We do not thus act in our temporal affairs. If the claim to an estate be attended with any degree of doubt or embarrassment, we spare no pains to give it a thorough investigation. If the body be disordered, we are alive to every symptom, and we watch every new aspect of the disease. But in respect to the soul, we are at little pains to substantiate its hope, by actual examination. We live along, as if the matter were settled; as if we had a guarantee for our heavenly inheritance: when, in fact, all is doubt and embarrassment; when, perhaps, we may have only "a name to live, whilst we are dead." 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. It was intimated, in my last, that I should pursue my remarks a little farther, upon selfexamination. My reasons for so doing, are, the importance of the subject, and the general neglect of it with which many Christians are chargeable. Since the duty 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 deport pro ment, before the heart is rectified, is like fusely 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, gifted as you are, with at least an agreeable person, you can so irradiate your mind with knowledge and holiness, as to throw around you an additional attraction, and make your soul approximate to the comeliness. of an unfallen spirit. But I have digressed, and must return. The lia The difficulty of arriving at a knowledge of our true character, 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. bility 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 evi dence, with the certainty of its application. But I will enter into a few particulars, for your farther satisfaction, to show you that selfexamination 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 being a child of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. You do not wish to have a name to live, and still be dead. You do not desire to go into eternity, with a profession only. No, you wish not to be deceived in so momentous an affair; for the world, you would not be deceived. You have counted the cost; you have surveyed the cross; and you are determined to follow 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 |