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mark of affection folded up within the cover. And while I sit down with ten-fold pleasure to the enjoyment of the thousand mercies which my God is continually giving me, because I behold with the eye of faith his presence at the table smiling graciously upon all; I no less am enabled, in the hour of calamity, to wait the issue, because I can and do hear with the ear of faith that soul-sustaining voice, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.' Oh! the sweetness of having Jesus for our portion!' and 'of living a life of faith upon the Son of God, who hath loved me and given himself for me!'

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-I was musing upon the happiness of a frame of mind like this, as the Poon Man ended his relation, and reflecting on the little probability that I should ever arrive at such a state of blessedness, when a deep sigh, accompanied with a voice of complaint from a person near me, roused me from my meditation, and at once spoke my feelings and his own.

THE MOURNFUL BELIEVER.

'Oн that it were with me as you describe !' said the Mourner; but my case is far different. I fear that I have only a name to live, while I am dead before God! It is not possible, surely, that such a state as mine can con

sist with a life of grace in the soul. If the love of Christ was shed abroad in my heart, could I live as I do, so far from him? My mind is at times as lifeless and unconcerned towards Christ, as their's can be who never loved his name. It is true, I feel at certain seasons great desires after the Lord. And I know, that a change hath taken place in my mind. For the world and its pursuits, which my heart was once running after with the greatest eagerness, now have lost their influence. And the society of the people of God, who were once my song of reproach, I now above all things value. Yet still, so much sin is mixed with all I do ; so little do I live to Christ, and to the remembrance of his dearmame; and the throne of grace is so often neglected, by me, from day to day; that I very much fear my hope is all a delusion.'

—Had I been called upon to relate my own experience, I could not have done it in more suitable words. I felt my heart drawn towards the speaker, from the affinity that existed between us; and waited with the most awakened expectations for some kind brother in this humble society, to say a word of consolation to a case so much my own. It was not long before the Poor Man, to whom I owed so much before, took up the subject, to answer the doubts,

and remove the fears of the mournful believer; and in doing this, he added to my obligation to him tenfold.

Your case, my friend,' (cried the Poor Man, addressing himself to the Mourner,) is by no means singular. It is the uniform complaint of the faithful in all ages. What one ancient servant of the Lord groaned under, all of them have found, that when we would do good, evil is present with us.' And the reason is obvious. It ariseth from the workings within of the different principles, grace and corruption. There are in every regenerated person two principles, a body of sin, and a spirit of grace; the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye can not do the things which ye would.'. There is not a part of the mind but what feels the influence of both. In the renewed nature, the understanding is enlightened, the affections spiritualized, the will inclined to GOD: while in the unrenewed nature still remaining, there is darkness in the understanding; carnal and earthly affections still continuing in the heart; and the will stubborn, rebellious, and frequently inclining to disobedience. In short, the mind is like the region of the earth, while twilight is upon it; it is neither dark nor light, but

a mixture of both: no portion of the hemisphere being so light, but the shades of darkness are blended with it; and none so dark, but the tints of light are beautifully incorporated. And this is perfectly accountable. A state of grace is a middle state, between that of nature and glory. In a state of nature unawakened, unregenerated, unrenewed, sin reigns with unrivalled sway. In a state of glory, grace reigns uninterrupted, and without any opposition. But the intermediate state is a state of warfare. Every one in this state feels and experiences the conflict. And as it is said, in allusion to this very circumstance, in the allegory of the bondwoman's son and the heir of promise, so be lievers find it; as then he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the spirit; even so it is now*.'

But however mortifying this doctrine be to our nature, (and abundantly so it hath ever been found to the best of men,) yet as it tends, under divine grace, to make the believer go softly all his days; as it makes Jesus more dear and as it affords to the believer one of the truest evidences of the renewed life; he ought rather to inquire, how such a state may be over-ruled to Gop's glory and his own benefit, than, by a false estimate, to question the ten* Gal. iv. 29.

der mercies of the Lord toward him, in the very moment of receiving the strongest proofs of them. Let me desire you to examine your own complaints again; and to see whether in the very moment of receiving the strongest proofs of them-Let me desire you to examine your own complaints again; and to see whether in every one of them, even in the midst of your groaning under the apprehension that there is no grace in your heart-whether great grace is not then in exercise. You say, that if the love of Christ were shed abroad in your heart, you could not live so far from him as you do; that if you really were under grace, you could not stay away from a throne of mercy as you do. But say, could you complain of the want of love to Christ, if you had never tasted what that love is? And if you sit not a mercy-seat so often as you wish, say, are not these things your continual burthen? Do you not groan under such marks of a dead and lifeless heart? And are not these sorrows of the soul, for the unallowed sins of the body, very plain evidences of the spiritual warfare? They never groan at sin, though they may in the prospect of the punishment of it, who have no renewed nature. It is the believer only who dreads the sin, more than the penalty due to it. And if grace be thus in exercise to endear

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