CHAPTER IV. HIS BODILY SUFFERINGS-CONSOLATION UNDER THEM. In the preceding pages we have noticed something of the power of infidelity: we have seen its power over the mind of the subject of this memoir, and that this power was always for evil, and not for good. In the following pages it will be contrasted with the soothing, comforting, and sustaining power of real religion. "O child of sorrow! be it thine to know Finds herself happy amidst seas of grief." The writer, in describing the gradual change that he had the pleasure of witnessing in the mind of his friend, thinks it desirable to remark, that the limits of this memoir will not allow him to give such a minute statement as the almost daily intercourse of three years might furnish: neither indeed is it necessary. Let it then suffice to observe, that the account in the succeeding pages, instead of being in the least exaggerated, falls far short in many interesting particulars of what might be advanced in justice to the subject. It was, however, deeply interesting, either as a metaphysician, to contemplate the various changes of which the human mind is capable, and their causes; or, as a christian, to observe the efficacy and power of Divine truth under the various circumstances and trials in which Mr. B. was placed. Often did his friend, on entering the chamber of sorrow, find him exhausted with pain and grief, and ready almost to sink into despondency; and, ere he left it, witness the most striking effects produced by the conversation he had with him on religious subjects. His chilled and disconsolate heart would begin to glow with satisfaction and delight while contemplating the sacred truths of the Bible; the balm of sacred consolation would be felt and evinced in his mind and his friend had frequently the : happiness of leaving him soothed, comforted, and resigned. There is such a suitableness in the sacred volume to the various trials, situations, and circumstances of life, and to the diversified feelings of the heart, that some passage is easily met with that bears upon the present condition of the christian sufferer. Never, perhaps, was the truth of this sentiment more strikingly illustrated than by the discoveries arising from these visits; for, whatever happened to be the prevailing trial at the time, the Bible furnished some appropriate truth, which seemed, as it were, written for the peculiar occasion to which it was made applicable. The visits to the sick room of his friend began to be more frequent about the close of the autumn of the year 1822. Among the first of these visits, in the evening, he remembers one in particular, when he endeavoured to draw his attention to the important declaration of our Lord in the third chapter of St. John's gospel :"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." To do this the more effectually, he brought with him an able sermon on that text, which he proposed to read. This proposal Mr. B. readily assented to, at the same time saying, that he could not comprehend the subject, though it appeared all-important; and that, if regeneration were necessary for any one, it certainly was for him. He wished, therefore, to hear what could be said upon it: he listened with deep attention, and his inquiring mind appeared much satisfied with the exposition he heard of that important declaration. When the sermon was read through, the conversation turned upon inherent, or as it is more generally called, original sin. He could not believe that all mankind came into life with a sinful nature, but supposed that sin was the result of example and association. He saw at once, that if the doctrine of universal depravity could be proved, the necessity of regeneration would immediately follow; and that our Lord's words to Nicodemus were true to the fullest extent- "Ye MUST be born again." The testimony of Scripture on this point, and the arguments by which the doctrine of regeneration is proved, were then laid before him, in humble dependence on God, who alone has power to open the eyes of sinners to their state -to bring them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Nor was this labour in vain; for in some subsequent visits which the writer paid, he had the satisfaction of finding that his invalid friend was fully convinced of the truth, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psa. li. 5. Now he felt assured that man's nature inclines him only to evil; that the root of this evil is in the heart, and that therefore the heart must undergo an entire change before a sinner can make any progress in holiness. He saw, consequently, his need of regeneration by the Spirit of God; for the idea of renewing his own nature appeared to him manifestly absurd; and hence he began to seek in prayer, that the promise of a "new heart, and a right spirit" might be fulfilled in him, and that he might be made a "new creature in Christ Jesus." This evening was one on which the writer's memory loves to dwell. It was spent in the interchange of sentiment, in the investigation of Divine truth, in the sympathies of a friendship commenced on earth, to be perfected, he trusts, in that world where there shall |