end of it would have been the way of death. I might have imitated the preachers, whom the Prophet describes,who speak smooth things and prophesy deceits. A conduct which seldom fails to procure the praise of men in this world, but as certain to be followed with their loudest and bitterest reproaches, in the world to come. It is an awful thing to heal the hurt of souls slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. To skim over the surface of that deadly wound, which sin hath made in our nature, while rottenness is corroding beneath. There can be no doubt, but that it is a more painful operation, to every patient's feelings, to probe the sore to the bottom, but it becomes the only effectual way to a complete cure. I hope, from what you have now said of your present misery, that it arises from the wounds of sin, being laid bare to your view, by the gracious dealings of our God. And if so,, depend upon it, that the same Almighty hand which hath ripped them open, will heal. But I think it must strike you with full conviction, that no man, till he knows and feels his wounds, will be anxious for a cure. Men at ease and freedom may talk of chains, and coolly discourse about the sorrows of slavery: but he, and he only, who hath felt the chain, and groaned under the yoke of it, can say, what it is, or describe that misery of the heart, which ariseth from hope long deferred. Prov. xiii. 12.

Parishioner. Oh! Sir, I feel indeed the chain, and truly groan after a freedom from it. The Lord hath led me to know my utterly lost state by nature, and I have a lively sense of conviction, of what you call, the first leading point of the Gospel. Tell me, Sir, I pray you, what you have to propose, under the second partic

ular. Is there indeed a plan of salvation: is there a method of cancelling the sins of my nature, and obtaining the favor and peace of God?

Minister. Yes! blessed be God, there is. Christ is the restorer of our fallen nature, and an all-sufficient Savior for sinners: and as the gracious goodness of our God, hath in his abundant mercy led you to see your want of salvation, I pray God he may lead you to see also, the complete salvation there is in him. I shall be highly gratified indeed, if the Lord will mercifully condescend so far as to make me the index to his will upon this occasion, in pointing to the means by which it may be accomplished. But first let me ask you, whether since our former conversation, and the Lord's convincing you of sin, you have not been endeavoring to find out some plan yourself, in order to recommend you to God, and to do somewhat by way of obtaining your own salvation?

Parishioner. Oh! yes. For after my return home from you, the impression your words made upon my mind, immediately led me to the serious examination of my heart before God; and having made it a subject of prayer, as you recommended, I set about the work with great diligence. I found, upon looking back, that what I had before conceived to be righteousness before God, was full of unworthiness; and that even in my most holy things I was unholy before him. I discovered also, that not only in the past, but even in the present, the same bias to sin was in my nature, that when I would do good, evil was present with me. Such views of the sinfulness of my nature brought tears into my eyes, and induced much sorrow of heart. Still hoping, however,

that those tears would avail before God, and that I could rectify the past, I formed the strongest resolutions of amendment, and determined in myself to begin a new life. But, alas! what the apostle found in his experience, I found in mine, that the good I would, I did not, but the evil that I would not, (in defiance of all my resolutions) that I did. And I have at length discovered, as he did, that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. And under this conviction of mind, I find myself obliged continually to cry out, in his lamentable words, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Minister. These are humbling views, no doubt, of the miserable, helpless state of our fallen nature; but they are profitable to the soul, and afford strong evidences of the grace of God in the heart; for thus the Holy Ghost teaches his people in order to lead them to the S. vior; and if what you express you really feel, I am very confident it is He which must have revealed these things to your heart. For the unhumbled pride of man, untaught of God, is always fancying that he can do something of himself toward salvation. He fancies he can repent when he pleases; he can form resolutions as he pleases, and put them in practice as he pleases; he can amend his life, make amends for the past by the future, and obtain the favor of God through Christ. But when the Lord condescends to become man's teacher, all these flights of fancy fall to the ground: he then learns that repentance is the sole gift of God; and that a man might as soon change the color of his hair, or alter the complexion of is countenance as the complexion of his mind. That the strongest resolutions

formed in his own strength, must fail; and that even if it were possible to keep them, the good conduct of the present can make no compensation towards God for the evil conduct of the past. In short, that man in himself, and in his highest attainments by nature, hath not sufficiency to think, much less to do, any thing as of himself, but all his sufficiency must be of God.

Parishioner. Oh! Sir, I see and feel the full force of these truths. I am convinced, that in myself, I have no help, and therefore let me earnestly entreat you no longer to postpone the information you promised to give,. and which I am burning to receive, how I must be saved, and wherewith I shall come before the Lord? Open to me, I beseech you, the substance of the second branch of the subject you proposed, in relation to the person and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ, the restorer of our fallen nature, and the all-sufficient Savior of sinners.

Minister. As I hope, and persuade myself your mind is now prepared to receive those glad tidings of good things, I shall most readily and cheerfully, enter upon this glorious subject: and may He who hath convinced you of sin, convince you no less of the righteousness of the Savior, and enable you to come to him in a way of faith and repentance, to the everlasting comfort of your soul, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. I am to suppose, my Christian friend, that you are no stranger to what is related in scripture, concerning the person and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ; but that from your Bible, and from occasional sermons which you have heard upon the subject, you are not now to be informed respecting the outward testimony to these great truths. My province is not to inform you of what VOL. III.

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I take for granted, you already know of Jesus by the hearing of the ear; but to lead you to such views of the Savior, as under the anointing of God's Holy Spirit, resting upon the means, may induce an inward effect in your heart, in teaching you that Jesus is an all-sufficient Savior, and such as is every way suited to your wants and necessities. If I can but accomplish this purpose, I shall accomplish all that I desire; and therefore it will be enough to go over the ground of the Gospel, in sketching the outlines only of this great and important point. From the same Divine authority, by which we are informed of man's fall by reason of sin (and of which you have now an assured testimony in your own experience,) we have the information also of a gracious plan of salvation for his recovery. God foreseeing the misery of mankind by the fall, provided a means for obtaining happiness again in redemption, and, from the foundation of the world, founded that scheme which is revealed to us in the Gospel of Christ: there we learn that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, who is one with the Father, over all God blessed for ever, and who had glory with the Father before all worlds, at a certain per iod before determined in the counsel of heaven, but from its fitness for the purpose intended, called the fulness of time, assuming a body such as ours in every point, sin only excepted, came into the world and ac complished all those purposes appointed for our salvation. Beginning at that point where our nature had failed, he fulfilled, to the most perfect exactness, the whole law of God; and that having repaired the broken law, he offered himself a sacrifice upon the cross for our breaches of it; so that having wrought out a perfect