Life and diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader

26 LIFE OF COL. BLACKABER. CHAP. I.
parted saints, as well as in many living examples who
still remain monuments to the victorious power of
divine grace. Let none, however, take encourage-
ment from such recoveries to continue in sin, that for
this cause they may obtain mercy, or that a miracle
of special grace may he wrought in their behalf. To
reckon feai-lessly on this interposition, is to tempt the
Holy Spirit, and rely on the grossest presumption.
Such instances are recorded or permitted for our in-
struction, and not for our imitation : and though it
be true that there may be joy in heaven over a re-
pentant sinner, more than over ninety-nine righteous
persons that went not astray ; yet ought we to carry
this caution along with us, that where one escapes the
consequences of his presumption, nine hundred perish
in their iniquities.
With such a religious cast of mind, it may appear
singular that Colonel Blackader should have embraced
a military life. It seems to be the profession, to which,
by habit and education, he was least adapted, and in
which he was likely to encounter more occasions of
annoyance and vexation than in any other. The army,
however, may probably have been an object of neces-
sity, more than of choice with him. Other situations
might be more eligible, but considering the political
and pecuniary circumstances of his family, we may
suppose they were placed beyond his reach. The
government that had proclaimed his father a rebel, was
not likely to open to him the gates of favour and pre-
ferment. But at the time he entered the service,
there were inducements of a peculiar kind. The me-
morable Revolution was atchieved, but not yet con-
firmed. The country, emerging from slavery, and