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CHAPTER XVI. 



TWO LETTERS ON RELIGION. 



THE two letters addressed to Mr William Smith, 

 Forres, are without question among the most im- 

 portant Miller ever wrote. They form a supplement to 

 that portion of his spiritual history which embraced his 

 period of indifference and semi-scepticism, and contain 

 not only an explicit confession of faith, but a statement 

 of that intellectual basis on which it was for him a neces- 

 sity that his faith should rest. Reticent as he was in all 

 that related to his soul's condition, sensitively averse 

 to the unveiling to human eyes of his spiritual ex- 

 perience, he would probably never have written such 

 letters had not an occasion occurred which constrained 

 him to overcome every scruple. A friend lay ill, perhaps 

 unto death ; it seemed possible to Hugh that he might 

 minister to his spirit's health and his eternal salvation ; 

 and he yielded to the impulse of affection and the man- 

 date of duty. The scheme of religion which he unfolds 

 in the letters is that of simple acceptance of Christ 

 for salvation, as He is offered in the Gospel, accept- 

 ance with the heart as well as the head, acceptance 

 with clear consciousness that the difficulties of the 

 intellect cannot be wholly removed. The religion of 

 Miller was to cling close to Christ, to die with Christ, to 



