church who would confront the Wittenberg doctors and save the vessel of our Lord. But very different was to be the result. There was among the hearers one man almost hidden through his small stature; it was Bilney. For some time he had been watching Latimer's movements, and his zeal interested him, though it was a zeal without knowledge. Bilney possessed a delicate tact, a skillful discernment of character, which enabled him to distinguish error and select the fittest method of combatting it. Accordingly, a chronicler styles him a trier of Satan's subtleties, appointed by God to detect the bad money that the enemy was circulating throughout the church. Bilney easily detected Latimer's sophisms, but at the same time loved his person and conceived the design of winning him to the gospel. But how to manage it? The prejudiced Latimer would not even listen to the evangelical Bilney. The latter reflected, prayed and at last planned a very candid and very strange plot, which led to one of the most astonishing conversions recorded in history. He went to the college where Latimer resided. "For the love of God," he said to him, "be pleased to hear my confession." Latimer, believing that his sermon against Melancthon had converted him, yielded to his request, and the pious Bilney, kneeling before the so-called cross-bearer, related to him with touching simplicity the anguish he had once felt in his soul; the efforts he had made to remove it, their unprofitableness so long as he determined to follow the precepts of the church, and, lastly, the peace he had felt when he believed that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. He described to Latimer the spirit of adoption he had received, and the happiness he experienced in being able now to call God his Father. Latimer, who expected to hear a confession, listened without mistrust. His heart was opened; and the voice of the pious Bilney penetrated it without hindrance. From time to time the confessor would have chased away the new thoughts which came crowding into his bosom, but the penitent continued. His language, at once so simple and so lively, entered like a two-edged sword. Bilney had a helper in the Holy Ghost. God spoke in Latimer's soul. He learned from God to know God; he received a new heart. At length grace prevailed; the penitent rose up, but Latimer remained seated, absorbed in thought. The strong cross-bearer contended in vain against the words of the feeble Bilney. Like Saul on the way to Damascus, he was conquered, and his conversion was instantaneous. He stammered out a few words; Bilney drew near him with love, and God scattered the darkness which still obscured his mind. He saw Jesus Christ as the only Saviour given to man, he contemplated and adored him. "I learned more by this confession," he said afterwards, 'than by much reading; I now tasted the word of God." Latimer viewed with horror the obstinate war he had waged against God; he wept bitterly; but Bilney consoled him. "Brother," said he, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." These two young men saw eye to eye. What did Bilney do that may not be attempted in any confessional by any redeemed Roman Catholic? Latimer in his life and death illustrates the power of the religion of Christ. Latimer was changed. He was devout, earnest, true. Elevated to the position of a bishop in the days of Henry VIII, he remained true to God. It is related that when the bishop presented the tyrant king with a gift he sent a copy of the New Testament with the leaf turned down and this sentence marked: "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." When apprehended by order of Bloody Mary, he said to the officer: "My friend, you are a welcome messenger to me." One day, when suffering from the severe frost and denied the comfort of a fire in his prison, he pleasantly remarked to the keeper of the tower that "if he was not taken better care of he should certainly escape out of his enemies' hands," meaning that he should perish with cold and hardship. Brought to the stake and appearing in a shroud prepared for the occasion, a remarkable change was observed in his appearance; for, whereas he had hitherto seemed a withered, decrepit and even deformed old man, he now stood perfectly upright, a straight and comely person. When the fagots were lighted he turned and said to Bishop Ridley, burning with him: "Be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." The flames rose; and Ridley, in a wonderfully loud voice, exclaimed, "Into thy hand, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Latimer, on the other side, as vehemently cried out, "O Father of heaven, receive my soul !" and welcoming, as it were, the flame, he embraced it, bathed his hands in it, stroked his venera or none. ble face with them, and soon died, seemingly with little pain, Beneath the shadow of such sacrifices, let us thank God for the opportunities furnished us to proclaim the truth and count our mercies. Bilney loved. He died a martyr and counted his joy to suffer for Christ. Let us remember, finally : 6. To win Romanists demands an overmastering love for souls. Follow a lost soul to hell. Romanists understand this, and give all they have to get that loved personality out of purgatory. The Romanists are deceived. If saved, they must be saved here and now. To do this, we must track them to their haunts and preach Christ to them where they live. In convents, redeemed nuns have proclaimed the truth to the dying and saved them. This is a work in which all can engage. Workingmen in Biddeford, Me., and Charlestown, Mass., filled their pockets with New Testaments and loaned or gave them to their companions. Many were saved. On New England's rock-bound coast thousands of sailors were imperilled by the storm which ploughed up the deep and piled along the shore many stout and sturdy ships. The Life Saving crew were up and at it. They would not be stopped by peril. They pushed out and brought in their men. Princely people stood in the storm by the shore and took the half famished sailors and wrapped them in blankets and carried them to their homes and warmed and fed them, to save their bodies. A mightier storm is raging. It has emptied the refuse of Europe upon our shores. them Christ died. They are ignorant; they may be vicious; they may be uncanny; nevertheless, for them Christ stretched himself upon the cross, went through the agony of suffering and in the might of God and with the tones of victory exclaimed, "It is finished." No purgatory beyond. No masses for the dead reWho, when God inquires quired here. Christ is all and in all. For "Whom shall I send?" will reply, "Here am I, send me" to work for the saving of Romanists from death and hell to Christ and hope? HOW ROMANISTS DECEIVE ROMAN ISTS. 'For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Prov. 23:7. Romanists in their hearts believe in Romanism. They show it. They are to be honored for their courage and pitied because of their delusion. The question of indulgences has been thrust upon the attention of the American people. Romanists, as is their wont, are attempting to deceive. This deception reveals a state of affairs that calls for sober and calm reflection. No lie is of the truth. No liar hath a part in eternal life. "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Romanists are no exception, and yet is it not true that in regard to religion or business, the word of a Romanist and the oath of a Romanist is at a discount, especially if the interests of the church demand, in his opinion, a misstatement? 1. Romanists deceive Romanists because their religion is built on a lie. The As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Thinking a lie in the heart makes a man a liar. Thinking in the heart determines character, and character determines conduct. Let us apply these self-evident truths to the circumstances that environ us. We are dealing with millions of people who we know think a lie and act a lie. Romanism is in itself a fraud. Its taproot is falsehood. tree through all its branches is deception. ting how much it involves? It is said the honesty is falling out of business. It is May not the result be traced to this cause? tion and lying, are we not guilty of the sin? upon the youth. We are taking them out of the association of peoFle who are taught to tell the truth and to scorn a lie, and shutting them up with men whose so-called theology teaches them that an untruth may be told without sin. If it be told in one case, it may Do we say this forgetbottom of old-fashioned an alarming statement. If we tolerate decepThink of its influence may in all. We are dealing with a just and holy God, who cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. They that offend in one point offend in all. The one jot or tittle of the law is dear to God, and He will not tolerate its violation. Some one has said a lie adhered to is as good as a truth. Nothing could be more false as to results, nothing more true as to appearance. A lie can never be a truth. Take a wrong road, and the farther you go the more you are astray. Believing a lie brings damnation quite as much as does the rejection of the truth. This is not the current opinion. Thousands declare, No matter what you believe, so that you are honest about it. That does not prove true in mechanics. The underwriters declare a ship unseaworthy and refuse to insure her. The captain believes in her, pulls out, gets out upon the ocean, a storm strikes her, and because of her weakness she goes down. Faith did no good. The leak in the ship, the worm-eaten bottom or the rotted rib did the business. Romanism is false from heart to cuticle, from centre to circumference. It is built on the declaration that Christ said to Peter, I will build on you my church, when he never said anything of the kind, but that I will build my church on the confession of my being the Son of God, which Peter made. The lie is adhered to. Men build on it, and reject Christ and are lost. That is not all. They do harm. They give time and strength to supporting a lie. Rome claims that Peter lived in Rome, when history shows he never saw it or never dwelt a night there, and yet Romanists cling to it. Receiving this untruth paves the way to the acceptance of others. The story is told of a certain dog that believed a squirrel was in a certain hole. Every one knew the dog was deceived, and yet there he stayed, despite all persuasions and abuse. He believed that the squirrel was in the hole, or claimed to, and often when caught looking there, with a sheepish face, he would seem to say, Let me alone; the delusion does me good. So they let him stay and watch the hole. Romanists are indulged in the same way. Few try to expose their errors. The many claim. It is an innocent amusement; let them cling to error and do not attempt to displace it with the truth. Do you know what such logic is doing? It is fostering error. is begetting peril. Romanists worship a man instead of God, take tradition instead of the scriptures, and turn away from the path It |