His blood, the forgiveness of sins;" "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Tim. i. 7.) To this is added that blessed assurance recorded in Rom. viii. 15, 16. Converse with such, my friend, and tell me if ever you have met with a happier people! The style of preaching with which you find fault, may have seemed to you "cruel and tyrannical;" and so might seem the action of a surgeon's knife, unless made acquainted with the fact that the life of the patient depended upon it. It is no cruelty to cause a sinner to suffer a few mental agonies, if thereby he may be saved from suffering the bitter pains of eternal death. What thinkest thou? Hearken unto our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew xviii. 8, 9. Here you perceive that the loss of a hand, or a foot, or an eye, in order to preserve a good conscience and save the soul, is better than to have them all, or any one of them, and to be cast into hell fire! If you believe in angelic agency, you can find no difficulty, surely, in recognizing satanic agency, or "the devil and his angels;" for the existence of both is plainly declared in the Scriptures. Also, that they have much to do with earth. If there exist not legions of wicked spiritual beings in evil activities, between holy angels and men, the antagonists of God, and the enemies of our race, the Bible is the most deceptive book in the world! Satan! may God preserve us both from his power! But he is the most formidable enemy man has to contend against, and really the least feared. The Bible represents him as an ugly and treacherous being, a hard customer to have any dealings with. He is called "Satan," because an enemy, and a cunning one. "Devil"-mind, at its worst-a being disposed to shoot through and pierce everything that is good beneath the sun. A "dragon," because of his fierceness and power. "The wicked one," from the sinuosity and crookedness of his disposition and plans. "The old serpent," cunning, subtle, deadly. "Apollyon "-a destroyer-in whom the desire is intense as the flames of hell. "A roaring lion," because of the rage and cruelty of his nature, and his sagacity and constant aptitude, like his namesake among animals, to prey upon and devour the unwary and the helpless. "The accuser of the brethren," arising from his envious nature-the cause of so much uneasiness and sorrow to their tender and weak conseiences; and often of so much disorder and perplexity in the Church of Christ. He is also called an "adversary," in the Scriptures, because of his malignant and wrathful disposition; being adverse to both God and man;-as a poet says: a "There is but one who cannot love, A withered, dark, defeated mind, That curses Heaven, and scorns mankind." He is named " tormentor" also, from the anguish he excites in sincere souls-an effect of his malice. A "tempter," by reason of his constant solicitations to sin. He is called "a murderer," and that "from the beginning "-the cause of all forms of death, from the beginning of the world to the present time. "A liar" is another title of his-his nature is falsehood and deception. Such is the being against whom you were warned the other evening. But you think, "Devil is an ugly word," and dislike to hear it in the pulpit-as much as hell, no doubt! If but a meaningless word, and a representative of nothing, in your estimation, I do not wonder at it. But it calls up an unpleasant idea, does it not? Words represent things, and your name is expressed in a couple of words, and they represent yourself; a matter of considerable importance, regarding that property of which you claim to be the rightful owner! Apply it to the case in hand, and you have my idea. Words are not to be despised; though only sounds, yet they may stand connected with a substance and a reality, as the sound of your own name! If but "a mythical being," you think "silence in the pulpit regarding him would be more for the honor of God." Ay! if only mythical! but if a real personage, such as he is described to be in the Scriptures, and as Jesus Christ, in the wilderness of Judea, proved him to be, that alters the case, does it not? And should it not rather exalt the character of God, when we announce from his own word his repeated warnings to us regarding this malicious enemy of the human race? Come, my dear sir! "think over the matter" once more! The question has another side, you perceive! * * * * * Your "further thoughts" are what one would expect from your former ones! The plain facts are these: God is set forth in the Bible as a supremely great and good Being; yet terrible in justice, in power and wrath-even to "the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." (Rev. xix. 15.) These facts of Scripture drive infidels to their "wits' end," and some of them out of their wits, in opposing and denying the God of the Bible, and forming a being after their own imaginations, heathen fashion-to smile complacency upon them and their evil pas sions. Baxter observes, there are some things in God that most people like very well-his mercy and his goodness, for instance; and there are some things in the Devil which wicked people do not like his hatred of human beings, and his cruelty in tormenting them. But there are qualities in God they do not like-his holiness and justice, and unchangeable opposition to sin; but there are qualities in Satan not altogether repugnant to them-his unholiness, and friendship for their sensuality. Nor can I conclude without trying to beat into the ear of your conscience another idea of Baxter-that unless you lay aside your fleshly mind and interests, which are opposed to the welfare of your soul, you shall, so sure as you are a man, be judged and damned as an enemy to God! Here I pause, hoping for good results-conviction and salvation-unless you are "Boldly resolved, against conviction steeled, Nor inward truth, nor outward fact to yield.” LOWERS have been named by some poet "the gems of Nature's robe." The Bible offers a vast variety of such gems wherewith a preacher may adorn his discourse. The Holy Spirit, however, made no use of artificial flowers, but gathered for us the choice and flower of all things, and clothed them with purity and beauty, and allows the public teacher to make his own selection, as judgment or taste may dictate. I confess to a fondness for gemming my discourse with these, and with those which the gay fields of poetry afford; that is, when in my judgment the spiritual atmosphere is congenial. And if my friend will have patience, he may find himself regaled by and by with the sweet fragrance of these luxuries of oratory; but they would be much out of place at present, I have been thinking. Have patience with There are seasons when such flowers would wither and die, if placed in the bosom of a discourse; would appear as much out of season, and out of place, as roses blooming in the midst of ice and snow. me. Nature does not venture her blossoms in such an atmosphere. Neither will a preacher, if common sense and a little grace are astir in his soul, when the atmosphere of religion around him is at zero, and the people spirit |