selves. Were I to meet my most bitter adversary,ble danger. One of the most wicked men in my and know that he was come with the most malicious intentions, I should endeavor to be so on my guard, that he could not lay his finger, with truth, on any part of my conduct.

neighborhood was riding near a precipice, and fell over his horse was killed, but he escaped without injury: instead of thanking God for his deliverance, he refused to acknowledge the hand of God therein: but attributed his escape to chance. The same man was afterward riding on a very smooth road: his horse suddenly tripped and fell, and threw his rider over his head, and killed him on the spot, while the horse escaped unhurt.

If a man is dead in sin, our attempting to correct his false notions is like laying a dead man straight, who before was lying crooked. The man is dead, and will remain so; though, before, he was lying crooked, and is now lying straight. It matters little what right notions we may have, while we till God awakens our hearts. are dead in sin; for we shall never act up to them,

To have too much forethought, is the part of a WRETCH; to have too little, is the part of a FOOL.

SELF-WILL is so ardent and active, that it will break a world to pieces, to make a stool to sit on.

We are too little acquainted with the sacred character of God. A certain man sold a possession, and brought a certain part of the price. We should have thought this a generous act: but God saw that there wanted a right estimation of his character. Many sins are suffered to pass, to be punished hereafter: but God sometimes breaks out, and strikes an offender dead in vindication of his own glory.

YOUNG Christians on setting out in life, often mistake greatly in not sufficiently attributing events to the immediate providence of God. They are not reluctant, at the end, to acknowledge that their way has been directed: but they do not enough mark it as they go on. There is a habit REMEMBER always to mix good sense with good of saying, "Such a thing may TURN UP," as if it things, or they will become disgusting. depended on chance; whereas nothing will turn up, but what was ordered long before. One cause of this evil is, that the divinity of our day deals too much in common-place: certain fundamental

truths are set forth and if a man professes these truths, too little account is made of the faith, dependance, and other graces of a Christian. When a man becomes a Christian he is written upon, as it were, "TO BE PROVIDED FOR !"-and he ought, therefore, to notice, as he goes on, how Providence does provide for him.

MEN mistake in nothing so much, as when they resist their dispensation; for, while God shutteth up a man, there can be no opening. Resistance does but make the dispensation harder to be borne. Job says, He teareth himself in his anger: but shall the rock be removed because of thee! The man is, as it were, in a labyrinth: and the hand, which brought him in, must be the hand to conduct him

out.

WE require the same hand to protect us in apparent safety, as in the most imminent and palpa

THINGS are not to be done by the effort of the poment, but by the preparation of past moments.

that is the person of whom you ought never to If there is any person to whom you feel dislike, speak.

IRRITABILITY urges us to take a step as much too soon, as sloth does too late.

WHEN We read the Bible we must always remember, that like the holy waters seen by Ezekiel,* it is in some places, up to the ankles; in others, up to the knees; in others, up to the loins; and in some a river too deep to be fathomed, and that cannot be passed over. There is light enough to guide the humble and teachable to heaven, and obscurity enough to confound the unbeliever.

Ezek. ch. xlvii.

TRUE religion as revealed in the Scriptures may be compared to a plum on the tree, covered with its bloom. Men gather the plum, and handle it, and turn and twist it about, till it is deprived of all its native bloom and beauty: the fairest hand would as much rob the plum of its bloom, as any other. Now all that little party-spirit, which so ELOQUENCE is vehement simplicty. much prevails among men, and which leads them to say, I am of Paul and I of Apollos-is but handling the plum till it loses its bloom.

World; and the Book of Providence. Every occurrence is a leaf in one of these books: it does not become us to be negligent in the use of anv of them.

GOD is omniscent as well as omnipotent; and omniscience may see reason to withhold what omnipotence could bestow.

ATTEND to the presence of God: this will dig. nify a small congregation, and annihilate a large

one.

HAVING Some business to transact with a gentleman in the city, I called one day at his counting house: he begged I would call again, as I had so much more time to spare than he had, who was a man of business. "An hour is nothing to you," said he "An hour nothing to a clergyman!" said I: "you seem little to understand the nature of our profession. One hour of a clergyman's time rightly employed, Sir, is worth more to him than all the gains of your merchandise."

If a man has a quarrelsome temper, let him alone. The world will soon find him employment. He will soon meet with some one stronger than himself, who will repay him better than you can. A man may fight duels all his life, if he is disposed to quarrel.

ONE day I got off my horse to kill a rat, which I found on the road only half killed. I am shocked at the thoughtless cruelty of many people, yet I did a thing soon after, that has given me considerable uneasiness, and for which I reproach myself bitterly. As I was riding homeward, I saw a wagon standing at a door with three horses; the two foremost were eating their corn from bags at their noses; but I observed the third had dropt his on the ground, and could not stoop to get any food. However, I rode on, in absence, without assisting him. But when I had got nearly home, I remembered what I had observed in my absence of mind, and felt extremely hurt at my neglect: and would have ridden back had I not thought the wagoner might have come out of the house and relieved the horse. A man could not have had a better demand for getting off his horse, than for such an act of humanity. It is by absence of mind, that we omit many duties.

A WICKED man is a candidate for nothing but hell!-However he may live, if his conscience were awake, he would turn pale at this question : What shall I do in the end thereof?

THERE is a great defect in Gray's Elegy. You cannot read it without feeling a melancholy : there

is no sunshine-no hope after death: it shows the dark side only of mortality. But a man refined as he was, and speculating on the bankruptcy of human nature, if he brought not evangelical views into the estimate, COULD describe human nature only as HOPELESS and FORLORN: whereas what HE felt a subject of melancholy is with me included in the calculation. I know it MUST be so, and, according to my views, should be disappointed if it were not so-My kingdom, said our Lord, is not of this world.

stop. He has not told us why he permitted the angels to fall-why he created Adam-why he suffered sin to enter into the world-why Christ came in the latter ages-when he will come to judgment-what will be the doom of the heathen nations-nor why our state throughout eternity was made to depend on such a moment as man's life: all these are secrets of his council. Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth? God urges it on us again and again, that sin HAS entered-and that we must flee from the wrath to come. Christ, in the days of his flesh, never gratified curiosity: he answered every inquiry ac cording to the SPIRIT of the inquirer, not according to the letter of the inquiry: if any man came in humility for instruction, he always instructed; but, when any came to gratify a vain curiosity, he answered, as when one sail, Lord, are there few that be saved?-STRIVE TO ENTER IN AT THE STRAIT GATE!-or, as when another inquired, Lord, and what shall this man do !— What is that

to thee?

FOLLOW THOU ME.

REVELATION never staggers me. There may be a tertium quid, though we are not yet in possession of it, which would put an end to all our present doubts and questions. I was one day riding with a friend: we were discussing a subject, and I expressed myself surprised that such a measure was not adapted. "If I were to tell you one thing," said he, "it would make all clear." I gave him credit that there did exist something, which would entirely dispel my objections. Now if this be the case, in many instances, between man and man, is it an unreasonable conclusion, that all the unacWE are too ready to say in trouble, All these countable points, which we may observe in the things are against me! but a Christian should say, providence and government of God, should be all "This or that may seem against me; but there is perfection in the Divine mind? Take the growth mercy for me: there is a Saviour: there is God's of a seed-I cannot possibly say what first pro- be more careful to enumerate what is FOR him, duces progress of growth in the grain. Take voluntary motion-I cannot possibly say where action than what is AGAINST him. He should look over begins and thought ends. The proportion between the list of his spiritual and temporal mercies, as a fly's mind and a man's is no adequate illustra-well as that of his sorrows; and remember, that tion of the state of man with respect to God; because there is some proportion between the minds

or faculties of two finite creatures, but there can be none between finite man and the infinite God.

word: and there are his ordinances." He should

what things are AGAINST him are so on account of his sin. Our pilgrimage is but short :—let us make use of our helps and means. God has given us a guide, and a support to lean on: when the clouds gather, we have only to look to Jesus. We are not to expect the joys of heaven while on earth:-let us be content that there is a highway for us to walk in, and a leader to conduct us in that way.

ONE little preacher will endeavor to prove, with a great deal of warmth, the truth of Calvinistic principles and another little preacher will clearly demonstrate the truth of the Arminian scheme. Good sense will go between them, and say, "There IT is a Christian's business, as much as possible, are certain things written on these subjects-Thus consistently with his duty, to lessen his cares and saith the Lord "good sense will hesitate to push occupations in the world. It is very common to what is said to all its apparent conclusions, for-hear Christians complain what a hinderance busiIt is written again. Here ends all dogmatism with a wise man.

ness is, while they are, perhaps, at the very time, too anxious to increase it! There is some fallacy, too, in the complaint: for, where there is a principle of grace, it will prevail even in a multitude of engagements. There is much difference between SEEKING busy situations, and BEING FOUND them.

A MOUSE that had lived all his life in a chest, says the fable, chanced one day to creep up to the edge, and, peeping out, exclaimed with wonder-in "I did not think the world was so large."

The first step to knowledge, is to know that we are ignorant: It is a great point to know our place: for want of this, a man in private life, instead of attending to the affairs in his "chest," is ever peeping out, and then he becomes a PHILOSOPHER! he must then know every thing, and presumptuously pry into the deep and secret councils of God -not considering that man is finite, and has no faculties to comprehend and judge of the great scheme of things. We can form no other idea of the dispensations of God, nor can have any knowledge of spiritual things, except what God has taught us in his word; and, where he stops, we must

WHAT we call "taking steps in life," are most serious occurrences;-especially if there be, in the motive, any mixture of ambition. Wherefore gaddest thou about to change thy way?

THE dispensation of grace to some, is little more than a continual combat with corruptions: so that, instead of advancing, a man seems to be but just able to preserve himself from sinking. A boat, with the tide full against it, does well if it can keep from driving back, and must have strong

:

A CONTEMPLATIVE life has more the APPEAR- | heart find their way to the heart, by a holy symANCE of a life of piety than any other but it is pathy. Character is power :the divine plan to bring faith into ACTIVITY and EXERCISE. We chose that sort of walk, which we like best: if we love quiet, we are for sedentary piety; but the design of God is to root us out of every thing, and bring us into more useful

stations.

A WRETCHED prisoner, chained to the floor for a length of time, would deem it a high privilege to be allowed to walk across the room. Another, confined to lie on his back till it had become sore, would think it a great favor if he might be permitted to turn on his side for a few minutes. In a course of habitual pain, I am thankful for five minutes' freedom from suffering: how forgetful have I been of fifty years of tolerable ease! How unmindful are we of what we call common mercies !

In order to read the Bible with profit, we must begin by denying ourselves every step of the way: for, every step of the way, it will be found to oppose our corrupt nature.

CHRISTIANS resemble travellers in a stagecoach. We are full of our plans and schemes, but the coach is moving rapidly forward: it passes one mile-stone, and then another; and no regard is paid to the plots and plans of the passengers.

"A good man seen, though silent, counsel gives.” If you would make deep impressions on others, you must use all means to have them first formed on your own mind. Avoid, at the same time, all appearances of evil-as a covetous or worldly, a vain or assuming, careless or indevout deportment. Never suffer jesting with sacred persons or things. Satan will employ such antidotes as these, to counteract the operation of that which is effective and gracious in a minister's character.

II. By placing your dependence on any means, qualities, or circumstances, however excellent in themselves.

The direct way to render a thing weak, is to lean on it as strong. God is a jealous God; and will utterly abolish idols as a means of success. He designs to demonstrate that men and creatures are what he makes them, and that only. This also should be your encouragement :-looking, in the diligent and humble use of means, to that Spirit of life and power without whose influence all your endeavors will be to no purpose, you have reason to expect help suited and adequate to all your difficulties.

III. By unnecessarily appearing in dangerous or improper situations.

It is one thing to be humble and condescending; it is another to render yourself common, cheap and contemptible. The men of the world know when a minister is out of his place-when they can oppress him by numbers or circumstances when they can make him laugh, while A CHRISTIAN has advanced but a little way in his office frowns. Well will it be for him, if he is religion when he has overcome the love of the only rendered ABSURD in his future public admoworld: for he has still more powerful and impor-nitions, by his former compliances; well if, being tunate enemies: self-evil tempers-pride-undue affections-a stubborn will-it is by the subduing of these adversaries, that we must chiefly judge of our growth in grace.

found like St. Peter on dangerous ground, he is not seduced, virtually at least, to deny his Master.

IV. By suspicious appearances in his family.

As the head of your household you are responsible for its appearances. Its pride, sloth, and disorder will be yours. You are accountable for A FRIEND called on me when I was ill, to settle your wife's conduct, dress, and manners, as well some business. My head was too much confused as those of your children, whose education must by my indisposition to understand fully what he be peculiarly exemplary. Your family is to be a said; but I had such unlimited confidence in him, picture of what you wish other families to be: that I did whatever he bid me, in the fullest as- and, without the most determined resolution, in surance that it was right. How simply I can reliance on God, to finish this picture COST WHAT trust in man, and how little in God! How un- IT WILL, your recommending family religion to reasonable is a pure act of faith in one like our-others will but create a smile. Your unfriendly selves, if we cannot repose the same faith in God.

hearers will recollect enough of Scripture to tell you that you ought, like the primitive bishop, to be one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity: for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

V. By meddling beyond your sphere in tempo

rals.

Some negative rules, given to a Young Minister going into a situation of peculiar difficulty. As I know you have received much good advice, I would suggest to you a few hints of a negative kind: with a view of admonishing you to call, are to be altogether heavenly. As a man of Your aim and conversation, like your sacred be careful, while you are doing your work, not by God, you have no concern with politics and par any mistakes of your own to hinder your success-ties and schemes of interest, but you are to live I. By forgetting that your success with others is very much connected with your personal character. Herod heard John gladly, and he did many things; because he knew the preacher to be a just and holy man. Words uttered from the

above them. There is a sublime spirit in a devoted minister, which, as one says of Christianity itself, pays no more regard to these things, than to the battles of rooks, the industry of ants, or the policy of bees.