LETTERS. 261 



sider the present state of things in the capital, the bound- 

 less opportunities of spiritual improvement which offer 

 themselves, and the very superior society which every 

 serious man may there join with, the tables seem turned 

 in your favour. I hope and trust this is really the case, 

 and that, with philosophical strength of mind, you have 

 turned an unregarding ear to the voice of folly, and con- 

 tinued fixed upon the serener and far more exquisite 

 occupations of a religious life. I have been cultivating 

 in retirement, by slow and imperceptible degrees, a closer 

 communion with God ; but you have been led, as it 

 were, in triumpli by the energetic discourses of the many 

 good men whom you have had the opportunity of hearing, 

 to heights of religious satisfaction, which I can at present 

 only sigh for at a distance. I appeal to you whether the 

 grace of God is not the source of exquisite enjoyments ? 

 AVhat can be more delightful than that sweet and placid 

 calm which it casts over one's mind ; or than the tender- 

 ness it sheds abroad in our hearts, botb w4th regard to 

 God, and our poor fellow-labourers ? Even worldly- 

 minded men confess that this life is, at best, but a scene 

 of anxiety, and disappointment, and distress. How 

 absurd, then, and inconsistent, must be their conduct, 

 when, in spite of this so general and confirmed an ex- 

 perience, they neglect what can alone alleviate the 

 sorrows of this life, and provide for the happiness of the 

 next ? How m.uch more is he to be envied who can ex- 

 claim, with St Paul, "The umrld is crucified unto me, 

 and I unto the ivorld." "7 have learned, in whatsoever 

 state I am, thereivith to he content." " The tvorld jjasseth 

 away, and the lust thereof ; hut he that docfh the will of 

 God ahideth for ever." There is, in truth, an inde- 

 scribable satisfaction in the service of God ; His grace 

 imparts such composure in time of trouble, and such 

 fortitude in the anticipation of it, at the same time that 

 it increases our pleasures by making them innocent, that 

 the Christian, viewed either as militant in this troublous 

 scene, or as a traveller who is hastening by a diffi- 

 cult, but short journey, to a better country, is a most 

 enviable and happy character. The man who lives 



