"I grew as very flint, and when the rest

Laugh'd at devotion, I enjoy'd the jest ; "But this all vanish'd like the morning-dew, "When unemploy'd, and poor again I grew; "Yea! I was doubly poor, for I was wicked too.

"The mouse that trespass'd and the treasure stole, "Found his lean body fitted to the hole;

"Till, having fatted, he was forced to stay, "And, fasting, starve his stolen bulk away: "Ah! worse for me

grown poor, I yet remain "In sinful bonds, and pray and fast in vain.

"At length I thought, although these friends of sin "Have spread their net, and caught their prey

therein;

"Though my hard heart could not for mercy call, "Because, though great my grief, my faith was "Yet, as the sick on skilful men rely, "The soul diseased may to a doctor fly.

[small;

"A famous one there was, whose skill had wrought "Cures past belief, and him the sinners sought; "Numbers there were defiled by mire and filth, "Whom he recover'd by his goodly tilth:

"Come then,' I said, let me the man behold,
"And tell case'
my
I saw him and I told.

"With trembling voice, 'Oh! reverend sir,' I said, "I once believed, and I was then misled; "And now such doubts my sinful soul beset,

"I dare not say that I'm a Christian yet;

"Canst thou, good sir, by thy superior skill, "Inform my judgment and direct my will? "Ah! give thy cordial; let my soul have rest, "And be the outward man alone distress'd; "For at my state I tremble.'

6

Tremble more,'

"Said the good man, and then rejoice therefore; "'Tis good to tremble; prospects then are fair, "When the lost soul is plunged in deep despair : "Once thou wert simply honest, just, and pure, "Whole, as thou thought'st, and never wish'd a

cure:

"Now thou hast plunged in folly, shame, disgrace. "Now thou 'rt an object meet for healing grace ; "No merit thine, no virtue, hope, belief, "Nothing hast thou, but misery, sin, and grief, "The best, the only titles to relief.'

"What must I do,' I said, 'my soul to free?'"Do nothing, man; it will be done for thee.'"But must I not, my reverend guide, believe? "If thou art call'd, thou wilt the faith receive:'"But I repent not.'- Angry he replied, "If thou art call'd, thou needest nought beside; "Attend on us, and if 't is Heaven's decree,

"The call will come,

if not, ah! wo for thee.

"There then I waited, ever on the watch, "A spark of hope, a ray of light to catch; "His words fell softly like the flakes of snow, "But I could never find my heart o'erflow: "He cried aloud, till in the flock began

“The sigh, the tear, as caught from man to man ;

66

They wept and they rejoiced, and there was I "Hard as a flint, and as the desert dry : "To me no tokens of the call would come, and received my doom;

"I felt my sentence,

"But I complain'd

'Let thy repinings cease,

"Oh! man of sin, for they thy guilt increase; "It bloweth where it listeth;

66

die in peace.'

'In peace, and perish?' I replied; ' impart "Some better comfort to a burthen'd heart.' "Alas!' the priest return'd,' can I direct "The heavenly call? Do I proclaim th' elect? "Raise not thy voice against th' Eternal will, "But take thy part with sinners, and be still. (1)

(1) In a periodical work [the Eclectic Review for June, 1810,] the preceding dialogue is pronounced to be a most abominable caricature, if meant to be applied to Calvinists in general, and greatly distorted, if designed for an individual: now the author, in his preface, has declared, that he takes not upon him the censure of any sect or society for their opinions; and the lines themselves evidently point to an individual, whose sentiments they very fairly represent, without any distortion whatsoever. In a pamphlet entitled "A Cordial for a Sin-despairing Soul," originally written by a teacher of religion, and lately republished by another teacher of greater notoriety, the reader is informed that after he had full assurance of his salvation, the Spirit entered particularly into the subject with him; and, among many other matters of like nature, assured him that "his sins were fully and freely forgiven, as if they had never been committed; not for any act done by him, whether believing in Christ, or repenting of sin; nor yet for the sorrows and miseries he endured, nor for any service he should be called upon in his militant state, but for his own name and for his glory s sake," &c. And the whole drift and tenour of the book is to the same purpose, viz. the uselessness of all religious duties, such as prayer, contrition, fasting, and good works: he shows the evil done by reading such books as the Whole Duty of Man, and the Practice of Piety; and complains heavily of his relation, an Irish bishop, who wanted him to join with the household in family prayer; in fact, the whole work inculcates that sort of quietism which this dialogue alludes to, and that without any recommendation of attendance on the teachers of the Gospel, but rather holding forth encouragement to the supineness of man's nature; by the information that he in vain looks for acceptance by the employment of his talents, and that his hopes of glory are rather extinguished than raised by any application to the means of grace.

"Alas, for me! no more the times of peace "Are mine on earth-in death my pains may ceasc.

16

;

"Foes to my soul! ye young seducers, know, "What serious ills from your amusements flow Opinions, you with so much ease profess, "O'erwhelm the simple and their minds oppress: "Let such be happy, nor with reasons strong, "That make them wretched, prove their notions wrong;

"Let them proceed in that they deem the way, "Fast when they will, and at their pleasure pray: "Yes, I have pity for my brethren's lot, "And so had Dives, but it help'd him not: "And is it thus ?-I'm full of doubts:- Adieu ! Perhaps his reverence is mistaken too." (1)

(1) It has been a subject of greater vexation to me than such trifle ought to be, that I could not, without destroying all appearance of arrangement, separate these melancholy narratives, and place the fallen Clerk in Office at a greater distance from the Clerk of the Parish, especially as they resembled each other in several particulars; both being tempted, seduced, and wretched. Yet are there, I conceive, considerable marks of distinction their guilt is of different kind; nor would either have committed the offence of the other. The Clerk of the Parish could break the commandment, but he could not have been induced to have disowned an article of that creed for which he had so bravely contended, and on which he fully relied; and the upright mind of the Clerk in Office would have secured him from being guilty of wrong and robbery, though his weak and vacillating intellect could not preserve him from infidelity and profaneness. Their melancholy is nearly alike, but not its consequences. Jachin retained his belief, and though he hated life, he could never be induced to quit it voluntarily; but Abel was driven to terminate his misery in a way which the unfixedness of his religious opinions rather accelerated than retarded. I am, therefore, not without hope that the more observant of my readers will perceive many marks of discrimination in these characters.