which ruined him, 'could our weaker natures have withstood it? I foresee, however, my dear friend, that this account of my own belief and feelings on this subject, will not, in your present state of mind, satisfy you. I have been on the same ground on which you now are; and know both how painful it is to continue on it, and how difficult it is to leave it. But, my dear Howard, is this point made clearer by any other light than it is by the light of revelation? Could you, before you you made yourself acquainted with the scriptures, either account for, or deny the existence of evil? Has it ever been accounted for? Did not you suppose you worshipped the One Almighty, and was mercy not one of the attributes of your God? If it was, then this difficulty must have been equally strong. Is there any system of religion which does not teach that suf fering shall be the consequence of sin? Do not our own hearts painfully prove

to us that it is so? And suffering must be a consequence of evil,of evil which you say must have been permitted by the One Almighty, evil which I know, and see, and feel to exist, but which I believe, because God has said it, is abhorred by him. I know no more; nor shall I, excepting one idea, attempt to convey into your mind one thought, or rather, I should say, speculation on the subject; for I dread, that when I attempt to be wise above what is written, my mind may not be free from the influence of the prince of evil, who, I know, has a mysterious access there. The idea which I shall venture to mention, was one which threw at least a faint gleam of softening light over the subject, when it was one of gloom, and of hardening darkness to me. It is that of President Edwards, and in substance is this:

God is the author of evil, in the same sense that the sun is the author of darkness and frost. The absence of the

sun creates darkness and cold, but he himself is light and heat.'

I do not say that this explains the subject, but it is the only attempt I ever met with, that did not make it darker.'

This answer of Travers, though it did not overcome my difficulties on this subject, gave my thoughts a new direction. I attempted to contemplate God's attributes of mercy and holiness in that manifestation of them on which he seemed to rest with so much firmness of faith and love. But here all was difficulty.

How can the sufferings of an innocent being do away the guilt of a criminal?' asked I next.

Answer How can I attempt not to answer these words, when applied to the ways of God. If you ask how faith in this sacrifice operates upon the soul to purify it, I can describe my own

experience. It took away that barrier which a sense of having disobeyed the laws of God, placed between my soul and him. It represented him as offering to be reconciled to me, as having himself provided the way of reconciliation,―a way which, by its love, subdued my soul, and brought me to him, mourning for, and abhorring that evil which had separated me from him; and earnestly desiring what he freely offered,the washing away of my guilt, and the renewing of my nature.'

If my

My next difficulty was this: nature is evil, where is my guilt? How can I act but according to my nature. I cannot, however, allow what you, my dear Travers, constantly assume, that my nature is evil. I must say exactly what appears to me to be truth, though I may seem to you to estimate the good in myself too highly. I ever desire to do what I think right. There is even a con

stant uneasiness on my mind on this account, for my anxiety to do what I approve of, exceeds my ability. The resolutions of my soul, when it calmly forms them, are all on the side of virtue; and it is from circumstances which I have not foreseen, and over which I have no controul, that I am led to break my resolutions, and to feel and do what in after moments my soul condemns and repents. I therefore may require strength to support my nature, but not a power to renew it.'

Answer.

Whence is that want of power to keep your resolutions? whence that yielding to the temptations attendant on circnmstances? Can you conceive any circumstance that would betray you into stabbing your father? No, your whole nature rises in horror at the thought. Why does it not also resist, spontaneously, naturally, those temptations to all evil which is abhorrent to the nature of God? Because it is not