and elevation of his soul under trials; yet the best of the latter class exhibit so much that is amiable in conduct, especially when we endeavour, as we ought, to view them with candour, that we shall be in the greatest danger, if we be not on our guard, of losing sight of the immense distance between them and the true Christian. And yet let it never be forgotten, in the sight of God the one class lives, and the other is dead while it appears to live; and we shall die too, if we become conformed to it.

Our temptation to overlook this mighty interval between these two classes is often much increased

by the defects and imperfections, in many points, of the true Christians we associate with, when compared with the worldly characters to whom we have access. The comparatively small number of the former frequently affords us very little room for selection; while among the latter, we have a very extensive choice, and may suit our taste by fixing on those who are possessed of qualities which we naturally admire.' And while we thus gratify ourselves by selecting pleasing associates, we shall be very apt to give them credit for much more of good, and much less of evil,than they really possess; and consequently to multiply and magnify to our imaginations the defects of our less fascinating religious acquaintance.

Then hope comes in to assist the delusion. We cannot think that persons so pleasing will not improve, and in the end, perhaps in a short time, add true religion to their other attainments. We even flatter ourselves that this most desirable event will be promoted by our own attentions; and in this way almost persuade ourselves that it is our duty to give them a large share of our society, and perhaps of our friendship; nay, possibly, we smooth, by our acquiescence, their unhallowed path, and connive at their faultiness, the better to win them over to religion. The

result of such a course, or of any course analogous to it, is far more likely to be prejudicial to the Christian than beneficial to the other party. The firmness of Christian principle is weakened, its elevation is sunk, its purity soiled, its brightness dimmed, and its influence in the soul lessened, perhaps lost, before the unhappy adventurer-who is thus trying (for, however shocking, so it is!) what fellowship there can be betwixt Christ and Belial-is aware of his situation. Associations formed on such principles will admit of a variety of shades and gradations in describing their progress; but the practical result, I fear, is likely to be, for the most part, of the same dark complexion.

After all, when we have a propensity to indulge in worldly society, does not the evil lie deeper than in an error of judgment, as to what is the best Christian course? May it not be traced to the absence of a sound Christian taste; to the want of a due approval of "thẹ things which are excellent?" If we are in any adequate measure sensible not only of the value, but of the beauty of holiness; if we enter deeply into the loveliness of the character of our blessed Redeemer; if we are in a disposition to have listened, like the converts at Corinth, with interest and delight to the discourses of the humble Paul, rather than to the polished harangues of the philosophers, and to have taken the Tentmaker and his friends for our companions, instead of those admired sages; then surely we shall not suffer refined manners, mental ability, talents for conversation, and other similar endowments, to outweigh in our esteem and affections those qualities of our religious friends which have the praise, not of man, but of God, and possess an intrinsic loveliness, as well as a sterling excellence, far outweighing all that the world can boast. To be alive to this loveliness, and to respond

when it wore a less accommodating aspect. But even if they were thus induced to embrace it they would neither embrace the true and unadulterated Gospel, nor would they, in all probability, proceed in their new course with genuine repentance and lively faith. Their Saviour would not be the object of their affection as 66 holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners." They would not hear from his lips, with the full and cordial approbation of true disciples, "Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John ii. 15, 16.) Their Saviour would be shorn of those beams of transcendent brightness which belong to Jesus Christ; and their Gospel would not only in very many particulars, but in its general spirit, be "another Gospel ;" not reflecting, like the true, the unsullied glories of Christ, but affording only a faint, obscure, and imperfect shadow of Him who is the image of the invisible God. Such was not the Saviour who came to "purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Such was not the Gospel given to turn men "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" nor can scriptural conversion be expected, however smooth and flattering outward appearances, through a Saviour and a Gospel so mutilated and disfigured.

I have hitherto touched only incidentally on the effect of an undue intercourse with the world, on the family and immediate connexions of the person who falls into this error, and on its effect also on those who live around him. It will therefore be necessary to consider these points more distinctly.

First-As to his relations and friends.

Here the mischief must be great and rapid; ten, twenty, thirty persons may be very soon injured by his inconsistent conduct; and among these there may be many far less prepared than himself for

meeting the threatened danger, far less fenced and guarded against its worst evils, and far less furnished with principles and habits which may lead after a fall to a recovery. Some may be very young and inexperienced, others particularly pliant and unreflecting, easily captivated by certain showy qualities, or very averse to self-denial, or very open to flattery and self-delusion. Though his own bark should ride steadily, and preserve a straight course (no likely event) amidst the shifting winds and currents to which he ventures to consign it, what will become of theirs? will he thus run the risk of destroying his "weak brother for whom Christ died," in a case in which to escape fatal evils is so difficult? Rather let him imitate the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who declared, that he would abstain for ever from a practice innocent in itself (and who shall pronounce that worldly conformity is so) rather than make his brother to offend: (See Rom. xiv. and 1 Cor. viii.)

And

But particularly, my dear R. would I call the attention of any person undecided in his mind, or hesitating in his conduct, on the point under consideration, to the effect of his example on his children. How great will be their danger if, the habits of their parents on this point being lax, they are led from their infancy to dally with temptation by mixing too freely with the world, instead of being carefully taught, by example as well as by precept, that Christ's disciples are "not of the world," for that "he has chosen them out of the world!" So prone are the young to gratify their wishes, and so seducing are the pleasures which the world offers to them, that, humanly speaking, I see no prospect I of their resisting the temptation to swim with the stream, if they are not early and long trained by the habits of their family to stand in awe of so doing. As they advance a

little in life, the young women will have to withstand the vivid sense of pleasure, and the strong desire not

to be slighted or ridiculed on account of their particularity, and comparative seclusion: and the young men will be assailed by still stronger temptations at school, and afterwards on a still farther entrance into life. Happy will it be (especially in the case of the latter) if parental principles and the parental system so far maintain their ground in the youthful bosom, that though the tender shoots of religion may yield to the blasts and blights to which they are exposed, the root, at least, may be kept alive by the Spirit of God, in mercy to parents whom he loves, and send forth a fresh and more vigorous scion in after life! But let no parents look for this blessing, and presume to hope that their labour will not be in vain in the Lord," unless in training up their offspring they are "sober and vigilant," and "always abounding," not only in their instructions, but in their example also, and their family institutions, " in the work of the Lord."

There are also other relations not to be overlooked: I mean such as, from their age and confirmed Christian habits, may probably not be misled by the example of a young relation; but who will be subjected to deep anxiety, and great pain, by his misconduct in the point under consideration. Among these parents stand pre-eminent. Think what parents must feel when they see their long course of instruction ineffectual; their example unavailing; their family habits abandoned, abandoned in a point so important, and so near their hearts; their feelings sacrificed to a youthful love of pleasure, or to the fancy, perhaps even the deliberate judgment, of one who ought, in wisdom and kindness, as well as in duty, to accommodate himself to their wishes. Could a young person lose much substantial good, even in his own judgment, by thus accommodating himself to the wishes of those who have his benefit at heart, in the restrictions which they feel it necessary to lay upon his inter

course with a deceitful world? Or, if his pleasure is to be balanced against their pain, is he sure that he gains more than he takes from them?

This appeal would be just, even in the case of an only child. How much stronger then, when there are brothers and sisters, in whose education, and confirmation in good principles and habits, parents will find their hands weakened by the indiscretion or obstinacy of one member of the family! When they contemplate the future, and especially the event of their being removed from their family by death, their fears of mischievous consequences will probably far exceed the evils they at present experience. Under such circumstances, how difficult the line of parental duty! To hold up one of their children as a warning to the rest, is a most painful measure, and one from which they will abstain as much as possible: but to avoid it altogether is not always possible or safe, consistently with their parental obligations. However guardedly and tenderly they perform this duty, it may lead to consequences which they would most anxiously wish to avoid, and the very danger of which will affect them most sensibly. Surely when all these domes tic considerations are united, they cannot be resisted by any young person without a degree of hardihood not very compatible with that gentleness, that spirit of accommodation and of deference to elders, and especially to parents, and that anxious endeavour to maintain harmony and unity with fellow Christians and relations, which the Gospel every where inculcates.

If the foregoing considerations ought to induce a child to follow the parental system, even when more than ordinarily rigid, and in some points perhaps liable to the imputation of going too far, what must be thought of a departure from that system, when it is marked by a spirit of accommodation as far as duty will permit; when it is neither offensive nor obtrusive; when

it endeavours to avoid extremes, and, taken as a whole, is moderate, and sanctioned, though perhaps with some exceptions, by the general practice of the decided followers of Christ? So strong are the temptations which assail youth in its pursuit of personal gratifications, or in its eagerness to shun singularity, and the ridicule attached to it so great, in some instances, is its thoughtlessness as to consequences, and in others its love of a fancied independence that such cases, it will readily be allowed, may exist but at the same time no parent will like to dwell upon them. These things must be said for parents; for (whether rightly or not) parents will often have too much delicacy and generosity to say them, at least to say them plainly and freely for themselves: but the subject will not on that account press the less forcibly on their minds, and sadden their hearts. I do not like to enlarge on this topic, or to set forth the long train of benefits, with their attendant cares and labours, conferred on the one side, and the corresponding obligations contracted on the other. But could my voice be heard through the land, I should wish solemnly to leave these considerations to the dispassionate reflection of the young; and to call upon them to count the cost paid by others, and above all by a parent, for their departure from the principles inculcated in their education, and from the established habits of their families.

Secondly as to the general effect on others.

I fear that an undue intercourse of religious with worldly characters is calculated to blind the eyes of the latter, as to their distance from God, and to lead them to think that cordial and vital religion is a thing more of profession than reality, and to view it therefore with disrespect. Now, whatever tends to bring Christianity down from her high eminence, must tend to degrade her in the eyes of men,

and to despoil her of her rightful authority, while it tends also to degrade her votaries, and particularly those who thus deprive her of her honours.

What I have said, and shall have occasion still to say in this letter, prevents my enlarging on this topic beyond a single observation. If the blessed Jesus himself was vilified as "gluttonous and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners," because he mixed freely with the world, though he mixed with it only to lead it to God, and to perform the sacred duties for the sake of which he came upon earth; what is likely to be said of those who mix with it too freely without his perfect innocence, without his native dignity or Divine wisdom, and without his object full in their view, and forming the life and soul of their practice? I believe no Christian of much experience will find any difficulty in answering this inquiry.

As this question, with respect to intercourse with the world, has been said to be a question of degree, you will ask, perhaps, for some guidance on that point. It is apparent, that within due bounds, the proper degree of intercourse will depend much on the personal character of the party, on the staté of his family, and on the circumstances in which he is placed; and his best guide will be the Holy Spirit, operating through a watchful and enlightened conscience. But still something may be said on this subject, which may serve to point out certain rocks and shelves to be avoided in the Christian voyage, and to ascertain the limits within which the course of the vessel should, in all ordinary cases, be confined.

First, then, he must take care that his society shall consist chiefly of religious characters.

A man's companions will generally be chosen according to the prevailing bent of his own opinions and dispositions, and will therefore be no incorrect index of the state