breadth and length, in an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. Once more,

5. The renewed acquaintance and intercourse of Christians at the coming of Christ, will be a source of peculiar joy, as it shall be eternal in its duration. In the present world, Christian fellowship is among the chief blessings and noblest enjoyments of life. It is liable, however, to manifold interruptions. For, besides those bodily distempers and infirmities which, as was formerly observed, are the occasion of much uneasiness and distress, particular and unavoidable circumstances often separate the dearest Christian friends, and the common occupations of this imperfect life prevent a personal intercourse among the best and worthiest men. Here, for example, is a family of pure and undefiled religion. The parents, wise, affectionate, and good, are genuine disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, believing his doctrines, relying on his atonement, and following his example. The children partake of the virtues of their parents, having the seeds of religion, which were carefully sown in their tender hearts, springing up under the divine influence, and promising a fair and joyful harvest. The social intercourse maintained in such a family, springing from the pure source of genuine religion, presents the liveliest idea of friendship and happiness. Yet the joys felt by this pious family are far from being permanent. Times change, and this or that cross incident, it may be, deranges their affairs, disturbs their proper business, and dashes their pleasure with sorrow and sadness. Or, though the family be not entirely dissolved, yet the children as they grow up are dispersed. Under the direction of Providence, they go, each one his own way, one to his farm and another to his merchandise, removing from their parents and from each other; and, in order to carry on the wise, though unsearchable plans of heaven, have their habitations fixed in different corners and in distant lands.

The effect of death, too, among Christian relations and friends, is awfully distressing. For, besides dissolving the ties of nature, and breaking up the dearest connections of human life, it separates those whose company and counsels, whose services and prayers afforded mutually the greatest pleasure and advantage. Here are two Christians, who have singled out each other from all the world to be inseparable companions in the journey of life. They are both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They are both well stricken in years, the time of their departure is at hand, and their only wish is, that they may depart together, and in their death be not divided. But ah! the power that brings them to the grave consults not with them as to the time. The one is taken and the other left, a kind of solitary being on the face of the earth. There, again, are other two friends, joined to the Lord and to each other, to whom God has given pious and dutiful children. Amidst parental anxieties and cares, it is the joy of their hearts to observe their children, as they grow in

days, growing also in goodness, remembering their Creator and seeking him early, increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. The sight is dear to their hearts, and it is their wish and their hope, that as old age advances they may have consolation and support in their kindness and attention. But lo! death comes up into their windows, and enters into their palaces, and cuts off their children from without and their young men from the streets. "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and even Benjamin also is taken away."

Yonder, also, are a few chosen Christian friends, kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly love. Amidst the business of their different stations and departments, they speak often one to another, and consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Often do they take sweet counsel together, and tell what things God has done for their souls. They comfort and edify one another, building themselves up in their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping themselves in the love of God, and looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Should you take part for a little in their employments and pleasures, you would say with rapture," It is good to be here." "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." "But all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." Even those choice spirits are called away one after another, and nothing can exempt them from the power of the grave The righteous perish, the godly cease,-the faithful fail from among the children of men. It is thus, brethren, that the society and intercourse of Christians upon earth are suspended and broken; and thus it will be, till the time of the restitution of all things, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom.

O glorious and wished for period! when mortality shall be swallowed up of life, when Christian relations and friends, redeemed from death, and ransomed from the power of the grave, shall have all their sorrows turned into joy; when, alike pure and immortal, they shall meet to separate no more; when, instead of losing, or grieving for having lost each other, they shall continue to indulge the most pleasing affections, and to enjoy the most delightful intercourse, without the fear of ever parting again. O glorious and wished for period! the society of perfect spirits, once met in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall never be dissolved. Their persons, employments, and joys, shall never suffer diminution, or interruption, or end. Christ died for them that they should live together with him. In his Father's house are many mansions, and where he is there shall they be also. O delightful state! In yonder world, cheered and gladdened by the presence of Christ, they who attain to the resurrection of the just are continually before the throne of God. They feel they fear

5th, The subject we have been considering affords high encouragement, and points out the duty of cultivating Christian intercourse in the present world, and of employing our best endeavours to make those with whom we are acquainted truly pious and good.

None but the holy and faithful shall be companions in a future world; and nothing can be more vain, than for men to think of dwelling with Christ and his people in heaven, who have no pleasure in associating with them on earth. Are you, brethren, cherishing the hope of one day joining the general assembly and church of the first-born in heaven? Now, you ought to be fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Are you expecting to mingle in the society of pure and perfect spirits in the presence of Christ at his coming? It should now be your concern to be the companions and friends of those excellent ones of the earth, who shall be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of man. Elevated on the wings of faith, you can now behold departed saints standing on Mount Zion, clothed in white robes, with palms of victory in their hands, and with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. With this transporting scene before your eyes, be encouraged to walk and associate upon earth with those whose company you would wish to join in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.

As there is strong encouragement, so it is also matter of duty, to improve the intercourse of friendship for the purposes of religion, and to be solicitous that all our friends are among the faithful followers of Christ.

Allow me to address this exhortation, in a particular manner, to parents. To many of you, a kind Providence has given amiable children. The joys of your advancing years entwine with their history, and hang upon their lot. In them, your desires and your delights are placed; on them, your wishes and your hopes are set. These delights are natural; these hopes, to a certain degree, are rational and just. But you will suffer me to put you in mind, that attachment to any, even the dearest worldly relations, if separate from the spirit and exercises of true religion, may both embitter your present peace, and expose you to the pangs of an eternal separation. If the

your grief, at a temporary absence from them, what must you feel at the thought of parting with them for ever! Say, ye Christian parents, ought you not to watch over your children with the most tender care? In those moments when your affections are warmest, should you not pray for them with the most ardent devotion? Should you not admonish and instruct them with diligence and affection, and labour to make them know God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, whom to know is eternal life? Should you not do every thing that lies in your power, by your counsel, example, and influence, to train them up for heaven and immortality? You will, indeed, improve the subject we have been considering to the best of purposes, if you turn it into a motive to animate your minds in seeking to have your children heirs, with yourselves, of everlasting life, and in forming them to those holy dispositions and practices, which can alone give you good ground to expect a happy reunion with them in the presence of your common Saviour. Go then, ye parents, and from what has been said, prepare them for the services and intercourse of another world. How encouraging is the idea, that there is to be at last an endless meeting of all the children of God, and that you are, in some measure, intrusted with advancing and promoting their heavenly joys! Yes, to your fidelity and care is, in some measure, committed the forming of pure and perfect spirits against the coming of Christ. Το you the Saviour is looking down from his throne in the heavens, and observing how you are engaged with your children upon earth, in the view of meeting together. It is a glorious work that is put into your hands; and it will be a pleasing reflection indeed, in your declining days, that your children are the friends of Jesus and the companions of good men. When you are called away from your station of usefulness here to enter on your rest and your reward, how transporting will be the thought, that your children shall ere long follow you! Above all, it will be your joy and crown of rejoicing, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be able to say, "Behold here are we, and the children whom God hath given us."

Finally, the subject which we have been considering, should teach us to examine well the grounds on which we ourselves expect to stand in the presence of Christ at his coming, and what is necessary to prepare us for there meeting with all our Christian friends.

This consideration is, indeed, of the last importance; for it can certainly be to little purpose to know that the saints shall renew their intercourse in a future state, and be ever with the Lord, unless we ourselves shall have our portion with them. My brethren, if heaven is to be your everlasting abode, and if there you are to meet the company of the faithful followers of Christ, you must be indebted for it to the free and sovereign grace of

Nor is a state of meetness for the enjoyment of heaven less necessary than a right to its possession. The saints who are to renew their acquaintance in the kingdom of God, are all prepared for it by the enlightening and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost through means of the Gospel; and therefore ought you to consider, whether the Gospel has, indeed, come to you in power and in the Holy Ghost. For it is not only the doctrine of Scripture, that the unrighteous cannot inherit the kingdom of God:-reason and the nature of things lead directly to the same conclusion. Let it only be admitted, that heaven is not a place of sensual gratifications, but a condition of reflection, of pure and holy exercises, and it is easy to perceive, that the wicked and unbelieving must, of necessity, be excluded from it. Even though it could be supposed that heaven had been designed for them, they are not prepared for it; they are not meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Would you then realise those hopes which the Gospel has set before you, consider what manner of persons you ought now to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Are you followers of the Lord, having received his word? Are you turned from idols,-from the follies and vanities of this evil world, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven? This was the character of the Thessalonians to whom the text refers, and is inseparable from the character of those who shall at last appear with Christ in glory. Wherefore, brethren, take for your example former saints, who are now shouting the praises of that grace which has brought them to the mansions of glory. Could they possibly address you from those exalted seats, where they are waiting to welcome your arrival, and could you possibly hear their voice, you would hear it calling you to stand fast in the Lord, to put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation, to increase and abound in love towards one another, and towards all men, to give all diligence unto the full assurance of hope unto the end, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience now inherit the promises. Yes, Christians, departed saints are stooping, as it were, from heaven to invite you thither. And will you not follow their example, and tread in their steps? Let all your care be henceforth employed to prepare for their society and enjoyments. "And we beseech and exhort you, brethren, ever to follow that which is good. Walk worthy of God, who hath called you to his kingdom and glory. Rejoice ever more. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

From Carne's "Letters from the East." London; Colburn, 1826.

WHOEVER has seen the Dead Sea, will ever after have its aspect impressed on his memory: it is, in truth, a gloomy and fearful spectacle. The precipices, in general, descend abruptly into the lake, and on account of their height it is seldom agitated by the winds. Its shores are not visited by any footstep save that of the wild Arab, and he holds it in superstitious dread. On some parts of the rocks there is a thick sulphureous encrustation, which appears foreign to their substance; and in their steep descents there are several deep caverns, where the benighted Bedouin sometimes finds a home. No unpleasant effluvia are perceptible around it, and birds are seen occasionally flying across. considerable distance from the bank the water appeared very shallow: : this, with the soft slime at the bottom, and the fatigue we had undergone, prevented our trying its buoyant properties by bathing. A few inches be

For a

neath the surface of the mud are found those black sul

phureous stones, out of which crosses are made and sold to the pilgrims. The water has an abominable taste, in which that of salt predominates: and we observed encrustations of salt on the surface of some of the rocks.

The mountains of the Judean side are lower than those of the Arabian, and also of a lighter colour; the latter chain at its southern extremity is said to consist of dark granite, and is of various colours. The hills which branch off from the western end are composed entirely of white chalk: bitumen abounds most on the opposite shore. There is no outlet to this lake, though the Jordan flows into it, as did formerly the Kedron, and the Arnon to the south. It is not known that there has ever been any visible increase or decrease

of its waters.

Some have supposed that it finds a subterraneous passage to the Mediterranean, or that there is a considerable suction in the plain which forms its western boundary. But this plain, confined by the opposing mountains, is partially cultivated, and produces trees, and a rude pasture used by the camels of the Bedouins; although in some parts sandy. It has never been navigated since the cities were engulphed; and it is strange that no traveller should have thought of launching a boat to explore it, the only way that promises any success. Mr H. travelled completely round it, but the journey was a very tedious and expensive one, as it occupied several weeks, and he was obliged to take a strong guard. He made no discovery. The superior of St. Saba related, that the people of the country who had crossed it on camels, in the shallower parts near the southern extremity, had declared to him, they had seen the remains of walls and other parts of buildings beneath the water. This is an old tale, although the waters have the property of encrusting and preserving most substances. Some stunted shrubs and patches of grass, a mere mockery of verdure, were scattered on the withered soil near the rocks. The golden and treacherous apples will be sought for in vain, as well as fish in the lake, which have also been asserted to exist. Its length is probably about sixty miles, and the general breadth eight: it might be six miles over where we stood. The sun had now risen above the