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would be difficult to conceive, occurs in a book which has probably had a wider circulation, in the protestant world, than all other closet publications put together. Let the reader, who doubts my testimony, turn to Bogatzky's "Golden Treasury," at the section for the thirteenth of April.

Numerous instances, of a similar kind, might be adduced, from some of our most popular writers; but I forbear. The venerated men, who have given utterance to such objectionable sentiments, would have been among the first to condemn them, had they perceived their tendency. The lesson we should learn from this circumstance, is to call no man "Master;" but, with the Jews at Berea, to set an example to those in Thessalonica, Acts xvii. 11,

So little surprise does declension awaken, that Christians are accustomed to versify their doubts and fears, and to sing them instead of the praises of Zion. Some of our favourite hymns are constructed on this principle. Those beginning-""T is a point I long to know ;"-" Oh, for a closer walk with God!" -" Long have I sat beneath the sound of thy salvation ;"—and many others, are cases in point. I am not prepared to contend that this

course is improper; for, perhaps, it is too mournfully justified by circumstances, to require an apology. It is not even unscriptural, for the ancient church had its psalms of humiliation as well as of triumph, of mourning as well as of praise. But, if themes so distressing must be the subjects of our song, let us sing them in sackcloth and in ashes. Or, if we carry with us to the sanctuary no outward tokens of grief, let the downcast look, let the tearful eye, let the faltering lip, of the conscious backslider, bear witness there, that he means what he says, that he feels what he confesses, while he testifies the low estate of religion in his soul, and that he has not thoughtlessly taken up the strain of lamentation, as a matter of course; still less, that he imagines such acknowledgments satisfactory.

Confessions which, if true, would go far to annihilate all distinction between faith and unbelief, and to place, on the same level, the saint and the sinner, have inflicted immeasurable injury on the cause of religion, and have, probably, done more than anything else, to give the world a notion that "saint" is only a synonyme for "hypocrite." Christians cannot abound too much in humility; but it is no province of

humility to tell lies. And the whole truth is, that the average failings of the regenerate, partake of greater excellence than the highest virtues of the unconverted. Hence, the man who walks in the light of God's countenance, reproaches himself for matters in which others would see no harm, and confesses as sins the very things which they would make their boast. This circumstance, in fact, supplies the only ground on which some popular statements, of Christian imperfection, can be excused from the charge of falsehood.

In some quarters, a decay of vital godliness is, at present, attributable to the revival of ancient superstition. There, the truths of Christianity are supplanted by their symbols; and a pietism, which gave to the darkness of the middle ages its deepest shades, is even now attempting to eclipse the light of the nineteenth century. That worldly ecclesiastics, and persons of no religion, should readily welcome a system of rites and ceremonies, as an apology for the absence of experimental piety, is by no means surprising; but, that Christian men, of established reputation, should be so ensnared and deluded by these lying vanities, as to exchange the cross for the crucifix, is an event

which the religious world was hardly prepared to anticipate.

In addition to theological causes of declension, of which those already mentioned may suffice as a specimen, there are others, both of a religious and of a social kind, which cannot be omitted with justice to the subject of this

essay.

It may be that the neglect of the Bible is one. All Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. But, with all the veneration which, in religious circles, is paid to the sacred volume, it rarely occupies the place there to which it is entitled. Too often is it regarded as a holy charm, too seldom is it studied as the word of God. I have even known it used for purposes of divination; and that not by ignorant fortune-tellers, but by persons who pass for intelligent Christians. Some, with whom I have met, have not been ashamed to acknowledge that, in cases of perplexity, they have betaken themselves to this expedient, in order to decide their course; and more than one, have I found, whose as

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surance of hope for eternity appeared, at least in the first instance, to have been obtained in this very questionable way.

A respectable Christian, in a large and lucrative business, was suddenly seized with inflammation of the lungs. The disease so rapidly gained upon him, that his medical adviser thought it necessary to hint that, if he had any worldly affairs to settle, no time should be lost. "Hand me the Bible," he gasped. It was given him. On opening it, the seventeenth verse of the hundred and eighteenth psalm first met his eye. "Doctor," he resumed,

no will-making for me! I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord." But the issue proved that he was mistaken. In a few hours, he left his wife a widow, and his children orphans; and the bitterness of their grief was aggravated by the circumstance, that through the lack of a little information which he alone could supply, his affairs were left in such confusion, that the property, which would have sufficed for the maintenance of his family, was absorbed in litigation.

But, evils, far more distressing than even the destitution of the widow and the fatherless, have resulted from the misapplication or per

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