find benefit from the change; but still he is mixing with creatures like himself, where the evil comes out upon him, as well as the good. Or he may lay himself under restraints, and endeavour to muster efforts of vigilance or discrimination; but restraints and efforts are things of nought, unless they be grounded on Christian principles, wrought into the understanding, and progressively matured in the heart; and to arrive at this, there must be occasions eagerly sought for, and sacredly improved, when he turns his back upon the creature, and goes into solemn conference, not in company with other Christians, but absolutely alone, with the God of his salvation. For the man, in short, who is often exhausted by breathing the arid and dusty atmosphere of this world's society, there is but one resource―a corresponding frequency of retirement to the green pastures and still waters of spiritual invigoration, which await him in Christian solitude. Estranged from these, his soul must cleave to the dust, under the unbearable oppression of languor and debility; but refreshed by the pure and celestial inhalations which this retreat affords him, his soul will come to itself, and be fitted for returning to intercourse with man, when duty or necessity requires it, with safety to himself, and advantage to his fellows.

5. He requires it to gratify his desire for specific Christian enjoyment. Christianity, even in this world, is not an administration of discipline alone, but also a source of enjoyment, the sweetest and most sublime of which humanity is susceptible in the present state of being. It contains a system of disci

capa

pline, suited to the condition in which it finds its objects, but this discipline is enjoined for the sake of the enjoyment, and as the former prospers the latter is increased. But this enjoyment, in its finest forms, consists not in the mere restoration of a city for the sound and salutary use of the good things of this life-although this also we owe to the gospel-it is quite specific in its character, arising from the direct disclosures of Christianity itself, embraced and appreciated in the charm of its intrinsic excellence; and in this form its delights are ever the purest, as well as the richest and most felicitating in the experience of the spiritual participant. "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the reconciliation."

Nay, more than this, Christianity, in its distinctive form, as a revelation from God to man, is most emphatically a religion of love. The sum of its announcements is, that "God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life;" and for this very reason, it ministers to happiness, for love is the basis of enjoyment. Where love is not in any department of the moral universe, life is insipid; and, in proportion as its opposite prevails, the creature verges to the extreme of misery. But, to whatever extent Christianity is conspicuous for love, in the spirit of its administration as coming. from God, to the very same extent must it tend to generate love, and thereby propagate enjoyment, in its practical operations in the hearts of its subjects. That this is its tendency, every one of its genuine subjects, from the least to the greatest, who has

cleared his way to a knowledge of his true character, has the witness in himself. He is convinced, by experience, that just as certainly as he has a human existence, with capacities of human enjoyment, and irrepressible cravings after it, he has a spiritual existence distinct from the former, but created within it, and impelling him, by its distinct aspirings, to seek for enjoyments which correspond with its spiritual nature. So inseparable, indeed, are these latter aspirings, from the very infancy of the new creation, that they often actuate the man who knows not in what they originate, and is far from regarding them as the indications of a spirit forming for immortality.

Our religion, then, is essentially a religion of enjoyment; the effect of its operation in the hearts of men, is to restore capacities, and awaken desires, which are congenial with its celestial nature; and it is the characteristic of the Christian in all stages of his being a characteristic which may often be marred, but never destroyed-to seek after the gratification of these desires. Not only does he pant for enjoyment, like every thing sentient beneath the sun, but he follows out the analogy still farther, and pants for that species of enjoyment as exclusively his own, which, emanating from the gospel of the grace of God, accords with his peculiar propensities.

Now we say, that this love of enjoyment, is another powerful inducement for cultivating habits of solitude. The joys of salvation, it is very true, are not confined to scenes of seclusion, but may flow in upon the soul in refreshing abundance, amidst great variety of outward circumstances. They may spring up most delightfully in the assemblies of the saints,

or in the privacy of social piety, or in the career of righteous effort, against the fierceness and obstinate contendings of a widely prevalent impiety; although, even in these instances, we believe they are seldom very copious, except with the man whose heart is seasoned for them, and warmed with the love of them in the secrecy of his closet. We may admire the friend whom we greatly esteem, and feel ourselves greatly honoured, when we meet him in company with others, and are permitted to share in the general delight which his wisdom or goodness may diffuse around him; but the privilege is unspeakably higher, when admitted into his presence alone, to experience the intimacies of his friendship, and behold the opening interior of his character, and confide to him our deepest secrets, without suspicion or

reserve.

This is privilege, carried to its summit in the intercourse of man with man, but the principle applies with augmented force to the Christian's intercourse with his God. His heart may be very happy, while it mingles itself with kindred hearts in the presence of the Lord. But it is amidst the musings of a pious secrecy with the Lord, when conscious of no restraint, even from the presence of fellow Christians, and caught away in happy seclusion from terrestrial concerns, that the Christian enjoys the fulness of his liberty, and soars into the altitudes of delight. It is in this particular state of mind, more effectually than in any other, that he gets above the mists and shadows which becloud the glories of spiritual things, and diminish their power to captivate or awe-it is here that his eye-sight is cleared and

strengthened for a steady and boundless survey of the wonders of the Godhead manifest in flesh-it is here that the business of this world, in its cares and crosses, or treacherous enticements, falls off from him, like the mantle of the ascending prophet, and is quite forgotten while he worships afar-it is here that the weightier woes of life, moral as well as secular, are surmounted or mitigated, deprived of their power to oppress, and converted into the means of mellowing and extending the emotions of spiritual delight-it is here that the remembrances of past experience, with manifold sins and forgivenesses, are freshened and renewed, exalting the Creator, but abasing the creature, and teaching him to sing, in sweetest melody, of mercies mingled with judgments -and it is here too, as in his presence-chamber, with the special favourite of his love, that the Spirit of the living God surpasses his ordinary condescension, displaying the tenderness of his compassion, and the exceeding riches of his grace, with a clearness, and force, and glowing interest, which fill the soul with hallowed rapture, and lift it into the sublimities of adoration and praise.

Such are some of the joys, which the man addicted to Christian solitude, in the spiritual sense of the language, may hope to realize; and if the reader appreciates their excellence, if he judges them worthy of his most ardent pursuit, let him frequent the scene, and cultivate the frame of spirit in which he is most likely to be blessed with their visitations. We know there are minds so coarse and ungodly as to deride them all as the dreams of fanaticism; and we know also, that a dreaming fanaticism may mix