were saved by their warmth of love to their Saviour. No! but they had washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Many persons, Mr. North says, derive their faith from their feelings, whereas they ought to do the exact reverse, and let their feelings flow from their faith.

The power of temptation in the form we now speak of, was exemplified, to a remarkable extent, in the case of Mrs. Hawkes, that devoted friend of Mr. Cecil, of London, and an honoured servant of Christ. Her copious diary is full of meditations which exhibit her spiritual vacillancy, and show that this was her infirmity. Thus, after one of her transitions from spiritual gloom to light and hope, she exclaims: "How variable are our frames and feelings! How like the shining and the shadow passing over the green plain! But, blessed be God, our salvation consisteth not in frames and feelings, but in being engrafted on the living Vine, and abiding in Christ; consisteth not even in our sensible hold on him,

but in our simple belief of his gracious declaration that he will never leave, nor forsake, nor suffer us to be plucked out of his hand." In reference to such cases as hers, Mr. Newton remarks, "that a humble, dependent frame of spirit, perseverance in the appointed means, care to avoid all occasions of sin, a sincere endeavour to glorify God, an eye to Jesus Christ as our all in all, are sure indications that the soul is thriving,' whether sensible consolation abound or not. Neither high nor low frames will do for a standard of faith; self may be strong in both." Persons who are conscious of such spiritual oscillations, should learn to discriminate between their emotions or frames and their habitual principles of action. The former may be likened to the little eddies near the margin of a river, which, at different times, flow towards all points of the compass. The latter are the current, constantly tending the same way, and which makes it evident in what direction the great volume of water is running. In one of his affectionate letters to Mrs. Hawkes that relates to the religious

depression which she often suffered, he compares an afflicted believer to "a man that has an orchard laden with fruit, who, because the wind has blown off the leaves, sits down and weeps. If one asks, 'What do you weep for?' "Why, my apple-leaves are gone! But, have you not your apples left?" 'Yes.' 'Very well, then, do not grieve for a few leaves, which could only hinder the ripening of your fruit.' Pardon and promises, that cannot fail, lie at the root of your profession, my dear daughter; and fruits of faith, hope, and love, that no one can question, have long covered your branches. The east wind sometimes carries off a few leaves, though the rough wind is stayed. And what if every leaf were gone? What if not a single earthly comfort were left? Christ has prayed and promised that your fruit shall remain; and it shall be my joy to behold it in all eternity." Not less injurious to the spiritual progress of others, is a

HABIT OF MENTAL INTROSPECTION.

We mean, not the salutary practice of self

examination, which is commended alike by apostolic injunction and Christian experience. But we speak of a continual peering inward on their thoughts, emotions, affections, convictions of sin, and various exercises of mind, instead of looking away from them all to Christ. It is the natural proneness of a doubting and fearful mind, which it is often hard to resist. But, like Mary's visit to the sepulchre after the resurrection, it is a seeking of the living among the dead. Some persons, in their desponding moods, Mr. Spencer says, "think only of themselves and their sins. Nothing can magnify equal to melancholy—and nothing is so monotonous. A melancholy man, left to himself and the sway of his melancholy, will not have a new idea once a month. His thoughts will move round and round in the same dark circle. This will do him no good; he ought to get out of it. Depression never benefits body or soul. We are saved by hope." But next in danger to this mistake of looking to themselves for help and light, is their "making a test of the experience

of others for the trial of our own."

In a letter

to Mr. Anderson, Dr. Chalmers speaks of the besetting anxiety that attends such a practice, concerning which he makes the following excellent suggestions, as the promptings of his own observation and consciousness: "When you read books upon the subject of conversion, you see a certain process assigned, and in such a confident and authoritative way too, that you are apt to conceive that this is the very process, and that there can be no other. I compare it with my own history, and my own resolutions, and I am apt to be alarmed at the want of correspondence in a good many particulars. Scott's 'Force of Truth' is an example; Doddridge's 'Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul' another; and last, though not least, the Pilgrim's Progress.' I pronounce them all to be excellent, and that there are many exemplifications such as they describe. But the process is not authoritative, nor is it universal. The Spirit taketh its own way with each individual, and you know it only by its fruits. I cannot say of myself that

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