beneath the surface of fashionable folly, as if the old decrees had sunk you to the lowest depths of abominations; just as he that is held under the water, no matter how near the top, will be as certainly drowned, as he that is lying at the bottom. The above is the song of the decrees indeed, and by this, you have been decoyed to the brink of destruction. How soon might you have hushed the enemy's voice, and destroyed his lying song, by a few discharges from the Bible battery, such as-But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.-Hebrews, ii. 9. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.-1 Timothy, ii. 3-4. I would say of the above rhyme, what an old writer said of sin. "The grammarians condemn sin as incongruous; the logicians as illogical, that is, unreasonable; and the arts and sciences, as irregular; but divinity alone knocketh it down, and battereth it to pieces, with the hammer of the word." "Is not my word as a hammer, saith the Lord ?" It is, and here are two or three blows quite heavy enough to beat the horrible sentiments into dust. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.-1 Timothy, iv. 9-10. And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world.-1 John, ii. 2. Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.-2 Corinthians, vi. 2. But the song is already over. The siren has become strangely hushed. He addresses you no more A as an angel of light. The charm is dissolved. voice has reached your soul: "awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." Every thing wears a new aspect, but dismally bleak. The Spirit of God, which convinceth of sin, righteousness, and judgment, has entered into your soul; and is a Spirit of light, life, and fire. His searching influences have penetrated the innermost of your mind; the convincing power is felt in the conscience; and all within you is trouble. "What shall I do to be saved," has become the momentous inquiry of your soul. During several weeks, you have been "seeking rest, but finding none;" and, strange as it may appear to yourself, those very doctrines which once lulled your soul into a state of insensibility, are now your tormentors. The devil is now the " roaring lion," and he terrifies your soul with "the decrees." No longer carrying things so even, The music of the decrees has turned to thunder, without the music's melody. At one time, your soul is torn with the conflicting inquiry,—" Am I elected, or am I not?" Again, you are driven " to the extremity of reprobation.' You are in, what the Latins used to call, "Oceanus malorum," an ocean of evils, "Thicker than arguments, temptations throng." And even, when you are pressing the matter to a final settlement; ordering your cause before the Lord; filling your mouth with arguments, your unhappy mind determining, at the same time, not to rest, till the dreadful secret comes out from the throne of God; and all this with a resolution as strong as perhaps ever beat in the human heart-even to desperation. Now it is that the devil distracts you with the insinuation, that, "this must remain in total uncertainty, until the day of eternity." But does the adversary of your soul let you rest here? Ah, no; he drives you positively to the most fatal conclusions: he does not even allow you the cold privilege of taking the philosophic advice of Hudibras to Ralpho, "Ne'er be so dully desperate, To join against yourself with fate, Nor antidote your own damnation by despair." I have now, dear madam, traversed over the whole mournful ground with you, nor would I have written so cheerfully, considering your unhappy state of mind, but for the following reasons: First. The antiscriptural, as well as absurd; nay dangerous nature of those sentiments, in which you have been educated. Second. That your fears respecting a gracious reception from a merciful God, are just as groundless as those doctrines which are now tormenting your spirit, are without a scriptural foundation. Third. The goodness of God, in not suffering this reverse in your feelings to have been deferred until the few last weeks of your abode upon earth. You have now physical and intellectual strength to bear up under these rending anxieties: then you would have been overwhelmed.—"A wounded spirit who can bear." Fourth. The full and scriptural assurance I feel that there is salvation for you; that even now the Lord Jesus Christ is pleading your cause, and the everlasting arms of your compassionate Creator are extended to receive you. How sweetly these words are now applied to my heart in your behalf; "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and you shall find rest unto your soul;-and, him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Fifth.-A strong confidence that you are not far from the kingdom of God;-that the Holy Spirit will perfect the work he has begun in your heart, and that you will come to a period in your history when you shall remember your troubles only as waters gone by. Till then, oh look up, and expect the salvation of God every moment—that is, while you obstinately believe that Jesus Christ died for thee. You can loose nothing by such a trust, and I fully believe you will obtain salvation by it. "Away let grief and sighing flee, Jesus hath died for thee, for thee!" I remain, your most affectionate friend in Jesus Christ, J. C. LETTER XXVIII. TO THE SAME. Dear Madam, Bandon, September 19, 1842. Allow me to unite with you in praising God for your wonderful deliverance. I have often thought of that maxim," the best way of exposing error is to push it to its extremity;" but I hardly imagined the devil would not only expose his own hellish errors by pushing them to extremities, but by this means also, lay a train for their removal from your mind altogether. The Lord has been on your side, else in the extremity of your distress the devil would have swallowed you up. If my letter was made an instrument of good to your soul, let us unite in giving all the glory to our ever blessed Saviour and Mediator. I would write more but am pressed for time. The revival is going on very slowly here, which gives the enemy much advantage in harassing my soul. Pray for me, and for the town of Bandon. Permit me, dear Madam, to warn you, now that you have left Egypt to go into the land of Canaan, to be on your guard, lest your old spiritual Pharaoh pursues you, as one of that name did the Israelites, to slay or bring them back into bondage. Oh, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians, v. 1. I remain, your affectionate brother in Jesus Christ, J. C. LETTER XXIX. My dear Sir, TO A BACKSLIDER. Dublin, October 4, 1841. I cannot think of your sad case, without recurring to the following mournful lines-cadences, which, if I am not much mistaken, will find an echoing response in the wild workings of your own sorrowstricken heart,— |