vain. I have taken it to Sinai, there it grows harder. I have taken it to Gethsemane and Calvary, but no place, no scene, no subject will do. It must be thy presence, thy smile, the sense of thy love. Only come unto me, and my hard heart will yield, and flow with streams of penitential tears. O Lord, visit me, and sanctify my temper. It is unlovely. It is trying to myself and others. I have had a long and severe conflict with it, but it is unlovely still. But thy presence will make me meek, gentle, loving, kind-hearted, and good-tempered with all about me. In my very worst moods, a visit from thee fills me with shame, self-abhorrence, gratitude, and humility; and then I am goodtempered in a moment. O Lord, visit me, and revive my graces. Faith is weak. Hope is languid. Love is unsettled and wandering. A visit from thee will fill me with confidence, raise my expectations, and cause my whole soul to glow with love. Then zeal will burn, repentance will work, fortitude will spring up, and every grace that should adorn the Christian character, will be in lively act and exercise. Oh, visit me, and brighten my evidences. They are often so dim, so unsatisfactory, that I can

derive no comfort from them. I want to feel sure that I am a Christian. To have no doubts, no misgivings. To have every satisfactory evidence in my heart and life; but unless thou visit me, I feel certain ĺ shall not. Oh, visit me, and cheer my spirits. I am dejected and cast down. My comforts droop and die. I am low, in a fow place. Oh, visit me, and confound my foes. They are many. They are powerful. They get access to my heart. They bewilder, confuse, and mislead me. They often cast me down wounded, and fill me with fear and dread. Oh, visit me, and perfect my resignation. I would yield to thy will in everything. I would prefer thy choice to my own. I would be perfectly satisfied with all thy arrangements. Oh, visit me, and produce this blessed, this desirable state of mind.

Beloved, God's remembrance is always fruitful, it always brings us good things. God's visits are always beneficial. They check every evil, nourish every grace, revive every virtue, and satisfy every really good desire. In this short prayer is all we shall want in life or in death. Are you concerned that God should remember you? Could you bear to be forgotten of God?

Did God ever visit you in mercy ? Has he visited you lately? Can you be satisfied without his visits? Oh, make the prophet's prayer your own, and daily cry, "O Lord, remember me, and visit me!"

"Lord, when I quit this earthly stage,
Where shall I fly but to thy breast?
For I have sought no other home,
For I have learn'd no other rest.

I cannot live contented here,

Without some glimpses of thy face;
And heaven without thy presence there,
Would be a dark and tiresome place.

When earthly cares engross the day,
And hold my thoughts aside from thee,
The shining hours of cheerful light,
Are long and tedious years to me.

And if no evening visits paid,

Between my Saviour and my soul,
How dull the night! how sad the shade!
How mournfully the minutes roll!

My God and can a humble child,
That loves thee with a flame so high,
Be ever from thy face exiled,

Without the pity of thine eye?

Impossible! for thine own hands

Have tied my heart so fast to thee,
And in thy book the promise stands,

That where thou art thy friends must be."

THE WORD OF COMMAND.

"Go forward."-EXODUS xiv. 15.

HIS supposes that you are in the right way, for if you are not, the command would be, "Stop, turn about." We do not say to the careless sinner," go forward," for he is in the road to hell, and every step brings him nearer to that awful place. To urge him forward would be a cruelty, and prove that we were hardened in sin. But if you have entered in at the strait gate,-if you are in the narrow way,-if you have professed faith in Jesus,-if you are united to the Lord's people, if you are engaged in the Lord's work, if you are going to the land of promise which floweth with milk and honey, then "GO FORWARD."

Let us notice,

1. Some of the inducements to go forward. Your Head, your beloved Saviour, is before you. He has travelled the path; and, if you notice as you go on, you may observe his foot-prints. He ran the race. He marked out the road. He conquered the foe. He went first as the Captain of

salvation, and he now says to every soldier in his army, "Follow me: do as I have done." Would you not be like him? Would you not win his approbation? Would you not see him as he is? Would you not hear him say, "Well done?" Then "Go FORWARD!" Your work is before you. The foe is to be conquered. The land is to be possessed. The witness is to be borne. The enemies are to be reconciled. The truth is to be circulated. The command is to be obeyed. The predictions are to be fulfilled. And to you the voice cries, as to Lot when he came out of Sodam, "Look not behind thee; tarry not in all the plain." Before you are your brethren at labour; before you is the spot you are to cultivate; before you are the souls you are to win; therefore if you love your work,-if you would please your Master, if you would serve your generation, Go FORWARD!" Your examples are before you. In the distance you may see patriarchs and prophets, apostles and martyrs, reformers, and the great cloud of witnesses. They have borne their testimony, they have spread God's truth, they conquered the combined host of enemies,they performed the will of God from their

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