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remitting to the Christian, in virtue of the obedience unto death of his Surety, the future punishment due to his transgressions, it did not seem good to Infinite Wisdom to exempt him from the ordinary sufferings incident to humanity. Like other men, he is visited with pain and sickness; like others, he is subject to adversity and affliction; like others, he must pass through the dark valley of the shadow of death. It is true, that in all these scenes of trial he has what the world has not, the presence and support of an Almighty Protector; he has a High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of his infirmities, and whose strength is made perfect in his weakness; so that "he glories in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." Yet, still, like other men, he is "born to trouble as the sparks fly up ward;" and indeed he has not only the ordinary afflictions of human nature to sustain, but has in addition some superadded sources of trial not known to the unrenewed mind. Sin, in all its shapes, is a constant burden to his regenerated nature. When he beholds it even in others he is ready to say with David, "Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law;" "rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law;" or with Jeremiah, CHRIST, OBSERV, No. 234,

"Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring

even

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and go from them; for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.' How much more then must he be pained when he feels within himself that same "infection of nature" which remains " them that be regenerate;" when he finds temptation still too often exerting its influence with fatal power over his mind, and sin assuming every possible attraction to seduce him from the path of duty; and this notwithstanding that renewal of nature which makes him regard whatever is offensive to God as personally hateful to himself, thus constraining him, like the Apostle, to exclaim, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

Another species of affliction peculiar to the Christian, is that paternal chastisement which his heavenly Father sees fit to inflict upon him for his transgressions. «If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes: nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." This infliction differs materially in its character from the penal retribution of the wicked, and may be justly viewed as a merciful visitation pe2Y

culiar to the true believer; for it is "whom the Lord loveth" that he "chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

But the peculiar species of affliction on which it is intended to offer a few remarks in the present paper -an affliction utterly unknown to the world at large-is that which arises from distressing apprehensions in the mind of a sincere Christian respecting the safety of his state before God. There are few persons, probably none, who being duly sensible on the one hand of the depravity of their nature, the extent of their actual transgressions, their guilt and inability, the purity and strictness of the Divine law; and on the other, of the infinite value of the human soul, the eternal moment of the great question at issue, and the danger of coming short of final salvation; do not experience some apprehensions as to what will be their own future destination. Even after their repentance has been deep and habitual; after their faith has reposed upon the all-sufficient Sacrifice; and after the visible expansion of the graces of the Holy Spirit in their hearts has given unequivocal evidence of their conversion to God, there will not cease in numerous cases to remain many distressing doubts respecting this most important subject. The extent to which these doubts may prevail, and the comparative frequency of their recurrence, are various in different individuals, and bear no defineable proportion to the measure of their spiritual attainments, or the degree of their advancement in the Divine life. Indeed it not unfrequently occurs that the humblest and most holy characters are the most afflicted with these distressing apprehensions; while others, far behind them in vigilance, and love, and contrition of soul, are to a considerable degree exempt from their influence, and appear to pass their days in almost uninterrupted trauquillity as respects the ultimate event.

It might not, therefore, be unprofitable to inquire into this apparent anomaly, were it ouly to evidence the justice, the wisdom, and the love of God in permitting an arrangement so little consistent with what we might have expected would be the actual phenomena of the case. For it seems at first sight not unnatural to suppose that our spiritual enjoyments should in every instance be commensurate with our spiritual progress; and that the absence of doubts and fears should be made to bear an exact proportion to the development of the evidenees of our conversion and sanctification;-not merely to our varying estimate of those evidences, but to the development of the evidences themselves. We might, for example, have conceived that penitence, and humility, and tenderness of conscience, though in their usual character more allied to depressing than joyful sensations, yet being in reality among the most unequivocal evidences of increasing piety and spirituality, would have been so overruled in the Divine arrangements as to carry with them at all times religious confidence and joy; or, in other words, that they would have been made to operate as forcibly on the individual himself in convincing him of the hopefulness of his state, as they do upon a spectator, who perceiving their existence has no hesitation in regarding them as among the most auspicious proofs of a renewed mind.

But in addition to demonstrating the justice, the wisdom, and the love of God in thus permitting apprehensions respecting their spiritual state to distress many of his most faithful servants, there is another practical end to be sought for in considering the present subject; namely, affording relief to those who are suffering under this heavy affliction. For a heavy affliction truly it is, for a mind that duly appreciates the value of the human soul, and the supreme moment of the great question at issue, thus "to

walk in darkness and have no light" respecting the most important subject which can occupy the thoughts or interest the feelings of a responsible being the chief point for which we were sent into the world, and the determination of which will be of eternal concern after the world and all its short-lived glories shall have for ever passed away. Indeed, so weighty does this affliction often appear to a mind labouring under it, that all others seem little or nothing in comparison. "I could support every trouble of life with firmness were I but certain of my eternal safety; I could bear the frowns of the world with composure, were I conscious that He in whose favour is life condescends to smile upon me; I could willingly support these light affic tions which are but for a moment,' had I the hopeful anticipation of the Apostle, that they would work for me an exceeding and eternal weight of glory;' I could resign my dearest friend to the arms of death, were I confident that I shall soon be permitted to rejoin him; and I could follow him through the same gloomy scene with tranquillity, yea with triumph, had I but the blessed assurance that when this mortal shall put on immortality, I shall be for ever with the Lord." Such is not unfrequently the secret language of the dejected Christian, under the pressure of distressing apprehensions respecting his religious character and the foundation of his hopes for eternity; and we learn from it how prominent a place such apprehensions often assume among the afflictions with which our heavenly Father permits the faith and patience of his servants to be exercised.

We shall proceed to inquire into the causes, the uses, and the remedies of these doubts and fears; confining the argument to the case of the true Christian, who alone can be said to experience them; for the gloomy forebodings of the impeni tent are of a very different charac

ter: they are the legitimate inference of a conscience ill at ease with itself, on account of wilful obstinacy in transgression; and not, as in the case about to be considered, the unfounded forebodings of a mind which has a scriptural warrant for brighter anticipations.

To enumerate the various CAUSES which may occasion religious depression in the mind of a sincere Christian would be impracticable; some of the leading ones may, however, be reduced to the three following classes.

1. The first cause which we may specify is conscious guilt.-It is the ordinary appointment of Divine Providence in the economy of the Christian life that doubts as to the safety of our state, and consequent distress of mind, should follow the commission of sin. Should there be any persons who can plunge into conscious guilt and not experience darkness and depression of soul at the retrospect, they are not to be envied, but rather condoled with, and must be regarded either as hypocrites or presumptuous selfdeceivers. We have already seen that very different is the case with those "whom the Lord loveth;" they are chastised for their transgressions, and no chastisement seems more specifically appropri ate to the circumstances of their offence, than that painful conviction of the Divine displeasure which, wherever the conscience is tender, ensues upon the wilful commission of sin; and which, in proportion as it prevails, naturally causes doubt as to the truth of our religious profession, and the consequent safety of our state. It is true that strong apprehensions as to this last point are not in every instance insepara bly connected with even the most humbling conviction of the fatherly displeasure of God; for we find in the case of Job, of David, and various other Scripture-characters, a generally prevailing confidence as to the final event at periods of the greatest self-abasement and

spiritual depression. Still, how ever, distressing apprehensions respecting our final salvation are the natural and appointed attendants upon conscious guilt; for while a sense of sin presses strongly upon the conscience, there must necessarily arise doubts as to whether such a character as the penitent at those seasons thinks himself to be, can possibly have been " renewed in the spirit of his mind," and consequently, whether his faith is genuine, and his hopes for eternity are any thing more than a splendid delusion.

It must not, however, be supposed that the conscious guilt which has been enumerated as among the frequent causes of doubt and apprehension, has reference only to acts of heinous immorality. These we may consider, in the great majority of instances to which we allude, as nearly out of the question. The spiritual fears at present under contemplation, are those which are found to intrude where there is no notorious profligacy of heart or conduct to account for their existence; nay, where there is such a general consistency of life as strongly indicates a corresponding state of the mind and affections. But even in these cases there may have been much to produce the effect. Latent sins, sins of the heart, may have been almost unconsciously cherished, and by their presence have intercepted the light of God's countenance, and have thus kept the soul in a sort of dark and chill ing atmosphere, in which every thing that is inimical to spiritual peace and prosperity loves to dwell. A worldly spirit may have made too great encroachments; the religious affections may have been suffered to lie dormant; secret prayer, or reading the Scriptures, or devout meditation, may have been too much neglected; self-examination may have been too slightly performed; the heart may not have been duly given up to God; there may have been a degree of lukewarmness and

indifference of spirit; a remissness in some known duty; a heedlessness on the brink of temptation ; a secret drawing back in religion; and all this where there is still much that is of a contrary nature, and where it would be most rash to assert that there was no wellgrounded hope for eternity. Still these things justly cause a feeling of conscious guilt; and conscious guilt produces doubt; for it is the pro-. perty of sin to repress the filial confidence of faith, and to check the exercise of love; and where these graces are not in vigorous operation, their place is usually occupied with inmates of a very different character.

2. Hitherto we have considered only that sense of religious depression which is connected with conscious guilt; but the same effect may often arise from a less culpable quarter, namely, the general infirmity of our nature, even where there is no immediate act or inclination to which the distressing apprehension may be traced.

This general infirmity of our nature may operate in various ways to cause religious depression; and our spiritual adversary often makes a powerful use of it to effect his purposes. The Christian, whatever his attainments, is still in a state of great weakness and trial; the effects of original and actual sin are visible in the dilapidated condition to which the powers of his mind and the affections of his heart are naturally reduced, and which, as long as he remains in this world, will never be fully restored to their primitive excellence. Thus, in many instances, even bodily languor, depression of the animal spirits, or the pressure of afflictive events, are seen powerfully to affect the mind, and apparently to connect themselves with the state of the spiritual sensations. In such cases the aid of the physician is often as necessary as that of the divine; and it is highly important for the sufferer himself to

endeavour to detach those merely physical impressions which connect themselves with a desponding tone of mind, from those scriptural considerations which ought alone to be allowed to operate in deciding upon a religious question. Bodily or mental depression may be a predisposing cause of that gloom which hangs around the path of many a sincere believer, as was notoriously the case with the poet Cowper; but it is not in any way legitimately connected with it; and in many cases where depression of mind has existed to a considerable extent on other subjects, it has not been permitted by the All-wise Disposer to affect in the least degree the state of the spiritual apprehensions, or to cause a single doubt or fear respecting the concerns of eternity.

This general infirmity of our nature is evidenced in various other ways. In some depressed Chris tians there is a weakness, a distrust, a misapprehension, a hesitation, which though prevailing throughout their character, and by no means confined to considerations of a religious nature, may readily assume among other forms that of spiritual anxiety. So again, through the same infirmity, the understanding may not have been able to take a right view of the Christian economy in all its bearings; there may be a tendency, without perceiving it, to distort some parts of the Gospel; an inaptitude to perceive what peculiarly applies to the circumstances of the case; or a mistaken apprehension respecting the nature of the Christian character, and the evidences of a state of conversion. The same infirmity may also evidence itself in the weakness of our faith, when no immediate cause, such as that of conscious guilt, is apparent to account for the circumstance. In short, general infirmity is our characteristic mark in this state of doubt and trial; and our sorrows spring from our infirmities as well as from our

actual sins: indeed our infirmities are the effects of sin; and as they remain with us even after sin is pardoned, and its reigning power subdued, so they may operate in causing those doubts and fears respecting our state which are often found to exist in characters the most eminent for piety, and the most zealous in every good word and work.

3. Indeed we may even go so far as to assign, in some cases, as a cause of distressing apprehensions, that increasing spirituality of mind, which, to all but the individual himself, is a convincing proof that such apprehensions were unfounded.

It is not unfrequently observed, that persons who commenced their religious course with much confidence, evidence increasing anxiety as they proceed in it; and the effect may be accounted for on the following principles. The novice was. prematurely confident, because he knew little of God or of himself, and because he had but superficially considered the infinite stake at issue. But as he advances in the Christian life he discovers more of the justice and the purity of the Divine character, and enters more fully into the extent and spirituality of the law of God, with its application to the thoughts of the heart, and the regulation of the temper; and the minute and unchangeable nature of its requisitions. He sees. also more of his own heart; he finds in himself such deep and complicated evil as he had never anticipated; every passing day exhibits to him new traces of pride, and self-love, and ingratitude, and alienation from God, and whatever else is unholy and distressing to a renewed mind. And if from himself he looks upward to contemplate the nature of the heavenly world, he there beholds nothing but what is diametrically opposed to all that he feels to be natural to the human heart. Can it then be wondered at, that be should be apprehensive as respects his admission to that world of infinite