llowed of any intimacy. Wherever he was, however he would allow of
no light or frivolous conversation, and he did not hesitate to rebuke
those who gave utterance to any profane or coarse expressions. Donald
had heard him spoken of as an over religious man. That he was a strict
one he had evidence, when one day, while several fellow-voyagers were
indulging in unseemly conversation, Mr Skinner approached them.

"Will you allow me to ask you a question, and I trust you will not be
offended, are you Christians?" he asked.

"Of course, Mr Skinner, of course we are," answered two or three of the
party, in the same breath.

"Then you will desire to follow the example of the Master whose name you
bear," he replied. "And He has said, `Be ye holy for I am holy.' `By
their fruits shall ye know them.' Now the fruits of the lips which you
have been producing are directly opposed to His commands. Can you
suppose that He who hears all you utter will be otherwise than grieved
and offended with the words you have just been speaking? Out of the
mouth the heart speaketh. Let me entreat you to examine your hearts,
and judge what is within them, and then ask yourselves whether they have
been changed. Whether `you are holy as God is holy,' whether you are
real or only nominal Christians. You are voyaging together to a country
where you expect to prosper--to secure an independence, and to enjoy
happiness and contentment for the remainder of your lives; but, my
friends, would you not act wisely to look beyond all this? As our
voyage in this ship must come to an end, so must our voyage through
life, and what then? Again I repeat, that though by nature depraved,
prone to evil, full of sin, with hearts desperately wicked, God says to
all who desire to enter the kingdom of heaven, to become heirs of
eternal life, to be prepared to go and dwell with Him, to enjoy eternal
happiness instead of eternal misery, `Be ye holy as I am holy.' You
will ask me, how can that be? I reply, take God at His word. He would
not tell us to be what we cannot be. He does not mock us with His
commands. He has said, `Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved.' But He does not mean that your belief is to be merely
affirmative; it is not sufficient only to acknowledge that Christ lived
and died on the cross. All Scripture shows that you must have a living
active faith in the complete and finished work of Christ. You must look
to Him as