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THE START IN LIFE.

THE above title-the Start in Life-was at once suggested by a recent unexpected visit from a youthful stranger, who had been till very lately an officer in the East India service, but had now begun an entirely new career. Being much interested in the object of his visit-special efforts on behalf of young men-I felt desirous to know the true commencement of his own life, and how, through the grace of God, he had started in the race for glory and immortality. He at once met my desire. He had been, he said, trained up by pious parents. Many were the prayers, anxious were the instructions, of his devoted Christian mother, to lead him, in very early youth, to the Saviour. But, ere long, the whole of these efforts appeared to be frustrated, and these affectionate and oft repeated lessons lost for ever. At the age of fifteen, he entered an East India Company's vessel, and from year to year rushed heedlessly onward in the path to ruin! Regardless of all counsel, he plunged into every vice; never entering the house of God when on shore; and altogether neglecting the reading of God's holy word.

After

But a mother's fervent, believing prayers had been registered in heaven; and evidence was soon to be given, that her anxious efforts for the salvation of her child, and the corresponding holy example of his parents, had not been in vain. seven long years spent in sin-and many almost miraculous escapes from destruction by shipwreck and other disasters-a new year was about to dawn on the prodigal son. The miseries which he had endured often caused him to tremble in anticipation of the "wrath to come;" but they produced no abiding effect on his mind. At last he was startled from his fearful

delusions, by being suddenly called to behold the dead body of the fireman of the vessel-to whom he had spoken but a little before in perfect health-lying fearfully mutilated before him on the deck. He had been killed by a derangement of the machinery under his charge. The young officer exclaimed, in view of the dread spectacle-"To whom shall this sudden death be a warning? God grant it may be me!"

His prayer was heard. From that hour he began to live for eternity. He became deeply alarmed for the safety of his soul. Soon his mother's long-slighted instructions rushed into his mind with the freshness of yesterday. Though unacquainted with the nature of justification by faith, yet remembering her precious lessons, he knew full well where to gothat Jesus Christ was the Saviour of sinners-and that he must in humble confidence apply to Him for pardon and salvation through his atoning blood. "I paced up and down the deck," said he, "during the whole of my watch that night, looking stedfastly at the beautiful constellation, "the Cross," only visible in the southern hemisphere. I think I hardly took off my eyes from it. I sought out from a heap of rubbish my long-neglected Bible, which my father had given me years before, and spent much time in reading it. I at once gave myself up, soul, body, and spirit to the service of the Redeemer, who had died to save me from destruction; and within one fortnight from the date of my awakening, without a human counsellor to advise me, having only my Bible, a few tracts, and the recollection of my mother's instructions to guide me, I knew that I had obtained pardon for all my sins, and peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Before that happy hour arrived, my inward alarms, conflicts, and temptations were great indeed; nevertheless, I fixed my mind on that simple promise of the Redeemer, “Ask, and ye shall receive." I read the chapter of the New Testament in which these words are recorded (Luke xi.) with increasing interest night after night; and with all my heart pleaded for pardoning mercy, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Had worlds been offered me, they would have been

nothing in my sight like the pardon I wanted! In seeking this inestimable blessing, I kept ever in view those precious words, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest"-and "Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." What would I not have given for some one to direct my soul! But I knew of none on board the ship. We were then coming from Singapore to Madras. But when at length, through grace, my burden was removed, and the peace of God dawned on my anxious soul, I determined to return to England, and dedicate the remainder of my days either at home or abroad to advancing the cause of Him who had so marvellously saved my soul from eternal ruin, and made me a monument of his grace! "Is anything too hard for the Lord ?" "His mercy endureth for ever."

This, then, was the young officer's "Start in Life;" a period to which, it is trusted, he will look back with deepest humiliation and gratitude for ever and ever. Several years have since passed away; but he is enabled increasingly to respond to the beautiful language of the well known hymn :

"Now will I tell to sinners round

What a dear Saviour I have found;

I'll point to his atoning blood,

And say-Behold the way to God!"

My dear reader,-Have you also begun this race to glory? If not, it is high time you had started. Death is at hand. It will then be too late. The commencement of a new year is ever hailed with joy by multitudes of all descriptions, who, notwithstanding the sorrows and disappointments of former years, still look forward to the history of every new one with buoyant hope. But to the reflecting mind, it is only a new stage in the journey to the grave. For though we cannot declare what is to be on the morrow, far less look distinctly through the vista of a prospective year, yet, from the principle of our immortal existence, our minds do stretch forward intuitively to the time and eternity before us. But while, on this principle, the true Christian truly sympathises with all his fellows in the ordinary period-which annually records the flight

of time, and our rapid approach to the eternal world; yet he chiefly reckons his new year from another date altogether, even from the happy period when, through grace, Christ was "formed in his heart the hope of glory,"-the happy period which marked the true "start in life,"-his redemption from sin and Satan,—the commencement of his career to a blissful immortality! On the same delightful principle the Israelites were commanded, when mercifully delivered from their oppressors, to date their future years from "the month Abib” (Exod. xii. ver. 2), the time of their redemption out of the house of bondage, and from the sufferings of Egypt.

Thus the Christian looks back with grief to all his time previous to his awakening and conversion to God, as a fearful blank,-an eternal loss,—a dreary waste filled with elements of misery, lamentation, and ruin! He feels assured that before he came to Christ he was truly dead in the sight of God; dead in trespasses and sins; having not one single principle of real good in his heart or soul; being without God, and without hope in the world. He now gratefully and most humbly acknowledges, to the glory of sovereign grace, that his first "start in life" was, when, like the young officer, he exclaimed from the heart, "God be merciful to me a sinner." "I will arise, and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." Then, when he looked to the Lamb of God who bore the burden of his guilt, and thus drew near to God, pleading for pardon through his blood, and with his whole heart dedicating himself to his service and glory; then, and then only, he began to live-he started on his race for glory. For at that moment the ancient anthem was sung in heaven with seraphic joy over the new-born soul-"This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." (Luke xv. 10-32.)

The beginning of the spiritual life of every man, however obscure, appears awfully sublime, when it is viewed as the first spring of an everlasting existence-the germination of an immortal-thrice happy being! Thus the events of such an individual history may be so trifling as to their bearings on this

THE ENGLISH MONTHLY TRACT SOCIETY, 27, RED LION SQUARE, LONDON.

world, as to be unworthy of record; and yet, when they are viewed in reference to the immortal spirit, and its everlasting destinies, the smallest of them has an importance which exceeds the limits of our powers to appreciate or comprehend. For who can comprehend the amount of beatific joy which through endless ages shall date its glorious commencement from that little beginning-that "start in life"? There is, indeed, nothing extraordinary in the appearance of the parent-spring of a magnificent river. And yet the first sight of the little stream, peacefully gliding down the valley, inspires the traveller with feelings of profound interest and wonder. Whence this sudden emotion? Because he regards that rivulet as the commencement of a deep, broad, sempiternal river, rolling its majestic flood into the ocean. Such, then, is spiritual life. However small in its beginnings at the cross of Christ, when the trembling sinner first beholds the Lamb of God bleeding for his sins, and exclaims from the heart

All my trust on thee is stayed,

All my help from thee I bring;
Cover my defenceless head

With the shadow of thy wing.

Plenteous grace with thee is found,
Grace to pardon all my sin;

Let the healing streams abound,

Make and keep me pure within ;—

however chequered with remaining darkness, doubts, and fears, -it is nevertheless the grand source of an ever deepening river of spiritual life, which, through the Holy Ghost, shall flow on to the remotest futurity, enlarging in blessedness for ever and ever.

Have you then, dear reader, let it be again demanded, thus started for eternal felicity? If not,-be assured you are every day hastening to the region of everlasting sorrow and despair. Every new year, and all that marks the flight of time, but tells of your increasing nearness to final perdition-where "hope never comes." Oh remember that life does not end at death,

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