THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. Ir was two days since the doctor had seen Mr. Soames, the invalid unto whom, as the reader will probably recollect, he had given so much comfort on a former occasion. He now directed his steps to his abode, in the hopes of administering to him the Holy Sacrament. The sick man on his entrance signified the pleasure he felt upon seeing him, but added, that he was not quite prepared to perform the promise which he had given to the doctor. 'My thoughts,' said he, have been fixed upon the Author of Christianity, and upon the scheme of his redeeming love. As I confessed to you, till very lately, I denied the Saviour of the world, and before I receive the Sacrament, I should like to hear you prove his divinity, not that now I entertain the least doubt, but I wish it, in order that my faith may be strengthened and established by conviction, and that I may give a reason for the hope that is in me. With respect to the Deity, every thing around me intimates his presence, and satisfies me of his existence. And nothing more so than the manner in which his goodness has wrought upon me lately. I felt and feel from the bottom of my soul, that it was divinity that moved within me. Upon your first seeing me, all, like the waves of a troubled ocean, was confused and boisterous, the thoughts and senses destined by the Almighty to administer to our pleasures, conveyed to me only pains and tortures; the memory of deeds committed in days gone by,.... the sting of conscience harassed my peace of mind, and brought me to that wretched state wherein you found me. But God, blessed be his name! has worked miracles in my behalf; he has partially calmed the troubled soul, and the halycon Peace again broods over the face of the waters. He has spared me, no doubt, to bring about his good |