I

and carefully, examine ourselves whether we be in the faith! My dear M., when looking into this heart of mine, and finding so many sinful propensities existing and operating within it, I am sometimes led to fear, almost to conclude, that I have never yet been renewed in the spirit of my mind. Oh! the infinite consequences depending upon our embracing, from the heart, that religion, and being the subjects of that repentance and faith, without which we shall not be saved! I cannot, even to you, fully express my feelings on this interesting and all-important subject; it is too vast and solemn in its nature and consequences. I can only say, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting. do think however, notwithstanding the many reasons I have to entertain doubts respecting my conversion, that Christianity is to me all in all. Were the religion of Jesus torn from me, I should be like the mariner with-, out a compass or a bark, in the midst of a tempestuous ocean. I should not know whither to direct my despairing eyes, for hope in this life, or happiness in the life to come. Sometimes I have a hope that I am one of Christ's little ones, and feel as if I could exclaim with the Psalmist, O, how I love thy law. But these precious seasons do not last long, and I again doubt, whether the joys I then felt, were not the fruit of those false affections which the legalist and the hypocrite may experience. My dear friend, let us pray for each other, that we may have faith to lay hold on the promises of Jehovah, that we may be enabled to hold on our way in the path of life, and finally be made pillars in the temple of our God to go no more out for ever.

2

TO A FRIEND AT N. Y.

Killingworth, February 19, 1809.

WHAT, my dear N., would be our sensations did we suppose, like many learned infidels, that this narrow sphere of being was the whole of our existence. Dreadful indeed would be the thought; that man was destined only to tread for a few short days this speck of creation, and then sink to nought! What could ever have induced cultivated and aspiring minds, to imbibe notions so degrading to our nature as these ; notions which make us but a little higher than the beasts that perish, and which preclude all desires and exertions for nobler joys than those of time and sense? Futurity is the Christian's hope. In the Gospel, life and immortality are brought to light. Death shall be swallowed up of victory. Then grace shall be perfected and glory consummated. Then shall we know even as we are known; whatever appeared mysterious and incomprehensible to our finite capacities shall be elucidated; God will be seen to have done all things well, and to be just in justifying them that believe.

TO MISS L. OF N. H.

Killingworth, March 31, 1809.

I RECEIVED your kind letter, my beloved M., with the most cordial pleasure. It is some time since I heard from my good friends at N. H.; and I hope I feel sensations of gratitude to Him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift, that he has preserved you from sickness and death until the present time, and that he has not withdrawn the precious influences of his Spirit, but is still causing the showers of divine grace to descend upon your favoured town. May the glorious work be continued, un

til your righteousness shall go forth as brightness, and your salvation as a lamp that burneth.

It is certainly true, my dear friend, that frequently, when there is an uncommon attention to religion, there is also an uncommon zeal in defending or opposing things unessential. That the Christian world is so divided in its opinions, is a circumstance which must excite sorrow in the bosom of every member of the family of God. But so long as human nature is subject to err, and as long as there are different doctrines taught by those who undertake to expound the Scriptures of truth, this must unavoidably be the case. We are not to condemn any who differ from us in some points of faith, but hold to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. A proceeding so uncharitable, has no sanction in the benevolent and perfect rules of the Gospel. That the best men are liable to embrace, and have embraced, errors, is amply evident from the least acquaintance with ecclesiastical history. This fact, together with the numerous exhortations in Scripture to the exercise of charity, should lead us to view with candour and impartiality the opinions of others, to examine them faithfully before we condemn them, and, if we must condemn them because we find them to be fundamental errors, to do it in the meekness of the Christian temper. Yet, as I have already intimated, while we endeavour to avoid unjust and uncharitable censure of others for their religious opinions, we must be careful not to sacrifice at the shrine of modern "liberality" the faith once delivered to the saints; we must not sanction, even by our silence, principles subversive of the great truths inculcated by Christ and his prophets and apostles. There is a manifest difference between those divisions among nominal Christians which relate merely to the externals of religion, or to doctrines which do not nearly affect the foundations of the Christian faith, and those which are repugnant or

contrary to the essential doctrines of the Gospel, and which, openly or secretly, aim at the basis of the Gospel system. To those who differ from us in relation to the former, we may and ought to extend our fellowship. But errorists of the latter description should be strenuously opposed, if we would obey the divine injunction to contend earnestly for the faith. We are not indeed to oppose them with severity and acrimony, but with that firmness which arises from a consciousness of being on the Lord's side; a firmness which, while it precludes our being turned about by every wind of doctrine, is accompanied with meekness and discretion. In the primitive church, some were for Paul, others for Apollos, and others for Cephas. And yet they may all have been real disciples of Christ; for Paul, Apollos, and Cephas all preached (though with some unimportant variations, which were made the occasion of those divisions,) the same method of salvation; they all preached Christ crucified, the wisdom of God and the power of God unto salvation to them which believe; and, therefore, the sincere followers of each were true Christians. At the present day also, it is of little consequence whether men are Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, or Baptists; for, although some one of these denominations is doubtless nearer being right than the others, a person may embrace the peculiarities of either, and yet be a Christian. But it is of the highest importance whether we be Orthodox, Unitarians, Pelagians, or Antinomians, for the distinctive principles of these sects immediately affect the foundations of Christianity, and must, other things being equal, have a material influence upon the morals of mankind: on the points which separate these classes of what is loosely called the Christian world, we cannot be too solicitous not to err; for an error here may be fatal. Such, if I understand you, is the distinction which you make. I can therefore yield an entire as

sent to your remark that "did Christians study more to avoid foolish and unprofitable questions, and give more of their attention to the essentials of the Gospel, we should see less of the virulence of party spirit and more of the fruits of piety."

How unhappy it is, my dear friend, that the little family of Christ should be so torn with internal animosities and feuds; and that at a time when the state of the world seems to render it peculiarly necessary that all its members should be bound together in the unity of the Spirit, and in the bonds of peace. At no period in the history of the church, can we discover so many and such powerful efforts of the prince of this world and his adherents, to destroy its purity, and its very existence, as at the present time. What were the clamours of the ancient Jews, what were the distressing persecutions of the idolatrous Gentiles, and what were the contemptuous opprobriums of the infidel philosophers of former days, capable of effecting toward the overthrow of Christianity, compared with that spirit of Antichrist which has now gone forth into the world, a spirit which, while it professes to admire, directs all its energies to the destruction of, the religion of Christ? The former gave the blow openly, the latter gives the deadly stab in secret. The former depressed, but did not corrupt the truth; the latter infuses its poison into the very principles of our faith, and leaves us nothing of Christianity but the form and the name. Surely these are "the last times" spoken of in the sure word of prophecy, when many shall be given up to strong delusions, and left to believe a lie, and when faith shall hardly be found on the earth.

But, thanks be to God, he is showing us, by the effusions of his Spirit on various places, that he still remembers his Church, and will not suffer the gates of hell to prevail against it. And blessed be his name for