God. Such as these can be turned to no profitable account; unlike some natural evils, which may, as poison, be made medicinal. But these moral and spiritual poisons, man at least cannot turn to any beneficial purpose: doubtless God can, else infinite power and goodness would not have permitted their existence in his creation. The states of mind however, to which I refer, are such as are not essentially and necessarily evil. They may be called a kind of natural seasons in the soul, analogous to the seasons of the natural world, only not having their regularity and fixed order. They too have their evils, and may be suffered to become great evils; but still by a wise and religious care, they are available for good. In other terms, they may be described as elements, having in them what may be applied to the very best and most advantageous uses.

These varied states of mind are of the two great classes, the pleasing and the unpleasing; the latter felt oftener and more sensibly.

I. I will begin with an illustration of the more pleasing order. You can easily picture to yourselves a person whose mind is always in the sunshine,— a person perhaps constitutionally cheerful, in excellent health, in the prime of life, and having a great number of circumstances around him very much according to his wishes. In addition to all this, there may be at some particular season, some more than ordinary cause to animate the pleasurable state of his mind; some bright smiles of what we call "good fortune," beaming out upon him; some important matter that was depending decided in his favour; some new delightful confidence or acquisition in regard to the interests of friendship and affection, or some gratifying circumstance in the affairs of his family. It is pleasant to have such an image before you, this high exhilaration, the soul overrunning with delight, the countenance radiant with joy: but consider the case really. How will it be with him? what will be the benefit of all this, if he do not exercise reflection,-if he do not "guide his heart?"

It is far too probable that this pleasurable state of mind will mightily tend and lead to direct evil; to forgetfulness of God, unbounded love of the world, banishment of all thought of death and hereafter, perhaps to levity, frivolity, and revelling in vain amusements.

But at the very best he will indulge himself in the fulness of his satis faction; he will have no use of his delight, but to enjoy it, to devour it ; and he will think that to-morrow shall be as this day, and still more abundant. Now would you not wish to say to him, "Can you be content to have no other good from all your animation, and glow, and expansion of heart, than the mere giving yourself up to be delighted, to bound and dance in thoughtless felicity, like an animal of the spring, or insect of the sunshine? Reflect! you are suffering to consume away, in mere useless sparkle and blaze, a precious element of mind, which might, while it burns, be applied to some noble purpose." Such at least is the lesson which I desire to inculcate, that is, a thoughtful consideration of the valuable uses to which a bright season of the soul should be employed. It should not, by the way, he forgotten, that one point of wisdom in such a case, may be somewhat to repress and sober down this exhilaration of the heart; for there may be so great an intoxication of joyous sentiment as to fit the mind for nothing but wild mirth. But in truth, it will seldom be long before there shall come something or other to damp such excitement, even without our seeking for it. And the consideration that this fine pleasurable season of the spirits may not last long, and is liable to become chilled and overcast, should be a strong admonition to us that we should lose no time in turning it to the best account. Now to what account might a wise man best turn it?

It would surely be a wise application of this pleasurable state of mind, to seek most seriously, that some of it may be directed into the channel of

gratitude to GOD. A wise man's reflections might assume the following form: “Why am I not, at this hour, overwhelmed with distress, instead of this feeling of enjoyment and delight? I deserve to be so, and many of my fellow mortals are actually so overwhelmed, who probably deserve it less. Is it not because God is exceedingly good to me? To make this state which I enjoy, how many remembrances, how many gifts of that beneficent Father have been directed towards me,how many collective rays of mercy have been showered down on me from that open heaven? and does my heart absorb all, and reflect nothing? All this, that tells me of the Supreme Benefactor, does it really but make me, or prove me, an Atheist? In what manner, by what means, can I expect ever to be reminded of God, ever to be drawn towards Him, if his goodness has no such effect? If my heart has absolutely no will to send upwards any of its grateful emotions, as incense to Him, what must be its condition? Is not this a reflection sufficient to blast instantly all my delight? If in these pleasur able emotions, there is nothing of a nature that admits of being sent up in grateful devotion, what estimate should I form of my pleasure and happiness? Am I content, delighted with a happiness which by its very nature estranges me from God?"

It will be a wise and valuable use of any season of unusual gladness, to watch narrowly the effect which earthly felicity has upon our minds, in order that the happy, the self-complacent man may see what kind of nature he has to be acted upon! a sad nature, if he sees the fact to be, that the more its wishes are gratified, the worse it becomes, if left to itself. Thus watching, we shall have practical proof of the manner in which earthly delight acts on the heart, unless combined with a sanctifying religion. There may have been a great deal of unthinking declamation about the dangers of prosperity, and the perverting guile of earthly pleasure. and too many of the gay, the young, the prosperous, smile contemptuously at such discourse. But let us admonish them, that those have no business to deride declamation, who will not attend to proof, even when that proof is in their own souls, and at their most serious cost! A man that shall in a right manner make the kind of observation we are describing, will certainly not desire to have distress and pain, instead of his gladness and gratifi. cation; but as certainly he will be alarmed into earnestness and prayer, that God may never let him fancy himself happy independently of the divine sources of felicity.

Were it not for fear of being tedious, I might pertinently have applied the admonition to certain particular causes or occasions from which this lively delighted state of the spirits takes its rise; as for instance, the recovery of health, relief from great sufferings, peril, or protracted languishing. These are generally seasons of extremely pleasurable feeling, but they are often suffered to be mere pleasures, tending to no use; the mere joy of having escaped, the gladness of a prisoner set loose, before he is sober enough to think what he shall do with his liberty. In this animation of feeling he has, in a sense, a double life, that which was lost to him during illness being virtually restored to him by this extra animation.

If this be all, to what purpose has the man been disciplined by suffering, and rescued by a merciful Hand? Surely he should be anxious to "guide his heart" to those purposes which affliction should have taught him.

I might also have specified that delighted state of feeling, that fine climate, or weather of the soul, which some persons experience from the beautiful seasons and scenes of nature? Then too, the thought should never be long absent, "How can I, as a wise man and a Christian, take the best advantage of this awakening of my sensibility?" No man ever seems to have felt more of this influence than the poetic and inspired Hebrew ; and no reader of the Psalms needs to be informed to what use he directed it.

I shall not specify any more of the particular modes and occasions of these bright and warm states of feeling; but, considering them generally, I cannot too strongly urge the duty which accompanies them. They should be regarded, as cultivators regard the important weeks of the spring; as mariners regard the blowing of favourable winds; as merchants seize a transient and valuable opportunity for gain ; as a man overlaboured and almost overmatched in warfare, regards a strong re-inforcement of fresh combatants. The spring and energy of spirit felt in these pleasurable seasons of the heart, should be applied to a more spirited performance of the Christian duties in general, but especially to those which are the most congenial to their own nature; such as the exercises and services most directly expressive of gratitude to God, careful study of the true happiness of men, and exertions for promoting it.

II. It is more than time to turn to the darker side of our subject. We cannot have been dreaming that these seasons of pleasure prevail on the whole in the general experience of our race, or even with frequency or long duration in the experience of almost any individual. The Christian admonition to " guide the heart," will find but few occasions for exhorting men to turn their joy to a wise account, compared with the cases of a far different kind. It were a gloomy calculation, if it could be made, what proportion of time is passed by mankind collectively in a state of feeling decidedly infelicitous, as compared with their experience of animated pleasure. It would be a still gloomier calculation, to reckon how small a portion of their painful feelings turns to any good account.

We do not mean to take a condition of severe and overwhelming distress as the subject of the present admonition. Greatly short of this, there are occasional seasons of darkened gloomy feeling, continuing for a while, in which sensibility becomes pensiveness, and gravity, sadness. There is a strong tendency for the time, to serious ideas, and musings of the more melancholy class. It is as if an accustomed barrier had been thrown down, to admit into the mind an invasion of austere thoughts, and unwelcome and threatening images. The immediate cause may have been some untoward turn of events, some painful disappointment, or the death of relations or friends, while constitutional tendency, or defective health, may contribute to increase the gloom.

Now, shall not this infelicitous season of the soul be turned, by wisely "guiding the heart," to lasting advantage? and how may it be so?

In many instances all this possible benefit is refused and lost. It is a bad sign when we see a person in this state of feeling, merely anxious and endeavouring to escape from it, feeling a horror of solitude, having recourse to any thing that will help to banish reflection,-to change of place, making excursions, contriving visits and parties, endeavouring to force the spirits up to the pitch of lively society; even trying amusements, when really little in the mood for amusement. This is a wretched and self-defrauding management. Often certainly, the censure must have some terms of quali fication. It is to be acknowledged that, in some cases, a gloomy state of the mind is very directly caused by a disordered or debilitated condition of the body. And when we speak, too, of a constitutional melancholy temperament in some persons, we are but expressing probably some mysterious sympathy of the mind with its corporeal tenement. Now in cases decidedly of this kind, expedients of alleviation will, to a certain extent, be very properly sought, in movement, change of scene, or communication with more cheerful spirits. But, for the far greater number of persons experiencing these occasional graver darker seasons of the mind, there is no such concession to be made. In this case the state of mind should be regarded not as a kind of disorder to be relieved, and escaped from, but as a visitation to be improved. One might address such persons

thus: "It is too probable that, during your past lives, there has been far too little of the voluntary exercise of grave, deep thought, of choosing serious and solemn subjects of reflection, and with an appropriate temper of feeling; that is to say, such a temper as a gay spirit would deem gloomy, and which you may have averted or evaded as such. Now, however, when causes independent of your will have placed you, as it were, in the very element of such thought and feeling, let not your chief aim and effort be to escape from it. You had not seriousness enough to go into a solemn temple; but a hand not to be resisted has led you into it is your sole attention to be fixed on the door, while the oracles of God are inscribed within, the images of the dead are standing within, and visions of futurity are disclosed within? Now that light thoughts, and brisk spirits, and worldly pleasures and hopes, are aloof for a while, do take the opportunity for serious consideration! Reflect! are there no great and solemn questions hitherto, most unwisely, left undecided? When will you be willing to bring them to a decision? is it to be when you shall have recovered the easy or gay tone of feeling which always leads you away from such subjects? Have you yet come to a full consent of the soul to take death and eternity into the circle of your interests, into an intimate combination with all that you are wishing, projecting, and pursuing? If scarcely so, when is this grand point to be effected? will these solemn objects come to your view with more gracious aspects? will they be welcomed nearer to you, when you shall have again become more satisfied or delighted with the gratifications of this life? Shall you call them to meet you in the flowery garden of pleasure, in your circles of gaiety, among your treasures of acquired gain? Reflect! have you yet come absolutely to meet God, in your capacity of a sinner condemned, and to be pardoned and saved? and have you come really and effectually to a believing and grateful assumption of the offered redemption by Jesus Christ? If there be any thing dubious as to this great matter, are you impatient to hasten away into a state of feeling in which you may slumber over such a question, and such a doubt ?"

But, supposing these great interests not to be in doubt and hazard, every man has some duty, or some temptation, in respect to which these darker seasons of feeling might aid him to prepare, and to strengthen his mind.

Now is not this reasonable pleading? It is but requiring that a man should not be willing to come out from a temporary and special state of mind without having availed himself of that advantage which it has espe cially offered him.

III. And very briefly, I will apply the admonition to only one more particular state of feeling, which not seldom visits an observer of mankind, namely, an indignant excitement of mind against human conduct. It will not be pretended that this is one of those feelings that ought to be extinguished as absolutely evil. It is what the best men, the worthiest teachers, protesters and reformers have made no scruple of indulging and avowing. But to make the best advantage of it, a man must very wisely "guide his heart." He looks abroad and sees an infinity of things as he knows they ought not to be, every kind of perversity, depravity and wrong, and in many instances iniquity triumphing in power and success. And at times the flame is made to burn with violence at some particular occurring instance of great iniquity. Now he cannot but be sure that, within certain limitations, he does well to be angry. Then is the time for the admonition, “Take care that you manage this fire to answer for good purpose, and that you do not burn yourself." But for WHAT purpose? It may enforce on you the necessity of a most carefully disciplined judgment. It may surely contribute to aggravate your permanent impression of the extreme evil of

sin. Let every indignant emotion go therefore to "justify" the Almighty in that part of his economy which is directed in hostility against it. Let it also impress upon you that what is so much to be hated, is no less to be dreaded; therefore, beware yourself! The indignant thoughts and emotions thus going outward, may surely admonish you against leaving all to an indulgent judgment within. They should suggest to you a warning against a deceptive manner of comparing yourself with others. They should admonish you of the sovereignty of God. You look at all these: you are impotent, and cannot put an end to it. God sees it all; He is omnipotent, and could end it in a moment. There is a reason why he does not; you must submit in humility to his supreme wisdom. Finally, they should contribute to the desire of a better world, and to a more earnest application to all that which may prepare you for it. Here I close these observations; but these indignant feelings and emotions may profitably serve for the subject of another discourse. The few exemplifications which I have given may contribute to shew, how those involuntary states of mind, which come upon us for a time, may be turned to a valuable use, and that so we may carry out of the world with us benefits acquired by the divine aid, from all the mental seasons through which we shall have passed.

[We hope to present our readers next month, with a beautiful and most characteristic discourse, forming a sequel of the present, on the SEASONS OF THE YEAR; and we beg leave to repeat our acknowledgments to our correspondent L. for his valuable notes.-ED.]

V.-Attendance of Christians at Fashionable Amusements unjustifiable.

[In reply to PHILALETHES, Cal. Christian Observer for April, p. 188.]

To the Editors of the Calcutta Christian Observer.

GENTLEMEN,

The second letter of PHILALETHES demands a rejoinder, but circumstances compel me to make it brief. I shall therefore merely premise, that although he has misunderstood me in more than one instance, and has feathered his argument occasionally with somewhat more of ridicule than beseems the matter in dispute between us, I honour too highly the candour and sincerity which his letter manifests, not to enter with pleasure into the lists of friendly Christian controversy with a writer so able and so single-minded.

The illustration of the "mint, anise, and cummin," was PHILALETHES' OWN. I enlarged upon it, because I thought, as I still think, (for the tenor of his arguments at page 291 confirms my foregone impression,) that he has been driven to take up a false position by the mischievous over-statements of those who have made attendance or non-attendance at balls or concerts the criterion of the existence of religious principle in the hearts of professors. I renounce such a test; but still I do not think the scenes in question safe ground for a Christian to relax upon. Further, I am quite sure that no advanced Christian could spend