Thou hast mistaken death for life, misery for happiness, time for eternity! Thy will and affections have been fixed upon objects of unreal bliss; turned from thy GOD, the true and only source of Goodness and Happiness, and working evil in the element of sin and darkness! Spirits thus employed, must mingle with congenial spirits: there is "no communion of CHRIST with Belial;" no fellowship or likeness betwixt thy spirit in such a state as this, and the Spirit of thy REDEEMER. He appears, and cannot but appear to thee, as thine enemy, because the truth he tells thee militates against thy darling lusts, and shews thee those dark destructive purposes, which, because thou canst hide them from others, thou wishest also to hide from thyself. But this seeming enemy is, indeed, thy real friend. He is only pursuing thee with his internal counsels and reproofs, that he may snatch thee out of the hands of the destroyer; that he may call thee out of thy present "darkness, into his own marvellous light." When thou hast experienced this blessed change, reconciliation will soon take place; an union of spirits will commence betwixt thy SAVIOUR and thee; and thou wilt gradually grow into his Image and Likeness, till thou art made perfect in his Love. Believe me, my brethren, till this great change hath passed upon our souls, till we begin to feel, and admire, and love the communications of this Inward Friend and Comforter, we must be strangers to true peace of mind, and totally ignorant of the proper enjoyment of ourselves, and the proper use of the world in which we now sojourn.