RELIGION IN EARNEST. A MEMORIAL OF MRS. MARY LYTH, OF YORK. BY HER SON JOHN LYTH. 1861. DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED SISTER ELIZA HILL, WHOSE RARE AND UNOSTENTATIOUS VIRTUES SHED FRAGRANCE ON EARTH, BUT ARE ONLY RECORDED IN HEAVEN. PREFACE. In compiling the following sheets, the Author has discharged what he felt to be an act, not merely of filial affection, but of Christian duty. To his deceased and venerated Mother he owes more than words can express;--a Mother whose consistent example, earnest piety and frequent effectual prayers, perhaps even more than her oft-repeated counsels, produced upon his mind, while yet a child, the settled conviction that religion is the one business of life. But be believes it also due to the cause of Christ, that an example of "Religion in Earnest," so pre-eminent, should not pass unrecorded and unimproved. Those who think the charm of biography consists in startling incident; or who seek for material to gratify a literary taste, will discover here little to meet their respective views. We have only to offer them a simple record of one, whose history possessed no romantic interest, and who made no pretension to intellectual attainments. But such as love to trace the development of Divine grace in the human heart, and to see its power uniformly exemplified in the several phases of every-day life;--who are willing to learn how much may be accomplished by decision, simplicity of purpose, and undeviating consistency;--in a word, how every Christian even in private life, may become a centre of happiness, life and power, are in this volume presented with no common illustration. The method of arrangement which the writer has adopted has been determined, partly by his materials, and partly by the desire to render his subject practical as well as interesting. How far he has succeeded must be decided by the impression made upon the mind of the reader. He now commends his work to God, who alone can give success to every good purpose, earnestly praying that Christ, who was magnified in the life of his now sainted mother, may be yet more abundantly magnified in her death. J.L. Stetten, O.A. Cannstatt, Württemberg. December 27th, 1860. CONTENTS. CHAP. I.--ANTECEDENTS II.--EARLY DAWN III.--GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES IV.--THE HOLY ESTATE V.--SHOWER AND SUNSHINE VI.--GROWTH IN GRACE VII.--TEMPLE SERVICE VIII.--PASSING CLOUDS IX.--MID-DAY TOIL X.--WORKS OF MERCY XI.--A DYING SCENE XII.--COUNTRY LIFE XIII.--THE REDEMPTION OF THE PROMISE XIV.--POWER WITH GOD XV.--THE RETURN XVI.--THE SACRIFICE XVII.--THE MOTHER IN ISRAEL XVIII.--LIGHT IN DARKNESS XIX.--THE INWARD MONITOR XX.--THE STORM XXI.--THE WIDOW XXII.--THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF EVENING XXIII.--SLEEP IN JESUS XXIV.--PLEASANT MEMORIES I. ANTECEDENTS.