Yoken fon the great things of this world kathywell? Seck them not; for the good promaod does not consist in them. But acquaintance with God will stamp all your temporal possessions with a blessing.

It will sanctify them, and make them real blessings to you. "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked." Furniture, and property, and comforts, he has perhaps in greater abundance than you; but so long as his heart is opposed to God, he has them with a curse. "But he blesseth the habitation of the just." Your domestic enjoyments will come to you. through the channel of covenant love and faithfulness; that covenant which he has ordered in all things, and made sure: you will see them all coming immediately from his hand, and recognize the giver in the gift. You will make a Jacob's-ladder of them, and ascend by them to Your Rather and your God. If you are poor,

yea, in the situation of Lazarus, it will afford you an unmeasurable sweetness to look up, and say, The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot. I have no manors, but he is my inheritance; I have no silver cups, or golden tankards, to drink delicious wines from my cellar, but I drink of the rippling brook out of my brown earthen jug, and the water is made sweeter to me than wine, and the jug ennobled above gold, while I remember "the Lord is the portion of my cup." Yes; "the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places;" though I live in a cottage, I have with him " a goodly heritage." And what are earthly possessions without this blessing? The blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with it. I can eat my crumbs of bread, which have fallen from the rich man's table, or which I have earned with the sweat of my brow, and feel that, "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where the love of God is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."

If you are rich, acquaintance with God will teach you to hold all in trust for him; to use your ingenuity in making wings to your riches, that they may fly into the cottages of the poor, the laps of the household of faith, and the huts of the heathen, lest the rust should corrupt, and the moths eat, and thieves steal them; and so take away the corroding care of keeping them, and the distressing fear of losing them, and bring the blessing of him that was ready to perish upon you. It will fill you with the same pity which he who bestowed them upon you had for your soul. You will ask with wonder in his presence, Lord, why have I found grace in thy sight, and why hast thou taken knowledge of me, seeing I was a stranger to thee, as well as my poor neighbours; but am distinguished so far above them, as to be made an almoner of my Lord's bounty? You will find that there is a real luxury in such godlike activity; and that it is, as Jesus said, more blessed to give than to receive. And as fast as you lay out for God, his blessing will bring

back again with interest. "Thy barns shall

be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Yes; "all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store; blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out: and all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord." O my beloved, God shall never let you be losers by loving and serving him. Though he took away all that Job had for a little time, it was only that he might give him twice as much as he had before. And if he take it now from you, it is to make you rich towards God, that you may know better how to use it when he gives it you again. He can turn the heart of a miser into a springing well of liberality towards you, and, if you have need, command a widow woman to sustain

you;

Whe

only acquaint yourselves with him, and be at peace, and good shall come unto you. ther poor or rich, you shall have his blessing. He will rejoice over you to do you good, with his whole heart, and with his whole soul, saying, "O my Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord."

Acquaintance with God will prove a check

to sin.

Offences are always more severely felt from an acquaintance than from a foe, because the laws of friendship strictly prohibit every act but those of mutual kindness. David said, "It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him; but it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel. together, and walked unto the house of God in company." And God brings you into acquaintance with him, that the love which his presence inspires may make you fear to offend him. He knows that sin is the great preventive to the