on your part, which, it may be, has scarcely been attempted.

Shake off indolence. "Arise ye, and depart," said the prophet, "for this is not your rest, it is polluted." Paul sharply reproved the Corinthians, and urged his exhortation in pointed language: "Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.". How long will you slumber at your ease? Is this a time for remissness and repose? Are not unnumbered dangers around you, and inveterate combined foes armed against you? Awake, then, without delay, and bestir yourselves in the work of the Lord. Christ also exhorted his disciples to watch and pray; and the reason of the precept, lest we should enter into temptation, continues in full force to this day. Oh! look up to heaven for new supplies of enlivening grace. Seek daily, solicit earnestly the Holy Spirit, who alone can sharpen the edge of your zeal, and restore the tone and vigour of your mind. On the immutable promises rely, and for his guidance and power incessantly pray. Moderate your attachment to the things of time and sense. Be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. If a man had his bodily frame injured by the air of a certain district, surely he should not willingly dwell there, nor go thither

without an imperious call, nor stay there longer than absolute necessity required. And wilt thou, O Christian, voluntarily and eargerly rush into a vain, ensnaring, and contagious world? Wilt thou drink the fatal opiates, which bewilder the senses, and benumb the faculties of the inner man? Yes, too often and too long hast thou drained the fascinating and pernicious cup! Hence this deadness and distance from God; hence this stupor which debilitates and overwhelms all thy powers. Return unto Him, from whom thou hast deeply revolted, and beg his grace to revive thy soul. As the wind blowing from the west, wafts moisture on its wings, to restore verdure to the withered herbage of the field; so shalt thou revive and flourish under the genial influence of Divine grace.

Seek pardon of sin, through the precious atoning blood of Jesus. Till guilt be taken away, the effect cannot be removed. Go, cast thyself at the footstool of the King of kings; There confess thy sins, with unfeigned and ingenuous sorrow; there plead the merits of Christ, and the mercies of the everlasting covenant; there, while thy sins are heartily renounced, they shall be fully remitted. Who could expect to regain the favour of an offended prince, while traitors were sheltered, and fed, and cherished under his roof? And is

it necessary, in a case so plain, to open the parable, to apply the metaphor? The traitors are bosom sins, which it is dangerous to harbour, and death to indulge. Oh! set thyself firmly against them; give them no quarter, no encouragement; but let them die, and thy soul shall live.

SECTION II.

ON WANDERING THOUGHTS IN PRAYER.

"WE, that acquaint ourselves with every zone,
And pass the tropics, and behold each pole;
When we come home, are to ourselves unknown,
And unacquainted still with our own soul."

DAVIES.

IN that little world within, are found many winding, intricate, crossing tracks; many byeroads and dark lanes, but seldom explored, because few are accustomed to travel there. It is true, the Bible supplies us with a good map of the human heart, correctly delineating all the swamps and torrents, the rocks and ruins, the wilds and deserts, of this dreary and barren region. By a strict attention to this guide, we should make daily discoveries of great use to us. Know thyself the oracular sentence written over the entrance of the temple at Delphos, though a heathen maxim, deserves a place in the code of Christian morality. It points to a kind of science, confessedly difficult to acquire, but

universally necessary. Those who make the most rapid and astonishing progress in other branches of study, are often grossly deficient in self-knowledge. It would be thought strange, if the possessor of a large estate should eagerly hurry from province to province in foreign countries, and never visit or examine his own lands, to learn how they were bounded, guarded, and cultivated. We might justly say of him, it would be well for that man to stay at home; as it can neither be to his honour nor advantage, that he should suffer his estate to be injured by wanton vagrants, or invaded by ravaging foes, while he is running hither and thither, as humour prompts, or fashion calls. Is there one of us, upon whom this censure does not fall? Is it not of far greater moment, wisely to keep and cultivate the mind, than carefully to superintend the best estate? Yet who does not leave it to be wasted by intruders, or covered with poisonous plants and noxious weeds? Who maintains the fences with proper care, or casts out the rubbish and roots of bitterness, which at once disfigure its appearance, and destroy its best produce?

How much deadness of spirit injures the Christian in his access to God, I have already shewn; nor is distraction an evil less common, or less injurious. One would think that, when the Christian deliberately quits the motley