Let this duty, my young friend, be viewed by you as altogether indispensable. Set about it with diligence. Should your enemy, knowing its usefulness and importance, attempt to discourage you, listen not to the voice of the tempter. Renew your labour; call upon God to fix your thoughts, and to give you success. Persevere, even unto death, in a duty so necessary to your safety, and essential to your comfort. LETTER XIII. SINCE the duty of self-examination is so intimately connected with your hope of salvation, your advancement in holiness, and your general elevation of character; you will bear with me a little longer, even though the subject should appear to be destitute of those incidental attractions which are peculiar to the ordinary accomplishments of life. You must first lay the solid column; the Corinthian capital may then be superadded. My conscience would condemn me, were I to speak first of external conduct, when the piety of the soul is paramount, and demands the first and deepest consideration. Let this be obtained, and, I doubt not, your manners and deportment will take that elevated and noble character, which will secure to you the love of the virtuous, and the respect and admiration of all. Fixing the attention on manners and deportment, before the heart is rectified, is like profusely adorning the exterior of a building, when it is all unfinished and comfortless within. You are allured, by the imposing aspect which it presents; but upon entering, how great is your disappointment, to find, not only, no correspondence in the interior, but every thing cheerless and forbidding! It is certainly more pleasing, to view even a homely exterior, an outside that promises but little, and to perceive within, beauty, symmetry, and elegance. Happy will you be, if you can so irradiate your mind with knowledge and holiness, as to make your soul approximate to the comeliness of an unfallen spirit. racter does not arise from any deficiency or obscurity in evidence, as recorded in the word of God; but from the manner of applying that evidence to ourselves. The liability to deception lies here. We cannot say that we have the evidence, because we may have spurious and hypocritical feelings, which our self-love may mistake for genuine Christian emotions. The word of God is full, clear, and explicit. It marks out the true disciple of Christ, with unerring exactness. The evidence is direct and indirect, positive and negative, in example or embodied principle. The direct evidence is that which consists in a record of the feelings which every Christian must possess. The Bible is full of this. The indirect is that which may be inferred from precepts and principles. The positive is exhibited in all those commands which relate to doing the will of God. The negative, from example or embodied principle, is that which is derived from the conduct of the patriarchal and primitive saints. Thus you see the Bible is full of evidence relating to the character of the genuine follower of Christ. That evidence is clear and explicit, presented under various forms, and couched in the simplest phraseology. Where, then, lies the difficulty of correctly ascertaining, at once, our true character? I will tell you. It lies in the depravity of the human heart. That heart, as I have already observed, is "deceitful above all things;" and this is the true reason, why we cannot appropriate this evidence, with the certainty of its application. But I will enter into a few particulars, for your farther satisfaction, to show you that self-examination is as difficult as it is important; and that nothing but a long course of painful, persevering effort, will bring you to a confidence, unshaken by doubt, of your joint heir with Jesus Christ. name to live and still be dead. eternity, with a profession only. deceived in so momentous an affair: for the world, you would not be deceived. You have counted the cost; you being a child of God, and a your Lord. You will not then be discouraged, when I inform you, that to deal with your own heart, in close examination, is a great and difficult work. But the difficulty, as I before observed, will diminish with diligence. One great reason why so little satisfaction is obtained in the work, is that our investigation is not complete. We do not come to it with a determination to be thorough in its performance. Although we acknowledge that there is no duty so difficult, nor any more important; yet there is none, perhaps, more superficially performed. Although our hopes, our peace of mind, our growth in grace, are intimately connected with close self-examination; yet, how easily are we discouraged by obstacles which the enemies of our souls may interpose; and how hastily do we run through the duty, deriving no satisfaction, but only enveloping the mind in still deeper gloom! After one or two such superficial trials, some will give up the duty as impracticable, and live along in doubt, and die, perhaps, in distressing uncertainty. We are less thorough in this spiritual investigation, than we should be in almost any other subject. No wonder, then, that we make such slow advances in self-knowledge; no wonder that it is generally viewed as impracticable, when so superficially performed. When you, my young friend, enter upon this duty, make, I entreat you, sure work with your soul; explore the secret motives, and analyze the evanescent feelings. If it cost years of persevering labour, ascertain if possible whether you have an inheritance on high. May God, by his Spirit, assist you, and make you successful. LETTER XIV. I OBSERVED in my last that we were in danger of being superficial in the work of self-examination. There will be a strong temptation to this, from our natural indolence, as well as the difficulties to be overcome. Hence you will find few Christians who make this duty a serious and indispen celebrate the Lord's supper is all that is deemed necessary. Two or three months may intervene, during which the soul and its momentous affairs are comparatively neglected. When again summoned to renew their vows over the melting memorials of the Saviour's love, they begin to think of some preparation; but one moment steals upon the heels of another, and the business is deferred until the hour when the inviting bell is calling them to the feast. Then all is agitation and hurry, when all should be calm, collected, and contemplative. They leave to themselves, perhaps, a few moments to extricate the soul from a tumult of cares; and after an ineffectual and superficial attempt at self-examination, they go tremblingly in doubt, or fearlessly in coldhearted presumption. Such is the character of many who profess to be aiming at the crown of glory. They do not sit in judgment on the internal man, as did David, when he threw open the chambers of his secret soul, and exclaimed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." It is mere half-way work with them. Conscience prejudges and condemns. To silence her clamours, it is necessary that they make, at least, a show of self-examination. But when they take up the sacred record, they find so little there which can be honestly appropriated in their favour, that they are obliged, if they would glean anything for their encouragement, to misinterpret and misapply its meaning. When they meet with such a sweeping declaration as this, "If any man love the world, and the things that are in the world, the love of the Father is not in him," when their eyes glance at so discriminating a text, they employ a ready sophistry to modify its severity, or avert its application. There is, recollect, a strong temptation to be partial in this important work. Self-love prompts us to look more eagerly for the favourable than the unfavourable evidence; and gives us a greater readiness in applying the former than the latter. It is an object with our spiritual enemies, to flatter us into and indulge our vain-confident expectations. are by this means led blind-folded down to ruin. Thousands The superficial Christian seizes the most equivocal evidence. It will not take much to persuade him that all is safe. If a vast amount of scripture is against him, and he can yet find but here and there a single text whose aspect in his case is, to say the least, doubtful, how eagerly will he grasp it, and cast it into the favourable scale! It is with him a principle to be satisfied with the least possible testimony. He will make one text, which he supposes to be in his favour, neutralize a hundred others, which are most unequivocally against him. The superficial professor seems determined, if possible, to make the Bible speak in his favour. He comes not to that infallible touchstone with a sincere desire to probe his heart, to examine the reason of his hope, and to scrutinize the foundation of his confidence. He comes not with a resolution to make thorough and impartial work; but to make the word of God, like the fabled oracles of Heathenism, speak a language ambiguous and equivocal. Now, my young friend, be thou of a different spirit. Go into this investigation with a resolution that you will be thorough and impartial. Say to your Bible, "I will consult thee faithfully, thou infallible book. I will let thy light into the darkest chambers of my heart. The sword of the Spirit shall search the system, and probe my wounded nature in the tenderest part. I will not shrink from the inquisition, but will enter upon it sincerely, and persevere in it through life." DUELLING. WHAT is the issue of duelling? Dreadful either way. If the man hath slain his antagonist, he hath perhaps in his person slain his best friend. At least he ceaseth to be his enemy that instant; and the sword hath no sooner pierced his breast, but horror and remorse have pierced his murderer, have stabbed him to the soul! His vanity sinks into |