the great mass of religious society so called -God and mammon, Christ and Belial, may, as it respects this aspect of Christian profession, be truly said to abide in collision.

O let him who would be a true Christian beware! especially let young converts beware! If there was danger connected with a profession of Christianity formerly, there is no less danger now. Then the only dan

ger consisted in being exposed to confiscation, imprisonment, and temporary death, but now in being liable of becoming the willing captives to the God of this world, who hath blinded the eyes of his devotees, and of being thus borne down with the multitude to the flames of hell. "BE NOT CON

FORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE YE TRANSFORMED IN THE RENEWING OF YOUR MINDS, THAT YE MAY KNOW WHAT IS THE GOOD, AND ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT WILL OF GOD.

THE PENITENT THIEF.

BY RICHARD HUIE, M. D.

BUT who is he in anguish nigh,
Who on the Saviour turns his eye;
And who, while all the world beside
The suff'rings of his Lord deride,
Is taught in this sad, solemn hour,
To trust in his redeeming pow'r ?-
A bandit fierce, who long has been
A foe to grace, a slave to sin;
A wretch, who dies before his time
The victim of detected crime;
And, nail'd to that inglorious tree,
Writhes out his soul in agony!

But (O! the wonders of that love;
Which brought the Saviour from above!)
Almighty grace has reach'd his heart,

And while his guilt his spirit grieves,
He learns to choose the better part,
He turns-he looks-and he believes !

Yes! in that pale, deserted One,

He sees, with faith's enlighten'd eye,
Th' Eternal God's Eternal Son,

Who stoops to earth, to bleed, and die!
Adown his rough and toil-worn cheek
Th' unwonted tear begins to roll;
While broken, struggling accents speak
The new-born feelings of his soul:
"Lord!-When thy saints thy kingdom see,
In mercy-Oh!-remember me !"

And does the mild Redeemer spurn
The hapless felon by his side?
No! when was Jesus known to turn

From those who in his grace confide?
No! 'midst the more than mortal throes
His spotless soul is doom'd to feel,

He yet can sooth another's woes,

And love, and hope, and peace reveal.

"This day," the dying Saviour said,

(While from his eyes a glance there fell,

Which to the mourner's heart convey'd

More-ah! far more than words could tell,)

"This day thy soul, from guilt set free, Shall enter Paradise with me!"

O! none but he, that inly knows

The value of those gifts of heav'n, Can e'er conceive the bliss that flows

From grace receiv'd, from sin forgiv'n! And none, who has not felt the same Unspeakable release,

Can estimate the happy frame

Of mingled joy and peace,'

In which that long and painful day
With this poor outcast pass'd away!
His breast with holy ardour burns;

To God the pardon'd sinner prays;
And ever and anon he turns,

Upon his suff'ring Lord to gaze.
The shame, the anguish of his lot,
His bleeding wounds are all forgot;
He loves the cross, that seem'd at morn
A woe too heavy to be borne;

'Twas there salvation came to view,-
'Twas there that first his Lord he knew;-
'Twas there contrition's tear was shed,-
'Twas there his earliest pray'r was said ;-
"Twas there his stubborn soul was shaken,-
"Twas there his hope began to waken!
Nor would he now exchange that tree,
With all its pain and infamy,

To rest on Pilate's couch of down,
Or wear the guilty Herod's crown!
He hears no more the rabble's shout,

No more their scoffs attention win; Rage, scorn, and tumult reign without, But all is calm within!