Consider well these three things 1. What you were in the state of nature. 2. What you are in the state of grace. 3. What you shall be in the state of glory. Oh! methinks you should think of thiswhat you were, are, and what you shall be. Conversion beginneth in consideration. Grace, as it makes our comforts sweeter, so it makes our crown greater. Beloved, for God's sake, for your souls' sake, acquaint yourselves with yourselves. The readiest way to know whether or not you are in Christ, is to know whether or not Christ be in you; for the fruit is more visible than the root. The tree of righteousness is known by the fruits of righteousness. The tree is known by its fruit,' saith our Lord Jesus Christ. If you would know the heart of your sins, you must then know the sin of your heart. Will you remember that, Christians? For out of the heart,' saith our Lord, 'proceed evil thoughts, murder, adultery, and fornication, and blasphemy.' Many have passed the rocks of gross sins, that have been cast away upon the sands of self-righteousness. If you be found in your righteousness, you will be lost in your righteousness. He that hath no better righteousness than what is of his own providing, shall meet with no higher happiness than what is of his own deserving. Dyer. the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.' Here is the most knowing man in the East, who was not for living the life of the righteous, and yet was for dying the death of the righteous. But as the way is, so is the end like to be; and as the work is, so are the wages like to be. Solomon, the sage of sages, one wiser than all men, whose understanding was as the sand of the sea shore; this most knowing man in the world, writes upon all 'vanity and vexation of spirit.' Living well is previous unto dying well. 'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' Whatsoever his beginning was, his end is peace. Though he had not peace in life, yet he shall have peace in death; and though he should not have peace at death, yet he shall have peace after death. Better is the beginning of a thing than the end thereof, to a soul out of Christ; but better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof, to a soul in Christ, for the end of that man is peace. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.'-Mayhew. DYING WELL. WOULD ye die well? then, through Christ, live well. The right way to die well is to live well. The way to die the death of the righteous is to live the life of the righteous. Such a life, such a death -mostly. Live well and die well are in conjunction, are in connexion; they are like Rebecca's twins, going hand in hand. Live well and die well, are like the two temples of virtue and honour that were so contiguously built, that none could go into the temple of honour that did not first pass through the temple of virtue. There is little, if any, probability of dying well, if there be not a living well. That death is not to be sported with; that a strict and serious life is not the humour of some con ceited and singular persons in the world, witness Balaam the prophet, so much courted by Balak the prince. 'Let me die THE CABINET. EPITAPH. PAUSE here, and think; a monitory rhyme Demands one moment of thy fleeting time. Consult life's silent clock, thy bounding vein; Seems it to say-'Health here has long to reign?' Hast thou the vigour of thy youth? an eye That beams delight? a heart untaught to sigh? Yet fear. Youth, ofttimes healthful and at ease, Anticipates a day it never sees; HOLY DUTIES. Be conscientious in the performance of holy duties. A fire which for a while shoots up to heaven, will faint both in its heat and brightness, without fresh supwood to the altar, morning and evening, plies of nourishing matter. Bring fresh as the priests were bound do for the nourishment of the holy fire. God, in all an His promises, supposes the use of means. When He promised Hezekiah his life for fifteen years, it cannot be supposed that he should live without eating and exercise. It is both our sin and misery to neglect the means. Therefore let a holy and humble spirit breathe in all our acts of worship. If we once become listless to duty, we shall quickly become listless in it. If we languish in our duties, we shall not long be lively in our graces. The loss of the appetite is a sign of the loss of health. If we would flourish, we must drink of those waters which spring up to everlasting life. If we desire our leaves should prosper, we should often plant ourselves by the rivers of waters: we must be where the sun shines, the dews drop, and the Spirit blows. If you find yourselves growing into a slothful temper, check it betimes, and recall to your minds the pleasure you have had in your lively and warm converses with God in any duty, and how delightful afterwards, both the beauty and comfort of your graces were. Liveliness in action is a sign of the continuance of health; and liveliness in duty, an evidence of the continuance of grace. Let them all be performed in the strength of Christ. It is not means or ordinances which bring judgment to victory, but Christ in them. HABIT OF GRACE. THOUGH it be possible and probable, and I may say certain, that the habit of grace in a renewed man, considered abstractly in itself, without God's powerful assistance, would fall, and be overwhelmed by the batteries of Satan, and secret treacheries of the flesh; yet it is impossible it should wholly fall, being supported by God's truth in His covenant, His power in the performance, held up by the intercession of Christ, and maintained by the inhabitation of the Spirit. Our wills are mutable, but God's promise is unchangeable; our strength is feeble, God's power is insuperable; our prayers are impotent, Christ's intercessions prevalent. Our sins do meritoriously expel it; but the grace of God, through the merit of Christ, doth efficiently preserve it. HOW TO MEET DEATH, In this land of shadows, one thing is certain, it is death. In this land of shadows, 'one thing is needful,'-it is an interest in Him who has vanquished death and the grave. Surrounded, then, with the emblems of mortality, and knowing that we ourselves so soon must wear them, let us not delay for one moment, what the lapse of one moment may frustrate for ever. Let us pray for mercy from Him, to whom the frailty of our nature is intimately known, who 'remembereth that we are dust.' Let us seek an interest in the salvation which He accomplished, who died that He might deliver His people from the curse of sin; who Himself was laid in the grave for a little season, but who rose again, that He might remove from His people the fear of death for ever. If the aids of Heavenly grace enable us so to seek Him as that He may be found, death will be no longer terrible. We shall go, without dismay, to the gates of the grave.' We shall enter, without dismay, into that still though populous city. And the gates of the grave will not long confine us. At the word of Jesus, their bars are broken. With the same assurance with which we know, that it is appointed unto man once to die,' we also know, that after death is the judgment.' THE GRAVE GIVES UP ITS CHARGE. THEY whose ashes sleep around us, are not blotted out from existence. Their spirits have already appeared in the frame, which now is mingling in the dust. presence of God; and even the bodily shall one day live again. The trump of God shall sound; and the chains of the grave shall be rent asunder. They that sleep in the tombs shall arise, and shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Then shall the stillness of the scene which is now around us, be exchanged for animation sudden and terrible. Thousands, and tens of thousands, shall burst from these clods of earth. With every various shade of feeling, and with every gradation of hope and fear, they shall look to the Son of Man as He cometh in the clouds of heaven. FERVENT PRAYER. I KNEW a religious servant that, after other endeavours for the conversion of one of his fellows had proved ineffectual, spent some time at midnight to pray for him. Being very importunate, his voice was heard in the next chamber, where the object of his pious solicitude lay; who, on hearing the voice of entreaty, arose from bed to listen, and was so struck with the affectionate concern that was breathed out for him, that he was converted by the prayer. EARLY CARE OF CHILDREN. Do not encourage lying and ill-nature in children, by smiling at a false or malignant expression, because it is cleverly said; nor nourish pride, by excessive flattery or commendation; nor vanity, by loading them with finery, and both admiring them, and teaching them to admire themselves; nor revenge, by directing them to vent their impotent anger on the persons or things that have injured them; nor cruelty, by permitting them to torture insects or animals; nor insolence and oppression, by allowing them to be rude to servants; nor envy, by stimulating too powerfully the principle of emulation. RECREATIONS OF CHILDREN. PARENTS should most carefully inspect the reading of their children, and keep out of their way all corrupting books and indecent pictures. The recreations of children should be watched, and no games be allowed that are immodest, nor such as are likely to foster a spirit of gaming. For want of diligent, careful, and universal inspection, the best instructions, the most earnest warnings, the most fervent prayers, and the most consistent examples, have been, in some The cases, unavailing. children, left to themselves, and to the corrupting influence of others, have grown up their parents' misery, and their own disgrace. COMPANIONS OF CHILDREN. THE companions of our children should be most narrowly watched: one bad associate may ruin them for ever. The very first workings of the social impulse, even in a boy or girl of five or six years of age, should be noticed, for even thus early may evil impressions be produced by companionship. At the risk of offending the nearest relative, or most endeared friend he has upon earth, a Christian parent ought not to suffer his children to associate with those who are likely to do them harm. PICKED-UP PEARLS. A CONSIDERATION of the gracious care which Divine Providence took of us in our birth and infancy, should engage us to early piety, and constant devotedness to His honour. He that was our help from our birth, should be our hope from our youth. If we received so much mercy from God, before we were capable of doing Him any service, we should loose no time when we are capable. THE temporal blessings we receive at the hand of God, should encourage us to apply to Him for spiritual blessings. For He who feeds the young ravens which cry, and who sustained our infant lives when we were incapable of knowing Him, will never reject the soul that seeks His mercy in Christ Jesus, nor withhold His Holy Spirit from those that ask Him. Ir there be a situation wherein woman may be deemed to appropriate angelic attributes, it is when she ministers, as woman only can, to the wants and the weakness of the invalid! Whose hand like hers can Whose voice so efsmooth his pillow? fectually silence the querulousness of his temper, or soothe the anguish of his disease? Proffered by her, the viand hath an added zest; and even the nauseous medicament is divested of its loath someness. CALUMNY is like the wasp that teases, and against which you must not attempt to defend yourself, unless you are certain to destroy it, otherwise it returns to the charge more furious than ever. A GOOD Conscience is better than two witnesses. It will dispel thy fear, as the sun dissolves the ice: it is a staff when thou art weary: a spring when thou art thirsty: a screen when the sun burns thee: a pillow in death! THERE be four good mothers, which have four bad daughters:-truth hath hatred; prosperity hath pride; security hath peril; and familiarity hath contempt. MINDS capable of the greatest things can enjoy the most trivial,-as the elephant's trunk can knock down a lion, or pick up a pin. Or all that has been said of a death bed repentance, the essence may be summed up in a few words-that it is wise to distrust, and presumptuous to deny, its efficacy. MODERATION is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtue. It was well observed by Pythagoras,that ability and necessity dwell near each other. THOMAS GRANT, PRINTER, EDINBURGH. BENEVOLENCE: ITS FRUITS.-No. III. BENEVOLENCE, when genuine, has a practical tendency. It is not a state of mere feeling, or inward sensibility. It is not a fitful excitement, an occasional glow of sympathetic emotion. It is principle, and, therefore, living and operative. Wherever existing, it appears: its reality evidenced by appropriate effects; its strength, by their abundance and constancy. It invariably leads to beneficence. It proves the sincerity of well-wishing, by well-doing; the fulness of mercy, by the fulness of 'good fruit.' It acts, according to its nature, with the uniformity of a law, and, with a force and steadiness proportionate to its measure, prompts to deeds of humanity, to efforts for consolation or relief. What is affirmed of Faith, applies equally to Benevolence: 'without works, it is dead, being alone.' These, in the latter case as much as in the former, are its proper results; its indispensable seals and vouchers; the exterior and becoming garb, in which it never fails to show itself. Consequently, that which does not produce them is worthless. Violent may be its transient impulses, or warm its momentary expressions. But these are no sure symptoms of a right condition of the spiritual nature: at best, they are extremely equivocal. They resemble more the pulsation of fever, alternately quickened and remittent, than the sound and regular beat of health. That, of which they appear to be exponents and recommendations, with all its seemliness, is inherently defective. It wants the stamp and the vitality of Grace. It is not that sterling excellency, which the Gospel both inculcates and cherishes. The latter inclines those who experience its sacred influence, to perform, as well as to purpose; to superadd, to 'bowels of mercies, kindness.' Touched with the feeling of others' infirmities, it seeks the alleviation of suffering, physical and moral, in all the varieties and modes in which it invades the comfort, wastes the frame, or grieves the minds, of the heirs of mortality. It not only melts at the scene of sadness, and opens the ear to the tale of distress; but 'visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction.' It enters No. VIII.-THIRD SERIES. the squalid hovel, where destitution pines on th● bed of languishing; or haggard forms, emaciated by want, shivering with cold, and clad in tatters, cluster in sullen or melancholy mood round the cheerless hearth. How many, alas! are such receptacles of wretchedness, where pinching poverty assails hoary decrepitude, or attends lingering disease, or follows as the punishment of habitual idleness or crime, and the famished inmates undergo a sort of living death! But, holy charity is attracted, by what repels puling sentimentality, to the desolate abode; whence, as from a loathsome spectacle, or an infected spot, the other stands aloof. The latter we see personified in the Priest and the Levite, who, casting a heedless glance at the wounded and disabled traveller, 'passed by on the other side;' whereas, in the friendly office performed to him by the good Samaritan, we are presented with a visible embodiment, an amiable and affecting exemplification, of the former. It feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, shelters the homeless. It instructs the ignorant, educates the orphan, counsels the perplexed. It becomes 'eyes to the blind, feet to the lame,' and a 'shield to the stranger.' It provides medicine and cordials, or the advice of professional skill, and the ministrations of needed and kindly attention, to the destitute sick. It affords the means of redress to those whom fraud overreaches or violence oppresses; vindicating the cause of the injured poor, avenging the wrongs of the widow and the fatherless. It secures employment, with its remuneration, to unoccupied industry. By furnishing support to the indigent, accommodation to the outcast, protection to the persecuted; by a thousand nameless ways, in which, without costly sacrifices of time, effort, or substance, suitable supplies are administered to the necessitous, it mitigates the evils, soothes the distresses, of suffering humanity. But, Benevolence extends its services, like its sympathies, to the soul as well as to the body. Here, indeed, is its noblest work: here is full scope for the exercise of its compassionate regards. Nor can it VOL. I. ture, begin to exhibit the decencies and moralities of civilized life. Nor are the instances rare, in which the conduct manifests the holy beauties, which form the pleasing evidences, the distinguishing traits, the lovely characteristics, of saintship. neglect a field so inviting, pre-eminently requiring culture, and in which labours of love may be productive of the happiest effects. Accordingly, it has organized associations, and furnished pecuniary resources, and adopted systems of operation, with a view to the spiritual welfare of those 'perishing for lack of knowledge.' The Benevolence of the Gospel, in short, It employs Agents, whose special duty is, is as diffusive as the scattered tribes of to pay domiciliary visits to the careless earth. With the pains and griefs under and irreligious; to teach the lessons of which it knows any of them to be groanWisdom in the haunts of ignorance and ing, it has a fellow-feeling. Its first atdepravity; to 'show the way of salvation' tentions, indeed, as already stated, are to those who are posting, without reflec- directed to the necessitous in its immetion or fear, to perdition. It distributes in diate vicinity. Those, to whom it is resuccessive myriads, through city and lated by the ties of consanguinity, or country, those silent but impressive neighbourhood, or religion, prefer primary 'preachers of righteousness,' whose themes claims to its assistance; but it also inare of universal interest; whose dis- cludes, in the compass of its wishes, the courses, so easy of apprehension, are fitted circle of the nations. Its proper object is to excite alarm, and awaken inquiry; and MAN, irrespective of country, or comwhose monitions may be pondered, when plexion, or creed, or condition. That a oral instuctions could not obtain a hearing. member of the human family is in want or Benevolence, too, commiserates the for- misery, is enough to move its sensibilities. lorn and wretched state of those, on whom It seeks to 'do good to all, especially to the light of Revelation has not dawned. them that are of the household of faith.' It longs to communicate to them the means Embracing the whole nature, too, through of grace, that 'the ministry of reconcilia- the eternity of its existence, it aims to imtion may become, what the Divine be- part, along with temporal alleviations or nignity has designed it to be, the common comforts, spiritual joys and hopes. Such possession of all kindreds and tongues. joys and hopes arise only from belief in In fulfilment of its desires, it sends forth the doctrines, and an appropriation of the into the different parts of the heathen promises, of grace. They are of incalworld, and maintains by its free-will offer- culable worth, and possess mighty efficacy. ings, Bearers of the glad tidings, Glory They lighten the burden of adversity, and to God in the highest, on earth peace, good compensate for the privation of outward will towards men.' From its varied in- blessings. Often have they inspired substrumentalities, benefits, important and mission under the severest strokes of calamanifold, have flowed. At home, wan- mity; or attuned the heart to praise amid derers have been reclaimed; slaves of the direst straits of pauperism, or the vice, reformed; the indevout, rendered wastings and agonies of bodily disease. serious; those whom poverty or ungodli-'We reckon that the sufferings of this ness kept away from the sanctuary, reve- present time are not worthy to be comrence its ordinances, and frequent its pared with the glory which shall be reassemblies; and localities, once nearly vealed in us. Our light affliction, which as destitute as Pagan lands, are abun- is but for a moment, worketh for us a far dantly supplied with evangelical teachers. more exceeding and eternal weight of Abroad, the progressive change has, in glory. I am filled with comfort, I am exnumerous quarters, been still more de- ceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.' cidedly marked: 'abominable idolatries' have been renounced; absurd mythologies lose their hold of the popular mind; the momentous verities of the Christian faith gain additional converts; communities, lately ferocious and impure, are seen to assume an aspect less revolting; and, abandoning the usages of untutored na Of the Benevolence of which we discourse, what fine exemplifications have we in two of the sacred penmen! The one is Job, who, appealing to his own conduct, could thus testify: 'When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the |