This too, is an ingredient of happiness, and is the consequent of the former. True happiness is inseparably connected with holiness.

You will say, This is no new discovery. We have been often told so. Aye, but have you felt it to be a truth; and have you acted upon it as a truth? If so, whatever be your sorrows, you can tell that you have a joy which the world cannot give, and which it cannot take away. If you have not this joy, you have not yet laid hold on this true wisdom. Seek for her, for happy is the man that findeth her.

It appears then, that sin is the cause of all the misery that is in the world. There is a sense of guilt, and a dread of punishment, which, the most careless sometimes feel, and which must soon burst with overwhelming force upon them in that place, where conscience will be ever awake. How blessed then is he "whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered," &c. (Psalm, xxxii.) This consciousness of guilt must form a great part of the unhappiness of every one, whose conscience is not seared as with a hot iron. In the gospel then there is a remedy for this. The blessedness mentioned in the Psalm may be our's, if we believe that Christ died for our sins. But the misery arising from a sense of guilt, is not the only misery connected with sin; nor is it this which constitutes the main part of the unhappiness of mankind. An awakened conscience has driven many to despair, and the thinking part of mankind are often oppressed by the unwelcome intrusions of its warning voice. But the gay unthinking multitude, who never reflect, and who never think of futurity, are they oppressed with a sense of guilt?-They often are. And yet is it true, that many dance

along from the cradle to the grave, in whom the past has excited no remorse, and the future no anxiety. And yet these were not happy. They roved from pleasure to pleasure, seeking what they could not obtain. Their very love of novelty, showed that the last amusement could amuse no longer. They have sunk to the grave, and they are miserable now. There is a misery then connected with sin, independent of a sense of guilt, or rather, I should say, Sin itself is misery. It is sin which has stamped vanity on all the means of happiness which the world presents. It is sin which has mingled bitterness with every earthly pleasure. In this view of the matter, every sinner must be unhappy, and that independent of the torments of conscience, or the foreboding of torments greater still. Misery must be mingled up with his very existence, and every enjoyment must be embittered by the principle of unhappiness which is in his own breast. One of the scripture names of the devil, means the self tormentor; and the appellation is applicable, in a certain degree, to every worker of iniquity. This is evidently the deadliest wound sin has given, but the religion of the Bible has a cure for this too.

In the gospel we are offered pardon, and this can disarm conscience and take the sting from death. But this is not all. We must be purified, as well as pardoned, ere our salvation be complete. The natural consequence of sin, is punishment proportioned to the enormity of the crime;a full pardon frees us from all the overwhelming consequences of our guilt. But sin itself is a punishment; and, so long as we are sinners, no pardon, however full or free, can save us from this punishment. While we remain depraved and

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unholy, we must be unhappy. A change of character then is the only hope of deliverance. And for this, most ample means are provided in the gospel of Christ. The very history of that atonement which procured our pardon, has a tendency, while we meditate upon it, to promote our holiness. While we look to Christ, we are made like him. While we behold that glory with unveiled faces, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. It is by believing in Christ then, and thinking much of his person and his history, that we shall find that wisdom, and get that understanding, which shall make us truly happy. For thus shall we fear the Lord, in the sense of that term; and thus too shall we be led to depart from evil.

My dear Trail;

Dysart House, October 13, 1826.

Perhaps I should have written sooner, but I trust you will not attribute this delay to want of affection. I have really nothing particular to com'municate, except my very sincere thanks for your truly kind and refreshing letter. I trust this will find you a preacher of the gospel; and I am sure, if once all external barriers are removed; the state of those around you, will constrain you to be instant in season, and out of season. You mention having heard from our dear friend Adam; and I suppose, he addressed you on the subject which has taken possession of his whole soul. Have you been thinking more of the missionary work. I feel the argument for personal engagement every day more strong; and if there are times when I have a longing persuasion that it may be my duty

to remain at home, they are times when the chilling influence of the world has cooled every holy affection. This convinces me, more than any thing, that the matter is of God. Did I tell you, that our friend, Rentoul, has been so impressed with the duty of preaching to the Heathen, as to have almost (I trust, by this time, altogether) decided on offering his services to the London Missionary Society? Henry Craik has written me, since his arrival at Exeter, which he seems to like very much. John Brown and he are making some exertion for the spiritual good of the people. I had a letter from Mr. Adam yesterday, who seems to think of Madras as the place of his des< tination. I suppose he had begun to study Sunskirt when he wrote to you. He goes on with it. I could have wished much to accompany John Adam, but many circumstances seem to demand a considerable delay on my part. May the Lord make me submissive. I know his ways are the best. Generally on looking back, we can see that every step we took was necessary for our welfare, although when we took these steps, all was darkness and perplexity;-"The Lord leadeth the blind by a way that they know not." It is a privilege even to be blind, if we have such a Leader. Since we came here, the Earl of Rosslyn's family have been all at home, and there has been a good deal of company. Lord Loughborough, Lord Rosslyn's son, was married last Tuesday.

I feel that the near approach of rank and fashion has a strong, though almost imperceptible influence, in superinducing a spirit of worldliness. Every new scene that opens to me, convinces me that the world in which we live is more dan

temptation shows me that my strength is utter weakness. How difficult to learn the lesson of our own utter worthliness. Experience alone can teach it. O that we may be enabled to look more simply to Christ alone! In him we are complete. Through Christ strengthening us we can do all things. I thank you for your kind present, and for your still kinder advices. Pray for me, that the Lord would uphold me, for I feel that I walk on slippery places. Nesbit will be in Edinburgh soon, but has not yet arrived. W. S. Moncrieff, and W. Alexander, my old companions, are the only persons I know going to St. Andrew's.

I hope they will be strenuous in their exertions. We return soon to the neighborhood of Glasgow, where I expect to spend the winter.

Dysart House, October 16, 1826. My very dear Friend;

I have just been conning over your very interesting letter, by way of foraging for my own pen, for I fear this will be a very barren and uninteresting letter. Every line of your epistle is filled with what is interesting, so that I scarcely know what to allude to first. The first thing that strikes me, is, that the date of this letter is exactly a month later than your's, which was the time fixed for our dear Nesbit's leaving you. I trust he has left you, else I shall be denied the pleasure of an interview with him, as I pass through Edinburgh, for Tennoch Side, the end of this week. But, by the way, when your letter was written, you did not know I had left that part of the country. It is now about five weeks, since Colonel M.'s family came to Dysart, and on leaving our former residence, I was permitted to pay a visit to Perth,