the unretracted offer of pardon, on condition of genuine repentance. The admonition in this passage, then, was not intended to intimate that the doom of the people was sealed. Nor was it a prohibition to the ministers of the sanctuary from preaching to that rebellious race; or they would have obeyed it. The whole history and the connexion of the text plainly shew that the sentence was a command to the people of Judah, to refrain from all unnecessary commerce with the idolatrous nation of Ephraim: "Let them alone. Though Israel sin, yet let not Judah offend." It implied the danger arising from evil communication, and, particularly, communication with those guilty of so infectious a sin as that of idolatry. It was the application of a maxim of daily use, and of the greatest importance.

That God may, and sometimes does, judicially leave men to a perverse temper and a hardened mind, is a truth, which, awful as it is, cannot be denied. But the awakened sinner is in a situation directly the reverse of this. His sense of danger is neither accidental nor nugatory. The Holy Spirit has appealed to him: and that appeal has aroused him. In doing this, it could not be the intention of the Creator to remind him of his doom, only with the view to leave him in his wretchedness. In a case of utter hopelessness, that deep slumber of all susceptibility, which is so

portentous to the observer, remains unnoted in the mind of the subject himself; while self-flattery, indifference, or infidelity, prevent any discovery of his condition.

This dreadful doom does not consist in the infliction of any positive evil on the part of God; nor may it be in the withdrawing of the means of grace. For if the lost soul could, as I have elsewhere said, ascribe his perdition exclusively to an absolute divine determination, his sufferings would be mitigated, if not removed. But the very reverse of this, the consciousness of his personal guilt, and exclusive blame, will be the keen aggravation of his endless wretchedness.

The only proof that any one is in a hopeless condition, consists in his perverse continuance in unbelief and impenitence. As long as he so remains, there is every reason for apprehension; and the more so, in proportion to the length of the time and the extent of his privileges. Should he die in this state, we have the assurance of his ruin. But, the moment we have evidence of his awakening to a sense of sin and repenting of it, our grounds of alarm are removed: and he may be satisfied that God is fully as willing to accept of him as of any other sinner on earth. It is our duty to take warning from the fact that thousands die with a seared conscience, to whom during life every opportunity was offered. But if

it be our own earnest desire to escape such a doom as justice dispenses to them, and if we adopt the means for that end appointed by God, we may dismiss all fears of being included among their number: fully assured, as we should be, that the loss of the soul must be a fault of our own.

Once more, my dear sir, let me beseech you to cease harassing yourself with imaginary difficulties. Say no more with the sorrowing women who were seeking their Lord, "Who shall roll us away the stone?" The stone is already gone. No impediment is in our way to salvation, but such as we place there ourselves. The fountain of mercy is unlocked; and the path to it is as open and plain as infinite love can make it.

When you take up the holy volume, see that you do not render it "a snare and a trap." Let no imputed inconsistency startle you: you may be assured that the discrepance is only in semblance. Remember that you are not called on to reconcile the critical difficulties of scripture, but to believe its sun-beam truths, and comply with its divinely gracious invitations. Once admitted into your heart, the declarations of heaven will reconcile themselves. "Be not afraid, only believe," is the language of the blessed Redeemer himself.

I am yours, &c.

164

LETTER VIII.

Perplexity in reading the word of God.-Complaint of the want of personal application.-Natural aversion from the Bible.-Mistaken expectations.-An impious practice.→ Failure arising from listlessness in reading.—Want of consideration.- Forgetting that God is the Author.-Looking for an extraneous something.-How the Holy Spirit imparts the right meaning. Duty of becoming familiar with the plan of salvation.-Caution relative to reading other books.-Concluding advice.

MY DEAR SIR,

ONE of your expressions merits particular notice: "Although I am confident that the Bible is the word of God, and that it is the ordinary means, in his hands, of relieving the spiritual wants of his creatures, yet it appears not of the least avail to me. It meets none of my difficulties. It presents no personal application to my own mind. There is in it nothing that is suitable to my exigencies. I have thought a thousand times, that I should rejoice to see a plain delineation of myself; something in a tangible form, to fix and rivet my attention. It is the reverse of all this that I complain of. Every thing appears confused and indefinite, as it regards my own situation. In

some portions of this book I can discover beauties which my judgment approves; and I can take some little interest in its historical records. But, although I task myself in hopes of some developement, or some discovery not yet made, I shut it again and again, as much in the dark as ever."

Sad complaint of a soul distressed with a sense of its loneliness, and sighing for an object suited to its necessities! How great is the disappointment which it indicates! To how many murmurs does it give rise! How often does it create a wish that the bible were not what it is! But where is the fault? Certainly not in the divine book itself; but in the mind of the reader. In evidence of this, we might mention the different impressions which may be made on the same mind at different times, and under different circumstances. The scriptures are not always the same to the Christian himself. In seasons of coldness their energy and interest are, in a great measure, lost. Conviction of their intrinsic value and individual reference will indeed continue: but it is conviction from past, not from present experience. Also in a mind destitute of any spiritual taste, the effect left by a perusal of the sacred pages may, and does, vary, both in degree and character. The same may be asserted of any piece of intelligence, which shall be of equal value to ten persons to whom it is communicated, and yet the