UC-NRLF \ , AC \ II . E T T E ^;$;6^;^ : 'm T o A ^^^^jeg T M <': - " >X--' ' ^' '~ '-' -' '-I-' "^/.V^'^ ^,'x\IX\IX\IX\X\!X\IX\TxVx\IX ^ .-i\-A^r": : T-. ; ix^~' i \'i\"iN ; -^-i".-"^i- . -''V-!~,Cr"'i" "-.""'ixxr"'!-:/^!' ^>7^\ \ .xejesaeeKB R o T H E nu^e^^^ , . . '*'<^' ' '_' ^.'X\X\t/^X\^X\X\IXA'X^X\IXJvlX\IX\X\IXV^!X\IX\lX\x' ^ f ^\ ''(X/JX/lXXixxix xivxiXXiVXtvxiXXiVtV /l\Xt\X|\x ( \X|\ xi\ xi \X|\ xj\ X|\X|\ xi\ ^ ^ 00 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA GIFT OF Lewis F. Langfeld ^LETTERS A BROTHER, OI PRACTICAL SUBJECTS. By a Clergyman. LOWELL: PUBLISHED BY BROOKS SHATTUCK AND CO., No. 2 Suffolk Square. BOSfON: PEIRCE AND PARKER, No. 9 Cornhill. 1832. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by BROOKS SHATTUCK &Co., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. Observer Press.... Lowell. U INTRODUCTION. The following letters were commenced with the design of explaining some of the simple truths of the Gospel to the mind of a younger brother in the hope that they might be of essential service to him in a practical respect. It has since been a matter of serious inquiry with me, whether the minds of the young have been sufficiently instructed and enlightened on the subjects embra- ced in the letters. The result of my in- quiries is, a firm conviction that, while the world abounds with story books and with M890812 IV INTRODUCTION. toys for children, there are very few reli- gious works of a thorough, practical kind. A knowledge of this fact has induced me to throw these letters, in a printed form, before the public, with the hope that they may influence some youthful minds to em- brace cordially the religion of the Saviour. The plan is, in many respects, new, and the truths contained in the letters are pre- sented singly that the mind may distinct- ly apprehend one truth before it under- takes to grapple with another. It is be- lieved that, in this way, more vivid im- pressions of duty will be received than in any other way. The exhibition of sever- al important and fundamental truths in a single letter would confuse the mind so that it would be able to distinguish no one truth clearly. The colors of the solar ray cannot be distinguished when com- mingled, but when separated by the prism INTRODUCTION. V each can be distinguished from every other. The doctrinal views contained in this little volume, are, I believe, accordant with the views of evangelical Christians generally. I have studied to make my directions and explanations conform to the word of God. The letters were not writ- ten for criticism, but for practical use. It may be said that many of the illus- trations, contained in this work, are too difficult to be understood by those for whose particular use it has been published. In reply, I have only to say to the indi- vidual who thinks so, place these letters in the hands of any intelligent child of twelve years, and when he has finished the reading of it, question him in regard to the meaning of the several parts of it, and you will find that you have mistaken the power of a child's intellect. VI INTRODUCTION. Most youths of from ten years old and upwards will understand all in these let- ters that it is necessary for them to know in order to secure their object. Let parents give a copy of this work .to each of their children with the prayer that it may awaken their attention and be ac- companied by the influences of the Holy Spirit and that it may result in their con- version to God. Hitherto the souls of the young have been too much neglected. It has been too generally thought that efforts for the conversion of children between the ages of six and fourteen years, are useless and hopeless. The times are changed, and the feelings of Christians have changed with them. The importance and success of efforts made in behalf of children of the ages above mentioned, can n> longer be doubted. INTRODUCTION. Vii The influence of the examples of JVo- than W. Dickerman and John Mooney Mead, has been powerfully felt and will be till the end of time. It has excited parents to greater faithfulness and will result, proba- bly, in the future salvation of thousands of children and youth. That this work may help the efforts of Christians to instruct the young, and to unfold the truths of the gospel to them, is my earnest prayer ! To all impenitent sinners, of whatever age or attainments, this little book may afford instruction. The way of reconcil- iation with God is, I believe, truly and faithfuly traced ; and the consequences of a neglect to embrace the religion of Jesus are honestly set forth. If any, who are now delaying -to make preparation for heaven, and are "treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath," shall be indu- viii INTRODUCTION. ced, by these humble efforts, to repent of their sins and to turn unto the Lord, the author will have occasion to bless God that he has not labored in vain. Lowell, Dec. 20, 1832. LETTER I. MY DEAR BROTHER, Your long residence in my family has interested me much in your welfare, spir- itual and eternal. And I know of no bet- ter way to express that interest than to spend what leisure moments I can com- mand in writing down some thoughts which may be of special use to you in your future life. My object is not now to make rules for the regulation of life, but to dwell upon some points of great practical importance to elucidate and enforce some subjects in which you ought to feel yourself par- ticularly interested. In this letter I wish to make you feel yourself entirely destitute of love to God 10 LETTERS TO in other words, that you are completely un- der the dominion of sin. I say you, be- cause, from your own confession, your heart is still in a state of nature having experienced no change from sin to holi- ness. It would be easy for me to adduce many passages of Scripture to prove that the heart of every man is entirely under sub- jection to sin, unless it has been renova- ted in the manner which I shall describe in another letter. But as one passage, the meaning of which is well ascertained, is as good as a thousand, because it is the truth of God, I shall spare you the trouble of examining many. When David exclaimed, " Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me," (Ps. 51: 5) there can be no doubt that he intended to express the native depravity of his heart. And when the prophet, Jeremiah, said " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," (Jer. 17:9.) it is very plain that he meant to affirm the ut- A BROTHER. 11 ter depravity of mankind in a state of un- regeneracy. But the passage which I wish you to observe more particularly, is John 3: 3, where Christ says, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Now if a man natu- rally has any holiness in his heart, Christ would not have made such a requisition. For the change, which he demands, as necessary to salvation, is one from sin to holiness. The holiness, which supervenes upon regeneration, is indeed partial, but is capable of growth expansion and it does so expand till it becomes perfect in heaven. Why then may not the holiness, which we have supposed to exist in the heart, by nature, grow and expand till it becomes perfect *? And then may not a perfectly holy being be admitted to the kingdom of heaven ? You see, therefore, that the requisition of a new heart in or- der to salvation, would be unmeaning if that, which is to be obtained by a new heart, exists already in the sinner. The Scripture argument is, therefore, clear, and 12 LETTERS TO the evidence conclusive that people, in a state of nature, are entirely destitute of holi- ness completely under the power of sin. You will see also much evidence of cor- ruption of heart in unregenerate men, in their conduct. From the first periods of their moral existence they pursue after the world and seek not after God. In the ex- pressive language of David, "They go astray as soon as they be born," (Psalm 58: 3.) You cannot find one instance of obedience to God in children whose hearts are in a state of nature. Indeed, such is the universal corruption of the hu- man heart, that we do not, in any case, expect the exhibition of holiness. Who, among your playmates, is, and has been, from his infancy, devoted to God'? Do you know of any one who, unless convert- ed by the Spirit of God, loves to pray and talk about religion and thinks more about God than about any thing else *? And why can you not find such an one ? Because no one exists who possesses such a char- acter. A BROTHER. 13 But perhaps you will say that many of your associates are amiable that they are kind to each other obedient to their pa- rents and do no outward acts of wicked- ness. I believe fully this statement. But all these amiable traits of character may and do often exist without any holiness in the heart. Suppose now, that a parent should say to his child, " If you will love me and do all that I tell you to do, and give me an account every day of what you have been doing during the day, and ask my forgive- ness when you have done wrong, I will give you, when you are twenty years old, all I possess, which amounts to many thousand dollars. But if you do not obey me in these particulars, you must look out for your support from some other quarter, for I shall not give you one cent of my property." The child rejoices at the prospect of the happiness which he believes just before him. He expects to obtain possession of his father's large estates. But, in the 2 14 LETTERS TO mean time, a thousand childish sports oc- cupy his mind. He feels under obliga- tion to his father, but cannot bear the re- straints imposed upon him. He thinks more of his associates and of his play than he thinks of his parent. By degrees he neglects to go to him daily with an ac- count of his conduct disobeys every com- mand which relates to his duty to his fa- ther and loves him only as he supplies his wants and as he expects from him a rich inheritance. Still he loves every body else deals justly with all is kind to his companions beloved by every one that knows him. Twenty years of his life are at length passed, and his father calls him to his presence, in order to reckon with him. The son comes with some misgiv- ings, it is true, but confirmed in the ex- pectation of his father's possessions by the thought that his kindness to others amply compensated for his want of obedience to his father. How is he astonished, then, to hear from the paternal lips, " Thou canst have no part in my possessions. I A BROTHER. 15 had fondly hoped that the motives to obe- dience would have been sufficient to in- duce thee to submit to my commands, but as they have failed to do it, I disinherit thee forever !" " But," says the disobedient son, " Have I not, by rny conduct towards others, gain- ed their esteem and love *? Have I not aided the helpless relieved the distressed had compassion on the poor which you have always allowed to be right and which every body loves me for *?" "Yes, my son, you have done all this, and this was right. But where have you exhibited your love for him who bare you and supported you and promised you vast wealth on condition of your obedience to him'? Had I no claims to your regard 6 ? Must you neglect the only being on earth to whom you owe most *? And then will you expect to be rewarded by the very in- dividual towards whom you have shown no respect at all ? Go from my presence ! For, though I weep over your disgrace, 16 LETTERS TO justice will not permit me to alleviate your wretchedness !" Do you not perceive, now, that all the kindness and love of that child to others was, in fact, no evidence that he loved his father ? Was not his heart, so far as his father was concerned, entirely destitute of love ? You must acknowledge it. Now this illustration will show you what I mean when I say that all acts of benevolence and kindness the posses- sion of the most amiable qualities of hu- man nature are not evidences of true love to God. They do not prove that the heart is not entirely destitute of holiness. We know that there are many who pos- sess all these traits of character who are yet opposed bitterly opposed to the true character of God. If a person has not love to God if his soul does not swell with gratitude to Him for all he has done to save his soul rely upon it, he is under the complete dominion of sin he is entirely depraved. A BROTHER. 17 I hope, my dear brother, that you are, by this time, convinced that mankind, in a state of nature, are utterly destitute of the love of God or completely depraved. And if so, I know you will not try to es- cape from the inevitable conclusion to which I am brought, that you are living without holiness and without God in the world ! The solemn truth that you are, in heart, utterly destitute of affection for the only Being in the universe who ought to command your supreme love, should lead you to feel your guilt. You stand in a relation to God at once dangerous and alarming. It is on His arm that you must lean for the support of your natural life. If he removes his sustaining hand, your soul will escape from its mortal tenement and go away alone into eternity. And have you no fears respecting the final is- sue of your apostacy *? Have you no fear of that God whom you have never loved and towards whom you have not a single right affection *? Reflect upon your situa- tion as you close this letter a creature 2* 18 LETTERS TO of God sustained and blessed in a thou- sand ways by Him yet perfectly void of love to Him nay, evidently opposed to His character and laws. It may do you good, thus to look at your true character in the light m which heaven looks upon it. It may prepare you to appreciate, in a measure, the reasonableness of God's an- ger towards all those who are in your sit- uation. That God is thus offended with all unregenerate men will be the subject of my next letter. Commending you to the grace of God, I remain, as ever, Your affectionate brother, A BROTHER. ID LETTER II. MY DEAR BROTHER, In my last letter I attempted to show you the strange position which you hold in relation to God. If, on the review of your past life, you are convinced of the fact that your heart is totally void of love to God completely depraved, you are prepared to hear, without surprise, that you are in a state of condemnation exposed to the wrath of God. The language of God's law is stern and unyielding, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (Gal. 3: 10.) "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezek. 18: 4.) Now these are plain passages and you will perceive, by them, that the curse rests upon you who 20 LETTERS TO have broken the law ten thousand times. .There is a verse in the New Testament which confirms this fact, "He that be- lieveth not is condemned already" I will add only one other passage, but it is an awfully impressive one, " God is angry with the wicked every day." (Ps. 7: 11.) The evidence from the Bible is, there- fore, conclusive, that Jehovah regards you as justly the object of his wrath. And you must be sensible, my brother, that you deserve the infliction of the severest punishment for your guilt. Why should not God feel displeased with one who has spent twelve years of his life in continued apostacy and impenitence'? One sin is enough to lay you under the curse of the law, for, "Cursed is every one that con- tinueth not in all things," &c. Now, then, if you had committed but one sin and had lived, the rest of your life, in perfect obe- dience to the commands of God, you would not be able to claim acquittance from the curse. How could you make reparation for that one sin*} Suppose you should A BROTHER. 21 break some important law of your coun- try to which is attached the penalty of im- prisonment for life. Would your past good conduct or your future perfect ad- herence to the laws of the country atone for that one failure ? You ought to have failed in no one point ; and, having fail- ed, you cannot live so perfectly as to make up for that failure. A king once made a law that no one should pass the limits between his and his enemy's country on the penalty of per- petual banishment to a far distant land. From this penalty there should be no re- prieve. It chanced, that one of his best and most useful subjects, in a moment of thoughtlessness, and in the heat of the chase, pursued a deer into the borders of the enemy. The matter is reported to the king. With a heavy heart he calls the culprit into his presence, and says, "You, like others, are amenable to the laws of the empire and, with a full knowledge of those laws, you have broken the one to which the penalty of banishment is affix- 22 LETTERS TO ed. You must submit to your punishment. To-morrow, you are to leave my realms forever !" What can the offender say to the execution of the sentence *? Does he plead that his whole conduct previously had been unexceptionable that he had never before been in fault ? The fact is admitted but the stability of the throne would be destroyed, if pardon should be granted contrary to the express previous declaration that there should be no re- prieve. So, if you had committed but a single sin during your whole life that would not secure you from the execution of the appalling sentence, " The soul that sin- neth, it shall die." The sentence of death would still be on the records of God against you to be accomplished in God's own time. But, my dear brother, if the wrath of God lies on you for a single sin how great that wrath increased as it is by the con- tinued guilt of many years ! All your sins are laid up with God and will be publish- A BROTHER. 23 ed to the world at the judgment day. How solemn the thought that even now, while I am penning this letter, your soul is con- demned to everlasting woe ! That is ter- rific language, " He that believeth not is condemned ALREADY !" (John 3: 18.) No new sentence is to be pronounced upon you that which is upon you now is to be executed. That is all. While you are engaged in your sinful pastimes and follies, remember, I entreat you, that you are a living monument of wrath that you are. now enjoying a respite from punish- ment similar to that of the prisoner whose days are numbered and the time of whose execution is fixed. The sentence of death has been passed upon him, but the time for its accomplishment is delayed. God has uttered the sentence of death eternal upon you, and it is through his forbearance that you have not experien- ced the commencement of its execution. But your days are all numbered. Your respite from the awful penalty of your sin will soon be ended. Death will termi- 24 LETTERS TO nate it. Unless, before that time, you find a remedy for which the law does not pro- vide, you will feel forever the wrath of God upon your immortal soul ! You may, indeed, think that God is toa strict in maintaining His law with such un- bending firmness and with such unyield- ing severity. But how otherwise could He sustain, in dependance upon Him and in unbroken order, the millions of intelli- gent beings upon His footstool ^ If He should permit a law to be broken with im- punity to which He had attached a specific and certain penalty, what confusion what anarchy would ensue ! There would be no obedience, if disobedience should go un- punished; especially, after God had af- firmed that it should be punished without failure. And do you suppose that, in or- der to secure the happiness of a few wretched and sinful persons, God will per- mit His wide dominions to be coursed by treachery, anarchy and ruin *? Never. Though heaven and earth pass away, His words shall never pass away. His threat- A BROTHER 25 ening against the sinner will never be re- called, even though eternity is the term of the punishment. You see, therefore, my dear brother, that the curse of God, that remains upon you, is a fearful thing. And what ren- ders the fact still more serious is, that it rests upon you justly. It is for sin that you are condemned not for a few errors which could not be foreseen or averted. It is not for the guilt of one day or of one week or of one year, but for the depravity of a whole life that you are soon to suffer the execution of a most dreadful punish- ment, unless it is averted in some way of which the law knows nothing. Nor is your case a solitary one. You are surrounded with youthful companions, nearly all of whom are, doubtless, exposed to the same "wrath which impends over you. For they are sinners without the love of God in their hearts entirely des- titute of holiness. God is angry with all such. And they are all equally exposed to the dreadful penalty of a broken law. 3 26 LETTERS TO Will you not read to them this letter and try to show them that it is best for them to look into their condition and to see the worst of their case l It will not alleviate your miseries to know that others are alike suffering the punishment of their sins. It will, on the contrary, enhance your wretchedness, as you will see by a mo- ment's consideration. Suppose that you should be attacked with some dreadful disease that should render you wretched and hopeless, would it be any relief to you to know that many of your associates are in the same condi- tion ? Would it comfort you to see one af- ter another brought into the same room with you, all writhing in the extremity of their anguish *? O no ! it would surely give keenness to the edge of your own sorrows. Especially would this be the case, if your conduct or your wickedness were the guilty cause of their sickness and their pain. The guilt of many of your young friends may have been greatly encreased through A BROTHER. 27 your wicked example. Your evil influence may have led them on may have encour- aged them to continue in sin, till they are more wicked and guilty by far than they would otherwise have been. Of course their misery the wrath of God which is on them will be indefinitely increased by your means. Will you be comforted, then, when you are meeting the execution of the awful penalty due to sin, by seeing those, who have been thus sustained by your example in sin, take their places by your side in the world of despair 9 Will not the very sight of your injured compan- ions bring additional anguish to your bo- soms ? That will be an agonized reflec- tion, " them I have helped to ruin for- ever !" Seek not, therefore, to brace yourself up in impenitence by the thought, that many others are in the same case with yourself, and will share, if you perish, your punishment. Let the solemn facts, which I have stated in this letter, bear up- on your mind with their proper force. 28 LETTERS TO You must confess the justice of God in uttering the sentence of death upon you. Your own heart will, doubtless, acknow- ledge its guilt. You are convinced that no love to God has ever swelled your bosom. It cannot be wrong, then, for God to pour out the vials of his wrath upon one who, acknowhdgedly, has filled up his life with sin. Your condition is o-ne of immense hazard. Oh, forget not that the execution of the tremendous penalty of the law de- lays, only till death shall hurry your soul into eternity ! Think what must then be the desolation the woe the everlasting woe that shall come over you ! I leave you to your own thoughts and pray God that you may deeply realize the justice of the doom which hangs over you. I am with many prayers for your welfare, Your affectionate brother, A BROTHER. 29 LETTER III. MY DEAR BROTHER, I trust you have weighed well the re- marks which I made in my last letter res- pecting your condition as a sinner expos- ed to the severest displeasure of a holy God. The subject of my present com- munication will have suggested itself, doubtless, to your mind before this. It must have occurred to you with great force, that it is a duty you owe to God and to yourself to repent immediately of your sins. The duty of repentance results princi- pally from your relation to God. He is your Creator. It is His arm that has ever sustained you in existence, and upon which you must depend for your future support. You have freely refused to give Him the love which was His due. You have un- 30 LETTERS TO reasonably and voluntarily disobeyed Him. There was no compulsion used no force no deception by God. Your sins were all the result of your perfect freedom, else they would not have been rightly called sins. There can be no guilt which has not been contracted in the free exercise of a free mind. You can, therefore, plead no excuse for living, as you have done, in the neglect of God's laws and in opposition to His ex- pressed will. You are, probably, sensible that all excuses of this kind are vain and will not be accepted by Jehovah nay, that they cannot be accepted by Him with- out a forfeiture of his noblest attributes. The duty of repentance would seem to be a given point which need not be dis- cussed. If you have disobeyed God who, by creation, has a perfect right to com- mand you and to enforce obedience, what can be more called for than immediate re- pentance ? A father tells his son to remain at home during his absence which would A BROTHER. 31 continue till night. As soon as his fath- er is gone, the son says to himself, " It will never be discovered if I take my gun arid spend the afternoon in hunting." He, accordingly, follows the bent of his incli- nations and returns at an early hour. But his conscience troubles him. He feels that he has done wrong that he ought not to have disobeyed his father's command. He considers that his father has a perfect right to command him and that he has treated him very unkindly in return for all the goodness which he had received from him. He goes to him, as soon as he re- turns, and, with an appearance which shows him sincere, confesses his sin and begs his father's forgiveness. Here was repentance. And what could be more nat- ural than that such a course should be pursued by the son who was thoroughly convinced that he had sinned and exposed himself to the just punishment which his father might see fit to inflict? Would not an increase of guilt have been con- 32 LETTERS TO traded, if the repentance had not been exercised 9 Do you not see then, my dear brother, that it is your indispensable duty to turn from your sins to repent at once of your iniquity *? You have broken the commands of a kind parent. I have tried to show you your guilt in so doing. Ought you not, therefore, to repent sincerely and go to God whom you have offended and plead for pardon ? If you do not pursue this course your sins will be increased your guilt rendered immensely greater. Nor will it be enough for you to grieve that you have sinned, simply because there is a retribution coming because eternal misery is threatened. This is to be sorry, not for sin as committed against a kind and merciful God, but for the results of sin for the impending punishment* Sup- pose the son, above mentioned, had, on returning from his hunting excursion, re- flected upon the punishment which his father had threatened in case of disobe- A BROTHER. 33 dience and, simply in view of that, had re- gretted that he did not stay at home, would such regret be sincere repentance ? Would it have been all that the sin of dis- obedience called for l No. He ought to have been sorry that he had not regarded his father with more affection than to be willing to disobey him. So, if you feel aright in reference to your sin, you will be sorry that you have offended God by it that you have not more regarded his commands which are all right holy and good. To repent be- cause you have done something for which you expect punishment, is not true peni- tence. The feeling of your heart should be, " I have sinned against my Creator and Preserver and it grieves me to think how I have abused his love." But perhaps you will ask, " Will my re- pentance secure God's blessing *? Will He pardon my sins if I repent of them ? In other words, shall I be reinstated into His favour ?" And what has your duty to do, my broth- 34 LETTERS TO er, with the negative or affirmative answer to such questions *? Does not your duty, in regard to repentance for your voluntary sin against God, remain the same whether you are ever to receive or expect forgive- ness or not 9 Does the fact, that God re- fuses to pardon your guilt, change the na- ture of that guilt <? Is not its enormity the same ? its demerits, are they not pre- cisely the same ? In the case supposed, if the son had been convinced that he had done wrong in breaking the command of a kind and indulgent father, and yet was doubtful whether he should repent or not, because he was in doubt as to his father's forgive- ness of his disobedience, he would have exhibited a heart totally unfit to receive the blessing of forgiveness. If his feel- ings were such as they should have been, he would have been melted into contri- tion in view of his sin, not in view of his father's forgiveness of that sin. Nay, I go further, and affirm that his obligations to repent would have been the same, if he A BROTHER. 35 had known that he should not receive his father's pardon. His duty could not have been affected by any course pursued by his father. You will see then, my dear brother, that the inquiry of a sinner against God should not be, " will He forgive me if I repent ?" Such a question ought not to be agitated by him. It is his duty to be broken- hearted for sin, whatever God's course in relation to him may be. Even if he could know, to a certainty, that for the sins he has committed God would cast him off for- ever, his duty would be the same. He has done wrong he ought to be sorry for it. He could not do less than this, were it an enemy whom he had wrongfully offended. Your duty, therefore, is clear and expli- cit. You owe it to God, whom you have offended, to repent and turn from your evil way. Whatever becomes of you- wheth- er God pardons your sins or executes the sentence of death upon you in its fullest extent you have wronged him in a thou- sand ways and you ought to be sorry*- 36 LETTERS TO sincerely, heartily, sorry for it. If you are not, it exhibits an alarming hardness of heart and a stupidity of soul to the demer- its of sin truly affecting. But I stated, at the commencement of this letter, not only that you owed it to God to repent of your sins, but that you owed it to yourself. There is a conscience in man which is rarely so seared as to be entirely unsus- ceptible to excitement. It is a monitor appointed by God over human thoughts and actions. Now, whenever you do wrong, you doubtless feel a conviction of guilt that troubles you. And as you are continually engaged in sin, your mind is continually agitated with fears and is the prey of remorse. Now, why is this, if not to show you the necessity of feeling your guilt so as to lead you to repentance ? Re- pentance of sin will be to you a relief. It will take from your mind a heavy bur-den. You will, at least, not be chargeable with the guilt of impenitence. You will show that you are not, at least, indifferent to A BROTHER. 37 your sins. You owe it to yourself to re- pent. I must illustrate what I have now said by one more reference to the undutiful Son. Suppose the Son had hardened his heart and felt no penitence for his sin of disobedience and had concealed the truth from his Father when he returned, would he not have been much more unhappy than if he had repented of it and confes- sed it to his Father *? And if he had neg- lected to confess it for several days and then had come to the resolution of doing it and executed his resolution, would not a heavy weight have been thrown off his mind? Thus you will find great relief, if you are sorry for your sins and if (as is impli- ed in repentance) you confess them to God and beg his forgiveness. I hope that you are already convinced of the truth of the statements I have now made. Your mind will yield, I am per- suaded, to the firm conviction that you need to repent of your sins that your du- 4 38 LETTERS TO ty to God, whom you have injured and to yourself, requires it. Look directly at your duty. You have done wrong.. Ask no questions in regard to the result of your repentance. Be assured that, what- ever be your destiny hereafter, you cannot turn too soon from the evil of your ways. You cannot be too sensible to your guilt in the sight of God or too broken-heart- ed in view of it. It is true, the sentence of wrath is gone forth against you you are under the curse, and the arm of jus- tice is lifted to destroy you forever ; and the question, how you shall find a refuge from that wrath, is an important question. But your first business is to feel your guilt to be humbled under a sense of it and to repent of it, with the resolution to forsake it forever. This is your solemn duty your first duty. You cannot delay the work a single day without incurring great guilt in addition to that already laid up in the remembrance of God against you. Will you not, my brother, attend to the claims of God upon your repent- A BROTHER. 39 ance immediately. Be assured, it will ease your own mind of a heavy burden. And even if it does not, the claim ought to be met and that without delay. You may expect to hear from me again soon. Your affectionate brother, 40 LETTERS TO LETTER IV. MY DEAR BROTHER, In my last letter, I endeavored to con- vince you that it is your duty to repent, simply because you have done wrong because your conduct has been rebellious against God. I hope you have repented that, upon the conviction of your guilt, you saw your duty and fulfilled it. I hope, however, that your repentance is not grounded on the supposition that it will purchase pardon, for, then, your repentance is not genuine. True repentance is, as I have already shown you, sorrow for sin, not for its results. And my object in this communication is to show the utter inefficacy of repentance to atone for sins in reference to which it is ex- ercised. A BROTHER. 41 You need not be startled at an asser- tion which renders the sinner's case so ap- parently hopeless, nor need you exclaim, " who then can be saved V 9 (Matt. 19: 25.) I am not now bound to answer such a question. It does not belong to the top- ic of this letter. My present object is simply to prove or substantiate the fact, that repentance cannot clear you from guilt. No matter what startling inferences are drawn from it. The truth is still the same and it must be submitted to. An atonement for sin cannot be made unless an equivalent is paid for the debt which has been contracted. Now, on your own acknowledgement, and as I have shown in a previous letter, you have bro- ken God's law not once or twice but a thousand times. And the penalty, attach- ed to the law for transgression, is eternal death. Suppose, then, upon considera- tion, that you feel deeply sensible of the guilt of your conduct and come to God with a penitent confession of your sin, will such penitence be an equivalent for 42 LETTERS TO the debt? You have, if I may so speak, borrowed, or, more correctly, taken of God the affections of a whole life and devoted them to sin. How shall these affections be regained by God ? What remuneration can you make ? You cannot pay Him surely by living a more holy life hence- forth, for that is your duty without taking into the account the past. It would have been your duty thus to live if you had never laid yourself under additional obli- gations by sin. Nor will the most sincere regret the most hearty sorrow for your life of sin, cancel your debt to God. Does such sorrow affect a positive obligation ? Can it obliterate the sense of guilt from your mind? Never. After repentance you will still feel as guilty as deserving of the wrath of God as before. , A child disobeys his parents' commands and, afterwards, sees how wicked and un- kind the act of disobedience was. He feels grieved that he has so done and con- fesses it to his parents. Now, how does that child feel in relation to his sin ? Is A BROTHER. 43 his conscience relieved ? Has he made satisfaction *? No ; he still reflects upon his guilt and is sensible that he has madfe no reparation of a broken law. It still re- mains a truth and as serious a truth as ever that the commands of his parents were disobeyed by him. The guilt is in no degree, diminished by his sorrow for it. So your penitence in view of your sin against a kind and merciful God will nev- er, in the least, diminish the guilt of it. It will forever be true, that the law of God has been broken by you unkindly and re- belliously. No groans, nor tears, nor confessions will alter the debt you have contracted by sin. They can never atone for one transgression. The law does not demand repentance of the infringer of it. It has nothing to do with it. If it were available in restoring innocence to one who has sinned by diso- beying any of the commands of God, sure- ly a promise to that effect would have been included in the law. But no such promise is made. So far then is repen- 44 LETTERS TO tance from reinstating the transgressor in a condition of innocence so far is it from satisfying the law, that the law recognizes no such thing as repentance. Your sorrow for sin, then, my brother, gives you no advantage in regard to free- dom from guilt. You stand still accused as a rebel against God and a transgressor of the law. Neither is repentance, in itself, aground of pardon. The sentence of the law against those who break it is positive and unconditional. " The soul that sinneth, it shall die." " Cursed is every one who con- tinueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them !" God's word has gone forth that whoever breaks one command of the law shall perish misera- bly. Repentance alone cannot avail to hold unexecuted the sentence. Shall God forbear to inflict punishment on the infrin- gers of his law which is backed by such tremendous penalties, merely because they are sorry for having so done l What will become of his veracity *? Who would A BROTHER. 45 fear God, if it was generally understood that He would forgive those who are sorry for their sins 9 Either God is not a God of truth and integrity or H e will not pardon the breach of His law for repentance as a ground. It is not an equivalent. So that the sentence of the law stands against you in full force even after repentance is ex- ercised, unless it can be shown that an equivalent has been paid in some other way. I might illustrate this truth by a famil- iar case which occurs to my mind. A certain man, not long since, forged a check upon one of our most respectable banks, for which he received 10,000 dol- lars which he soon put out of his hands in payment of his debts. It was providen- tially discovered, and the fraud was pro- ved to have been committed by him. Meanwhile, on reflecting upon his crime, he felt a sense of guilt and repented that he had so done. He felt truly penitent for his sin. And when the sheriff was con- ducting him to prison he exhibited eve- 46 LETTERS TO ry mark of genuine sorrow for his wicked- ness. The magistrate, who had the pow- er to pardon him, was convinced of his sin- cerity and believed that he was truly pen- itent. Yet when application was made to him, by a large number of respectable friends, for his release, he would not grant it. Now I ask you, if you suppose the re- pentance of that forger laid the magistrate under any obligation to pardon him ! Did his penitence remove all difficulties in the way of his forgiveness *? If so, then in every case, where there is evidence of re- pentance, pardon ought to be bestowed. On this principle many a murderer would escape the gallows, for many have truly repented of their crime. No; there are other questions to be considered than whether a criminal has repented or not *? Will the laiv permit his pardon ? Will no in- jury result to community from it ? Will not others become bold in sin in the hope of pardon if convicted ? " Will his peni- tence, (the magistrate may say) secure my justification, if I pardon one who, all are A BROTHER 47 convinced, is guilty, and on whom the law requires me to inflict a specific punish- ment ?" You will perceive that these ques- tions must be answered satisfactorily, be- fore the culprit can safely be pardoned. And even then, there is, confessedly, no obligation broken if pardon is refused. If granted, it is a mere act of mercy. It may have been suggested, indeed, by the evi- dence which was given of repentance. Repentance may have been the occasion but not the ground of pardon. Now God's laws were made for intelli- gent men. They were communicated, in substance, to Adam while in a state of ho- liness. All the motives, w r hich can be conceived to influence a holy mind, were urged upon him, and that too while his heart was uncorrupted. Who does not see that for him to break the law of God was a crime of fearful magnitude and that his repentance, if genuine, could not, con- sistently, be accepted as a reparation of the broken law <? All the descendants of Adam are subjected to the same holy and 48 LETTERS TO perfect law, because no other less perfect law would consist with the holiness and perfection of God. And, although we are in circumstances less favorable to per- fect obedience than those in which Adam was placed, yet no one can reasonably doubt that we have the ability (either natural or moral) to yield such obedience. If, then, contrary to our complete know- ledge of duty, we commit sin, we lay our- selves, as I have before said, under the curse. And can we suppose that God is under the necessity of pardoning us, because we repent ? It is not so. We must repent, because we have done wrong, but we must never suppose that it will be the ground or reason of our forgiveness. If it is a condi- tion of pardon, it certainly is not the reason of it Now I know the tendency of the natu- ral mind to look for given and advanta- geous results from all its movements. And if it cannot see an intrinsic value in repen- tance in reference to the security of some permanent good, it will discard the very A BROTHER. 49 thought of it. But the reason is, it does not feel its guilt. It may have a specula- tive knowledge of it 3 but not an efficient knowledge. If the fact of a sinner's re- pentance has any value, it is a factitious value, that is to say, a value acquired by the occurrence of some other fact foreign to it. It will, as I have proved, never be admitted by God as a ground of justifica- tion or pardon. You see then, my dear brother, that so far as our investigations have yet gone, you are in a most hopeless and des- perate state. A broken law unrepaired, utters still against you its fearful curses. The mount of Sinai sends forth still its awful notes of alarm. No bow of hope arches the sky. Darkness and clouds are about the throne of God. Oh ! what wrecks has sin made ! What ruins are all around us ! On the examination of your condition in relation to God, you find yourself a wretched sinner whom no prayers no tears no penitence can de- 60 LETTERS TO liver from the guilt of having broken the law a thousand times. No reparation of a single breach can you ever make. Re- pentance, so much your duty and so much your privilege^ possesses no merit atones for no sin will never be accepted as THE REASON of salvation or pardon. God has said himself, " All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." (Isa. 64: 6.) What, then, can you do <? What refuge, then, is there for you from the full execution of all the woes threatened in the law *? Let this thought fill your mind, that past guilt can- not be pardoned by repentance as a ground ! Feel that you have brought your- self into a condition from which no hu- man efforts can save you a condition of wrath and final woe ! And feel too, that it is a just punishment which impends over you and from which no earthly power can snatch you ! Nor does the fearfulness of your condition release you from the per- formance of a single duty. Be sensible of your guilt and repent and confess your A BROTHER. 61 sins to God which are your reasonable service. I shall write again soon. Your affectionate brother. 52 LETTERS TO LETTER V. MY DEAR BROTHER, The question, which most naturally arises in view of statements and argu- ments like those contained in my four for- mer letters, is a most solemn and inter- esting one. " Is there no hope for me ?" How can there be any hope for a sinner like you, or for any of the fallen race of man *? Has not GOD uttered the curse *? Is not the sentence of death eternal seal- ed with his name *? And with acknowledg- ed justice too ? Who then can save you from the devouring fire ? Who can re- deem you from everlasting burnings? Solemn, momentous questions ! My dear brother, there is there is hope. I rejoice to communicate the cheering in- telligence. God, from His high throne, A BROTHER. 6* seems even now commissioning his mes- sengers of mercy to bring aid to your des- pairing soul. "Deliver him from going down to the pit ; I have found a RAN- SOM !" (Job 33: 24.) O ! does not your soul glow with the thought that you are yet a prisoner of hope ? That there is a power which can pour light into the dark prison in which you have been so long confined 9 If the prisoner, who has long worn the galling chain in the depths of a gloomy dungeon without the most distant idea of ever being permitted to ascend to the light of day, should be told that a way of es- cape had been provided which was secure from pursuit and that he was required on- ly to follow the leadings of his informer, what strength of joy what enthusiasm would swell his soul as he immediately made ready for his departure ! And shall not the glad tidings from heaven to the soul of a dying sinner revive the decaying energies of his nature ? Even the angels evinced their joy in the redeeming work 5* 64 LETTERS TO of God. " Glory to God in the highest, peace, good-will towards men !" (Luke 2: 14.) Alas ! what would have become of man, if he had been left to fill up the mea- sure of his days without an object of hope upon which to fix his affections ! Do you ask, with incredulity, how can God's law be sustained if he saves those who have broken it ? Or, How can a bro- ken law be repaired ? I answer, it can only be done by a vicarious atonement. Some one must take the sinner's place. The law condemns you to death for your sins now some one, of sufficient qualifica- tions, must assume the debt which you have long owed to God. He must take upon himself the responsibility of set- tling the demands of the law. There can be no other way. The sword of jus- tice MUST fall. The sentence of the law must be executed. There may possibly be a transfer of exposure to punishment from you to some one else. In no other way can you be quit of the punishment which now hangs over you. A BROTHER. 65 Who then, my brother, is competent to the high task of atoning for the sins of men ? There are many opinions on this question, some of which I shall mention in order that your mind may be forever set at rest in regard to their strength or weakness. All believers in a revelation made by God, agree in this, that Jesus of Nazareth, whose history is contained in the New Testament, was either the effi- cient or instrumental agent in accomplish- ing an atonement for sin. They all be- lieve that his appearance on earth his life his sufferings and his death were, in some way, connected with human salva- tion. But there are wide differences of opinion in regard to the character of Christ differences so important as to exclude the one class of professed believers from the Christian charity and communion of the other. It is believed by some that the Redeem- er was a mere man only a man. Let us inquire now if an atonement for sin could have been made by him. We will sup- 56 LETTERS TO pose him perfect in character and posses- sed of all those pure principles which were the original inheritance of the first man. Can Tie restore fallen men to the favour of God 9 Can he repair a shattered law 9 Can he, by subjecting himself to the curse which has gone forth against the sinner, bear it for him, so that it shall be removed from its rightful owner l How can he do this 9 By taking the sinner's place 9 By subjecting himself to the same punishment 9 But what more will such an act of a perfectly holy man effect than to set one sinner free. One man cannot sure- ly stand in the place of more than one man. Now would God suffer a sinner to escape from justice and inflict punishment upon a perfectly holy man ? There are two rea- sons why he would not do this. One is, that he sees his own image in the face of the substitute and he cannot deface it. He cannot inflict punishment upon one who has ever loved him and given him his best affections. Another reason is, his character would not, by such an event, be A BROTHER. 57 justified if he should save the sinner. He has pledged his word that the sinner shall die. He made no reserve in favour of the sinner, as that he might escape, if he could obtain one to supply his place. Men would inquire, what has become of God's truth *? They would be unable to see any justification of his character in the fact that he inflicted punishment on an innocent man in order to set a guilty wretch free. Besides, as we have seen, one holy man could take the place of only one sinner even if such substitution were permitted. If Christ, then, was a man a mere man he was not competent to the work of atonement. His sufferings and death would not be available in reconcil- ing the world unto God or in justifying the act of God in saving any sinners from eternal death. If he was a mere man, you can hope for no advantage from his death. Another class of professed believers in Revelation admit that Christ was more than a mere man they acknowledge him 58 LETTERS TO to be higher than the angels even the highest created being in the universe. Those who hold to this opinion are usual- ly denominated Unitarians although that term includes many of the former class of believers. Can then Christ, considered in this light, accomplish an atonement for sin'? Are not the difficulties in this case as great or greater than in the other *? Here is a being, more glorious than the highest archangels, yet a creature of God, mani- fested in human flesh living a life of re- proach and misery and submitting at length to the death of the cross. He does this voluntarily, when he might have re- mained in his glory, chanting his songs of praise to God and being filled with the joys of His presence. O ! it was love that indu- ced him him to come down from heaven to suffer to bleed and to die ! What phi- lanthropy ! What enthusiasm of love ! to exhibit such condescension that man might be saved! But, my dear brother, what other feeling is mingled with our admira- A BROTHER. 59 tion of his holy philanthropy ? Is not here a sufficient sacrifice *? Is not God now jus- tified in saving sinners whom he has doomed to death eternal *? Will He not heed the condescension the love the sufferings the sympathy of the noblest and best of His creatures ? Alas ! alas ! There is no comfort here ! 'Tis but the voice of love that addresses the compassion of God ! 'Tis the plea of mercy only, which the sufferings of such a being presents ! Is justice satisfied l Has she put up her sword in its scabbard'? No ; she holds it uplifted over the sinner still. Such a being, as we are now supposing Christ to have been, can have no more ho- liness than it is necessary for him to have in order to sustain his place in the ranks of the heavenly hosts. He can spare none for the dying sinner. His sufferings and death would be derogatory to the charac- ter of Jehovah. Though He has a perfect right to do what he will with His own, yet he will never inflict punishment upon one 60 LETTERS TO who is not guilty. He says himself, " the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Nor would the death of such a being show the love of God. It would show a love for sinners in the mind of the substitute, but not in the mind of God. It would not show a regard to the honor of His law it would not convince the world, that God loved justice, because, it would imply no sacrifice on His part. I will illustrate my meaning to make it more intelligible. An individual is brought before a king, who has broken a law to which a severe penalty is annexed viz : the loss of both his eyes. The fact of his having broken the law has been clearly proved so as to leave no room for doubt. The king orders the sentence to be executed. At this moment, a person, who has conceived a strong affection for the criminal, offers to submit to the penal- ty himself on condition of a pardon for the other. What impressions now would spectators have in regard to such a sub- stitution as is here proposed ? They would A BROTHER. 61 be affected by such a generous exhibition of love to the criminal in the proposed sub- stitute. Suppose, then, the king should ask their opinion of * the proposal, and whether he had better consent to it, would they not all, to a man, exclaim against it ? Would they not all say, Let the real criminal bear his own punishment ? In their view, could the conduct of the king be justified if he should cause the sentence to be executed, according to re- quest, upon any other than the true cul- prit ? And if he felt as he should feel, would he not say to the man, who so kind- ly offered to lose his eyes that his friend's might be preserved to him, "I cannot spare your services who have ever obeyed my laws and have been a pattern of obe- dience to others ? I can better spare his, who has rebelled and introduced confu- sion into the kingdom ? Besides, my word is pledged, and your standing in his place, instead of justifying me in releasing him from punishment, will render it necessa- 6 62 LETTERS TO ry for me to justify myself in condemning you, an innocent person." So the case would be in reference to God, if He should receive, as a substitute for the sinner, any created being, however high. Such a substitute would avail no- thing in regard to the sinner's salvation. The character of God would suffer if he should consent to it. His law so strict so unrelenting would utter its sanc- tions in vain. In short, there is nothing striking nothing that meets the mind nothing that enobles the law and exhibits the dignity and glory of God in such a scheme of re- demption. There is in it, on the contrary, a lowering down of the rigid principles of truth there is a seeming show of regard to law without the reality. It does not satis- fy a mind oppressed with a sense of guilt and longing for relief. You would not feel, my brother, like going to such a per- son for pardon and peace. There is a want of greatness in the work of redemp- A BROTHER. 63 tion as professedly accomplished by a creature of God, endued, as he might be, with supernatural power and glory. Your soul would be ever agitated with doubts as to his ability to save. You would never rely on his power nor trust yourself upon the ocean of eternity without a more un- doubted support a surer refuge. I shall, in my next letter, endeavor to solve the difficulty the seeming difficulty in the way of a sinner's salvation. Your affectionate brother, 64 LETTERS TO LETTER VI. Mr BEAR BROTHER, In my last letter, I affirmed that a way of escape was open to the condemned sin- ner from the execution of his sentence. I then examined some opinions in regard to the mode of the sinner's salvation by a substitute as that of a perfect man or a super-angelic being. I trust you were con- vinced that no created being could have taken the sinner's place so as to transfer the sentence to himself, and prevent its in- fliction upon the guilty; and that such a theory solves none of the difficulties with which your mind has been pressed. No; my brother, rely not on such dangerous such fatal opinions. There must always be ^restlessness in the minds of all who em- brace them. A BROTHER. 65 You may be desirous, then, to inquire, "Who can stand in my place in the place of all dying sinners *?" I answer, GOB ! "God manifest in the flesh!" He and He a- lone could have accomplished the work of man's redemption. And He has actu- ally accomplished it ! But Oh ! how mys- teriously He wrought in its execution ! Adore, my dear brother, the riches of the grace which induced Jehovah to stoop so low from His high throne to save such sinners as you and I ! In dwelling upon this scheme of Re- demption a scheme worthy of its glori- ous Designer I can touch only upon a few points in its history. As the scripture expresses it, "JHe saw that there was no man and w r ondered that there was no in- tercessor; therefore His arm brought sal- vation unto Him, and His righteousness, it sustained Him." (Isa. 59: 16.) "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlast- ing life." (John 3: 16.) 6* 66 LETTERS TO The Bible, in many parts of it, describes God as existing in three Persons to which mode of existence there is no human an- alogy. Nor can we conceive of such a thing for the very plain reason that we have not now the senses by which we can perceive spirit. As we have no conception of the nature of spirit, we can know noth- ing of the mode of its existence. This is a matter of pure Revelation, which it is not the province of reason to impugn. To these three Persons in the Godhead, the terms, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are affixed in Scripture in reference to the work which They have accomplished and are still to accomplish. It was the SON to whom was committed the work of atonement. He left the throne in the heavens and descended into a bodily form. He "was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John ] : 14.) I need not set down the history of His life on earth, as you may read it in the A BROTHER, 67 four Gospels expressed in more affecting language than any I can employ. It is sufficient to say that He suffered much from the rage of his enemies and from the suspicions of his friends. After passing- through about thirty years of reproaches and privations and trials of which we can form little conception. He finished his work of atonement by crucifixion on the hill of Calvary. Oh ! what agony He en- dured in the garden of Gethsemane, when borne down with the weight of a world's sins He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground ! And who can conceive the anguish that swell- ed His holy soul as the wicked men, whom He came to save, nailed Him to the cross and pierced Him with a spear! There "He bare our griefs and carried our sorrows." (Isa. 53: 4.) There He bore upon his shoulders the guilt of a rebellious and hell-deserving world ! Thy sins, too, and mine were there ! For He looked down the interval of years between us and Him and knew every sin we should commit and 68 LETTERS TO made expiation for them there ! And when amidst the darkness of sympathizing nature, He exclaimed, " It is finished !" (John 19: 30.) and gave up the Ghost, then it was that earth and heaven and all created beings exclaimed, " Let man be saved, for Thou hast paid the ransom !" And was not the law the stern, un- yielding law of God maintained ? Was it not honored by such a costly sacrifice? Could it demand a more precious victim than the Son of God? The Author of the law has taken the sinner's place and re- ceived the curse upon Himself, rather than dishonor and destroy the efficiency of it by omitting to exact the penalty, of the transgressors. The object of the penalties of the law was to secure obedience. If no atonement had been made, and those penalties had not been inflicted on sinners, the law would have been rendered inefficient. But now sinners will not take license to break the commands of God, merely be- cause they see that its penalties have not A BROTHER. 69 been invariably imposed. They see in the condescension and incarnation and death of the Son of God, in order to justify Him in saving the guilty, an awful result of a violated law. " What !" will be the feel- ing of the heart, " Must the Infinite God connect Himself with corrupt humanity, and, in that mysterious connection, pass through sufferings and through the grave, that the sanctions of His law may not be annulled? It is, then, a fearful thing to break the law of God, backed by such sanctions !" The sinner, who has ever thought upon the way of reconciliation between him and God upon the sacrifices made to open it will feel that no particle of li- cense is afforded to sin by the justification which God gives to the repenting and re- turning soul. Satisfaction has indeed been made by the death of Christ for the sins of those who come to Him in faith. The door of salvation is now open to admit all the 70 LETTERS TO descendants of Adam who may wish to enter. It is impossible to show, by an illustra- tion, the power given to the law by the sacrifice of Calvary. But the nature of the influence imparted to it may be seen imperfectly in the following facts of his- tory : An ancient king made a law that if any individual should be guilty of a cer- tain specified crime throughout his do- minions, he should be deprived of both his eyes. His own son was soon after proved to be a transgressor of this law and the first transgressor. The sympa- thies of the father were excited. He loved his son. If the sentence of the law were executed upon him, his usefulness would be at an end. The thought too, that he must himself issue the orders for the execution of the sentence upon his own son, was heart-rending. His ene- mies supposed that the father would spare his son and thus he would be under the A BROTHER. 71 necessity of abolishing the law and weak- ening the strength of his government. What did the unhappy father do ? He caused the executioner to put out one of his eyes. Will not this satisfy the law? Will not men see that the king intends to put the penalties of the law in full ex- ecution? No; the whole sentence must re- ceive its fulfilment. The king, to show that the law could not be broken without incurring its full penalities, causes one of his own eyes to be put out ! Here he mani- fested a father's sympathy and love, and, at the same time, his determination to main- tain the sanctions of his law. Nor would his subjects venture to transgress a sec- ond time, because the first transgressor did not receive the punishment in full which was threatened. They would not hope to escape in such a case. Was not the king justified in the view of all his sub- jects, in forbearing to exact the whole of the sentence ? Was not the object of the sentence accomplished as much as it 72 LETTERS TO would have been if the full penalty had been inflicted? Now, much more was the object of the Divine law secured by the substitution of an Infinite Being in the place of created and sinful beings to bear their guilt and to suffer Himself the infliction of the pen- alty due to them. The law stands unin- jured still. It still demands obedience and its penalties are still terrible to those who incur them. No one expects to es- cape the sentence of death on account of any past forbearance of God. Thus I have described the only found- ation of a sinner's hope, an atonement made by Jesus Christ, " who, as to his hu- manity, was descended from the Israelites, but who was, in fact, THE SUPREME AND EVER BLESSED GOD !" (Rom. 9: 5.) If his blood had not been shed, you could never have hoped rationally for salvation. "With- out the shedding of blood there is no remis- sion of sins," is the affirmation of the Bi- ble. And John says, " The blood of Je- A BROTHER. 73 sus Christ cleanse th us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7.) These passages show that there is no other foundation of hope than Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. If he had not died none would have lived. Be- cause he has died all may live. How wonderful the ways of God ! They are past finding out ! Who would have thought that such a plan would have been devised for the sinner's salvation ? What one redeeming quality did man pos- sess, fallen as he was in rebellion and guilt ? What did God behold in him that he should love him and work so mysteri- ously to raise him up from his ruins ? God did, indeed, " commend His love to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us !" (Rom. 5: 8.) But I have not ventured to 'say, I wish you fully to understand, that the atone- ment the glorious atonement has secur- ed your salvation. It has not secured it, unless something has been done on your part. The death of Christ places you in a state of probation from which state Ad- 7' 74 LETTERS TO am fell ; i. e. it has opened a door through which all who are so disposed MAY pass and find mercy and be heirs of endless bles- sedness. But there are conditions to be complied with on your part and on every sinner's part, before you can receive benefit from the atonement. The door is wide open that leads to happiness and ultimate sal- vation ; but still it is true that if you are disposed to continue where you are, you will perish.' Millions, doubtless, go down to death notwithstanding Christ died. And millions more will go. Strange that dying souls will not seek after life that when all things are ready they will not come ! Some criminals are confined in a dun- geon awaiting their execution. The or- der arrives from the magistrate for their freedom on a few simple, easy, and proper conditions. All may accept the offer and live. But some reject the conditions and are executed. Strange infatuation ! Your affectionate brother, A BROTHER. LETTER VII. MY DEAR BROTHER, The sufferings and death of Christ, I remarked in my last letter, have removed every obstacle to your reconciliation with God which resulted from the original threatening that the sinner should surely die. They rendered it possible for you to be saved. But the benefits of this atone- ment will be conferred on those only who ful- fil certain conditions. The object of this letter is to state and explain those condi- tions. One condition is that you repent of your sins. I have, in a previous letter, attempt- ed to convince you of your duty in this respect that it is the duty of every one to be heartily sorry for the wrong he has done. But I now affirm not only that it 76 LETTERS TO is your duty, but that it is necessary to your salvation. The nature of repentance has been al- ready explained and its utter inefficiency to atone for sin. Your sorrow for having broken the law does not repair it. But since Christ has effected an atonement for sin, God requires no satisfaction from the sinner as a condition of mercy. He does, however, require the transgressor of His law to repent sincerely of his guilt and to turn from his evil ways and from his un- righteous thoughts. And He has made it a requisition without complying with which no sinner can ever find mercy. " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." If you are heartily grieved on account of having sinned against God, you may hope that God will receive you for the sake of Christ. But, then, your penitence must be the result of a clear sense of the wrong you have clone, not of a confident assu- rance that it will issue in your salvation. Many persons suppose that they can A BROTHER. 77 repent at any moment of their lives and, therefore, delay the work till some future time. Now, although it is strictly true that they will ever have the power the natural ability to repent, yet it is ex- tremely improbable that they will be dis- posed to repent, after repeatedly deferring it till a future period. There are multi- tudes of examples to show the extreme danger of such delays, both as it respects opportunities for repentance and as it res- pects the disposition. Many have become so hardened through the influence of sin as to be apparently unsusceptible to any serious impressions. Let those who are disposed to delay repentance, expecting to find a better opportunity or time, re- member that repentance is not an act of the will, but a particular state of mind which does not depend on the will except remotely, and they will see at once that delay is dangerous. You may, doubtless, by earnestly con- templating the connexions of your sin with the great interests of the universe and with 78 LETTERS TO the glory of God, be led to feel your guilt and to be in that state of mind which is properly termed repentance. But the will has nothing more to do with it than to de- termine upon the use of the means by which this penitent state of the mind may be induced. It is not, therefore, strictly proper for me to tell you to resolve to re- pent. But I may tell you to feel your guilt to be sensible that you are a sinner and to be sorry for it. It is wholly a mat- ter of feeling not of will. If you ask me, therefore, how you must proceed in order to obtain a penitent mind, I can give you no other direction than that you have often received from the pulpit ; " Go to the garden of Gethsemane and to the cross of Calvary, and there view the results of your rebellion and guilt ! And when you think of the greatness of Him who suffered there, and that your own sins helped to weigh Him down with untold anguish, if you do not feel your guilt and turn away from it forever, the evidence is clear that your soul is in im- A BROTHER. 79 minent danger of being eternally lost !" Oh ! it would seem as if the blood of atonement would melt into contrition every soul ! If, my brother, you ever feel your guilt and are led to forsake it, it will doubtless, be at the foot of the cross, when you are fixing your eye upon the spectacle of a bleeding, dying Saviour. Yes, " He was exalted to the cross to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5: 31.) There is, moreover, another condition of salvation which you are required to ful- fil. It is contained in the following pas- sage of Scripture ; " God so loved the world that he gave His only Begotten Son, that ivhosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16.) In this passage you see not only that Christ died, but that He died to save them who believe, and, by in- ference, them only. Faith, then, is essen- tial to salvation. As I have already said, God does not now require, in order to sal- vation, perfect obedience to His law, aU 80 LETTERS TO though its claims to our obedience are as imperative as ever, but He has required that which is more congruous to our fall- en nature, " repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord, Jesus Christ." Acts 20: 21. A broken law we cannot repair, but, with God's help, we can repent and believe. What is, then, faith in Christ? You must not suppose that to believe Christ to be divine, is faith in Him ; nor is it faith in Him to believe that such a Being once lived incarnate on earth, and that He suffered many years and was, in the end, crucified by those He came to save. Such a simple belief in a historical fact is not what the gospel requires under the name of faith. Faith is of more exten- sive signification. The English word does not express all the meaning of the Greek from which it is translated. But as it was designed to express all that is included in the original word it is proper that we should so understand it. Faith in Christ, then, includes a full and hearty belief in His character as repre- A BROTHER. 81 sen ted in the bible, and a confidential com- mittal of one' s self to His divine guidance a throwing one's self upon Him in perfect confi- dence. You see, my dear brother, that the heart must be interested, or faith is not genuine . You are required to believe in Christ as your only Saviour and to receive Him as the object of your supreme affection. Love to the world is inconsistent with such an affection for Christ. Unless you have thus received Christ, your specula- tive faith is utterly vain. He will be sat- isfied only with your heart your whole heart. You must so commit yourself to Him as to feel yourself wholly at his dis- posal ready to be guided by Him and to follow Him wherever He leads the way. This is the only way in which you can give practical evidence of living faith. Let me illustrate these remarks by a familiar example. A traveller is benighted on an intricate and dangerous road full of pitfalls and lined with bye-paths. He dares not ad- 8* LETTERS TO vance or retire lest he should fall or be led astray and be destroyed. In this sit- uation he is overtaken by a man who pro- fesses to be perfectly acquainted with the way. He receives from him the most sat- isfactory evidence that what he professes is true. The traveller perceives, in his new acquaintance, a sure guide. He is perfectly assured of his kind interest in his own preservation. He acknowledges him to be every way qualified to under- take his rescue and to conduct it to a suc- cessful issue. " Well then, (says the stranger) take my arm confide in my ability and disposition to extricate you from your difficulties be guided wholly by me and I will conduct you safely through this dangerous pass." The trav- eller hesitates. He says to himself, " He is certainly a competent guide He will do as he says I believe all this but I am unwilling to be guided by him. I am resolved to act independently and I hope I shall get through safely." The kind stranger passes on his way ; the travel- A BROTHER. 8S ler is bewildered and lost. Now of what use was his speculative faith in the stran- ger's ability and disposition to do him a favor'? Of no possible use. If his faith had been effective or practical if he had thrown himself upon the kind offer of his friend and accepted gratefully his proffer- ed assistance, he would have been saved from a melancholy death. Now, my brother, you see what I mean when I say that your speculative faith in Christ will not save you. Christ has pro- ved to you his perfect ability and readi- ness to act as your guide to eternal bles- sedness. He has an intimate knowledge of the way for He has himself passed it and consecrated it. He only requires you to throw yourself upon His arm confi- dentially and to be guided by Him, and He promises to bear you safely through the desert of life to the everlasting ver- dure and glory of heaven. If you simply believe that He can save you if you only acknowledge that he is milling and ready to save you, it will be of no avail. You 84 LETTERS TO must have confidence in His power and will, and,moreover, you must commit your- self to His actual guidance following wherever He leads and you will be safe. And why should you not be willing to lay aside your confidence in an arm of flesh and commit yourself wholly to the guidance of Jesus Christ ? You have seen, from a former letter, that nothing, which you can do, will, in the least, alter your eternal destinies as an independent act. Here now is an offer, freely made by Je- sus Christ, that if you .will repent of hav- ing sinned against Him and commit your- self to His care and guidance, He will bring you to His heavenly rest. These are the only conditions He requires they are simple and easy. Oh ! how simple when we consider the greatness of our guilt ! The sufferings and death of Jesus have made it consistent with the strictness of God's law that H should save such as He pleases. He requires now only repentance and faith in the sinner in order to his sal- A BROTHER. 85 vation. He promises that if you will obey these requirements, the penalties of a just law shall be averted from you and that He will treat you hereafter in the same manner as if you had never broken the law, Christ having borne its curse for you, (Gal. 3: 13.) Oh! then, my dear brother, come at once to the Saviour with peni- tence and cast yourself CONFIDENTIALLY up- on him, pledging yourself to be His for- ever. Your affectionate brother, 86 LETTERS TO LETTER VIII. MY DEAR BROTHER, I have already explained the principles on which the atonement of Jesus Christ will be effectual in securing your salva- tion. You have seen, however, that the hearts of natural men are exceedingly prone to evil that they are wholly cor- rupt. Now, although the way for your escape from sin and the results of sin, is open although Christ has died to secure to you the inestimable privileges of salva- tion yet the tendency of your affections is towards earthly things downwards. The fact the simple fact that Jesus Christ has died to secure pardon for the penitent and believing sinner, is not suffi- cient of itself to bring the work to a suc- cessful issue. The heart is too hard. The A BROTHER. 87 soul is under the power of sin, and is so influenced by the great adversary of man that it will never alone and unaided rise from its ruins. It has the power to cast it- self on God confidentially and find salva- tion, but it has not the will, the disposition so to do. It may, upon the conviction of its sin by the conscience which God has implanted in every man, struggle to rise above, to overcome its tendencies to sin, but in vain till aided by another and a higher Power. Here, then, as if God was determined to pour all His blessings upon self-ruined man and to leave him no excuse for re- maining in his guilt, the third person of the Trinity offers His aid. The Holy Spirit presents Himself to the heart of every sinner and knocks for admittance. He helps the sinner, who is " sold under sin," (Rom. 7: 14.) to escape from the iron bondage. This messenger of heaven to man con- tinually pours light upon the dark path of the benighted wanderer and directs 88 LETTERS TO him in the way to eternal life. Ever since the ascension of our Saviour He has ope- rated on the hearts of the unregenerate, leading them quietly and calmly to view the consequences of sin and the ingrati- tude to God which it evinces. And with His aid thousands and millions have been changed in the temper of their minds and have accepted Jesus Christ in faith and with true penitence for sin. He is even now silently, like the " still small voice," (1 Kings 19: 12.) that conversed with Eli- jah on Mount Horeb, speaking to the im- penitent and pointing them to Christ cru- cified for them. You have heard of the extensive revivals which prevailed during the past year, and you yourself witnessed the religious awakening as it was called in C , where you resided. Now those revivals and this awakening were the re- sult of the Holy Spirit's influence on the minds of those who were particularly in- terested in them. All the great revivals which have occurred since Christ's time, were His work. A BROTHER. 89 God has, therefore, furnished you, my brother, with aid competent to the suc- cessful accomplishment of the great work before you. You will never repent and embrace Christ in faith, till you are assist- ed by this Divine agent. Still your re- pentance and your faith are your own. The Spirit cannot repent for you He cannot have faith for you. They are exercises of your own mind freely put forth. But then the special influences of the Spirit must be felt by you before you will have a disposi- tion to exercise either repentance or faith. Nor does He, by His influence on the mind, interfere in the least with your mor- al freedom. He exerts His influence through the medium of truth. The Bible was composed by men inspired by Him ; consequently all its instructions all its promises all its threatenings are so ma- ny addresses of the Divine Spirit to the conscience of the sinner. And there is another influence, exerted upon the mind in regeneration by the Ho- ly Spirit, in a manner with which we are *8 90 LETTERS TO wholly unacquainted. We only know that the truths of scripture, faithfully pre- sented to an audience of sinners, produce a wonderful and speedy transformation of feeling and character in some, while the minds of others are wholly unaffected. We attribute the effective power of those truths to the speciality of the Divine Spir- it's influence. And this is all we know. A change occurs we know the power that produced it but we seek in vain for the mode in which that power was exert- ed. We know too, that the sinner is ac- tive in regeneration. He repents and em- braces in faith a crucified Redeemer. There is, therefore, a co-operation of the sinner with the Holy Spirit. And this is conformable to the sentiment expressed in the following passage of Scripture ; " Work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling, for it is God which work- eth in you to will and to do." (Phil. 2: 12, 13.) That is, it is He that works with you both in the willing and in the doing. Many objections may be made to this A BROTHER. 91 statement of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's agency, but I think every humble and conscientious Christian will agree with me that it is substantially correct. From these remarks, then, you see that even the atonement does not secure ne- cessarily the salvation of every sinner, and that the promise, made to the impenitentj of salvation upon repentance and faith in consequence of the atonement, may be of no avail, because repentance and faith will never be exercised till another power comes in to the sinner's aid, co-operating with him both in willing and in doing. And that power is the Holy Spirit. How necessary, therefore, my dear brother, that you secure the aid the ef- ficient aid of the Holy Spirit ! With the natural powers of mind to repent, it is morally certain that you will never have the disposition to do it, till specially aided from above. But the assistance, you need, is within your reach it is ready to meet your call. The Scriptures say " To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your 92 LETTERS TO hearts !" (Heb. 4: 7.) " The Spirit and the bride say, come !" (Rev. 22: 17.) Every preparation is, therefore, made for your salvation and you are even urged by the persuasive strivings of the Spirit, to turn and live. O ! How wonderful is the mercy of God ! How long-suffering ! How prolific in blessings ! Who would have thought it 9 That when we were in our sins rebelling against his laws and king- dom God should have made such an atonement and accompanied it with such an- exhibition of continued love as is seen in the descent of the Holy Spirit! And is not here a powerful reason for your sub- mission to Him'? Is not here provision enough for your salvation *? Oh ! let the powerful strivings of the Divine Agent in your heart lead you to embrace with pen- itence and in faith a crucified Saviour. Now, while you hear his voice gently calling upon you to lay aside your world- ly affections and to give to God your heart, be resolved to obey his call. Let not his influences be quenched forever A BROTHER 93 but cherish them ; they will lead you to happiness and heaven. The Spirit will not always, strive. You may resist Him so that He shall turn away from you and leave you, like Pharaoh, a monument of Divine indignation. I say, you may do it, for God has so revealed it in the Scrip- ture. Else there were no appropriate- ness in the exhortation, " Quench not the Spirit!" (1 Thess. 5: 19.) Indeed it would impair your moral freedom it would utterly destroy it if you were not at liberty to comply with or reject the per- suasions of any agent according to your pleasure. It is infinitely important, there- fore, that you avoid the terrible conclu- sion to which a rejection of the Holy Spirit's influences would lead you. While the aid of such a powerful Agent is offer- ed, I counsel you to accept of the aid and be at peace with God. You cannot too soon be reconciled to God. There is danger of quenching for- ever the influences of God's Spirit so that He shall strive no more, no more 94 LETTERS TO persuade or excite the seared conscience. You have already felt some relentings on account of sin the result of the divine Spirit's agency. You have looked in up- on your heart and seen its deep depravity and guilt and have been led to feel that you ought to repent and exercise faith in Jesus. More than once has your con- science been awakened by the voice of the Spirit, and it has seemed as though your soul would be humbled before God and that you would accept his love. But you have not yet done so. The heart re- mains unchanged. The affections are yet enchained to the earth. Oh ! when will you prepare for heaven ? When will you love a dying Saviour*? When will you cease to grieve the Blessed Spirit of God l Are you not afraid of His with- drawing His influences so that you shall be left barren and desolate *? Your duty has been pointed out to you in a previous letter. It has been proved that, even if there were no hope of future felicity no expectation of happiness yet it would be A BROTHER. 95 your duty to be sorry for having done wrong. But now that Jesus has died for you to make your penitence effectual and now that the Holy Spirit has been sent to strive with you and to urge you to repent- ance and faith, it will be, indeed, ungrate- ful it will be amazing if you still per- sist in unrepented sin ! Many very many have delayed to hear the voice of the Spirit till it was for- ever too late ! Examples are numerous where His strivings have been silenced, and His influences quenched ! But Oh, how sad the consequences ! How fearful the dying bed ! There was a dreadful freezing horror-struck complexion a doleful crying for mercy which it made the heart ache to see and to hear ! Oh ! I would not for the universe, die the death of one from whom the Blessed Spirit has taken His last departure ! What dreary scenes are in prospect ! And how will eter- nity burst in all its horrors upon his dis- tracted and immortal soul ! My dear brother, avoid, I beseech you such a doom 90 LETTERS TO A BROTHER. by escaping, as for your life, to the cross of Jesus whither the Holy Spirit would lead you. There cast yourself upon the mercy of your God, as exhibited in the blood of atonement, and all may yet be well! Your affectionate brother. HYMNS. HYMNS. HYMN 1. The Exhortation. 1 Turn, wand'rer, from the dang'rous path Thy wayward feet have trod ; Long hast thou braved Almighty wrath, Turn homeward to thy God ! 2 Turn, wand'rer, from thy course of sin, Thy Saviour bids thee turn ; Sweetly He tries thy soul to win, O try His will to learn ! 3 Turn, for the Spirit's voice is heard In whisp'ring notes of love, Inviting thee to trust His word, And seek thy rest above. 4 Turn, for thy Father calls, "return !" Thy Father long forgot ! Come to His feet, and humbly mourn That thou hast loved Him not. 100 HYMNS. 5 Turn, wand'rer, while His mercy calls, Oh, seek His face to-day ! Haste, 'ere His sword of justice falls ! Oh sinner, why delay ? HYMN 2. The Warning. 1 To-day God's voice is heard Inviting thee to come, And the sure promise of His word Declares, there yet is room. 2 To-day the Saviour sits Upon His throne of love, And many a guilty wretch permits His promises to prove. 3 To-day, salvation's sure, To those who seek the Lord, And who unto the end endure Abiding in His word. 4 But 'ere to-morrow's sun Shall send his beams abroad, Death may his fatal work have done, And called thee to thy God ! HYMNS. 101 Then where, O sinner, where, Will thy poor spirit dwell ? Unrobed and desolate and drear, 'T will sink, unsaved, to hell ! HYMN 3. The Invitation. 1 Come, sinner, in thy mis'ry come ! And seek thy injured God ! He calls thee from thy wand'rings home, By His atoning blood ! 2 Long hast thou lived without His love, And long abused His grace, But Jesus left His throne above, And took the sinner's place. 3 How rich the flowing purple stream That sealed His cov'nant sure ! How full His glorious pledges seem Forever to endure ! 4 Come, then, O sinner, in thy guilt, Thy Saviour calls thee, come ! The blood, which He on Calv'ry spilt, He spilt to bring thee home. 9* 102 HYMNS. HYMN 4. The same. 1 Now, sinner, wipe thy tears away, And give to God thy breaking heart; Come to His footstool, come to-day, Before thou hear'st the sound, depart ! 2 Hast thou not heard His melting voice, Utt'ring rich promises of love, Inviting thee to make thy choice, And sweetly calling thee above ? 3 O, listen to His gracious call, Nor grieve His Blessed Spirit more ! Give Him with cheerfulness thy all, And thy ungrateful sins deplore ! HYMN 6. The Cross. 1 Behold Him, on th' accursed tree, In anguish and in blood ! He bore these griefs for you and me, To bring us back to God ! HYMNS. 103 2 And wiltthou yet, O sinner, dare The path of guilt to tread ? Behold the clouds of vengeance there That flash above thy head ! 3 Haste thee to Calv'ry's mournful height, 'Ere yet thy day is past ! Speed, speed, O sinner, for the night Is gathering round thee fast ! 4 There with a full and melting heart, Thy bleeding Saviour see ! Say to thy sovereign God, "I part With all things else for Thee ! 5 Jesus, Thou son of David, hear My supplicating cry ! Send me a sweet release from fear, And save me when I die !" HYMN 6. Conviction. 1 Jesus ! hear my feeble prayer, Leans my helpless soul on Thee ; O my Saviour ! can'st Thou hear, Can'st Thou save a wretch like me ? 104 HYMNS. 2 I approach thy awful seat, Doubtful, anxious and oppressed, Here I lie before Thy feet, Broken-hearted and distressed ! 3 Oh my soul ! thou canst not live ! What a Saviour I've abused ! How can He my guilt forgive, Who have long his grace refused ? 4 I have heard His pleading voice, As I passed along in sin, Urging me to make my choice, And His service to begin. 5 But I spurned the call of love Trampled on His blood divine ! Jesus ! can Thy pity move ? Can Fever call Thee mine ? 6 Wretched, helpless, tempest-tost, Saviour, to Thy arms I fly ! Thou, who cam's t to save the lost, Save, Oh save me or I die ! HYMNS. 105 HYMN 7. The Release. 1 Sweetly from the upper skies Breathes the soft and soothing strain, "Sinner! wipe thy weeping eyes, " All thy sins by Me are slain ! 2 " On the cross in pain I hung "To procure this grace for thee ! "There with grief my soul was wrung, " There was filled with agony ! 3 " Broken-hearted and abased, " Thou hast cast thyself on Me ; "Sinner! I my word have passed " From thy sins to set thee free. 4 " Rise and take thy crown of joy ! "Here I breathe upon thy soul, " And the judgments I employ, " O'er thy head shall harmless roll." 5 Saviour ! why, O why 1 " for me Hast Thou shown such glowing love ? Here I give myself to Thee, Bear, O bear my thoughts above ! 106 HYMNS. HYMN 8. Christ. (Selected.) 1 Oh, could I speak/the matchless worth, Oh, could I sound the glories forth, Which in my Saviour shine ! I'd soar, and touch the heavenly strings, And vie with Gabriel, while he sings, In notes almost divine. 2 I'd sing the precious blood he spilt, My ransom from the dreadful guilt Of sin and wrath divine: I'd sing his glorious righteousness, In which all-perfect, heavenly dress My soul shall ever shine. 3 I'd sing the characters he bears, And all the forms of love he wears, Exalted on his throne : In loftiest songs of sweetest praise, I would to everlasting days Make all his glories known. 4 Well the delightful day will come, When my dear Lord will bring me home, And I shall see his face : Then, with my Saviour, brother, friend, A blest eternity I'll, spend, Triumphant in his grace. HYMNS. 107 HYMN 9. Heaven. (Selected.) 1 Jerusalem ! my glorious home ! Name ever dear to me ! When shall my labors have an end, In joy, and peace, in thee ? 2 Oh, when, thou city of my God, Shall I thy courts ascend, Where congregations ne'er break up, And Sabbaths have no end ! 3 There happier bowers, than Eden's, bloom, No sin nor sorrow know ; Blest seats ! through rude and stormy scenes I onward press to you. 4 Why should I shrink at pain and woe ! Or feel at death dismay ? I've Canaan's goodly land in view, And realms of endless day. 5 Jerusalem ! my glorious home ! My soul still pants for thee ; Then shall my labors have an end, When I thy joys shall see. 106 HYMNS. HYMN ON THE IMMORTALITY OP THE SOUL. 1 There is joy in the thought that the soul shall survive When the clay that enfolds it expires ; That its withering powers, e'en in death, shall revive And vigor and beauty immortal, derive, From the Spirit that kindled its fires. 2 It brightens our path through this valley of tears, And scatters the clouds of despair ; The bosom of pain and affliction it cheers, It lights up a smile on the wrinkles of years, And smooths the deep furrows of care. 3 O pure are the hopes, it excites in the breast ; And the transports we feel shall increase, When anticipation, all glowing, shall rest On scenes that are passing in realms of the blest On pleasures that never will cease. 4 More joyous and brighter and purer the ray, That will burst on our vision above, When the veil, that obscures it, is taken away And when we can look on the splendors of day, In regions of glory and love.