much thou wilt lose! All through it this side of the spiritual world
presses close on the human side. I thank God for it. Yes, indeed! Many
things I hear and see which say to me that Christians now have a kind of
shame in what is mystical or supernatural. But thou be sure of this--the
supernaturalism of the Bible, and of every Christian life is not one of
the difficulties of our faith, _it is the foundation of our faith_. The
Bible is a supernatural book, the law of a supernatural religion; and to
part with this element is to lose out of it the flavor of heaven, and
the hope of immortality. Yes, indeed!"

This conversation occurred thirty years ago. Two years since, I met the
man who had experienced such a deliverance, and he told me again the
wonderful story, and showed me the pencil sketch which he had made of
John Balmuto in Donald Brae's cottage. He had painted from it a grand
picture of his deliverer, wearing the long black camlet cloak and
head-kerchief of the order of evangelists to which he belonged. I stood
reverently before the commanding figure, with its inspired eyes and rapt
expression; for, during those thirty years, I also had learned that it
was only those

Who ne'er the mournful midnight hours
Weeping upon their bed have sate,
Who know you not, Ye Heavenly Powers.




SIX, AND HALF-A-DOZEN.