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consider my state. Have you forgotten the forest of St. Germaine? Have you forgotten Amelia? I have been an incorrigible offender; a man of blood. I know that I have so daringly and repeatedly provoked God, that there is no longer any mercy for me. If I could but hope that I should cease to be after death, then, then, indeed, I might be able to look forward to the end of life with resignation.'

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But, my Lord,' said Mr. Osborne, 'I am not aware of any passage in Scripture where it is signified that a man's sins unfit him for salvation. On the contrary, the Christian religion is adapted to the state of sinners, yea, and to their state only; nor can it possibly be serviceable to characters of any other description.'

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Allowing it to be so,' said Altamont, and that many sinners have been saved by it, yet it never can

have been intended for such as I am.'

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On what account?' replied Mr. Osborne. "On account of my aggravated offences,' returned Altamont, gravely, and in accents of fixed dejection. 'I have considered the matter deeply, Mr. Osborne. man in my situation has many hours for reflection. I have seen things in a very different light since I have been in this place, and I have been made to know and feel that my faults are past forgiveness.'

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Nevertheless,' said Mr. Osborne, 'you allow that the Christian religion is adapted to the circumstances of sinners in general.'

"I do,' said Altamont.

"The point then on which we appear to differ,' continued Mr. Osborne, is this; namely, what sort of sinners may be benefited by this religion? You seem

to think that the Christian religion may assist slight offenders; and I am well assured that it extends to all cases. It is here, my Lord, that we differ; and so important is the point in dispute between us, that I may venture to affirm, that the man who entertains such an opinion as you have just expressed, is not a Christian at all.'

"I am not an infidel,' replied Altamont, although I have no clear or correct notions upon the subject of religion, and though I believe myself to be beyond the reach of any thing it can do for me.'

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"You have fallen into two important errors,' returned Mr. Osborne; and it is absolutely necessary that you should be set right on these points, in order to your entertaining any reasonable hope of being benefited by religion.

"The first of these is the distinction which you make between great and little sins-a distinction not authorized by Scripture, which expressly affirms, that he who offends in one point is guilty of all. I do not mean hereby to hint that a man does not contract a heavier load of guilt by repeated and atrocious crimes than he whose faults are less injurious to society: but I argue that in the eyes of a pure and holy God the slightest breach of the divine law brings in the offender as guilty of death; and that consequently such a person stands condemned, and is to all intents and purposes as utterly lost and undone as the worst of criminals.

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"A second error into which you have fallen,' continued Mr. Osborne, is this: you have miscalculated the immense price paid for souls, and are consequently unaware of this glorious truth, that heavy as your sins may be, the ransom paid for your redemption is infinitely greater than they are, yea in the same degree that the blood of Christ is more precious and costly than the life of any individual among men. Take your Bible, my Lord, and seek the teaching of the Spirit. Under his influence study the character, the dignity, the high descent, the godlike attributes, the divine purity, and the almighty power of the Saviour, till you are constrained to doubt no longer of his ability to save you, though your sins are confessedly of the deepest and darkest dye.'

"Altamont was silent, and Mr. Osborne thus proceeded-'It is for want of such views of the Saviour, that the sinner is often reduced to despair, when, overwhelmed with a view of his sins, he imagines that their magnitude and multitude place him beyond the reach of hope. Let us suppose, my Lord, that the king's son should now come forward, offering to stand in your place, and to bear your punishment, in order to procure your enlargement: and let us further suppose that the assembled legislative powers of the country were to accept the offer, and permit him to undergo that punishment.

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after the conclusion of such a transaction, you were required to stand forth and plead your cause; I ask, on what ground would you urge your claim to a free pardon? Would you rest your hope upon such an extenuation of your offences as you might be able to bring forward; or upon the voluntary sufferings of him who had paid the penalty incurred by your transgressions?'

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"Undoubtedly,' said Altamont, looking up, upon the latter plea.'

"Your concern then,' said Mr. Osborne, is to look to the merits and death of your Saviour, and to plead these as the ground of your salvation. And in proportion as your views of the Redeemer's merits become more distinct and clear, your confidence in his power to save you will increase; till, through the divine help, you be brought to see and feel this consolatory truth, that, deplorable as your situation is, and flagrant as your offences have been, your case is not yet past hope.'

"Altamont again looked up, and said, 'You are a good man, Mr. Osborne; you would not come hither to deceive me: do you then seriously think that there remains any ground of hope for me?'

"I do,' said Mr. Osborne: otherwise, I had spared myself the anguish of witnessing your present circumstances. But though I hold out hope to you, considering the state of despair in which I found you as calculated to ensure your everlasting destruction, yet I dare not conceal, that I look upon your past character and conduct with horror: to which I will add, that you must be brought to an infinitely deeper sense of sin than you now experience, before I presume to apply the consolations of religion to your case any further than I have already done.' Thus speaking, the old gentleman, who had evidently been much agitated during the whole of this conversation, arose, and took his leave, promising to repeat his visit on the morrow.

"The next day, about the same hour, Mr. Osborne again procured admittance to Altamont; but at first saw nothing in the manner of the young man to encourage him, any further than a faint expression of pleasure at his re-appearance.

"You are come again to the abodes of misery, Mr.

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ness: I hardly dared to expect it.'

"Have you considered what I yesterday laid before you?' said Mr. Osborne.

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"I have,' said Altamont. But my mind is still plexed, and lost in wonder. Where have I been till now? I have lived like one in a dream; or as one whose senses were bound up under a spell. What have I been pursuing through life? What is it which has absorbed all my faculties, employed my thoughts, and allured my affections? What has hitherto hindered my entertaining these views of my God and my Redeemer, which now seem to break in upon me as light on midnight darkness?'

"What has hindered you?' replied Mr. Osborne; 'what but sin?—sin, which darkens the mind, perverts the faculties, and corrupts the whole man.'

"Mr. Osborne then entered into a discourse of considerable length, upon the nature of sin, and the change which took place in the human disposition and character at the fall. First he took a view of man, as he was when newly created, and before he had undergone the dreadful change effected by sin.

"The body of man was at that time, no doubt,' said he, exceedingly perfect and beautiful. He was then an upright, holy, happy creature, unacquainted with evil, holding uninterrupted communion with his Maker, to whom he looked up with those feelings of ineffable love and sweet dependence, with which an infant regards its tender mother. All the thoughts of his mind whether waking or sleeping, and all the desires of his soul, were then unpolluted, and wholly conformed to the will of his Creator. His understanding was not then clouded by misapprehension and ignorance; his perceptions were then clear, and his judgment unbiassed. No bitter envyings or repinings at that time troubled his unperturbed spirit, which was perpetually ascending to heaven in prayer, in praise, and in adoration; or pouring itself forth in expressions of holy love towards his fellow-creatures.'

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"Such was man, such was our father Adam,' continued Mr. Osborne, before he admitted the poison of sin into his nature. But after alienating himself from

his Maker by disobedience, his nature underwent an entire change: body and soul immediately became corrupt; not partially corrupt, but actually, thoroughly, entirely, altogether sinful, insomuch that we, who are his offspring, are incapable of one good thought, or of one right and proper feeling towards our Creator.'

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"Here Altamont, interrupting Mr. Osborne, said, Your doctrine, Sir, surprises me. What! is not man capable of one single correct feeling towards his Maker? What then, Sir, becomes of the dignity of our nature ?— that dignity in which I once prided myself, though now so miserably fallen?'

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Where, indeed, is that dignity gone?' said Mr. Osborne. When Adam fell, his glory departed; and there remained to man nothing more than the name of honour. But to leave these considerations, which may lead us from our purpose, permit me, my Lord, to press upon you the scriptural evidence of this doctrine of man's depravity and its consequences.'

"Mr. Osborne then referred to the following passages of Scripture:-viz. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis vi. 5.) And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations. (Genesis ix. 12.) What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? (Job xv. 14-16.) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm li. 5.) There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. (Eccles. vii. 20.) From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man. (Mark vii. 21–23.)

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"On finishing his quotations, Mr. Osborne turned to Altamont, and said, You do not deny the authority of Scripture, my Lord; what do you think of these

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