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it is impossible that the reformation of life should be sincere or complete. If such a man do not content himself with obedience to certain requirements, which demand little self-denial, and consider this sufficient to cover his neglect of those which call for a greater sacrifice or if he do not play some other and equally compromising part; if he do not commit certain evils, he will omit certain duties; if he be restrained from open transgression; still he will cherish iniquities of the heart. The actings of his mind do not come under his careful inspection. There is a light rein to the workings of a depraved fancy. There is no critical scrutiny of his motives. There is no inquiry into the tenor of his desires. The want of substantial principle excludes all possibility of regular and permanent benefit. Even the external appearance of good may be temporary, irregular, and subject to something like caprice. But it is the opposite of all this, which takes place in a mind renewed unto genuine repentance towards God.

In the first of these cases, there is no ground of humility; because there is no self-loathing, no distressing sensation of the power of indwelling depravity. The failure, therefore, of an attempt to remove any evil is not a matter of great uneasiness because, while it can be attributed to natural infirmity, the self-flatterer is satisfied in

casting all the blame there, and he acquires a feeling of self-complacency in doing so. To him this presents no additional reason for hating the dominion of sin.

The true penitent, on the contrary, exclaims on every such discovery, "O, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" While he sinks into the dust of self-abasement; and wonders at the extent of that grace which can pardon guilt of so deep a die. His faith and repentance, and this knowledge of himself, constitute the true foundation of humility. Charity for the faults of others, and a love for those who bear the image of God, are inseparable accompaniments. So true is it, that where one genuine grace exists, the rest of the train will likewise be.

I need not trespass further on your time by describing the fruits of repentance, as they are commonly called, in the life of the penitent. The apostle Paul seems to have summed up all these in a short sentence, addressed to the church of Corinth: "For behold this self same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort; what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge!"*

2 Cor. vii. 11.

You see, then, that he who properly inquires into the meaning and character of true repentance, must look for the evidence of a change of heart, and not for any self-created goodness which he is to find previously to his approach to God.* Adieu, dear sir, may it be yours to "look unto Him," who, in dying for our transgressions, made more manifest our guilt, while he displayed the surpassing fulness of his mercy.

Very truly yours.

* On this momentous subject, the inquirer will eminently consult his spiritual benefit, by a careful perusal of many among the admirable fragments of the late Dr. Ryland, published since his death, under the title of " Pastoral Memorials;" but, especially, the "Supposed Dialogue between Nathan the Prophet, and Absalom;" the "Queries respecting Sin and Duty;" the "Remarks on Dr. Chalmers's Sermons ;" and the Essay "On the Power of Sinners to repent:" in vol. ii. p. 316-333. Ed.

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LETTER XIII.

An Inquirer reviewing his past distress.—A remarkable period, and an eventful pause.-The simplicity of faith.-A temptation to hold back from Christ.-Natural incredulousness.The afflicted father's application to Christ.—The case applied to the Inquirer. The workings of his mind.-The humble resignation of his soul to Christ.-Characters of the great change now rendered perceptible.-Differences in mode and order. The act in which relief is most commonly obtained. Not always the same.-Yet always coincident in one grand principle.

MY DEAR SIR,

To him who entertains a hope that he has found the great object of his search, a review of his past solicitude, and of the fluctuations of his doubts and fears (comprising, as they do, a painful history), will end in astonishment at his own perverseness. This may not be equally the case with all persons. But few are they who will not discover, that much of their time has been expended in the removal of misconceptions, in correcting errors, in vainly looking and trying to discover new rules of proceeding, in attempting to pry into the secret purposes of God, or to render more complete the Saviour's work, in barren

reveries with regard to their future course, or in endeavouring to form and cultivate an unholy patience under the guise of waiting for the gift of faith. The retrospect of past life, in its ordinary details, presents, to most of us, a melancholy group of circumstances. But a review of the season of conviction of sin and the application for mercy, usually revives feelings of peculiar distress. We are astonished at our great ignorance and infatuation, with respect to things which now appear so perfectly plain. Above all, we wonder at our rejection of knowledge, or our misapplication of it; and at our efforts to render that intricate and complex, which was distinguished by its simplicity. Now, for the first time, we understand the spirit of the Syrian general's reply to the prophet: "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?" and the force of his servant's answer,

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My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean ?"

But there may have been a prior point in our history in which we could discern the relinquishment-the reluctant relinquishment-of one false resting place after another, till we could not distinguish a single remaining impediment: and yet nothing remained of a character sufficiently

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