that all things were his, whether life or death, 1 Cor. iii. 22. For as the sting of death was gone out of his conscience, he was not afraid of a phantom; for death is no more without his sting than a serpent is without his tooth. It is guilt that makes death formidable; without this he is a mere shadow without a substance, Psalm xxiii. 4. Indeed poor Prodigalis triumphed over him, saying, "O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory! The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." This is no more than the fulfilment of a glorious promise made by the dear Redeemer. "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plague! O grave, I will be thy destruction! repentance shall be hid from mine eyes," Hosea xiii. 14.

Ahimaaz. I am wonderfully instructed; my very bowels yearn over the Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort, for discovering such bowels of mercy to poor returning sinners, wha have wantonly abused his name, and ignorantly rebelled against the only friend they have in heaven or earth. Besides, my brother, we know God is self-complete; happy, and eternally happy in his own perfections. Our praises or our presence in heaven can never add to divine felicity; nor can all the horrors of the damned discompose the Most

High, disquiet his happiness, or in the least diminish his pleasure.

This being the real case, God's endearing characters, and unexpected condescension, when displayed, is the most affecting scene that can be exhibited upon a human spirit.

Cushi. True, my brother; and if poor souls who are brought to hope in the Saviour, did but consider the Almighty in those relative ties, and covenant characters, that, as a reconciled God and Father he stands in to them, there would not be that servile disposition, that slavish fear that is in too many of them; nor that mercenary service that is performed by them, which is not at all to the honour of their benign Parent, nor to the honour or happiness of themselves; who are called a free and royal household; and their dignity, their liberty, their maintenance, their crown royal, and their enjoyment of it, which is eternally secured, and that by their own Father; whose wisdom none can baffle, whose schemes none can frustrate, whose promise can never fail, and whose power cannot be resisted.

Ahimaaz. Very true; but the Almighty does not give to all his children so conspicuous a deliverance as he did to Prodigalis: nor do I believe that all are justified in such a manner. I believe myself to be justified by faith in the Saviour; but I was not tried like him, nor delivered with all that explicit form that you have described.

Cushi. But you was; and I will be bold to say, that if you was to go to the weakest babe in faith, and ask him, If he was not awed by the fear of death before hope sprung up in his breast; he would tell you, Yes. Ask him, If evil thoughts were not suggested to his mind; and he would tell you, They were: here is Satan the accuser, and Death the executioner. Ask him, further, If the corruptions of his heart and his evil tempers were not discovered, and stirred up more than usual: here is the eye of God; "Whatsoever doth make manifest is light," Eph. v. 13. Ask him, If the law of God, when he read it, and his own conscience, when he examined it, did not accuse him : if so, there is the clerk of the peace, the clerk of the crown, and Moses the accuser. And I will be bold to affirm that he never got rid of one of these accusers nor accusations but by faith in the name of Jesus. These are the sensible effects of the trial, though they may not be able, for the want of light and judgment, to describe it.

Ahimaaz. Indeed, my friend, I can go step by step with your account of the sensations of Prodigalis; but to save my life I could not describe my arraignment nor justification in the manner that you have.

Cushi. I know that the poor sinner is taken to task for all his transgressions; they occur to his mind, one after another, as he is able to stand the indictments: nor are the thoughts of his heart neglected in the divine process; but when God

"maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them, he forgetteth not the cry of the humble," Psalm ix. 12.

And if any thing be not brought forth at the first arraignment, the poor sinner, when he has transgressed, goes to the bar again, and is rejudged and chastened of the Lord, that he may not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. xi. 32. How often is a real believer cited to the bar, or obliged to cite himself, for an evil thought, or an hasty expression, because his quickened soul is susceptible of remorse; when the impenitent sinner shall hardly feel a check for all his abominable crimes, because he is dead: however, the former has an advocate, but the latter knows of none.

Ahimaaz. I find that I agree with you in the feeling sense of the power, though I have not light enough to see eye to eye; but "the kingdom of God is not in word but in power." I am sorry that I so often break in upon your conversation, and especially in a contradictory way; but your candour will excuse my intrusion. I am obliged, when I have raised all my objection, to go with the force of your arguments; for when you back your assertions with the word of God, both my conscience and experience carries me into your channel. I would wish to hear how the poor soul found himself after his justification by faith, and reconciliation with God. I dare say he thought that heaven itself was come down into his heart.

Cushi. After he had received the sentence of

justification, and the benediction of the Father and the Son, for they both blessed him, he was led into a lonely avenue, and had a true and humbling sight of the cross, that he might know how his justification was procured by his Surety; and likewise he was left to contemplate there which way it was that law and justice got satisfaction, that God might appear just to his law, as well as the justifier of Prodigalis that believed in Jesus, Rom. iii. 26. The poor man never had so humbling a vision as this before; his soul was dissolved at the sight of the cross: the singular clemency of his Lord, exhibited in the mystery of his sufferings, overwhelmed him with humility; his eyes flowed with tears of love; his heart discharged every stream of gratitude; and his tongue encompassed his Lord with thousands of blessings and praises, till he might truly be said to inhabit the praises of that Israelite, Psalm xxii. 3.

Ahimaaz. I bless God I know by happy experience what the feelings of poor Prodigalis were: I have had a sight of the cross myself; and have felt the immortal love of him that died the just for the unjust and I hope that the blessed impression that it left on my soul will never be defaced by the love of creatures. Surely the impression was divine; nature was passive under it, and happy in it; nor does the soul ever desire to lose the sense of it. But this is deemed mere folly and enthusiasm by the unenlightened part of mankind.