"fingular contraft between you and me. Sated "with glory, and undeceived with the inanity of "worldly grandeur, you live at freedom, in the "midft of plenty, certain of immortality; you peaceably philofophife on the nature of the foul; "and if the body, or the heart are indifposed, you "have Tronchin for your phyfician and friend. "Yet with all this you find nothing but evil on "the face of the earth. I, on the other hand, "obfcure, indigent, tormented with an incurable "diforder, meditate with pleafure in my folitude, "and find every thing to be good. Whence arife "these apparent contradictions? You have your"felf explained them. You live in a ftate of enjoyment, I in a state of hope; and hope gives "charms to every thing."*

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Finally, If nothing deferves the name of happinefs which meets not the neceffities, nor relieves the miferies of human life, Christianity alone can claim it. Every one who looks into his own heart, and makes proper obfervations on the difpofitions of others, will perceive that man is poffeffed of a defire after fomething which is not to be found under the fun-after A GOOD WHICH HAS NO LIMITS. We may imagine our defires are moderate, and fet boundaries beyond which we may flatter ourselves we fhould never wifh to pafs; but this is felf-deception. He that fets his heart on an eftate, if he gain it, will wish for fomething more. It would be the fame if it were a kingdom; or even if all the kingdoms of the world were united in one. Nor is this defire to be attributed merely to human depravity; for it is the fame

* Works, Vol. IX. p. 336.

with regard to knowledge: the mind is never fatisfied with its prefent acquifitions. It is depravity that directs us to feek fatisfaction in fomething fhort of God; but it is owing to the nature of the foul that we are never able to find it. It is not poffible that a being created immortal, and with a mind capable of continual enlargement, fhould obtain fatisfaction in a limited good. Men may spend their time and strength, and even facrifice their fouls in striving to grafp it, but it will elude their purfuit. It is only from an uncreated fource that the mind can drink its fill. Here it is that the gofpel meets our neceffities. Its language is, Ho, every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread; and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your foul delight itself in fatnefs. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your foul fall live.-In the last day, that great day of the feaft, Jefus food and cried, faying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.-He that cometh to me hall never hunger, and he that believeth in me fhall never thirst.* How this language has been verified, all who have made the trial can teftify. To them, as to the only competent witnefses, I appeal.

It is not merely the nature of the foul however,, but its depravity, from whence our neceffities arise.. We are finners. Every man who believes there is a God, and a future ftate, or even only admits the

*Ifai. lv. 1-3. John vii. 37. vi. 35

poffibility of them, feels the want of mercy. The first inquiries of a mind awakened to reflection will be, how he may efcape the wrath to come; how he fhall get over his everlasting ruin? A heathen, previous to any Chriftian instruction, exclaimed, in the moment of alarm, What must I do to be faved?* And feveral Mahomedans, being lately warned by a Christian minifter of their finful ftate, came the next morning to him with this very ferious queftion, Keman par hoibo-" How fhall we get over?" To answer thefe inquiries is beyond the power of any principles but thofe of the gofpel. Philofophy may conjecture, fuperftition may deceive, and even a false system of Christianity may be aiding and abetting; each may labour to lay the confcience asleep, but none of these can yield it fatisfaction. It is only by believing in Jefus Chrift, the great facrifice that taketh away the fin of the world, that the finner obtains a relief which will bear reflection; a relief which at the fame time gives peace to the mind, and purity to the heart. For the truth of this alfo I appeal to all who have made the trial.

Where, but in the gospel, will you find relief under the innumerable ills of the prefent state? This is the well-known refuge of Christians. Are they poor, afflicted, perfecuted, or reproached ? They are led to confider Him who endured the contradiction of finners, who lived a life of poverty and ignominy, who endured perfecution and reproach, and death itself for them; and to realize a bleffed immortality in profpect. By a view of fuch things their hearts are cheered, and their af

* Acts xvi. 30.

† Periodical accounts of the Baptift Missionary Society, No. IV. p. 326.

flictions become tolerable. Looking to Jefus, who for the joy fet before him, endured the cross, defpifing the shame, and is now fet down at the right hand of the throne of God, they run with patience the race that is fet before them.

But what is the comfort of unbelievers? Life being fhort, and having no ground to hope for any thing beyond it, if they be croffed here, they become inconfolable. Hence it is not uncommon for persons of this description, after the example of the philofophers and ftatefmen of Greece and Rome, when they find themselves depreffed by adverfity, and have no prospect of recovering their fortunes, to put a period to their lives! Unhappy men! Is this the felicity to which ye would introduce us? Is it in guilt, fhame, remorse, and defperation that ye defcry fuch charms?

Admitting that our hope of immortality is vifionary, where is the injury? If it be a dream, is it not a pleasant one? To fay the leaft, it beguiles many a melancholy hour, and can do no mifchief: but if it be a reality, what will become of you?

I may be told, that if many put a period to their lives through unbelief, there is an equal number who fall facrifices to religious melancholy. But to render this objection of force, it should be proved that the religion of Jefus Chrift is the cause of this melancholy. Reason may convince us of the being of a God, and confcience bear witness that we are expofed to his difpleasure. Now if in this state of mind the heart refufe to acquiefce in the gospel way of falvation, we fhall of courfe either reft in fome delufive hope, or fink into despair. But here, it is not religion, but the want of it that generates the evil. It is unbelief, and not faith that finks the fin

ner into defpondency. Chriftianity difowns fuch characters. It records fome few examples, fuch asSaul, Ahithophel, and Judas; but they are all branded as apoftates from God and true religion.. On the contrary, the writings of unbelievers, both ancient and modern, are known to plead for suicide, as an expedient in extremity. Rouffeau, Hume, and others have written in defence of it. The principles of fuch men both produce and require it. It is the natural offspring of unbelief, and the last resort of disappointed pride.

Whether Christianity or the want of it, be best: adapted to relieve the heart under its various pref-. fures, let those testify who have been in the habit of vifiting the afflicted poor. On this. fubject the writer of these sheets can speak from his own knowledge. In this fituation characters of very oppofite defcriptions are found. Some are ferious and fincere Chriftians: others, even among those who have. attended the preaching of the gospel, appear neither to understand nor to feel it.. The tale of woe is told perhaps by both: but the one is unaccompanied with that difcontent, that wretchedness of mind, and that inclination to defpair, which is manifeft in the other. Often have I feen the cheerful fmile of contentment under circumftances. the most abject and afflictive. Amidft tears of forrow, which a full heart has rendered it impoffible to fupprefs, a mixture of hope and joy has gliftened. "The cup which my Father hath "given me to drink, fhall I not drink it?" Such. have been their feelings, and fuch their expreffions; and where this has been the cafe, death has generally been embraced as the meffenger of peace.. Here, I have faid, participating of their fenfations