there. I do not recommend you to secede, for the mere sake of secession; but for your spiritual improvement, which will depend more on a pure evangelical ministry, than any other secondary cause. Some, I am aware, would urge you to go to your parish church, even if the minister be an irreligious man, and stay there till it shall please God to introduce the Gospel into it; but as it is not in my power to reconcile such advice with the injunction of our Lord, take heed what ye hear; you cannot expect that I can give it my sanction. The eminently devout Christian loves the habitation of the Lord's house, and the place where his honour dwelleth; but have we any reason to believe that he dwells, in the manifestations of his love, in any place, except where the minister preaches salvation by grace through faith! But suffer the word of exhortation. You are now coming out amongst the difficulties of a public profession of religion; one friend may recommend you to adopt one plan, and another, another; and the more you consult, the more you may be perplexed, till at length you may be incapable of coming to any decision. To obviate this evil, go and meditate on the following. passage, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Reduce to practice the admonition of the wise man, and you will find that the Lord will give wisdom, as well as strength.

"I am much obliged by your invitation to the Elms, and intend, as soon as I can leave, to pay you a visit, when I hope to see you in perfect health. You will remember me very kindly to every member of your family, and believe me to be, your's affectionately, "E. L."

One of the most common place charges which is brought against evangelical religion, is, that it has a tendency to make its possessor melancholy; and if we were to form our judgment of it from the appearance and manner of some who profess it, we should conclude that it is just. They not only recede from all the pleasures and amusements of the social circle; but habitually wear that gloom on their countenance, which

He.

indicates a singular dejection of spirit. But this dejection of spirit, which we may sometimes discover in a professor of evangelical religion, is not produced by his religious principles, but by his sense of personal guilt, and his want of that assurance of forgiveness, which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is intended to convey. He may for a season be permitted, by the Holy One of Israel, whose laws he has violated, and whom he has. neglected to glorify, to remain under the sentence of self-condemnation; but when he is enabled to rely on the atonement made by Jesus Christ, and to appropriate the promise of mercy, he enjoys that peace which passeth all understanding. If then, we wish to form a correct estimate of the real tendency of evangelical truth, we must not go to the penitent sinner who labours under the deep convictions of guilt; when he is more prone to put from him the words of consolation, than listen to them: but to that established believer, who, having received the truth in the love of it, is enjoying its sacred and blissful influence over his mind. will repel the charge as a libel on his faith, and unblushingly avow, that he never knew solid and substantial felicity, till he derived it from communion with God, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and a hope of being presented faultless in his immediate presence. though the spirit of scepticism, which is so generally diffused through all ranks of society, may ridicule such an avowal, as a delusion attempted to be practised on human credulity, yet surely no one, on reflection, can presume to say, that a Christian is not competent to bear testimony to the fact of his own experience. The religious principles which he has embraced, are represented by those who have never felt their influence, as having a tendency to make their possessor melancholy; and yet He declares that he has enjoyed a larger portion of mental peace since he embraced them, than he ever previously enjoyed. And whose testimony shall we admit, to be most conclusive? The testimony of those who are entirely ignorant of the question, or of those, whose knowledge qualifies them to decide? Suppose for example, a question were to arise respecting the excellencies or defects of a piece of music, should we venture to place any dependance on the opinion of

And

a man who has no taste for the science? If we did, should we not expose ourselves to ridicule or contempt? On such a question we should require the opinion of a competent witness, and no one can fairly assure this character, but the man of scientific attainments, combined with a correct state; and I appeal to the sober judgment of my readers, if they can allow any person to pronounce a judgment on the tendency of religion, who has never felt its holy influence. They may express their opinion, and they often do express it, but of what value or importance is it, in relation to the subject? They may say, that its tendency is to make us unhappy; but how can they prove it? Not certainly by appealing to the obvious design of Christianity; for that has been so unequivocally announced by the celestial messengers, that we cannot misconceive it. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And if they venture to appeal to the experience of the religious man, he candidly says, I am happymy happiness differs from yours, it takes its rise from a different source, and possesses qualities which are peculiarly its own; but it is more pure, more exquisite, more substantial, because more intellectual, and spiritual; and involves in it anticipations which are to be realized, when the curtain of oblivion is drawn over the grave of your felicity. My happiness is the peace that passeth all understanding." But when we mention peace, to quote the language of a fine writer, we mean not the stupid security of a mind that refuses to reflect; we mean a tranquillity which rests on an unshaken basis, which no anticipations, however remote-no power of reflection, however piercing or profound-no evolutions which time may disclose, or eternity conceal,

are capable of impairing; a peace which is founded on the oath and promise of Him who cannot lie, which springing from the consciousness of an ineffable alliance with the Father of spirits, makes us to share in his fulness, to become a partner with him in his eternity; a repose, pure and serene as the unruffled wave, which reflects the heaven from its bosom, while it is accompanied with a feeling of exultation and triumph, natural to such as are conscious that ere long, having overcome, they shall possess all things."

There are many periods in the history of human life, when the power of religious principles over the mind commands the respect, and excites the admiration of the most inveterate infidel. Go and see the poor Christian, contented amidst his privations-the suffering Christian, patient under his protracted affliction the dying Christian, resigned and happy in prospect of approaching dissolution; and if you can return from such a scene without admiring the influence of those principles which have such a fine effect in elevating, and supporting the soul of man, when visited by such direful calamities, it must be referred either to a want of taste, or want of a capacity for feeling.

He is the happy man, whose life ev'n now,
Shows somewhat of that happier life to come:
Who, doom'd to an obscure, but tranquil state,
Is pleased with it, and were he free to choose,
Would make his fate his choice.

。

Content indeed to sojourn while he must,
Below the skies, but having there his home.
The world o'erlooks him in her busy search
Of objects, more illustrious in her view.
And, occupied as earnestly as she,
Though more sublimely, he o'erlooks the world.
She scorns his pleasures, for she knows them not;
He seeks not hers, for he has proved them vain.
He cannot skim the ground like summer birds
Pursuing gilded flies; and such he deems
Her honours, her emoluments, her joys.
Therefore in contemplation in his bliss,

Whose power is such, that whom she lifts from earth
She makes familiar with a heaven unseen,
And shows him glories yet to be revealed

Printed by MILNE and B▲yRIELD, 76, Fleet street.

[55

"She fell on her knees, with her eldest son kneeling by her side; and again implored mercy in the most pathetic strains of impassioned eloquence; but no tears, no prayers, no offers of indemnification could induce them to abandon their purpose." Page 9.

London:

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS' COURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE.