No. VII.

A DEVOTIONAL SPIRIT ESSENTIAL TO THE ENJOYMENT OF THE PROMISES.

NOTHING is more obvious than that eternal things are not seen in their true light, by the generality of mankind. Men could not act as they do, if they saw eternal realities in the light of revelation. Accordingly, whenever any great truth shines out upon them with unusual clearness, they change, or resolve to change, their line of conduct. They can neither act nor feel as usual, while that truth is before them in its brightness and solemnity. It is master, whilst it can keep on the meridian of their minds. It is, therefore, self-evident, that if all the great truths of the gospel were vividly and habitually before their minds, a change of conduct and feeling would be the inevitable effect. No man could go on in sin

66

or sloth, who saw, as in sunlight, the fatal and eternal consequences of neglecting the great salvation. No man could "halt between two opinions," who saw the two worlds, Heaven and Hell, as God has exhibited them in his own word. They are not seen in His light," by any one who trifles with them. It is the light of custom-of convenience-of passion, that is upon eternal things, whenever they are unfelt or uninfluential. The indifference which some manifest, and the indecision which marks others, is, therefore, the exact measure of their spiritual blindness. They may not be ignorant, but what they know they have not weighed nor searched out for themselves. Their knowledge has been forced upon them by circumstances, or picked up by accident and at second-hand. It is not the fruit of searching the Scriptures, nor of serious consideration, nor of secret prayer. They have just light enough to render their indifference and indecision highly criminal, and utterly inexcusable; but not light enough to terminate them, nor even to keep them from growing worse. For it is quite possible for an undecided man to become insensible, and

for a heedless man to become reckless, whilst he only sees the truth of God in the light of the world. In that light it has little authority, and less glory. It has not the force of truth upon the heart or the character. Accordingly, whilst men content themselves with holding the truth in the vague and general forms in which it is afloat in the world, and merely fall in with public opinion, instead of forming their own opinions from the word of God, they may remain heedless and heartless, for any length of time. The word of God itself must be used as the word of God, before it can prove the power of God unto salvation.

It is, therefore, no wonder that so many, who seem to know so much about the soul and eternity, should yet trifle with both. For what is there in their knowledge to prevent trifling? It relates, indeed, to grand and solemn truths; but not to these truths as they stand in the Bible, nor as they flow from the lips of Jehovah, but as they float in public opinion. And when thus separated from God himself, and from his "lively oracles," they cannot make men wise unto salvation.

M

If these hints explain, in any measure, the carelessness and indecision of the multi tude, they will also explain many of the relapses of the serious. Truth has not always the force of truth upon them. They revere it, and love it, and wish to remain under its influence. And at times it is sweeter to their taste than honey, or the honey-comb. But, somehow, they often lose their relish for it. Even their knowledge, as well as their exjoyment, of the glorious gospel, fades away insensibly from time to time. They lose both the sight and the sense of truths which have made their hearts sing for joy, even in the day of adversity.

Now, all this surprises as well as grieves them. They cannot always account for it. It seems so strange, as well as melancholy, that truths which had been often before the mind in light and loveliness, in power and glory, should ever disappear or become dim! If they had not been loved whilst they shone in beauty, or not improved whilst they captivated the heart, their eclipse would explain itself. But they have become dark and dis

tant, even when we were not conscious of misimproving them. They have vanished away, even whilst we were fondly calculating that we could never again forget or misunderstand them.

All this, however, is not so strange as it is lamentable. It arises, in many instances, from ceasing to "search the Scriptures" as we did, whilst we were absorbed with the question, "What shall I do to be saved?" When can we answer this question to our own satisfaction, we are prone to relax in our attention to the word of God. Having discovered our way and welcome to the cross, we do not feel the same necessity for continuing our inquiries. And the whole matter seems so plain, and so pleasing, that we take for granted that we can never lose sight of it. Thus we come to put our clear views in the room of the Scriptures, and begin to draw upon them, instead of continuing to “draw water from the wells of salvation." The consequence is, that our clearest views of the gospel soon become indistinct. Hence the necessity of habitual attention to the word of