not sorry for our sin, we have no proof that God has pardoned our sin, and if God has pardoned our sin, we shall not speak lightly of it, or turn it into jest. No; it will humble us, lay us in the dust, and make us loathe ourselves in our own sight. The deeper our repentance, the sweeter the joys of pardon; the greater our sorrow for sin, the more precious will Jesus be as our deliverer from sin; the more pungent our grief at the cross, the warmer will be our zeal in the church, and the more careful our walk in the world. Holy and ever-blessed Spirit, give us such a sight of sin, such a sense of the love of God, such a realization of pardon, and such fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, as shall cause us daily and hourly to say, "I will confess mine iniquity, and be sorry for my sin !"

Who is the trembling sinner, who,
That owns eternal death his due?
Who mourns his guilt, his sin, his thrall,
And does on God for mercy call?

Peace, troubled soul, dismiss thy fear,
Hear, Jesus speaks, 'Be of good cheer;
Upon his cleansing grace rdly,
And thou shalt never, never die.

CHEAP BARGAINS.

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil." ISA. v. 20.

CHEAP bargains have long been popular in the world, and bargain hunters have always abounded. The command to love our neighbour as ourselves, has been supplanted by the maxim, "Every one for himself." But the principle that hunts for cheap bargains in temporal things, has got into the church, and you hear persons say, when urged to attend to certain du, ties, "It is not essential, I can go to hea, ven without that. That will not interfere with my salvation.” The spirit of this is, "I intend to get heaven as cheap as I can, I want a cheap bargain, and, therefore, it is of no use urging me to do anything, except I like it, or it is essential to my salvation." I fear the professing church at present swarms with those who are for cheap bargains. If two churches present themselves, the one numerous, wealthy, and popular, the other small, poor, and

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despised; if the latter were more spiritual, the former would be preferred. Why? O, the latter would make so many calls on my purse, require more of my time, and demand the employment of all my talents to help to raise or carry it on." There are two ministers, the one smooth, oily, and general; the other plain, pointed, and rousing; the former is preferred. Why? O, one wants comfort on the Lord's day, after the toils of the week; one does not like that rousing, stirring, very plain mode of address. It is so like fault finding; if it is not personal, it is very much like it, and there is an everlasting call to work, work, that one can have no comfort there." The fact is such persons like cheap bargains. They not only want a salvation all of grace, which is right; but they want a gospel without precepts, a religious life without duties. They would live to themselves, and for themselves on earth, and then go to hea ven to be regulated by the same princi ples there. They do not ask, how much can I possibly do, or how many things can I consistently engage in, or how much can 1 give to the cause of Christ, or what selfdenial can I practise, to extend the Re

deemer's kingdom? but "how good a bargain can I make ? Cannot I go to heaven without forsaking the world-without imitating Jesus-without crucifying_the flesh-without joining a church ?" In a word, they mean without honouring Christ, without obeying the gospel, with out doing as primitive Christians did. These lovers of cheap bargains among us are for giving as little as possible, doing as little as possible, suffering as little as possible, and attending the services of the church as little as possible. They never deny their fancy an ornament, or their appetite a dish, or their flesh a pleasure, purposely to aid God's cause, and comfort the Saviour's poor. Not they, and yet

it would be considered an insult to tell them so. Friend, beware of a cheap bargain religion.

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ONLY HALF AWAKE.

WHEN the holy, active, and useful Legh Richmond was near his death, realizing the solemnities of eternity and the condition of the world, and looking over his own efforts, he said to a Christian friend, Brother, we are only half awake; we are none of us more than half awake." How solemn and affecting such a statement, from such lips, under such circumstances! No doubt but things appear very different when viewed from a dying pillow, when seen in the light of eternity, to what they do when viewed under other circumstances. Was Richmond only half awake? Was it his opinion, when dying, that his most active friends were only half awake? Then how is it with us? Let us, for a few moments, reflect on his dying words, and try to rouse ourselves up; for surely, as the Apostle said, "It is now high time to awake out of sleep.”

Where are we? In a world populated by sinners; by sinners who are immortal;