DIALOGUE III.

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him.-Isaiah lv. 7.

"Amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil he hath pronounced against you.”— Jer. xxvi. 13.

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Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin."-Ezek. xviii. 39.

"Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.”— Joel ii. 13.

"Turn ye unto me saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you."-Zech. i. 3. "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."-Eph. v. 14.

Christian.-Come again, I see, and not tired of my con

versation.

Wiseman.-To tell you the truth, there seems to be a power over me which constrains me to come.

C.-" No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him." You put me in mind of those words of my dear Saviour. But how was it you did not come last night?

W.-It being such a very fine evening, and altogether as warm, as it is now cold, that my wife wanted to take a walk, and I went out with her and the children.

C.-Why not have walked here? Your children would have enjoyed a game in the garden with my young ones, they would have been pleased with the fish, birds, and flowers, and I am sure my wife would have been highly delighted to see her, so that they might have become better acquainted.

W.-Don't be offended if I tell you; the fact is, I did ask her to come, and she objected, solely on the account, as she said, of your preaching to me, what she called, such rubbish. When we were here together last, you were saying something about the goodness of God, and when I told her of your conversation with me, she said she knew if she came she should hear nothing but sermons and lectures all the evening, instead of lively conversation.

C. I am very sorry, but not offended. Tell her, whenever she comes, I shall be full of fun and amusement, purposely to please her and the children.

W.-I know you can be humoursome when you like, but I tell you what it is, I cannot sit out here and talk, for I am all of a shiver. I must have a little hot brandy and water, for I

feel chilled through: it is really astonishing, for last night I was almost melted.

C.-Come in, and I will take a glass with you, for I do not feel over warm myself.

W. He who overrules the weather must know these sudden changes are hurtful.

C.-He knows the harm or good that any of his providences will do; there is one thing, he does as he pleases, and none can hinder him. A lesson is taught by sudden changes, in fact every one of God's providences has a voice. W. Has a voice! What do you mean?

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says,

C.-The snow and frost say, we have come to purify and manure your ground, to destroy the vermin that infest your gardens and fields;" the rain says, "I have come to freshen everything on the earth, the fields, the rivers, and even the clothes you wear;" the fog says, "I am but a gentle rain, and come to teach you there is a God who can darken the earth by me;" the thunder and lightning say, "while we purify and cool the air, we warn you there is a God;" the heat "if it were not for me, nothing would grow, I enliven and cause all that breathe to rejoice and bring forth; the vermin and insect which He causes to increase, say to you, 'we have come to teach you cleanliness and industry, for they who are idle and dirty shall find we can punish them;" and they might peep out of the ground and say, "you prayed last winter for God to keep back the severity of the season; he granted your request, and we have come to teach you that you know not what is for your real good;" the wind has a very loud voice and says, among other things, "you know not how I come, or where Í go, I not only purify the air you live upon, but all the waters of the earth; if it were not for me your ships would not sail," &c. &c.

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W.-But sudden changes of heat and cold, what do they say?

C.-They proclaim, "We come to show there is a God, and to teach you to be on the alert, and that those who are too lazy to change their dress as I change, shall suffer accordingly; to be either too warm or too cold shall be their punishment; besides, by me you learn there is a power above, who causes heat and cold when he pleases, and you cannot alter it, therefore, learn to be submissive, and say, 'Thy will be done."" In short, there is nothing but hath a voice, every leaf and flower, even the devil, death, and the grave, besides all the pleasures of the world, hath a voice.

W.—I should like, while you are talking about these things, to tell me what they all say or teach.

C.-The tree, leaf, and flower have a sweet voice; they

say,

"we are looking glasses, look at us, look in us, and you will behold yourselves, from the first bud to our full developement, you may behold great beauty,-sometimes defected by an enemy, but often great splendour, bearing fruit, &c. Look again, you will see we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Look again-you see us droop; we fall-we dieand become dust, ashes, earth."

W. I like that. What does the devil say?

C.-I wish I had time to tell you what he has said and does say. It would fill volumes with falsehoods; he is the father of lies, and was a liar from the beginning, and yet sometimes he tells the truth.

W.-Satan tell the truth! I have heard some say, "Tell the truth and shame the devil," but never heard he told truth. C. He has often told me I was a great sinner, which was true, but he then added a lie to it, and said, "you will never be saved, there is no hope for you." For awhile, he made me believe, that as I was seeking salvation I was to trust in my good deeds: that being baptized, and having joined a church, and taken the sacrament of the Lord's supper, that was all that was necessary, provided I had been christened and confirmed; and was constant in my attendance at church, and knew by heart the Catechism, Belief, and Lord's Prayer, and as many prayers as I might choose to learn, so that I might repeat them.

W.-But surely the devil does not teach those things.

C.-1 do not say that he teaches them, what I mean to say is, that while I was doing those things, he tried to persuade me I should be saved for doing them.

W.-We know very well, the doing of them alone, will not

save us.

C.-But I used to think so once: and many more, I dare say, besides me, have thought the same, until that superior power interfered, who breaks the proud and obdurate heart, and makes an old man as a little child, and who instructs to commence a new way-to learn that salvation is from CHRIST ALONE. Then they began to find out all their previous dependance on their deeds and themselves was like leaning on a broken staff, and by degrees they began to see that those things are but effects of divine grace, or spiritual life in the soul; then they become a delight and duty, as being first enjoined by Christ, or taught by his disciples.

W.-Perhaps doing those things was all for the best.

C.-No doubt about that, but they would not have been if I had believed in them till I died, for they blinded my eyes, so that I could not see my imperfections and state-Lost! mad! blind! but to go on. When Satan found he was beat, he

tried all in his power to worry me, not only with temptations, but with accusations, &c.; sometimes I faced the coward boldly, and a battle was the result, and, being assisted, I came off conqueror; I do not mean that I conquered by myself, and I do not believe there ever was a man, except Christ, who did, for Satan is wise, proud, and too fierce.

W.—I don't exactly comprehend your meaning;—but what does death and the grave say?

C. With a tremendous loud voice they say, "Man remember you are but dust, ere long we shall have you in our grasp." And although they speak so loud and so often, more than half the world will not regard it. They must hear the voice I should think, but they forget what it says. Some think death has a sweet voice, like a dear friend, which calls them with kindness to a better home, but I think the voice of the grave is an awful voice to many, for he says "in me there is no repentance."

W.-Really you almost frighten me, to hear you talk of death and the grave speaking to man; I hope they wo'nt speak to me. C.-They did when your last child died, death and the grave were speaking to you, and all who beheld the burial. W.-Don't say any more about them. What do the pleasures of the world say?

C.-Like the devil, they are great liars, yet sometimes they speak the truth.

W.—That's strange. What truth do they tell?

C.-Listen to experience-I go by what I have heard them say myself, they have told me many a lie, and very often deceived me; for instance, I have been to the theatre, the dance, the race-course, &c. &c., I was told it was fashionable, delightful, and would do me good, but in general found when I got home, I was rather the worse than better; always worse in pocket and body, and very often tired or afflicted through them; therefore, my mind became depressed.

W. You must not condemn amusements, for I believe God allows us innocent recreations. I hold the well known adage to be true, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

C.-There is no doubt about that, I enjoy a sight, music, dancing, journeying, &c. as well as anybody, and learn at the same time to be thankful for the use of my limbs and faculties and for the lessons they teach me.

W.-You seemed just now to run them down, and now say, you are thankful for them, you are mysterious in your speech. C.-Not at all; I fancied I was speaking very plain, but to explain this mysterious speech. The pleasures of this world, which are very numerous, say to me, "Look at us."—I look at them and enjoy them, then again they say, "what do you think

of us? don't you think we are too short? Sometimes I think they are, sometimes the contrary; they ask me if I can behold in them folly, vanity, and lies? I say I do-although many others do not; then they ask me if I can't find peace of mind and happiness in them? That makes me laugh, because I know it's a joke, for I have searched them close, very close, even to excess, to find that pearl-Peace, but never could find it in them, so the less I have to do with them I find the better.

W.-But do you think it sinful to enjoy pleasure?

C. My dear friend, have I not often said that God has been pleased even to humour us in our fancies, and that he has given us everything that is good to please our senses, sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, &c. What sums of money do not many pay, and what trouble do they not undergo to satisfy their senses, which some call killing time, some say it's wasting time, but that depends on circumstances. I have said, there is no sin in innocent amusements, if they are not carried to excess. Sin lays in the abuse of God's gifts, that is, when we go beyond what he intended them for. God has ordained we should love business, our friends, and relations, that we should be thankful and enjoy them in moderation; but we all know, that business can be carried to excess; we may love our wives and children to excess, we can be righteous over much, we can sleep too much, eat, drink, walk, ride, sit; in short, everything you can mention that we do, or enjoy, when carried to excess, becomes a sin, and because a sin, brings it's punishment, and that the real pleasure which is enjoyed by moderation, is lost. Public company, dinners, &c. are the excuse, for a good many excesses, and those who have not mind sufficient to refrain from excess, ought to keep away. I know if I do anything to excess, I always look for, and experience punishment, in mind, body or estate.

W. Then you get punished sometimes?

C.-O yes, I have often felt the rod, many a time God has chastized me for my folly, and when I have been proud and stubborn, he has afflicted me, and often, in my afflictions, have I kicked the more, and in pity has he relieved me from my sufferings; then again he would try his kindness and love. I think that, and the afflictions together, have brought me to my senses.

W.-It seems, then, you commit sin as well as anybody else. C.-Sin once was my delight; and although my delight now is to do the will of God, and my prayer is, to be an instrument in his hands to do good, yet I find sin lurking within me, but I try to avoid it as much as I can. I find the less I sin, the happier I am, as Paul said, so do I, "when I would do good