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and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.'

Such are the declarations, and such the promises left on record to support the believer under the anxieties and temptations of the present life. Language more benign and gracious, more replete with sympathetick tenderness and mercy, with unbounded goodness and affection, cannot be easily selected: and were it not known that sin has a natural tendency to produce in the conscience terrour and distrust, it would not be hastily believed that the heart that had once realized the consolation of forgiveness, could again become the subject of doubt. The christian, however, should remember, that whatever be the degree of his guilt or his misery; however great and numerous his fears; however many and appa

rently insurmountable the obstacles that stand in the way of his future blessedness, he has indubitable evidence that he shall finally possess it. The almighty power and faithfulness of God stand pledged that nothing shall frustrate his hopes. He may say to his soul, in the midst of all the storms and vicissitudes of time,

'The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.'

I am yours, &c.

LETTER VII,

Have angels sinn'd, and shall not man beware?
How shall a son of earth decline the snare?
Not folded arms, and slackness of the mind,
Can promise for the safety of mankind:
None are supinely good: thro' care and pain,
And various arts, the steep ascent we gain.
This is the seat of combat, not of rest;
Man's is laborious happiness at best.
On this side death his dangers never cease,
His joys are joys of conquest, not of peace.

YOUNG.

THAT the Lord hath been to you, 'as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds,' affords me unspeakable pleasure, and for which I devoutly join with you in grateful acknowledgments to the Father of mercies. With you it is no longer difficult to believe that, though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning; nor that chastening, though grievous for the present, nevertheless afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. Alas!

F

how slow of heart are we to believe what prophets and apostles have said concerning the salvation of God; and even what he testified of it, who is the true and faithful Witness, and who spoke as never man spoke.

Whether that peace of conscience you happily experience, through faith in the atonement, will meet with no interruption is not my province to determine. For such is the degeneracy of human nature, and such the base ingratitude of the human heart, that incidents the most trifling sometimes divert attention from the one thing needful, and too frequently betray into actions which involve guilt, and which, of course, deprive us of that tranquillity which is enjoyed in communion with God. Gratitude is not the characteristick of man. We are prone to be unmindful of benefits received

-to lose sight of our perpetual obligations to divine goodness; and in the hour of torpid indifference, lightly to esteem the Rock of salvation. If, therefore, we forsake his law, and walk not in his judgments; if we break his statutes, and keep not his commandments ;'

it may reasonably be expected that he will visit our transgression with the rod, and our iniquity with stripes-that we shall know and see it is an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord God, in whose favour there is life, and whose loving kindness is better than life."

But, supposing there were in the christian's conduct no deviation from the path of rectitude; that, in duty, the eye were always single; that the honour of God were kept constantly in view, and that his prospects of interest in divine favour were never clouded; yet must he expect to meet with many things to try his faith and interrupt his quiet. Is it probable that a sinner, recently delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, should not meet with temptations and assaults in consequence of allegiance to his new Sovereign? Can it be reasonably imagined that a man devoted to sensuality-who sought all his happiness in gratifying the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; who perhaps was uncommonly assiduous to involve all his com

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