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but believe in that Saviour! if I could but obtain His mercy!-but oh, how sinful, how unworthy am I!" "Talk not of worthiness," said the Christian minister; 66 no one of himself is worthy to obtain mercy and forgiveness; but it is written, When the wicked man turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.' 'If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins.""

"These are indeed comfortable words - they used to be familiar to me when a child; but I have long ceased to think of them."

"The more need is there that they should be brought back to your memory. Let me read some

more of God's gracious promises."

Mr. Morton then read from the Gospel of St. Luke the parable of the prodigal son and of the lost sheep, enforcing them on the mind of the patient by such comments as he judged suitable.

"And is God indeed so merciful?" said Lever, when the clergyman had ceased reading; "is He indeed so merciful as to receive back a sinner like me as soon as he will turn to Him?"

"Doubt not His mercy," said Mr. Morton ; "doubt not that, like the good father in the parable, He will come forth a great way with open arms to meet those who truly turn unto Him, even though they have squandered their baptismal inheritance. But let me not deceive you with the im

pression that repentance is nothing more than the mere calling on God for forgiveness. We may not limit God's mercy; neither may we speak of it as so readily obtained, that no pains or efforts are required on the sinner's part. Lying on the bed of sickness and in the fear of death, the humbled sinner anxiously catches at every ray of hope; and far be it from me to say that God's mercy has not accepted those who repent at the last, if they do in truth repent. But the test of true repentance is, if God should restore you to the world in strength and health much then there will be for you to do to shew that your repentance is real. If you have fallen far from grace, proportionably long and difficult may be the task of repentance, before God shall restore you to a holy frame. What we now must do, is to pray earnestly for the aid of His Spirit, without which we are as nothing."

Mr. Morton then knelt by the bedside of the sick man, and offered up prayers for God's merciful aid; in which Charles joined, as well as he was able after so long disuse. Alas, it is a hard thing for one who has ceased to pray, to begin again his unaccustomed duty. But God is merciful to the contrite sinner; He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.

Many visits did the wounded man receive from his excellent counsellor; and much comfort did he derive from conversing with his kind mother. So that, as his bodily health daily improved, his spi

ritual comfort increased; and his hope of mercy, and resolution to lead a new life, increased with it; though his spiritual advancement was not unaccompanied at times with dark thoughts and gloomy forebodings, such as those must expect who have wandered far in the ways of ungodliness.

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AFTER a while, Charles Lever was so far recovered as to leave his sick room, and mix with the good and hospitable family under whose roof the providence of God had brought him. He joined in their family prayers, and conversed often with his worthy host on religious subjects. Franklin was a true member of the Church of Christ; at the same time he was a real Bible Christian. If he had not been the one, he would not have been the other. He was one who walked calmly onward under the guidance of the Church. He loved her sacraments and ordinances, and reverenced her ministers; while he drew continually fresh streams of grace from the fountainhead, and daily read the holy Scriptures, as the standard of life and doctrine. And it was the har

mony and identity between the teaching of the one and the other, which gave him a sure confidence that he was walking in the right path.

Old John Lever often came to visit his son during his illness. John was an altered man; his spirit was subdued, and his pride and obstinacy of heart were broken by his misfortunes. The imminent danger and almost hopeless condition of his only son, whom, notwithstanding their differences, he still loved with a father's fondness; the disgrace which might have befallen him; the dreadful thought that, but for God's mercy, he might have suffered on the gallows with the rest of his companions, (and if such an event had happened, John Lever had just that sort of sensitive spirit that he would never have held up his head again,)-all these things weighed upon his mind; and sober reflection forced upon him the conviction, that he himself had been the principal cause of his son's disgrace and misfortunes; that the way in which he had trained his youth had, as a natural result, led to all the sad consequences which had followed. He called to mind how he had taken a pride in his son's cleverness, rather than his obedience; how he had taught him to cavil, rather than submit; and encouraged in him a proud, rebellious, self-willed spirit. He remembered well his son's declaration: "If you choose to leave the church, why may not I choose to leave the chapel?" The words recurred again and again to his mind, and he became conscious that his own example had been

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