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Should our time be principally employed in the enjoyment of the pleasures of this life? Who but a fool would say, "Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die ?" Were this death the loss of being, then we should not deny the prudence of seizing and enjoying all the happiness life could afford; but death is not the extinction of existence; to him who neglects the salvation of God, it is the loss of all good, ease, honor, hope-it is to live an eternal death, where the full expression of almighty wrath will be the only proof of the continued existence of God. If we live in pleasure we are dead while we live, unless our pleasure be drawn from heaven, by faith and hope, or found in holy communion with God, and sincere and impartial obedience to his will. We have lost paradise by sin, and do not re-enter on this side the grave; we are not born to enjoy heaven in this life, and he who does not seek now a valid title to the future possession of it, and a holy meetness for all its employments and extacies, by secret prayer, fervently and daily directed to heaven, by serious and prayerful reference to the inspired pages, as a traveller wouldconsult his map on an interesting journey--who does not often meditate and often converse about this better country, has yet to learn what is the best employment of time. This world passeth away, and the lusts thereof, but he who doeth the will of God abideth forever.

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Does he well employ his life whose chief pursuits are literature and honor? Who does not know that without the wisdom that cometh from above-that, except we are wise unto salvation, the judge will say; "This is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour" And of the distinctions of this life it can be safely affirmed, that without the honor that cometh from God they will all conclude in the indiscriminate darkness and confusion of perdition. The philosophers, warriors, nobles, and princes of the earth, whose honors have grown the most thick upon them, will find them all, at last, like evening clouds beautified by the declining sun-beams, which will forever depart in the night of death. The name of the wicked, of those who love not God, repent not of sin, believe not in Christ, obey not the gospel, and who do not seek, as the very first object in life, a gracious and holy salvation, will rot. The righteous, only, will be had in everlasting remembrance. The Chaldean monarch, who is stiled, "Lucifer the son of the morning," was reduced to the common level when he entered the in

fernal world. That fierce climate scorched and withered all his blooming glories, and the degraded and miserable inhabitants accosted him with these bitter words; "Art thou also become like unto us?"

We have removed the rubbish and cleared the ground, let us erect the fabric. I have entered upon another year, the end of which God may not permit me to see, what should be immediate and chief pursuit ?"

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I will suppose that some of my readers are not the sons of God by faith in Christ-have not yet obtained mercy-and do intend to neglect religion and eternity? Or do you say to the gospel and the Saviour, and God, and heaven, “ Go for this time, and I will call for you at a more convenient season ?" Ah! while you delay you die. Behold, at the door, the feet of them which have buried your departed friends in the last year, and this year shall carry you out also. If you die unholy and unjustified, the lip of truth will utter, "Let him that is filthy be filthy still and let him that is unjust be unjust still "—and the arm of Omnipotence will fulfil the sentence forever. In this world heaven must be begun, or in the next it will not be possessed. "Great and holy God. I am a dying creature-tomorrow I may be with those who have left this world forever; and were this to be, I should be lost-forever lost. Save me, Oh! save me for Christ's sake-enlighten my understanding and purify my heart." Is this your language? let me, in prospect of death, judgment, and eternity, intreat you not to suffer one day to pass away, till you expire, without secret prayer and the perusal of the testimonies of heaven; nor a sabbath, without attending, if it be possible, the public worship of God. The dew of heaven collects, and the celestial rain distils on this sacred ground; go there to be watered that you may be like the tree whose leaf does not wither and whose fruit appears in its season. They shall know who follow on to know the Lord-they that seek shall find. The Giver of all good does not bless us for praying, reading, or hearing his gospel, but while we are thus employed how often does he pass that way and strew his path with mercies that insure to their possessor all which is in heaven? I would betake myself unto God-uno God would I commit Acquaint thyself with him and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

my cause.

This paper may be perused by those who have returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls, who are waiting for the Son

of God, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come. On reviewing the year that is now for ever gone, affecting and improving reflections will arise in your minds. How many opportunities of holy improvement have been permitted to slide away unoccupied? This year death may come, says the watchful christian, and my closet, my bible, the house of my God, shall occupy more of my time, and of my heart. Opportunities of effecting good have escaped me; some were not seen through criminal inattention, and many which met my eye did not move my hand; the night of death is advancing fast upon me, and I will work while it is day, in exhibiting a holy pattern to my children, domestics, and all around me, in faithfully reproving sin as one who is acting under the eye of God, in maintaining such conversation as might be remembered with gratitude when I am dying-in attempting the amelioration of the condition, and the salvation of the souls of afflicted and perishing fellow creatures. In the presence of my God, I resolve to be more wise, diligent, and holy; accep', almighty and benificent Creator, this vow, let it be recorded in heaven, and impart unto me thy grace to fulfil it upon earth. Of divine faithfulness and protection let me not be unmindful. My soul was first taught to pray by the agency of the divine spirit, he made my eyes overflow with penitential tears, and unto this day he has preserved me steadfast in the faith. I have been like a lamp shining with a feeble flame in a stormy land, and he who rules the wind has kept me from extinction. I will love the Lord as long as I live, for he has kept my feet from falling and my life from destruction.

In the years that are past, we have lived often as the children of this generation, let us now act as children of light. Your aim cannot well be too much elevated, if you ask of God the grace that can raise you to it. In your families, in your business, in the world, in the church of God, in every place, at every time, and before all persons, be followers of God as dear children; thus imitating him who is good, and nothing shall harm you; if you live to travel longer in the wilderness, a stream of mercy shall follow you, and with bread from heaven you shall be fed; if you retire from it, God will give you a safe passage over the river of death, and a quiet and an eternal possession of the celestial Canaan; where you shall see the face of God, be like him, love him, delight in him, cease from sin, and weep and die no more.

Live this year as Christ lived, so that if those who never saw him wished to know his manner of life and conversation, threy

might look at you and be ignorant no longer. If they heard you pray or converse, if they viewed your conduct in every relation of life, and in every circumstance of your condition, it might justly be said, so prayed and conversed, so acted, the Lord from Heaven. Then let the wheels be taken from the chariot of time -let the sun and the stars expire-let this solid earth melt away in the last fires-let the great God and our Saviour appear, and the voice of the arch-angel be heard-let the moment come, when every child of Adam will know the region he is for ever to inhabit-and you are safe-and you must be happy-safe while the divinity exists, and happy as long as Jehovah occupies his throne. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. Oh! do not doubt the certain salvation and future glory of the righteous; pray for divine grace to ensure your immediate attention to all the revealed will of God. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

London.

T. G.

But

THOUGHTS ON PSALM XLI. 4.

Shewing the nature of genuine Repentance.

There can be no hesitation in admitting that before David committed adultery he was a truly good man. And though he might not apprehend that his sin in the matter of Uriah would bring on him everlasting condemnation, yet he loathes himself, and mourns over this sin in the bitterness of his soul. Addressing himself to God, while humbly prostrate at his feet, the royal penitent cries out, Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. This beautiful address to Jehovah suggests-

I. That sin appeared to David most especially sinful because committed against the blessed God. When a sin so glaring and

cruel, so open and aggravated as was the sin of David, is committed by many professors, their first enquiry is, "How shall I gain my lost reputation as a religious character?" The selfrighteous professor would double his diligence in an attention to various forms of religion in order to repair his broken performances, and to re-establish his peace with God. But the converted sinner would hasten to the footstool of mercy, and there mourn that he has offended the Lord. David was not unmindful of the injury he had done to Uriah, and the disgrace in which he had involved Bathsheba; of these things he was fully sensisible. But the soul-rending reflection, that he had broken the righteous law of God, dishonored the precious name of God, by causing the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, these were fountains of overflowing grief. Under how many obligations is the believer laid to love and serve the Lord with his whole heart! How many are the daily blessings which he enjoys from him! How frequent and rich the displays of divine favor to his soul! And yet this is the God against whom he has offended. The repenting sinner will view every sin as a spear piercing the side of his Redeemer, and will truly mourn for him. What anguish rends the soul from the reflection that sin murdered Immanuel, and yet we have added sin to sin! It increased David's sorrow of heart to reflect—

II. That his sins were committed under the immediate eye of God. He had done this evil in God's sight. This was provoking God to his face. "Tis the greatest felicity of a good man that God is at his right hand continually, and that he watches over his path. And yet sin is committed while God is so near unto us. Sin is not an injury offered to God which we can conceal from his notice, but an evil which he sees in all its aggravated circumstances. A penitent sinner will not enquire, "How many of my brethren are privy to my conduct?" Or, "How can I best conceal my sin from others?" But he will exclaim, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight. How does the soul dread his being grieved and retiring from him who is his hope and his life. The absence of the Spirit of God is the death of every comfort. David's acknowledgement of his sin reminds us—

III. That a penitent does in his own heart fully justify God from the charge of severity in proceeding against the soul in judg ment. That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest. When judgment was inflicted on the wicked in old times we read that,