Reader, if you wish to be instructed by the God of hea. ven, if you desire to be led by the Being who made you, if you are willing to be guided by the author of all truth, do as he tells you. You will find his orders in the Bible. Practice heartily and industriously all that is commanded there, and you will have heavenly communications and light from on high. If you are one of those who have neglected the precepts of Holy Writ, and the system of Christianity begins to appear uncomely in your sight, and cold unbelief begins to chill your ability to pray, listen to what the mighty Counsellor says, "Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord." Some will make the following difficulty when called on to begin to do right.

"Do you ask it of us, who disbelieve the Bible," say they; "do you ask it of us to begin to obey it?".

Before we answer your question, fellow immortal, we must mark the difference between those who do not believe, and those who really disbelieve the book: and we must take pains to avoid any mistake respecting our meaning. Attend then to the following illustration.

Suppose that a man of standing and of truth were to awake you at midnight, and to tell you concerning your farm and house, some miles distant, that the fire was approaching it, and that its danger was imminent. Suppose, whilst you are preparing to go to save it another man of equal verity and respectability rides by and tells you that he has just passed your property, and that there is a total mistake: that there is no fire there, and no danger exists. Here we might say, there is such an equilibrium in testimony, that you scarcely know how to act. Then suppose a third messenger, somewhat inferior in credibility, comes along and tells you the

fire is approaching your estate.

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Here you might say,

I scarcely know what to believe; but I must act. Indolence is inexcusable where there is any preponderance on the side of danger. It is safer to act." You are not confirmed in your belief of the advancing conflagration; but you are unwise if you neglect exertion. Go now and act for your soul. If you tell us that you cannot believe the Scriptures, we answer, go and obey them. It is true, if you are a confirmed disbeliever, we have but little hope of your action; but all who sincerely and earnestly obey these precepts, receive the same evidence of their truth, that the man who approaches the fire receives of its warmth. If he were to stand at a distance and say, "Oh that I could believe there was heat in that fire," we might offer many strong arguments to prove it; but the most convincing measure would be to prevail on him to approach. If it were true that he had a strong aversion to the exercise of walking, and a dislike to the sight of fire, and were to tell us that he was confident, and without a doubt, that no warmth existed there, we should have but little hope of prevailing on him to act: nevertheless thorough action would produce a certain result. He might advance a few feet, and then call out exultingly that he felt no warmth. He might approach a short distance again, and then turn away, calling out with indignant vehemence, "I knew it was so, I feel no heat;" but all this has been only a sham trial. So it is with many who say they have complied with the dictates of Revelation. It was only a half-way obedience, a partial action, a false compliance with those blessed commands. All who walk up to the fire know its efficacy. So long as they remain there, they remain convinced. Those who stand near

est, have the least perplexing doubt. Reader, do you say to us, "Shall I act, although I doubt ?" This is the rea. son why you should act speedily and decisively. Let us now tell you some things which you believe, and others which you know. If you are an atheist, we are not addressing you just now; but if not, the following facts fit you. You believe,

1st. That God is a being of purity. You believe,

2d. That if he is pure, he will not be disposed to take pollution into his immediate habitation, or near to himself. You yourself do not tolerate that which you esteem filthy. He may deem that unclean which we do not hate. A man hates what a swine does not, because of his superiority over that animal; but the Lord's exaltation above us is immeasurable. If you say that you cannot understand how that may appear sin to God, which seems very passable with us, you speak unadvisedly. Now for that which you know:

1. That if you stood in a room where were collected a hundred persons, male and female, your fellow-worms of the dust, who live here below with you, all sinners like yourself, you would not be willing that every word you have uttered, and every thought which has passed through your mind for the last month should be told, or pictured before them. You know,

you are

2. That if all your actions and all your wishes were told to a church full of your fellow-creatures, they would not sound well: you know that a sinner. We will prove this to you in another way. We will prove that you know the magnitude of an offence is measured by the excellence of the being against whom it is committed. You know,

1st. If you were to insult one of the animals of the

field, it would be a matter of little moment, because that four-footed beast is low in the scale of existence. You know,

2d. If you were to walk up to your fellow man, your equal, and offend him, it would be a more serious occur. rence, for he is of a more exalted nature. You know,

3d. If a tall seraph from the upper army should sail on splendid wings before you, alighting near, on an errand of heaven, you would feel less safe in offending him, because of his superior excellence. You know,

4th. God's purity is unspeakable; his excellence and grandeur are unlimited; his power and majesty are boundless; all his traits of loveliness and greatness are infinite. Who shall dare offend him?

If you do not know something of the real desert of sin, at the time of reckoning he will make you know it. If what you call a small offence, is measured by his worth, it becomes unlimited in its ill desert. These things you know, and of course (if you are not afraid to think) you know that your case may be a very unsafe one. You know that, perhaps, your danger may be black and imminent as the silent, but advancing cloud. Then act; take the safer course: begin to act, and continue it. Bow and tell Jesus Christ all you would tell him if you saw him. Do every thing he has directed as scrupulously as you should do were you to hear his lips utter the orders.

Every man may become a Christian. Many will not. Every Christian may have the most satisfactory evidence of experience. Many do not try. If you are an atheist, you will be noticed in the next chapter. If you are not an atheist, but settled and unwavering in your creed of gospel rejection, perhaps the first remedy,

(external evidence,) although the weaker of the two, promises more in your case. The last remedy will cure any who will receive it. No matter who you are, atheist or double atheist, if you will bend to each order there written, you will be cured, and your life will be everlasting. But we have very faint hopes that you will come to the light after the Holy Spirit has left you. If you are a confirmed atheist, he has left you now : whether or not He will return, He only knows. If you are a confirmed unwavering Bible hater, yet still believe some one made the stars, you believe one truth. The Spirit is not gone; but he touches the strings of your soul seldom, and but very faintly. "Return unto me, and I will return unto you," saith the Lord. There is a balm in Gilead; there is a physician there, but he requires obedience, and men do not love the remedy.

Some say, "We do not know all the commandments contained in that book, and yet in force." We answer, you are not obeying such commands as you do know; you are not trying to fulfil such requirements as are plain before you. That which is lovely cannot hurt you. Try it. That which is just cannot injure you. Begin it. When that man presented you with a cup of water, and you said, "I thank you, sir," you did not do wrong. You believe that to express gratitude, is not amiss. God gives you many cups of water, and tables covered with food. The Bible orders you to say, "I thank thee." Let your children hear you say this as the favour is repeated. Will you begin? Ah, we fear you do not wish it. If you will not obey here, we need not repeat the hundred orders that follow. You are averse to compliance: a secret which you scarcely sus.