CHAPTER II.

Settlement at Unterthingau-Conversion

WHEN BOOS entered on his clerical duties at Unterthingau, probably any one who should have ventured to intimate a doubt of his fitness for the office, would have been met by the self-justifying interrogatory, "What lack I yet?" From his earliest years his conduct had been irreproachable; his application to his literary and theological studies had been close and successful; and he was habitually conscientious and devout. Such he was in the eyes of his fellow-men. Yet his heart was not at rest, nor was his mind spiritually_enlightened. He could not say with St. Paul, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." He was trying to be his own Saviour, and to find for himself a path to heaven. His good works, mortifications, and fasts, were the sacrifices he offered to God for expiating his sins, and obtaining everlasting life. Let us listen to his own account of himself. In a letter to a friend, written more than twenty years afterwards, dated December 17, 1811, he thus writes::

"You speak of me as a constant martyr, and so I have been. In early life my sins made me a martyr; for a long time I knew no Saviour from them but myself. And when, at a later period I had found a Saviour, I was martyred by the consistories and Judaizers, who, by threats, disputations, and exile, would have robbed me of my faith and my Saviour; and this tragedy is kept up to the present time. Add to this, Satan, and my own wicked, presumptuous, desponding heart. It is a miracle that I am still alive. I feel myself dreadfully old, though I am hardly fifty. I once took immense pains (I speak as a fact) to be a very pious man. For example, for years together, even in winter, I lay on the cold floor. I scourged myself till I bled again. I fasted and gave my bread to the poor. spent every hour I could spare in the church or the cemetery. I confessed and took the sacrament almost every week. In short, I gained such a character for piety, that I was appointed prefect of the congregation by the Ex-Jesuits. But what a life I led! The prefect, with all his sanctity, became more and more absorbed in self; melancholy, anxious, and formal. The saint was evermore exclaiming in his heart, 'O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?' and no one replied, The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' No one gave the sick man that spiritual specific, The just shall live by faith; and when I had obtained it, and found

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the benefit of it, the whole world, with all its learning and spiritual authority, would have persuaded me that I had swallowed poison, and was poisoning all around me; that I deserved to be hung, drowned, immured, banished, or burnt. I know not a more timorous mortal than myself, and yet, timid hare as I am, the whole world dreads and opposes me. Nothing would gratify me more than to be at rest, unknown, and unrenowned; but so it is, few are more talked about than I am in all quarters. Such, in brief, is the course of my life. When I am dead, give the world my best wishes and say, the only specific I can bequeath for its maladies is, The just shall live by faith.' This has cured myself and others. But if it has no confidence in me and my prescription, I cannot help it. I tried as long as other people the notion that a man can be saved and justified by his own doings; but I have found in an ancient document that we are to be justified and saved for Christ's sake, without our merits, and in this faith I, shall die. If others will not make use of this bridge, they must wade through the stream; but let them see to it, that they are not drowned."

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The manner in which he was brought into a state of evangelical light and freedom is related in another letter, written in prison at Lintz, December 3, 1815.

"I rejoice that, after such a lapse of time, and so many sufferings, you can still believe

that Christ began this work in me, which to the world is so strange and offensive. It commenced in a very simple manner.

"In 1788 or 1789 I visited

a sick person, who was respected for her deep humility and exemplary piety. I said to her, 'You will die very peacefully and happily.'

she asked.

'Why so?' 'Because you have led,' I replied, 'such a pious and holy life.' The good woman smiled at my words and said, 'If I leave the world relying on my own piety, I am sure I shall be lost. But relying on Jesus my Saviour, I can die in comfort. What a clergyman you are! what an admirable comforter! If I listened to you, what would become of me? How could I stand before the Divine tribunal, where every one must give an account even of her idle words? Which of our actions and virtues would not be found wanting if laid in the Divine balances? No; if Christ had not died for me, if he had not made satisfaction for me, I should have been lost for ever, notwithstanding all my good works and pious conduct. He is my hope, my salvation, and my eternal happiness.""

Such is the account given by the good man of the beginning of his deep acquaintance with the mystery of the redemption by Jesus Christ. He found instruction where he sought it not, He entered the house of affliction to console without knowing the true consolation. At first he was astounded and ashamed that what he, after all his studies, was ignorant of,

should be taught him by a simple-hearted woman on her death-bed. Happily for him, he was humble enough not to reject the truth when conveyed to him by so mean an instrument. It made an indelible impression on his mind, and formed the foundation of his future faith and life.

From this period, Boos received Christ as his Saviour wholly and entirely, and tasted the peace and joy of salvation. But henceforth, he also found how true it is that they "who will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution." He preached salvation by grace, the gift of God, which man must be content to receive as a free and undeserved gift; and to preach such a doctrine in a church where, though the name of Christ was preserved, human works were substituted as the means of salvation, was to shake its very foundations, and to incur the hatred and opposition of its adherents. But he was firm against all their assaults. The Saviour upheld him, and enabled him to "rejoice that he was accounted worthy to suffer for his name's sake."

Of his labours in his first parish, we possess no information except what is contained in a letter from an officer in the Austrian army who, in his boyhood, received religious instruction from Boos. They met again, thirty years afterwards, in Austria. Boos was then persecuted and in prison; but received from his former pupil every attention that affection