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[Illustration: cover]




  THE

  SHEEPFOLD AND THE COMMON.

  [Illustration:

  DRAWN BY G. H. THOMAS.       ENGRAVED BY W. L. THOMAS.

  THE OLD SHEPHERD.

  Vol. i. page 2.]

  [Illustration:

  the
  Sheepfold
  and the
  Common
  OR
  WITHIN & WITHOUT.

  Blackie & Son Glasgow Edinburgh and London.]




  THE

  SHEEPFOLD AND THE COMMON:

  OR,

  WITHIN AND WITHOUT.


  VOL. I.

  "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
        me."--JOHN x. 27.

  "Them that are without God judgeth."--1 COR. v. 13.

  [Illustration: logo]

  BLACKIE AND SON:

  GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, LONDON, AND NEW YORK.

  MDCCCLXI.


  GLASGOW:

  W. G. BLACKIE AND CO., PRINTERS,

  VILLAFIELD.




PREFACE.


This Work was originally published, above thirty years ago,
under the title of the _Evangelical Rambler_. It has long been
out of print; and its republication at the present time has been
recommended, as calculated to assist in arresting the progress
of some popular errors and dangerous institutions, and in aiding
the advancement of truth and social happiness. This opinion was
strengthened by a knowledge of the fact, that, according to the most
accurate calculations, from sixty thousand to a hundred thousand
copies of the Work, under its original title, were issued from the
English press, whilst in America it obtained an equally extended
circulation; and from the still more important fact of the Author
having received, from a large number of persons, assurances, both by
letter and personal interviews, of their having derived their first
religious impressions and convictions from perusing its pages. A new
and thoroughly-revised Edition is, therefore, now issued, under the
title of "THE SHEEPFOLD AND THE COMMON," as being more descriptive
of the aim and intention of the Work than its former name.

The object of the Work is to afford instruction and amusement,
conveyed by a simple narration of the events of every-day life. In
constructing his story, the Author has availed himself occasionally
of the conceptions of his fancy, and at other times he has crowded
into a narrow compass facts and incidents culled from an extended
period of his history; but reality forms the basis of every
narrative and of every scene he has described. He has departed
from the common-place habit of presenting the grand truths of the
Christian faith in didactic and dogmatic statements, preferring the
dramatic form, as more likely to arrest the attention and interest
the feelings, especially of the youthful and imaginative portion
of the community. In adopting this style of composition, he has
thus endeavoured to follow the footsteps of the great Prophet of
Israel, who often spake in parables, veiling truth in a beauteous
external vehicle, to captivate and teach his hearers, while their
prejudices were lying dormant. In no book of human authorship can we
find specimens of imaginative composition that will compare with the
following examples from the New Testament, which the Author quotes,
in illustration and defence of the principle on which his Work is
based.

On no occasion during the ministry of Jesus Christ are we so
thoroughly convinced of the fatal danger of trusting in our own
attainments and doings for our salvation, and of the absolute
safety of reposing exclusive confidence in Him for this inestimable
blessing, as when he places us in imagination on the shore, after
the desolating storm has completed its work of destruction, leaving
us to gaze on the ruins of the one house erected on the sand; while
we see the other remaining secure on the unmoved and unshaken rock,
in stern and tranquil defiance of all tempests and hurricanes. _See_
Matt. vii. 24-28.

We have more definite and more vivid impressions of the invisible
world--of the calm repose and fraternal fellowship of the saved, and
of the privations and anguish of the lost, when reading our Lord's
description of the condition of Lazarus and the rich man, than is
produced on our minds by his announcement of the issue of the day of
judgment, when the wicked go away into everlasting punishment, and
the righteous into life eternal. Luke xvi. 19-26.

The Work, under its new title, "THE SHEEPFOLD AND THE COMMON," has
undergone a very careful revision; many portions of the original
have been re-written, and others omitted to make room for new
matter of more interest and importance at the present time. While
carrying out the main object of the Work, as already adverted
to--namely, to present the grand doctrines of the Christian faith in
a pleasing and attractive manner--the Author has also endeavoured to
elucidate various topics important to the church at large and to the
well-being of society in general; and though he has not plunged into
the mazes of controversy, with the obscure and often unintelligible
advocates of the theological heresies of the age, yet many of the
more prominent of these have been subjected to a severe and, he
trusts, an impartial examination.

If the re-issue of this Work should prove as successful in conveying
spiritual life to the spiritually dead--in relieving the anxious
inquirer from his misgivings and perplexities--and in administering
the consolations of faith and hope to the devout believer, while
passing through the varied seasons of his eventful history, as it
proved in its less perfect and less attractive form--then, whether
living or dying, the Author will indulge the hope of meeting many,
at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be to him a crown
of rejoicing for ever.

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CONTENTS.

VOL I.


                                         _Page_

  The Lonely Widow,                           1

  The Widow's Son,                           11

  The Widow's Son Reclaimed,                 21

  Fairmount,                                 32

  A Morning's Ramble,                        43

  The Horningsham Sailor,                    53

  The Rector of Broadhurst,                  65

  A Visit to the Rectory,                    76

  Saturday Evening at Fairmount,             92

  A Sabbath Morning at Fairmount,           107

  Sabbath Evening at Fairmount,             121

  The Bible Disdained,                      132

  The Bible Precious,                       149

  The Family of the Roscoes,                154

  The Social Party,                         164

  Miss Roscoe,                              174

  A Village Funeral,                        186

  Miss Roscoe withdraws from Gay Life,      197

  Fresh Perplexities,                       209

  The Religious Party,                      217

  Miss Roscoe,                              226

  The Family of the Lawsons,                235

  Calm Discussion,                          246

  Self-Delusion,                            257

  A Night Calamity,                         266

  A Surprise,                               276

  The Consultation,                         287

  The Dark Vale Illumined,                  297

  Intemperate Zeal,                         307

  Baptismal Regeneration a Fiction,         317

  The Retired Christian,                    328

  Spiritual Regeneration a Reality,         336

  The Evidences of Spiritual Regeneration,  346

  On Conversion,                            357

  The Tendency of Evangelical Pre