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"By faith he [Abraham] so journed in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwel

Jacob, in the course of his wanderings, went down into Egypt. It was a mysterious chain of events in divine providence which carried him there. Those events as means, were necessary to bring about the end designed. If Jacob had not made a coat of many colours for his favourite Joseph-if the youth had not dreamed, and declared those dreams which excit

sed by Pharaoh, he answered, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil haveling in tabernacles with Isaac the days of the years of my and Jacob, the heirs with him life been, and have not at of the same promise: For tained unto the days of the years he looked for a city which hath of my fathers, in the days foundations whose builder and of their pilgrimage." Jacob maker is God." was in every sense a pilgrim and a sojourner in this world. -At an early age he was driven, by the unnatural hatred of his brother, from his father's house. From that period to the day of his death, he had no settled habitation. This exhibits the real state of all mankind in this passing world. It is at best but a temporary habitation which they have, and their possession is very short. This or that fielded the jealousy and hatred of his they call theirs; on this or that brethren, if Joseph had not been object they set their mark as sent to enquire after their health, their property: but to-morrow, if he had not been sold to the and these will pass from their Midianitish merchants, and if possession into the hands of ano- numberless other events, in ther; and the places which now themselves inconsiderable, had know them, will know them no not taken place, Jacob would nemore. The condition of man, ver have gone to Egypt. All in this life, very much resembles these events were under the imthat of the ancient Patriarchs mediate direction of the Most who wandered, from place to High, who meant them for good. place, with their flocks and Thus, the policy of the extenherds. They tarried only while sive kingdom of Egypt was subsistence was easy; and when made subservient to the salva the season was over, they struck tion of Jacob and his household. their tents and disappeared. It No less concerned is the holy is the lot of man thus to sojourn and wise providence of God in in this changing world. Every the circumstances of the life year, and month, and day, vast and death of all his creatures. numbers of our race strike their" The lot is cast into the lap: tents, and depart to another country.

But some are pilgrims in a different sense. Of this number was Jacob. He not only had no abiding city here, but he lived as seeking "a better country, that is, an heavenly."

but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." The providence of God towards Jacob, is a comment upon this and similar declarations of his word. That part of his history, especially, which is the subject of these reflections, appears to be one of

the most conclusive evidences | disappointments. Let me rethat can possibly be given, of peat the annals of your life; the immediate and constant "Such a year was visited with agency of divine providence in distressing sickness; at such the events of this world. As a time, buried a beloved parent, we trace the agency of a holy a dear companion, a child, a broand wise providence in this won-ther, a sister or a friend. My derful chain of events, we at succeeding time hath been in length find the venerable old the pursuit of something which man in the presence of Pharaoh. I never obtained, and at fifty, I' The king was struck with his am unsatisfied. Alas, how life aged and venerable appearance. passes! The phantoms of time He makes the emphatical en- have cheated me of fifty years, quiry, “How old art thou?" and I have almost done with the The estimate of Jacob upon world, before I have begun to the shortness of life, and the un- realize an existence in it." satisfying nature of earthly enjoyments, is very evident from his answer : "Few and evil have the days of the years of my pilgrimage been."

Fathers, it is time to reflect! Some who may read this, I trust, have already reflected to a good purpose; and are enabled, with a just estimate upon human life, to say, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my pilgrimage been." Sensible of the unsatisfying and transitory nature

have sought and become interested in that " city whose builder and maker is God." Happy will you be, when flesh and heart shall fail you, to be received into everlasting habitations.

Reader, into whose hands these reflections may come, let the question be put to you; "How old art thou?" Uncommon as this question may seem, it will of sublunary enjoyments, you sometimes intrude, especially at the commencement of a new year. Here and there one, into whose hands this may come, might answer, “I am sixty, or I am seventy." And some, who have hardly begun to think of being old, are on the borders of fifty. You have lived in God's world, and upon his bounties. half a century. This seems a long period to the young, who look upon you as an old man. How does it seem to you?" A vapour, that appeareth for a littie time, and then vanisheth away." It is a dream. Here and there an event you can call to recollection, but the greatest part of the past is, to your remembrance, as though it hadjects of grace, but I tremble for not been. Of that which you can remember, how much of it hath been filled with trials and VOL. I. NO. 3.

But are there not some, who have arrived to the periods just mentioned, surprised to find themselves in old age, and without a Christian hope? If the kingdom of heaven is not now begun in your hearts, you have reason to fear it never will be. The question, emphatical to you, again returns, "How old art thou?" What, fifty, sixty, seventy! and have you neglected religion so long? I dare not say you will never be the sub

you. There is indeed, to you, an accepted time and a day of salvation, but it is short. The

taper of your life hath burned al- young to be the disciples of most to its socket, and that | Christ, and to answer this queswhich is to come will appear vastly more fleeting than the past. This year thou mayest die. It is then high time to secure a better country. But it is probably your calamity, as well as your sin, that you are now, if possible, more disposed to put off the great work of repentance than in youth. But remember that with you, it is the eleventh, the last hour.

Of those who are in the midst of life, let the enquiry also be made, "How old art thou?" I am thirty, or I am forty. But we are so involved in the cares and business of life, that we cannot attend to such questions. Some twenty years hence we will give you an answer. We have as much as we can possibly attend to already. Let religion be the employment of old age. We have not yet done with this, it is, therefore, needless to seek another country. Let the question be proposed when we are more at leisure. But are there none who are disposed to stop in the midst of life, to consider their ways and be wise? Yes, to the honour of divine grace, the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches have not wholly choked the word. All-powerful grace has prevailed even in this period.

To the youthful reader let this question be repeated. Should the answer be fifteen or twenty, permit me to remind you that thousands who were younger than you, are in the land of silence. More than one half of your fellow creatures never live to your age. If you are not too young to die, you are not too

tion with triumph in expectation of a better country. O, remember your Creator in the days of your youth! The frequency of this topic cannot render it unimportant. It is as interesting to you as it was to those youth who have gone to render their account to their God. O, forget not that you must die, that you must appear in judgment, and that a miserable eternity awaits the impenitent. Forget not that your life is a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Sin has put a false coloring upon the objects of sense, beware that they do not deceive you! Should twenty years be added to your life, and you should then die impenitent, the weight of twenty years' guilt would only sink you deeper in despair. You wish to live; but is it to live in sin? It were better to have died the past year than to live to die a sinner the next. Better, never to have heard the congratulations of a new year, than to be punished for the misimprovement of it. My dear youth, I know not how to leave you, without evidence that, if God spares your life this year, you will devote it to his service. Will you not devote one year to God? Must the Saviour always be put off, when he calls, to a future period? Reflect upon this subject a moment. Is heaven an object unworthy your pursuit ? Are the friendship of the great God and the everlasting love of the Saviour not worth the service of a year? O, be wise, and consider in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace. NICANOR.

Necessity of a Revelation.

ERE a traveller lost in

discovered the necessity of a revelation, but could carry them no farther. To them the prospects of futurity were gloomy

WERE a explored forest, and uncertain. Though they

an

shrouded in the gloom, which the thick shade of the trees produced; were he unable to discover any light except a few rays, reflected from the small portions of sky left unveiled by the leaves; he would deeply realize the necessity of a brighter light to mark the way leading to his destined home. But while a full blaze of light surrounds him; while his path is hard beaten by the many travellers, which have passed before him, he neither will nor can realize the value of these advantages.

Here is a picture of our present situation. We have the law, which teaches our duty, but which alone would leave us in despair. We have also the gospel, which shines with a clearer light. It is not only a lamp, enlightening our path, but a voice, saying, this is the way: Walk ye therein. In this situation we are not disposed to enquire for the fountain, whence these blessings emanate. We consider them matters of course, of which we cannot be deprived without injustice. Nor is it possible we should now realize the vast importance of revelation. To the mind, accustomed to stretch its pinions beyond the veil which divides time from eternity, the light of nature destroys total darkness; but it is only to render the gloom more awful, the shade more dismal, uncertainty more dreadful, and our blindness more apparent. Thus situated were Plato and Socrates; to whom reflection

believed in a future existence,
yet their ideas of its nature, fell
far short of those revealed in
the book of life. By reason, we
have a glimpse of the existence
and character of God, our own
immortality, and of our lost
situation by sin.
Here we stop.

No pleasing voice invites us to pardon and acceptance with God. Uninspired with a well grounded hope, and unable to rest in uncertainty, we take refuge in despair. Restless in our natures, panting for happiness, and grasp ing at every appearance of pleasure, we are constantly subject to disappointment, perplexity and self-accusation; and without an unerring rule of conduct, in which we have implicit confidence, we must be for ever fearful, for ever unhappy. Like a man, suspended in the air by an invisible support, we are momently expecting our fall; but revelation points to a source of confidence, the God of heaven, the ruler of all things. Founded on him, though the elements melt with fervent heat; the earth, and all terrestrial objects be dissolved, we are secure, we are fearless.

The practice of men is regulated by their principles; and both have an undeniable influ ence upon their happiness. Fortunately we are able to trace the paths, to which the light of nature has directed, though they are as diverse as their travellers, and marked only by an individual track. While we learn their principles, we are astonished at their folly, and reluctantly ac

knowledge this the acme of hu- | were both incontinent, both inman wisdom.

Among all the ancient philosophers, no two are found, whose sentiments, upon the most important points, were settled and coincident. While Socrates and Plato taught the existence of one God, they worshipped many. Plutarch and Cicero, with the same sources of information, acknowledged two supreme deities; an author of good and an author of evil. The sublime idea of bringing good out of evil, order out of confusion, was too great for their conception. While the benevolent Jesus could forgive and pray for enemies, Zeno taught that we ought never to forgive them. Aristippus, Plato, Diogenes, Zeno, and the Cynics were the advocates for lewdness, and the enlightened Cicero pronounced it a crime of little importance. Some taught, that it was as lawful for children to roast and eat their parents as any other food: Others, that parents might sacrifice and eat their children. Lycurgus encouraged stealing by law, and Aristippus pronounced it lawful. Cicero thought the acquisition of fame a sufficient foundation of a lawful war, and taught that virtue consisted in the desire of fame.

temperate. Some were traitors and debauchers: Others committed lewdness, without a blush, in the streets. One was slain in the act of adultery: Another kept a seraglio,and perjured himself to cheat a friend. Xenophon was a sodomite: Cato a drunkard; and many of their most celebrated philosophers, unable to bear the trifling misfortunes of life, destroyed themselves. Such are the natural fruits of this philosophy, and such is the best philosophy, which the wisdom of men, untaught by revelation, could produce.

Is such a course of life productive of happiness? Confidence is the only foundation of solid happiness. Where was their confidence? Uncertain what would be agreeable to their gods, they knew not what to offer; nor were they sure that the satisfaction of one was not offensive to another. If they believed in two deities, the one good, the other evil, one delighting in happiness, the other in misery, the consequence was certain, that misery only could satisfy the latter. Without confidence in God, and taught, by human frailty, the folly of trusting in man, to whom should they; to whom could Such being the principles, they go? That they had not this what has been the practice of confidence, their writings evithese philosophers? Cicero says, dence. So various and discordthey neither reformed them-ant were their views on moral selves nor their disciples, in a subjects,that many of their wisest single instance, and we have men declared, they must never other testimony that his philoso-expect to arrive at truth, unless phy did not lead him to purity taught by a revelation from God. of life. We have the assertion Was uncertainty the farthest of Lucian, that they were "ty-bound which heathenism could rants, adulterers and corrupters reach! What then may be exof youth." Socrates and Plato pected from the wisdom of the

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