it is well to remember, that apart from faith, hope is fallacious. The mind that rejects divine testimony is not in a condition to receive divine consolation. Unless, therefore, the facts of the Gospel are honestly believed, revival is utterly preposterous. Among those facts, the atonement and mediation of Christ, as the ground of our acceptance and justification, and the agency of the Holy Spirit, as the only source of real sanctity, are so important and essential, as to constitute the very basis of experimental religion. And since "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid," 1 Cor. iii. 11, to build upon the quicksand is manifestly a hopeless task.

The penitent backslider, when restored to the favour of God, should also be re-instated in the confidence of his brethren; and the rather, perhaps, when his case has been one of public scandal. The world is prone enough to insult the fallen, and to despise the heartbroken; but Jesus breaks not the bruised reed, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory, Matt. xii. 20. From his tenderness, we should take the pattern of our own, and restore such a one, in the spirit of meekness, considering ourselves,

lest we also be tempted, Gal. vi. 1. The case which occurred in the Corinthian church was a very flagrant one, and yet the reclaimed backslider was, by apostolic direction, promptly received into fellowship again, lest he "should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow," 2 Cor. ii. 7.

Restoration to fraternal confidence and affection, should not only be prompt, but complete. There must be no subsequent upbraidings; no cruel allusions to the past. We are to receive one another, as Christ also received us, Rom. xv. 7; a reception which fulfilled the prophetic declaration, that he would cast all our iniquities into the depths of the sea, Micah vii. 19, and that he would remember our sin no more, Jer. xxxi. 34.

On the part of the backslider, however, especially when his departure from God has been marked and notorious, there must never be the same readiness to forget the past, which his brethren are expected and required to manifest. The painful recollections which burden his heart, he must never utterly dismiss from his closet meditations. He may say nothing, to others, about the matter; but, if truly penitent, his grief will survive his guilt; and, though

God may have forgiven him, he will never forgive himself. Thus, the psalmist, after his fall, bewailed his broken bones, Psalm li. 8; and Hezekiah, when respited from the sentence which his vanity had brought upon him, and permitted to live although he had been doomed to die, resolved to " go softly," all his remaining years, in the bitterness of his soul, Isaiah xxxviii. 15. And, such is the safest course for the restored backslider. Should he forget to "go softly," the apprehension is that he will fall again, and fall to rise no more. He must remember, too, that if once he had a character to lose, he has now only a character to gain; and that every consideration, which renders acquirement more difficult than possession, should make him remarkable for caution, modesty, prudence, and humility. He must learn, moreover, to bear with meekness, the cruelty which would tear open his wounds afresh. The rough and ungenerous treatment, which he hardly expected, and which he might have been spared, must only awaken his thankfulness, that God is more merciful than man. And, when he finds himself regarded with suspicion, by some whose confidence would delight his heart, he must only hate himself, and love them, not

withstanding. As he excited the prejudice under which he labours, his only course is to live it down; and this, he may yet accomplish, by patient continuance in well doing, and taking especial care to set a double guard against that temptation by which he fell.

But, supposing the whole of a man's discipleship to have been fictitious-What then? Conversion, or ruin; pardon, or damnation. In such a case, let not a moment be wasted in searching for that which has no existence. Time is now too precious to be spent in fruitless inquiries. No longer ask, then-" How may I prove myself a Christian?" but, with the Philippian gaoler, "What must I do to be saved?" Acts xvi. 30.

The grand matters of religion lie within a very narrow compass. The invitation is to all the weary, and the promise-rest, Matt. xi. 28. If moral qualifications were as necessary for the first act of faith, as they are for a subsequent profession, there would be an end to

*The reader, who wishes to pursue that question, is referred to "THE GREAT CHANGE," by the Rev. Dr. Redford, "THE ANXIOUS INQUIRER," by the Rev. J. A. James, and two of the preceding volumes of this series, "DAMASCUS," and "CHORAZIN."

human hope, as in that case universal condemnation would involve mankind. But the Gospel meets the sinner, as he is, "without strength;" it reconciles him, while an enemy, Rom. v. 10. Therefore, to look for reasons of hope, apart from the grand security of hope,the doctrines of the cross,―is utterly fallacious. The thing which the sinner, on first coming to Christ, is required to believe, is not that he is saved, (for he is not, and to believe it would consequently be to believe a lie,) but that "this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," of whom he now accounts himself the chief, 1 Tim. i. 15. Believing this, he goes. But, if instead of thus betaking himself to the Saviour, he should say—“I would believe, if I were not so unworthy;" or,—“ I would hope, if I were not so unbelieving ;"he is, all the while, directing his attention to the operations of his own mind, instead of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God ;-a reef of error where, not a few, "concerning faith, have made shipwreck."

This little volume will probably fall into the hands of some to whom the greater portion of its contents are happily inapplicable. To such,