such effect upon my mind as at this time. You doubtless will wonder at my appearing so uninterested, while with you, in that which could not but engross your thoughts in a great measure, and which was often necessarily called to mind,-the death of your dear Eliza! Oh, it was not because I did not feel the subject. Heaven forbid that I should forget a friend so dear. But my tears, I am confident, could not fail to arouse the sensibility of an afflicted sister. The virtues of Eliza shall be had in remembrance by me, until my heart becomes callous to every sentiment of virtue, and there remains not a tear to shed over departed excellence and worth. It is with pleasing melancholy, that I recount the many interchanges of kind regard which passed between us, while she was living ; and the thought that time with her is no more, is stripped of its gloom by the pleasing consideration, that ""Twas but the voice which Jesus sent, Who, in possesion of her virtues, particularly of that lively faith in the Redeemer which she manifested in her last sickness, might not chaunt triumphantly, "O grave, where is thy victory! O death, where is thy sting!" Did I know by experience what you feel, I would willingly seek a remedy for your distress, but not in the transitory things of time; I would direct you whither your soul has often fled with christian fervor, to the cross of Jesus, but I forbear; methinks your heart is ready to respond, "thy will be done." You doubtless recollect, that I expressed a wish to ask advice of you on a paticular subject. I would not trouble you with a relation of my own troubles, were I not persuaded that the best remedy for a melancholy mind is the advice of a friend, who is at all times ready and able to advise. It has generally been thought that the time which elapses between leaving college, and an engagement in some permament occupation, is the most critical period of human life. I never could imagine it to be so, till I find it to be true, by my own personal experience. This is the time when interests clash, and feelings prove discordant. One is hindered from his darling pursuits, by the opposition of fashion and gayety; another perverts the natural bent of his mind, by listening to the voice, and obeying the dictates of pretended friends; a third finds himself under the necessity of summoning all the latent energies of the soul, to encounter the various incitements to a profligate life, held out by wealth and splendor; a fourth hesitates between the possession of honor, and power, and the retirement of private life; a fifth is dazzled by the false glare of popular applause, and enthusiastic admiration, and is in doubt whether it is not best to add to the pride of the natural heart, that vanity which seeks the exaltation of the creature above its Creator; a sixth is necessitated to halt between two opinions, from a half persuasion that he is right, though opposed by the prejudices of real friends, and the earnest hopes of all his connections. Thus all have perplexities to confront, and trials to undergo; the naturally meek and amiable, no less than the proud and morose; the practically virtuous, no less than those who are distinguished for the most open vices. Unhappily, to young men thus situated, the experience of such as are more advanced in life, and the advice which is the result of it, seldom furnish any standard of decision. Indeed it is the fault of human nature that men are too prone to neglect to profit by the experience of others,-a fault for which no adequate remedy can be discovered. At present I find nothing in myself, which seems to free me from the imputation of this neglect. But on the contrary, the more I search into my own heart, the more I become sensible of my own imperfections in this particular. My situation at present,is peculiarly critical. It has ever been my desire and my deterinination to preach the gospel. At one time a heartfelt distrust of my qualifications for that sacred office, almost forces me to relinquish my darling object, and with it all my hopes of earthly happiness. At another the consideration that the best of men are not without their imperfections and that a contrite heart is the surest test of the christian character, comes home to my mind with no ordinary degree of force, and causes my prospects of future good, to wear an unclouded aspect. I have accordingly resolved, if God sees fit to enlighten and sanctify my heart, for which every rising and setting sun shall be a witness of my fervent prayers to him, I will apply myself to the study of Theology, and adopt the determination of the blessed apostle, to know nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. It is the earnest wish of my friends, that I should become a Presbyterian minister; but my heart's desire has for a length of time, been directed to a different object. There is no doctrine, however, generally maintained among Presbyterians, to which I have any material objection to offer. My views of the doctrine of regeneration, are somewhat different from those which you entertain, as well as from those maintained by many Episcopalians. I cannot believe that our Savior had no reference to infant baptism in his words to Nicodemus; and the notion which many Episcopalians have imbibed, that all infants are regenerated in baptism, is in my view utterly unfounded. In my opinion our Savior, in his words to Nicodemus, refered to baptism rightly received; and consequently all infants which are offered up in baptism, through faith on the part of the parents, are regenerated, or in other words, are born of water and the spirit. With regard to the other controverted points. viz, predestination to life, justification by faith alone, and final perseverance of the saints, I think I am finally and fully settled in my own mind. I have already given you my views of the first, which are none other than you yourself entertain. As it respects justification by faith alone, I am persuaded that you are right. I presume you regard faith, as the disposition, or more properly the affection of the heart towards God, which prompts to good and virtuous actions. When I spoke of good works I meant not the outward acts, which are nothing without the heart, but the dispositions with which they are performed. So that faith and what I called good works are synonymous. It is true that good works or external acts as you say, are necessary only as evidences of our faith, but still no faith is of any avail, unless followed by good works, in cases where good works can be performed. The Antinomian heresy, consisted in a belief that he who had faith was safe, and needed in no sense the aid of works, or in other words that Christians might sit still, faith being all that is necessary, an equally dangerous extreme with its opposite. The perseverance of the saints, is, in my view, a doctrine which little concerns us. The word of God is by no means very explicit upon the subject, probably because, if carried too far, it might chance to lead men astray from the truth into the dark and fatal errors of Antinomianism. On the contrary its pages are filled with exhortations to Chistians to be watchful and alive in order to avoid the dangers of the seducer. Whether the doctrine be true or not, applied to us it is a matter of mere moral possibility; for surely no physical power |