years afterwards, writing to Timothy-"Take Mark, and bring him with thee; for he is profitable to me for the ministry," 2 Tim. iv. 11; -a circumstance which may afford encouragement to the backslider now, if he will but turn again to the Lord, Lam. iii. 40.

Individual religious declension, in modern times, is so painfully familiar, that confessions of it are not unfrequently taken for proofs of humility and spirituality. To a certain extent they may be such, (for all must admit, that in every case of transgression or disobedience, a denial of sin is an aggravation of guilt;) but, for Christian people to regard such habitual acknowledgments as compatible with a satisfactory condition of piety, bespeaks an obliquity of perception for which it is difficult to account. Of one thing, however, we may rest assured, "this persuasion" came not of Him that called them; they have not so learned Christ. Increasing thankfulness may humble us under a sense of past ingratitude, and aspirations for holiness may render us extremely sensitive as to remaining imperfection; but, to account the bare confession of our failings an evidence of piety, is to make our doubts the warrant of our confidence, and our misgivings the reason of our

hopes. A process this, than which nothing can be more irrational.

To so fearful an extent does misapprehension prevail on this subject, that few things are more common than to represent the earliest stages of the Christian life as, of course and by necessity, the happiest. And such, indeed, for this reason, they oftentimes are found. The young convert is told to expect religious declension. He forms his views and purposes accordingly; and so, the prediction accomplishes its own fulfilment.

This is a subject on which I can write most feelingly. Well do I remember that when I was a Christian of about ten days old, a disciple, of long and honourable standing, laid his hand upon my head, and said "My dear lad, I bless God for what he has done for you. But, remember that these are early days, and that your present feelings will not last for ever. You are now a young recruit, and may enjoy your spending-money; but the battle will come byand-by." More than thirty years have passed since then; but I recollect his words as though it had been but yesterday. They made too sad an impression on my heart to be easily forgotten. But he ought to have told me, although he did

not, that growth in grace is essential to vital godliness;-that if experience has its pains, it has its pleasures too;-that if warfare brings its toils, it also brings its triumphs ;-and, above all, he should have cautioned me, that if my earliest days should prove my happiest, life would at last appear to have been spent to very little purpose.

There are some things connected with incipient piety, which will undoubtedly pass away. The charm of novelty, for instance, and the surprise of the mind as it first wakes up to unheeded truth. But these are rather accidents than essentials, and their disappearance may arise from other causes than declension. Supposing an individual, suddenly raised from poverty and retaining a lively recollection of its manifold privations, to be adopted by a prince, and introduced to all the luxuries and honours of a royal court, astonishment, at so great a change of circumstances, might be expected for a while to exercise upon him an almost overpowering influence. The strange and vast transition would engross his thoughts, and monopolize his dreams. But, as the scenes of splendour, amidst which he moved, became familiar, this feeling would subside, and gradually give place

to a more tranquil state of mind. And, in the course of time, he would learn to regard these things as though he had been accustomed to them all his days. But, to find in this instance a parallel to the case of the religious backslider, we must suppose that not only did the astonishment in question pass away, but that there went with it, as well, his sense of grateful obligation to that illustrious personage, who lifted him from the dunghill, to set him among princes. The first case would relate to impression, the second-to principle. In the former instance, the apostasy would be that of the imagination, but in the latter,-that of the affections. And such, in truth, is religious declension.

CHAPTER II.

RELIGIOUS DECLENSION, AS TO ITS

INDICATIONS.

In order to the successful treatment of bodily disease, it is necessary, first of all, to ascertain its symptoms. The same remark will apply to the maladies of the soul. And, in either instance, intentional concealment. avails for nothing, save the disadvantage of the sufferer.

As the design of the present chapter is to specify the indications of religious declension, I would, at the outset, beseech the reader to treat the subject honestly. The most explicit demonstration of his case will be lost upon him, should he refuse to see it; or, seeing it, should labour to explain it away. The whole need not the physician, but they that are sick; and Jesus came, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Mark ii. 17.

Some of the indications of religious declension are so plain as to need no comment. If whatsoever things are lovely, and of good report,

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