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to the Lord. She had given a large sum toward erecting a church, and the bible and missionary cause had felt the benefit of her liberality.

In that solemn morning, when the long, deep slumber of the grave shall be broken by the trump of God, and a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shall be remembered, how worthless will the diadem of earth's proudest monarch appear, when compared with that crown of life which the righteous judge will give to the possessor of such humble and active piety.

SPEAK TO HIM.

CHRISTIAN! FOLLOWER OF CHRIST! That friend of yours, that neighbour whom you meet every day, and with whom, perhaps, you transact business, is in danger-in danger of losing his soul! He is an impenitent man, though he may be a very amiable one. But he does not see, nor believe that his soul is in danger every hour. He is not convinced that he is as much exposed to eternal ruin as he is to the stroke of death. He walks daily and hourly on the shore of that illimitable ocean, upon which he may be summoned to launch away any moment, a miserable and ruined outcast from God and heaven. You know all this to be true of him. You have seen the dangers to which he is exposed. You have heard the thunder of eternal justice faintly echoing the terrors of the day of doom. You have seen the lightnings flash from the dark bosom of eternity across the sinner's path. You have fled for refuge to the ark of safety. You are safe in the pavilion of salvation, and in your hiding-place may calmly abide the coming of the final storm, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the heavens be rolled together as a scroll. But, Christian, your neighbour, your friend, perhaps your own child, a son or daughter yet in impenitence, sees nothing of all this which you have seen by the eye of faith, and felt in the anguish of your spirit when you drank the wormwood and the gall. Is it enough that you have escaped -that you are safe-that your title to heaven is sealed? Does not your heart yearn over the souls of friends or children who may perish and must perish, unless rescued by the grace of God, and brought to repentance?

Do you ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Are you not? Were your son or daughter quietly reposing at midnight in their sleeping chamber, wrapped in the flames from which you had just escaped, would you not awake them? Would you not bend every nerve, and run every risk to pluck them as brands from the burning? But if there be any truth in the warnings of the Bible -any reality in the ruin of the soul-how does the real condition of your impenitent son, or daughter, or neighbour, less demand your earnestness and care? The truth is, Christians themselves do not half believe the Bible representations of the danger to which impenitent men are every hour exposed. They could not otherwise keep silence, any more than Paul could, who ceased not for three years, night and day, to warn men with tears. Speak, then, Christian! Speak to that neighbour, that friend, that son or daughter. Persuade them by the terrors of the Lord to be reconciled. Speak to them of Jesus, who, though rich, for our sake became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. Tell him of his poverty and his tears; of his life and his death. Assure him it was all for our sake. Tell him of his pity, his power, his love, and repeat his own gracious invitations to him till they melt on his ear, and sink into his heart. Speak to him of the grace of the Holy Spirit, who says, "Come and take of the water of life freely." Tell him that with all the means of salvation which God has provided, and urges on his acceptance, if he perish, he will be his own destroyer. He will die an eternal suicide.

Without this proof of his fidelity to God, and the soul of his friend or neighbour, a son or daughter, how can the Christian meet them at the judgment? How encounter their anguish and despair? Unless he do it, how can he then say to the Judge, I warned this my neighbour, my friend, but he would not hear. I intreated my son or daughter to flee from the wrath to come. I invited them in the name of the only Redeemer to enter into the kingdom of heaWill not his song in heaven be marred, and a tear fall from his weeping eye, if it were possible, at the thought that a son, or daughter, or neighbour is lifting up his eyes amid the torments of despair, who might have been saved and been with him, mingling his songs in heaven, if he had been faithful, and spoken to him with all the earnestness of a dying man to dying friends,

ven.

PROSPERITY HURTFUL TO PIETY.

EXPERIENCE proves, that as Christians are successful in their worldly interests, they are apt to think less of the claims of God and religion. We cannot bear prosperity. It draws away the thoughts from heaven, and fastens them upon worldly objects. It leads us to love our ease and the comforts of life more than the service of the Saviour.

It is strange that the goodness of God should alienate us from him that his mercies should have the effect to lessen our love; and yet it is true, that, in many cases, nothing but chastisements will bring his people to a sense of their duty. When the church is cast into a furnace of affliction, then she will act. She will arise and shine. She will come forth "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." And often God's judgments are his greatest mercies. He lets loose the storm of persecution, in order that the energies of his church may be brought out, and made to bear upon the kingdom of Satan. He tries his people, that he may see, and the world may see, "who is on the Lord's side." And there is power in Christ's church. It may slumber. It may lie inactive and dormant for a time, but it will be brought out. If one class of means fails, another will be put in operation. And almost any state of things in the church is better than a state of coldness and spiritual death. What if churches are convulsed! What if the community is excited! What if the nation is shaken! These evils are nothing compared with the loss of souls. See what heaven has done for man's salvation! See what sacrifices Christ has made! And shall we make none?

"Shall we be carried to the skies

On flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,

Or sailed through bloody seas?"

Some professors never made any sacrifices for Christ. They have indeed less spirituality and less zeal than when they started in the Christian race. They love the world and its vanities, and forget that they are competitors for an immortal crown.

"LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO."

ST. JOHN Vi. 68.

"To whom shall we go?" It is the question of a soul looking round on all created things, and finding no rest, no stay; hurrying on in thought from one to another, and returning with the unanswered question, "To whom shall we go?" It is the appeal of one who has renounced former idols; has found them broken cisterns, that can hold no water; and, in the review, would not for the world go back. "To whom shall we go?" Shall it be to the life of sense? Past pleasures, that are bitter often in their drink. ing-most bitter in their dregs! Shall it be to the world? Oh! the very crumbs that fall from the master's table are far sweeter than their rich spread board: hollow and unsatisfying is it.

Shall we again yield to the service of Satan? Alas! he is a cruel master-a very tyrant of souls-his fetters bind to hell. Lord! thou sayest, "Will ye also go away?" O! tell us where? whither? To whom can we go? Who can yield us that true peace but thyself? Is this the feeling of our hearts? and have we not reason to bless God if it is? Have not our hearts renounced the world? Is not sin hated-striven against-and is not the prospect cheering?

O hold we on the way! It has an end: let us still patiently look for that continuing city, "whose builder and maker is God"— our God,

66
FROM SINFULNESS OF SIN."

BY REV. W. BRIDGE. 1667.

THE question is, "What shall we do that we may be able to see sin in the sinfulness thereof?" Answer: Be sure that you look most on Christ crucified. Christ on the cross is a glass wherein you may see reflected the sinfulness of sin. Study Christ crucified

much.

Labour more and more to walk in the presence of God-the shining of God's countenance-for as when the sun shines into the room you see the little motes, so when God shines into your heart you see little sins. The beams of God's countenance do discover

sin in the sinfulness of it; therefore labour to walk more in the presence of God, in the shining of his countenance.

Be sure you judge of sin as the Scripture judgeth of it, and not

as men judge of it.

Never think any thing small betwixt God and you. There is nothing small betwixt God and us; for God is an infinite God.

Go to God, and pray for the showing clearly and setting on of his holy commandment upon you, then shall you see sin in the sinfulness thereof: as Paul says, "When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."

Now, let me add two or three cautions to this, and so conclude. Take heed that you do not so think on sin as to forget Christ. If you think on sin, without Christ, you will despair; if you think on Christ, without sin, you may presume. Labour to get sight of your sin; but never think on it without Christ. Look on your sin in the wounds of Christ, and read your sins written out in the blood of Christ.

Humble yourself for sin, though it be or seem never so small; but do not question your condition for sin, though it be never so great.

The more sense you have of sin, and the sinfulness thereof, the more labour to maintain firmly your assurance of the pardon of it. Let not your sense of sin quench your joy of pardon: let not your joy of pardon quench your sight of sin. If both these be true and genuine, the one is a help to the other.

The more sense you have of sin, the more do you come to Christ. Sense of sin is a good work, but not for itself; it is in order to our going to Christ; therefore now go to Christ, and say, "Lord, now I see the sinfulness of sin, let me see the graciousness of grace, and the fulness of Christ." Amen. May we so go, so say, and so see.

THREE THINGS.

Know Three Things.-The character of God; the offices of Christ; the work of the Spirit.

Follow Three Things.-Humility to God; love to the brethren; harmlessness to the world.

Flee Three Things.-Sin in thine heart; vanity in the world; heresy in the Church.

In every thing give thanks. (1 Thess. v. 18.)

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