"Lord revive us-all our help must come from thee."

God, who knows the hearts of his people, often charges them with forgetfulness of him, and departures from him. He charges them with backslidings and barrenness, decays in faith and love, and forgetfulness of his great goodness: and, alas! sad experience tells us it is true. It does not, however, follow from hence, that there is no sincere holiness. These declensions arise from remaining sinfulness, and are the diseases of our spiritual nature. Are we dead and cold in duties, backward in good works, careless of our hearts and thoughts, or carried away with the cares and vanities of the world? Let us stop and pray for quickening grace, for such a state of mind must deprive us of much spiritual consolation. The growth of any corruption checks our progress in the heavenly journey. If we indulge in actual sin, and neglect the means by which it is mortified, it will grow; and if grace prevent not, it will induce a general decay in vital religion, as the whole body is often affected by a dreadful disease in any particular member. Any sin indulged in, tends to vitiate the whole soul, prevents spiritual health, and unfits the soul for communion with God, which is the highest enjoyment upon earth, and the perfection of happiness in heaven.

Crispus had been a lively and zealous disciple of Christ, but through a multiplicity of worldly affairs, and from other causes, he lost that savour and relish of divine things, which he once experienced, and became a sad stranger to holy joy, and to communion with God. He declined in the christian life, and sometimes omitted the duties of prayer, and devout

meditation, or performed them with cold indifference and formality. Yet he was not always sensible of his lost ground, nor properly affected with a sense of the evil of departing from the living God. Sometimes indeed, he did bemoan his sad case, and prayed to the great Physician to heal him, and to help him out of it.

Gaius saw how it was with his friend, and when an interview took place, thus addressed him.

You are one of those, dear Crispus, I trust, who can never be easy but when they feel the quickening and soul-animating presence of God. You have felt the pleasure of loving and serving him, and have known the blessedness of the man whose sins are pardoned, and who has by the Spirit of adoption, cried, "Abba, Father." But now you are full of heaviness, a sad reverse has taken place, and you have sustained an immense loss, you have been "ready to halt," and the bewitching snares of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, have, like a band of robbers, deprived you of, and stolen away, your comfort and your soul prosperity. You are now like David when he said, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation," that your soul may prosper again. There is at least one favourable circumstance in your case, you are sensible of the loss you have experienced, and your mind is somewhat filled with alarm. To lie asleep, as David did, is very awful; for sin is of an hardening nature. It shuts our eyes, and renders the heart numb and unfeeling; but, blessed be God, this is not your case. You ́ are fully aware of the unhealthy state of your soul, and that it" is not with you as in months past." You

are ready to say, " O Lord, revive thy work in my poor afflicted soul."

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Remember, my Crispus, that the world is a foe to grace, as most christians have found, who have had much to do with it. Many, like the young man in the gospel, keep their worldly stores to the loss of their souls. Christians themselves are apt to be too fond of the world, and it often becomes a clog, and an hinderance, to their spiritual improvement. This has been your case, Crispus. But let me entreat you to examine yourself carefully as to the cause. what have you provoked the Lord to withdraw? How came you into this afflicted condition? If you be sensible of this, though you are not compelled to confess to man, go and humble thyself before God, and in future watch and guard all the avenues of your soul that admit the foe, or by which the heart is, led astray from God. Plead at his footstool, for the light of his countenance to be restored, and though now you "walk in darkness and have no light, yet trust in the name of the Lord, and stay yourself upon God," "whose mercy is everlasting, and whose truth endureth to all generations."

Crispus thanked his friend, and followed his advice. The Sun of righteousness arose again upon his soul, and the dew of divine influence descended, till he "flourished as the palm tree," and grew like the goodly cedars, even the cedars of Lebanon.

Another thing which we should observe is this. The flesh is apt to steal upon us by silent marches, till we are drawn into the snare. The temper is apt to rise, and the tongue to speak, when it would be best to be silent, while the imagination insensibly

leads us away from him whom our souls love. We should guard against vain company, for it will injure our best interest. When we choose to be with carnal professors, we are in danger of catching the contagion. To be diligently and usefully employed is of great importance, and tends to promote the health both of the body and of the mind. Let us simply aim at the glory of God, and reflect the image which we profess to bear. How do we spend our time? What are we doing? Do we exercise ourselves unto godliness, and seek to promote the glory of God, and his interest, in the world? Let us associate with godly persons. The very sight of a good man, even if he says nothing, is often refreshing. What then is it to commune with God, to have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ?

As the subject now under consideration is of great importance, let us pursue it a little further in a short

DIALOGUE.

As Isaac and Edward were returning from the sanctuary on the Lord's day, the former said to the latter, "I am glad of this opportunity of conversing with one whom I sincerely love." "And I am also glad," said Edward," for I want a little of your instruction, and beg permission to ask you a few questions." "With all my heart," said Isaac, "go on brother."

Edward. May not a person decline far in religion, without being suspected by others?

Isaac. Doubtless. He may keep up appearances, and every thing may seem to others to be going on

well. In this way it is possible to deceive, for a time, even the elect."

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E. But I have a closer question. Can a real believer decline far in religion, without knowing it himself?

I. It is an important question, and I must answer it in the negative. I think he cannot. Nor can he go very far back without exciting the suspicions of others. This, however, to a certain extent, is often done. The heart may be far from God, while other Christians may think it really devoted to him. One thing is certain, "God is greater than our hearts, and knows all things.' We cannot even halt in the smallest degree, but he is perfectly acquainted with it.

E. It appears that God permits his people to decline and to fall into sin.

I. He may so permit them for their correction. It is said, you know," If his children forsake his ways and walk not in his commandments, that he will visit their iniquities with the rod, and their transgressions with stripes, &c." If they "walk contrary to him, he will walk contrary to them." If they be unwatchful, and begin to decline, he may even permit them to fall into sin, to humble them, to quicken them, and to make them more sober and vigilant, that they may pray more earnestly, "Lead us not into temptation."

E. This I fear has been my case. Alas! I feel that I have an evil heart of unbelief, prone to depart from the living God.

I. You are not alone. It is too applicable to most of God's people. It is a general complaint amongst