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which is the source of acceptable prayer"-do you conceive that such a prayer, put up to the Deity upon a conviction of His omniscience and omnipotence, would be heard, although not made in the name of Christ, or accompanied by a request for the Spirit's operation; or would you consider it as an address to the Unknown God? Or, to take another instance, do you think that the prayer of that man would be sinful, who, upon being presented with a Bible, and told what it professed to be, should pray to God so to direct him in the investigation of its evidences that he might detect its falshood if it was untrue? Such prayers I should deem efficacious for the following reasons: Because belief in the existence and superintendence of a Deity I consider to be faith-and, although not that faith which will secure salvation, yet such a faith as will render a prayer for further convictions acceptable; and because Jesus recommended prayer before (if we may judge from the arrangement of the history) the scheme of saving faith was unfolded, and when His hearers were so far ignorant of His nature as to be astonished that He used a style more authoritative than the Scribes.

I have many other subjects to discuss with you, but I will not abuse your patience at present. Of the need I have of assistance, you have ample proof in the unsettled and contradictory nature of my letters. I am still undecided in the very fundamentals of religion, and in moments of gloom I often dread I will relapse into a state of obdurate skepticism. I am, my dear sir, yours truly, JAMES ANDerson.

No. IV.-MR. JAMES ANDERSON TO DR. CHALMERS.

PETERHEAD, 28th September, 1812. MY DEAR SIR-I was never more anxious to be with you than since I came here, for my mind has been distracted by the most violent emotions respecting a subject intimately connected with my future happiness, and perhaps my eternal salvation-I mean my future profession. My father expresses himself averse to my becoming a clergyman, for

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many reasons, which he enumerates, and adds, "that a desire to advance the cause of Christianity may be gratified by a well-intentioned and well-informed layman as effectually, and, in many cases, with more effect than by a clergyman." I endeavor to bring my mind to this simple decision-in which way shall I most promote the glory of God? But a thousand other considerations intrude in spite of me, until at last I get bewildered in questions of personal comfort and worldly estimation. What I most dread is, that my religious progress would not be so great in the situation of a merchant as that of a clergyman; for, were I able, amid the distractions of business, to acquire and maintain that tone of elevated Christianity, to which the pursuits of a clergyman are so favorable, I believe my exertions in the cause would be more useful on account of the greater extent of my means, the absence of professional obligation, and because my influence would be exerted in a sphere to which clergymen have little access, which of course is little preoccupied. On all these points I am most desirous to have your opinion. My father further says, that if arrangements can be made with the Bank of Scotland, whose servant I am at present, he is fully inclined to give me another winter at Edinburgh. “This,” he says, 66 may prove useful whatever your future destination may be, and it will afford time for us all to consider and implore direction for our government in meeting the allotments of Providence." This is my present situation. We return to Dundee on the 6th or 7th of October, and I will then either visit or write you. I have a dependence on your counsel and friendship which Christianity alone could inspire; and I feel grateful to my God that He has brought us together. The affairs of time are slowly shrinking into their due dimensions-the realities of an eternal world are gradually expanding before me— e-I begin to take refuge from the cares and the prospects of life in the bosom of my Savior, and to realize that period when, through His merits, the faithful shall worship before the throne of God forever.

Since I came here I have read "Edwards on Necessity," and I have read it with rapture. I have as much confidence in his theory as in any mathematical proposition; and I find that it leads at once to a thorough solution of what appeared to me the greatest difficulties of the Bible. It is the centre pillar of Christianity; and if there is one subject more than another in which I should like to have my language and conceptions modeled to strict propriety, it is this. But as yet, although I see the gross absurdity of the Arminian system, my new opinions sit uneasily upon me, and it will require some time to assimilate them with the train of my ordinary conceptions.

What is true, however, must ultimately prove familiar. I see, by to-day's paper, that Wilberforce has refused to stand during the approaching election, and is to retire from public life. This I consider one of the most alarming features of the times. Such a man would not have quitted his post if he had not seen that his exertions were fruitless; and when worth loses its sway over public opinion a country is near its downfall. His memory will ever be cherished; and, although Britain yield to the fate of nations, his name will emerge from the ruins of her greatness a monument to the heroism and the triumphs of Christian principle. Even at this moment he is known throughout Africa, and his name circulates in their dreary habitations as that of some mysterious being who curbs the fury of the whites. I ever am, my dear friend, yours most truly, JAMES ANDERSON.

No. V.-MR. THOMAS SMITH TO DR. CHALMERS.

GLASGOW, 13th November, 1815. DEAR SIR-After a week's separation from you, which, to say the least, has been very tedious to me, the slight communication I can produce by writing is very acceptable. The weather, during the last week, has been very bad, and it gives me some comfort to think that only two days have

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elapsed since you left this, which would have answered for our walk.

I have read with great interest the accounts of the Moravian missionaries which you were so kind as lend me. These people seem to have more religion and knowledge of their Creator than any I have ever heard of. The mild description they give of the inhuman conduct of the captain of a vessel who carried some of them 1000 miles from their place of destination, gives an example of forgiveness which, I dare say, is to be found among no other people but themselves. And surely, when we read of an instance of forgiveness, so far above what we would count a prodigy of virtue, we need not be surprised to hear of the spiritual enjoyment they feel, which no doubt is the reward of their Christian conduct. From what I have met with in these journals, I see a very strong inducement to a religious life. Indeed, when I consider that it is a people now living who possess spiritual advantages which make them superior to the pleasures of this world, I feel this inducement presented with such plainness and truth that it is calculated to make a deeper impression upon me than the most elaborate composition: showing to what extent the Christian duties might be performed, and their rewards experienced, founded on the consolations of ancient Christians.

From the consideration of the advantages these Moravians enjoy, I derive great encouragement to proceed on the good work which, I trust, is begun within me; nor do I derive less when I recognize in each temptation, as it presents itself, a device of the powers of darkness, and know the triumph it produces to a higher order of beings when they know that their attempts are baffled. I remain, my dear sir, with much esteem, yours affectionately, THOMAS SMITH.

No. VI.-DR. CHALMERS TO MR. THOMAS SMITH,

EDINBURGH, 15th November, 1815.

MY DEAR SIR-I read with much affection and pleasure your very interesting communication. I have been thinking

much of you; and I trust that the tenderness I feel will never be wounded by any woeful apostasy on your part to the spirit and the practices of an alienated world. As to its grosser

profligacies, it is my delight to think that you are purely and nobly superior to them; but do all you can to strengthen your abhorrence of them. Let not the withering example of others so much as harden your feelings against the exhibition of them; for it is not enough, my dear sir, that you keep aloof from the practice of external ungodliness, you should also cherish a most delicate recoilment of mind from the intrusion of every gross and unworthy conception, recollecting that it is to the pure in HEART that our kind and amiable Savior has promised the blessedness of seeing God.

We read in the Bible of the first love-a phrase which has been much commented upon by theologians, and which is supposed to embrace all that peace, and joy, and ecstatic affections that are felt by the heart, on the first admission of confidence in a God, whom it sees through the medium of the Gospel to be a reconciled Father. I wish you every enjoyment of this kind, which consists with our present state; and many may be those sacred hours of communion with Heaven, which give you the blessed proof of experience that the way you have chosen is, indeed, a way of pleasantness, a path of peace. I have great hopes of you. I love the spirit which animates your letter. I sympathize most cordially with all your taste and admiration for those Heaven-born men who have long been the light of the world; and you will put it down to the right cause when you ascribe it to my anxious and tender regard for you that I point your attention to that part of the Bible where certain are charged with leaving their first love. Oh! do, my much-loved friend, cultivate a suspicion of yourself. Keep in firm bond of dependence with the Savior. Pray unceasingly for the progress of His work in your heart; and while you strive mightily, let it be by His grace working in you mightily. Be assured that there is a call and a significancy in the following directions: Let him

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