and thus to reveal his love to you; and be it remembered by you, that the master who thus exhibited his love for you in your filthy1 and destitute situation, will never forsake you, for he is a man of his word, and he is able to do all which he purposes; and now, even now, at this time, you may be assured that he will preserve you, promote you, and raise you from the dunghill, to a place of high honour in his service, and all independent of any desert of your own, as I before said. Nevertheless the love which he has testified towards you will have a constraining power upon you, and will compel you to do his work; and what is his work which he has given you to do, but to copy the letters

2

1 "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Rom. v. 10.

2 "For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor.

which he has sent us, and to disperse them amongst his servants? This has been the work for which he has employed these feeble hands; and I have found such delight in the employment, that I may truly say it brings its reward with it.' The good man then took down the volume which I had seen in his hand the evening before, and having given me a desk with the implements for writing, he appointed me my work. As soon as we were refreshed, and being himself set in his place, the windows being open to admit the air, we pursued our work in a stillness, which was most pleasing to me, who had experienced much fatigue from the labour and turmoil of a long and wearisome journey. But before I began to write, I turned over the letters, and examined their contents. Their subjects were various; they contained the account, first, of our master's title to the estate, of the establishments of the people therein, and of the beauty of its first condition, when it was a garden planted by a divine hand,3-then of the rebellion of the people, who being desirous to become their own masters, fell under the thraldom of their Lord's enemy, the consequence of which every one must feel. Then these letters spoke

"Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works." Eccles. ix. 7. 2 "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever." Isaiah xxxii. 17. 3 Genesis ii.

See the fall of man, as related in Gen. iii.

of a visit made by the master to this place with the purport of reclaiming his servants from the enemy to whom they had sold themselves, with a long and most distressing account of the manner in which these unfaithful ones had rejected him, driving him from them with every species of contumely; and finally it contained multitudes of promises of his second coming to establish his rights, and to exterminate the enemy.

But, as I perused these letters rapidly, I could not be said to comprehend them in any other way than extremely imperfectly; however, I consoled myself by thinking that this knowledge would come in its course, not knowing that it never could be obtained by human reason.2

And thus the forenoon wore away, when suddenly we heard a tapping at the door, and my uncle crying, 'If you come in the master's name, walk in,' who should enter but the doctor, who, stepping forward with much politeness, said that he was come to pay his respects to me, having been apprized of my arrival.

'My nephew is obliged to you,' replied my uncle, taking the word out of my mouth, and at the same time directing me to set a chair for the visitor.

Isaiah liii.

2 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. ii. 14.

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