their heads towards the ground. The rain usually begins each year in the month of October. Those persons who have not spent this season in a tropical country, can form no idea of the showers which then drench the earth. The storms generally arise in the east or in the south. A small black cloud is at first perceived on the horizon, which increases as it approaches, spreads in a few minutes with incredible velocity over the whole region, and then descends. A fearful storm now rages; flash upon flash, and peal succeeding peal, the lightning illumines the whole heavens, and the thunder rolls most fearfully, as if the sky were about to open and the earth to burst! Streams of water pour down with violence, which the soil is incapable of imbibing; and torrents are thus formed, destined, however, soon to be lost in the sands. Showers of this description generally last over one quarter of an hour, seldom for a longer period, and very rarely indeed are they repeated on the same day. They remit frequently during two, three, or even six, days; and this is the most unhealthy and even dangerous time both for strangers and natives; but it is admitted by general consent, that those of white colour suffer more than the blacks.-Travels in Southern Abyssinia, by C. J. Johnston.

A WORD TO THOSE WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

THERE is a class of individuals, into whose hands it is probable your Magazine may occasionally fall, to whom I have thought, if a few solemn and momentous truths were stated, in plain language, great benefit, through the divine blessing, might ensue. I allude to those who were once rejoicing in the love of God having been shed abroad in their hearts, but have gradually, as age or riches increased, forsaken the God of their fathers. If these lines meet the eye of one such person, I would earnestly say to him, Recall your thoughts, for a few moments, from the cares and anxieties of this weary world, and review that path in life along which you have travelled. I will not request you to look back even one week, or month, or year; for it is probable that one day has seemed to you much the same as that which preceded; little, if any, perceptible change has been wrought in yourself or the world around you ;-but examine into the views, motives, and desires that animated your breast, and characterized your life, say twenty or thirty years ago. Then you prevented the earliest dawnings with the voice of prayer and thanksgiving to God; you joined with the people of Christ in the early assemblies for public worship, which called down on the duties of the approaching day the blessing out of Zion, which maketh rich, and adds no sorrow. Your place in the church was seldom vacant; you assembled joyfully with the multitude that kept holy-day. What a fervency marked your public intercessions! With what sincerity you related the dealings of God with your soul! Wherever the Gospel required countenance and assistance, you were among the foremost to afford them. Wherever good was to be obtained, you were certain to be present. The eye of your Minister was on you, and frequently he rejoiced to reflect on the promise you gave of future usefulness in the church and the world. Your example was seen by many a faithful follower of Jesus, and it gave them pleasure to behold your zeal and earnestness: oft-times, when you

little thought, their hearts glowed with gratitude to God, that his grace shone forth so brilliantly in you; and those of the world who scoffed at religion, even while openly upbraiding and ridiculing your strictness, did secretly admire the beauty of piety as it was manifested in you.

How was it with you with regard to that kingdom within your breast, into which none besides yourself and Almighty God can enter? Then, with the deepest humility, and feelings of the highest joy, you contemplated the position you occupied in the sight of the Most High, while you were proving that the influences of the Comforter, which "the world knoweth not, neither can it receive,” are at this time open to those who diligently seek them. How you pitied the world around! and how superior to all its vanities you felt yourself, while experiencing the love of God shed abroad in your heart, that passeth understanding! With what wondering and grateful astonishment you felt a principle entering your soul, and the mighty power of God was made perfect in your weakness, leading you from strength to strength,-from the conquering of one evil propensity, to the subjugation of another; in the victory over easily-besetting sins, once as dear as the right hand or right eye; in the acquirement of a mastery over the baser passions of your nature, which you once imagined unattainable! Then the Holy Spirit witnessed with your spirit that your sins were blotted out, that your transgressions were pardoned, that you were adopted into the family of God, and born, not of water, but of the Spirit. Oft-times you viewed, with humble satisfaction and ardent gratitude, your position of safety; you felt that nothing could harm you; in whatever shape or period death might approach, you were ready prepared, having your loins girded, and your lamp burning. The Bible was then your constant study. With what comfort you read, "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching; verily I say unto you, He shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come forth and serve them!" You felt that you were among those to whom the love and infinite condescension of Christ were thus manifested. Then, deeply convinced that what a man soweth he shall also reap, you faithfully took up the cross, denied yourself daily, and followed Christ. Each moment was employed for eternity: you seized upon and improved those moments as they passed away, with the vast tide of time ebbing from your possession. You reflected, with joy, that you would not fear to meet those moments again, when they presented their record on the day of judgment.

To God you devoted your time, talents, and influence. You offered him an undivided heart, and loved him as the supreme object of your affection. You loved your neighbour even as yourself; and whenever you saw a fellow-creature in want, you beheld in him one who was redeemed by Christ your heart warmed towards him, and it was a pleasure to minister to his necessities. Your delight was with the excellent of the earth, and you were a companion of all them that feared God. Such was your state when in the possession of true religion; not the mere excitement of feeling suitable to certain seasons and places, absent and inapplicable elsewhere, but an abiding principle, a regenerated, pure, and holy heart, that influenced all your thoughts, words, and actions, and accompanied you in every situation of life. You rejoiced that your conscience was clear, and void of offence toward God and toward men; that you had a part in all the promises of Scripture; and that your great adversary had been beaten down under your feet, and the very devils and natural corrup

tions had become obedient to the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you. But, in accordance with Christ's commandment, you rather rejoiced that your name was written in heaven. Esteemed and admired even by the world, beloved by the church, and approved by God, you reflected with joy on the crown of glory which fadeth not away, the mansion in the Father's house, the kingdom that cannot be moved, that was reserved in heaven for you.

Consider for a while, reflect, and let your own conscience answer, if these be not the words of truth. Is not this a faithful description of what was formerly your state? Does it not even fall short of an accurate description of the blessedness you once enjoyed? Was there not a period in which you could testify, from personal experience, that it is possible for a man to hold communion with that unseen Being who is the Author of all things; that he may know when God approves or condemns him; and that the dreary shades of death are not impenetrably sealed to the eye of the believer? Did you not then know the meaning of the new birth, the eradication of evil, and the regeneration of the heart? Was there not a spark of grace so influencing your heart, that you could have parted with friends, reputation, worldly possessions, nay, even life itself, rather than have lost it? You know that at one time it was so with you. You cannot deny the correctness of these statements: your own conscience responds to their truth. Your unsatisfied and oft-times aching heart, when disappointment has crossed your path, tells you of better days that once passed, when calmness, peace, and happiness, and satisfaction reigned in your bosom, to which you are at present a stranger. You know that it is not with you as it was in former days; and frequently you feel that you would pay any price, make any sacrifice, to be as you once were. How is it with you now? Time has been travelling forward with noiseless step, and has silently measured out day by day, till weeks have increased to months, months to years, and years have accumulated. You can scarcely recognise even in yourself the same individual that you were in time which is past. Look at the aspect that the world around you wore in your earlier days: your former friends, your desires, expectations, plans for life, hopes for the future, pursuits, with the sources of your gratification and pleasure; what a change has come about! In what a different light things now present themselves to you!

I shall not trace the various steps of this mighty transformation. It is probable that one day has not brought any decided alteration from that of its predecessor. The first step in your declension was perhaps a cold performance of your closet duties; then an occasional, and at last a total, omission of private devotions. Ere long, public ordinances were neglected; and, by degrees, old things passed away, and a new and also much deteriorated state was the result. I shall not even examine into your practice, -into the altered position which, in the eye of the world and of the church, you at present occupy; or the change that has taken place in your inward feelings. In these affairs you know, that if your heart condemn you, your own evil heart, that overlooks much that is bad, and palliates what it detects, much more does God, who is greater than your heart, and who knoweth all things, also condemn you. You are an unhappy man. Even in the attainment of those objects of worldly gratification which you have diligently pursued, you feel a craving for something beyond, an insatiate desire for an object not yet acquired; a conviction still lurks in your mind, that there is a higher benefit yet unsought,—a

work given you to do, that is not yet accomplished. You feel that the objects which now engage your ardent pursuit are not suited to your wants, and will not abide with you for ever. In your attempts to drown this ever-vexing principle, you plunge more and more deeply into the cares and business of the world, trusting thereby to stifle it; hoping and vainly endeavouring to create an appetite within, that shall desire nothing beyond, but be at all times fully satisfied with earthly pleasures: like one in a fever, who swallows with hasty draughts the offered liquid, hoping to quench at once his burning thirst, and destroy the disease that gives rise to it.

I shall now endeavour to place before you, faithfully collected from the holy Scriptures, the position in which you really stand in the sight of God. Awful, indeed, if the Bible be true, is your condition! Recently the feelings of society at large have been deeply wounded by the atrocious crimes of the murderer. Most justly was the act and its author held in universal abhorrence. You would shudder to occupy his position, or be placed on a level with him. And yet, how do you appear in the eye of God? You are the individual whom the Almighty has designated an "abomination" in his sight. "If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Christ, in great compassion, declared, that he was come to seek and to save that which was lost; that even harlots and publicans and thieves should enter the kingdom of heaven; that "no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Read 2 Peter ii.; and there you will see recorded, in words cold and lifeless, if you choose to read them as such, but, if taken aright, and such as they are in reality, however you may view them, words full of fire and spirit,burning words, written by the finger of God, and addressed to you individually; to you, selected from the multitude of sinners surrounding you. Better were it for you that you had never known the way of righteousness, but drunk in iniquity like as water, obeyed the evil desires of your corrupt heart, fulfilled all the lusts of the flesh, yielded to all the temptations of Satan, sinned with a high hand and an outstretched arm against God and the well-being of society, allowed the evil principle of your nature to work to its fullest extent, unchecked and unrestrained, whatsoever sin and wickedness it could have devised,-better that this had been your case, than, having known "the way of righteousness, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto you." In the former case, being by nature a child of wrath, and inheriting a proneness to work the works of the devil, you would have pursued the bent of natural inclination. Now you have had a view of the low estate into which man has fallen; you have seen that he is naked, blind, and helpless under the curse of his Maker; you have tasted and proved that the Lord is gracious, ready to forgive the past, and by the influences of his Holy Spirit to save you from the power and pollution, as well as the punishment, of sin; you have experienced the reality of the remedy which God himself procured for ruined man ;-but, alas! you have again turned to the beggarly elements of the world. An evil spirit, before, working on a sinful and corrupt heart, prone to that which was bad, and averse to good, led you into paths of transgression and folly; but now, seven evil spirits, worse than he, have usurped his place, and led you to despise the scheme of salvation, to trample it under foot, and to count the precious blood of Christ, the blood of the everlasting covenant, an unholy thing. God himself declares your last state to be worse than the first.

Bear, I beseech you, with my plainness of speech. You and I must

shortly stand before the judgment-seat of Christ; and it may be, that if I soften down these tremendous truths, you may then charge it upon me, that if I had but been faithful in warning you, you had not destroyed all that which is of value to an immortal soul. Is religion a mere matter of opinion, to be taken up, to be laid aside, to be cultivated, to be neglected, just as you would treat politics, or any of the different branches of science; or is it a subject of all-importance, a process which every living soul must undergo, or endure the weight of the curse of an Almighty God? Are these words empty, and void of meaning?" God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil;" "For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment;" "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God;" "He shall gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he shall burn with unquenchable fire;" "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire;" "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son ;" "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Does not an air of truthfulness pervade these words, independent of all collateral evidence, that carries with it an irresistible conviction that they shall surely be accomplished?

But I do not tell you of things with which you are unacquainted: these subjects once engaged your contemplation; earnestly you pondered them in your mind. Once you tasted of the powers of the world to come. How is it that, having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, you are again entangled therein, and overcome? Most truly, the latter end is worse with you than the beginning. Your state resembles that of those Pharisees to whom our Lord said, with an awful emphasis, "How can ye escape the damnation of hell?" With the clearest evidence before their eyes, they refused to acknowledge him as the Christ, or to accept him as their Lord and Master; and have not you had as clear-yea, if it were possible, clearer-evidence of the reality of that religion which both of you seem to be agreed to renounce? Is not the very root of your declension from the path of piety in which you formerly walked, your present neglect of religion, and unconcern about a future state, an evil heart of unbelief? You do not seriously think that your soul shall stand before God in judgment; and that, according as you have lived on earth, so shall be your everlasting destiny beyond the grave. You cannot for a moment connect the idea with yourself, that you shall take a part in the scenes of the last day, as represented in Scripture; and that, unless you now accept the offer of that despised salvation, which appears foolishness in your eyes, that you shall call to the mountains and to the rocks to fall upon and hide you from the face of Him that