Mr. M, inquires the way-Inquiries as to the effect of faith-Evidences of the inbeing of faith-Perilous condition acknowledged-Hardness of heart confessed and bemoaned-Heart not impenitentNot required to save ourselves-Sinful to stay away from the Saviour-A letter to a sincere inquirer-Difficulties in the way of salvation-Repentance known by its fruit; a gift from God, and must be acknowledged.

TO MR. M. It gives me much satisfaction, my dear friend, to be permitted to address you as one inquiring the way to life. In your letter of inquiry, the effect of your faith in God is indeed most evident.

Though you have not yet exercised that faith, through which the unpardoned sinner is justified, yet you must not yield to the suggestion, that you have no faith. Though small in its beginning as a grain of mustard seed, yet let me for your encouragement say, that clearer demonstration could not be asked than that which your inquiries present, of the existence and workings of faith in You say, "I see my perilous state as a sinner already condemned, but I do not realize my undone condition. I hear others cry out from disquietude of soul; yet with an unmoved heart, and with tearless eyes, I am myself brooding over my hardness and impenitence."

your heart.

Now, my friend, would you be disposed to bemoan your condition thus, were it not that you be

lieve God will verily execute the sentence which he hath pronounced upon you? Here then is the effect of faith thus far: now this is but the first step-the beginning of a life of faith-and if you do not go on you will surely perish. But there are other truths, which are in immediate connection with those which you have already believed, As you have now begun to believe God, O may you, without lingering, take the next step, which I will now endeavor to present to you.

Listen! Your Redeemer and your Saviour is now saying unto you, "Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out." "But," say you, "have I not just been telling you of my hardness and impenitence, and can I expect the Saviour to receive me in such an emotionless condition ?" You mistake, in speaking of your heart as impenitent. Impenitence implies absence of contrition, or sorrow for sin. If you are not sorry for sin, why do you so earnestly inquire the way to the Saviour? Why do you want salvation from sin? Is it not because you feel like saying,

"I hate the sins which made thee mourn ?"

Then say no more that you are impenitent. It is indeed sinful to have a hard heart; but you are not required to save yourself from any of your sins. Christ alone can save you, and he now says, "Come unto me," Will you come now? or will

Sinful to stay from Christ.

you wait till you have made yourself worthy, by a longer continuance in groanings and lamentations? Do you not perceive that you are by this course endeavoring to save yourself in part, before coming to Christ? O cease these vain endeavors! Now

come to Jesus:

"If you tarry till you're better,

You will never come at all."

"Him that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out." Will you not now comply with the condition, and come to the Saviour just as you are? He will not cast you out. The reasons you urge why you may be rejected, are the very reasons why you should come to the Saviour, and why he desires to save you. He came to save you from your sins; and is not this state of feeling, which you urge as a reason why you may not come just now to Christ, sinful? Can you be saved from this sin till you trust Christ to save you? It is sinful to stay away from the Saviour, and unless you intend to defer coming to him until you are yet more unworthy, you will come believingly now, assured that he will in nowise cast you out.

I have concluded to give you the reading of a letter which was addressed to one whose state of mind was very similar to your own; and may He who hath not said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek ye my face in vain," say to you speedily, "Lo, I am thy salvation."

MY DEAR FRIEND,-You asked me to remember you in prayer. I have indeed been pleading for you, and am fully assured of the willingness of God to bless you with a knowledge of forgiveness and acceptance. Yet I see difficulties in the way of your receiving the desire of your heart. Not that I do not believe you are most earnestly, and sincerely, seeking salvation; not that you are unwilling to give up the world, and its vanities, and desirous to take upon you the cross of Christ, and come out as a self-denying follower of the Lord Jesus; or that you are not truly penitent. These difficulties in the way of your salvation I believe are removed. But I know you are longing to hear what difficulties I would suggest. Yet I cannot hope to do much good by stating them, unless you consent to promise before God, that wherein you may see your error, you will in the strength of Jesus exercise that holy violence which the kingdom of heaven suffereth, relative to the removal of these difficulties.

1st. You say you cannot feel that you have repentance, and you give this as one reason why you cannot now come to Christ. What does this turning away from the vanities of the world mean? What this resolute looking Zion-ward? This coming out as a seeker of salvation? &c. Does not

1

Repentance and its Fruits.

all this show fruit meet for repentance? Unless repentance were imparted, could you thus produce its fruits? You can no longer doubt, then, that you have repentance, without denying the work of the Spirit; for you could not have had this grace unless the Spirit had wrought it in your heart. Now, unless you acknowledge this to the praise of God, you will add to your former transgressions the sin of ingratitude.

You are called "to the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you by Christ Jesus ;" and, unless you are thankful for this gift, God may take away even that which you have. O! bow just now before him who is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sin. Thank him that he has given you the gift of repentance, and, through grace, promise no longer to grieve the Spirit by denying that this work hath been wrought in you. Make confession before God of this your error, and then it is your duty to expect that forgiveness will at once follow confession. "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive," &c.

Next you say, "I see other convicted persons manifest much more feeling than myself." But this should not influence your conclusions relative to your state. Difference in constitutional temperament has much to do with the exhibition of the heart's internal movements. There are a diversity