me in saying that their souls do not prosper, who are in a state of nature, unrenewed, unsanctified by the influences of the Holy Spirit. For you are aware that it is written upon the inspired pages that, "the wrath of God abideth upon them." They are represented therein, as wanderers upon dark and barren mountains without a shelter and perishing with hunger. Though by some strange infatuation, they may imagine themselves "rich, increased in goods and have need of nothing" they are nevertheless "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked."
Nor can it be said of backsliders that their souls prosper. They may be likened to a "tree whose fruit withereth." "The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them
