ance of a true and persevering penitent; nor as affording the flighteft foundation for dread that the Holy Spirit, who has enabled you to bring forth the fruits of repentance, will withhold from you the grace and ffrength which you fhall hereafter feek as needful under impending trials of your faith.

If feafons of dejection fhould recur; if, at the very time when your understanding is fatisfied of the truth and the actual relevancy of the fcriptural arguments which forbid you to defpond, even in the face of conviction, defpondence fhould opprefs your foul wonder not, nor be dismayed, as though an unprecedented or extraordinary event had befallen you. The state of mind is not uncommon. Survey it in its true colours. In the midft of defpondence, remember that you are defponding against your judgement and your confcience, against reafon and the word of God. Confider whether defpondence, thus constituted and circumftanted, is not in part to be imputed to bodily indifpofition, to the tremors of nervous inquietude. Confider whether in part it may not be deemed, whether it muft not in part be deemed, a fubtle

1

a fubtle and special temptation. The adversary of man adapts his ftratagems to the individual whom he affails. The fanguine he tempts to rafhnefs, the lukewarm to inactivity, the confident to prefumption, the timid to defpair. To what method of fuperior promise could he resort for the purpofe of deterring you from perfeverance in labouring for falvation, than the scheme of inducing you to believe that by you mercy is unattainable? From a method of fuch promife is it probable that he should refrain ? Meet the danger with adequate circumspection. Encounter the foe with appropriate arms. Let health receive due attention. Refift the devil, and he will flee from you. Take the field of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked One. Fly for fuccour to the throne of grace. Praying always with all prayer and fupplication in the fpirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance, plead with Him whofe foul was forrowful even unto death; with Him who knows what is the agony with which the victim of fin exclaims, My God! my God! why haft thou forfaken me! who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been in

all

who in

all points tempted like as we are; that he himself bath fuffered, being tempted,

is able to fuccour them that are tempted. He will fulfil his word.

He will minifter ftrength for the conflict. He will not fuffer

you to be tempted above what you are able to bear: but with the temptation will also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. Why is thy foul caft down: why is it fo difquieted within thee? Hope thou in God: for thou shalt yet praise Him for the help of his countenance.

Finally; be active. Be fedulous to employ an ample portion of your time, so far as may be entirely compatible with a just regard to health, in the modes of practical usefulness, which belong to your station: and in the vigilant discharge of the offices of domestic life. A zealous pursuit of practical usefulness, a vigilant performance of relative duties, rank very high among the good works by which you are to evince the fincerity of your faith, and to adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour. The management of worldly concerns, when conducted in a worldly spirit, is fin. But when kept wholly fubordinate to the great purposes of exiftence, the glory of God VOL. II. B b

and

and the falvation of the foul; when carried on from Chriftian motives, with Chriftian tempers, and for Chriftian ends; it is a branch of service to God, it is one of the fruits of religion.

2 COR. vi. 17, 18. vii. t.

Come out from among them, and be je sepa➡ rate, faith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing : and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my Jons and daughters, faith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore thefe promises, dearly beloved; let us cleanfe ourselves from all filthinefs of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

WHEN a perfon converfant with the

vegetable productions of the earth obferves in the foreft a plant, whofe properties he is defirous of improving; he removes it from its native wild into his garden. There, rooted in luxuriant foil, heltered from inclement blafts, fecured Bb 2 against

!