consolation. General as this statement may be, the argument might be drawn out and applied to points of conduct apparently the most remote from its influence. It by no means follows, that a person thus influenced will be continually engaged in religious duties. If you will turn to "The Elixir," in Herbert's poems, you will find what I mean, quaintly but forcibly expressed. It is however in the character and life of the Redeemer, that we shall find the full illustration of the sanctifying of common actions by divine principles; of things, in themselves indifferent, being ennobled by the purpose to which they were directed. He came "eating and drinking;" distinguished by no outward austerity, or repulsive peculiarity; conforming to established laws, and sanctioning the innocent usages of society. But if we look through the outer texture of his history, we behold him intent every moment upon his Father's work; we behold him making every movement, however trivial, however human, tend to that one great purpose for which he was manifested; having his eye equally fixed on the salvation of sinners, whether spending the whole night in

prayer, or tempted in the wilderness, or sitting at meat with a rich Pharisee, or feeding a hungry wayworn multitude. If ever we are inclined to say, "Why did Jesus do this? why did Deity come in such close contact with the every-day meannesses of life?"—let us look again, and find the answer in his oneness of purpose; and in that oneness of purpose, find also a guide and pattern for ourselves.

"For God before, man like himself did frame,

But God himself now, like mortal man became."

LETTER VI.

MY DEAR Friend,

I ADMIT that the work you mention, contains many papers that are unexceptionable; but what merits censure, is the spirit evident throughout-the spirit of one, looking for and valuing, nothing beyond the things of this world. But setting aside this individual case, let us examine these matters more closely. If God, my dear friend, has endowed us with faculties for serving him, and if it is solely by his merciful care that these faculties are preserved to us, is it not just that to his service they should be devoted? And if, in order to make his yoke easy, God has so constituted our minds, that our happiness is bound up with this first great duty, -if, future considerations apart, peace even

in this life, is only to be found in the way he has appointed-is it not expedient, as well as just, that we should devote ourselves to his service? But there is one error, of so harassing and deterring a nature, that I think it must be a common hindrance suggested to young and inquiring minds-it is the looking upon religion as a dry, abstract code of laws; a series of observances, of requirements, of penances, and self-denials; a system of negations; a something that is to induce gloom and imbecility of mind; to blight our 'prospects, wither our joys, and transform the garden of life into "a howling wilderness." I wish I could convey to you an adequate perception of this delusion. When once a sincere and influential desire to love and serve God has entered into the heart, new tastes, new affections, new views of every kind, spring up spontaneously:duty becomes choice; obedience, a service of the will rather than of the conscience :and the natural language of that heart is, "Oh, how I love thy law!" Then religion is seen in its true light, its native lustre ; as a renewing principle, introducing order into

chaos, light into darkness; imparting strength to those points of character which before were weak; softening what was harsh; taking away the false glory which invested some old pleasures, but presenting in their stead, new and better ones, and bestowing fresh grace and beauty on those which were innocent and allowable. I do not think that any person, however high his natural genius and sensibility, can fully feel the glories of nature, unless he be the subject of devotional feeling. He may be a poet, he may be a painter, but the unlettered Christian who can

"Lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,

And smiling say—' My Father made them all,'”

enjoys them with purer zest.*

God, my dear friend, is as sufficient to satisfy the heart, as he is worthy to occupy the mind. It is good to be laid upon a sick

"Since I have known God in a saving manner, painting, poetry, and music, have had charms unknown to me before. I have received what I suppose is a taste for them; for religion has refined my mind, and made it susceptible of impressions from the sublime and beautiful. O how religion secures the heightened enjoyment of those pleasures which keep so many from God, by their becoming a source of pride!"-HENRY MARTYN.