We will only add that a gathering from among the boat people, as from the omnibus men, is being made to the Lord Jesus, and as they approach Him, the Saviour, their spiritual fetters are broken, and the outward fetters of their calling fall away. Duty, compassion, patriotism, require that these thousands of the oppressed should have opportunity to worship Jehovah in His temple, and to become acquainted with His laws, and the wonders of His grace. Remember, oh ye people who have been chosen and called to form the Church of the Redeemed on earth; remember that it is your dignity, as well as duty, to help all who are oppressed; everywhere to proclaim the freedom of the kingdom "set up in the earth;" that to you the enraptured words of the prophet are addressed with royal command and sustaining promises: "Thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places ... for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them."[2]
Ye have not sowed in vain! Though the heavens seem as brass, And, piercing the crust of the burning plain, Ye scan not a blade of grass.
Yet there is life within, And waters of life on high: One morn ye shall wake, and the spring's soft green O'er the moistened fields shall lie.
Tears in the dull, cold eye, Light on the darkened brow, The smile of peace or the prayerful sigh, Where the mocking smile sits now.
Went ye not forth with prayer? Then ye went not forth in vain: "The Sower, the Son of Man," was there, And His was that precious grain.
CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY--FAITH--THE MACHINERY MAN--MAN'S INNER WORLD--SIN REPROVED--CONVERSE UPON AN OMNIBUS--THE INFLUENCE OF TRUTH--THE BIBLE ONLY--COMMUNICATION ESTABLISHED--BROUGHT NIGH, VERY NIGH.
"And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." ACTS xiii. 44.
"They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament:" they who have the wisdom of God in a mystery, or the hidden wisdom,--the knowledge not to be found by searching the works of creation, or in the discoveries and developments of science and philosophy. This wisdom cometh from above, and is therefore communicated by the all-wise and eternal Jehovah. This, and this alone, can enlighten man spiritually, invest him with power to comprehend the central and infinite in truth, and lead him to the attainment of those graces and perfections which can alone fit him for the reception of reflected glory, and raise him to a place before the throne of ineffable light and purity.