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If, from the earliest period of remembrance, we were not free from corruption, it seems to afford a strong presumptive proof that it is interwoven in our nature. But if we inherit corruption, we are assured that grace is given to us to counteract its operations that the evil begins to work, no sooner than its antidote is at hand. And perhaps this is most conducive to our happiness, and best calculated to prepare us for a happy immortality, the original and continued design of our present state of existence. According to the Scripture account, man was but a short time in Paradise, before he fell by a transgression of the divine law.

Even in this state, wherein the Almighty pronounced that all was good, our first parents, before the entrance of actual sin and death, were no doubt (though in a state of innocence) in some degree weak and helpless, or they would not so soon have forfeited their happy situation, by yielding to the first temptation. And may we not suppose that our all-wise Creator, who sees through futurity, and knoweth all things, foresaw that the fall of man, with the antidote already prepared, even "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,"* would best an

* Revelations, xiii. 8.

swer his gracious designs respecting us, in preparing us for glory, honour, and immortality.

The fall of man is a standing lesson to us

not to endeavour to be wise beyond what our Maker designed us, nor to trust in our own strength; but humbly apply to Him, who is ever willing to lend succour to his dependant creatures, and simply fulfil his commands, though they may appear to militate against our preconceptions of what might be for our benefit. A firm faith and reliance on God, with the persuasion that this probationary state is adapted to promote our final happiness hereafter, is the only thing that reconciles us to either the physical or moral evil that is in the world. We may fancy that He who has all power, could have made us better and happier than we are at present: that, in short, we might have been angels instead of men. But we who are formed, can very little enter into the designs of the Former, further than he is pleased to reveal them; and Scripture, reason, and our own feelings, all unite in leading us to the conviction, that so much has been done for us, that we may rest secure in the faith, that He who formed man still careth for him, and imparts that grace and strength which will enable him to struggle

with, and, in due time, to overcome the corruptions of nature, and make us more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

1800.

12th, 3d Mo.-"Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth."* Whether engaged in the necessary business of life, or in the gratification of its innocent enjoyments, the immortal spirit that thirsteth for God, returns to him again, as its proper centre. As the dove sent forth from the ark, before the waters were dried up, could find no rest for the sole of her foot, and returned to it again, so we, after our various excursions, find nothing solid to rest on, and return again to Him who is the only sure resting-place.

And will it not be wisdom, sometimes to inquire whether, in our various excursions, we have kept within the prescribed limits of the holy inclosure, lest, by stepping beyond the bounds, we should get entangled in the floods of temptation that surround us, and be scarcely able to find our way back to our Father's house. That every word and thought may be brought into judgment, and our sins blotted out from the book of remem

Psalm xxvi. 8.

brance, must be the prayer of every devout soul.

Sensible, O Lord, that we have none in heaven but thee, nor in the whole earth, in comparison of thee, we look forward with earnest hope and expectation, that when these frail bodies are laid in the dust, we may have a dwelling-place with thee for ever; in that habitation which our souls have loved, and which we have considered as our chiefest good.

6th, 5th Mo.-Yesterday, we went to Winchmore-hill, to the interment of our dear little one,* and remain, with painful anxiety, watching the progress of the same disease in her father.

9th. The prospect of his recovery is a subject for thankfulness; and often in our most trying seasons we have to acknowledge that mercy is mixed with judgment, or perhaps we should rather say, with our afflictions; for we are too short-sighted to distinguish the one from the other, relative to any thing in this world; and I think I never felt liberty to put up an unqualified prayer for the life of those most dear * A grandchild of the writer.

to me, believing that I should pray for I knew not what; perhaps for evil to them, as well as to myself.

18th.

"Friends counsel quick dismission of our grief: "Mistaken kindness! our hearts heal too soon. "Are they more kind than He who struck the blow? "Who bid it do his errand in our hearts."

And what is the errand it should accomplish in my heart? What counsel does it give? What instruction does it convey? The above lines have been often brought to my recollection, and I have wished to let the query sink deep into my mind.

The uncertainty of this world's happiness, and the awfulness of futurity, are subjects that I often ponder. They are now feelingly brought before me: not as a new or a strange thing, but such as are frequently presented to our view in the course of human events. Do I feel myself too strongly attached to the blessings of life; too apt to be engrossed by its enjoyments, and occupied by its cares? I wish not to flinch from any retrospective view of myself, but to profit by every dispensation; not to put aside the inquiry, with the idea that the affliction,

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