to be done, and what you can do, either in your own person, or by your interest with others; and go about it with resolution, as in the name and presence of the Lord. And as "the Lord giveth wisdom, and out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding," (Prov. 11. 6.) go to the footstool of his throne, and there seek that guidance and that grace which may suit your present circumstances, and may be effectual to produce the fruits of holiness and usefulness, to his more abundant glory, and to the honour of your Christian profession. The established CHRISTIAN breathing after more extensive Usefulness.

"O BOUNTIFUL Father and sovereign Author of all good, whether natural or spiritual! I bless thee for the various talents with which thou hast enriched so undeserving a creature, as I must acknowledge myself to be. My soul is in the deepest confusion before thee, when I consider to how little purpose I have hitherto improved them. Alas! What have I done, in proportion to what thou mightest reasonably have expected, with the gifts of nature which thou hast bestowed upon me, with my capacities of life, with my time, with my possessions, with my influence over others. Alas! through my own negligence and folly, I look back on a barren wilderness, where I might have seen a fruitful field and a springing harvest. Justly do I indeed deserve to be stripped of all, to be brought to an immediate account for all, to be condemned as in many respects unfaithful to thee, and to the world, and to my own soul; and, in consequence of that condemnation, to be cast into the prison of eternal darkness. But thou, Lord, hast freely forgiven the dreadful debt of ten thousand talents. Adored be thy name for it. Accept, O Lord, accept that renewed surrender, which I would now make of myself and of all I have, unto thy service. I acknowledge that it is "of thine own that I give thee." (1 Chron. xxix. 14.) Make me, I beseech thee, a faithful steward for my great Lord; and may I think of no separate interest of my own, in opposition to thine!

"I adore thee, O thou God of all grace, if while I am

thus speaking to thee, I feel the love of thy creatures arising in my soul; if I feel my heart opening to embrace my brethren of mankind. O make me thy faithful almoner, in distributing to them all that thou hast lodged in mine hand for their relief. And, in determining what is my own share, may I hold the balance with an equal hand, and judge impartially between myself and them. The proportion thou allowest, may I thankfully take to myself, and those who are immediately mine. The rest may I distribute with wisdom, and fidelity, and cheerfulness. Guide mine hand, O ever merciful Father, while thou dost me the honour to make me thine instrument in dealing out a few of thy bounties; that I may bestow them where they are most needed, and where they will answer the best end. And if it be thy gracious will, do thou “multiply the seed sown ;"” (2 Cor. ix. 10.) prosper me in my worldly affairs, that I may have more to impart to them that need it; and thus lead me to the region of everlasting plenty, and everlasting benevolence. There may I meet with many, to whom I have been an affectionate benefactor on earth; and if it be thy blessed will, with many, whom I have also been the means of conducting into the path to that blissful abode. There may they entertain me in their habitations of glory. And in time and eternity, do thou, Lord, accept the praise of all, through Jesus Christ; at whose feet I would bow, and at whose feet, after the most useful course, I would at last die, with as much humility as if I were then exerting the first act of faith upon him, and never had any opportunity, by one tribute of obedience and gratitude in the services of life, to approve its sincerity."

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE CHRISTIAN REJOICING IN THE VIEWS OF DEATH AND JUDGMENT.

WHEN the visions of the Lord were closing upon John, the beloved disciple, in the island of Patmos, it is observable, that he who gave him that revelation, even Jesus, the faithful and true witness, concludes with those lively and important words: "He who testifieth these

things saith, Surely I come quickly:" and John answers with the greatest readiness and pleasure, "Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus !” (Rev. xxii. 20.) Come, as thou hast said, surely and quickly;-and remember, O Christian, whoever you are that are now reading these words, your divine Lord speaks in the same language to you: Behold, I come quickly. Yes, very quickly will he come by death, to turn the key, to open the door of the grave for thine admittance thither, and to lead thee through it into the now unknown regions of the invisible world. Nor is it long before the Judge who "standeth at the door," (James v. 9.) will appear also to the universal judgment and though perhaps, not only scores, but hundreds of years will lie between that period and the present moment, yet it is but a very small point of time to Him, who views at once all the unmeasurable ages or a past and future eternity. "A thousand years are with Him but as one day, and one day as a thousand years." (2 Peter iii. 8.) In both these senses then does he come quickly. And I trust you can answer with a glad "Amen," that the warning is not terrible, or unpleasant to your ears; but rather that his coming, his certain, his speedy coming, is the object of your delightful hope, and of your longing expectation.

am sure, it is reasonable it should be so: and yet perhaps nature, fond of life, and unwilling to part with a long known abode, to enter on a state to which it is entirely a stranger, may recoil from the thought of dying; or, struck with the awful pomp of an expiring and dissolving world, may look on the judgment-day with some mixture of terror. And therefore, my dear brother in the Lord, (for as such I can now esteem you,) I would reason with you a little on this head, and would entreat you to look more attentively on this solemn object, which will, I trust, grow less disagreeable to you, as it is more familiarly viewed. Nay, I hope, that instead of starting back from it, you will rather spring forward towards it with joy and delight.

Think, O Christian, when Christ comes to call you away by death, he comes-to set you at liberty from your present sorrows,-to deliver you from your struggles

with remaining corruption, and to receive you to dwel. with himself in complete holiness and joy. You shall "be absent from the body, and be present with the Lord." (2 Cor. v. 8.)

He will indeed call you away from this world, but O what is this world, that you should be fond of it, and cling to it with so much eagerness? How low are all those enjoyments that are peculiar to it; and how many its vexations, its snares, and its sorrows! Review your pilgrimage thus far; and though you must acknowledge that "goodness and mercy have followed you all the days of your life,” (Psalm xxiii. 6.) yet has not that very mercy itself planted some thorns in your path, and given you some wise and necessary, yet painful intimations, that "this is not your fest!" (Mic. ii. 10.) Review the monuments of your withered joys, of your blasted hopes, if there be yet any monuments of them remaining more than a mournful remembrance they have left behind in your afflicted heart. Look upon the graves, that have swallowed up many of your dearest and most amiable friends, perhaps in the very bloom of life, and in the greatest intimacy of your converse with them; and reflect, that if you hold it out a few years more, death will renew its conquests at your expense, and devour the most precious of those that yet survive. View the living, as well as the dead: behold the state of human nature, under the many grievous marks of its apostacy from God; and say, whether a wise and good man would wish to continue always here. Methinks were I myself secure from being reached by any of the arrows that fly around me, I could not but mourn to see the wounds that are given by them, and to hear the groans of those that are continually falling under them. The diseases and calamities of mankind are so many, and (which is most grievous of all) the distempers of their minds are so various and so threatening, that the world appears almost like an hospital and a man, whose heart is tender, is ready to feel his spirits broken, as he walks through it, and surveys the sad scene; especially when he sees how little he can do for the recovery of those whom he pities. Are you a Christian, and does it not pierce your heart, to

see how human nature is sunk in vice and in shame? to see, with what amazing insolence some are making themselves openly vile; and how the name of Christ is dishonoured by too many who call themselves his people? to see the unlawful deeds and filthy practices of those that live ungodly, and to behold, at the same time, the infirmities, at least, and irregularities of those, concerning whom we have better hopes? And do you not wish to escape from such a world, where a righteous and compassionate soul must be vexed from day to day by so many spectacles of sin and misery? (2 Peter ii. 8.)

Yea, to come nearer home, do not you feel something within you, which you long to quit, and which would imbitter even Paradise itself? something which, were it to continue, would grieve and distress you even in the society of the blessed? Do you not feel a remainder of indwellg sin; the sad consequence of the original revolt of our nature from God? Are you not struggling every day with some residue of corruption, or at least mourning on account of the weakness of your graces? Do you not often find your spirits dull and languid, when you would desire to raise them to the greatest fervour in the service of God? Do you not find your hearts too often insensible of the richest instances of his love, and your hands feeble in his service, even when "to will is present with you?" (Rom. vii. 18.) Does not your life, in its best days and hours, appear a low unprofitable thing, when compared with what you are sensible it ought to be, and with what you wish that it were? Are you not frequently, as it were, stretching the pinions of the mind, and saying, "O that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest!" (Psalm lv. 6.)

Should you not then rejoice in the thought, that Jesus comes to deliver you from these complaints? that he comes to answer your wishes, and to fulfil the largest desires of your hearts, those desires that he himself has inspired? that he comes to open upon you a world of purity and joy, of active, exalted, and unwearied services?

O Christian, how often have you cast a longing eye towards those happy shores, and wished to pa the sea, the boisterous, unpleasant, dangerous sea, that separates