to resist habitually wild, careless, and unprofitable thoughts; curbing the natural tendency of the mind; bringing all into subjection unto Christ. It is to fight the good fight of faith, as seeing Him who is invisible, and having regard to the promises which the Christian cordially embraces. It is to act with decision against temptations, resolving to conquer in the fear of the Lord. It is to suppress the first risings of sin, the first motions of evil, plucking up the noxious weeds which are to be destroyed as soon as discovered. It is to labour to exercise control over the mental powers, and to bring them into subjection to the will of God. It is to act under the holy influence of the Spirit, and thus to keep the heart for God, in the exercise of love and faith. It is to preserve the affections from entanglement with the world, and to gather them up for Christ, that all may centre in Him. It is to maintain holy jealousy, strict watchfulness, not merely over the thoughts, but over the lips, that there may be habitually offered a living sacrifice unto the Lord. It is to keep in remembrance that the Christian is the habitation of God through the Spirit, and that it becomes him to move and live and act circumspectly, as forming a part of the living body, the Church, which shall shine hereafter in all the brightness of the Father's glory. It is to sit loose to creature affection, that Christ may be all and in all; that He whose right it is may reign over the mental and moral powers which He himself has created for his glory. It is to acknowledge the supremacy of Christ as the author and finisher of faith; and consequently, to glorify Him by holy perseverance in contention with the powers of darkness and innate corruption. Without faith it is impossible to please God; and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. The command of self-denial is to be received in faith, to be acted upon, to be adopted. Some Christians are apt to lose their evidences of assurance in Christ, because they are deficient in keeping up mental discipline. They are worldly within, and too often betray the same spirit with their lips. They give license to their natural feelings, tendencies, and passions; and, instead of putting on the break, allow themselves to be hurried on from one wrong step to another, until Christ is so crucified, that hardly a vestige of his steps can be traced. They are apt to forget that they were born to suffer-to

take up the cross, and pass through much tribulation to gain the crown. They bury the jewel under a heap of rubbish; and if, when ebullition breaks forth, you look for the Master's spirit, nothing is to be seen but the Master departed. All comes from want of habitually keeping the heart, the absence of self-denial, and taking up the cross. Sometimes Christians speak of the clouds and darkness which surround them; of the absence of joy, and light, and love; and no wonder if such be their condition, simply because they have forgotten to fight the good fight of faith. They have let the world in, where Christ ought to be; and Christ and the world cannot dwell together. One is your Master, and one alone. Christ is jealous of his glory and honour, and He will reign until all enemies are put beneath his feet. He must be all and in all; his glory will He not give to another. The work of sanctification is a beautiful process, but it requires heart work, unremitting attention, constant labour, strict discipline, under the influence of the Spirit of God, to prepare for death and heaven. Without self-denial, where is the obedience of faith? where the holy panting after the living God? where the crucifixion of the old man, and the renewing of the mind after the Divine image? Truth, like a sunbeam, is to dispel the darkness of the understanding; light up a flame within to consume the dross and burnish the gold; to fit the earthen vessel for the bright temple beyond the skies. In proportion to the exercise of self-denial will truth appear in all its beauty and loveliness, bringing into submission the disorderly workings of the mind, and fashioning it as a holy temple for the Lord. In the Christian's course, in order to ensure peace as well as usefulness, every spoke of the chariotwheel must be kept going; and as the old man dies, the new man will appear clothed with strength and beauty, fitted for the service of the Lord, to do his will. It is eminent piety that is needful to ensure eminent usefulness; and the nearer Christians live to Christ, and take up the cross, and separate themselves from an ungodly world, the more will they be qualified to win souls to Christ by the holy consistency and transparency of their lives. We may observe the coarsest ground covered with brier and weed, unproductive and unfruitful, brought into cultivation, and rendered fertile by dint of unwearied labour and perseverance.

Even so it is in the garden of the Lord, the Church in proportion to the care bestowed on the culture of the plants, the watering in tears, the light from heaven, the rooting in faith and love, the growth in grace, will be their visible appearance, diffusing a sweet savour, the bright manifestation of their union to Christ as the true vine. All must be in harmony to reflect the image of Jesus, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; but, as the evidence of that genuine faith, there must be the internal regulation of the springs of action, deep watchfulness to guard against sudden surprise, the moving with holy fear, that the light may shine in the temple, as the earnest and pledge of that brighter light which awaits the Christian amid the glories of the New Jerusalem. When self-denial, by the operation of the Spirit, thus brings the Christian unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, it bestows a blessing of no ordinary character, exalting the Saviour, triumphing by faith over the subtle and powerful enemies of his nature, and causing him to rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. Who would not be the self-denying Christian, to live and labour, that Christ may be glorified? Tiverton, Jan. 1851.

F. S. G.

PRAYING OVER THE SCRIPTURES. It is related of George Whitefield, that in the course of his preparation for the ministry, he read over the whole Bible, together with Matthew Henry's Commentary, in his closet, on his knees. The position of his body was a matter of small consequence, but we suppose that the prayerful perusal of the Bible was one of the means by which he became wise to win souls to God.

In Henry Martyn's Journal it is written: "Was in a spiritual, happy frame the whole day, which I cannot but ascribe to my being more diligent in prayer over the Scriptures; so that it is the neglect of this duty which keeps my soul so low."

The habit of constantly uniting prayer with the reading of the Scriptures is most conducive to the increase in knowledge and improvement in prayer-to growth in grace, and in the knowledge of the truth.

A young man who had made great attainments in piety for one of his years, was asked by an intimate friend to give an account of the means he had used.

After some reluctance he remarked, in substance, as follows:

"For some years after I made a profession of religion, my interest in spiritual things was fitful. I did not clearly understand that conversion was but the commencement of a religious life, and that my course was to be steadily onward from one degree of perfection to another. When I understood this, I was led to inquire, what are the means that I am to employ to make this progress? I found that the reading of the Scriptures and prayer were among the most important ones. I set apart

stated seasons for the use of those means. Sometimes I was interested in what I read, and sometimes not. I saw that it would do me no good to read the Bible as a task, that I must feel its truths, or it could have no sanctifying power on my heart. I then endeavoured to prepare my mind before I began to read, by reflecting that it was God's word, and that I was bound to attend to it as though it was expressly addressed to me. I found this profitable. I was next led not only to meditate, but to pray before I read my portion. I found my interest in the Bible increasing. I was soon led to blend the two exercises of reading and prayer. It has been my custom for several years to pause on every thought I meet with in reading the Bible, and to ask myself what application I can make of it, and to pray for the Spirit to enable me to make that application. This is my uniform habit, and I have derived great benefit from it. It has increased my love for the Bible and my delight in prayer an hundred fold."

Here was the secret of the young man's rapid advancement in the Divine life. He received into his soul the food designed for its nourishment.

Should not his example be followed by every Christian? If God should speak to us in an audible voice, we should, no doubt, listen with the deepest reverence: we should feel the most earnest desire to understand his communications. We should, doubtless, lift up our hearts in prayer for aid to hear and to obey his words. His written Word should be treated as reverently as his spoken words. This cannot be done without constant prayer.

Let me exhort you, reader, to enter on the course pointed out above. It will soon make the Scriptures a delight. It will soon add to your spiritual strength. It will soon make you mighty in prayer. It will cause your path to be like that of the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

SIMPLICITY OF FAITH.

THE simplicity of faith was once illustrated by a pastor thus: my or

“I was preaching,” he said, “

dinary weekly lecture in the evening, when I was sent for in great haste, to visit a woman who was said to be dying, and who very much desired to see me. I closed the service as soon as I could, and went immediately to her house. She was a member of my church, whom I had known very well for years; with whom I had been acquainted ever since her first serious impressions, before she became a communicant. As I entered the room where she lay, I found it filled with her friends, who had gathered around to see her die. Making my way through the midst of them, I reached the side of her bed, and found her apparently in the last agonies of death. She was bolstered up in her bed, gasping for breath, almost suffocated by the asthma; and the whole bed shook, by a palpitation of her heart, which seemed to be shaking her to pieces. It appeared to me that she could not live a quarter of an hour. I said to her:

"Mrs. M., you seem to be very sick." "Yes," said she, "I am dying." "And are you ready to die?"

She lifted her eyes upon me with a solemn and fixed gaze; and speaking with great difficulty, she replied:

66

Sir, God knows-I have taken him -at his word-and-I am not afraidto die."

"I

It was a new definition of faith. have taken him at his word." It struck me in an instant as a triumph of faith. "God knows I have taken him at his word, and I am not afraid to die." It was just the thing for her to say. I have often tried to think what else she could have said that would have expressed so much, in so few words.

I prayed a few minutes by her bedside; recited to her some passages of God's Word, and was about to leave her for a moment to her friends, whom she seemed anxious to address. She held me by the hand, and uttering a word at a time, as she gasped for breath, she said

DEPENDENCE UPON THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

THE experience of every Christian bears testimony to the truth, that progress in piety can be made only by the most vigorous efforts. It was no unmeaning

command of the Saviour to strive to enter in at the strait gate. It was no idle exhortation of the apostle to so run as to obtain the prize. Christians of the most exalted and of the most humble capacities, are alike subject to the same law of progress.

Experience also teaches, that vigorous effort of itself cannot secure progress. It must be put forth in dependence upon the Spirit of God. On this subject, Dr. Chalmers, in writing to a beloved friend, remarks:

"Will you forgive me, my excellent and aspiring fellow-Christian, if I venture to state one point in which we both are deficient, and have much before us. We are not yet sufficiently humbled into the attitude of dependence on the Spirit of God. We do not yet bow with enough of veneration at the name of Christ for sanctification. There is still a very strong mixture of self-sufficiency and self-dependence in our attempts at the service of God. I speak my own intimate experience when I say that, as the result of all this presumption, I feel as if I had yet done nothing. I can talk, and be impressed, and hold sweet counsel with you; but in the scene of trial I am humbled by my forgetfulness of God, by my want of delight in the doing of His commandments, by the barrenness of all my affections, by my enslavement to the influences of earth and of time, by my love to the creature, by my darkness, and hardness, and insensibility as to the great matters of the city that hath foundations, of the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteous

ness.

"In these circumstances, let us flee for refuge to the hope set before us in the Gospel. Let us keep closer by Christ than we have ever yet done. Let us live a life of faith on the Son of God. Let us crucify all our earthly affections, and by the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, that we may live.

"And, oh, that this ceaseless current of years and of seasons were teaching us wisdom-that we were numbering our days-that we were measuring our future by our past-that we were looking back on the twinkling rapidity of the months and the weeks which have already gone-and so improving the futurity that lies

before us, that when death shall lay us in our graves, we may both, on the morning of the resurrection, emerge into a scene of bliss too rapturous for conception, and too magnificent for the attempts of the loftiest eloquence."

THE PRESENT MOMENT.

How important and solemn are many of the considerations connected with the present moment of time.

This moment, I who read these words am either a regenerated soul, pardoned and saved by grace, or an impenitent, unbelieving sinner, exposed to the wrath of God-a son of the Lord Most High, or a willing servant of Satan-an heir of heaven and eternal glory, or a traveller in the broad road to hopeless perdition!

This moment, whatever be my character, I am in the presence and under the immediate notice of a holy God, whose all-searching eye reads my inmost thoughts.

This moment, the power of that God, prompted by his mercy, upholds me in conscious existence, protects and preserves me from death, while some one or more of my fellow-beings is compelled to obey the summons of the "King of Terrors," and hasten to be numbered with the dead.

This moment, a record is made in that book out of which I am to be judged-a record of my present act-a record of what I am intending to do the next moment, and at some future houra record of the motives which now actuate me and prompt me to the performance of these contemplated acts.

The passing moment is just now going into eternity, to witness in a case soon to be tried-a case upon the decision of which my eternal happiness or misery depends.

The present moment shortens the period allotted me for preparation to stand before the great white throne of God and the Lamb, and brings me so much nearer my eternal home; for

"Every beating pulse I tell

Leaves but the number less."

This moment, I am liable to be summoned before the judgment-seat of the Searcher of hearts, to give an exact account of my past life and present character; for

"Dangers stand thick through all the ground, To push me to the tomb.'

This moment, if I am still an impenitent sinner, I am growing more hardened in sin and rebellion against God, and my future prospects

are becoming more deeply and fearfully enshrouded in gloom.

This moment, if an unconverted soul, I am turning my back upon the bleeding, dying Saviour of sinners, and deafening my ear to all the touching accents and affectionate invitations of mercy, uttered by the spotless Lamb of Cavalry!

This moment, doubtless, many a soul is, by rebellion, dropping the last drop into its cup of iniquity, previous to its being given over to hardness of heart and blindness of mind forever; and I know not, if am still unreconciled to God, but that even now I may be passing that critical point beyond which there can be no possibility of my salvation.

This moment, O my soul, awake to action in reference to thine eternal interests; for upon the decisions of THIS MOMENT, thy future and unalterable destiny may depend! "GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER!"

THE INDWELLING WORD.

We

Many blessed consequences flow from having the words of Scripture in the memory. cannot always have our Bibles in our hands; especially if our calling leads us to manual labour.

When you walk by the way, good thoughts will be promoted and evil thoughts will be shut out by some good word of God turned over in the mind. Choose your text in the morning with this view.

When you are at work, you may derive unspeakable profit and comfort from ruminating on some savoury promise. It may, by the blessing of God, do you as much good as a sermon.

When you are at prayer, texts of Scripture in the memory will aid your devotion, by awakening right feelings, suggesting seasonable requests, and prompting to suitable expressions. Thus you join "the word of God and prayer."

When you retire to rest, or lie awake during the night-watches, or sit beside the sick or dying, you may taste the sweetness of many a gracious promise; and may say, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul."

When you are in pain, fear, sorrow, or sudden peril, one verse of the Bible may be like a star to the benighted mariner.

O, be persuaded to make it a part of every day's duty, to commit to memory at least one new verse; and fail not to store up like treasures in the minds of your beloved children.

THE MISSIONARY'S DEATHBED.

The Gospel of Christ is not only the missionary's comfort in the house of his pilgrimage, but his support and joy as he crosses the Jordan. Dr. Medhurst describes, in a very affecting manner, the closing hours of the Rev. Benjamin Southwell, of the London Missionary Society, who died October 5th, 1819, at Shanghai, China. He says: "With glowing rapture he repeated the whole of the beautiful hymn, Jerusalem, my happy home;' and so excited

was he in his gladness that, feeble as his voice was, he sang one of the verses to a tune with which he was familiar. Even when sleeping, blissful dreams visited his pillow, which, in a continued stream of words, lasting about forty minutes, he described to those about his bedside as full of the most ecstatic views of heaven, of the preciousness of Christ, and of the conviction that much as he felt he had sinned, Christ regarded him as one of his own, to whom were destined the fulness of joy, even perpetual pleasures."

THE GOSPEL.

Yes, the Gospel of Christ finds man in his depraved state, reveals to him a Saviour, opens and sanctifies his vile heart, makes him a new creature, fills his soul with the love of Christ, leads him through the different changes of his earthly pilgrimage, comforts him in the hour of trial and affliction, supports him in death, and points to the tomb as the pathway to heaven, to happiness, to a blissful immortality. His soul catches the beams of the Sun of righteousness, his ears hear the songs of the redeemed, his eyes behold the Lamb of God upon the throne, radiant with glory, surrounded by myriads of the holy. His soul is full of light and love. He shouts, in transports of joy, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?" 'Tis done. The curtain drops. Time ceases. Eternity, a blissful eternity, commences. Blessed Gospel; well mayst thou be styled glad tidings of great joy.

ISAIAH SAWN ASUNDER. "Tradition-whether truly or not, we cannot decide-asserts that, 698 years before Christ, Isaiah was sawn asunder. Cruel close to such a career! Harsh reply, the sawing asunder, to all those sweet and noble minstrelsies. German critics have recently sought to imitate the operation, to cut our present Isaiah into two. Το halve a body is easy; it is not quite so easy to divide a soul and spirit in sunder. Isaiah himself spurned such an attempt. The same mind is manifest in all parts of the prophecy. Two suns in one sky were as credible as two such flaming phenomena as Isaiah. No! it is one voice which cries out at the beginning, Hear,

O heaven, and give ear, O earth!' and which closes the book with the promise, And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come and worship before me, saith the Lord.""-Gilfillan's Barts of the Bible.

THE DANGER AND THE REFUGE. The interest of modern history is indeed intense, and the importance of not wasting the time still left to us may well be called incalculable. It is truer now than it was during the progress of an earlier revolution, when the words were first uttered, that " everything in the condition of mankind announces the approach of some great crisis;" and for this, as an eloquent writer forcibly observes, "Nothing can prepare us but the diffusion of knowledge, probity, and the fear of the Lord." While the world is impelled with such violence in opposite directions; while a spirit of giddiness and revolt is shed upon the nations, and the seeds of mutation are so thickly sown, the improvement of the mass of the people will be our grand security; in the neglect of which, the politeness, the refinement, and the knowledge accumulated in the higher orders, weak and unprotected, will be exposed to imminent danger, and perish like a garland in the grasp of popular fury. Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

CHRISTIANITY NOT OF HUMAN ORIGIN.

To me, when I look at this religion, taking its point of departure from the earliest period in the history of the race; when I see it com

prising all that natural religion teaches, and introducing a new system in entire harmony with it, but which could not have been deduced from it; when I see it commending itself to the conscience of man, containing a perfect code of morals, meeting all his moral wants, and embosoming the only true principles of economical and political science; when I see in it the best possible system of excitement and restraint for all the faculties; when I see how simple it is in its principles, and yet in how many thousand ways it mingles in with human affairs, and modifies them for good, so that it is adapted to become universal; when I see it giving an account of the termination of all things, worthy of God and consistent with reason; to me, when I look at all these things, it no more seems possible that the system of Christianity should have been originated or sustained by man than it does that the ocean should have been made by him.-Pres. Hopkins.

THE BIBLE IN ROME.

When I was in Rome, in the winter of 1847, I was very anxious, for a particular reason, to obtain a copy of the Scriptures in Italian. I sought for one at all the booksellers in Rome, but without success, until one day, when I had nearly given up quest as hopeless, I entered a shop not far from the College of the Propaganda. I made my usual inquiry for the Old and New Testament in Italian, and the shopkeeper replied that he had one copy. "Good," said I, and began to feel for my purse. "Stop," said the tradesman very honestly, you had better see it first." Whereat he mounted some steps, and, after much diving, pulled out a dusty copy of the desired work, in five or six volumes quarto, and the price of which, unbound, was, I am sure, not less, if it was not even more, than 47. It was, of course, an "authorised copy," with an enormous mass of notes; but to enjoin the people, the poor, the Roman poor! to read the Bible, of which the only copy I could find in Rome cost some twenty scudi, or more, was little short of mockery.-Viator.

GIVE GOOD MEASURE.

When I was a young man, there lived in our neighbourhood a Presbyterian, who was universally reported to be a very liberal man, and uncommonly upright in his dealings. When he had any of the products of his farm to dispose of, he made it an invariable rule to give good measure, over good, rather more than could be required of him. One of his friends, observing his frequently doing so, questioned him why he did it, told him he gave too much, and said it would not be to his own advantage. Now, my friends, mark the answer of this Presbyterian :-God Almighty has permitted me but one journey through the world, and when gone, I cannot return to rectify mistakes." Think of this, friends, only one journey through this world.-J. Simpson.

A PILLOW FOR THE NIGHT.

To sleep well, lay these things under your head:

1. A precious promise out of Scripture. 2. A sweet verse of some evangelical hymn. 3. A hearty prayer to God.