the ground that no anxiety or efforts of theirs, will avail any thing, till God is pleased to put forth upon them the efficacious influences of his Holy Spirit, the unreasonableness, as well as the mischievous tendency of those painful suspicions by which the awakened sinner sometimes permits himself to be perplexed, when he sets about determining whether his day of grace may not already be over and a vindication of the rectitude of the divine procedure in those cases, where, in consequence of the sinner's obstinacy, the influences of the Holy Spirit are withheld, or finally withdrawn. We can hardly conceive it possible, that the most indifferent should attentively peruse this Treatise, without finding some suspicions of their safety, and some misgivings about the validity of the plea which they may have been accustomed to urge in their own defence, and by which they have hitherto contrived to reconcile their conscience to a life of thoughtlessness and folly. And should any such begin to feel uneasiness, on the recollection of the ingratitude and neglect with which they have treated the mercy and forbearance of God, we would earnestly recommend to their serious perusal the discourses on "Self-dedication," and "Yielding ourselves to God," which have been selected as an appropriate accompaniment to the Treatise, which it is the more immediate object of this publication to bring within the reach of those who may not have access to the full edition of our Author's works.* These discourses are characterized The public are indebted to the Rev. John Hunt, of Chichester, for a uniform edition of the whole of Howe's Works, in eight volumes, 8vo. commenced in 1810, and completed in 1822, by the same spirit of earnest and affectionate solicitude for the salvation of sinners, which breathes throughout the Treatise on our Lord's Lamentation over Jerusalem-and if any salutary impressions are made by the perusal of the one, it will be found that in the other, the Author never, for a moment, relinquishes his hold of the conscience of his readers, till he brings them to the point where every reflecting mind must be compelled to acknowledge the necessity of coming to an immediate decision on the question, which more than any other, the natural man is anxious to evade. Of the sublimity of conception, the ardour of feeling, and energy of language which distinguish the following Treatises, it is unnecessary for us to speak: but we would entreat those, into whose hands they may come, not to lay them aside with a single reading, for we may venture to assure them, that however much of their excellence they may discover on a first perusal, every subsequent one will more than confirm the estimate. It is matter of regret that these, as well as the other works of Howe, have for a long period been so little known; and we should rejoice to be in any degree instrumental in bringing into wider circulation, what, through the divine blessing, is so eminently calculated to promote the cause of vital godliness. May the Spirit of God give efficacy to the present feeble effort for awakening the thoughtless and self-secure, and seal on the hearts of all who shall peruse the following pages, the momentous truths which they contain. Edinburgh, October, 1822. R. G. APPENDIX-Concerning the Blasphemy against the Holy |