Are we delighted with instances of magnanimity? A single prophet, unsupported by any human aid, maintains the cause of truth against the king, his grandees, and hundreds of the apostate priests. He ventures to stake all his credit, to risk his very life, and, what is dearer to him than personal credit or bodily life, the honour of the true God and interests of his holy reli gion to risk all on the immediate interposition of a most surprising miracle..

Do we admire the triumphs of faith? his faith was in a manner omnipotent. He prays, and torrents of fire descend from the sky to devour his adversaries : he prays again, and the sluices of heaven are shut, there is neither dew nor rain for several years: a third time he prays, and the windows from on high are opened, abundance of showers water the earth. On another occasion he presents his supplications, and God makes his feet like harts' feet; insomuch that an aged prophet outruns the royal chariot.

Asp. I commend you taste, Theron, and am particularly pleased with the reasons of your choice: but do not you remember, that even the wonder-working Tishbite failed in his resignation, and failed in his faith? Eminent as he was for mortification, he gave way to unreasonable discontent; and though a champion for the living God, he yielded to unbelieving fear. The man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth' yet he, even he was provoked in his spirit, and spake unadvisedly with his lips. Was not Feter the hero among our Lord's followers? yet he trembles, more than trembles, at the shaking of a leaf; he denies his divine Master, scared by the voice of a woman. * 2 Kings i. 10. +1 Kings xvii. 1.

$1 Kings viii. 46.

James v. 17, 18.

Elias, or rather Elijah, was a man subject to like passions as we are, James v. 17. Upon which passage an eminent commentator makes the following remark: This probably is said with respect to his fear and discontent manifested 1 Kings xix. 3,4. Opioia@ng must, I think, imply a state, liable to the irregular workings of passion, not free from the sinful infirmities of nature; otherwise it is an instance foreign to the purpose, does by no means answer the end designed, which is, to encourage the heart and strengthen the faith, even of 'frail, corrupt, offending' creatures. See ver. 16.

Numb. xii. 3.

** Psalm cvi. 33.

Look wherever we will, we find proofs of human depravity, reigning uncontrolled in some, making frequent insurrection in all. It is written on our own hearts by the pen of experience; the finger of observation points it out in the practice of others; even in the practice of those who have been saints of the first rank and of the highest endowments. Yet they were defective; defective too in that very quality which was their distinguishing gift, in which they particularly excelled.

Ther. While we are talking the day has insensibly stole itself away, and left us surrounded with twilight; which is a sort of lustre intermingled with darkness; no part wholly lucid, no part wholly obscure; an emblem, according to your representation, of the renewed soul and its imperfect holiness.

Asp. A very just one. Even where the gospel shines, still there is an incurrent gloom of corruption. Ignorance mixes itself with our knowledge; unbelief cleaves to our faith; nor is our purity free from all contamination. The prophet Zechariah, foretelling the establishment of the gospel kingdom, and describ ing the state of its spiritual subjects, says, ' It shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark. This, as to its literal sense, we now see exemplified in the circumambient atmosphere. With regard to its spiritual meaning, every true be liever feels it accomplished in his own breast.

Ther. While you are so vehement in decrying all human attainments, consider, Aspasio, whether you do not check and dispirit us in the pursuit of exalted virtue.

Asp. I suppose you never expected to be such an adept in geometry as Archimedes, nor so profound an astronomer as Newton; yet this did not check your application to the study of mathematics, or the contemplation of the heavens. Your brother, the merchant, I presume, has no prospect of amassing the

Zech. xiv. 6. 1 Cor. xiii. 9. For we know in part.' Perhaps this declaration of the apostle may be a key to the prophet's meaning; however, it is a sufficient confirmation of Aspasio's sentiment.

wealth of a Croesus, or the immense treasures of a Kouli-Khan; yet this does not dispirit him in prosecuting the business which brings him both opulence and honour.

However, Theron, so long as you deny the imputa. tion of Christ's righteousness, I must acknowledge you act a consistent part in being zealous for the perfection of personal obedience. You ought either to acquire the one or to accept the other: therefore I shall produce no more arguments for your discourage. ment, but shall comprise the whole of my answer in the motto to an Irish nobleman's arms: Try.' Or, if this be too concise, I will subjoin, with a very little alteration, the words of a king: When you have attained what you pursue, bring me word again, that I may go and possess it also."

Ther. According to your account, the most advanced and established Christians are but like a company of invalids. Does not this extremely derogate from the honour of our Lord, considered as the physician of souls? It seems to make a mere nothing of sanctification, and would swallow up Christ the king. in Christ the priest.

Asp. Invalids they are,t and such will continue, till they are dismissed from this great infirmary, and admitted into that holy, happy, blessed world, where the inhabitant shall no more say, I am' either in soul or body sick.'t

Matt. ii. 8.

+ Do not the best of men lament their ignorance of the divine perfections, their slowness of heart to believe the divine promises, and the languor of their gratitude for inestimable, for innumerable gifts of the divine goodness? Do they not frequently feel deadness in their devotions, disorder in their affections, and various other relics of the original leaven? Do they not often complain in the language of the apostle, When I would do good, evil is present with me?' and say with the earliest Christians, We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened?' burdened, not so much with affliction, those heroes in Christianity had learnt to rejoice in tribulation;' but burdened with a sense of their spiritual infirmities and with the workings of their inbred corruption, which to a tender and lively believer are the heaviest of crosses, and the most galling of loads. Nay, do not the heirs of glory wash their very robes, even their fairest deeds and their brightest graces,' in the blood of the Lamb?' which, if they were free from spot, and void of impurity, need not be made white in this sacred fountain. See 2 Cor. v. 4. Rom. vii. 14. Isa. xxxiii. 24.

If the cure was never to be completed, this doubtless. would be dishonourable to our Almighty Physician: but the spiritual recovery begun on earth, and ad vancing through time, will be perfected in heaven, and prolonged to eternity. Does this make a mere nothing of sanctification? No; but it makes room. for a continual progress, and affords cause for continual humiliation it reserves a most exalted prerogative for the heavenly state and beatific vision, and perpetually reminds us of a most important truth, that our present blessedness consists not in being free. from all sin, but in having no sin imputed to us.'*

This imperfection of our obedience, instead of confounding, maintains a proper distinction between Christ the king and Christ the priest; whereas, if we were perfect in piety, the priestly office with regard to us would be superseded. What need of an intercessor to recommend our prayers? what occasion for an high-priest to bear the iniquity of our holy things,t if some taint of the original leaven did not pollute our best services?

Neither does this detract from the wisdom, from the goodness, or from the power of Christ; it rather administers to the advantageous display of all these divine attributes: of his wisdom, in conducting the af fairs of his church with such exact propriety, that the righteousness of faith may have its due honour, and the sanctification of the Spirit its proper esteem; of his goodness, in carrying on the work of grace amidst so much infirmity and so many corruptions, and in crowning with consummate happiness such frail undeserving creatures; of his power, in extracting a va riety of benefits even from

Ther. Benefits, Aspasio! Can any thing beneficial proceed from an evil which, according to your own representation, is so incorrigibly malignant?

Asp. It will tend to make us lowly in our own eyes. When we remember that by nature we are altogether. become abominable, that the remains of natural dePsalm xxxii. 2.

+ Exod. xxviii. 38. Id est, expiare peccata, quibus sanctissimæ cæteroquin actiones nostræ inquinatæ sunt. Wits. De Econ.

pravity still adhere to our minds, how must such a view of ourselves cover us with shame, and lay us low in abasement! Less than the least of all thy mercies, will be the language of such a one's very

soul.

It will dispose us to compassionate others. How can we take a brother by the throat, and require faultless perfection in his behaviour, when we ourselves in many things offend, in all things fall short? Every such consideration rebukes what I may call spiritual unmercifulness; it pleads for tenderness and forbearance to our fellow-creatures, is a monitor within, and whispers that affecting remonstrance, Oughtest not thou to have compassion upon thy fellow-servant, since thy Almighty Lord hath' such renewed, such unwearied,' pity on thee?'+

It will teach us to admire the riches of grace. Shall fallen creatures, that are taken from the very dunghills of sin, and rescued from a hell of inward iniquity, shall they, notwithstanding their deplorable depravity and innumerable deficiencies, shall they be admitted into the bosom of Eternal Love? they be exalted to the thrones of glory, and numbered with the princes of heaven? This is grace transcendently rich, and di vinely free indeed!

Will it not reconcile us to the approach of death? Thus, methinks, like wormwood on the nipple, or gall in the cup, must tend to wean us from the world. How can we be enamoured with such a land of darkness, and such a vale of tears? or why should we. covet, when Providence gives the signal for our departure, to prolong our abode in these territories of disorder? Surely this must incline us to leave them. every day more and more, in our affections, and at last to leave them without any reluctance by final dis solution; leave them for that better country, where our personal righteousness will no longer be defec tive, like the waning moon, but shine forth with consummate lustre, like the meridian sun in the kingdom of our Father.