These considerations alleviate our grief when bereaved of Christian relatives and friends. In such circumstances we are reminded, that, as Jesus died and rose again, so they who sleep in him shall God bring with him-that the Lord shall come from heaven; shall redeem his people from the grave, and take them to be for ever with himself. The Christian is enabled to look forward to the day of Christ as that on which his re-union with his departed friends shall be completed, never more to be dissolved. He is thus enabled to anticipate his own dissolution with peace, and hope, and joy. Looking to him who hath died and risen again, he rejoices that he hath overcome death, and that thus it is now a messenger of peace. Jesus died and rose again that his people might be able to say, "All things are ours, whether life or death;" so that "neither death nor life, things present nor things to come, shall ever separate from the love of Christ, or from the love of God manifested through him." Contemplating the Redeemer, we anticipate the resurrection-morn, when, standing on the brink of the grave, from which we have just been delivered, we shall exclaim with triumphant rapture, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Then, my dear friend, our sun shall no more go down, neither shall our moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning shall be ended.

I am, &c.

LETTER III.

ON THE INVITATIONS AND PROMISES OF THE GOSPEL. The importance of understanding the invitations and promises of the Gospel-The former addressed to men considered as sinners, the latter respect them as believers. Self-examination not designed to find a warrant to go to Christ. This illustrated by a reference to the manna, the cities of refuge, and the brazen serpent. The happy effects of the knowledge of the truth. The study of the character of Christ necessary to our sanctification. The great object of faith should be steadily contemplated. General reflections.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

It is of great importance to understand the invitations and promises of the Gospel, in order to our perceiving that it is the only source of relief and comfort to a guilty creature. The message of reconciliation finds us in a state of condemnation and sin. In this state its blessed light rises upon us, and, shining forth in all its glory, reveals the righteousness and salvation of Christ as at hand. It invites the guilty to come to the Saviour, and promises the many and precious blessings of redemption to every sinner who believes the testimony of heaven respecting his atonement Those who are invited are not a particular class of persons, distinguished by certain excellencies or qualifications, but all mankind. They are described only by those necessitous and wretched circumstances which are common to men. The weary and the heavy laden," "the hungry and the thirsty," are sinners considered simply as miserable and as longing for happiness. They are addressed, not as sensible sinners, or as hungering and thirsting after Christ and

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spiritual blessings, but as " spending their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfieth not." To such, in all their guilt, are the invitations of the Gospel given, and the promises of mercy and eternal life are made to them, considered as coming to the Saviour.

The invitations of the Gospel are addressed to all— the promises respect believers only. There is a sense, indeed, in which the promises also are addressed to sinners. They are invited to come to Christ, and are promised rest if they comply with his gracious call. The feast of love is prepared, and all are intreated to partake of it. But it is only by coming to the Redeemer that the mercies of the everlasting covenant can be actually enjoyed, and it is on this supposition, or as believing the Gospel, and so turning to God, that they are promised them. When promises are made to the guilty, while "far from righteousness,” the design is not to comfort them while continuing in unbelief and impenitence, but to exhibit the cause, or spring, of salvation, even the free love of God, and to encourage them to come instantly to the Saviour. Such passages of Scripture show, that no complicated process is to be gone through in order to our acceptance; that no holy preparation is requisite; and that no perplexing course of discipline is required, that we may be qualified for an interest in the righteousness and salvation of Christ. They show, that, on believing the Gospel, the sinner has access into a state of favour with God, and enjoys the blessing of peace with him through resting his hopes on the atonen.ent of Jesus.

On the other hand, my dear friend, when promises are made to particular characters; as when the vision of God is promised to "the pure in heart," and the inheritance of the heavenly land "to the meek," the design is to point out the state of mind necessary to the actual enjoyment of the blessings. This state of mind is not mentioned as the ground or meritorious cause why the blessings in question are bestowed, but as essential to our being meet for deriving happiness from them, and so to their being blessings to us. No sinner has a warrant to consider himself possessed of the blessings exhibited in any promise, which teaches either the cause of salvation or the character of the saved, unless he has believed the Gospel. The mercies of the new covenant are proposed to all, but only believers embrace them. Hence, promises that re spect character are of the first moment even to the ungodly, as they teach them that a change of mind, as well as a change of state, is necessary to happiness— that the happiness which can satisfy the heart is to be had only in the favour and fellowship of God; and that the Saviour alone can communicate that blessedness which meets their necessities, and can gratify the cravings of their restless and unhappy spirits.

While such promises are to be viewed in this light, they ought also to be taken in connection with the other promises of Scripture, in which is exhibited the spring of redemption. The latter have been called absolute promises. If by this is meant that, not for anything in us, but exclusively for the sake of Christ

we are blessed, then, all promises are in this sense absolute. When they are made to particular characters it is not on account of any goodness in them, but for the sake of him through whom all of them are "yea and amen." On viewing these two kinds of promises, along with the free invitations of the Gospel, it will be seen, that the first genuine comfort of a Christian is obtained by believing in the work of Christ, and not from any thing in himself. It will be found also, that all classes of sinners have the same warrant to go to the Redeemer to receive the blessings of redemption that Christians have to enjoy them. It will be no less evident, that it is by going as we are to the Saviour that we are changed in mind, and so become possessed of those holy principles and dispositions, which capacitate us for the actual enjoyment of the blessings of mercy; so, that while the necessity of a change of mind is taught, the way in which it is ef fected is clearly exhibited. I need not remind you, that there is a wide difference between a warrant to take and possess the blessings of salvation, and the actual enjoyment of them. The former rests upon the free invitations and promises of God addressed to the world at large, the latter is the result of embracing them.

The Gospel produces effects in all who believe it corresponding with its nature, and proportioned to the degree in which it is understood and believed. These effects, however, do not constitute our title to the blessings of redemption. If the question is put, "How shall I obtain rest to my guilty soul?" an answer is not to be