a

It is thus that the dark and unsearchable nature of the subject operates insensibly but powerfully as a restraint on self-examination—and certainly there would be encouragement felt to begin this exercise, were it made to appear in the light of a more practicable exercise, that could really and successfully be gone through. It is just as if set upon the task of searching for some minute article on the floor of an apartment, of which the windows had been partially closed—a weary and a hopeless undertaking, till the sun has fully arisen, and the shutters have been altogether unfolded, and the greatest possible supply of light has been admitted into the room. Then the search might be entered upon with vigour, and just because now it could be entered upon with the alacrity of a comfortable expectation. The work is less repulsive, because easier—and now might the whole surface of this trial for a discovery be patiently explored, just because now a greater visibility had been poured over it.

This leads to a remark, which though a mere preliminary to the subject of self-examination, we nevertheless deem to be one of great practical importance.

We think that however inscrutable at this moment our mind may be, and however faintly the marks and the characteristics of our Christianity are delineated thereupon, yet that even now the inward survey ought to be commenced, and renewed at frequent intervals, and daily persevered in. But, meanwhile, and to facilitate the search, we should do the very thing that is done in the case of a dark apartment.

There should be as much light as possible thrown upon the subject from without,

If the lineaments of grace within us be faint, that
ought instantly to be done which might have the
effect of brightening them into a more lucid distinct-
ness, and so making the work of discovery easier
than before. If the love, and the joy, and the
grateful devotedness to his Saviour's will, where-
with the heart of a believer is animated, be hard-
ly discernible in his efforts to ascertain them, this
is the very reason why all those direct expedients
should forthwith be resorted to for stirring up the
love, and for exciting the joy, and for fixing in
the bosom that grateful devotedness which he is
now going so fruitlessly in quest of, and which, if they
exist at all, are so shrunken in magnitude, or so en-
veloped in their own dimness, that they have hither-
to eluded all his endeavours to seek after them, if
haply he may find them. Now it is not by continu-
ing to pore inwardly that we will shed a greater lus-
tre over the tablet of our own character, any more
than we can enlighten the room in which we sit by
the straining of our eyes towards the various arti-
cles which are therein distributed.
we take help from the window, and through it from
the sun of nature—and this not to supersede the
proposed investigation on our part, but altogether
to aid and encourage us in that investigation. And
in the other
case, that the

eye
of the mind

may

look with advantage upon itself inwardly, should it often look outwardly to those luminaries which are suspended from the canopy of that revelation which is from above—we should throw widely open the portal of faith, and this is the way by which light is admitted into the chambers of experience—in defect of

In the one case,

a manifest love, and a manifest loyalty, and a manifest sacredness of heart, which we have been seeking for in vain amongst the ambiguities of the inner man, we should expose the whole of this mysterious territory to the influences of the Sun of righteousness, and this is done by gazing upon him with a believer's

a eye. It is by regarding the love wherewith God in Christ hath loved us, that the before cold and sluggish heart is roused into the respondency of love back again. That the work of reading be made more easy, the character must be made more legible. That Christianity be clearly reflected from our own bosom, all must be laid open to the Christianity of the Record. If we derive no good from the work of self-examination, because we find that all is confusion and mistiness within, then let us go forth upon the truths which are without, and these will pour a flood of light into all the mazes and intricacies of the soul, and, at length, render that work easy, which before was impracticable. No doubt, it is by looking inwardly that we discover what is in the mind-but it is by looking outwardly that we so brighten and bring out its characteristics, as to make these discernible. The gratitude that was before unfelt, because it lay dormant, let us awaken it by the sight of him who was lifted upon the cross for our offences, and then will it meet the observation. The filial affection for our Father in heaven, which before was dead, let us quicken it into a felt and gracious sensibility, by looking unto him in his revealed attitude of graciousness, and at our next exercise-of self-inspection, we will be

sure to find it. To revive the power of a life that 18 to come, which the despair of guilt had utterly extinguished in the soul, let us cast our believing regard on the promises of the gospel—and this will set it up again, and then will we more readily ascertain, that our happiness in time is less dear to us than our hopes for eternity. It is thus that by the contemplation of that which is without, we brighten the consciousness of that which is within and the more manifest the things of revelation are to the eye of faith, the more manifest will the things of experience be to the eye of conscience—and the more distinctly we can view the epistles of Christ in the written Record, the more discernible will its counterpart be in that epistle which is written not with pen

and ink, but by the Spirit of God, on the fleshly tablets of our own heart. And so the work of faith, instead of being proposed by us as a substitute, we should propose as the readiest help, and far the best preparative for the work of self-examination.

It were well, if thus we could compose the jealousy of those who deem it legal to go in quest of evidence-but better still, if we could guide the practice of those with whom the business of salvation forms a practical and not a merely theoretical or speculative question.

And first, we would say to them, that so far from setting faith aside by the work of self-examination, we hold that it is the former which supplies the latter with all its materials, and sheds that light over them which makes them visible to the

Truits to inquire after-and it were utterly in vain to go a-seeking where there was absolutely nothing to find. To a sinner in distress, we unfold the pardon of the gospel ; and we bid him look unto Jesus, that he may rejoice. We surely could not say

less than this to an inquirer in darkness, even though it be a darkness that has gathered and rests over the tablet of his own character, and hides from his own view all that is good and gracious thereupon. Should the eye fail of its discernment when turned inwardly upon the evidences, we should bid it turn outwardly upon the promises, and this is the way to bring down a clear and satisfying light upon the soul. Just as in some minute and difficult search over the floor of an apartment, we throw open all its windows to the sun of nature, so we ought, by faith, to throw open all the chambers of the inner man to the light of the Sun of Righteousness. They are the truths that be without, which give rise to the traces of a spiritual workmanship withinand the indistinctness of the latter is just the reason why the soul should be ever aiming by attention and belief at a communication with the former. When self-examination is at a loss to read the characters which are written upon the heart, it is faith alone which can make the inscription more legible —and never will man get acquainted with the home of his own bosom, but by constant supplies of light and influence from abroad. If we feel, then, an outset of difficulty, in the work of self-examination, let us go anew to the fountain-head of revelation, and there warm, into a sensibility that may be felt, the cold and the faded lineaments of that image which it is the