that our Saviour had said to his disciples, They shall say all manner of evil of you falsely; and the present instance may be a case in point. You have no personal acquaintance with Mr. Relly,' said she; 'nor do you know that any of those from whom you have received his character, are better informed than yourself. I think it doth not become us to speak or believe evil of any man without the strongest possible proof. All this was rational; I felt its full force, and blushed for my own credulity. I proceeded to read. The Union introduced me to many passages of scripture which had before escaped my observation. A student, as I had been of the scriptures, from the first dawn of my reason, I could not but wonder at myself: I turned to Mr. Mason's book, and I discovered want of candor, and a kind of duplicity, which had not before met my view, and which perhaps would never have caught my attention had I not read the Union. I saw the grand object untouched, while Relly had clearly pointed out the doctrines of the gospel. Yet there were many passages that I could not understand, and 1 felt myself distressingly embarrassed. One moment I wished from my soul 1 had never seen the Union; and the next my heart was enlarged, and lifted up by considerations which swelled my bosom to ecstacy. This was the situation of my mind during many succeeding months, and a large proportion of my time was passed in reading and studying the scriptures, and in prayer? My understanding was pressing on to new attainments, and the prospect brightened before me. I was greatly attached to my minister, Mr. Hitchins: he was eminent in his line, and a most pleasing preacher. Mrs. Murray was in the habit of taking down his sermons in short hand. We were delighted with the man, and accustomed to consider him a genuine gospel preacher. It happened that Mr. Hitchins took a journey into the country, and was absent on the sabbath day. Come, my dear, said I, our minister is out of town, let us avail ourselves of the opportunity, and hear the writer of the Union; this is a privilege, which few, who read books, can have; as authors are generally numbered with the dead before their labors are submitted to the public eye.' Her consent was yielded to my solicitations; but we were terrified as we passed along, in the fear of meeting some of our religious brethren: happily, however, we reached the meeting-house without encountering any one to whom we were known.

Mr. Relly had changed his place of worship, and we were astonished to observe a striking proof of the falsehood of those reports whielt had reached us; no coaches thronged the street, nor surrounded the door of this meeting-house; there was no vestige of grandeur, either within or without. The house had formerly been occupied by Quakers; there were no seats, save a few benches; and the pulpit was framed of a few rough boards, over which no plane had ever passed. The audience corresponded with the house. They did not appear very religious; that is, they were not melancholy; and I therefore suspected they had not much pięty. I attended to everything; the hymn was good, the prayer excellent, and I was astonished to witness, in so bad a man, so much apparent devotion; for still, I must confess, the prejudices I had received from my religious friends, were prevalent in my mind. Mr. Relly gave out his text. 'Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or the tree corrupt and the fruit corrupt; for every tree is known by its fruit; a good tree cannot bring forth corrupt fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.' I was immeasurably surprised. What, thought I, has this man to do with a passage so calculated to condemn himself? But, as he proceeded, every faculty of my soul was powerfully seized and captivated, and I was perfectly amazed, while he explained who we were to understand by the good, and who by the bad trees. He proved, beyond contradiction, that a good tree could not bring forth any corrupt fruit, but there was no man, who lived and sinned not; all mankind had corrupted themselves; there were none therefore good; no, not one.

No mere man, since the fall, has been able to keep the commandments of God; but daily doth break them, in thought, in word, and in deed. There was, however, one good tree, JESUS; He indeed stands, as the apple-tree, among the trees of the wood; He is that good tree, which cannot bring forth corrupt fruit; under his shadow the believer reposeth; the fruit of this tree is sweet to his taste; and the matter of his theme constantly is, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.' I was constrained to believe, that I had never, until this moment, heard the Redeemer preached; and, as I I sa said, I attended with my whole soul. I was humbled, I was confounded; I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles. I suspected myself; I had lost my standing; I was unsettled, perturbed, and wretched. A few individuals whom I had known at Mr. Whitefield's tabernacle, were among Mr. Relly's audience, and I heard them say, as they passed out of the aisle of the church, I wonder how the Pharisees would like our preacher? I wished to hear Mrs. Murray speak upon the subject; but we passed on wrapped in contemplation. At length I broke silence: Well, my my dear, what are your sentiments? Nay, my dear, what is your opinion?' I never heard truth, unadulterated truth, before; so sure as there is a God in heaven, if the scriptures be the word of God, the testimony this day delivered, is the truth of God. It is the first consistent sermon 1 have ever heard. I reached home full of this sermon; took up the Union, read it with new pleasure; attended again and again, upon Mr. Kelly, and was more and more astonished. Mr. Hitchins returned home, but, as I conceived, very much changed, more inconsistent than ever. 'No, my dear,' said my wife, 'it is you, who are changed; he preaches, as I can prove by my notes, precisely the same; yet it is truly surprising, that his multiplied contradictions have, until now, passed without our observation.' Well, said I, what are we to do? Can we, in future, bear such inconsistencies, now that we are better in

formed? Suppose we keep our seats as usual; attending, however, one half of every Sabbath, to the preacher of Christ Jesus? On this we immediately determined, and, by this expedient, we imagined we might be gratified by hearing the truth, without running the risk of losing our reputation; for we well knew, that, as professed adherents of Mr. Relly, we could no longer preserve that spotless fame we delighted to cherish.

I now commenced the reading of the Scriptures, with augmented diligence. The Bible was indeed a new book to me, the veil was taken from my heart, and the word of my God became right precious to my soul. Many scriptures, that I had not known, forcibly pressed upon my observation; and many, that, until now, I had not suffered myself to believe. Still the doctrine of election distressed me; unfortunately, I had connected this doctrine of election with the doctrine of final reprobation; not considering, that, although the first was indubitably a scripture doctrine, the last was not to be found in, nor could be supported by revelation. I determined to call upon, and converse with Mr. Hitchins, on this important subject. I found him in his study, encompassed about with the writings of great men. I wait upon you, sir, for the purpose of obtaining help. The Arminians show me many scriptures, which proclaim the universality of the Atonement. I cannot answer them. What my dear sir, shall I do? Why, sir, the doctrines of election, and reprobation, are doctrines we are bound to believe, as articles of our faith; but I can say, with the Rev. Mr. Hervey, I never wish to think of them, except upon my knees. I never heard any one undertake to explain then, who did not still further embarrass the subject. One observation is, however, conclusive, and it never fails effectually to silence the Arminian: That if, as they affirm, Christ Jesus died for all men, then assuredly all men must be saved; for no one can be eternally lost, for whom the Redeemer shed his precious blood; such an event is impossible. Now, as the Arminians will not admit a possibility, that all will finally be saved, they are thus easily confounded.' This, I thought, was very good; it was clear, as any testimony in divine revelation, that Christ Jesus, died for all, for the sins of the whole world, for every man, &c.; and even Mr. Hitchins had declared, that every one, for whom Christ died, must finally be saved. This I took home with me to my wife: she saw the truth, that we were so well prepared to embrace, manifested even by the testimony of its enemies, and we were inexpressibly anxious to hear, and to understand. We now attended public worship, not only as a duty, conceiving that we thus increased a fund of righteousness, upon which we were to draw in every exigence, but it became our pleasure, our consolation, and our highest enjoyment. We began to feed upon the truth as it is in Jesus, and every discovery we made filled us with unutterable transport. I regarded my friends with increasing affection, and I conceived, if I had an opportunity of conversing with the whole world, the whole world would be convinced. It might truly have been said, that we had a taste of heaven below.

It was soon whispered in the tabernacle, that I had frequently been seen going to, and coming from Relly's meeting! This alarmed many, and one dear friend conversed with me in private upon the subject, heard what, from the abundance of my heart, my mouth was constrained to utter, smiled, pitied me, and begged I would not be too communicative, lest the business should be brought before the society, and excommunication might follow. I thanked him for his caution; but as I had conversed only with him, I had hazarded nothing. In a short time I was cited to appear before the society, worshipping in Mr. Whitefield's tabernacle; I obeyed the summons, and found myself in the midst of a very gloomy company, all seemingly in great distress; they sighed very bitterly, and at last gave me to understand, that they had heard, I had become an attendant upon that monster, Relly, and they wished to know if their information was correct. I requested I might be told, from whom they had their intelligence? and they were evidently embarrassed by my question. Still, however, I insisted upon being confronted with my accuser, and they at length consented to summon him; but I was nearly petrified when I learned it was the identical friend, who had privately conversed with me, and who had privately cautioned me, that had lodged the information against me! Upon this friend I had called, in my way to the tabernacle, confiding to him my situation; he said, he had feared the event; he pitied me, and prayed with me. But he did not calculate upon being confronted with me, and his confusion was too great to suffer his attendance. It was then referred to me: 'Was it a fact, I had attended upon Relly?' I had. Did I believe what I had heard? I answered that I did -and my trial commenced. They could not prove, I had violated those articles, to which I had subscribed. I had, in no point of view, infringed the contract, by which I was bound. But they apprehended, if I continued to approbate Relly, by my occasional attendance on his ministry, my example would become contagious; except, therefore, I would give them my word, that I would wholly abandon this pernicious practice, they must, however unwillingly, pronounce upon me the sentence of excommunication. I refused to bind myself by any promise; I assured them I would continue to hear, and to judge for myself; and that I held it my duty to receive the truth of God wherever it might be manifested. But Relly holds the truth in unrighteousness. I have nothing to do with his unrighteousness; my own conduct is not more reprehensible, than heretofore. They granted this; but the force of example was frequently irresistible, and, if I were permitted to follow, uncensured, my own inclination, others might claim the same indulgence, to the utter perversion of their souls. It was then conceded in my favor, that, if I would confine my sentiments to my own bosom, they would continue me a member of their communion. I refused to accede to this proposal. I would not be under an obligation to remain silent. I must, so often as opportunity might present, consider myself as called upon to advocate truth. The question was then put-Should I be considered a member of the society upon my own terms? And it was lost by only three voices.

It was one in the morning, when I returned home to my poor disconsolate wife, who was waiting for me; and when I entered her apartment, my spirits were so sunk, that, throwing myself into a chair, I burst into tears. But the sweet soother of my every woe, hastened to communicate that consolation she was so eminently qualified to bestow. Now,' said she, 'for the first time, you know what it is to suffer for Christ's sake; and you must arm yourself with fortitude to bear, what the adherents of Mr. Relly must always bear. Let us offer up praise and thanksgiving, that it is no worse. Fear not those, who can only kill the body :* these, however,

* The passage of scripture here referred to, is Matt. x. 28, Luke xii. 4, 5. See the passages and their contexts. The word rendered hell is Gehenna, for the sense of which see Matt. v. 22, and xxiii. 33. Its primary signification was the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, which the Jews made a place of legal punishment; but the word is also used figuratively to signify the afflictions which befel the Jews at the time of the destruction of their city. These are the unquestionable, and, in my view, the only senses in which gehenna occurs; and the following is a list of the twelve places in which it may be found in the New Testament: Matt. v. 22, 29, 30; x. 28; xviii. 9; xxiii. 15, 33; Mark ix. 43, 45, 47; Luke xii. 5; James iii. 6.

To 'destroy soul and body in gehenna,' as we read Matt. x. 28, was utterly to destroy a person by casting him into the fire which was kept constantly burning in the valley of Hinnom. The Jews, after their subjection to the Romans, had not the power lawfully to take life. When Pilate, the Roman governor told the Jews to take Christ and punish him according to their laws, they replied, 'It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.' John xviii. 31. Here then were the two powers referred to in Matt. x. 28-the Jewish and the Roman power. The Jews could torture and scourge in their synagogues, but the Roman power alone could lawfully take life. Fear not them which torture the body.' The Greek verb cannot be rendered kill, because the act is distinguished from killing, which is immediately spoken of in the same verse. 'Fear not them which torture the body, but are not able to kill (psuche) the life,' i. e. destroy life. The Jews were not lawfully able to destroy life; but the Romans were able. The disciples therefore were warned by their Master to fear that power less which could torture without 'killing the soul,' or destroying life, than the power which could cast them into the fire of the valley of Hinnom.

It has been usual to interpret this passage as having reference to God - Fear God, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.' But there is a very serious objection to this interpretation, viz.; Jesus told his disciples in the same conversation not to be afraid of God, for he would certainly take care of them. 'Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. FEAR YE NOT, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.' Here they are instructed not to be afraid that God will forsake them.