His Public Ministrations at Home

“Know ye not that they which run in a race ran all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain.”

1 Con. ix. 24.

We are not undertaking to shew what of the stone remained rough, but what were the workings of the chisel of the Divine Artist on the statue which he was carving here. Very rarely do we find one who united so much strength of will with so much gentleness of spirit. But his friend Mr M’Intyre expressed the truth in this matter, when he said, “that evidently this loving gentleness was only in part from nature; it was divine grace that had bestowed it in its high degree, and hence, instead of becoming weaker as years increased, it grew stronger. That continual flow and freshness of kindly affections, shewed plainly whence it was derived, that the fountain of nature was replenished by the stream of divine grace,”

Very rarely, too, do we meet with one whose single-minded devotedness was so unostentatious and yet so apparent; so thorough, and yet so cheerful; so calm, and yet so impressive to others. It was evident, also, that he “grew in grace,” He seemed more and more “to look on man as possessed of a soul, knowing no man after the flesh.” As the time drew near when he was to be licensed by the Church of which he was a member to preach the gospel, his solemn feelings were deepened, while his joy in the prospect increased. Reading the 40th Psalm, he found in it suitable help for himself at such a time; for he viewed it as, in one aspect, the Saviour’s preparation for His ministry. For many weeks, at Torquay, with his two friends Mr Tait and Mr Coventry, he studied the attributes of God, some one attribute forming the subject of prayer and meditation at each meeting in succession.

While he could say, “Solitude is a continual heaven to me,” he was now full of joy in the expectation of his future life of action — his preaching of the gospel everywhere to small and great. For a time he seemed somewhat irresolute as to applying for licence, as if the time were not come; and besides, in the midst of all home-work, there opened to his view the vista of his possible departure for China. While he writes that a letter from Mr Moody Stuart (whose ministry and whose prayerful counsel he so valued) had gone far to decide his mind in applying for licence, he “is seeking daily to mention the mattei of China before God. O for the wind from God, if it is His will, that our ship sail thither!”

Some of the qualifications of a true pastor he possessed in a high degree. One of these was sympathy with the sick and afflicted. His manner was very tender, and his words expressed his heart, while he led them to the “rivers of water in a dry place,” To one to whom he had carried a bunch of grapes, he spoke thus: “It is the Lord that is giving them, and you must take them like the grapes of Eshcol, as a token of the abundance of the promised land.”

His doctrinal views were those of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

“2tth November 1854. Confession of Faith. — Beading and praying it over, chapter by chapter, was made not only to agree with, but greatly to admire, its statements. The truth of God therein set forth rose before me as an edifice of God, founded, built up, and completed in all its parts.” His signing that Confession on the day of his receiving licence, was no mere form; it was done with consent of head and heart. This took place 11 th January 1855. He writes —

“When I was pronounced a preacher of the gospel, felt moved; and, if alone, could have wept. Remembered that now, and until death, I was a Preacher of the Gospel of Christ”

U4<

DEDICATION.

And then follows a new dedication of himself. It was with no legal feelings, but as an act of grateful love, that he more than once engaged in this surrender of himself. Perhaps he himself would have expressed how he felt in the transaction by using the words of the Song of Solomon (viii. 2): <e I will cause him to drink of the spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate,” The first of these occurs in the third anniversary of his “new birth,” and is entitled,

“Dedication of my body, soul, and spirit to the Lord: —

“As I believe that the Lord Jehovah, God of all nature and grace, has put His Holy Spirit in me, working faith in my soul, so that I have been persuaded and enabled to embrace Christ the Lord as my only Saviour — my ‘all in all’ — henceforth, by His sure word and inward testimony of the Spirit, I know that I am called —

(1.) To renounce, once for all and for ever, all property in myself; that, in truth, I am no longer my own, but Jesus Christ’s, purchased by his own infinitely precious blood; that the Holy Lord God the Father gave me to His Eternal Son from everlasting, for His great and glorious name’s sake.

“(2.) Henceforth I am called of my heavenly Father to renounce also all property in friends or relations, or in any of mankind, apart from Jehovah Himself; I am to have to do “with these only as from the Lord, and in the Lord; I am to remember that I have forsaken them for Christ’s sake; since I am married to the Lord, I have forsaken my father and mother, and am joined unto the Lord, and we are now ’ one spirit.’

“(8.) Henceforth, lastly, I am called to forsake the world, and all that is therein; God the Lord is my portion; heaven is my home; I am here now only as a stranger and a pilgrim. Glory be to the redeeming grace and love of Jehovah, the Lord of hosts! Therefore, I have to do with the things o£ time, only in so far as the honour and glory of the Lord is concerned in them.

“But blessed be the name of the Lord, I am not only called to renounce, for His sake, self, friends, relations, and this world, but also henceforth to f live unto God ’ being bought with a price; therefore, by grace, through grace, the Lord calls me to glorify God c in my body and in my spirit, which are God’s.

<: Here, then, O my God and Father, do I, by Thy

good and Holy Spirit, purchased by the blood of the

new covenant, declare in the presence of Thee, the

Triune Jehovah, and before the elect angels, that I

do now most joyfully, and with all my heart and

soul, yield unto Thee my whole person, body, soul,

and spirit, my relations and friends, my portion in SELF-SURRENDER.

this world, and all things belonging to it; that henceforth as Thou, O my God and Father, dost grant me grace, Thy glory shall be more than ever before me, the one grand end of my existence. I have been sweetly constrained, by the effectual working of Thine own grace, to leave all and follow Jesus. O Jehovah my God, conclude Thine own work in my soul, and sweetly constrain me to live only for Thee. O do Thou make it my sweetest food, my most refreshing drink, to do Thy will, O my Lord, and my God.

“O my Blessed, my now exalted and glorified Redeemer — do Thou sign for me what I have now been constrained to declare. It can only be made effectual by Thyself, dwelling more constantly in my soul. O my Saviour, may I now know in a sense I have never yet experienced, ’ to me to live is Christ,”

We may here insert what occurs in his journal in 1850, in reference to self- surrender.

“] 2th August — At Mr Hewitson’s funeral. That eminent minister of Jesus laid with his kindred dust. Had a walk in his garden, where once before 1 gave myself to the Lord, and sought to repeat the surrender. He is now among those whom I long to meet in glory, another link to the ’ heavenlies, where is my Lord and Saviour, and my heavenly Father,”

And now let us peruse his fresh dedication of himself.

“llth January 1855. — Almighty and Eternal God, have mercy on my soul for Immanuei’s sake! This soul, body, and spirit are thine by creation, thine by redemption. And by incomprehensible love and mercy called, as I humbly trust, to be thine in the ministry of the Gospel, in and by Thy Holy Spirit alone, I do now surrender my whole body, soul, and spirit unto Thee, the Lord Jesus Christ, and unto the Father, for the glory of God in the ministry of the gospeL Thus, by the powerful grace and Spirit .granted continually unto and working in me, the one great end of my life on earth shall be the glory of Jehovah in the salvation of lost sinners, and the edification of the saints. By His grace and Spirit I do also now renounce the world with its honour and glory, and above all, self-glory, the flesh, with all its works, and the Devil 0 Jehovah, pour down the Holy Ghost upon my soul! Thou glorified Immanuel, Thou hast the Spirit without measure, O pour down of the Holy Ghost, making me full of faith, and of the Holy Spirit, and so of gospel power,”

On the Sabbath following his being; licensed, he preached his first sermon. It was in Glasgow, in Mr Somerville’s Church, Anderston, “ciying incessantly for grace and anointing from above, and for skill to catch men.” His second opportunity of preaching was at Bothwell; and of it he thus writes: —

FIRST DAYS OF PREACHING.

6t2lst January. — Preaching here to-day was to me as the service in the tabernacle of the Highest. A great fear and awe possessed my spirit, as worshipping the Eternal of days. My soul was as if transported afar into the presence of God, and there all the people were gathered on the mount of the Lord. The powers of nature were stilled, and the voice of the gospel of the glory of God poured around me. Yet I was not uplifted either; all was quietness within and without. After all the day’s service, looking still to God, and crying for washing in the Fountain.”

A few days afterwards, he received a letter requesting his services at Hillhead, a station about three miles from Glasgow, where for some time previous the Spirit of God had been at work among the mining population. “Much drawn to that place,” is his remark; and he prepared to comply with the request. Meanwhile, preaching at Shotts, “the proximity of the place to the scene of the wonderful effusion of the Spirit under Livingstone’s preaching,* filled my mind with strong desire for the same,”

But it may be well for us more fully to explain, at this point, the state of things at that station where he was now for a time to labour. The colliery villages of Jordanhill and Hillhead presented a large population, upon which the labours of a man of God * In 1630. might be bestowed. Accordingly, in 1 854, Mr J ames Allan, a native of Huntly, and lately licensed as a probationer of the Free Church of Scotland, began his labours here. From the very first, many who heard his rousing and most faithful appeals, were startled. Fervent in prayer, and no less fervent and impassioned even in preaching the word, Mr Allan was soon blessed of God to win souls. After a visitation of the cholera, in the end of that same year, a decided work of awakening began among the miners and their families. At this day, I am personally acquainted with very many of those wTho were then brought to Christ, and can testify to the decided character of that awakening. Though it did not extend to great numbers, those who were then taught of God took up their cross, and have continued to follow their Lord through good report and through bad report, and the Lord has not forsaken them. Mr Allan, however, was subject to pulmonary complaints, and on this account, as well as for other reasons, was compelled next year to retire. And this was the opening that brought Mr Sandeman among that people.

How similar in many respects were the feelings and views of Mr Allan to Mr Sandeman’s, may be judged of by a letter of the former, which we here insert. It is written to his friend J. S. at Hillhead. After introductory matter is over:” One of the best

MR ALLAN.

means of maintaining spirituality of mind” (says Mr Allan), “is the habitual endeavour to do what spiritual good we can around us. It is just as good for us as it is for others to cultivate a missionary spirit. I found when on board ship, that I received no little damage, because I made so few efforts to do good among passengers and crew. It is well, perhaps, to have some one soul, or souls, specially in view, whom we may ply with our counsel, and for whom we may make our special supplications. More than most means of grace, in point of usefulness, has been the attempt to address anxious souls. I have felt while doing so as if in a better world. I hope there are still some anxious souls in your quarter. O my friend, cultivate a tender conscience that will not endure the least outward evil, or inward motions of the soul to it either. Slight thoughts of sin fly like fire and spread like it; and when once they take root, the soul can scarce ever recover its tone. And then, we have to do with a God so holy and so strict. Let us beware, for even ’ our God is a consuming fire,” And again to Mrs P.: “It is the undying pursuit of holiness that marks the true believer. See to it, also, that you feel more and more ready all your days. O may the day never come when you will be satisfied with your past experiences. If you are right, the more you get, the more you will long for the hidden manna. The Lord give us eyes to see His beauty, the freeness of His love, the superabundance of His grace!” At another time: “Keep your conscience sprinkled hourly with the blood, and be filled with the love of God in Christ. You must come to Him. ‘He loved me and gave Himself for me V O if we knew Him! Him! that pierced, bleeding Him!”

Such was the man of God,* whose labours Mr Sandeman now came to follow up. Exulting in the work of proclaiming the gospel, he felt that just on that account he must be Christ’s, and His alone. “O for souls now! What would I not give for those! and for faith, wisdom, and zeal to win them!”

“11th February, Sabbath, Hillhead. — My soul thirsts for Thy holy blessing, O Jehovah; for the plucking of precious souls from Satan’s grasp; for the manifestation of Thy word with power on the hearts and consciences of men. O Lord, let some drops of the heavenly shower support my soul that it may not sink. There is an emptiness and readiness to fail in my heart, which nothing but a new manifesta-

* Mr Allan died 8th September 1858 at Bretton, near Wakefield, in his sister’s house, “rejoicing in Christ, and saying he was going home.” His beloved friend, the subject of this memoir, preceded him into glory only about six weeks. Both seemed instruments fit for the Master’s use, and yet both were speedily called away. The resurrection-morning will cast light on these mysterious ways of our sovereign God.

BLESSING COMES.

tion of the truth and love of Jesus, and the salvation of never dying souls, can fill or remove.

“Heard of one weeping for her sins after the sermon, which deeply affected me with love and gratitude.”

It was not long before he heard of more blessing.

“Monday, 20th February. — Good news this evening, that some souls have found peace. One, after yesterday’s sermon, went home, pleaded, seemed to find Christ, and was filled with joy, after a pretty severe struggle with the enemy.”

His walks for recreation were always walks of usefulness. “Pleasant walk, speaking to some by the wayside. Visiting the cottages, I find to be engrossing work. Tried to cry through the day for 6 The Bain,” On the following Sabbath, when he preached on Rev. iii. 20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” many were moved, and many old convictions were revived in some. He says that, before preaching that day, he had had much prayer with Mr Allan, and that during the service his own soul felt compassion, love, and authority.

Why is it that we so often find ministers of Christ who seem to labour for years without fruit? Why is it that they are content with this state of things; and so far from expecting that it should be otherwise, do often suspect the work of God when they hear of

WHY IS SUCCESS WONDERED AT?

it under the ministry of others? Those very ministers who cast doubt on the genuineness of the blessing vouchsafed to a brother, are frequently men who might be said almost to boast of the doctrine of divine sovereignty. They forget, in such cases, to apply their own views of truth; or else they allow their partial views of doctrine unconsciously to weaken their sense of responsibility lying on them for the use of every means. It will generally be found that such objectors, or suspicious observers, are not themselves stretching every nerve in prayer, and yearning with all compassion over souls. They are oftener pleasing themselves with doctrine, and with Church order, and conscientious attention to the routine of duty; leaving to others the Epaphras-like u labouring fervently in prayers” (ayuvify/uevog wrsg vpuv, Col. iv. 12) for the souls to whom they preach.

Sometimes, too, expectation is not at work. The Lord says,” Open thy mouth wide then He will fill. Now, if this expectation be in abeyance, is it not the eye of faith looking away from Him who has the gifts, ere ever the gifts that were sought for have come? When expectation is not cherished, is there not something of unbelief at work?

All along, and from the first moment of his ministry, Mr Sandeman looked for blessing. Believing that God is sovereign, he on that very account ex-IMMEDIATE CONVERSION.

pected to see Him take souls that were to the eye of man most unlikely. Believing God to be sovereign, he all the more looked out for “these things * being “revealed to babes,” Believing God to be sovereign, he felt that at any moment, and why not at this present moment, he might open blind eyes. He noticed, also, that in the New Testament all the instances given of conversion are instances of very rapid conversion — a few hours, or a few days, suffice for the soul’s passage from darkness into marvellous light. There is there no prolonged law- work, stretching over years. It looks too much like a process which man himself is carrying on, and not God, when we find a conversion extending over months and yeto, and issuing in dim light and dull hope after all. Whereas it is to be expected of conversions that are not man-made, but altogether of God, that they should be rapid, bearing the stamp of the creating power of Him who said, “Let there be light; and there was light.” It was so with conversions in the times of the Acts of the Apostles, the days when the Holy Ghost was working gloriously.

There is an undefinable something about some believers, and not less about some ministers, that gets them favour with their brethren. We often call it unction. Mr Sandeman had it personally and in his preaching. I find him at an earlier period referring to it in others in the following manner: —

“January 1848. — Is it not one of the Lord’s secrets, to be obtained only in the recesses of His pavilion?

“At times most believers do manifest it, but why is it so short-lived? Is not the secret just cto be rooted and grounded in love V Indeed, transforming love to God, and flowing from that, love to souls, is, I believe, the essence of it.

“The soul that breathes of Christ and His love must needs be thus winning. The minister of Jesus has special need of this grace. Therefore, He has special need of J esus dwelling in his heart by love, through the all-powerful working of the Holy Ghost, which worketh mightily in the children who are elect, and kept near the throne of Jehovah’s glory,”

An interesting feature of Mr Sandeman’s ministry was the full and clear setting forth of the Righteousness of Christ; I rather think he never preached one sermon in which that was not held forth. One who was present at his first district prayer -meeting in Edinburgh remembers how he dwelt upon “Jesus passing through the billows of J ehovah’s anger, while his life-blood dyed the waves; but poor sinners caught the rope he held out to them, and were saved,” And as he thus began, so he continued to the last. He

Christ’s righteousness.

used to quote with great relish the words of the dying man, who had not been able to say much all his life, but who gave utterance on his death-bed to this declaration, “1 am standing barefoot on the Rock of Ages,” And another saying was frequently on his lips, that of a dying believer, who stated her hope in these few words, “Think of that, my Judge, my Justifier!” It was his enjoyment of this truth that gave him this settled peace, and imparted such serenity and such equable cheerfulness to his bright countenance. He knew whom he believed; and his was personal trust in a personal Saviour, and that Saviour no other than Jehovah Tsidhenu. Once I find him

writing: —” Heard preach. My heart was knit to

him, because he set forth the Righteousness of Christ.’” He was one who held most heartily and thoroughly the views of Augustine, regarding the passive and the active righteousness of Christ. With that true divine, he could say of the Blood, “By it my conscience is all over satisfaction; the anguish of my past sufferings is quite swallowed up, and not so much as a troublesome remembrance of them is left behind. Mine was the sin, and His the. punishment,” Is not this “the worshipper once cleansed having no more conscience of sin?” (Heb. x. 2). And so he could say of the obedient life of J esus, as did Augustine in his day, “Christ’s godliness suffices for my want of it; His ready service for my perverseness; His meekness for my intractable temper; His humility for my pride; His patience for my discontent; His kindness for my hard-heartedness; His calmness of soul for my fretfulness and unruly passions; His gentleness for my anger; His universal and unwearied love for my hatred, and revenge, and cruelty.”

His personal love to the Lord Jesus often struck his intimate friends. They saw plainly how much of his happiness was derived from that source. Mr A. C. Smith (Free Church minister at Innellan) says — “That love was not, as in the case of most men, like a feeble spark; it seemed shed abroad. It was a constant living flame, that at times made his very face shine with a lustre of which he himself was unconscious.” One evening, when some had been recounting marks that would certainly appear in real Christians, he exclaimed, “There is one you have forgotten — Love to Jesus; and as he said it, he ooked up with a peculiar smile, emphatically saying, 6 Yes, I do love Him!” — and singing —

“Blessed Jesus! wouldst thou know Him,
Give thyself entirely to Him,” &c.

Because of this personal delight in his Saviour, the Song of Solomon was a book of Scripture in which he rejoiced. Very few attain to such delight in direct communion with their Lord. His affection

WHERE HIS STRENGTH LAY.

to Him was often such as thrilled his whole frame, while meditating on that love of His that was “stronger than death.”

These two features of his experience moulded every sermon. And then, there was something in the very figure of the man that drew attention. His figure was tall and commanding; the profile of his countenance regular; his eye black and full; his voice clear and powerful; his utterance somewhat measured, and never rapid. But it was not in these things that his real strength lay; it was in “laying up vials of prayer, which were afterwards poured down in blessing.” He remarked one day, “Literary qualifications are not our arms; they are only the polishing and ingenious ornament on the hilt and flat side of the sword. They have nothing whatever to do per se with the edge of the weapon,”

It was the Lord’s way with him, to give him short time to work in the various spheres through which he passed. He was not to be allowed to labour long at Hillhead; but the believers there never forget their days of fellowship with him. One will tell how he would, on an evening, lift the latch of the cottage door, and, just looking in, would say, “Are you ready to go out with me for a night’s fishing V intimating his wish to have him as a companion in going from house to house in his visitations. Another will tell of his meetings for prayer. Another remembers, that when one said,” What shall I preach V3 he replied, “Preach Christ; it is bread they need; it is bread.3’ Another recollects meeting him and Mr Allan as they came from Renfrew, and were walking fast to their lodgings, and this was his greeting in passing, * We are hurrying home to get our hearts warmed.”

Two persons were awakened by the last sermon he preached at Hillhead. And some who resisted the truth in the days of both Mr Allan and Mr Sandeman, have of late been given to their prayers, we doubt not. One of these persons, lately brought to Christ, tells, that before Mr Sancleman went away, she met him, and he knowing her to be a great professor, said, “If you are in the way, keep in it; but are you in it T’ She replied,” Yes though at that time out of Christ. When awakened recently, that reply she gave him was one of the first sins that started up to her thoughts, deepening her convictions and haunting her for a long time. In such ways as these, does the Lord cause His servant’s words to glorify Him, long after they have themselves entered into rest.

He had not laboured quite three months there, when his mind became decided as to his duty regarding China. For five or six years the desire had been cherished, or rather encouraged; sometimes when laid aside, back it came, like a tide returning in full

DECISION AS TO CHINA.

force. Such incidents, too, as the interest taken in the Chinese Bible Fund by his two young nephews, whose lives were so brief,* no doubt contributed to swell the tide of feeling that had already begun to flow in that direction. For a time, the masses of heathenism at home in our large cities kept the balance of his mind in equipoise; but now the Lord whom he served brought him to an unwavering decision: “My only regret is not seeing more’souls brought to God among my own countrymen, before I go to the heathen,” “To belong entirely to Jesus is inexpressibly sweet.>y “O for the powers of the world to come to be revealed unto my soul, and to fit it for the glory of Jehovah, and the salvation of poor perishing souls, until my own death. My Lord, O to be Thy witness here for a little, and then among the heathen, all to the great end of Thy glory, and the salvation of many, many souls. Surely my whole soul closes with my Master s call.”-f-

* See the touching and instructive story of these two young souls in “The Way Home.”

f There is something in this thoroughly satisfied delight, that reminds us of Dr Dean’s narrative of Judson Dwight Collins. When the letter arrived that was to tell him whether or not his offer of service was accepted, he was at some distance from the village, but hearing of it, he hastened toward it, without staying for food. It was dark, but on he posted, till at last the letter was in his hand. He opened it, he saw that all was right — “Tnere was China.” The big tears stood in his eye; his heart swelled with He has written out his reasons in full, and they bear the broad stamp of impartiality and disinterestedness. Still he was constrained to write: —

u ] tth March. — I see there is more cleavingto home than I was aware of, and to what I love there; but now it is as if Jesus said, Come with me; forsake all, and I shall give thee an hundredfold for all these, mother, brothers, sisters, &c. A remarkable heavenly sweetness pervaded my soul since then. I could only look up, believing the love of my Lord,”

He writes, 9th April — li First lesson in Chinese from Mr M.” And then come his farewell days at Hillhead. 1 oth April. — “Much exercised and affected in my own soul before preaching. Much prayer through the previous week for the melting power of the word and Spirit, Beginning to speak, had not a little of the clearness and power which arrest men, and I thought that the long-looked for blessing was about to begin. But I fear it passed off again, and the bending of souls under the truth seemed to cease. The longing for souls how wearying to the flesh V On the 22d April, Scotstoitn. — “Prayer-meeting.

emotion, arid on his knees he thanked God that he was a “missionary to China.” Such was his burning zeal and love for souls; but, like Mr S., he was cut off at the age of thirty- two. His motto was, “Christ shall be magnified by my body, whether by life or by deaths (See “The China Mission,” by William Dean, D.D. New York, 1859.)

FAEEWELL AT BILLHEAD.

Preaching to the conscience, and souls saved, are my great desire,” “Through grace I would say, let every thing else be as the dust of the balance.” On 23d! April. — “My birth-day. O for that sober, calm, and yet holy zeal which the Spirit gives,” 29th April. — “Preached in the open air to the ’ highway and hedge’ class, who will not come to our meeting. In the prospect of my leaving, a man came to me with the tears in his eyes, saying he wished to shake my hand, ’ because you took my feet out of the miry claw” 1st May. — “My last day here. Several more souls reported as anxious.”

Often in China did he revert to those happy scenes. It was amid such breathings of the Spirit that he was ripening for glory, while men thought he was preparing for many a laborious year of missionary work in that vast empire of more than four hundred millions of souls.

An opportunity occurred of visiting the continent, while getting ready for leaving home; and so we suddenly find him, on 1 9th May, in Home, surveying the seven-hilled city. It seemed as if his Master wished to finish his education for the mission field, by shewing him the foul idolatries of professedly Christian lands, and what the fearful result of these has been in regard to darkness, and degradation, and wretchedness. Let us follow him to” The Eternal City, a 26th May. — High mass by the Pope in the Chiesa Xuova. Unaffected, except by the childishness of the performance, reminding me more of a man acting the Pope. He seemed indeed to be in the place of God, worshipped as God, and sitting in God’s seat; yet by a strong delusion sent on them, neither he nor they seemingly aware of their blasphemy and idolatry. (2 Thess. ii. 4, 11.)

u How powerless his blessing felt, seeing God had not bade him bless. Remembered that the blood of the saints was unrepented of, and that this man homologated all,”

He had crossed the Campagna to visit Tusculum and Cicero’s villa, though the visit was a hurried one. And now he has been at the old Capitol, has looked upon the yellow Tiber at his feet, has gazed on the Sabine Hills and Soracte, famed in Roman song, and has descried the Alban Hills.

“Walked in the evening through the Forum Roma n u m, remaining till dark. Realized something of treading on an empire’s dust.”

“Coliseum. — In the midst of it, first fully realized that I was in ancient Rome. Remained for two or three hours. Saw around me the proofs of a kingdom, of an empire that has come and gone, been built up and been overthrown, till its dust and ruins prevent the very site from being recognised Thought of Daniel’s four empires, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, Roman, arisen, shaken, demolished. Then my soul turned and worshipped the Messiah, who has received the kingdom which is an everlasting kingdom, whose dominion shall never end.”

Here is an interesting statement and testimony.

“In reviewing the last two months on the continent, I have found a great safeguard in prayer and reading the word of God in the morning before starting, and that the day has generally taken its tone from that season. It was a great help also, when I had an opportunity, to speak to others about their souls,”

At Naples, he was struck with the unblushing plainness and downrightness of their worship of the Virgin Mary. He visited Vesuvius, walking round the crater amid smoke and mist; Pompeii, also, that disentombed city which is so full of interest. But his jottings of these visits can scarcely be called even notes. He returned by Turin, and over mount Cenis to Paris; and after a few days spent in London and Oxford, we find him, on July 18th, in a railway carriage. “Was in a carriage by myself, and had scarcely entered it when a drawing spirit of humiliation and prayer seemed to come upon me; and I could not cease from crying and breathing after God for more than an hour; especially for the ministry, lest I should be a castaway without power of faith; also for beloved Scotland. If I would reap as Paul, then I should prepare to sow even as he who travailed in birth that Christ might be formed in souls,”

“Sabbath. — My soul was upheld. more than usual in preaching, as if maintained by the blessed Spirit of Jesus in calmness and peace, as if raised out of my many doubts and fears, and my iniquities not remembered then against me. God, eternity, and souls, seemed realities; and truly the wTork was as the service of such a glorious and divine Saviour. But unless the Holy Spirit be poured out upon souls, so that they shall be pierced and raised from the dead, how is the ministry fulfilled?”

“3d September. — Many are my doubts and fears lest the ministry should be an empty sound with me. My heart is at times ready to fail, because hearing of no soul seeking salvation. But where aain is that going forth weeping? Am to preach in the street this evening. Looking again into Whitefield, which revives thoughts of former days. He says it would need a voice of thunder to awake the Church in his time to a sense of her condition and the state of perishing souls. How true still; but this must come wholly from God. I also am as one asleep,”

His prayer was now that “he might be weaned from Scotland,” But this was to be thoroughly

UNEXPECTED DELAY.

effected in a way he did not anticipate. When all seemed in train for his ordination by the English Presbyterian Synod, the unexpected death of his father (who was cut off by cholera, at Montpellier, after conveying to Cannes the widow and children of his eldest son) caused for a time an alteration of plans. It was thought by many, that it must eventually detain David in his native land, as on him now might fall all the care of his father’s property and the family interests. But he believed that, as his call was of God, the way would open again. His own soul never faltered in its purpose.

It was now the spring of another year, and he was not yet on the field, but through no fault of his. Meanwhile we find him at Blairgowrie, sojourning for a few weeks, preaching the word, and pleading vehemently in prayer the Lord’s words by Ezekiel, “Behold, all souls are mine,” and “I have no pleasure at all in the death of him that dieth,” At last his friend Dr James Hamilton, of Regent Square, London, sends him the long-wished-for notice, that his ordination to the holy ministry is to take place on April 26th 1856.

It was only a day or two after the completion of his thirtieth birthday, and he failed not to remember this.

“Ordination Day. — Remained in prayer till three o’clock this morning. This morning the struggle seemed over; my soul seemed helped from on high, and know not how. Fasting till before the service* also, helpful by His grace. Throughout the whole day, this word was with me — c Behold I send the promise of my Father upon you, It seemed as if the only hindrance to receiving this blessing lay upon my side; some spirit of supplication was with me. and pleading for the fulfilment of the cries of many years. Before, and at the ordination, felt that I must now lay myself upon the altar of God, there to remain continually. Felt that henceforth I must look upon myself as cut off from the world, as if by death; but if thus dying as it were with Christ, I found that with Him also I lived again, not forgetting the continuous death which there must be; but the glory, and love, and Spirit of Jesus sustained me, and raised me up unto His work.

“My soul was poured out before God all the day, beseeching, wrestling, waiting, and looking up in expectation; and as if no longer able to plead with that contention of soul. I ceased, and lay silent before God.

“At the ordination, when I knelt and their hands were laid on me, I was as if enveloped by the power and presence of ImmanueL I was overpowered, and wept. They were tears of supplication and unspeakable joy; the soul with all its affections, and vehement but still desires, was delivered up as a sacrifice unto God m J esus Christ.

NEW WOKK.

“I remembered the call of the disciples, when the Lord called to Him whom He would. It seemed as if He so called me; and I knelt at His feet, and felt the overpowering sense of His gracious gentleness, and at the same time of His majesty, as the Great Head of the Church, to whom all power in heaven and earth is given.

“The prayers of the ministers of God, leading and gathering up those of all the people, I felt as if resting upon my head; and, as I believe, they ascended up before the throne of God; so it would be my earnest prayer that they may descend in a copious blessing of the Spirit, according to the promise of the Father, and the power of Him who baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire,”

The excitement and solemnity of his ordination day passed over. The vessel is in open sea again.

“Since ordination,” he writes, 3d May, “I have been sore broken, and that continually. It is as if God had broken all my bones. I remember God, and am troubled. Lord, work thou, and who shall let it?”

It was good to be in his company. “His bright intent and holy walk” (remarked Dr J. Hamilton to the writer) “was quickening to any fellow-traveller who received even the shortest convoy,” On all accounts it was thought good that, previous to sailing, lie should visit some of the chief towns of England. It was well for one who now felt China to be his home, to go forth among the people of the English Presbyterian Synod in the mission to China, giving information, as well as impressing the duty our country owes to the land of Sinim, while at the same time he failed not to preach the everlasting gospel.

Accordingly, we soon find him at Birmingham and Newcastle; and then at Liverpool, where, in company with the devoted Mr Reginald Eadcliffe (whom the Lord has honoured so much in Scotland since that time), he preached in the open air in front of the Custom-house. “It was the impression of all that good to souls was the result,” Next we find him, with Mr Eadcliffe. at Stafford, preaching to the crowd assembled to witness Palmer’s execution. At Matlock, he hears of a woman “born aain at eighty-five years of age” — a woman whose son had been praying for her conversion for thirty-five years.

He was much, at this time, in company with Mr Eadcliffe, who to this day retains very lively impressions of his holy walk, and heavenly zeal, and prayerful spirit. The following letter, written in the midst of incessant labour, was Mr Eadcliffe’s reply to my request to be furnished with any reminiscences of Mr Sandeman that might occur to him: —

MR RADCLIFFE’s LETTER.

“Glasgow, 25th September 1860.

•’My Dear Mr Bonar, — It is with much pleasure that I write to you of my beloved friend. My remembrances of David Sandeman are like gleams of sunshine. It was when I was a student in Edinburgh, I suppose about eleven years ago (1849 or 1850), that we first became acquainted. He was present there at a noisy open-air service in the Grassmarket; and although he would not take part, yet he stood as a protector, and on that spot our hearts became united. Some years afterwards, having to pass through Edinburgh, he was again lovingly by my side during an open-air service at night under some bridge in the Old Town. About the year 1856 he visited us at New Brighton, on the Mersey. It is fresh in my memory now, as returning from my business at Liverpool, I found that my beloved friend had been absenting himself from table in order to spend time and strength amongst the Sandhills of New Brighton. Was not this the secret of his habitual cheerfulness? Whilst at New Brighton, he, along with Bichard Weaver, the converted collier, and others, assisted at some special open-air services which we had round the Liverpool Custom-house. Amongst the fruit was a fallen woman, who appeared to find Christ at once, and who, we heard long after, was walking as becomes a Christian.

“About this time, too, Mr Sandeman, Richard Weaver, and I were preaching together at Warrington on a Sabbath; whence, in the afternoon, we walked to a little Cheshire village. Before entering the village, the party of young evangelists knelt on the wayside, round a heap of broken stones, and the Answerer of prayer very soon, in a most striking manner, appeared to work salvation before our eyes. On that night I have another very happy remembrance of beloved Sandeman. One of the villagers had taken us into his house; and, after prayer together, tired enough, we lay down on the same bed. Brit my companion, whilst lying by my side, started again, praising and praying; and how much of the night he so spent, I know not. We had seen His salvation, and Sandeman was very happy.

“Again our beloved David, in company with Richard Weaver and others, met together in the ancient town of Stafford, for the purpose of attending the execution of a notorious culprit. The night before the execution was a solemn one indeed. Thousands were expected to attend, and many thousands did come. About 70,000 short tracts were distributed. The hour fixed for the labourers being at their posts was to be three A.M. the following morning; for, as was expected, the people began to assemble in the night time. David Sandeman and another retired for

MATLOCK.

prayer and a little repose; but a spirit of prayer was poured out, each prayed several times, and the hour soon arrived to go to the solemn scene. Richard Weaver (who is now beside me) heard David Sandeman solemnly preaching amid the immense crowd, just before the last bell began to toll, and well remembers him then saying — ‘I stop preaching; but that bell cries to every one of you, Prepare to meet thy God! ‘The labourers had reason to hope that not a few souls were blessed, and an infidel among the number.

“When the time had drawn on for my beloved friend to go to China, I was invalided at Matlock, in Derbyshire. He came there; and it was pleasant to see the happy way in which, along the roadside, he could stop the people, and tell each of them of that J esus who had made his face to wear its own happy smile. To this glorious J esus be glory for ever and ever. — Sincerely yours, R R.

“P.S. — By a person now present with me, and who was then with us at Matlock, I am reminded that a dear minister of the gospel, observing the number of individuals D. Sandeman had been entreating that day to turn to the Lord, had been led actually to count them; and in the evening the joy of Sandeman and the others in our little cottage was so great, that their laughter forced tears of joy. On the morrow he left us, and we saw him no more.”

Mr William Hunter (brother-in-law to Mr KadclifTe), formerly a fellow-student with him in Edinburgh, writes regarding his short stay at Chester: —

“Others besides myself remember the power with which he spoke of the Blood of Christ But it was the man himself that was the sermon. I felt with him, more than any minister I have known, that his life was on a level with his preaching. And then he was so genial and joyous. A short time after he was in Chester, I was staying with Mr Radcliffe and his family at Matlock. To our great delight one day, our dear friend unexpectedly joined us, and remained with us two days. I shall never forget a walk I had with him from Matlock Green over the hill to Matlock Bath. It was a lovely summer evening, and he was full of life, and joy, and love to souls,” As usual, his hands were full of tracts, and a word was ready at his tongue for any soul to whom he gave the tract,”

At Lowick he crossed to Holy Island, and preached to the fishermen, in company with Mr Fraser, the Presbyterian minister, who says —” There is a hillock near me that now always seems to me to say, £ Pray,

pray V — -because David Sandeman took me and

there, in sight of Holy Island, to plead for it,”

We give his own jottings of his farewell visits as they stand in his journal, very brief, and summed up

TOKQUAY — MUSING ON CHINA.

by a remarkably characteristic meditation when on the eve of departure.

“21st August, Kilsyth.- — Memorable visit. The old Christian minister; remarkable prayer alone with me before service. During the revival of 1840 there were twenty prayer-meetings in a week in this place.” [The minister was Dr William Burns, father of Mr W. 0. Burns, the missionary to China.]

“Edinburgh, 6th September. — Left Springland this morning. Uphold my dear mother!”

“7th September. — Preached in Free St Luke’s (Edinburgh), morning and afternoon.”

8th September. — Westfield.”

“9th September. — Hillhead.”

“1 1th September. — Last prayer-meeting. Meeting in Free St Luke’s before leaving Scotland,”

“22c? September, London. — Open air meeting with torches. Preaching with Mr Baillie.”

“1st October. — Visiting Torquay, and in my favourite seat among the rocks, and in prayer to God, was drawn out concerning the work before me. For the first time that word came to me: ‘Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession: And: ‘I will declare the decree, My soul was given, to behold it as the declared decree of Jehovah to the Lord ImmanueL Then, to faith’s eye, China and its vast millions of souls floated before me; like the sea. It spread away to the horizon of vision, and under that word I saw it to be the sea of God, every creature absolutely His, and according to the time and purpose of the decree, given over to the Lord J esus for His inheritance, kingdom, and glory. Also, I saw the heathen as a mighty flood, whose stirred waves might swallow me up, or whose seductions, managed by Satan, might draw me in. My spirit was overwhelmed and prostrate by the shore of that awful depth. Into that sea I seemed to be about to plunge alone and weak, with all its trials, and it might be dangers; but I was caught up and was sustained by these words: ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Depart, for I will send you far hence, unto the Gentiles, I rose up and went my way; but the vision remained with me.”

Perhaps we should have stated more fully that Mr S. was led to go forth in the service of the English Presbyterian Synod, by the fact that that Synod had taken up the cause of China in 1845, had sent forth Mr W. 0. Burns as their first missionary in 1 847, and having at last selected the island of Amoy and the province of Fuhkien as the seat of the mission, were desirous of finding more labourers. Mr James Johnstone, after little more than a year’s labour, was compelled, by the failure of his health,

THE CHINESE MISSION.

to return in 1855; and, though Mr Carstairs Douglas had gone forth that same year, there was ample room and urgent need for as many labourers as could be sent. The mission was not in the advanced state in which it is now, when even the young have hymns prepared for their use in native Chinese, e.g., that one well-known in Sabbath-schools, “There is a happy land.” But the Lord had been sealing the work; for, in 1854, both in the island of Amoy, and in the province of Fuhkien, at Pechuia, Mr Burns told of an evident outpouring of the Spirit, of scenes resembling those recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and of a native church formed by the missionaries from this country in conjunction with those from America. It was in full knowledge of how the missionary work was proceeding there, that Mr Sandeman prepared to take up the sickle and go forward to the fields that were” white and ready for harvest.*’ He is now at last on his way to the closing scene of his earthly labours, though all who knew him regarded his departure as the beginning of a new season of successful work for Him whom his soul loved.