O man of God! is it

is supposed in the very argument: for soullethargy and deadness imply paralysis, coldness, inaction, indifference; and where these prevail, of course divine joys must in that proportion decrease. Is it not a strange view of human nature, that after all, this is what the fashionable religionist loves He must have some religion, but it must be a dead one; the figure of a profession he must have, but it shall be an automaton: like the affectedly-refined preacher, who stands up a man of pasteboard, and minces out his words with no other sentiment whatever, than the fear of being thought in earnest:-your even-speakers, as they call themselves! not wretched for you to degenerate into such lifelessness as agrees with their notions ?—such numbness and deadness as become an effigy, rather than a living man? Is not he in a horrible state who has fallen back ghastly on his pillow, and from whose open and gaunt mouth, though silent, the physician, with a mirror, is anxiously attempting to condense a few vapours of vital breath? What can a man enjoy who is half dead? What are dulcet sounds to him who is asleep? What comfort can be expected from the cross to a divided heart? Is not the kingdom of heaven to be taken by violence? Are we not herein to be zealously affected? Is not God to be inquired of for these things? And can we expect to enjoy that redemption which convulsed

heaven, earth, and hell, when we grow as forgetful of the first as we seem wedded to the second, and reckless of the last?:

2. Escapes. When the Holy Spirit has so far left a child of God to himself, as that he shall embody these facts in his painful experience, he becomes comparatively without a protector, and is in danger of some actual and gross fall. “I have escaped," said Job, "with the skin of my teeth;"-" As for me," said the Psalmist, "my feet had well nigh slipped." It is amazing to think what our nature is capable of, when unrestrained; and some of the blackest hours on earth have been those in which a saint has been left to stand in his own strength. I sometimes think that a man of the world,—a superficial professor,―would wonder to hear us speaking of soul-buffettings, temptations, the plague of our own hearts, the possibilities of evil, and the like, and that he would think us truly “very bad people;" and on this principle we are as barbarians unto him, and he is as a barbarian unto us. We are bad but not in his sense of the word. What we abhor, he performs; what we fear, he toys with; and the character we dread, he realizes in his own conduct. Yet, if practically better than he, by the grace of God we are what we are: we feel, that if left to ourselves, there is no sin of which we could not be guilty. Now if we willingly and contentedly re

lapse into a stupid and lethargic state, it is well if we do not, in some unguarded moment, lie open to a successful thrust from the great adver

sary

of souls; we may be off our guard, but he is ever vigilant. O what a mercy it is to be kept living near to God: to be sanctified wholly! I verily believe, that next to Christ generally, the saint never gives thanks so heartily for any mercy as for that I mean, the mercy of being delivered from evil,of being restrained from sin. O Lord, he cries, with amazing fervor, keep back the unutterable hour; for should I fall into gross sin, I should afterwards, from excess of anguish, become insane: a Magor-Missabib: a ruthless horror: a demoniac among the tombs, and whom Christ himself would refuse to bind.

3. Fretfulness. A poor, miserable, quarrelsome temper in the family, is always a proof of soul-deadness and carnal-security. How different the frame from that in which a Moses comes down from the mountain top, after communion with God, so that all may see he has been with Jesus! And what else shall produce that meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price? The Apostle says, Dwell together in love, that your prayers be not hindered. have heard lately much concerning antinomianism but truly this is one feature of it :-There are some who are "great folks" in the church; they can advise others, and rectify the preacher;

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they can sit in the congregation, as if their countenance were the only admitted index by which to conclude on the correctness or incorrectness of the discourse; they are clear in doctrine, and solemn in colloquy; and if we were Roman Catholics, we should bespeak for them a place in the calendar: but when we come to hear of them at home, we find they are tyrants, rather than saints; their children and servants tremble when they return, to know what temper they are in; haughty, dictatorial, and morose, they far from recommend the Gospel to those around, who sometimes justify their own improprieties by such inconsistencies in men, who are deemed at other places the oracles of the true church.

But where infirmity advances not to this length, it may yet be necessary to give a caution against hot and hasty tempers. These bring guilt on the conscience, and grieve the Holy Spirit. That heavenly dove spreads a departing wing from scenes of turbulence and noise; the sun's face cannot be clearly reflected from the ruffled pool, and the brightest shafts of silvery light are broken into fragments, when thrown into a surface of perpetual and angry undulation. In addition to this, is it not lamentable to behold the petulance of a child in one to whom children and servants look up for an example? And is it not a gross anomaly in us, so far to forget our Master,-the spotless, patient Lamb,-as to become wolves and

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vultures, biting and devouring eacli other No calculation can over-rate the evils of haste or precipitancy in the general conduct of life; and if so, certainly as it regards our general tempers and frames of mind. Most of the lesser miseries of domestic union may be traced to little misunderstandings, taken up in haste and answered in haste. I would particularly also avoid a tyrans nical temper; yet, on the other hand, we may mistake that for tyranny in others, which is mere natural quickness.

4. Fastidiousness.-This will be another consequence of soul-declension: not only fretfulness in the family, but fastidiousness in the church. The man can now be edified by nothing: he criticizes the minister; no sermon can please him. One would think, if he were duly sensible of his own infirmity, and were living near to God, he would have neither time nor disposition to find so much fault. If, indeed, a preacher be actually deficient in doctrine, experience, and practice, some other should be sought: as the soul is too valuable to be complimented away, to please any pastor, or any congregational junto of clerical brethren by which he may be supported. But I am speaking of men to whom all preachers are,

in

one sense at least, alike: that is, they are all. faulty. O monstrous vanity of the doctrinal Diotrephes! Does he think that pastoral labor, theological study, and ministerial prayer are

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