Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/226

226THE HALLIG.

ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, be ready to give an-
swer to every man for the faith which is in you, and
win respect even from those who do not share it. Then
you will be what you desire to be, a laborer in the vine-
yard of the Lord, and perhaps more blessed in the har-
vest for his kingdom, than if you had sought out places
which are still lying entirely fallow."
  "You open to me a prospect," said Oswald, "whose
attractions I can not fail to recognize, but you are send-
ing me back to a conflict for which I am not yet suffi-
ciently strong."
  "But now you are clad in the panoply of light, armed
with the sword of faith, and covered with its buckler.
Yet you will have great need of constant care, of strict
watchfulness. Though the Lord has done great things
for you, Oswald, yours is yet but a budding faith, which
needs further cultivation and development before it can
refresh others with perfume and fruit. Pray God that
he will strengthen and perfect you. Then he will set
you for a witness without your pressing too earnestly
to become one."
  Oswald made no further objection, but he felt himself
embarrassed by the evident distrust of the genuineness
of his conversion, and might have suspected from this
very feeling, that this distrust was well founded.
  For his further establishment and edification, a longer
stay on the hallig, and the counsel and guidance of the
pastor were certainly necessary, and Oswald's triumph-
ant joy arose chiefly from a review of the past, and was
not sufficiently blended with a serious consideration of
the beginning and the end of faith.
  Perhaps, too, Hold had not relied sufficiently on the