Reader, is _Satan_ assailing thee with tormenting fears? Is the thought of thy sins--the guilty past--coming up in terrible memorial before thee, almost tempting thee to give way to hopeless despondency? Fear not! A gentle voice whispers in thine ear,--"_Only believe._" "Thy sins are great, but my grace and merits are greater. 'Only believe' that I died for thee--that I am living for thee and pleading for thee, and that 'the faithful saying' is as 'faithful' as ever, and as 'worthy of all acceptation' as ever."--Art thou a _backslider_? Didst thou once run well? Has thine own guilty apostacy alienated and estranged thee from that face which was once all love, and that service which was once all delight? Art thou breathing in broken-hearted sorrow over the holy memories of a close walk with God--"Oh that it were with me as in months past, when the candle of the Lord did shine?" "_Only believe._" Take this thy mournful soliloquy, and convert it into a prayer. "Only believe" the word of Him whose ways are not as man's ways--"Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding."--Art thou beaten down with some heavy _trial_? have thy fondest schemes been blown upon--thy fairest blossoms been withered in the bud? has wave after wave been rolling in upon thee? hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Hear the "word of Jesus" resounding amid the thickest midnight of gloom--penetrating even through the vaults of the dead--"Believe, _only believe_." There is an infinite _reason_ for the trial--a lurking thorn that required removal, a gracious lesson that required teaching. The dreadful severing blow was dealt in love. God will be glorified in it, and your own soul made the better for it. Patiently wait till the light of immortality be reflected on a receding world. Here you must take His dealings on trust. The word of Jesus to you now is, "_Only believe._" The word of Jesus in eternity (every inner meaning and undeveloped purpose being unfolded), "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest _but_ BELIEVE, thou shouldst SEE the glory of God?"--Are you fearful and agitated in _the prospect of death_? Through fear of the last enemy, have you been all your lifetime subject to bondage?--"_Only believe._" "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." Dying grace will be given when a dying hour comes. In the dark river a sustaining arm will be underneath you, deeper than the deepest and darkest wave. Ere you know it, the darkness will be past, the true Light shining,--the whisper of faith in the nether valley, "Believe! believe!" exchanged for angel-voices exclaiming, as you enter the portals of glory, "No longer through a glass darkly, but now face to face!"