this is the creature to be proud and haughty. How absurd! I had almost said, how impossible! If in his madness he climbs a height so tottering and baseless, he must inevitably fall. This spirit too is at war with the happiness of man, and therefore it must be destroyed. If only worldly happiness is considered, even this cannot be known to him who steps so far above the humble vale where nature intended him to walk, and where alone are found the fruits of social and domestic peace. His high passion bears him away from that temperance of feeling and that regard for familiar intercourse, which are indispensable to enjoyment in this probationary state. His proud spirit forbids him to settle down in the quietness of social equality, and therefore he must be alone in all that he does. He feeds on the emptiness of vanity, and leanness is in his He is unable to be complacent toward others, for all his esteem must centre in himself, thus becoming an exile in society, a stranger at his own house. Unhappy mortal! his haughty spirit is his ruin. This is also opposed to the spirit of religion, and therefore it takes hold on destruction. Meekness is inseparable from the religion of Christ. Repentance for sin necessarily produces self-abasement; an acquaintance with the corruptions of the heart must beget selfloathing; and the feelings of charity cannot exist along with the muraars of pride, and the boastings of arrogance. In short, every principle of religion is directly contrary to this insolence of soul. If, without religion then, we are unsafe, certainly with a haughty spirit, we are in danger. If humility is a test of piety, pride is a test of impiety. If the one fits for salvation, the other ripens for destruction. Most solemn and awful then is the truth, that " pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." That proud mortal, who now glories in his greatness and seems secure in his strength, is in the most imminent danger. His false boastings will soon end in sorrow; his high hopes be dashed at once; and himself fall into the yawning gulf, unless he immediately comes down to the level of charitable feeling, to the humility of repentance, and to the meekness of the gospel. That haughty sinner, who perhaps considers it as unmanly to be religious, who would even be ashamed to be found on his knees in supplicating pardon from an offended God, and to acknowledge Christ as his Saviour, and who seems to live in defiance of death and eternity; that sinner will shortly sink into the fathomless pit, where alone can be suffered the pride of the impetent and the arrogance of fiends, unless he complies immediately with the humiliating terms of salvation. Y. S A COLLOQUY. George. Strange doctrine this, Charles, which our minister has taught us to-day! According to his theory, we are liable to eternal punishment for doing as well as we know how. Charles. You give a false colouring to the subject. He did indeed say that sincerity in error could form no excuse for our guilt; nor shield us from its consequences. G. If then I do what I sincerely believe to be right, am I to be punished for it? Suppose my belief does not exactly coincide with. yours; even suppose it to be very erroneous: If I am firmly persuaded of the truth of my principles, and by them regulate my conduct, God will accept my services, though imperfect. Otherwise he would be a hard inaster. C. Upon what do you ground your opinion? Not upon the Bible, certainly. scrip He who G. Yes, my belief is founded not only on reason, but on ture. "The sin of ignorance shall be winked at." knew not his Lord's will, though he did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." There is another passage exactly in point; "As a man thinketh, so is he;" which plainly implies that it is not so much the outward action which God regards, as sincerity of heart in its performance. Is not this conclusive? your in C. Your arguments appear very plausible. But let us examine them a little more minutely; and perhaps we shall find that neither reason nor scripture favour them so much as you imagine. Reason you say teaches that God would be a hard master, should he punish you for the violation of his commands through ignorance: or, in other words, any action in the performance of which you are sincere, must necessarily be right. This sounds very well in theory; but what is its practical influence? It is a plain command of God," "Thou shalt not steal." If you, by any process of reasoning, can persuade yourself that it is right for you to take the property of your own use, will you richer neighbour, and convert it to this way be justified in stealing? What says your boasted reason? Again, Christ has told us; "He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Suppose you persuade yourself that you may be saved, although you do not believe? Will your persuasion destroy the truth of the Saviour's declaration ? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but his word shall not pass away. Saul of Tarsus verily thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Ask this bloody persecutor, when smitten to the ground, on his way to Damascus, whether he thinks such conduct pleasing to his Maker. The persecutors and murderers of the primitive christians thought they were doing God service. Will he therefore reward them as his faithful servants? G. They were, doubtless, guilty: for they had the opportunity of knowing better. C. This is the very point to which I was coming: viz. that a man is accountable for the very manner in which he forms his belief. If But as it is, we we were excluded from all possibility of knowing the truth, this might form some excuse for our embracing error. have no cloak for our sin. Born in a Christian country, where the means of information are generally diffused, with the gospel preached in our hearing, and the Bible in our hands, if we neglect to in form ourselves on the subject of religion, and die in ignorance, we can never plead this ignorance at the bar of God, as an excuse for our sins. Suppose a gospel sinner at the judgment seat is asked, "Have you complied with the requisition of the gospel ?" He answers, "I was not aware that any thing was required of me." "Did you possess the Bible?" "Yes, but I never read it." "Was the gospel preached in your village "Yes, but I never heard it." May not the Judge in justice say, "Take ye the wicked and slothful servant, bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness" His very ignorance may be an additional ground for his condemnation. For in this case, he stands charged, not only with the violation of God's law, but also with casting contempt upon the means which he has instituted to make known his law. G. Error is sometimes propagated from the pulpit. Is not this some excuse for those who are led astray? C. It is but too true that some who occupy that sacred place, which was designed to be the vehicle of truth, have turned the truth of God into a lie; and, instead of preaching to save the souls of men, preach to please their corrupt and depraved inclinations. Such will doubtless have a doubly dreadful account to render at the last day yet their hearers need not be led astray, for they possess the means of knowing the truth-they have the Bible, that sure word of prophecy, unto which they would do well to take heed, for it is able to make them wise unto salvation. But if, through hatred to the truth and love to sin, they are not able to bear sound doctrine, and thus turn away from the truth to hear smooth things, they must suffer the consequences of their delusions. G. Your arguments are certainly of some weight. But what will you do with such passages of scripture as those already quoted, which speak of the sin of ignorance, of him who knew not his Lord's will? &c. C. I understand their plain and obvious meaning to be this,-that men will not have to answer for the abuse of privileges which they never enjoyed. For instance, the errors of the heathen, so far as they result from necessary ignorance, must be chargeable, either to their ancestors, who have rejected the gospel, or to Christian nations, who have refused to impart it to them. "As a man thinketh, so is he." This I most firmly believe. If he thinks right, he is right: if he thinks wrong, he is wrong. In other words; it is motive which gives character to an action. It is the secrets of the heart which God will judge. If the heart be right, the conduct is necessarily so: if the heart be wrong, the conduct is so likewise. The man, therefore, who ignorantly embraces, and sincerely believes erroneous principles, and by them governs his actions, when the means of discovering the truth are within his reach, is, in the sight of God, equally guilty with him, who performs the same actions contrary to his principles. Deny this, and you give mankind full license to work all iniquity. You justify the drunkard and the voluptuary, the profane swearer and the homicide: for it is not a difficult task for a man to persuade himself, that an action is right, when his heart is set upon its performance. G. I will think more of this subject. *P.* OBITUARY. DIED, at Woodbury, on the 8th Nov. Miss ELIZABETH HOTCHKISS, aged 29.It is not to applaud the virtues of the deceased, nor to gratify the feelings of surviving relatives, but to exhibit the riches of divine grace, that the following statements are presented to the public. In early life, the deceased was dedicated to God in the ordinance of baptism, and was the subject of maternal prayers and counsels. Being possessed of a contemplative mind, she never had that relish for society and parties of amusement which is exercised by many youth. In Oct. 1820, she was called to a separation from her youngest sister, to whom she was united by the strongest ties of affection. A few months after her death, she began to mourn because she had not been an example of piety to her departed sister: her conscience accused her, and she resolved to attend to the salvation of her soul. Her anxiety continued, in some degree, until the next April, when her anguish of mind became exceedingly poignant: the awful majesty of God-the severity of his law-the nature of sin and its consequences, were the subjects of her incessant meditations. Her convictions increased, until she enjoyed freedom from her bondage, which, according to her own words, took place the latter part of May. The circumstances of her conversion were of a pecufiar nature. A christian friend came to her, and discovering her gloom and despondency, told her " that Jesus Christ had come into the world to save sinners." She gratefully received these tidings, and in a few moments the light of God's presence imparted peace to her soul. Her views were bright and her enjoyments uninterrupted. After six months had elapsed, she covenanted publicly to walk with God but she had not long to dwell with the church militant; a mansion of unfading glory was preparing. On the 15th of Oct. she was attacked by the typhus fever, which terminated her earthly existence. Subsequent to her confinement, she was heard to say, several times, "I am happy; O yes, I feel happy." Being asked in what she was happy, she replied, " I am happy in view of the goodness of God and of a long eternity." After seasons of deep distress, some medicine being administered to her, she remarked to those who were near her, "You do too much for me; Christ had nothing to take but vinegar mixed with gall. O how good is my heavenly Father, in raising up friends to take care of such an unworthy sinner! I feel that I ought to be patient under my trials, for I have sinned all my days." At intervals of ease, she frequently exclaimed, "Who would have thought that God could have manifested himself so wonderfully to my soul? This bed of sickness is to me a pleasant place; never did I think, before, that I could have been so resigned to death!" After a night of distress, she was asked by her father, in reference to her health, "How do you feel?" « I feel," said she," a resignation to the will of God-His will is my will." Her brother, who was a professor of religion, standing by her bed side, enquired of her if she knew him, to which she answered, "Yes, I know you well; you are a child of God." In the morning of her last Sabbath on earth, being told that the Church would that day have a season of communion, she expressed with rapture her belief "that they would have a profitable season, especially if they enjoyed the presence of God." Concerning lukewarm christians, she not unfrequently made these remarks: "When will stupid professors awake? They must not live in this manner. Do they have a spirit of prayer? Do they pray for the impenitent ?" She likewise manifested by her conversation a peculiar anxiety for sinners. "O," said she, "why do not transgressors go to the Saviour? God has done so much for them, how can they delay? O that they would remember this free salvation! If they would accept it, I would willingly forget my pains and troubles. O that my companions would prepare for this bed of death!" Her feelings in regard to a particular friend, she expressed in the following manner, to one who took considerable care of her in her sickness: "I wish he might no longer put off the salvation of his soul. Christ is the door, and I long to have him cast his burdens upon him. O if he would now resolve!-if he would seek as long as he lives, I would soon forget my joys and sorrows." Through the whole course of her illness, she showed that her attachment to the world was dissolved, for she often stated to some of her friends, "that she believed this world was vanity, and that to her it seemed a wonder how creatures could place their affections on these imperfect objects." In her seasons of communion with God, she dwelt on the love of Christ, and usually uttered, with a low tone, the following lines: "Behold what wondrous grace Her confidence in Christ, and that serenity of mind which she had incessantly enjoyed, seemed to add a peculiar lustre to the closing scene. Being informed that she was dying, she stated explicitly that she had no fears"-and requested her pious friends to pray for her. Her speech soon failed; and when her features were sinking in the agonies of death, there seemed to light upon them the hope of a blessed immortality. At two o'clock in the night, without a struggle or a sigh, or even the distortion of a limb, she met with her desired release from this cottage of clay. Thus died this daughter of Zion. That form which was once so expressive of intelligence and activity, is now chilled by the hand of death; but the spirit, that glorious luminary, has fled from our earth, that it might brighten in other systems and glow in a purer clime. While her companions feel the pangs of separation, they cannot but retrace the scenes of departed days. In meetings of inquiry, they have heard her sighs of distress, and mingled, with her, their tears of anxiety. The period of her espousal to Christ, called forth among them a new song of praise, because another had been added to their number. In the circle of converts, her seat has generally been occupied ; and after the exercises, she has related to some of them the happy feelings of her soul. They have taken sweet counsel with her, while they have walked to the house of God. Nor can they forget those rich banquets |