But if the visitations of God have tended only to harden you, and to provoke you to sullenness and discontent, you have reason to fear lest you should be given up to such a state of mind. Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more.— Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone!

If you be full of self-righteous confidence, flattering yourself that your life has been good, and that you have nothing to fear, consider whether you be not in the very condition of those whom our Saviour describes as whole, and so needing no physician. You appear to have no wants; and therefore none of the blessings of the gospel are interesting to you. A very interesting narrative was published a few years since of such a case as this. A worthy minister, on visiting a dying man, was told by him with great selfcomplacency, that he had never been guilty of any particular sins, and was not therefore uneasy on that score.'"To every thing I said," (says the minister,) "he gave that unlimited assent, which, when coming from an unenlightened person, has always appeared to me peculiarly embarrassing. To every truth I stated, his monotonous reply was, Yes, sir,' To be sure, sir,'-'Certainly, sir,' and the like. I now felt (as I have often done under similar circumstances) discouraged, perplexed, and grieved; and could not but deeply lament the mental darkness under which the poor man appeared to be enveloped. After a short pause, I frankly confessed that I knew not what to say to him; observing that he appeared to have no wants-that the blessings of the gospel were for the poor, the wretched, and the lost-that if he were lamenting his sins, crying for mercy, and inquiring the way of salvation, I thought I should know how to address him; but that with his present views, the gospel must necessarily appear to him of very little value." This faithful remonstrance, together with a charge of having neglected his own salvation for the sake of worldly advantage, which charge the minister was enabled to bring home to his conscience, appears to have been the means of awakening him to a sense of his danger. What,' said he,' and is it too late? Is all lost? Is my poor soul abandoned? Have I lived in the neglect of all these things? And is it come to this? O what, what shall I do? O my sins! O my poor soul! O my God,

my God! Shall I be cast off for ever? What must I do to be saved? Is there no way open for me? O what, what must I do to be saved?-The way of salvation being pointed out to him, he appeared with great sincerity to embrace it, and died very happily. But many have died in the very spirit of the Jews, seeking after acceptance with God, without attaining it. And wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone:

But your security may be in consequence of your having imbibed some false species of religion, which influences your mind like an opiate, divesting you of all painful reflection, and filling you with dreams of future happiness. A confidence of this sort is more difficult to be shaken than self-righteous hope itself. Those who have not made much pretence to religion, have not so great sacrifices to make in embracing the gospel as those who have. You account your darkness light: but if the light which is IN us be darkness, how great is that darkness! There is an intoxicating quality in false religion, and in the false joys excited by it: like strong drink, it produces a kind of happiness at the time, and a vehement desire of repeating the delicious draught; but its end is bitter. Prov. xxiii. 29-35. We have no mind to dispute with you, but wish to declare unto you the gospel of God, and leave it. If the faithful saying above referred to, be received, it will issue in your salvation; if not, we can only deliver our own souls!

Finally Though your mind may have undergone a change during your affliction, yet, recollect that sick-bed repentances are often, though not always, like what is said of the goodness of Ephraim: As a morning cloud, and as the early dew, it goeth away. If you abound in vows and promises as to your future life, it is rather a sign that you know but little of yourself, than of a real change for the better. An immediate apprehension of death is capable of producing great effects, which are often mistaken for a change of heart. Be confident of the truth of Christ's doctrine and promises; but be diffident of yourself. To doubt his word is unbelief; but to be jealous of yourself is one of the fruits of faith. If God should restore you to health, and you prove by your Chris

tian conversation, that his word has taken deep root in your mind, your fellow-Christians will rejoice over you, and join in blessing God that the day of visitation has been to you a day of salvation.

. A MEDITATION.

That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.-Eccl. i. 15.

THE wise man inquires, What is that good for the sons of men, which they should do all the days of their life? At the close of his inquiries he answers, Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. But before he comes to this conclusion of the matter, as he calls it, he takes a large survey of human affairs, the result of every inquiry concerning which is, All is vanity and vexation of spirit. Every thing that passed under his review was either void of substantial good, or connected with some evil which embittered it.

Two of the marks of vanity inscribed on earthly things are, that a great number of them are inveterately crooked, or devious from the line of what is good for the sons of men; and that a still greater number are wanting, or defective; so that though there were nothing in them repugnant to what is good, yet they are insufficient to satisfy the mind.

That devious and defective things should be found in the world is not surprising; but they are found also in the church, and our endeavours to rectify and supply them are often ineffectual. It is too much to infer from this that we are to sit down in despair, and attempt nothing; but it will be profitable to know the limited ex

tent of our powers, so as not to waste our time and energies on that which will answer no good end.

Many have been employed during the greater part of their lives in striving to correct the errors and disorders of the church, and to supply its defects. This has certainly been a good work. What else were the labours of the Reformers, of the Puritans, of the Nonconformists, and indeed of all the servants of God in every age, but so many attempts to bend the minds of men to the mind of Christ? Nor have they laboured without effect. When we compare the present state of things with what we wish, we seem indeed to have done nothing but when with the state of things in times past, we may say, What hath God wrought! Paganism has been excluded from Europe; Popery has been so diminished as to have lost its wonted energies; and Christianity, cherished under the wing of religious freedom, has of late taken a notable flight, alighting in the very heart of the Pagan world. But with all this, there are many crooked things among us, and things which by human hands cannot be made straight. The spirit of infidelity has pervaded the minds of millions in Europe, whose fathers were once the decided friends of the reformation. The systems of many who would be thought to be Christians are so tinged with it, as to become antichristian. And among those who profess to believe the doctrines of the reformation, many content themselves with the name of orthodoxy, without the thing. There is a tendency in the human mind to deviate from divine truth. Had it not been for the illuminating influence of the Spirit of God, we should never have understood it; not because of its abstruseness, but on account of the uncongeniality of our minds and when we do understand and believe it, there is a continual tendency in us to get wrong. It might seem that when a person has once obtained a just view of the gospel, there is no danger of his losing it; but it is not so. There is a partiality in all our views, and while we guard against error in one direction, we are in equal danger from a contrary extreme. Many, in shunning the snare of self-righteous pride, have fallen into the pit of Antinomian presumption; and many in guarding what they consider as the interests of practical religion, have ceased to teach and preach those principles from which VOL. VIII.

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alone it can proceed. Besides this, there are many ways by which a minister may get beside the gospel, without falling into any palpable errors. There may be nothing crooked, yet much wanting. We may deliver an ingenious discourse, containing nothing inconsistent with truth, and yet not preach that truth in which believers stand, and by which they are saved. We may preach about the gospel, and yet not preach the gospel, so as to show unto men the way of salvation. And if we get into a vain, carnal, and worldly frame of mind, this is almost certain to be the case. It is no breach of charity to say of hundreds of sermons that are ordinarily delivered by those who are reputedly orthodox, that they are not the gospel which Jesus commissioned his servants to preach and if it be thus among preachers, is it marvellous that a large proportion of religious people are not strictly evangelical; but imbibe another spirit? And if the doctrine of Christ be neglected, (not to say corrupted,) the effects will appear in a neglect of faithful discipline, in a worldly spirit, and in a gradual disregard of a watchful, circumspect, and holy individual conduct.

It is no breach of charity to suppose that many who profess evangelical principles are Christians only in name, and that these principles are professed merely on account of their popularity in the circles in which they move. The ways of such must be crooked. Like Saul, they know not how to go about obedience to God, but are always stumbling, or turning aside in pursuit of some carnal object.

Το

There are few things more spoken against in the present times, than party zeal; but there are few things more common. unite with those whom we consider on mature examination as being nearest the mind of Christ, and having done so to act up to our principles, is our duty but few things are further from the mind of the partisan than this. Having enlisted in the cause of a party, he sees no good but that which is within its pale, and will say and do almost any thing to keep up its reputation. Many things have I seen in the days of my vanity! There is a man whose heart unites with every one who loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and who rejoices in the work of God wherever ire sees it; but not being of the right party, he is of little or no