troubled for his anger, in godly repentance, and earnestly striving against it, is perhaps a more virtuous man than he who, from natural meekness of temper, is seldom or never angry."a

a Adam, p. 359.

REFLECTIONS.

ALL inducement to active works of benevolence is entirely taken away by the belief that they are supererogatory and unnecessary to salvation; that our every impulse is evil; that no thought nor act of ours can be acceptable at the throne of our Creator; and that all those who have faith are elected to the kingdom of heaven, there to enjoy an equal degree of happiness. Those who superficially and without reflection have adopted this belief are greatly in error. But this is a question which has been made the subject of warm discussion; it is a question, too, of vital importance, and one which ought not to be hastily dismissed. Let us, therefore, devote a few lines to its consideration.

Can any amount of faith make holy one whose life has been a continued scene of callous indifference to the welfare of his fellow-creatures, or of habitual cruelty towards the brute creation? towards living beings that feel as we do-beings given to man for his use, but not to be made

the means of unrighteous gain, or a source of thoughtless excitement. Such an one may perhaps die with the minister of religion by his side, and with the words of repentance, induced, not by hatred of sin, but by fear of punishment, upon his lips; but if he expects thus to become fitted for the abodes of the just in heaven, fatally may he deceive himself. "Can faith save him?" "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." a

Even Adam in his first innocence was not meet for the joys of the blessed. Even he required time, not for repentance, but for the exercise of virtue and the strengthening of his holiness. Faith in a redeeming Creator had been given to him, but more than this was required: to faith must be added love and charity, for these, only as the fruit of faith, and these alone, can give a true foundation for the hope of heaven. And if he in his innocence were all unfit for participation even with the lower angels in realms of purity, how far from a proper state must be even the regenerated heart of the best of his descendants!

a Jer. xiii. 23.

S

The hardened sinner steeped in the lowest depth of crime, the reckless profligate who indulges in forbidden folly, the man of fashion whose thoughts are fixed upon the heartless pursuit of pleasure, may at the last hour profess a compulsory belief in the truth of religion; and the tardy death-bed repentance of such an one may perhaps save him from eternal condemnation; but if he lay the flattering unction to his soul that it will be a passport to happiness, miserably will he discover the mistake, and bitterly repent his folly.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." a

Thus calmly do we discuss the murderer's chance of forgiveness: but let us ask, where is now heard his victim's plaintive cry

"Thus was I, sleeping,

at once despatch'd :

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head." b

Is his a voice from heaven or from hell?

a Matt. vii. 21.

b Hamlet, Act 1. Sc. 5.

And to this most fearful question the united voices of the whole Christian church can give but one all-pitying answer. Is it, then, possible that happiness can be the portion of him who sees punishment inflicted on another, and knows, too, whose hand it was that delivered him, unprepared and bound with the chain of sin, into the presence of the great Judge? For we all shall know even as we are known, and every one will know each the other's state. "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. But Abraham said, Son . . . between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence."a The conscious cause of another's continuous ill dare not ask for pardon; but even if despair compel the tones of supplication, justice would pass condemnation; and should mercy yet wash away the stain of sin, the knowledge of his victim's lot must still hang heavily upon his soul. Can the murderer be in heaven if the murdered be in hell?

...

A patriarch's lifetime, given to works of love

a Luke, xvi. 23-26.