fight. For myself, continued Irwin, I have had such proof of my my own utter inability for the contest without his help, that it is my desire to lean always and only on the help of his heavenly grace: it has hitherto preserved me, and he gives me a joyful hope that it will preserve me still: there was a time when my mind wavered about those solemn, and, to our weak understandings, inexplicable subjects God's foreknowledge, and man's final preservation to eternal life: but these debatings tend not to edification; I can now answer in the words of my Redeemer, what is that to thee, follow thou me' to follow him is the work which is given us now; and for our knowledge, if it be such as will lead us to him, it is all that we require."

"To any humble being who considers the wide, the incalculable moral distinction which raises God above h m, the Apostle's words will be at all times a sufficient answer to every objection unbelief can raise; Nay, but oh man, who art thou that repliest against God!' Who, indeed, is man, that he should dare to judge for himself; that he

should use that reason, which was given to draw him nearer to the Almighty, to exercise rebellion against him?-but I do wrong to call it reason; it is rather its abuse, for our natural understanding seems sufficient to compel our acknowledgment, that it becomes not the thing formed to say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus ? Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith; or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it; as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up; or, as if the rod should lift up itself as if it were no wood: these expressions are strong, yet they are not strong enough to declare how wide is the distance at which fallen man, the creature, lies beneath the all-perfect God who created him."

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"O, it were well," said Ellen," could we always reason thus; how many pit-falls should we escape, could we but be content to receive the word of God in meekness and simplicity; to receive it as it is in truth the word of God, without arguing on its sublime doctrines as if they were the production of man ;-we

forget that we are getting farther from heaven, while we are arguing instead of praying, and defending doctrines instead of obeying commands: it is a waste of time, if it be nothing worse, to spend it in seeking after a knowledge, which perhaps it was never intended, which certainly it is not necessary, we should attain; many a soul has been lost in the trackless labyrinths of election and predestination, which would have formed a brilliant jewel in the Redeemer's crown, could it have been content with the simple admonition, to take up the cross daily and follow Christ."

"It is a path beset with dangers," said Mr. Irwin," and abundant reason have all who have escaped it to thank God for the mercy; and none more than I, for it is one in which my feet have often stumbled: with a truly sceptical spirit I have asked myself, if God would have all to be saved, why are they not? The answer was too evident to be long sought for,-Because of the hardness of their own hearts.-Still I objected, cannot God soften their hearts? True, indeed, he

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can; he he can can do more, he can make them angels instead of men; but while they continue men they must be dealt with as such: God is merciful, oh, how merciful!" said Irwin fervently," but we must not, we dare not, exalt one attribute to the debasement of another; while we declare his abundant mercies, we must not forget that they are equalled by his justice and holiness; were either of these less than another, he were less than a perfect being, therefore we will acknowledge his mercy to be great above all human conception; were it otherwise, we should not be here to declare it: but let us give equal praise to those other high attributes of the Deity, which combine to form his unspeakable perfection. We have the testimony of his word that his spirit strives with all; if some reject

its s dictates, their destruction is upon their own heads; for it would be inconsistent alike with the justice and the holiness of God to send

nd a larger effusion of his grace upon the man who, by his hardness of heart, and im

penitence, is treasuring up unto himself wrath

against the day of wrath, than upon him who smites upon his breast and says, God be merciful to me a sinner!"

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The many doubts and cavils which have been raised concerning the free-agency of man often perplexed my mind; but by an attentive study of the holy scriptures, accompanied, Ptrust, with the blessing of the Almighty, I happily escaped the web of doubt and controversy to which this subject leads. I saw that man was a free agent only thus far, that he might resist the spirit of God, or he might yield himself to it. In resisting the spirit, he is an active agent, and therefore all his consequent wickedness is purely his own act. In resigning himself to it, he is merely passive, and when he has done that, he has done all that in his own strength he can do: thus our sins are our own, but our righteousness is of the Lord. With regard to those actions of human life which come not under the description of either righteousness or sin, things in themselves wholly indifferent, it seems a sufficient answer to say, that in such things reason is given as a guide,