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If they do not,-What shall we say for their honesty?-if they do,-What, for their understanding?

But, unjust and fallacious as are all such deductions, their injustice and fallacy are nothing in favour of the man who occasioned them. He knew, beforehand, that such would be the result of his delinquency, and therefore he is chargeable with all the mischief which, in this or any other way, his fall may produce. The men who take occasion from his conduct, to trifle with the religion which he has abandoned, unless they repent, will die in their iniquity; but their blood will be required at his hand. Many a dishonoured down to the grave, has name, gone laden with the imprecations of the lost. And, should the memory of the apostate be thought worthy of a tombstone, the most fitting inscription would be the memorial of Achan-" That man perished not alone in his iniquity," Joshua xxii. 20. His conduct, perhaps, has inflicted on the neighbourhood where he dwelt, a curse, which a whole generation will hardly suffice to

remove.

The final consequences of declension comprehend a world where God has forgotten to be gracious, and in anger has shut up his tender

mercies. Many have found their way to hell, who once bid fair for heaven. And, among the regrets of eternity, some of the most poignant, are those which result from obliterated impressions, stifled convictions, and broken vows. Well is the spot remembered, from which a last look was intended to be taken, at those fond attractions which fire from heaven was threatening to devour. And, a last look indeed it was; for the loiterer perished there, Luke xvii. 32.

But, short of that world of misery, the results of declension are so destructive and so multifarious, that to describe and specify them all, would be at once a hopeless and an endless task. To nothing else can we ascribe that alienation of heart among the disciples of Christ, which unfits them for mutual fellowship, and holy co-operation. Hence arises, moreover, one of the greatest impediments to the progress of religion; for if, as it would seem, the world is to receive their testimony only as they love one another, the present probability, of its immediate conversion, is reduced to an infinitesimal fraction of hope.

Still, the prospect is not one of unmitigated gloom. Across the darkness which overhangs

the hill of Zion, there are yet some gleams of sunshine; and the breaking cloud bespeaks a brighter day. We have need for lamentation, but not for despondency; for humiliation, but not for despair. Religion, on the whole, is not losing ground. Instead of the fathers, shall be the children; and, after them, another generation.

But, shall all the energies of the church be consumed in keeping pace with the grave? Shall all that is done avail for nothing more than filling up the death-vacancies of the faithful? If so, when shall the religion of the cross become the religion of the world? Hell reckons its victims by millions, and each succeeding century consigns to the bottomless pit an augmented number of human souls. We stand between the living and the dead. The cries and groans of the perishing are borne on every breeze. The victims of the second death meet us in all directions. With the plague-spot upon their brow, they crowd our streets, they frequent our sanctuaries, they enter our dwellings. And, when shall the pestilence be stayed? Never,till the church shall put away iniquity. Never, -till Christians themselves, breaking down under a sense of bloodguiltiness, and mourning

each apart, shall commence their discipleship afresh at the cross. Never, till the whole body of believers shall become one; one for affection, one for compassion, and one for devotedness.

CHAPTER V.

RELIGIOUS DECLENSION, AS TO ITS

REMEDIES.

GOD has methods, of healing the backslidings of his people, which are not at our command. In his hand, even the ordinary arrangements of providence may be made to assume a special character, such as to say-"Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?" Jer. ii. 17.

Perhaps, the man had pleaded commercial prosperity, as a reason for neglecting his closet, his Bible, and his God. And, the allegation was too true, for the world was bidding fair to extinguish the last spark of religion in his soul. An unexpected blow brings down his proud imaginations. It renders him a bankrupt, but it saves him from perdition.

Or, peradventure, his family had sufficed to place him in peril. As he looked proudly round upon the little ones whose fingers had entangled his very heartstrings, he thought it well to neglect everything for them. Amidst the

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