JAIRUS; OR, THE HOME MISSIONARY. CHAPTER I. "The soul, whose sight all-quickening grace renews, She speaks of Him, her Author, Guardian, Friend, Cowper. "O, MY father!" exclaimed Jairus, as he appeared amidst the family circle, "pardon the apparently dictatorial language which my feelings prompt me to employ;- we must, indeed we must, have family-worship." A tremulous emotion agitated the strongly-excited youth, and prevented further utterance. Duty, fear, and love pervaded his mind in rapid succession, or at once mingled within him their varied and almost overpowering influences. B It was the close of a peaceful Sabbath-day, of which, without any poetical exaggeration, it might have been said,— "If heaven be ever felt below, A scene so heavenly, sure, as this when he had just returned from a solemn meeting, in which eventide's oblation, rising from the heart in prayer and praise, had ascended to God. His soul had recently realized the rich and sensible enjoyment of pardoning grace; and as the awful abyss from which, like "a brand plucked from the burning," he had newly felt himself delivered, yawned in undisguised horror before his mind's eye, he felt the imminent danger threatening those who gave him birth, and he consequently, with the intensest anxiety, sought their salvation. Awhile he stood in silence before his beloved parents and the family; his eye, however, expressed the sentiments of deep affection and powerful solicitude, which his lips were unable to utter. At length, a bursting flood of tears relieved his oppressed and heaving bosom, and he urged, with all the force of rhetoric, prompted by powerful feeling, his former request, that a family altar might be erected for the worship of God. "I am welcomed with gratitude and gladness," resumed Jairus, "by numerous pious individuals and families whom I visit, and to some of whom I am permitted to indulge the cheering thought, that I have been made an honoured, though humble instrument of saving benefit; but, amidst the real gratification such a hope is calculated to impart, one thing continues to embitter all my pleasures, and robs me of the high enjoyment I should otherwise possess ;—the afflictive and dejecting consideration that, on returning from those welcome visits of mercy and holy usefulness, I behold you, my beloved parents, ignorant and unconcerned about salvation, and our entire household living awfully exposed to the fearful curse denounced by Asaph, that the Lord will "pour out his wrath upon the heathen that have not known him, and upon the families that have not called upon his name. Permit me, therefore, I entreat you, successfully to plead that here the Scriptures of Truth may regularly be read, and a family altar erected." Silence succeeded this request. The family inmates gazed on each other, while symptoms of guilty confusion appeared visible chiefly on the countenances of both the parents. With a view to relieve the embarrassment, Jairus modestly proposed that an answer to the request he had made should be deferred until the following evening, when he hoped his parents would at least see the propriety, if they should not feel the importance of compliance. This proposal was willingly, although silently agreed to; and the members of the astonished group retired to their several apartments. Jairus alone remained. Sleep pressed not, as yet, upon his eyelids. His mind laboured amidst a variety of contending feelings. Awhile hope fluttered around him, and presented to his imagination the lengthening train of rich and spiritual blessings which would descend on his parental abode, on the recognition of a mercy-seat where "Duly, as night came round, or rosy morn Now, fear of a refusal, on the part of his parents, or, at most, a cold and unfeeling assent to his request, oppressed his bosom, and blighted at once, all the blooming prospects to which hope's bright visions had given existence. At length, falling upon his knees, in the deep and sacred solemnity of his feelings, and with the vehemence of holy fervour, and unfolding the word of God before him, he pleaded its encouraging promises; and, as Abraham wrestled with Jehovah for ungodly Sodom, he urged his petitions before the Lord for his parents and brethren and sisters after the flesh, earnestly beseeching that he might be rendered the honoured instrument of banishing practical atheism from his father's house, and of leading those through whom he had been brought to see the natural light to behold the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." The tranquillity of faith then possessed his soul, and commending himself and his connexions to the protection of Him "that keepeth Israel," he retired to enjoy, on his peaceful couch, "Tir'd nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep." How delightful is it thus to contemplate, in actual life, an illustration of the truth of Scripture, "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God." Not only is love inseparable from the Christian character, but it is the vital spirit of our holy religion; hence, "He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is LOVE." That person who, calling himself a Christian, still feels no yearnings of soul, nor any commiseration towards those of his fellow-creatures who are still under the condemning and degrading power of sin, makes an unauthorized claim to the religion of the Saviour: or, to employ the language of a distinguished and elegant writer of our day, "He that would not compass sea and land, if called to it, to save a soul, has not learned the value of his own.' It would be equally improper to call such a man a Christian, as it would be to denominate him a miser who never felt any love for gold. No sooner is the soul renewed by the Divine Spirit than it enquires, with the apostle of the Gentiles, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do?" It beholds the "world lying in wickedness," and feels anxious to interest others about |