and, therefore, idly suppose that it would fare better with them in some distant region of dreamy repose. But such is not the estrangement from the delights of time which we enjoin. It, on the contrary, leads the Christian to receive life and its gifts, be these greater or smaller, with thankfulness, and to improve them with fidelity; and yet to regard his present existence as only a preparation for that approaching state in which he shall dwell with a sacred society in holiness and peace. While he tarries here, he enjoys divine protection and communion; but then, he is perpetually solicited by the temptations of sin-he is living in a place which his Saviour commanded him not to love, neither the things that are in it-he is but a stranger and a pilgrim-and his path must lead him completely away from any engrossing anxiety about objects which perish with the using. the Christian's character? Is it not what his Master enjoins? Is it not that to which his belief and his privileges naturally lead? Is it not that which we should expect of the man who is advancing in meetness for communion with the blest? Åh! brethren, there is no formality, no hypocrisy, no self-indulging indolence in a temper like this. Look at many who are denominated Christians, and it is a hard matter to decide wherein they are different from other men. Setting aside certain forms and professions to which they adhere, we observe no indication of that regard to their invisible head, which, in the nature of things, and from the plain demands of the written word, we should expect. Strong affection for any human creature uniformly appears in the frequency and the warmth with which we think of him-in the watchfulness we manifest for his interest-and in our desire to live in his society, and enjoy his intercourse. His friends, too, we respect, and feel ourselves bound, by a strong tie, to shew them all courtesy, and render them all good offices. But many within the visible church never furnish us with one palpable proof, by sentiments expressed or zeal displayed, that God lives in their heartsnever take pains to shew that they more desire the growth of Christianity than the reign of Paganism, never feel the slightest additional interest in a fellow-immortal on account of his being a fellow-believer, and a member of the flock of Him whom they call their Shepherd. These are not the dispositions that shall be crowned and cultivated in the Paradise above; for as thoughts and feelings can only be demonstrated by the things which are expressed and done, so these latter must bear witness to our possession of that true light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. If we be members of that innumerable company kindred spirits, who, with one heart, shall sing one song in heaven, the sympathy of mutual love must impart warmth to our character and intercourse on earth. of The last mark which we shall notice of the Christian's progress is, that by his increasing love for God and his people, he evinces his progressive meetness for that heaven which is love. This sentiment of love is to form the motive of his conduct-it is to constitute the measure of his fitness for the upper sanctuary-and it is to be the grand element in the felicity of the saints. Persons who estimate the character of the Supreme solely from the visible events of his Providence, are apt to lay such stress upon the misfortunes and misery which they experience, that they entertain often very meagre views of his beneficence; and their unregenerate hearts regard him with much cold indifference, nay, indeed, with enmity. But he who sees all events arranged for the correction, purification, and perfecting of the just, cherishes far different feelings. He is sensible of the tenderness, the sympathy, and the grace, of which he is the constant object; and his strong impulse is to regard his pitying Benefactor with thankful affection. Surely, if his bosom is capable of throbbing with one emotion, he must love that Being who first loved him. Then he thinks of the friend who promised him the victory over all tribulation, We shall now, in the second place, shortly conand of that invisible, ever-working agent, who trast this progress with "the way of the wicked," strengthens him for the else fatal combat with his which Solomon saith "is as darkness." How oppoworst enemies, and what sentiment can fill his site are the destinies of those who share one coinmind but love? He contrasts an eternity of ir-mon nature, and proceed from the same forming retrievable, unutterable misery, amid the endu- hand! One advances to glory, honour, and imrance of wrath and the execrations of blasphemy, mortal happiness, while the other sinks into triwith the pure and seraphic ecstasy that shall reign bulation, and anguish, and the darkness of that for ever in the bright realms of bliss; and if un-night which knows no morrow. To compare, for bounded goodness can be supposed to touch the soul, shall it not glow with love? If he thus regards his God, it is a proof that His spirit is working in him. If that spirit dwell within him, the same mind that was in Christ must be also in him, and, therefore, he must love his fellow-men, and particularly the brethren of the same faith. He meets these brethren in a strange country the world, and he treats them with kindness. He sees the sharers of his own nature, wandering as prodigals far from comfort, and surrounded by enemies, and he uses the means within his reach for conducting them to a heavenly home. Is not this an instant, spiritual with earthly things, their sadly opposite courses are like those of two brothers, alike in form, in mind, and in advantages, who start from the same goal to run the race of life; the one of whom, by a patient continuance in well-doing, attains the prize of fortune and of fame, while the other wastes his substance with riotous living, and ends his days in misery and infainy. Think on the different lives and fates of Cain and Abel, of Absalom and Solomon, of Judas and his brother apostles, of the ruined angels flung down to hell, and those who kept their first, their glorious estate. Such instances illustrate the the causes of discontent, envy, and perhaps despair. What are the effects when the world finds them in obscurity, and treats them with neglect ? They are prone to peevishness and misanthropy, and by the recklessness of their conduct, at length to merit that contempt with which they have been regarded. In every position of the affairs of the wicked, the outward objects to which they cling disappoint them. When they retire into the recesses of their own bosoms, the counsellor that sits there upbraids them. The rapid progress of life's journey, when they consider it, appals them. And when these congregated evils gather round the departing soul, like the unwholesome and impenetrable mist, settling down at the close of the short winter's day-when the affrighted soul espies no star of peace beyond the grave-shall we doubt that their way is as darkness? Unless the Saviour's grace be granted to them even in the last hour, what is their decease but the removal of a curtain which conceals a state, wherein he that is filthy shall be filthy still, and he that is in darkness shall abide in darkness still? The path of the just leadeth for ever upwards in the light of knowledge, purity, and joy; but the heart of the wicked shall sink through eternity into deeper and still deeper degrees of estrangement from God, moral pollution, and tribulation which cannot be comforted. A PICTURE OF CHINA IN ITS RELIGIOUS AND MORAL ASPECT. "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." contrast which we are called in the text to contemplate. The just and the wicked are originally the work of the same Creator, protected by the same Providence, enjoying a common nature, both intellectual and moral, reading perhaps the same Bible, and equally brought within the outward call of the Gospel. The one, with willingness and joy, receives the overtures of peace, and lays them up in his heart; but the other is deaf to the voice of the charmer, charm he ever so wisely. Here begins their visible difference, and here their tracks part, as they steer their hence opposite courses in quest of happiness. The one, by an unerring compass, is guided to the abodes of light and smiling plenty; but the other gropes his way to destruction, in the region of shades and perpetual desolation. The wicked walks without knowledge, he dies without hope. He is unacquainted with Him whom to know is life eternal, and his feet stumble upon the dark mountains. You see under what sort of moral government the people of this world are by nature. Whatever be their speculations as to the attributes of the Supreme, you observe, that the gods whom they obey are their own will, and their own irrepressible passions. Whatever be their abstract reasonings about justice and virtue, these fade as spectres of the brain before the forward claims of present interest. How to appease the divine displeasure, which they cannot help believing to be due to transgression; how to escape temptation, and the numberless enticements of what they cannot but know to be evil-these are perplexing inquiries which they may evade but cannot answer. They are strangers to the covenant of promise, It is a doctrine of Scripture, that nothing but the full and, therefore, their way is as darkness. These knowledge of God can call into exercise our whole moral things, however, are only the beginning of sorbeing. Some of the principles of our nature will infalrows; for a mistaken cheerless life is but the pre-ples of love to the true and fully revealed God do not libly remain unmoved, if the great and mighty princicursor of a hopeless death. Brethren, to live send forth its energy on the soul. Hence, "without without God and Christ and hope in the world, God in the world," is one of the melancholy epithets whether we be speculative, or whether we be applied to unconverted men, as if to intimate, that bepractical infidels, is sufficiently sorrowful; but an ing thus without God, they had utterly wandered from unprovided eternity, a leap in the dark, an instan- the sphere of true intelligence and nobility. Now, this taneous transition from the stout-hearted pride, maintains, that wherever there is ignorance of God and being the case, we need not wonder that Scripture also the reckless unconcern, or the feverish excitement the Redeemer, there the soul is open to the inroads of of a distempered soul, to the tremendous majesty malignity. In other words, the fallen man, being unreof the judgment seat of the Eternal, is an idea that claimed by any influence from Heaven, is exposed to may well madden the brain that is not past feel- perversions of every sort; not least though the fact be ing. Then think of what succeeds, when eternal little noticed-to cruelty. A Christian philosopher can easily trace the cause of this, knowing at once the justice executes its fixed decree against those devil's malignant ambition to cast at least some features who held its threatenings at defiance. We would of his own dark image over his own children, and also rather use the language of persuasion than of the natural inclination of depraved beings to strange and terror, but the whole counsel of God must be fanatic deeds. declared without reserve. What is prosperity or But it is a statement of facts that we would here adwealth to the wicked? It is the fountain of temp-sidered in general as an exemption to our remark; but duce to prove this truth. We take a case, which is contation to unbridled folly, vanity, and sensuality which, along with all others yet examined, is a litera! in early life; and to avarice and covetousness fulfilment of the Psalmist's words" The dark place> which bind the soul to earth in advanced age. of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” What to them are rank and temporal consideration? They are heights from which the mind looks down in gloomy despondency to the helplessness of the last conflict and the humiliation of the tomb. How do they regard poverty and misfortune? As sufferings which cannot be repaired, and therefore BY THE REV. ANDREW BONAR. China is generally considered as no way remarkable for vice. But this is altogether a misconception. It is a land thoroughly immersed in religious darkness, and pervaded by superstitious cruelties. And think of such a scene, as four hundred millions of people, exposed at present, as they have been for thousands of years, to such horrid influence! It may well stir up any heart to utter the prayer, "Have respect unto the covenant !" | Our authority for the following facts is the missionary Gutzlaff, in a late narrative of his voyages; and vivid though they be, the discoveries which he has made of the Chinese character are nothing but specimens, gathered on the shore, of an immense and unfathomable gulf of pollution and misery. The religion and mythology of the Chinese is a dark and cheerless system, blending, with anomalous incongruity, atheism and the lowest kinds of polytheism. Their creed presents no proper object of reverence, hope, confidence, or love; affords no balm for the troubles of the mind, no support under the ills of life, no hope for the future; their highest prospect is annihilation, or a change by transmigration to the body of some other being in creation. Their good traits are all virthes of public opinion, and hence, though no doubt sincere in many cases, yet in most they are rather show than reality. Conscience has few checks but the laws of the Lind. They are selfish, cold-blooded, and inhuman. In the punishment of criminals, in the infliction of tortires, they are barbarously cruel: human suffering or Luman life is but rarely regarded by those in authority, when the infliction of the one, or the destruction of the other, can be made subservient to the acquisition of wealth or power. The need in which China stands of the change which the Gospel only can effect, is clearly evident, when, in Idition to the oppression and violence under which the tion groans, the fraud and lying practised by system, the bribery and injustice which fills her courts, the decepon that characterises all her dealings, is considered the complicated system of false religion, presenting scarcely asy thing but darkness, confusion, and absurdity; with the multitude of her idols, which, according to the expression of one of her sects, are as numerous as the sands of the Hang river. Vice exists in all its diversifed forms, and crimes of the most debasing character are perpetrated with a frequency, unequalled, perhaps, in any other part of the world. The tender sympathies of the heart are counteracted or destroyed by familiarity with cruelty and selfishness. The female sex, as in every other heathen country, is subjected to the most miliating degradation, considered as being no better an an inferior order of creation. Hence, infanticide 1 perpetrated among them, to a degree almost beyond lief. It is, according to one writer, tacitly considerd a part of the duty of the police of Pekin, to employ ertain persons to go their rounds, at an early hour in e morning, with carts, in order to pick up the bodies of such infants as may have been thrown out into the "reets during the course of the night. No enquiries are ale: the bodies are carried to a common pit, without he city walls, into which those that are living, as well as those that are dead, are said to be thrown promisruously. Dogs and swine are let loose into the streets, at an early hour, before the police carts go their round, ad hence the scenes that may arise may be conjectured. Come calculate 9000 infants thus exposed in the capital one, every year; or about 24 every day. Those who reside on the river, throw their female infants into the river, with a gourd tied round their necks. And this unnatrai crime is so common among them, that it is perpeated without any feeling, and even in a laughing mood. Sach is a specimen of the Chinese cruelty, the offspring { darkness. And the depth of this darkness is such, to degrade them as intelligent beings, and subject em to the overflowing of vice and immorality. Mr Cutzlaff relates one scene that illustrates this; but shocking as to baffle all description. And yet no onder that such deeds appeared, when we read of their ods-works of men's hands, that could inspire no awe ad command no virtue. For on approaching to the shore, Fear Pekin, he saw written on a shop, in large characters, “ Idols and Budhas, of all descriptions, neatly made and repaired." Intellect, we see, is prostrate, and every moral principle out of course. What a tremendous thought, that for centuries upon centuries, such a state of things has gone on in incessant flow! What patient, long-suffering in God! What forbearance towards man, although millions of men have every day insulted and disowned him. And O! then, what disclosures and terrors are ready against the judgment-day! And even now, too, how earnest, how deep, how intense, must be the ever-ascending groans of creation, so cursed by sinful man! and waiting for the redemption of the sons of God! DEATH-BED SCENES. BY THE REV. ALEXANDER MOODY. As men live, so do men die. We remember having heard a shrewd observer of mankind remark, that the views which he had previously formed of human nature, were forcibly overturned by the following incident: He was following a band of reapers in the field, and overheard their conversation. One of them, who herself made a zealous, but most inconsistent profession of religion, was sister to a woman who had just been sentenced to death for a daring murder. The approaching execution formed the topic of discussion; and the individual from whom, most of all, silence might have been expected on such a subject, was kindly entertaining her companions with a minute and detailed account of the part which the criminal was preparing to act at the closing scene that after death the world might adjudge her innocent! This was human nature displaying itself under extraordinary circumstances, yet not in any extraordinary manner, but just as we see it developed every day. It has been said that men may live hypocrites, but that hypocrites they cannot die. mark may be true to a certain extent, but we are deceived if it hold good universally, or even generally. In by far the greater number of cases men are found to die very much the same as they have lived. And if a man have wickedness enough to practise hypocrisy during life, he will easily find hardihood enough to persist in that hypocrisy in death. The re Many have no opportunity of seeing death but in the departure of their own relatives and friends, when it is to be expected, and almost to be desired, that the judgment should be biassed, if not blinded, by the affections; and that the feelings wrought in the hearts of the living should prevent any accurate and impartial observation of the feelings that are at work in the dying. In other instances, the observer, if a stranger, and therefore unbiassed, may be without the means of bringing the past life into comparison with the scene before him; or again, the sufferer may belong to those classes of society in which the feelings, if not disguised, are however habitually concealed from the knowledge of others. Having had occasion to witness various scenes of death, under circumstances which presented none of these impediments to observation, we have thought it might prove beneficial to narrate a few cases out of many, not with the idea of presenting any other view of the subject than must have been suggested to any other observer, but for the sake of furnishing those who may not have enjoyed a similar opportunity with materials, by which they may be assisted in forming their judgment on this the most solemn of all sublunary scenes. In illustration of the remark, that men usually die as they have lived, we have referred to an instance of hypocrisy in a situation peculiarly awful; and we go on to record other cases explanatory of the same truth, in reference to various other features of character. Before proceeding, however, we shall illustrate the observation in a different light; for while men, for the most part, die in the same habits of thought which they have previously cherished, it is likewise seen that the outward manner of their death often bears a striking correspon- | every tide. Well acquainted though he was with the dence to the manner of their lives. We knew an Antinomian. He was a man of considerable acuteness of mind; subtle, speculative, metaphysical; and considering his station in life, might be reckoned a man of reading and information. Next to the Bible, his right hand book, was Cudworth's Intellectual System; and the ancient systems of Heathen philosophy and divinity were favourite topics of discourse. When reminded of the comparative uselessness of such inquiries, and of the vital importance of fixing the eye steadily on the true light which now shineth, he would reply: "That may be very true, but for my part I like to look at THEM." He seemed, however, to dwell on Pagan ignorance chiefly for the sake of triumphing in the clearer knowledge now enjoyed; for the Scriptures were his principal study, and he appeared to be both fully persuaded of their truth as a divine revelation, and to be thoroughly conversant with their contents. Of a winter evening, we have lifted the latch of his cottage door, when he could have no expectation of any one calling, and have found him poring over his large family Bible, which he would read for hours together. We took the Bible as it lay open, and made some practical remarks on what he had been reading; but of these he was evidently very impatient, and was uneasy till he found opportunity for turning aside to "foolish questions" and " perverse disputings." In principle and in practice, he was out and out Antinomian. One virtue, indeed, he might be allowed to possess. In a situation of some responsibility, and where there was ample opportunity for fraud, he was acknowledged by persons of conflicting interests to be not merely honest, but scrupulously faithful and just. Why he was so, it is hard to say-probably, because he regarded integrity as convenient and useful in human society; for it formed no article of his creed, "that they who have believed in God, should be careful to maintain good works." The Christian he accounted free from every moral obligation; and acting agreeably to his faith, he systematically desecrated the Sabbath, never entering any place of worship; "his mouth was full of cursing and bitterness," oaths constantly on his tongue, to which were added curses, in his frequent fits of passion; and he was besides an habitual drunkard. For those sins he felt no sorrow, he professed none, but made them subject of impious boasting. "I am the chief of sinners," he would say, "but what matters it? Christ died for sinners, he died for me, and why should I be afraid of death."-" Would you not dread," we have asked him, "to die in a state of intoxication?"" Why should I? Noah was a drunkard, David a murderer, Peter a liar. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and I shall be happy to die at any time. I should gladly die in a fit of drunkenness." Poor man, he was taken at his word. He had occasion to go from home for a day or two on business. On parting, he told his wife, that he had been making up his account with God, and had in prayer been committing himself and his family to the care of his Creator, and that if it pleased providence that he should never see them more, he was ready to depart. He saw them no more. Not having returned at the time appointed, considerable anxiety began to be felt throughout the village, and the more so, as he was to bring with him a large sum of money. Men were sent out in every direction in search of him, and his horse having been found without the rider, serious apprehen sions were entertained that he had been murdered. It was soon ascertained, however, that the Banking-house had refused to grant his demand, on account of his being in such a state of intoxication, that it was thought unsafe to trust him with it. He had accordingly set out without it on his journey homeward; but the way he had taken was most unfit for a drunken man, lying as it did through sands which were flooded by the sea at road, he had wandered, had fallen from his horse, and was found dead on the sands. He was not drowned, for it happened that the tide was a low one, and had not covered the place where he lay; but he died a more lingering and miserable death, by cold and fatigue; or, in the emphatic language of the men who carried home his corpse, "he perished." Death found him in that very state in which he had so impiously boasted that he would cheerfully encounter his terHow awfully significant in such a case, was the judgment pronounced by an earthly tribunal.-Died by the visitation of God. rors. CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Christian Lukewarmness.—Why is our knowledge of divine truth so often, at best, but as the moonlight of a frosty night clear, but cold, very cold; instead of resembling the cheering, warming, gladdening, as well as brightening radiance of the summer sun? Why does our professed love to the Saviour produce so little self-denial or sacrifice for His sake, so little devotedness to His service; and yet still less conformity to His example? Why have we so little, if any thing, of the mind and temper that was in Christ Jesus? Why do we search the Scriptures, and attend all the ordinances of divine grace, and run from lecture to lecture, and sermon to sermon, with so little profit-so little visible growth in grace, or progress in holiness? Why, in a word, is there so little of separation from the spirit, as well as the society of the world; so little of the life of God in our souls, or the love of God in our hearts, or the peace of God in our bosoms, or the image of God in our lives? To all this I answer-chiefly because we are so little in prayer-cordial, humble, fervent, persevering prayer. Because we talk so much about God in public, but so little with God in private; because we are so much more every where, than in our closets; and in every exercise, than in devotion; and in every attitude, than on our knees; and thus, the blessing of the Holy Spirit, not being abundantly vouchsafed, because not fervently implored, a withering blight comes over all our doings, and we read, and hear, and talk, and labour, so almost, if not altogether, in vain.-REV. H. WHITE. Christian Love.-If the sun shines on a dull brick or stone, they reflect none of its beams, there is nothing in them capable of this; nor is there, in an ungodly man, But any natural power of reflecting the light of God. let the sun shine upon a diamond, and see what rays of sparkling beauty it emits. Just so the Christian who soul, beans of celestial loveliness are reflected by him has the graces of the Spirit; when God shines on his on the world. The Christian's character should savour of holiness. The promise is, "I will be as the dew unto Israel" and how sweet is the fragrance of the flower after the gentle falling of the dew-so must the true believer be under the soft distilment of the droppings of heaven on his heart. Cultivate a spirit of love. Love is the diamond amongst the jewels of the believer's breastplate. The other graces shine like the precious stones of nature, with their own peculiar lustre and various hues, but the diamond is white; now in white all the colours are united, so in love is centered every other law."-REV. R. HILL. Christian grace and virtue" love is the fulfilling of the Joseph, a Type of Christ.-Jesus Christ, prefigured by Joseph, the beloved of his Father, sent by his Father to see his brethren, is the innocent blood sold by his brethren for twenty pieces of silver; thus he became their Lord, their Saviour, and the Saviour of strangers, and the Saviour of the world; which he could not have been without their design of destroying him, without their sale and their rejection of him. In the prison, Joseph innocent between two criminals; Jesus on the Cross between two thieves. Joseph predicted the safety of the one and the death of the other from the same appearances; Jesus Christ saves the one and leaves the other after the same crimes. Joseph only foretold, Jesus did. Joseph asked of him who should be restored, that he would think of him when be should arrive at his honours; he whom Jesus saved, asked, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."-PASCAL. This salvation of the house of Israel by the hand cf Joseph, was upon some accounts very much a resemblance of the salvation of Christ. The children of Israel were saved, by Joseph their kinsman and brother, from perishing by famine, as he that saves the souls of the spiritual Israel from spiritual famine is their near kinsman, and one that is not ashamed to call them brethren. Joseph was a brother that they had hated and sold, and as it were killed, for they had designed to kill him. So Christ is one that we naturally hate, and, by our wicked lives, have sold for the vain things of the world, and that by our sins we have slain. Joseph was first in a state of humiliation; he was a servant, as Christ appeared in the form of a servant; and then was cast into a dungeon; he was in a state of great exaltation, at the king's right hand as his deputy, to reign over all his kingdom, to provide food, to preserve life; and being in this state of exaltation, he dispenses food to his brethren, and so gives them life, as Christ was exalted at God's right hand to be a Prince and Saviour to his brethren, and received gifts for man, even for the rebellious, and them that hated and had sold him.-JONATHAN EDWARDS. [The two preceding extracts exhibit a remarkable coincidence of thought between two eminent writers.-ED.] Ingratitude shown in rejecting Christ.-There is a nearness to God which we are not only allowed, but called to in the loving dispensation of the Gospel, so that now we are not to be strangers any longer, but friends; we are to have fellowship and communion with God. Why do not our hearts even leap for joy? why do not our souls triumph in these discoveries of love? Even because we know not the greatness of our privileges, the highness of our calling, the excellency of our advancement, the blessedness of this life, the sweetness of these employments, the satisfaction of these enjoyments, the comfort of this heavenly life, the delights of this communion with God. We know not the things which belong to our peace and thus, when God calls us to that which he sent his Son for; when Christ offers us that which cost him so dearly: we, with the greatest unworthiness, vilest ingratitude, refuse, slight, and contemn it, what think we? Doth it not go even to the heart of Christ, and to speak after the manner of men, doth it not grieve him to the soul, to behold his greatest love scorned, and the end of his agony to be more vilely accounted of than the basest of our lusts? Let us therefore, according to that high calling wherewith we are called, enter into an intimate acquaintance with God; and as we find our souls acting naturally towards those things which are naturally dear to us, so let us strive to lighten our spiritual affections. JANEWAY. Value of the Gospel.-About six months ago, I was attacked by a violent fever, and in my own apprehensions, for about two days was on the borders of eternity. I never before felt my mind so calm and happy. Filled with the most overwhelming sense of my own unworthiness, my mind was supported merely by a faith in Christ crucified. I would not for the world have parted with that text, "The blood of Christ cleanseth froin all sin." I never before saw such a beauty and prandeur in the way of salvation by the death of Christ, as on that occasion. I am fully persuaded the evangelical doctrines alone are able to support the mind in the near views of death and judgment.-ROBERT HALL. Prayer, the Fountain of every Benefit.-Prayer is the fountain of grace, the parent of every virtue, the enlightener of the mind, the consolation of the sad, the joy of the happy, the food of the soul, the source and safeguard of every benefit. Prayer averts the wrath of God, obtains the pardon of sin, conquers our vices, delivers us from danger, and inflames us with the love of God. In it all the virtues are exercised. Faith stands foremost, for no one would pray, did he not believe that God is present to hear him, and that he not only can, but will grant the things requested, if they be not asked amiss. Hope is raised up, for we have confidence in the help and mercy of God. Love is excited, by the consideration of the divine goodness, which urges us to love God above all things. By it we learn to fulfil all righteousness, and to weigh all things with the wisdom of the just. Fortitude is exercised, for he who prays has resolved to serve God, and to endure all opposition for the love of Him. Temperance is begotten, for he who prays tastes the delicacies of heaven, and has his affections weaned from earthly and corporeal enjoyments. The gifts of the Holy Spirit will also lead him to put forth all his strength, for by prayer his mind is enlightened respecting eternal things, he enjoys the wisdom of God, and approaching God himself, creature knowledge diffused throughout his scul, leads him to put forth all becomes vain in his esteem; and whilst the clear light his strength to obtain the things that profit most, he is not less in the dark as to the best and most effective way of putting forth his strength, for it is written," if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally." Human friendship receives a new impulse whilst we pray for others. The sense of the divine Majesty, conceived by him who lives a life of prayer, so fills him with the fear of God, that the fear of man is rooted out. Thus, he who is much upon his knees in prayer, is clothed with many resplendent virtues.BONA. Preparation for Death. When you lie down at night, compose your spirits as if you were not to awake till the heavens be no more. And when you awake in the morning, consider that new day as your last, and live accordingly. Surely that night cometh, of which you will never see the morning, or that morning of which you will never see the night; but which of your mornings or nights will be such, you know not. Let the mantle of worldly enjoyments hang loose about you, that it may be easily dropt, when death comes to carry you into another world. When the corn is forsaking the ground, it is ready for the sickle; when the fruit is ripe, it falls off the tree easily: So, when a Christian's heart is truly weaned from the world, he is prepared for death, and it will be the more easy to him. A heart disengaged from the world is a heavenly one, and then we are ready for heaven when our heart is there before us.-Boston. Affliction. The retiner of silver requires patient and long waiting to make the silver fine, and to bring it to its highest point of perfection. In the operation, he not only places his crucible on the fire, but heaps fire around and upon it. Under this process, it at first throws out a dark and offensive smoke, which as the heat and its effects increase, becomes less offensive until it altogether ceases: and the silver becomes transparent, and beautifully white; and the point of requisite perfection and purity is when the refiner sees his own likeness reflected in the pot. It would be idle to point out how admirably this account of the process of refining silver, illustrates the gracious process by which, through means of affliction, our heavenly Father carries on the work of purification in the heart of his children. Anonymous. |