as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for them. They are feeble and fore broken; they roar by reafon of the difquietness of their heart. Adopting with fad conviction this defcription of their own miferies, they prefume not with David to subjoin; In thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord, my God. "Ours," they exclaim, " are the threatenings of Scripture: its promifes belong not to us."

66

I propose, in the first place, to defcribe the general circumftances attending religious defpondence: fecondly, to point out the ground of cure: thirdly, to fpecify and examine the principal arguments which the dejected individual frequently alleges as proofs, that he is not warranted to apply to himself the promises of the Scriptures and lastly to address some practical directions to perfons who experience a proneness to religious defpondence.

I. When religious defpondence takes poffeffion of the mind, a new and delufive medium interpofes itself between the fufferer and all the objects which he contemplates. To his eyes every incident affumes an alarming character. In the common events of life he perceives the

hand

hand of God ftretched forth against him. The ordinary courfe of Providence is transformed into a fucceffion of special judgements. "All these things," cries the terrified mourner, are against me: mani"feftations of divine difpleafure; inflic"tions of penal vengeance; warnings of "irrevocable exclufion from God!" Paft offences present themselves in the garb of fingular enormity. And fometimes one of the least confiderable deviations from duty, a deviation perhaps originating in error and inadvertence, preffes forward on the imagination as one of the greatest of crimes; and forms the groundwork of diftorted reasonings, and of intolerable dread. The body participates with the mind. The restless sword wears away its scabbard. Nervous agitation undermines health. Health undermined aggravates nervous agitation. Exertion becomes feeble and reluctant; gradually intermits, progreffively declines. Relative, focial, and domeftic duties are neglected. Activity and alacrity, fources heretofore of pleasure no lefs than inftruments of usefulness, are abforbed in listless melancholy. Diffatisfaction speedily becomes visible in the countenances of the lefs religious members of the

I am

family. From a clouded and unsocial home
they fly in queft of cheerfulness abroad:
and day by day are ftrengthened in the per-
fuafion that gloom is the infeparable con-
comitant of piety. The fufferer mean-
while is agitated by increasing anxiety and
forrow." I see the decay of affection in
"thofe to whom I was most dear.
"a burthen to all; an obstacle to religion;
"forfaken of God; continually more and
"more odious in his fight. Well may I
"be troubled: well may I be bowed down
greatly well may I go mourning all the
day long!" The load of affliction is
not feldom aggravated by the measures
which are adopted for the purpose of re-
moving it. Unfeeling cenfurers confpire
with injudicious friends. At one time de-
jection is encountered with harshness; at
another with neglect; at another with
peremptory opposition; at another with
blind and debilitating tenderness. But the
fovereign remedy prescribed by the worldly.
minded is diffipation. The afflicted party
is prohibited from meditating on the fub-
ject of religion; an injunction alike abfurd
in itself and impoffible to be obeyed: and
is hurried from place to place, from com-
pany to company, from amusement to

amufement,

amufement, that neither opportunity, nor be afforded for reflection.

leifure may

By

this process the portion of mental anguish which may be attributed to bodily indifpofition is occasionally relieved. But, amid changing scenes and changing occupations, the root of the malady remains untouched in the heart. The foul'difcerns the futility of the means employed for its comfort: and by the difcovery is confirmed in its diftrefs. If the tempeft fubfides, it is only to recur with augmented violence: or to fettle into the fatal calm of felf-righteoufnefs and unconcern. Such is the nature, and fuch is the fuccefs, of the measures to which the relatives and connections of the fufferer commonly refort. The modes of relief pursued by the defponding party often prove equally inefficacious, or equally injurious. Attempts are made to quiet the confcience by voluntary aufterities, by diverfified experiments of mortification and penance. Or counfel is eagerly fought on every fide from dogmatical and difcordant advisers. Or a multitude of religious books is indifcriminately accumulated and devoured: error, erudition, criticism, controverfy, unite in augmenting perplexity: and the mind wanders from volume to volume,

volume, without guide or clue, bewildered, unfettled, confounded, and difmayed. Hence has followed delufion, hence enthufiafin; hence has melancholy been impelled to the confines of frenzy. The Scriptures themfelves, partially examined and applied, are heard to utter no voice but that of terror. The judgements in store for the impenitent form the theme of inceffant meditation. When the eye cafually meets a promise or an encouragement, it hurries away as from forbidden ground. Had Eve fled from the interdicted tree with the trembling perfe verance with which the victims of defpondence fly from the confolations of Holy Writ; neither her forrows nor theirs, nor thofe of the human race, had been known.

II. What then, amid thefe jarring refources unavailingly employed for the attainment of relief, are the genuine grounds of cure?

By devout, comprehensive and impartial felf-examination let the fufferer labour to fatisfy himself, whether he feels a deep and abiding conviction of his guilt; and whether he cherishes a rooted and earneft defire to be delivered through the Lord Jefus Christ, not only from the punishment but

from