of sense, or in a way becoming a spiritual and intellectual being, capable of the most exalted contemplations. Take your choice, but remember, that endless ages of the purest happiness depend on your choosing wisely. Take your choice, deny yourself mere animal delights, which are soon over, and never satisfy, and you will receive in their place the most exalting and satisfying joys, which will continually increase in intensity and perfection, through all your future life, and after the close of it, will go on in ever-advancing perfection through a blessed eternity! Life and death are set before you. 'In God's pleasure is life," but mark the sad consequences of neglecting his will and despising his commandments-"the wages of sin, is death!!

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But we are willing to conclude that you are wise enough to make the choice which befits a sincere Christian, and that, being an honest man, and of sound judgment, you are desirous of fairly carrying out your professed principles, and of becoming a Christian indeed, and in the full sense of the term; and we offer you, as such, "the right hand of fellowship;" we further conclude, that you are desirous of learning more and more perfectly the Christian's first lesson, which is conveyed in these words of our Lord and Saviour, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." (Matt. xi. 29.) Consider that meekness and lowliness implies a wish to be led into all truth and goodness, grounded in a conviction that no one can be too wise to learn, or too good to improve. We give you credit for this reasonable and teachable spirit, and therefore, with a good hope of benefiting you, we proceed to lay before you our plan of a well-spent Sunday.

the

You awake on the morning of this sacred day, and the first thing you recollect is," It is Sunday!—no toil to-day!-a day to myself!a day of rest!" "That's a good thing," says the natural mind; but conscience, moved by the spiritual mind (for conscience stands like a mediator between "the spirit and the flesh," the spiritual mind and the natural mind,—the internal man and the external man,-conscience, moved by the spiritual mind) suggests, "yes, it is Sunday"-a day in which the mind is to rise above mere temporal things, and all “ vanities that are under the sun of nature, and enter mentally into that heavenly region of peace which is gilded by the rays of "the Sun of righteousness," whose omnipresent beams penetrate and gladden the humble heart and contrite spirit;-"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose Name is-Holy I dwell in the high and holy place, and [Oh, what astonishing condescension! what lowliness of heart in the Most High!] with him, also, that is of a

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contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite." (Isaiah lvii. 15.) True, there is no toil to-day for the body,—a toil which often proves likewise a weariness to the spirit,—but there is labour to be done in and for the mind,a labour of love, a labour which yields nothing but refreshment, strength, and delight; for well may the Lord's words be applied with especial force to the Christian's Sunday,-"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed" [with his own impression, his infinite and all-perfect likeness, and filled with his own infinite fulness]. Truly, then, you may say, I have some labour to perform on Sunday, a labour which I cannot neglect without peril to my eternal interests. God has given me, by his Providence, this day to myself; but his Grace invites me to give it back to him. If I take it to myself, what can I make of it? Can I, of myself, make it a day of rest to my soul? No, not while I keep it to myself; but if I devote it to Him, who has said, "Come unto me, and learn of me," I shall find this holy and peaceful rest; for he has promised it to all who come unto Him, by adding, “and ye shall find rest unto your souls." And how specific is the promise in these words,

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If thou call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and shall honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, THEN SHALT THOU DELIGHT THYSELF IN THE LORD." (Isaiah lviii. 13.) This is, indeed, to make Sunday a day of heavenly rest; a day of delight in the Lord, in comparison with which a day of delight in natural enjoyments is absolutely vile and contemptible.

Teach me this

Now, then, says the enlightened and determined will, now for a day of hallowed, spiritual labour, and first, let me approach the Lord in prayer, for he has graciously invited me to come unto Him, that he may strengthen my determination to make this day a day of heavenly rest, and not merely a day of earthly rest!" Lord! I come unto thee! to learn of thee! Thou art the light of the world. Who can teach me but thou? for thou speakest as never man spake. day how to do thy ways, not doing my own ways; how to find thy pleasure in preference to my own pleasure; how to speak thy words of wisdom, instead of my own words of foolishness. Teach me how to labour for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, and make me willing to labour for it, and by thy gracious presence and blessing, turn my labour into delight. Make me so meek and lowly in heart that I may effectually learn of thee, and offer unto thee acceptable worship,

and may thy light and blessing accompany me while I read a portion of thy Holy Word! May thy spirit, by means of it, impart to my waiting soul all I need in furtherance of my resolutions, which I humbly trust originate with thee, so that I may truly labour for, and abundantly feed upon, the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. Amen!"

A portion of the Word being read,—the natural mind insinuates an idea that Sunday, thus spent, will be a dull-day; and surely it is allowable to refresh the wasted bodily energies a little, by indulgence in some of those practices by which the seekers of earthly rest murder their Sundays, by making them days of mere earthly pleasure; but the watchful spiritual mind speaks in the conscience, suggesting that what is best for man to do in the view of unerring wisdom, cannot be mended by vain imaginations, although it may easily be marred. In the end, even the natural mind will confess it has been no loser by being led to submission, and by walking obediently in the way of righteousness, the way provided for man to walk in, as the path of peace! No tampering with the enemy! no leaning to the evil counsellors of the deceived heart! no longing for the gross flesh-pots of Egypt, when the heavenly manna, 'the bread that cometh down from heaven," is already spread for the refreshment of those who labour for it.

And now the conscientious mind inquires, according to the circumstances in which it is placed, what is next to be done that I have reason to believe will be most pleasing to that God of infinite beneficence, who finds pleasure only in the happiness of his creatures? If the Christian has a family, he considers how he can mingle instruction with delight, and train up his little ones "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord," and how he can best convey to the elder ones a word of admonition or encouragement, accordingly as he perceives they require. Or if a young man, or young woman, then the well-regulated mind, putting down the suggestion to seek more questionable occupations, probably determines to proceed to the Sunday school, where all rightminded teachers experience the truth of the saying, that "charity is twice blest, it blesses him that gives, and him that takes;" while it gives new information to the ignorant, it enlarges the heart of the teacher with benevolence, and gives him a more perfect understanding than he had before of the things which are brought under his view in the course of his instructions, proving that "the readiest way to learn, is to endeavour to teach;" the surest way to become blest, is found in the exercise of the endeavour to bless.

And now comes the hour for attendance on public worship; and here we must again meet and encounter that subtle deceiver, the natural

mind, which probably says, "Cannot you spend your time better at home? You have got books a great deal more instructive than any sermon which you are likely to hear; what's the good of condemning yourself to a poor meal elsewhere when you have dainties plenty at home?" Or, possibly, the natural mind plays the part of Balaam, (Num. xxiii.) adopting the suggestion of Balak the king of Moab, and because it may not, at the desire of the love of selfish indulgence, curse the Israelites—that is, avert the attention from spiritual things altogether, to the extent of wandering about in the fields or the streets with worldly-minded companions, seeks out another place (v. 13.)— another method of gratifying the wishes of the king of Moab, by cursing the Israelites in another way, or at least a portion of them. Possibly the natural mind suggests (for such a suggestion never comes from the spiritual mind), let me get so and so to give me their company instead of attending worship, and then we can spend the morning together in reading, and conversing about religious doctrines and spiritual subjects; we shall learn much more this way than by going to worship, and shall enjoy ourselves a great deal more besides; and surely God must approve that way of spending Sunday which brings to his creatures most knowledge and most satisfaction."

But what says the spiritual mind to these plausible fallacies. Beginning with the last, it says, "Yes, you may learn more, perhaps, this way concerning some points of knowledge,―very good in their way, no doubt,—but how much will you learn of THE GREAT LESSON, meekness and lowliness of heart? Do not cheat yourself; do not persuade yourself that in this proposal you are seeking the pleasure of the Most High, for you are really seeking only your own pleasure; and therefore the words you may speak are not likely to be the Lord's words, but your own words. Are you exercising self-denial in making this proposal to spend the hour appointed for worship in talk on religious subjects, or are you not? Are you taking up your cross and following the Lord, whose custom it was to attend worship, not for the sake of the sermon, remember! (Luke iv. 16.) or are you going in some other direction with Satan, assuming the appearance, to mislead you, of an angel of light? The author of these remarks, when at that period of life when intellect seems every thing, and moral and spiritual affections have not yet put in their full claim to attention, was induced occasionally to spend a Sunday morning in the discussion of religious subjects; time passed pleasantly enough, but what made it pleasant? This was a question to the solution of which he summoned his conscience, and the conclusion to which he was constrained to come was this,—that the

pleasure he experienced was more that of self-complacency,-was more his "own pleasure" than the Lord's pleasure, and that the selfsatisfaction he felt was not the approbation of conscience because of duty performed, but was too nearly allied to self-dependence, selfesteem, and self-derived intelligence, the subtle and treacherous enemies of the great Christian lesson-meekness and lowliness of heart. "Ah! (said he) while I am not learning this lesson, I am learning and gaining nothing!" He obliged himself, therefore, to attend worship, and he found, on closely inspecting the state and quality of his feelings, that the tendency of worship is to make a man feel his emptiness, while these Sabbath discussions tend to make him feel an imaginary fulness, and to fancy himself quite the contrary to what he really is. It is only from a sense of spiritual emptiness that spiritual hunger comes, and thence the accomplishment of the Lord's words,-" Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled;" and also the words of Mary,-" He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath sent empty away." It is a constant law of order, that man shall receive good according to his desire for it; and this is always according to his sense of need of it; and this is produced by meek and lowly acts of worship, rather than by intellectual activities, with which the selfhood can secretly and readily connect itself. It is also a law with a view to man's reception of good, that he must feel that his state before God is not satisfactory merely because he has much religious knowledge, but only in proportion as he is in the desire of good," Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, [not knowledge by itself] for they shall be filled." Worship promotes this hunger and thirst for righteousness incomparably more than discussión can do, and even more than reading, thinking, and praying, at home, as the author can also testify from experience.

All exercises of the mind concerning truth originating in any degree of sincere regard to it, are of very great importance, but still the possession of truths is not the possession of the great end to which our desires should be chiefly directed-namely, salvation. They are a means of salvation, but not salvation itself. Salvation is identical with the soul's establishment in goodness or righteousness. Goodness, then, is the end to which truth, as the efficient means of its attainment, continually points. Those exercises must needs be most valuable, which most effectually prepare the heart for the reception of spiritual good from the Lord; and while it is not doubted that private serious reading, especially when combined with private worship, is an excellent means to this end, it is nevertheless believed that public worship is