You, my dearest Lady Elizabeth, you who never turned a reluctant ear to the instructions of your friend, you who never bent an unwilling eye on the path of duty, will still, with the same endearing docility, enter into the spirit of the important doctrine now recommended to your attention. So when the Judge of all shall appear on the throne of his glory, ye likewise shall appear with joy; having, like the wise virgins in the parable, "kept your lamp trimmed, and your light burning," ever ready to attend the call of your Lord. Farewell.

Nov. 25, 1806.

LETTER IV.

THE belief of our being accountable to God for all our thoughts, words, and actions, naturally leads us to the consideration of the perpetual presence of the Deity; a truth so inseparably connected with the former, that we cannot separate them even in idea.

"From the things that are made it evidently appears there is a God.” A truth so obvious, that we are apt to think it could not fail to be discovered by reason; and that by reason the discovery was no sooner made

than

than it began to connect with it the idea of retribution. Dark indeed, and very confused, were the notions which unassisted reason struck out upon both subjects; but to us, light from on high has sprung. Let us hail its radiant beams; and pursue with gladness of heart the path which our God has in mercy vouchsafed to illuminate. *

A stedfast faith in the omniscience

*This is by no means asserted from a belief that the human race was ever destitute of all light upon this subject from the source of revelation. It, on the contrary, appears extremely doubtful whether any of the truths of what is commonly termed natural religion would have ever been discovered by the human understanding without such assistance. The existence of a supreme First Cause, essentially wise and good, may therefore, with more propriety, be said to have been ascertained than discovered by human

reason.

and

and omnipresence of the Deity, is the foundation of all religious worship: a truth to which all ages and all nations bear testimony. The belief of it is not confined to those only to whom the knowledge of salvation by our Saviour Jesus Christ has been granted; but, however disfigured by superstition, or obscured by ignorance, it pervades the human race.

You, indeed, perhaps have heard, or may hereafter chance to hear, of Atheists - men who pretend not to believe in the being or attributes of God: but, as I have no faculties to comprehend how any creature, endowed with reason, can doubt the evidence of all its faculties, I confess I have always remained doubtful with regard to the existence of such a species of non-belief. I wish it were no less difficult to understand why a firm belief in the being and attributes

attributes of God is attended with so little effect as it too frequently apYou will, I am perpears to be. suaded, anticipate my explanation of the cause, by reflecting on what I have already urged upon the difference between knowledge and active principle.

By those who have cast off the fear of God, and done wickedly, every recollection of the divine presence must be made in anguish of soul. It is to the innocent and upright alone that it opens a neverfailing source of consolation and delight.

The support which a heart conscious of sincere integrity receives, from an assurance of its being seen by him who will bring to judgment every secret thought, can perhaps be only truly appreciated by those who have seen their most meritorious ac