judgment and the conscience, the truth as it is in Jesus, in all its simplicity, and amplitude, and harmony. But, when it has to pass through any human medium, it shines in an oblique course, leaving some essential parts of the scheme of redemption in a state of concealment, while others become too prominently conspicuous; and being seized with avidity, without their connecting links, a defective system is embraced, which generally injures the spirit, and not unfrequently destroys the peace of the mind. Hence too much precaution cannot be exercised, in the early periods of our experience, in the choice of our religious associates, and the books which we peruse; as it is in the power of error, whether it comes from the lips of friendship, or from the press, to do more essential injury, than the truth will ever be able to repair, till after the mind has suffered more than language can easily describe. And as we are all liable to receive pernicious impressions from the numerous errors which are in 'perpetual circulation around us, we cannot depend with too much simplicity, or docility of disposition, on the Holy Ghost, whom the Saviour has promised to his disciples. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.-He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. Hence it is indispensably necessary for the Christian, in every period of his life, but especially when he first enters on his religious course, to implore the gracious influences of the Divine Spirit, to guard him against every species of error— to lead him into all truth-and to invest the truth with that holy unction, which will render it no less a source of the most refined intellectual improvement, than of the most exquisite mental enjoyment. Such a habit of dependence on him will be an effectual guard against the spirit of self-sufficiency, which proves so fatal to those who are enslaved by it; and while it will stimulate to mental diligence in searchnig the Scriptures, that we may ascertain what is the mind

of the Spirit, it will keep us in a state of independence of human opinion.

But while I wish to point out to the attention of the young Christian the dangers to which he is exposed from the society of his pious, yet injudicious friends, and to bring him into immediate connection with the Spirit of truth, I would at the same time guard him against indulging any visionary expectations respecting the mode of his instruction, or the infallible certainty of the opinions he may permit us to form. He teaches the human understanding through the medium of the Scriptures, even while the judgment is altogether unconscious of any supernatural assistance; but his communications are restricted to those points in the system of truth which are essential to salvation.

But even when we are so taught by the Holy Spirit, that we imbibe the truth in its fullest degree, and in its most perfect state, it will not always retain its original power of impression, but will admit of a partial declension in the excitation of the passions, even while its authority over the judgment and the conscience remains undiminished. Hence the lines of Cowper are often employed as expressive of the disconsolate state of the heart:

"Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view,
Of Jesus and his word?

"What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd!
How sweet their mem❜ry still!
But they have left an aching void,
The world can never fill."

And this cessation of a powerful excitement, which usually accompanies the first impressions of truth, is often regarded, by the inexperienced Christian, as an indisputable evidence of the decay of his religious principles, when it may be nothing more than a necessary consequence of the more advanced progress of his personal experience.

[59

"The palace of virtue has, in all ages, been represented as placed on the summit of a hill; in the ascent of which labour is requisite, and difficulties are to be surmounted, and where a conductor is needed, to direct our way, and to aid our steps." Page 5.

London:

THE IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

PART I.

"God has been pleased, in sundry portions, and in divers manners, to speak to us in his word; and in all the books of Scripture we may trace an admirable unity of design-an intimate connection of parts-and a complete harmony of doctrines." Burder.

ON our return from Hackney, where we had spent part of a most interesting day with our mutual friend, Mr. Wilcox, we amused each other by narrating some of the early incidents of our life, when Mr. Llewellin adverted to the melancholy apostacy of a gentleman' who once made a splendid profession of religion. “1 shall never forget, Sir," said Mr. Llewellin," my first interview with him, nor the fervent prayer he offered up for my salvation. It was on that ill-fated night when I broke the vow my dear honoured mother received from my lips, and to which I have always attributed my depar ture from the path of virtue. I entered the parlour in which he was sitting, with my mind highly surcharged with agony. I felt that I had degraded myself by forfeiting the pledge which I had given to allay the fears of a pious parent; and though I endeavoured to assume an air of cheerful pleasantry, yet I could not succeed. It was, when I was suffering under the torturous lashes of self-reproach, that we knelt down together at the throne of grace, and he prayed for me in a very delicate, and in a very impressive manner. His petitions on my behalf were expressed in very appropriate terms, without being so specific as to give offence. As he was borne along by the ardour of his feelings, he gave utterance to some expressions which made an indelible impression on my heart. ' Is he not, O Lord, the son of thy handmaid? and wilt thou refuse to loosen his bonds? Shall the snares of evil be permitted to entangle him? Wilt thou not keep him in the hour of temptation?' He was, for several years, a very exemplary Christian; and though, on a closer intimacy with him, after it pleased God to call me by his grace, I discovered rather too much self-importance, and self-suffi

* See No. 2 of this series, page 6.

ciency, yet I did not doubt his sincerity. He went off suddenly, as if he had been struck, like the smitten figtree of Galilee, by the blast of the divine displeasure, and since then he has borne no fruit of righteousness. He is now a professed libertine, and often takes the seat of the scorner when surrounded by his associates in vice."

On reaching home, Mr. Llewellin introduced me to a Mr. Macfarlin, a very intelligent and pious young.man, whose manners were very engaging. He was the only son of a stock-broker in the city, who was universally esteemed for his amiability and integrity. This gentleman was the descendant of ancestors who were celebrated in their days for the orthodoxy of their religious sentiments, and the fervour of their devotional spirit; . but happening, on his first settlement in London, to form an intimacy with some zealous Unitarians, he imbibed their principles, and regularly attended the ministry of one of their most celebrated preachers. He was too eager after the acquisition of wealth to devote much of his time to speculative inquiries, and too amiable in hist temper and disposition to enter the arena of religious disputation with the contending spirits of the age; but he cheerfully and conscientiously supported all the institutions which stood connected with his denomination, which he thought the most intelligent, if not the most pious in the kingdom. He admitted the truth of the Christian religion, but thought its records so ambiguous, or so corrupted in the early ages, that they ought not to be implicitly received. "I will believe nothing," he often used to say, "which I cannot fully comprehend; and I feel myself as much at liberty to dispute the opinion of an apostle, when he speaks on any speculative doctrine, as I do to examine the opinion of any other man." He rejected the divinity of Jesus Christ with as much indignity, as an orthodox believer does the divinity of the pagan deities-often expressed his surprize that any enlightened man should venture to express his belief in the doctrine of the atonement-and regarded the popular belief in the reality of a supernatural influence over the human mind, as one of those corruptions of Christianity, which exposed it to the contempt and ridicule of infidels.