heir troublesome consciences by arguments which they
themselves scarcely believe, at the very moment in which they suffer
themselves to be lulled asleep by them. In the mean time while this
conflict has been going on, their walk is sad and comfortless, and their
couch is nightly watered with tears. These men are pursuing the right
object, but they mistake the way in which it is to be obtained. _The
path in which they are now treading is not that which the Gospel has
provided for conducting them to true holiness, nor will they find in it
any solid peace._

Persons under these circumstances naturally seek for religious
instruction. They turn over the works of our modern Religionists, and
as well as they can collect the advice addressed to men in their
situation: the substance of it is, at the best, of this sort; "Be sorry
indeed for your sins, and discontinue the practice of them, but do not
make yourselves so uneasy. Christ died for the sins of the whole world.
Do your utmost; discharge with fidelity the duties of your stations, not
neglecting your religious offices; and fear not but that in the end all
will go well; and that having thus performed the conditions required on
your part, you will at last obtain forgiveness of our merciful Creator
through the merits of Jesus Christ, and be aided, where your own
strength shall be insufficient, by the assistance of his Holy Spirit.
Meanwhile you cannot do better than read carefully such books of
practical divinity, as will instruct you in the principles of a
Christian life. We are excellently furnished with works of this nature;
and it is by the diligent study of them that you will gradually become a
proficient in the lessons of the Gospel."

But the holy Scriptures, and with them the Church of England, call upon
those who are in the circumstances above-stated, to _lay afresh the
whole foundation of their Religion_. In concurrence with the Scripture,
that Church calls upon them, in the first place, gratefully to adore
that undeserved goodness which has awakened them from the sleep of
death; to prostrate themselves before the Cross of Christ with humble
penitence and deep self-abhorrence; solemnly resolving to forsake all
their sins, but relying on the Grace of God alone for power to keep
their resolution. Thus, and thus only, she assures them that all their
crimes will be blotted out, and that they will receive from above a new
living principle of holiness. She produces from