"What must be done, sir?"

"You MUST ENTER THE FOLD--and have communion with the chosen people of
the Lord. Are you content to do it?"

"Oh, am I worthy," I exclaimed, "to be reckoned in the number of those
holy men?"

"I cannot doubt it; but your own spirit shall bear witness to your
state. To-morrow is our next church-meeting. There, if it be your wish,
I will propose you; messengers will be appointed to converse with you.
They will come to you, and gather, from your experience, the evidences
of your renewed, regenerated character."

"What shall I say, sir?" I asked in all simplicity.

"What says the drowning man to the hand that brings him to the shore?
Your beating heart will be too ready to acknowledge the mighty work that
has been already done on your behalf. Have you forgotten the way you
have been led? Point it out to them. Have you been plucked as a brand
from the burning? Acknowledge it to them in strains of liveliest
gratitude. Does not your soul at this moment overflow at the vivid
recollection of all the Lord has done for it and you? Will it not yearn
to sing aloud His praise when strangers come to listen to the song? Then
speak aloud to them. Do you not feel, have not a hundred circumstances
all concurred to prove, that you exist a vessel chosen to show forth His
praise? Show it to them, and let them carry back the certain proofs of
your redemption--let them convey the sweet intelligence of a brother's
safety--and let them bid the church prepare to welcome him with hymns of
praise into her loving bosom."