you to lay little stress upon this sort of testimony. Even the opinion of Mr. C—, who has had so little power of knowing you, is quite insufficient to determine the all-important question. A heart-searching, prayerful examination of principle and motive with such texts as Matt. v. 3-10, 2 Cor. v. 17, 1 John ii. 15-17, 1 John iii. 1-3, before you, may, through the teaching of the Divine Spirit, guide you to a true and upright conclusion.

The Lord, who tries my heart and every thought, knows with what joy of soul, with what real gladness of spirit, I should behold you a faithful, devoted servant of Jesus Christ,—a minister of His Gospel, with a single eye to His glory, and the good of perishing sinners. Nor would the feeling that you are in a position from which, with the most deliberate conviction of conscience, I have retired—I mean the ministry of the Establishment-destroy the reality of this joy. On this last point you must decide, as I hope I decided before you, as unto God, not as unto men. But with regard to the office itself of a minister of Jesus Christ, therein, my beloved J, I most tenderly, affectionately, but awfully charge you, as before that God in whose presence we must so shortly appear, that you narrowly, closely, and with much fear of self-deception, search, with fervent prayer for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, your motives, your spirit, your principles, in the step which you are about to take. Unless you have the clear, the decisive, the unflinching testimony of upright conscience, let nothing, let no inducement, let no motive, no covert argument, induce you to take it. Welcome poverty, welcome the mean estimation of the world, welcome the awkwardness of having no professional position in society, welcome all the supposed and imaginary, all the real and substantial, inconveniences of such a condition, rather than make one sacrifice of honest, upright conscience before God. But if consciencetender, spiritually-enlightened, scripturally-informed conscience -give a fair and honest testimony, that you are indeed called of the Holy Ghost to this high and holy, to this honourable and blessed office, then may God bless you therein, as He surely then will, and only then. What inward experience you have of that inward change of heart, that renovation of nature, that heavenly

birth, without which no man can see God, is a thing most essentially needful to you as a man, but to you as a minister it is of the most fearful importance. It involves you in a tenfold, a hundredfold responsibility, not only as it regards your own salvation, but that of, it may be, thousands of others, and that to all eternity. When you have given this note a deep and prayerful deliberation, write to, my beloved J

Your ever affectionate Father and Friend,

J. H. EVANS.

TO HIS DAUGHTER IN INDIA.

Leamington, Warwickshire, August 30, 1841.

even in the Do not you

more than I

MY BELOVED C———,—Here we, that is your dear mother and myself, have been since Friday week, thinking of leaving on Friday next, which will complete our fortnight. Our chief object in coming here was the having a little change for us both, and we really needed it, and the enjoying the society of dear O. W.; and we have great cause to be thankful we have enjoyed ourselves very much indeed. The spirituality of his mind I find to be a real blessing. He is the means of endearing Jesus to me, of stirring me up, of taking me out of that dulness of religious routine into which one is so prone to fall, things which are in themselves lawful and right. find a great danger of this? I am sure that I do, can well express. Anything, therefore, any one that, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, is made the instrument of quickening, leading to a perception, an increasing perception, of the vitality of real, spiritual, experimental religion, can hardly be prized too highly. It is on this account that I have found association with dear Miss P., R. C., the late Mr. Turquand, and above all others, Mr. Adams, so very precious to me. Your beloved mamma ever found this in a very especial degree the case with the last of these, and so have I. Dear man, he has been of late preaching for me two Tuesdays and one Lord's-day, and I heard him each time, leaving Taplow on the Saturday for that object, and a great channel of blessing I found him to my soul, as much as ever. So that you perceive I have of late been

highly favoured, while you, dear creature, are in Upper Assam ; no minister, no Christian association out of your own dear husband, nothing to stir up, nothing to quicken, nothing to lead you. But what am I writing? You have a throne of grace, you have a God of grace, a kind, gracious, and all-sufficient Saviour, a faithful Comforter, Reprover, and Teacher; you have a covenant of grace ordered in all things and sure; you have the precious word of truth; you have an enlightened conscience, a new heart; you have a sense of pardoning forgiving love, sometimes the sweet sense of your acceptance, making every bitter thing sweet, the cry of Abba, Father, that reaches a Father's heart; and, with all this, a dear, kind, and faithful husband, and such a little J, and perhaps by this time another young immortal, the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. You are in the very place assigned you by infinite wisdom, tenderness, and love; in the very place which we should all have chosen for you, did we see the end and issue as He sees it. Ah, what poor, ignorant, self-sufficient creatures we are. One moment confessing, and to a degree feeling, our nothingness, seeing the blunders which we have committed, the mistakes into which we have fallen, the false conclusions which we have formed, and yet, notwithstanding all this, how prone we are to decide upon things manifestly out of our reach, and quite beyond the grasp of our puny minds. It would give us but little trouble to move a pawn across the chess-board, how much less would it take the Infinite to move you both from Assam, and bring you with all the rapidity of this letter from the Burrampoota to the Thames. But till He sees it good, it must not be. Ah, happiness is of too costly a character to be made up of such materials as place, friends, and outward circumstances. It lies within, and is found in God, in communion with Him, delight in Him, submission to Him, even our God and Father in Christ Jesus.

Be not surprised that your view of God as your own Father in Christ should be sometimes darkened. I can feelingly sympathize with you in the trial. As a trial, it is incomparably the greatest, or one of the greatest upon earth. Whenever you

find this to be the case, or beginning to be the case, look well to it, break off all engagements as far as may be, for secret meditation, prayerful examination, and real communication with God. Every hour's neglect of this serves only to increase the evil. Would that I had always considered this, and what is far more, acted upon it. At first the return is comparatively easy, at least so I find it. But neglect it, and it is like the descending stone, as the fall is more rapid, the resistance which it occasions is the greater. A few minutes to-day may, through grace, be more effectual than hours next week. Dear C

sometimes spends the night in prayer. Religion, my love, is a business. It is the business of life. I find myself too often regarding it as a thing by the by, instead of its being what it really is, existence, happiness, heaven. It is exactly, in point of fact, what it will appear to us as being when we come to die. Some of its accidents will then be changed; but it is intrinsically now as it will be then.-With the tenderest love, ever believe me,

Your fond and affectionate father,

J. H. EVANS.

TO HIS WIFE.

Hampstead, Dec. 3, 1841. Friday.

I AM glad to hear on the whole so favourable a report of dear M., and that your dear parents are as they are. May you all receive the support which you need, and which your Heavenly Father is so willing to bestow, and may you especially receive great and abundant spiritual supplies, much of the inward sealing of the Spirit.

Yesterday was a fatiguing day, but my soul was encouraged. I walked to Robert-street, Hampstead-road, where the phaeton overtook me. I called on Mrs. G., and prayed with her and her recovered son; then called on old Mrs. Butler, who was out. I then went to Mrs. Danby, prayed with her, having done the same the day before. I then called on Miss Vos, prayed with her, and was there about an hour with her and Mrs. R. I then went to T. P., who is in very imminent danger, and sees

two physicians to-day. I prayed with him and his wife, and hope well of both of them. I then sent home the phaeton, and walked to Mrs. S., who has been very seriously ill. I prayed with her and her niece. She is in a very nice state of mind. I called then on Mrs. L., who I am happy to say is out of the shade in no small degree. I prayed with her and her sister, Mrs. E., and reached the chapel at three, where I met by appointment a young man who had something on his mind, professing to have received great blessing under that sermon, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength." I prayed with him, and was nearly knocked up, ordered a mutton chop, which I had at four, saw a little of His goodness who gave it me, slept for about ten minutes, then had a young man, Mr. H., calling on me, by appointment also, about the Trinity. I think we must have been together about an hour. I recommended him to be urgent at a throne of grace, to read the Bible candidly, and get Wardlaw. It was a solemn but an affectionate meeting. Then came Mr. A., who had coffee with me, and then the deacons till nine; brought Mr. A. home, and came to my own fireside a little after ten. I left home a little after nine, so that I was pretty well tired. But it is blessed service.

On Wednesday I called, before my Bible class, on Mrs. Danby; Mrs. K., to talk to her about Mrs. Danby; on T. P., and Mrs. D., who is in great trouble. The class was a very large one, and in the evening our lecture, considering Mr. A. had his missionary meeting at the same hour, was well attended, about fifty, I suppose; "Our eyes are upon Thee." (2 Chron. xx. 12.) They were strikingly attentive. Oh that God may condescend to bless! It was rather awkward that the W- -S should be there, as they heard the same sermon on the Tuesday previous. But that is of little importance. It is a great relief

to ine.

Your's,

J. H. EVANS.