dren of darkness." Besides, "the rulers of the darkness of this world" are spoken of; invisible and wicked spirits, supposed by some, in which may be included, perhaps, wealthy and powerful sinners. Such is the state of the world, on the side of Satan. St. John declares that the whole world lieth in the arms of the wicked one-the word in Greek will bear, lying in the jaws of the wicked one. What a horrible position! ready to be crushed to death whenever God permits, but never until "the sin unto death" has been committed. (1 John v. 16.) I believe the devil kills all who die in their sins. Consult Heb. ii. 14.

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The doctrine of satanic influence is a part and parcel of divine revelation. We receive that with equal faith as we do the rest. It is impossible to read the Scriptures attentively, and not perceive that such spiritual beings as angels and devils do exist-invisible beings, at work for good or evil in this lower world. Nor is it to be denied, in the face of Scripture and experience, that "the fiery darts of the wicked one" fly as thick around the Christian's integrity as they do around and through the skeptic's infidelity. Indeed, in the former, those darts seem more swift, direct, and straight to the mark than against the latter, in whom the battle has been fought and won by Satan. Why cannonade a fortress that has surrendered? The Christian is like a fortress uncaptured, though besieged. The gates are shut, and he who commands within will neither surrender nor parley with the enemy without. Satan never tempts a hypocrite to doubt the safety of his state, nor a skeptic. He is too wise for that. The Spirit of God acquaints such with the fact. The arch-fiend attacks those who are

right, to lead them wrong; but lulls and soothes those who are wrong, to keep them in the wrong.

In the mean time, be not high-minded, but fear. Ants taught wisdom in the days of Solomon. (Prov. vi. 6.) Wise men have learned much of "inferior animals," and so may you of these humble Christians. We read that birds have been very useful to shipwrecked sailors upon strange coasts, as they assured them what fruit it was that was safe to eat. However beautiful and tempting the fruit might appear, the sailors touched them not, unless the birds had first pecked them; then they partook freely. A lesson for you and your companions here! If persuaded they are true Christians— and this you may know by comparing them with the character of Jesus and the precepts of the apostles-then imitate them. It will be better for your soul and body. Much as some of you have affected to despise these humble ones, there is a time of acknowledgment coming, and not far off, that the virtues they practised and the vices which they rejected were marks of the soundest wisdom; when you would give worlds for their hope and assurance, or even a crumb of their comfort ay! wish a thousand times that an hour's existence or an option of better things had never been vouchsafed unto you, or that your heart and choice had been better disposed for improvement.

I am sorry these Christians are not more lively; but the burden of souls is on them, and the sight of their eyes affects and agonizes their hearts, and they look sorrowful—no great victory having yet been achieved by the Gospel among them; and some of their near and dear friends being in danger of dropping into hell. Perhaps yourself may be a cause of it in some, if

the truth were known.

"A sight of you is enough to make any

devout person melancholy," said one to one of your brethren in unbelief! "The world knoweth us not," says John. We are an enigma to them; they know not what to make of us! They behold our actions, but the principles from which they spring are a secret to them. "The wind bloweth where it listeth," saith Jesus, "and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The motions of the wind perplex the philosopher, and the operations of the Spirit confound "the natural man." The philosopher, however, is too wise not to admit a cause, and too philosophic to call it "foolishness." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) "The spiritual man," as Luther observes, is a puzzle to "the natural man," who knows his face and manners, but is quite unable to discern from whence those words, not now wicked and blasphemous as before, but holy and godly; or from whence those motives and actions! The policy of appearing thus gloomy or sad in your presence some might consider doubtful; for my part, I respect sincerity. If not really joyful, it would be hypocritical to seem so. "There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh," says the inspired writer. These serious Christians think it no time for laughing in the presence of a poor sinner who may be in hell in an hour. Tell me, do you not in reality think them worthy of more respect and confidence than if they yielded to levity before you. Is not their seriousness more consistent with their principles ?

CHAPTER XXXV.

TO ANOTHER-PLAIN-SPOKEN.

Y! They are too wise to learn of God, and fools enough to follow the seductions of Satan.

"Expert to move in paths that Newton trod,

From Newton's universe would banish God!"

Too wise to learn of the Bible, and yet simple enough to put supreme confidence in books and periodicals of a certain sort, which have little else to recommend them except some talent displayed in finding fault with Christian belief and practice, without offering to the world anything better in their place! They have too much reason to be guided by reasonable men, yet so bereft of reason as to be led away into the most drivelling nonsense by wicked and unreasonable men. St. Paul came in contact with such in his day, and considered a deliverance from them a matter worth praying for, as we may see from 2 Thess. iii. 2: "And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith." Or, as the Greek has it, "from absurd and wicked men." It will bear the sense of "disorderly, unmanageable, and wicked," who have neither faith, fidelity, nor trustworthiness. And did you see the peril of trusting in such guides, with uplifted hands and wet cheeks you would offer a similar prayer.

What good you can reasonably expect to accrue from such company it is difficult to see. Surely you see and know enough from week to week to awaken your suspicions. Can the stream rise higher than the fountain? Can that be right which such men extol ?—or that wrong which such despise?

"But they seem as positive of being right as the most zealous of your denomination." Of course they do! A contrary manifestation would ruin their cause, and they know it! The difference between them and us is this: we have the best of reasons for being zealous, and happy, too!—and such arguments to support our positiveness as they never knew, never muster for the cause of unbelief!

Infidelity! it is a pit, my friend!—a pit; yet, strange to say, it does not seem such to those who are in it; at least one would think so, or they would cry unto God to be delivered from it. They have become used to its gloom, doubtless, and consider it preferable to the clearer light that shines on the surface of truth from the Bible. The gloom of that pit renders a coming eternity doubtful or dubious. The light of the Bible renders their damnation certain. It shows also, indeed, a way of escape, but as that demands a renunciation of the works of darkness, they prefer the pit and the gloom. Many of its prisoners, through ignorance of the Gospel paradise, never awake to the peril of the place, till the light of eternity flashes about them-as in the case of that veteran in unbelief who perished yesterday. He saw, when too late, that he had long been living within the vortex of the pit that is bottomless. (Rev. xx. 1.) Seized upon by despair, "his descent into the region of darkness," to use an idea of a German, “was palpable to the horror-stricken watchers." Or, like another,