rises from the witness of the Holy Spirit, is evident from
the fact that he once remarked to his aunt, Miss Enderby, that he could
not make out how it was that he had feared death so little, when all
the time he did not know that he was prepared to die.

On the 19th September 1865, his father passed away a few months after
he had taken up his appointment at Gravesend. This event seems to have
marked an important crisis in his spiritual life. He shut himself up in
complete retirement for a few days, and emerged a very different man
from what he had been before. From that time to the day of his death,
he was known as an out-and-out Christian. During the previous ten years
it is clear, from his letters, that he was in the highest and truest
sense a child of God, but there seems to have been something wanting in
his character. From the time of his father's death, he seems to have
had such a firm assurance in Christ, that religion was the prevailing
element of his life.

It is interesting to note that Gordon dedicated himself to the service
of God not only in the full vigour of health and strength, but at a
time when he might have been, had he chosen, one of the world's
favourites. In the case of some, broken health, advancing age, or
disappointed hopes and ambitions, are the causes that lead to a search
for something more lasting than this world can offer. Thankful as we
may be when any man yields to the higher claims of his Heavenly Father,
whatever the prompting cause may be, it is satisfactory to be able to
record an instance in which apparently none but the highest motives
were at work. Gordon at the time of his father's death was only
thirty-two years of age, and though young, he had done deeds of heroism
which might make many a Victoria Cross hero envy his opportunity and
courage. He had seen what the world had to offer, and he decided that
there was a nobler life to be led. To that new life he dedicated his
remaining years, and, it need hardly be added, he never regretted the
choice. As late as the 26th March 1881, after he had just recovered
from a severe illness, he remarks: "B---- said, when dying, how glad he
was he had sought God in his time of strength, for when he was sinking
he could not do so, and so I feel."

If we may form any opinion from expressions in his letters, dating from
this time to the day of his death, Gordon's religion brought him that
"peace of mind which passeth all understanding," and whic