go over and overwhelm me, he prayed for me, and my faith failed not. O how precious a gift is that faith which he bestows; but alas! how rarely understood, and, therefore, how rarely obtained in perfection. Is it not true, Miss Seyton, that every defection from the path of righteousness is an instance of unbe lief, though never acknowledged as such by those who profess to believe in Christ, but in works deny him. Without holiness no man can see the Lord," a plain and most comprehensive declaration of Scripture, which not all the cavils of philosophy, not all the wiles of the Devil, can teach men to explain away. To separate faith and works is impossible; for as faith by works, so works by faith, are perfected neither can be genuine unless accompanied by the other; yet this is the faith of which I once said, it is subversive of all morality. If I am to be justified by faith alone, why am I commanded to work? In this case, I may take my share of the pleasures of life while I live, for I shall be saved by faith at last. But this is the delusion of Satan, say

ing to us as he did to Eve when enticing her

to sin, Ye shall not surely die.'

cere, the humble believer in Jesus,

The sin

will never use this language; he will never sin that grace may abound,' or say, I shall have peace, though I walk in the desires of my heart, and add drunkenness to thirst; it is his meat to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work;' at the same time acknowledging, that when he has done all, he is still an unprofitable servant; that all his righteousness is but as filthy rags, with which if he strive to conceal his natural deformity, he sees the veil to be altogether as unseemly as what it covers. I had brought myself to this conclusion," continued Irwin, "with much labour and little comfort, when I recollected the Scripture declaration, that faith is the gift of God; then why, I asked, cannot works save in the same manner? Are not they also the gift of God? Is it not written, without me ye can do nothing? For a moment I was bewildered, but not darkened; I quickly perceived that this could be no objection to any but those who neglected to observe the infinite distinction which exists between faith and

works. We must indeed acknowledge, that as we are in nothing holy, that as our very root is rottenness, so every thought as well as action must be defiled with sin; that as the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint; that from the sole of the foot unto the crown of the head there is no soundness in us, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores; it follows as a necessary consequence, that the faith of a fallen creature must be as imperfect as his works; yet one difference manifestly exists, that we cannot in any way be saved by works without ascribing some merit to ourselves; at least, it is for purer minds than ours to receive the kingdom of heaven as the reward of our righteousness, without glorying in our own strength; while, on the contrary, it is the very essence of faith to resign all selfdependence, and unequivocally, unreservedly, to declare, that in the Lord alone have we righteousness and strength.'

"When I recollect how often the sweetest passages of Scripture, the tenderest expostulations, the kindest promises of God, were turned into gall and wormwood, not being mixed

with faith in my heart, it appears to me as if I could never be sufficiently thankful that I was not suffered to rest for any time in my vain speculations; I still remember, I trust with some degree of gratitude, how often when an objection, or more properly a difficulty occurred, the answer to it immediately became manifest to my mind. To you, Miss Seyton, I may, without reserve, unfold some few of the innumerable wiles of Satan, by which he endeavoured to entangle me; and the countervailing goodness of the Lord who took me from the snare that had been laid for me, and from the traps of the wicked doer. Why does the world call him an enthusiast who loves to declare what the Lord

6

hath done for

his soul; who tells how his heart burned

within him when by his Spirit he talked with him by the way, and opened to him the Scrip<tures ? ""

"Why, indeed," said Ellen; "when to b cold on such a subject seems almost a crime? we speak with warmth, and are heard with patience, when we recount the goodness of some earthly benefactor, to whom we must

owe comparatively little; but when we speak, and speak but feebly, which at best is all that we can do, of a love that passeth knowledge, like our great Master's, we are said to be beside ourselves; and, alas! how few of us have fortitude enough to bear the scorn of the world; to be counted fools for Christ's sake.'

"We need every help," replied Irwin; and from every hand, while the Devil is fighting against us on one side, and the world on the other, and our own hearts ready to betray us to them every moment; we have need to be continually repairing our weapons and examining our armour: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down the strong holds of sin and Satan; yet if in times of peace we suffer them to lie by neglected, in the hour of trial we shall find them rusty and unequal for service; so that although it be needful for us to exhort one another so much the more as we see the day of battle approaching; yet at all times it becomes those who fear the Lord to speak often one to another of him under whom and through whom they