pressed in words; a breathing of the soul after God, as constant as the inspiration of air; an ardour that language cannot express. But ah! how seldom is this experienced! How much of carelessness and hypocrisy in our prayers! What a fearful sight if they were all spread out before us!

XII.

SINNER remember that every sin, however small in your estimation, adds fuel to the everlasting burnings.

XIII.

SUPPOSE a man on board a vessel borne by a swift current towards the rocks; in his madness he has thrown away his rudder, and is thus helplessly dashing towards the reef. He is plainly helpless, he cannot save himself, but shall he therefore fold his arms and refuse to lay hold of the rope thrown from another vessel, by which he might be saved? Is the fact that he cannot save himself a reason why he should refuse to let others save him? So with the sinner. Is the fact that he is unable to

save himself a reason why he should refuse to allow Christ to save him?

XIV.

WORSHIPPER of this world, why will you not consent to be happy-really happy; not in the excitements of novelty and the gratification of desire, but in the exercise of the purest and noblest affection, in the favour and fellowship of heaven, in the prospect of a triumphant death and a glorious immortality?

XV.

THE Christian character is in a great degree formed by the external dispensations of God's providence. Hence, in judging in a particular instance, we are not only to survey the facts, but to survey them in relation to the attendant circumstances.

Were these more regarded, there would be less of error and injustice in our decisions.

XVI.

THE minister who labours solely for a reputation

among men, who makes the sublime truths of the

Bible themes for the wanderings of an unsanctified imagination, and Calvary an eminence from which he may exhibit himself, will, of all others, have the most fearful reckoning at the judgment day.

XVII.

How dreadful is the condition of that soul who has been left to fill up, undisturbed, the measure of his iniquity. He is no longer troubled with serious thoughts. The most solemn providences of God create no alarm. The awful declarations of God's word make no impression. Conscience has ceased her compunctious visitings. The spirit has taken its everlasting flight. All is calm. But it is the awful stillness that precedes the tempest. It will continue but for a moment, when it will be broken by the ceaseless storm of the Almighty's wrath.

XVIII.

In thy presence there is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore,-joys perfect and eternal. No cloud shall ever obscure

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the brightness of that celestial sky; no desert spot mar the beauty of the heavenly landscape; no discordant note disturb the eternal anthem. The glorified spirit, standing on that lofty point, the right hand of God, and gazing down on the outspread and lengthening ages of eternity, will see nothing but increasing happiness and glory.

XIX.

ONE of the puritan writers compares the conduct of those ministers who lose sight of divine truth, in the vain attempt at eloquent display, to that of Nero, who, when the people at Rome were starving, employed ships coming from Egypt, at that time the granary of nations, in bringing sand for the use of the wrestlers.

XX.

PRAY without ceasing.

This cannot be understood literally, for then obedience to the command would be impossible. When we are told that a man labours without ceasing, what do we understand by the expression?-why, that he is very diligent, that he labours at suitable times.

So a

man prays without ceasing when he prays at all suitable times. These are in some degree to be determined by the leadings of Providence.

XXI.

WHAT SO delightful as the voice of an approving conscience. Happiness consists not in the indulgence of appetite, or in fitful bursts of emotion.

It

is not when the pulse beats high, and the cheek is suffused with an unnatural bloom, and the eye beams with an unearthly fire, that pure and permanent happiness is enjoyed. The state of mind necessary to this, is best expressed by the term peace that peace which the voice of an approving conscience gives. This can be destroyed only by a violation of duty. Enemies may attack us,

friends may prove faithless, afflictions may befal us from without-still there are whispers of consolation within. The storm of adversity may roll over us, yet on the bosom of the darkest cloud, conscience paints the rainbow of peace.

XXII.

LET the accomplished but unconverted woman of fashion remember that her accomplishments will