But if there be any who refuse to return to the God of their youth; any who close their ears against every admonition to examine, deeply, into those principles of infidelity, which they have adopted,—principles too dear to man’s natural pride, too favourable to his natural corruption, to be willingly or easily resigned—let them at least be persuaded not to attempt to make proselytes to their creed. The time may come when they shall be convinced of the truth of Christianity; and oh! how will the weight of guilt, which, in the sad and dark hour of a late repentance, almost overwhelms the soul, be increased, if they have been instrumental in destroying the belief of others, which they have not the power to restore! There is no crime of so deep a die as the ruin of an immortal soul; none which subjects to the same dreadful remorse; none which presents the same terrible impediment to our obtaining pardon and peace: for what present peace can there be to him, who sees one soul exposed to eternal condemnation, through his means? What to him who sees many? What to him, who has the agonising conviction ever present to his mind, that he has no longer the power to attempt to repair the evil he has done, for they have been summoned to judgment, whom he had led astray? There is also another consideration which may have some weight with those who promulgate infidel doctrines, which is, that they blast the present as well as eternal happiness of their miserable converts. “Perhaps our modern sceptics are ignorant, that without the belief of a God and the hope of immortality, the miseries of human life would often be insupportable. Yet this I must suppose, or I must believe them to be the most cruel, the most perfidious, and the most profligate of men.” It is most true, that if you rob a man of his religious principles, you deprive him of what “has both the promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come,” his peace of mind, his trust in God’s protection, his faith in the Saviour, his hope of glory, all that consoles, improves, elevates, and ennobles our nature—all are gone, and in their place are substituted lawless passions, disappointed hopes, and bitter regrets. If, therefore, no other consideration will avail to induce the infidel school to forego their plans of proselytism, let regard for their philanthropy, of which they make such boast, be urged to prevent their rendering men less happy than they are at present, under the mild and benignant rule of Christianity. May that blessed Lord, who “willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live, have mercy upon all infidels and heretics, and so fetch them home to His flock, that they may be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord.”