THE LATTER DAYS.

ALTHOUGH I at one time supposed that it never could be possible for me to put pen to paper with the view of writing my own history, or of making myself the hero of a narrative-yet the circumstance of having found myself engaged in adventures, the recapitulation of which may be the means of conveying deep instruction to the present generation, viz. to those living in the latter times, has induced me to emerge from the obscurity in which my little worth and mean parentage seemed to have involved me.

My name is NICODEMUS; I am of an ordinary family, and my birthplace was in a far country; my age is now about twenty-five; and all the events which I mean to enlarge upon took place when I was in my twenty-fourth year.

I earned my living in my own country until the period spoken of above, under several masters, but not in subordinate situations, having received the best education which the place could afford, and being ready as a writer, and well acquainted with ancient tongues. Nevertheless, finding my services unprofitable, and not clearly seeing how in the long run 1 should be bettered by them, for my wages were such only as provided for my present wants-perishing as it were in the use of them, I began to be uneasy, and to cast about, as it were, for a master who would take care of me in case of the failure of health, or any other accident; and not seeing anywhere in all that country a master of this description, I remained a while in an uneasy, unsettled state, in consequence of which I found my affairs falling from bad to worse from day to day.

It was just about this time, while feeling myself as it were without friend or means of support, that I received

* "Which all of them are to perish with the using.” Col ii. 22. VOL. II.-N

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a letter from an uncle whom I had never seen, inasinuch as he had left his own family years before, having been called to the service of a Master, of whom our people spoke lightly-and therefore we had been in the habit of considering this our relation, in the light of a branch cut from a tree, and as it were thrown to the burning. I was therefore not a little surprised when the letter, sent by a careful messenger, was put into my hands, together with that which was to defray the expense of my journey."

Now the terms in which this letter was couched were those of exceeding kindness, so that while I read it, my heart warmed to the writer, and I instantly resolved to do that which he so earnestly recommended; for this letter was to invite, nay, to entreat, to supplicate me, as I valued my future happiness, to leave all that I had behind me, and to come forthwith to take part with him. The words of the letter were to this effect:

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"My Master is the best of masters, his service is easy beyond that of all other masters, and his wages, with one privilege and another, are past all count, and beyond all calculation:-but lest you should be anxious concerning your reception, my nephew, I give you my word that, as long as I have lived in his blessed service, and that has been (through his goodness and through no merit of my own) from my youth up, until now, I have never seen any one who was brought to seek his service, whom he in anywise cast out."+

Such was my uncle's letter; and I being like the prodigal son in the Scriptures, feeding with the swine, and knowing not where to lay my head, it was not for me to decline such an offer as this; therefore, having made what inquiry I could respecting the way, and being little encumbered with worldly goods, I set out upon my journey.

1 do not intend to trouble my reader with the history of my travels, but shall begin to tell my adventures with some particularity only just where I came in sight of the lands which belonged more especially to my uncle's Master, whom henceforward I shall designate by the title

• "Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way, and thus did he unto them." Gen. xlii. 25.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out." John vi. 37.

of the Lord, or my Lord,—or our Lord; for although there were other great men and people in authority dwelling in those parts, there were none, as I afterward found, worthy to be called Lord or Master, but the one into whose service I had been invited to enter; fo though the call to me had been through the medium of my uncle, he was, as I afterward learned, but the instrument in the hand of the Master with whom the invitation had originated, and to whom in fact I owed my promotion. Hence, therefore, although I was indebted to my uncle for the readiness with which he had obeyed his Master's orders in sending for me, yet as my worthy kinsman took great pains to prove to me, I was not by any means to consider him as my benefactor or patron; seeing that the servants of the Master are, at the best, but as the moon shining with a borrowed light, and liable to variations and total eclipses, while the Master is as the sun shining in his strength, and shedding his glory through all creation. But although I have said that it is not my intention to give much account of my journey, yet I must not forget to say that I made it my business as I went along, to inquire what might be known respecting the Lord, in the countries through which I passed: I could however hear little of what 1 wanted to know. Many told me that they had never so much as heard of his name; others told me again, that they had indeed heard of him, but that he was much like others, an honourable man indeed, but not more than another, although in my uncle's letter he was described as "one of a thousand;" and another sort laughed in my face, saying, that there never was such a person as I described; but as these last seemed to speak without understanding, I paid little regard to them, and so went on. At length I came, still following my uncle's direction, who had in his letter given me such marks for my road as I could not mistake, to the borders of my Lord's territory, or rather to the borders of that portion thereof which he had set apart for his own peculiar pleasuro

"Call no man your Father upon earth, for one is your Father which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters, for one is your Master, even Christ." Matt. xxiii. 9, 10.

"My beloved is the chicfest among ten thousand." Cant. v. 10. "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Psalm iv. 1 "The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." Isaial,

xxxv. 8.

and service: and truly, when I first obtained the prospect thereof, I could almost have felt that I was like Moses viewing the land of Canaan from the top of Pisgah, so fair and ravishing was the sight; for there was nothing to be seen to the right and left, and as far away as the eye could reach, but mountains and hills rising one above another, until those which were most remote, and which lay in the quarter of the east, were so high as to be covered with eternal snow, some of the sparkling summits of which were seen above the clouds, and seemed as if unattainable by the foot of man; † but the nearer hills being lower, were covered with fine trees, and were running down with brooks and fountains of waters. It was indeed a land of brooks gushing forth in he valleys; and there were rivers wandering among the meadows, and large pastures abounding with flocks and herds, and fragrant brakes, and copses filled with multitudes of birds, whose thrilling notes of joy filled the ear, and orchards of fruit trees, and fields rich with all manner of grain; and all these things burst upon my signt, as I might say, at once, as I emerged from a narrow strait, or pass of the road. Surely, I cried, I am come to a fair land, and fallen into a goodly heritage; and if in the countries which are very far off, they deny the existence of the Lord of this land, or mock at his name, there will be none here but such as will be ready to speak well of him, seeing how plenty is spread through all his domains, and how every man might dwell here under his own vine, and his own fig-tree, and enjoy a peace which the servants of other masters can but ill conceive. So I hastened onward, and in measure as I proceeded, other objects opened to my view. I saw many pretty cottages and little dwellings perched here and there on the sides of the hills, alone and single, or in groups and clusters, and soon afterward the towers of the castle or principal seat opened unto me, being, as I saw on a nearer app-oach, an edifice composed of strong timbers curiously wrought and fashioned, having

• "My well-beloved hath vineyard in a very fruitful hill. Isaiah v. 1.

"As the mountains we 1 Jund about Jerusalem." Psalm cxxv. 2. "A land of brooks." Deut. viii. 7.

"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." Psalm i. 10.

"The fowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of

many windows and various galleries of lattice* work, the foundations being of stone, for the house stood upon a platform of rock-work,† and behold the sun was shining on some parts of this mansion, which I shall henceforth call the castle, and it looked exceedingly handsome, set as it was in beautiful gardens, with trees of lign-aloe, and cedar; but between me and the castle was a sort of little town or village, and I must needs pass through this town, for it lay directly in the road; there was, however, an air of comfort shed over the place as I saw it from the distance; so my spirits were high, and I thought all was smooth before me, and all troubles at an end; and in this temper I walked on, full of anticipations of the comfortable life I was to lead with my uncle, in the service of the best of masters; nevertheless, as I went on, I was struck with one or two circumstances which indicated less attention to order in the management of the estate than I had expected to find in the domain of such a one as the Lord. I had, indeed, built my expectations very high, and had filled myself with the notion, that as soon as I should set my foot on my Lord's land, I should find every thing arranged and ordered in such a way as that the most fastidious person should have no fault to find. Yet I cannot now say whereon I built my expectations; surely not from any expressions used in my uncle's letter, but (as he made it to appear afterward to me) from notions of my own hastily taken up. I have often since considered, it is surprising how apt we are when first meditating upon any new plan of life, to go beyond what we have grounds for, and thus very often to prepare stumbling-blocks for our own feet: accordbirds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." Cant. ii. 12.

"He looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattices." Cant. ii. 9.

"Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you, there fore, which believe, he is precious: but unto them which be disobe dient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner." 1 Peter ii. 6.

"And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong." Psalın Xxx. 6, 7.

"But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while; for when tribulation. or persecution ariseth because of the word, by-and by he is offended. Matt. xiii. 20, 21.