The question, "What must I do to be saved?" is a most momentous and important one, and the greatest pains have been taken to give to that question the fullest answer. But then the question, "What must I do when I am saved?" is, in all respects, as momentous and as important a one, and it has been my anxious desire that this question should receive a somewhat fuller answer, than is commonly given to it, in books like the present. I have striven to make setting out and holding out, the woof and warp of the entire fabric of this book; whilst yet, there is a sense in which Parts I. and II. have, more directly, to do with setting out, and Parts III. and IV. with holding out. May I ask of the reader his kind and patient attention to the whole of this little volume; Part IV., especially, I judge to be worthy of a careful reading. Throughout all its parts the message of this little handbook of Salvation is but one -namely, that JESUS is ALL and in ALL! The short stories which are introduced as examples of salvation by Jesus, will be found to contain some interesting and encouraging proofs of this gracious truth, that JESUS is ALL and in ALL; and they cannot but be of some help to many who may read them. PART I. JESUS-THE WAY OF SALVATION. 1.—WHAT IS THE SALVATION of Jesus? Salvation is deliverance from some present, or threatened danger. Jacob and Esau were twin-brothers. Esau was unmerciful and cruel, and in revenge for some old grudge had, as Jacob feared, resolved on the murder of his brother. When tidings came to Jacob-"Esau cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him," Jacob cried to God-" Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the children.”—(Gen. xxxii. 11.) God heard Jacob's prayer, and turned the heart of his brother Esau, so that instead of killing him, Esau fell on Jacob's neck, and kissed him!-(Gen. xxxiii. 4.) Every thought of unkindness has been driven out of Esau's heart; and the hand that should have grasped the weapon which was to have killed his brother, is now, instead, twined lovingly about his brother's neck. God, in this way, heard Jacob's anxious cry, and delivered him from the hand of his brother. Jacob's deliverance was, to him, salvation. Yet, supposing the worst had happened, and that Esau had killed his brother, still as he could have killed his body only, Jacob's case is not fully what God calls salvation. God's salvation always includes the saving of the soul. Jesus Christ tells us what this salvation is: "A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again he was lost, and is found."-(Luke xv. 11-24.) Reader, be you who you may, God says that your soul is lost; that you are "dead in trespasses and sins." God says, further, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."-(Ps. ix. 17.) Whether you think about this or not, it is true! Whether you believe it or not, it is true! Whether you make sport of it or not, it is true! Sin persisted in, and unrepented of, must be your ruin. Jacob's fears, about the mischief his brother Esau intended to do him, may have been all imaginary, and unfounded in fact. Esau may not really have thought to take the life of his brother. Certainly he had not told Jacob this. But God has told 66 us, the soul that sinneth, it shall die "-(Ezekiel xviii. 4),—and the word of God "cannot be broken!" "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." -(Matt. xxiv. 35.) This, then, sinner, is your case, as God Himself puts it before you! "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.". (Romans vi. 23.) God has provided a Saviour! you salvation. God offers it? God These are "This is Will you have Himself is speaking to you now. His words, and His words to you: a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”—(1 Tim. i. 15.) "He that believeth shall be saved." (Mark xvi. 16.) "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”—(Acts xvi. 31.) This is salvation! saved? Reader, are you "Salvation! Oh, the joyful sound! A sovereign balm for every wound, "Buried in sorrow and in sin, |