Nothing appears to me more extravagant than the folly and madness of that man, who can trifle with considerations on which his eternal interests depend. He must soon quit his hold of present things: he must soon enter another world: the grand question therefore is, does anything present itself like footing in the abyss before him? Can a floating atom adhere to anything like substance? I see one ground of hope only, on which I can venture; and, could I be deceived in the attempt, I should be but as others. Like the dove, therefore, which went to and fro, but found no rest for her foot till she returned to the Ark; so, after trying other means of rest, I am reduced from necessity to flee to that only Rest and Refuge set before me in the Gospel.

I observe a sort of evidence of the truth of Christianity, which none but a Christian can have, and which partly depends upon a moral Taste. Like a man who has an ear for music, a Christian will perceive harmony and sweetness, where another, who has not this taste, will find nothing but noise. When a multitude were gathering to drag the Apostle to prison for preaching the truth, an individual receives and obeys this truth as the means of salvation. How is this? Had she a better understanding than the rest? No such reason is given: but it is said that the Lord OPENED HER HEART, that she attended unto the things that were spoken of Paul. Verily, we must

know that there is a path which the Vulture's eye hath not seen, and which no such fowl knoweth : and, what seems more extraordinary, we know that such cannot, or will not, see this path, after all imaginary pains have been taken to shew it to them.

A Christian has also an evidence of Experience: like that of a man, who has long dwelt in a house which another has only walked round, and examined on the outside. The external observer may question whether any thing is to be found in the house at which he looks; but it is much too late for us to doubt, who have long inhabited the dwelling: we cannot UNKNOw what we have known: we cannot but have the clearest con viction, that, till we were brought into this house, we were destitute of the shelter, provisions, and comforts which we now enjoy, and of which wè are so desirous that others should be partakers. Now, though this, as well as some of the before mentioned arguments, cannot properly be urged on the conscience of an infidel, we certainly ought to take the benefit of it to ourselves.

Behold the days come, saith the Lord, in which I will perform that good thing, which I have promised to the house of Israel. Here I feel, that, if no one beside myself could be a witness of the fulfilment of this promise, I must be utterly aban doned to falsehood if I did not acknowledge the accomplishment of it in my own state and heart.

Whatsoever doth make manifest is light: but we have a conviction in our breasts, amounting to moral certainty, that it is only by the light of Revelation that we have been enabled to appreciate justly other things, and discern their true colour, worth, and importance. Instructed by this, we perceive, that if modern moralists reason better than their pagan forefathers, it is because they are born under a brighter day, and borrow from it those very assistances which their depravity often employs against it. We cannot but recollect, that, when our hearts became humble, the light of Revelation, like that of the sun, brought its own evidence with it; insomuch, that, when Christ spake to us by his word, he seemed to say to us, as he once said to the man whose eyes he opened, I that speak unto thee, am He.

The instruction, which a Christian receives from this great Teacher, makes all he sees without and feels within both natural and accountable; and his Teacher's counsel also shews him WHAT TO DO in the case. But, without such help, hè feels like one driven out to sea without rudder or compass; and who, for any thing he knows to the contrary, may be dashed to pieces in a moment.

Necessity felt, and Help received, become an argument at hand with Christians in every station. Thus the believing poor feel the use and worth of the Scriptures as an illiterate Mariner feels the use and worth of his Compass. The Mariner,

perhaps, has neither curiosity nor capacity enough to inquire why his needle takes a polar direction; or, what the learned have to say on its observed variations in different parts of the globe: he knows nothing of the laws of magnetism, why iron and not lead should be the recipient of it, when or by whom it was discovered, or to what variety of purposes it may be applied; but this man knows, illiterate as he is, that it is by this needle only that he finds his way through a trackless ocean he knows, that, by this alone, he has escaped many dangers, and obtained many deliverances: he knows he can proceed safely, only as he is directed by it; or take rest, only as he attends to it; and that it will bring him home to his family and friends at last. Thus the Poor take the benefit of Revelation, though they are not able accurately to maintain theories, nor answer questions respecting it, as a scholar might.

The value of a thing is sometimes best discovered by observing the effects resulting from the want of it. When I have beheld the desperate malignity of an unbeliever whom I have visited in his dying moments, and have seen him spurn at the only help and kindness that could be afforded him in such circumstances:-or when I have laboured to convince a silly young creature, intoxicated with vanity, sunk in sensuality, deaf to counsel, and plunging into ruin :—when I I say I have looked on such men, could I doubt for a

moment as to what a reception of the Gospel would do for them? I stand assured that it would pluck a brand from the burning; that it would bring a madman to his senses; that it would change a devil into an angel. Can I doubt, after such an assurance, whether this same Gospel be true, and the appointed remedy of God?

Not that a bare assent to the letter of this divine record will produce any such effects. You and I, Madam, know too many who believe the History of the Bible as firmly as they believe the History of England, and with much the same effect. Such a faith as this will only witness against them. There needs a Teacher, as well as a Book; an influence, as well as a light. "The gospel," as one observes, "is a mighty engine for raising the fallen nature of man; but God must have the working of it."

But, whatever use man makes of this standard of truth, the standard itself remains fixed, tried, and unimpaired. When I take down a great author, such as Lord Bacon, I find that time has discovered many errors, and rendered obsolete many positions, to be found in that most comprehensive of human minds. But I see that Time can take nothing from the Bible. I find it a living monitor. I feel convinced that I might have escaped all my errors through life, had I paid attention to its admonitions. Like the sun, it is the same in its light and influence to man this day, which it was