in both as far as human weakness can go. But these just and beautiful observations, which are extracted from various parts of his correspondence, and which so advantageously exhibit both the correctness of his taste and the benevolence of his heart, almost uniformly end in a higher strain. "But, after all your acquirements, you will not be happy if you endeavour to derive that happiness from either mental or sensual enjoyments alone. These cannot satisfy an immortal soul intended for another and more exalted state of existence. There will be a void, which God alone can fill. As in a future life the enjoyment of our Maker's perfections will constitute a great part of our happiness, so in this life true happiness can alone be derived from the same source. Think on these things. Endeavour to learn your duty from the Scriptures, where alone it is to be found. * * *. Read the word of God and comments upon it. Pray earnestly that he would guide you by his Holy Spirit into the way of truth. Seriously inquire after the way of salvation. Ask, and ye shall receive,' is a declaration full of comfort to every inquiring soul. But then we must ask fervently, anxiously, and importunately. If we are not feelingly convinced that of ourselves we can do nothing, that the Spirit of grace must subdue and purify our nature, and that the atoning merits of our blessed Redeemer alone can give us a title to immortal happiness, and reconcile us to an offended God, all our works and righteousness will avail us nothing. O may we both find in him fulness of joy, and found all our hopes of forgiveness, favour, and happiness, in him alone." It was an occasion of some regret to Mr. Hobart, that his friend had determined to study the law, not from any weak and groundless prejudices against it, but from the fear that he might be exposed to greater temptations in that profession than in the retired and holy vocation which he himself had chosen. With congenial feelings, dispositions, and habits, he was anxious that their hearts should be drawn still closer together by kindred pursuits. "How I should rejoice," he remarks, "were we both to embrace, from pure and holy views, that sacred office, in which, if we faithfully performed our duty on earth, we should enjoy the greatest happiness here, and hereafter shine as the stars in the firmament of heaven." It appears, however, that Mr. Skinner had chosen this profession, both from his own predilection for it, and in compliance with the wishes and interests of his father. The point, therefore, was pressed no farther; Mr. Hobart was not only satisfied with the course which he had taken, but thought it worthy of the highest commendation. "If any thing, my dearest friend, could render you more dear to me than you already are, it would be that filial affection which warms your soul.***. Next to a sense of our accountableness to God, there can be no greater spring to good action than a desire of being useful, especially to those connected with us by the ties of nature. *. As this is particularly your motive to the study of the law, I would not, for a moment, think of advising you to any thing else. No; that is the profession which it is your duty to pursue, and in which, with your feelings, you can * best serve your Creator. It rejoices me to think that it is your wish and intention to serve him. •••. God has given you talents, which are capable, by due cultivation, of advancing you to honour and usefulness. ... May you attain every grace and virtue which, in dependence on his mercy in Christ, will render you acceptable in his sight. *. May God qualify you for every duty, and enable you so to live in this life, that you may finally live with him in life everlasting." It is delightful to observe, notwithstanding the difference of their vocations, what a lively interest was taken by Hobart in all the engagements of his friend. "Your letter (of the 31st October, 1794) yielded me peculiar pleasure: while it was expressive of the warmest affection, it conveyed information relative to your studies and pursuits. Separated from you, a very principal consolation to me is, that you are engaged in the improvement of your mind; and that your prudence and goodness lead you, in a reliance on the assistance of the Almighty, to avoid every cause which would tend to the abasement of your mental faculties and your moral taste. I do not wonder, that the farther you progress in the study of the law, the more you are pleased with it. This is the case in every pursuit; the mind becomes more interested, and its advantages more conspicuous, the farther you advance. Continue, my dearest friend, in that noble and laudable resolution to improve every moment of your time. To keep to it in your situation, He had then removed from Jamaica to New-York. VOL. I. where so many pleasures court your acceptance, great self-denial will be necessary; but your merit will be the greater. How just your observation with respect to the generality of young men! and how great my satisfaction in knowing that you condemn and shun their example! Society is desirable and necessary; but say not that I am severe, if I add, that I think it should not, at our age, extend beyond relatives and select friends. Company prevents study. Youth should be devoted to improvement-manhood more immediately to the exercise of our talents, with a view to be useful to our connexions and country. To study to advantage, a person should have that alone in view; and every power of his mind should, if possible, be directed to the subject before him.” In these juvenile thoughts, thrown out at random in a correspondence the most free and undisguised that can well be imagined, we can easily perceive the early ambition of the writer's mind, and discover the germs of that greatness which it finally attained. But its premature growth in that religious knowledge, which, as it was the first in importance, so he placed above all natural gifts and human acquirements, forms the most striking peculiarity in these letters to his friend: here he rises greatly above the ordinary powers of his mind, uniting, as it were, all the tenderness of youthful persuasion with the dignity and authority of riper years. It appears that Mr. Skinner was amiable, ingenuous, correct, and piously disposed, but that he had not entered deeply into the subject of reli gion, which he himself regarded as his supreme concern. In one of his letters he remarks, that it gives him the greatest pleasure to find that his friend intends to make the care of his soul the principal object of his attention; "it ought to be the most so of any thing that can engage our thoughts. What will it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' Indeed, when we think that our bodies will live only for a few years, and our souls for an eternity, how do the vanity and absurdity of attending to the former, and neglecting the latter, force themselves upon our minds! You lament that we are not together: it indeed deprives us of much pleasure, and perhaps of much mental and spiritual improvement. But you should not rest on any one, much less on me, for the formation of religious impressions in your soul: this must be the work of the Spirit of grace; and as God communicates his grace through the channel of appointed means, have recourse to them: yet beware, at the same time, of trusting to them for pardon and acceptance with God. You must pray that he would restore you to his favour, not because you use the means which he has appointed, but for the sake of his blessed Son, who died that God might be reconciled to sinners. You must feel your own unworthiness; you must acknowledge, that, were God to judge you according to your works, he could not but condemn you, and that Christ Jesus alone can save you. By the corruption of our nature, and the sinfulness of our lives, we are exposed to the wrath of God. We |