an one case submitted to a costly operation at the
hands of a skilful surgeon.

Some will doubtless say that even this man of faith lacked the faith
necessary for the healing of his own body; but we must let him speak for
himself, and especially as he gives his own view of the gift and the
grace of faith. He says that the _gift_ of faith is exercised, whenever
we "do or believe a thing where the not doing or not believing would
_not_ be sin"; but the _grace_ of faith, "where we do or believe what
not to do or believe _would_ be sin"; in one case we have no unequivocal
command or promise to guide us, and in the other we have. The gift of
faith is not always in exercise, but the grace must be, since it has the
definite word of God to rest on, and the absence or even weakness of
faith in such circumstances implies sin. There were instances, he adds,
in which it pleased the Lord at times to bestow upon him something like
the gift of faith so that he could ask unconditionally and expect
confidently.

This journal we may now dismiss as a whole, having thus looked at the
general features which characterize its many pages. But let it be
repeated that to any reader who will for himself carefully examine its
contents its perusal will prove a means of grace. To read a little at a
time, and follow it with reflection and self-examination, will be found
most stimulating to faith, though often most humiliating by reason of
the conscious contrast suggested by the reader's unbelief and
unfaithfulness. This man lived peculiarly with God and in God, and his
senses were exercised to discern good and evil. His conscience became
increasingly sensitive and his judgment singularly discriminating, so
that he detected fallacies where they escape the common eye, and foresaw
dangers which, like hidden rocks ahead, risk damage and, perhaps,
destruction to service if not to character. And, therefore, so far is
the writer of this memoir from desiring to displace that journal, that
he rather seeks to incite many who have not read it to examine it for
themselves. It will to such be found to mark a path of close daily walk
with God, where, step by step, with circumspect vigilance, conduct and
even motive are watched and weighed in God's own balances.

To sum up very briefly the impression made by the close perusal of this
whole narrative with the supplementary annual reports, it is simply
this: CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

In a little sketch of Beate Paulus,