restraining the multitude of words,' that he withheld in every case from the repetition of opinions already expressed on the matter under discussion, but every one who heard him speak will bear testimony to the weight which attached to his judgment." "He impressed every one with the conviction that he lived near to God. He seemed to carry about with him a solemn, yet joyful consciousness of the Divine presence, which, without restraining the action of the livlier elements of a genial nature, manifestly controlled him in all that he did. If I mistake not, it was the sense of this which his brethren peculiarly felt and universally admired. It was the prominence of this, united with his intellectual gifts, which marked out the man. He seemed in the counsels of the Holy One of Israel, and essentially a minister of God." This correspondent speaks also of the "peculiar pleasure he [John Maclaren] had in conversation with ministerial friends, which had for its object the determination of the full meaning and application of some passage of holy writ. And I know," says he, "that many of the brethren were greatly impressed with the depth of earnestness, power of penetration, and yet unwavering submission to the divine authority of Scripture which he displayed in such conversations. On these occasions it was always evident how little sympathy he had with a superficial view of a text, which sufficed only for gathering together some interesting aspects of the truth, and how impossible it was for him to rest until he had a full view of the component elements of truth which the text contained. He looked into the Word of God as a treasure from which he had drawn largely, and out of which he had yet to draw riches of a value unknown to himself. It was not a toil, but a pleasure, for him to be an interpreter of inspired truth. His brethren felt, and rejoiced to acknowledge, that, in his case, the whole man was devoted to the service of God in the ministry."

He had no overweening estimate of himself. Never was there a man more entirely free of conceit; yet, with all his profound humility, he became aware of his powers, and knew what, with God's blessing, he could do.

I remember, in a conversation in regard to the plan of his church, he said, in a tone quiet and subdued, that he did not feel much concerned about it, for he was sure that, if he were spared, that building would not be the ultimate one in which the congregation would worship.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CLOSE.

MR. MACLAREN's last illness may be said to have lasted nearly eight months, from the latter part of October, 1858, to the 21st of June, 1859. Within this period lay another distinct stage of his spiritual life.

It has been stated that he had one special ground of complaint against himself during the preceding period. At that time he indeed strongly declared that he could not, on any account, wish himself back into what was undoubtedly the more legal character of the earlier stage of his Christian life; yet he complained, and bitterly complained, that with increased liberty there was not conjoined a more habitual and entire spirituality-that with freer approach to God he was yet far from dwelling constantly in the brightness of the Divine presence. If his self-restraint had during the one period been too legal, he complained that his freedom during the next was not thoroughly spiritual. It was not that he allowed himself in things that were wrong, but that, into the things which he with strict conscientiousness believed were in themselves right and Christian, he often, according to his own view, failed to carry a thoroughly Christian spirit. He had in the first years of his new life formed the highest ideal of entire spirituality and complete consecration to God, and he subsequently mourned that his life had fallen below what he had anticipated it would have been.

Doubtless, the passage is a critical one from the earlier

stage, where a certain degree of bondage has still prevailed, into one of greater freedom. There is danger lest one, in throwing off the fetters of the law, should also loosen some of the bonds of the Gospel. In refusing to receive a single precept from the hands of Law, one must at the same time receive every one of the law's precepts from the hands of Grace. In escaping through Christ from the bondage of fear, we are to yield our whole being and life to the influence of God's love.

One is to cease being legal in order to be more entirely spiritual and godly. Yet it too often happens that, in passing into liberty, believers gradually slacken, to a certain degree, that habitual watchfulness and selfdenial which Scripture enjoins, and live on a lower range of spiritual-mindedness than that which they might well have reached.

It was to an uncommon degree that John Maclaren avoided this danger. He was a man of evident and eminent spirituality. So strong was the divine light within him, that it shone before all men. Every one saw that he was a strong and steadfast man of God. There was about his whole character an impressive godliness, yet he himself complained that he often lived distantly from God. He complained that in doing God's work he often lost sight of God. But now, during the last months of his life, God took him aside from the world, and aside from work, and kept him close beside Himself. The nature of his illness did not prevent meditation, and the tent of affliction became to him the pavilion of God's presence. He was made for these months to dwell fast by God on earth, and was thereby prepared to dwell for ever in His immediate presence in heaven. In the strong sunlight of the near eternity he was ripened for the garner of the Lord. This period was indeed his autumn, when he was made ripe and ready for the eternal state.

It is astonishing after what an amount of discipline the legal spirit will prove itself to be still alive in the soul. When he began to entertain the thought that he must die under the illness that had fastened on him, he

sustained a violent assault of his old legal foe. It seemed to summon up all its remaining energies, and put forth its expiring efforts; for after the conflict had passed the movements of a legal spirit were but slightly perceptible. This conflict was doubtless one grand element in his preparation for death; but the ripening of his communion with God during the months of his illness was another. A third will be noticed in its proper place.

On the fourth Sabbath of October, 1858, which fell on the 24th of the month, the Lord's Supper was observed in Glasgow. I had gone down to assist my friend. I found him very ill. He had been with me a fortnight previously, assisting at the Communion, and had spoken with uncommon energy. Worn out with his labour, he had to leave very early on Monday morning, to attend a funeral at a distance on the other side of Glasgow. From the Railway Station he had to walk a considerable distance to the funeral, and, as he was too late, he exhausted himself in endeavouring to make up by speed for the want of time. He had immediately to return to Glasgow to the anxious labour of conversing with candidates, and such duties as precede a Communion season. There happened at this time to be extraordinary demands made upon his strength: he mistimed himself in his food and rest; he inadvertently exposed himself to keen weather with insufficient covering; and, in short, numerous circumstances beset him, which, as in other similar cases, seemed to indicate a predetermined purpose in Providence, and his system was sapped and sapped till it fell prostrate. It seemed, indeed, merely a severe cold which had seized him; but it griped him with uncommon violence. The amount of fever was very great, and his brain was frequently reeling. On the 13th of November he was so far better as to be able to write. In a letter of that date he says to me:

"I have been very ill. As a proof of it, I have scarcely any remembrance of your being here. Incidents and conversations, when retailed, I remember slightly. But I cannot by any effort recall your looks,

where you sat, how you spoke, and all those little accessories that in general stick so tenaciously to my memory. All I do remember, too, seems to have happened to me a year or two ago. I almost shudder to recall the

fearful confusion and whirl of my brain. Nevertheless, I thank God for all. I needed it. It was good. It was the best. I see his meaning in part, and hope to learn more. I think I feel already in one or two directions better for it, although I also feel that one needs special watchfulness in recovering."

But "recovering" was a slow process, and was never completed. When he had gained sufficient strength for the journey, he went out to Blairlogie for a week, and seemed something the better of it. On the 13th December he thus writes to me :

"A fortnight past last Saturday I came up to Glasgow [from Blairlogie]. I was too weak both in mind and body to preach; but, as I had been five Sabbaths out of church, I was anxious to appear among the people. Besides, there were a number of little matters I had to attend to. I went up into the pulpit at the close of the afternoon's service, and said a few words. I cannot describe the very peculiar sensations with which I ascended those pulpit steps, and looked round on those well-known and kindly beaming faces! God grant that those six weeks' silence may be more blessed to them and me than six weeks of my preaching could have been! I went back on Monday to Clifford Park, near Stirling, and spent the week with Mrs. Maclaren's uncle and aunts. On Friday evening I returned, and preached half-a-day on Sabbath. I was very poorly again that evening; had severe sickness and violent vomiting through the night, which weakened me for a day or two; but yesterday I took the whole work, and to-day feel very well indeed. I am still languid; a little fatigues Mrs. Maclaren is very well, though she was sorely wearied with her long nursing. I am very grateful to God for her. Her love seems exhaustless.

me.

.

The following letter was written to Miss Brown partly on the 20th, and partly on the 27th December: