foreign parts to visit the place of which his father spoke so much, haply he hardly findeth its ruins, or discovereth the spot which once glowed beneath the fires of the patriarchal hearth. "Our fathers, where are they? The prophets, do they live for ever?" Is not our life like a vapour, and the days of our years like a tale that is told?

Now, I know not how a family without the comforts of religion, and the hopes of reunion in heaven, can see its way through this succession of terrible afflictions which must come, wave upon wave, until they be all washed away from the shores of time; how they can join affections in this uncertainty of their abiding; how they can knit them in this certainty of their being reft asunder; how they can thus sleep and take their rest; how they can thus rejoice together and make happy, while the terrors of death are around them, and the dark skirts of eternity are shifting from place to place in their neighbourhood, ever hovering more and more near, and, now and then, enfolding one and another in its dark bosom. And what comfort, what shadow of consolation, remaineth to a death-invaded family, to which there is no hope beyond death and the grave? The Catholics have a provision for this in the deceitful doctrine of purgatory; but we Protestants have none. Ours is a remorseless religion to the irreligious; no bowels of compassion can move it from its awful truth, no tears of a tender wife or griefdistracted mother can win one compromising word. As sure as it is written, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them," so surely it is written, "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;" "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Why should these things be hidden, and men left in their lethargy and sleep till the awakening of the last trump?

As sure as father and mother, and stately sons and beautiful daughters, do now live in the bower of family blessings, so sure shall father and mother, and stately sons and beautiful daughters, be taken, one after another, into the grave of all blessing, and the house of all cursing, unless they seek the Lord while He is to be found, and call upon Him while He is near. And as strong as your affection now is to one another, so strong shall your grief, your inconsolable grief be, when one and another and another are taken away, until at length one is left, like Rachel, weeping for the rest, whose bosom hath received all the wounds, and hath been doomed to live and behold all the arrows of the Lord accomplish their unerring aim. And what comfort is there, I ask you, but such as cometh from eternity and immortality? Do you say, Time heals every wound? Ay, time

heals the wounds of time by slaying eternity. He vampeth up a kind of endurance of threescore and ten years by the death of ages and That is the cure of time. Do you say, ages. the shifting scenery of the world wears the impression out? Then again the visible pleaseth us by obscuring the invisible-the ups and downs of life and its goings to and fro whirl the brain out of its musings and contemplationsand that is comfort. So a mother comforts her

baby with a toy, and wiles it out of the memory of what it hath lost by a gaudy thing given it to look at or to handle. And what kind of affection is that which gaieties and diversions can obliterate? and what affection is that which looks for its remedy in the oblivion of a few years? It is of the very essence of affection that it should last and last for ever. The soul knows no death in its feelings except the death brought on by vice, and the world, and unspiritual desires. And that affection which in its sense and touch looks for the remedy of change or of oblivion contains its own power and its own death within itself; and though it open itself fair and full as the opening rose, there is a serpent under it to sting him that layeth hold thereon; and there is a canker-worm in the heart to consume itself. Affection thinks not of dissolution; if it be true affection, it thinks only of everlasting, of lasting for ever. And such are the affections of nature; they knit themselves for everlasting, and they grow up for everlasting, and they are arguments of an everlasting life, and death cometh upon them in their prime, and beareth them away like lovers on their bridal day. Oh, then, what is a family full of affection, which have no hopes of eternity! It is like a nest of callow young seized upon by the kite ere yet they have known to float over the azure heaven in that free liberty for which nature was feathering their little frames.

But when the family is impressed with the spirit of holiness, then affection opens itself without any fear of untimely dissolution, and grows up for eternity, and hath therein the gratification of its proper nature. For as it is the nature of the understanding to conceive all things under the conditions of time and place, it seems to be the nature of the affections to forget these conditions, and to act under the opposite conditions of eternity and omnipresence. They seem to defy time, and to unite as it were for ever; they are regardless of place, consume the intervening distance, dwell with their object, and rejoice over it. The contemplation of change by place or time is the death of affection-it lives for all places and for all duration, and cannot abide the thought of dissolution; nor is it ever dissolved, as hath been said, save by the withering hand of vice and worldliness. Therefore without hope of everlasting, affection is miserable; and if I had time, I could show that it enjoys itself only by a kind

of illusion that it is to be everlasting, from which, alas! it is awakened by the bereavements of death. But with hope of immortality, affection is in its element, and flourisheth beautifully. And the family state being a web of interlacing affection, religion is its very life; and in proportion as it is present, the affections wax warmer and warmer, purer and purer, more and more spiritual, less and less dependent upon adversity or affliction or death. And when so rooted and grounded in Divine love, and glorious hope of immortality, a family is fenced against evil, and made triumphant over death. Life is but its cradle, and the actions of life are its childhood, and eternity is its maturity.

EXTRACTS.

GOD'S GOODNESS TO MAN.

He presents Himself as our Father, who first breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and ever since hath nourished and brought us up as children-who prepared the earth for our habitation, and for our sakes made its womb to teem with food, with beauty, and with life. For our sakes no less He garnished the heavens, and created the whole host of them with the breath of His mouth, bringing the sun forth from his chamber every morning with the joy of a bridegroom and a giant's strength, to shed his cheerful light over the face of creation, and draw blooming life from the cold bosom of the ground -from Him also was derived the wonderful workmanship of our frames-the eye, in whose small orb of beauty is pencilled the whole of heaven and of earth, for the mind to peruse and know, and possess, and rejoice over even as if the whole universe were her own-the ear, in whose vocal chambers are entertained harmonious numbers, the melody of rejoicing nature, the welcomes and salutations of friends, the whispering of love, the voices of parents and of children, with all the sweetness that resideth in the tongue of man. His also is the gift of the beating heart, flooding all the hidden recesses of the human frame with the tide of life-His the cunning of the hand, whose workmanship turns rude and raw materials to pleasant forms and wholesome uses-His the whole vital frame of man, is a world of wonders within itself, a world of bounty, and, if rightly used, a world of finest enjoyments. His also the mysteries of the soul within-the judgment which weighs in a balance all contending thoughts, extracting wisdom out of folly, and extricating order out of confusion; the memory, recorder of the soul, in whose books are chronicled the accidents of the changing world, and the fluctuating moods of the mind itself; fancy, the eye of the soul, which scales the heavens and circles round the verge and circuits of all possible existence; hope, the purveyor of happiness, which peoples the hidden

future with brighter forms and happier accidents than ever possessed the present, offering to the soul, the foretaste of every joy; affection, the nurse of joy, whose full bosom can cherish a thousand objects without being impoverished, but rather replenished, a storehouse inexhaustible towards the brotherhood and sisterhood of this earth, as the storehouse of God is inexhaustible to the universal world; finally, conscience, the arbitrator of the soul and the touchstone of the evil and the good, whose voice within our breast is the echo of the voice of God. These, all these-whose varied actions and movement constitutes the maze of thought, the mystery of life, the continuous chain of being-God hath given us to know that we hold of His hand, and during His pleasure, and out of the fulness of His care.

Upon which tokens of His affectionate bounty, not upon bare authority, command and fear, God desireth to form a union, and intimacy with the human soul; as we love our parents from whom we derived our being, sustenance, and protection while we stood in need, and afterwards proof of unchanging and undying love, so God would have us love Him in whom we live and move, and breathe, and have our being, and from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift; and as out of this strong affection, we not only obey, but honour the commandments of our father and mother, so willeth He that we should honour and obey the commandments of our Father in heaven. As we look up to a master in whose house we dwell, and at whose plentiful board we feed-with whose smiles we are recreated, and whose service is gentle and sweet-so God wisheth us to look up to Him, in whose replenished house of nature He hath given us a habitation, and from whose bountiful table of providence we have a plentiful living, and whose service is full of virtue, health, and joy. As we love a friend who took us by the hand in youth, and helped us step by step up the hill of life, and found for our feet a room to rest in, and for our hands an occupation to work at, sc God wisheth to be loved for having taken us up from the womb, and compassed us from our childhood, and found us favour in the sight of men-as we revere a master of wisdom, who nursed our opening mind, and fed it with knowledge and with prudence, until the way of truth and peacefulness lay disclosed before us, so God wisheth to be revered for giving to our souls all the faculties of knowledge, and to nature all the hidden truths which these faculties reveal. In truth, there is not an excellent attachment, by which the sons of men are bound together, which doth not bind us more strongly to God, and lay the foundation of all generous and noble sentiments towards Him within the mind-of all loving, dutiful, reverential conduct towards Him in our outward walk and conversation.

THE CREATION OF MAN.

It is said that God created man of the dust of the earth, and that He formed Eve of a rib from Adam's side. This, as it stands, is a sublime lesson of God's power, and our humble origin, and of the common incorporate nature of man and woman; but if you go to task your powers of comprehension, you are punished for your presumption by the arid scepticism and barrenness of heart which comes over you. Make man of dust? we soliloquise. How is that? Of dust, we can make the mould, or form of man; but what is baked clay to living flesh and conscious spirit? Make it in one day? these thousand fibres, more delicate than the gossamer's thread these thousand vessels, more fine than the discernment of the finest instrument of visionthese bones balanced and knit, and compacted so strongly-these muscles-with their thousand combinations of movement-this secret organisation of brain, the seat of thought-the eye, the ear, the every sense, all constructed out of earth, and in one day. This stately form of manhood, which requires generation and slow conception, and the milky juices of the mother, and ten thousand meals of food, and the exercise of infinite thought and actions, long years of days and nights, the one to practise and train, the other to rest and refresh the frame before it can come to any maturity-this to be created in one day, out of primitive dust of the ground! Impossible! Unintelligible! And if we go further into the thing, and meditate that, seeing there was no second act of God, this creation out of dust was not of one man, and one woman, but of all men and all women that have ever been, and are to be for ever! that it was virtually the peopling of all nations and kingdoms of the earth, in one day out of inanimate dust-who can fathom the work? It is inconceivable, idle, and not worthy a thought. Thus the mind becomes the dupe of its own inquisitiveness, and loseth all the benefit of this revelation.

THE BIBLE NEGLECTED.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! I came from the love and embrace of God; and mute nature, to whom I brought no boon, did me rightful homage. To man I came, and my words were to the children of men. I disclosed to you the mysteries of hereafter, and the secrets of the throne of God. I set open to you the gates of salvation, and the way of eternal life heretofore unknown. Nothing in heaven did I withhold from your hope and ambition; and upon your earthly lot I poured the full horn of Divine providence and consolation. But ye requited me with no welcome, ye held no festivity on my arrival! Ye sequester me from happiness and heroism, closeting me with sickness and infirmity; ye make not of me, nor use me for your guide to wisdom and prudence, but

press me into your list of duties, and withdraw me to a mere corner of your time; and most of ye set me at naught, and utterly disregard me. I came the fulness of the knowledge of God: angels delighted in my company, and desired to dive into my secrets. But ye mortals place masters over me, subjecting me to the discipline and dogmatism of men, and tutoring me in your schools of learning. I came not to be silent in your dwellings, but to speak welfare to you and to your children. I came to rule, and my throne to set up in the hearts of men. Mine ancient residence was the bosom of God; no residence will I have but the soul of an immortal; and if you had entertained me, I should have possessed you of the peace which I had with God, "when I was with Him and was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." "Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they cry unto me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."

THE PRESS AND THE PULPIT.

The press hath come to master the pulpit in its power; and to be able to write powerful books, seems to me a greater accomplishment of a soldier of Christ, than to be able to preach powerful discourses. The one is a dart which, though well directed, may fly wide of the mark, and having once spent its strength, is useless for ever; the other is the ancient cata. pulta, which will discharge you a thousand darts at once, in a thousand different directions; and it hath an apparatus for making more darts, so that it can continue to discharge them for ever. To use this most powerful of intellectual and moral instruments in the service of Christ is a noble ambition, which should possess the soul of every Christian.

EMBLEMS OF HEAVEN.

If emblems can assist you, then do you join in your imagination the emblems and pictures of heaven. What is the condition of its people! That of crowned kings. What is their enjoy. ment? That of conquerors triumphant, with palms of victory in their hands. What their haunts? The green pastures by the living waters. What their employment? Losing their spirits in the ecstasies of melody, making musie upon their harps to the Lord God Almighty, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. For guid ance? The Lamb that is in the midst of them shall lead them by rivers of living waters, and wipe away all tears from their eyes. For knowledge? They shall be like unto God, for they

shall know even as they are known. For vision and understanding? They shall see face to face, needing no intervention of language or of sign. The building of the wall is of jasper, the city of pure gold like unto clear glass, the foundation of the wall garnished with all manner of precious stones, every one of the twelve gates a pearl. Now what means this wealth of imagery drawn from every storehouse of nature, if it be not that the choicest of all which the eye beholds or the head is ravished with - that all which makes matter beautiful and the spirit happy-that all which wealth values itself on and beauty delights in, with all the scenery which charms the taste, and all the enjoyments which can engage the affections; everything, in short, shall lend its influence to consummate the felicity of the saints in light.

Oh, what untried forms of happy being, what cycles of revealing bliss, await the just! Conception cannot reach it, nor experience present materials for the picture of its similitude; and though thus figured out by the choicest emblems, they do no more represent it than the name of Shepherd doth the guardianship of Christ, or the name of Father the love of Almighty God.

GOD CAN CREATE ANOTHER WORLD FAIRER
THAN THIS.

Of how many cheap, exquisite joys, are these five senses the inlets? and who is he that can look upon the beautiful scenes of the morning, lying in the freshness of the dew, and the joyful light of the risen sun, and not be happy? Cannot God create another world many times more fair? and cast over it a mantle of light many times more lovely? and wash it with purer dew than ever dropped from the eyelids of the morning? Can He not shut up winter in his hoary caverns, or send him howling over another domain? Can He not form the crystal eye more full of sweet sensations, and fill the soul with a richer faculty of conversing with nature than the most gifted poet did ever possess? Think you the creative function of God is exhausted upon this dark and troublous ball of earth? or that this body and soul of human nature are the masterpiece of His architecture?

THE GROWING CHARACTER OF A SERVANT OF
GOD.

It cannot otherwise happen, than that a mind constantly accustomed to behold, and constantly training itself to practise whatever is noble and good, must grow greatly in its own esteem, and advance likewise in the estimation of the wise and good, and rise into influence over the better part of men; so that there will attend upon the goings of the servant of God, a light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day; a harmony of motion pleasant to all beholders, and a liberty of action delightful to himself. There will also grow within his soul a unison of

faculties through the tuition of the law of God - impetuous passions being tamed, irregular affections being guided in their proper courses, the understanding being fed from the fountain of truth, hope looking to revelations that shall never be removed, and will being subordinate to the good pleasure of God. Like a busy state in which there is no jarring of parties, but one heart and one soul through all its people; like the body when every member doth its office, and the streams of life flow unimpeded, the soul thus pacified from inward contention, and fed with the river of God's pleasure, enjoys a health and strength, a peace which passeth all understanding, and a joy which the world can neither give nor take away.

KNOWLEDGE AND LIBERALITY OF MIND,

You may keep a few devotees together by the hereditary reverence of ecclesiastical canons, and influence of ecclesiastical persons; but the thinking and influential minds must be overcome by showing, that not only can we meet the adversary in the field by force of argument, but that the spirit of our system is ennobling and consoling to human nature-necessary to the right enjoyment of life, and conducive to every good and honourable work. Religion is not now to be propagated by rebuking the free scope of thought, and drafting as it were every weak creature that will abase his powers of mind before the zeal and unction of a preacher, and by schooling the host of weaklings to keep close and apart from the rest of the world. This both begins wrong and ends wrong. It begins wrong, by converting only a part of the mind to the Lord, and holding the rest in superstitious bonds. It ends wrong, in not sending your man forth to combat in his courses with the unconverted. The reason of both errors is one and

the same. Not having thoroughly furnished him to render a reason of the hope that is in him, you dare not trust him in the enemy's camp, lest they should bring him over again, or laugh at him for cleaving to a side which he cannot thoroughly defend. I mean not in this, and the many other allusions which I have made to the degeneracy of our times, to argue that every Christian should be trained in schools of learning or human wisdom, but that the spirit of our procedure in making and keeping proselytes should be enlightened and liberal, and the character of our preaching strong and manly as well as sound. That we should rejoice in the illumination of the age, and the cultivation of the public mind, as giving us a higher tribunal than hath perhaps ever existed, before which to plead the oracles of God-before which to come in all the strength and loveliness of our cause, asking a verdict, not from their toleration of us its advocates, but upon their conscience, and from the demonstration of its truth.