Him, or only so much of his love as, by instilling a false idea of his benevolence, lulls their conscience into an unsafe reliance upon his mercy, while their conduct affords no grounds to warrant such a confidence; for "whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God," (1 John iii. 10;) and only if our heart condemn us, then have we confidence with him." (verse 21.)

The very advantages the present generation possess, of cheap and widely-circulated religious publications, is injurious to it, in some respects, from its allowing of a shallow acquaintance with the subject of religion to be gained by all, while a sound understanding of its truth is attained by few. In place of every one having to search for it themselves in Holy Writ, as in a mine for silver, and seek for it by earnest study as for hid treasure, as the wise man advises, (Prov. ii. 4,) and any knowledge that people attained at all being thus necessarily elementary and deep, they are now-a-days inundated with a deluge of diluted theology, in which all fundamental principles are taken for granted, and so left untaught; and hence they are filled with a quantity of vague, indistinct, and confused notions on the subject, which not only are incapable of producing those effects they expected upon their minds, but, by deluding them into the idea they possess a thing of which they talk and think and read so much, pre

vents them seeking after purer light, or sinks them into a state of absolute dejection, from the idea that they have even sought in religion in vain for a cure for their discomfort, which, of all causes of woe, is the most cruel and the most insupportable; as it shuts them out of the city of refuge which God has provided for all mourners, and deprives them of "that river, the streams whereof make glad the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest ;" and too often proves, as it is deemed, the most fatal of all mental maladies, from a notion that it is incurable.

And no wonder: for if it were possible to conceive that there was no balm in Gilead, no Physician there skilful enough to undertake the case, or that the skill and efficacy of both had failed, well might the malady be considered hopeless!

But the failure of a spurious medicine is no proof of the inefficacy of the true; and in a case like this, where the very application of the remedy seems to aggravate the disease, men, in place of seeking in their religion for a remedy of their distress, should seek to have their religion remedied. In all these instances of the supposed failure of religion to accomplish what it has undertaken to do, we may safely set the promises of God-" I, even I, am he that comforteth thee"- "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort thee," against the experience or the assertions of man to the contrary ;

being fully persuaded, that he who says, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," is able to "give the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," to "all those who are afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted; and we may say, therefore, with confidence, to every mourner, whatever their cares may be, or from whatever cause they proceed, if the medicine of the Gospel has failed hitherto to effect a cure; nay, if even, after applying to it, you feel, like the poor disappointed expectant from human aid in the Gospel, "Nothing bettered, but rather the worse," for the trial; "listen not to an evil heart of unbelief that would tempt thee to doubt the truth of God's sacred word, that has assured thee of a cure: listen not to the suggestions of any who would lead thee to think there is a wound too desperate for God to heal—a cloud too dark to be "dispersed at the brightness of the rising of the dayspring from on high, to visit all who are in darkness and in the shadow of death. Listen only to the voice of God, however deep thy despondency may be, or however extreme its cause -though tribulation may have overflowed thy heart, and swept away every earthly comfort-though it may have covered over in the silent grave the lifeless form of every one you held dear on earth, may have deprived you of health, home, and property

nay, even of your good name, "whose price is above rubies;" yea, though life itself may be threatened; "yet the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee." And should this present little volume prove as incompetent to convey the consolation you desire to your heart, as all other attempts have done, be assured the blame must rest with the writer, not with the subject, which is one, indeed, more worthy of an angel's tongue than of the pen of a poor fellow mortal. Be not discouraged at this failure, and give up all further search, in the conviction that the Almighty has raised hopes in the human heart he will fail to realize, for the fault must rest with the creature, not with the Creator. "If we believe not He abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself," who hath said, "Peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, and I will heal him." But laying hold of the sacred clue the promises of Scripture put into your hand, let it not out of your grasp till it has guided you out of the labyrinth of error you must be in, if you do not see cause to "rejoice in the Lord alway;" till it has lifted you out of the horrible pit— out of the mire and clay, and set your feet upon a rock, and put a new song in your mouth, even thanksgiving unto our God."

But it stands to reason, it must be a comfortable religion in itself that we embrace ere it can be fitted to convey comfort in tribulation; for if we bring into the house of mourning a principle by which" all joy has been darkened" in the house of prosperity, it is more calculated to increase than to dispel the gloom of such a scene. The sunshine of the breast must habitually illuminate the mind, or its rays will never prove strong enough to disperse the shades which surround that house, where sickness, sorrow, or death, have entered.

For be it remembered, religion affords us no exemption from the common calamities of life, it only offers us alleviation under them: it promises to throw no shield over the heart that embraces its truths. Nay, it warns us, becoming Christians, introduces us to a new species of trials even, and to many with which the world around us will remain unacquainted; but it provides for all an ample, full, and sufficient remedy, so that they shall even be enabled to exclaim, "It is good for me to have been afflicted."

It is, perhaps, to be lamented, that the common style of comfort addressed to persons in a disconsolate state of mind, both from the press and the pulpit, is oftener more an attempt to comfort them under it than to rouse them out of it-trying to reconcile them to it, as a dispensation proceeding from the