ly increased, will be productive of much improvement in knowledge and grace.

It has, from the first, been my intention and determination, to contribute some aid to your society, towards the accomplishment of this laudable design, by presenting to them some books, which I supposed would be particularly acceptable and useful to them. Accordingly, together with the books presented by Mr. Woodward, to your society,* I have the pleasure of presenting to the society at the present time in my own name, the books mentioned in the subjoined list. [Here follows the list, amounting to upwards of $50.]

In the choice, and in the use of books, and in your religious exercises and in all your proceedings as a society and as individuals, may you be favoured with that wisdom which is profitable to direct, and with that all-sufficiency of grace, which will enable you, in all the instances of your conduct, "to do all to the glory of God" through Jesus Christ your Redeemer and Medi

ator.

To the guidance, the keeping, and the blessing of the great and gracious God, even our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I affectionately commend you ; and with all christian regards, and my constant prayers for your welfare and happiness, collectively and individually, in time and through eternity, I remain, Your sincere and cordial friend,

* To the amount of $20.

ISAAC S. KEITH.

TO DR. E. S.

CHARLESTON, JUNE 11, 1810.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

YOUR welcome favour, of the 10th of May, I have received. It gave me a very peculiar pleasure. I cordially thank you for it; and I desire to be fervently thankful to the God of all grace, on account of his grace having been so exceedingly abun dant towards you, as to enable you to fill your letter with a very pleasing detail of circumstances and events, most important to yourself, and deeply interesting to all your friends. The history of heroes and conquerors, of the revolutions of nations, and establishment of empires, that have filled the earth with fame and glory, shrinks into insignificance, in the view of an immortal soul, delivered by the Almighty Redeemer from the bondage of satan and the chains of sin; and by the enlightening, new creating energy of the spirit of grace, emerging from darkness to light, passing from death to life, and rising from self to God, and from earth to heaven.

Has such, my dear friend, been the great, the happy change, which you have experienced? How reasonable, how pleasant, must you, so far at least as you have evidence of your being the subject of such a change, now feel the duty of thanksgiving and praise, while adoring gratitude prompts and constrains you to say with the apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I am." Are you a christian indeed? Such, I would

fondly hope you now are. And is there any interest, any honor, any happiness to which the renewed, sanctified heart can aspire, that is not included in the character and state of a christian; while for such it is provided, by the sure, well-ordered, everlasting covenant, of which Jesus is the blessed Mediator, that an all-sufficiency of grace, suited to every present necessity, shall be given; and that this grace shall be crowned with future eternal glory! How desirable, indeed, is that state of grace in which, as I trust, you now stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God! And how remarkable the method of the Lord's dealing with you, in order to bring you into this happy state!

If you had been left to yourself, you, with the men of the world, would have chosen your portion in this life. With them you aspired to the honors of the world, you coveted its interests and prosperity; and if the world smiled, and you could repose on the bosom of your beloved family, enjoying, together with yourself, health and temporal comfort, you flattered yourself that your happiness would be complete. How this scene of fancied happiness would have soon terminated, I need not now remind you. Most mercifully have you been awakened from the pleasing, delusive dream, and taught "to seek superior bliss." Your plans and prospects of ambition and of wealth, were disconcerted and disappointed; and a darling child, that was becoming more and more the idol of your heart, was removed to the bosom of your Lord, who says, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The hopes, also, which you were building on the ground of your own righteousness, soon fell before the power of sin, dwell

ing in you, and under the sentence of the law, applied by the Spirit, and convincing you, that by no present or future obedience, or repentance, or reformation, could you ever be justified before God.

"All these things," your sense and your reason were ready to exclaim, "all these things are against me!" But God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are our ways his ways. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, saith the Lord." And accordingly, you have found the dispensations of his providence, which to you were most obscure, perplexing, and distressing, accompanied by his sanctifying blessing, made to work together most effectually for your good. Your favourite schemes and hopes of worldly joy were broken, that you might be constrained to seek your all in God; and that your soul might be compelled to seek its rest in the Redeemer, who gives his peace to all that come to him believing, and trusting in his name, and a peace such as the world can neither give, nor take away.

Thus through the supply of the spirit of Jesus Christ, all those apparent adverse and threatening circumstances and events, under which your heart was inclined to be so restive and rebellious, have been made instrumental to promote your humiliation and repentance, to excite you to fly for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before you, in the Saviour of the guilty, the wretched, and the helpless, and have happily turned to the furtherance of your salvation. And now, when you see that like the blind, you were led in a way that you knew not, and in the right and best way to present peace and future joy, it may surely be most reasonably

expected of you, that with a lively gratitude you will acknowledge, that the Lord hath done all things well for you; and that under an affecting sense of your obligations, you will be disposed to consecrate yourself, and your all, to his service and glory, so that you may live no longer to yourself, but entirely to the God of your mercies and salvation. From the tenor of your letter, I am led to hope and believe, that thus you are disposed and resolved, through grace, henceforth to live to the noblest and best of purposes, and worthy of the profession and hopes of a christian.

But still "you fear, that you are only deceiving yourself with a name to live, while you may yet be dead; because you have not felt such convictions of the guilt and enormity of sin, as others appear to have done; and you do not feel that affection and zeal, which you should do towards that blessed Saviour, who made such an inexpressible sacrifice for perishing sinners."

Such fears and such complaints, my dear friend, are sooner or later, and in a greater or less degree, generally experienced by real penitents and sincere believers. The more, indeed, they see and feel the evil of sin, the more sensible are they of the disproportion of their humiliations and sorrows, to the evil which they really lament and abhor; and the more clearly they perceive their infinite obligations to the dear Redeemer, to whom they are so deeply indebted, the more defective and unworthy do they think those returns of gratitude, love and obedience, with which they would honor him. And remember, that an eminent part of the trials of christians consists in the conflicts of remaining corruptions, with the principles of grace implanted, and living, and still growing in the new-born soul of the real