all the momentous topics of which it treats. For, happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. The merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

LETTER V.

SUCH is your relation to the Most High, that you can rationally calculate upon happiness only as a result of his friendship. It is his prerogative to rule; and that prerogative he can never relinquish. He claims authority, not only over the walk and conversation, but also over the powers of the mind. Hence it becomes you to inquire habitually, whether your religious views and feelings, as well as deportment, accord with his will. As a motive to a cordial acquiescence in the authority of the Bible, then, let me remind you,

That an unsettled state of mind is highly displeasing to God.

He has given you his word in a spirit of boundless benevolence. With this revelation he has sent the proper evidence of its divinity. He has caused its leading truths to be written as with sunbeams. And the whole he has given you in a form which he saw best adapted to your necessities and capacities.

And can he be pleased with that temper of distrust, which divests the Bible of its lofty character, or rejects any portion of it? Can he be satisfied to have his own testimony called in question, and that, too, by one who is of yesterday and knows comparatively nothing? Rest assured, he speaks to be heard, to be respected, and to be obeyed.

The question is not, whether you are sincere in your religious faith. Millions have been sincere in their adherence to the absurd systems of idolatry. But has this sincerity given them favor with God?

Thousands have been sincere in their rejection of the Bible, and in their attempts, by sophistry, wit, and ridicule, to prostrate the Christian cause. But has their sincerity secured for them the divine complacency? "Go ye," said our Lord, "and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Here is developed, by the Judge of all, another criterion of trial for the last day, than sincerity. Here are seen to hang the immortal destinies of a world, upon the reception given to the claims and the truths of Christianity. God demands that his message, sent in mercy, and fully substantiated, shall be received with cordiality. He cannot allow you to trifle with his goodness, or to question his veracity. He cannot allow you to sit in judgment on his sublime and glorious revelations.

LETTER VI.

THOUGH the life of man is a vapor that soon passeth away, he is prone to live as if this were his permanent abode. The infatuation is displayed by old and young. Perhaps it is displayed by yourselves. This heedlessness of the future comports not, surely, with your nature and destiny. And to break up the delusion and lead you to act for immortality is the object of Revelation. As another reason for fixed confidence in the authority of the Bible, then, let it be remembered,

That an unsettled state of mind will prevent all serious attention to the concerns of the soul.

The influence of the Gospel, as a means