The practice of sin may be, in a great measure, suspended for some time; yet the power of it remains unbroken, and gradually recovers its activity: by degrees he returns to his old courses, and lives in known and habitual sin. Sin, sooner or later, brings guilt on the conscience; guilt on the conscience strips him of his confidence, deprives him of the enjoyment of his supposed privileges, and excites fearful apprehensions of Divine vengeance. The power of sin becomes more absolute and unlimited than ever, and the unhappy backslider is filled with his own ways. Satan furiously assaults him with horrid suggestions and temptations; and nothing of Christianity remains but the name and form of doctrine, which can hardly be preserved long under these disadvantages.

In this situation he will wish that the gospel was different from what it is. Some parts of it would afford him hope, if other parts were altered. A moderate acquaintance with human nature will convince us of the prodigious influence which interest has over opinion. He first wishes, then hopes, and at last persuades himself that it is so; and he now fancies himself a wiser and happier man than ever.

He selects the doctrines of election and final perseverance, and abuses them to purposes for which they were never designed. They are calculated to comfort the penitent, strengthen the weak, and encourage the fearful believer; not to embolden the presumptuous, and harden him in his daring crimes. He shelters himself behind such unscriptural hopes as these, I know the gospel; I am one of God's elect; he has de

creed to save me; and sin, though I live in it, shall not destroy me.".

He rejects the law as a rule of life, and boasts that he is brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God; that is, he enjoys the glorious liberty of sinning without restraint or fear. Unawed by fear, unaffected by the love of Christ, the reins are thrown loose on the neck of every vile appetite and lust, and he shamelessly commits sins at which honest heathens might blush. The devil that was cast out of him returns, accompanied by seven spirits more wicked than himself; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

He perhaps pleads that his faith will keep him from sinning, though he rejects all the precepts and commandments of God's most holy word. This is too flimsy a covering to hide the wickedness of his heart from others, or long to conceal it from himself! How is faith to ascertain the will of God, unless by the commandments? Faith must be grounded on the revealed will of God, otherwise it is not faith, but presumption. In fact, he follows the unholy dictates of his unholy heart, impiously sanctioning them with the venerable name of Jehovah, and prostituting faith to be the patron and minister of sin.

A bolder method soon becomes necessary, a stronger opiate is required: the following passage of Scripture is selected, and infamously perverted, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." When a Christian goes to the house of God, desiring and striving to hear, pray, praise, &c. yet, in spite of himself, his thoughts wander and his heart is hard, it may be properly ascribed to sin dwelling in him. But when a man

gets drunk, breaks the Sabbath, &c.; when he commits sin knowingly and intentionally, it requires the impudence and effrontery of Satan himself to say, "It is not I, but sin that dwelleth in me."

They become quite critical and captious hearers of the gospel. They sit in judgment upon sermons, to try the talents and orthodoxy of the preacher, not to be arraigned and reproved as criminals themselves. They dislike searching preaching, for it disturbs their consciences; and they only want to be soothed. We may represent man as detestable as we please, provided we do not endeavor to shake their confidence of their own security; and a sneering and censorious sermon never fails to please them.

They revile and ridicule a holy humble Christian, whose life continually reproves, and, I suspect, fre quently renders them uneasy. Whoever regards the commandments is despised, as being in bondage to the law. They are strangers to the benevolent disposition of the gospel; and charity and humility are not articles of their creed.

As the transition from one extreme to the other is natural and easy, they frequently turn infidels, and take shelter in the gloomy shades of Atheism: the very profession of Religion is cast off, and the existence of that God denied, whose holiness had been so long insulted.

Sometimes despair seizes on their souls before they are separated from their bodies. They are given up to a reprobate mind, and feel the forebodings of Hell in their conscience. Their hearts are hard and impenitent; they cannot pray, they cannot repent, they cannot

believe; they do not love God, nor do they wish to love him: they hate him, and could curse him, and gladly would they tear him from his throne. Sleep forsakes their eyes, and they wander about, like Cain, fugitives and vagabonds on the earth, envying the dog that barks at them, and the stones on which they tread.

Reader! do not think that the character and misery of the apostate is overdrawn. An unhappy man is now alive (or was very lately) whose apostasy and wretchedness, as related to me by his own lips, tallies exactly with what I have written. Look well to yourself. Remember that "the hope of the hypocrite shall perish." "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."

I asked him, What minister did you generally sit under? He told me. Why did you prefer his preaching to that of Mr., who preaches in the same town? said I. Is it not because you could not hear Mr.and live quietly in sin; whereas the other preaches in such a high doctrinal strain, perpetually harping on privileges and final perseverance, and touching so seldom and so slightly upon holiness, that his sermons never disturbed your conscience, but rather composed and lulled it? That was exactly the case replied he. Let this serve as a hint to ministers how they preach, and to the people whom and what they hear.

W. W.

VOL. III.

*18

SIR,

EPISTLE TO A BACKSLIDER.

To the Editor.

The following Effusion of Christian Love, was written to a young friend in the country, who, on receiving it was unwilling to give much attention to its contents, but put it into the hands of his wife, who had been the mean of drawing him from a Christian walk into the gay pursuits of the world. It made such an impression on her mind, as continually harassed her when engaged in the vain course of earthly pleasure, until our kind Shepherd brought her back to his fold. She repeatedly urged her husband to read it, without effect; but in the Lord's appointed time he also was brought to lament his backslidings; and has, for a considerable time past, returned to the ways of God, finding them only the "ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace." If you conceive that it may be useful, as an instrument to awaken any poor wandering sheep that is straying in the wilderness, it is at the service of your Miscellany.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

J. T.

DEAR FRIEND, I EXPECTED the pleasure of hearing from you, agreeable to your promise; but being disappointed in that expectation, and feeling an anxious concern for your welfare and that of your family, I embrace the opportunity of writing to a friend, whom I still respect, however I may have lost his esteem; though I flatter myself I have not given the least cause for offence.