time my Bible, though not so much, perhaps, as I should." "Have you begun to pray that you may understand it?" "Not yet," he said, "I have not arrived at that pitch of faith yet, but it may come by-and-bye; you are in too great a hurry. Remember how long you have been with S. and M., and the others, and consider what progress they have made. Does S., the most hopeful of these, pray?" "No," I said, "I hardly believed it; for a few days ago he told me he did not see the use of prayer, as God, who knew our thoughts before we could utter them, required no formal act, and form of words, which could convey no new information to him." Well, and what said you to that?" "I reasoned with him on the subject-told him it was a positive duty commandedthat it would not have been so, had it not been useful-that it was an act of worship, and adoration, due to the Creator, and a means of grace: inasmuch as the effect left on the mind was always conducive to virtue and piety, and kept us in a proper frame for fulfilling all our various duties, in thought, word, and deed."

convinced him?" "No, I

"But

"But you have not

know too well the

folly and pride of the heart. It is the last, and one of the most difficult acts of conviction, to force

a sinner on his knees; but when once he is reduced to this, his case is hopeful. When I see you or any of the others in this state, I shall then begin to entertain very favourable hopes of you." "And till then, you will think us in a bad way?" "Certainly, and decidedly." "But," I continued, "we must not despair; continue to read the Scriptures, to reflect on what you read, and this first and most important point, prayer, will be soon gained, and its utility and necessity will be in time enforced clearly on your mind, better than by any argument that I can use."

"There was a book," said his lordship, "which I intended to shew you; I believe it is here," going to a side-table on which a great number of books were ranged. He soon took hold of an octavo, and shewed it to me. I looked at the title-page, and found it "Illustrations of the Moral Government of God, by E. Smith, M. D., London." "Have you seen it?" asked his lordship. No," I said, "I had neither seen it nor heard of it: what is its object?" "The author," he replied, "proves that the punishment of hell is not eternal-it will have a termination." "This is no new doctrine," I said: " the author, I suppose, is one of the Socinians, who in a short time

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will try to get rid of every doctrine in the Bible; and terminate (which, indeed, if they were consistent, they would already have done) in pure deism. How did your lordship get hold of this book?" "They sent it out to me from England, to make a convert of me, I suppose the arguments he uses are strong. He draws them from the Bible itself, and by shewing that a time will come when every intelligent creature shall be supremely happy, and eternally so, he expunges that shocking doctrine, that sin and misery will for ever exist under the government of a God whose highest attribute is love and goodness; and thus, by removing one of the greatest difficulties, reconciles us to the wise and good Creator whom the Scriptures reveal."

"But," I said, "how does he account for the existence of sin and misery in the world at present, and for its having existed six thousand years? This is equally inconsistent with the idea of the pure love and goodness of God, or such a notion of it, to the exclusion of his justice and holiness; and if they exist now in our time, as no one can deny, without being incompatible with the Divine goodness, why may not sin and misery exist for ever, if sinners remain impenitent, and

refuse the only remedy which can render them good, without being inconsistent with his attributes?"

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Nay," he said," that is not a strong argument; for a good God can permit sin to exist for a while, but evince his goodness and power at last, by rooting it all out, and rendering all his creatures happy." "I admit he can, but still the principle I contend for holds good,-that, for aught we know, sin may exist for ever, if it can exist for a while, without being inconsistent with the Divine attributes; for what is not inconsistent at one time, cannot be so at another; and the fact, whe ther the case will be so or not, will depend on other principles than the mere consistency or inconsistency of sin and misery under a divine government. Its duration, whether through time or eternity, must depend upon some other principle."

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Well," he replied, "it proves the goodness of God, and is more consistent with the notions of our reason, to believe, that if God, for wise purposes, permitted sin to exist for a while, in order, perhaps, to bring about a greater good than could have been effected without it, that his goodness will be more strikingly manifested, in anticipating the time when every intelligent

creature will be purified from sin, and relieved from misery, and rendered permanently happy."

"It would," I said, " certainly be more suitable to our ideas of humanity, to believe that hell, or a place of punishment, did not exist, or that finally it will be abolished, and all, even the devils, rendered happy; but our ideas and notions, imperfect as we acknowledge ourselves, cannot surely be the measure by which to judge of God, nor the rule by which he will act. As of ourselves we cannot ascertain, either by conjecture, hypothesis, or experiment, anything about eternity, except what God is pleased to reveal to us, his revelation must decide the point; and we must receive it precisely as it is given, and neither believe more nor less than what he reveals and if he reveals a temporary hell, we may believe it, and rejoice at it, for the sake of those who die impenitent; but if he reveals a hell of eternal duration, we must receive it, and grant God to know, rather better than we can, what is compatible with his goodness, and infer with certainty that it must be so, or it would not be." "Come," said his lordship," the author founds his belief on the very Scriptures themselves." "What does he say?" I asked.

"Here," said his lordship,