aged and youth,-the rich and poor, bond and free, black and white may ALL be seen to take the alarm, lay down the weapons of their rebellion at the feet of Jesus, confess their sin, and with penitent and believing hearts adore the grace of God and the power of his Spirit in their conver sion, and through their subsequent lives evince the fruits of holiness; and although results like these may frequently take place, studding with the richest gems his crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus, shedding all around the vivid lustre of Immanuel's glory, and striking awe and panic among the ungodly and making them to gnash their teeth in rage; yet, are there to be found, frigid formalists, self-righteous Pharisees, indolent and inefficient ministers of the gospel, eager and ready to disbelieve the whole work-to denounce the man as heretically denying the Spirit's work, and to bemoan, most piteously, the blighting influence of such false theology-because he does not believe, and will not teach, that the Spirit converts the sinner by creative power and by some "immediate" act of physical efficiency produces faith and repentance, but urges the instant repentance of the sinner, and appeals to his mind and conscience, by all the power of motive which he can employ, believing that it is the Spirit's power of moral suasion, adapted to the rational and sensitive nature of man, which effects the change!!! Truly it were becoming, in those private christians who are settled on their lees, and do practically consent-as for any manifestation of concern to prevent it or of sorrow in the view of it-to let guilty and perishing souls around them go down to Hell in rapid succession; and in ministers of Christ whose ministry has been barren and unblessed, and whose churches are gradually decaying with themselves, to be more cautious how they raise the cry of error and delusion and wild-fire theology, under such circumstances. Is it not well worth inquiring, whether they and their ministra

tions may not be found to have been "spoiled through philosophy and vain deceit?"

This suggestion is not made in the spirit of censure, but as an affectionate appeal to those, whose more efficient ministrations, and extended usefulness, are, undoubtedly, matters in which all who wish well to the cause of truth, and can shed one tear of sorrow over a guilty world, must certainly feel a deep and lively interest. At all events, may we not sue for a truce in this strife, which now agi. tates the churches, and claim and exercise, at least, mutual forbearance in reference to theoretic and philosophical explanations of the essential and acknowledged fact of the Spirit's powerful and efficacious influence? The moral suasion of the Spirit-the energy of the truth, as urged by the Spirit in contradistinction from that of man, is infinitely superior to human eloquence and argument, and very different from the mere objective presentation of the truth, or human suasion. And if this be strenuously maintained, we see no reason, why a man should be censured and condemned, who refuses to take one step, in the light of philosophy, beyond the voluntary exercises of the human mind, in which alone he can trace the proofs and workings of the Spirit's power.

2. The character and danger of the sin of grieving the Spirit of God, are rendered very obvious, also, from the view which has been taken of the Spirit's efficacious influence. That there is such a sin, and that to it, and to the quenching of the Spirit-which is the same, but in a greater degree of turpitude and malignity-the sacred scriptures attribute much importance, cannot be denied. Exceedingly vague and mystical notions, however, obtain in many minds, in relation to it, as though there were some secretly infusive power, which the Spirit exerts and is necessary for the transmutation of the sinner, and which, although its presence can never be detected by any conscious

exercise, the sinner is in danger of having forever withheld from him, if he resists, to any great degree, the Spir it's strivings. We are said to grieve a friend, when we resist his counsel, and admonitions, and entreaties, and all the winning arts by which he seeks to induce us to do what will be promotive of our good. We grieve the Spirit in the same way. He is striving with us, as the truth makes its impressions on our minds and hearts. And by all the commands and promises, threatenings and cautions, examples and motives in the scriptures, through the preaching of the gospel and other means, He is pleading with us to repent and be reconciled to God. It is an ob ject which God has much at heart. "Oh do not this abominable thing which I hate!" "How can I give thee up?" "My repentings are kindled within me." "Why will ye die?" are his pathetic appeals. To resist their impression; is to grieve this benevolent friend, because it is to counteract the object, which is so near his heart.

But resistance, under such circumstances, cannot long be made, without incurring terrible guilt, and indurating the sensibilities. No man can tell, when he acts against his strong impulsive convictions, and by wilful efforts, banishes his serious impressions, or deliberately makes choice of what God forbids, or refuses to accept what God proffers, but that, at any and every moment, he is contracting such guilt, and so hardening his heart, as to provoke God forever to withdraw, and say, "Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone." Here lies the guilt of your sin, Oh forsaken impenitent! You have chosen to act in opposition to the truth, as urged by the Spirit of God, and as commending itself, alike to your reason and conscience. And the danger of it, is, not only, that eventually you wil thus bring upon yourself swift destruction; but that you are rendering your susceptibilities of impression so callous, as perhaps, at this very hour, to be closing the last avenue

of access to your heart. If you hope for a mighty creative power to be exerted on you, irrespectively of your voluntary exercises, your hopes are baseless and visionary. The Spirit's efficacious agency is through the suasive influence of the truth, and if you resist it, you resist the only means, that you, or any one else, can hope to be exerted for you, to bring you to repentance. To what degree or extent this Spirit will strive with you, who can imagine? Even now the pinions of his wings may be already stretched to take up his last, eternal, flight from an heart that has been long hardening itself and rejecting his counsels of love!

acquired by frequently having done the thing before. The former become easy after the very first decided impulse of feeling. And this circumstance explains satisfactorily the great apparent ease with which the new convert keeps himself in the love of God.

Neither can it

From the above remarks, the reader will be prepared to understand the concise account which we subjoin of the leading graces of the christian. Love has been defined, by metaphysical writers, the gravitation or tendency of the soul towards good. But this is too obscure for common use. We all know what is meant by the term. It denotes that feeling of approbation, or complacency, or delight, in any object, either good in itself, or supposed to be fitted to do us good, which leads us to desire and make choice of, and seek to enjoy it. The feeling could not exist if we had not been created with a capacity for it. ever be excited unless there is some object adapted to secure it, presented to our consideration. As an object addresses our senses, or our rational nature, and is apprehended to be good and desirable, the feeling is awakened. As to the character of the objects which present themselves, multitudes make fearful and fatal mistakes. Fortune, family, friends, health, children, and sensual indulgences, receive the affections of the heart. The love of these things pol lutes the soul, distracts its joys, and drowns it in perdition. But such is the hold, which the world and the things of the world have upon the heart, that if the blessed Spirit of God did not see fit to detach them, we should sink deeper and deeper in the mire of pollution. This He does by bringing before our view, objects in every respect deserving of our regard. In our natural state, we bestow our affections on unworthy objects, and withhold them from such as possess the highest traits of excellence. The blessed Redeemer is accounted "a root out of dry ground, and when we see Him there is no beauty in Him to desire Him." But the