posed conversions, may have produced on many minds impressions utterly unfavourable to the idea of sudden conversions. It is not of great importance to enquire minutely into the causes of these extravagances; it is sufficient to remark, that they have uniformly happened among the weak and illiterate; and have generally been encouraged by none but preachers of mean attainments, and still meaner understandings. I am far from wishing to impeach their principles, or call in question their integrity; but am certainly obliged to discharge their hearts, by ascribing it to a cause which pride will last of all acknowledge, the imbecility of a weak, or the uncontrolled fervours of a vigorous understanding. They have, in England at least, had existence, with a few, very few exceptions, among one class of Christians only a class, I acknowledge, to which real Christianity is unspeakably indebted; and on whose labours and success I never look without equal wonder and gratitude. Such extravagances have certainly been fashionable in that society, though many of their most judicious preachers have opposed them. Mr. Wy, whom no man will charge with a weak understanding, seems to have favoured them. With all his acuteness, he possessed no small share of enthusiasm; and this may account for his tolerating and even admiring such irregularities. It was the weakness of a great and good man: and no one, after reading his Juvenile Letters (unhandsomely published by Dr. Smith, and his Journals, in more advanced life) can doubt that he had a weak as well as a strong side. These extravagances are unhappily published, under the implied or avowed sanction of some leading persons in our different connections. Some aspiring curate accidentally runs his eye over our pages, and it is struck with this account. His memory, sufficiently strong to retain its leading features, is not sufficiently retentive of particulars to prevent his adding seve ral aggravating circumstances, which, though not strictly true, give more point and force to the description. It soon reaches his Lordship's ears; and as it serves, in its improved form, as a ground of eloquent harrangue, of bitter incentive, or of Episcopal caution and advice, 'tis eagerly caught, blazoned, and, if possible, aggravated. Though all this is infinitely unjust, yet who can cease to regret that any practices should be tolerated which can, by the appearance of legitimate construction, afford the slightest foundation for charges which, I grant you display, after all, a mixture of malignity and ignorance; of which, in common things, a man of ordinary candour and information would be ashamed. It would be unfair in us not to acknowledge that many things existing among the more serious professors of religion, have had their share in generating improper notions in some minds on this subject. But what shall be said to the crude Ꮓ XIX. opinions and illiberal reflections of men who mingle in one mass all that are attached to evangelical doctrines, and preach them with an earnestness which a sense of their infinite importance produces? His Lordship must be ill-informed indeed, not to have known that thousands, equal to any men in sobriety of mind, in ardent piety, in strength of reasoning powers, and in extent of learning, have steadily maintained and acutely defended those sentiments which he and his companions seem to consider the exclusive and unenviable possession of the fanatical, the hypocritical, the weak, the ignorant of mankind. Both you and I have the happiness of intimately knowing, among these supposed enthusiasts, men who equal in eloquence, in chaste genuine eloquence, the most eloquent in the senate or at the bar; and who certainly would deem it no honour to put forth any thing, as a merely literary production, in such a guise,' as that charge on which you have requested my remarks. I am well aware that numbers, and even majorities, of good and great men, cannot change the nature of things:-no talents, no piety, can convert nonsense into sense, or error into truth. But it is a pride, as contemptible as it is unjust, to mount an Episcopal throne, or join a particular party, and then claim an exclusive title to learning, solidity of mind, and even Christianity itself! I remain your obedient servant, F. D. CONSOLATION TO THE SAINTS - DEATH is a change to which all men must submit; and there are few, in whatever manner they live, but wish to close their days in comfort and peace. Even the wicked and profane have been heard to use the prayer of the prophet, Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his. When nature begins to fail, and this clay-tabernacle is loosening to decay, when the ordinary streams of earthly comfort are dried up, who does not then wish to be furnished with such resources of comfort as shall fortify the soul against the terrors of the change, and enable it to fix its hope with confidence on the objects beyond it! Though life may have passed most delightfully away, though men may have been much intoxicated with its pleasures, these cannot lessen the gloom of death, nor convey any comfort to the mind in the prospect of it. On the contrary, the joy of such men, on the approach of death, is turned into wormword and gall; and they envy the Christian those delightful hopes with which he so calmly meets the hour of his departure. As death is usually an object of terror, it is certainly of importance to enquire by what means these terrors are lessened or removed. We have heard of many braving death in the field of battle, in the face of determined and formidable enemies; and of others, under their adversities, longing for death, and desiring a release from this world of misery: My soul is weary of my life, I loath it, I would not live always? -but to something else than natural courage, foolhardiness of character, or impatience of suffering, we must look for those resources of comfort which preserve the souls of the saints peaceful and unmoved on the approach of their change. It is in religion alone, and through faith in God, that those consolations arise, which are sufficient to do away all the fears which usually haunt the mind on the confines of the grave. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." The saints are furnished with resources of comfort, in the character of him whose presence they hope to enjoy when they come to die. It is not the presence of every one that will minister comfort to those who are in trouble; and as persons are not indifferent who they have with them in the time of their distress, far less are they indifferent who they have with them when they come to die: - but, alas! the passage through the valley of the shadow of death' is so lonesome, that none of their friends can accompany them in it, nor give them any relief against those fears which usually overtake men when they enter in it. To God only they can look with confidence, that he will support them in the hour of their dissolution; and from his gracious character, which, in a thousand instances, they have proved to their comfort, they entertain the hope of his presence with them in that time of need. He who has been kind, exceeding abundantly above all that they could ask or think, in cases far less distressing than they apprehend dying will prove to them, will not forsake them. When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.' A friend who is distinguished for compassion, is a character well adapted to the circumstances of the disconsolate and fearful. Such is the character which God sustains; he is full, of compassion and tender mercy, and as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.' He con siders their frame, he remembers they are dust, he knows their feeble nature is ill able to sustain the shock which its dissolution, or the immediate prospect of it, must give them; and he is ready to afford them the comfort which such an efflicting event necessarily requires. From what he is, and from what they have experienced, they have every reason expects presence at that season when they are most sensible of their need of it, when he knows it is most de sirable, and when the comforts of it will be most cordially received. Whether they reflect on his mercy and compassion, or that peculiar care of his people, for which he is distinguished, they have good ground to hope that he will be with them when they come to die. His love to them is too great to leave them amidst those fears with which the valley of the shadow of death' is usually beset. If he pitieth them as a father pitieth his children, he will be with them, to comfort them, and to shelter them by his paternal kindness from those terrors with which their timid minds are apt to be overwhelmed. A compassionate father cannot be so careful to quiet the minds of his children, when put in fear, by the sight or the approach of any alarming danger, as God is to speak peace to his people, and to pour consolation into their hearts when they are in bondage, through the fear of death. From whatever causes these fears arise, which cannot fail to shake the courage of the stoutest heart, their Lord, who is compassionate and merciful, will not be absent from them at this important crisis. Besides, it must be no small comfort to them to reflect, that their God is a God of power, and able to afford them all necessary support against the fears of death. Should they apprehend that their own strength will fail, or that their courage will forsake them at that trying hour,-should they dread the malicious onsets of him who had the power of death, or fear that in the swellings of Jordan they will be overwhelmed, He, who is great in might, is sufficiently able to help them through the passage, whatever they apprehend in it to endanger their safety. Friends may not always have it in their power to do good to those whom they are desirous to serve; cases of this kind will often occur; and such is the case when those whom they love come to die; these are left to grapple with the adversary alone, while their friends remain the helpless spectators of the painful struggle. But God is a present Help in time of trouble. He gives strength on beds of languishing, and will minister strength to endure, till the con flict with death is at an end. Further. The saints are furnished with resources of comfort in the promises of God. In the riches of his kindness towards his people, he amply provides for their comfort, by presenting to them many great and precious promises, on which to rest the hope of their souls in any hour of extremity. "Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. When thou passest thro' the waters, I will be with thee; and thro' the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flames kindle upou thee. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." There are, no doubt, many seasons of life in which these promises have afforded such comfort to the saints, that they have had more joy poured into their hearts than is ever experienced by the wicked when their corn and wine abound. From the delights they have derived from these promises, they have been made to rejoice in the midst of tribulation; they have had recourse to them in every time of need; and at no season do they find their necessity more pressing than when they are about to enter the valley of the shadow of death; where objects around, behind and before, crowd upon their imaginations, and add horrors to the gloominess of the scene. God will not disappoint their hopes; he will not render his promises barren of comfort to them at a season when they are in extreme need of it. No; they are warranted to plead his faithfulness as a security to them, that when they die he will be with them; "for the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. He is not man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent; hath he said it, and will he not do it? hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? Heaven and earth may pass away, but his word cannot fail." These promises of God are like so many living springs, whose waters flow continually, and which are copious and abundant, even to the utmost bounds of this desert land, from which the saints are most delightfully refreshed, when every other stream of comfortis dried up, or is entirely beyond their reach. "This word of thine is my comfort in mine affliction; and in my straits I am revived by it. If it had not been thy holy law, in which my soul had found delight, I had perished when my troubles abounded.' From God's interest in the saints, they are furnished with resources of comfort against the fear of death. They are his in a peculiar sense; they are not merely objects of his care, but he has acquired a peculiar interest in them by redemption. They are redeemed not with corruptible things, such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.' That which hath cost him so much in the purchase, and which he hath kept with so much care, he will not in the end forsake. Tho' they often act unworthily, and do much to forfeit his love, he will never give up his interest in them, nor shall his relation to them ever be dissolved. Neither death nor life, things present nor things to come; nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, shall be able to separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Every person is careful of that in which he claims a property. The shepherd cannot fail to have a watchful eye over that part of his charge which is his own; and must feel an interest in it, more, than in that over which he is placed as an hireling. The heart of a father may be moved with bowels of |