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reason of this neglect of proper attire is, first, the shame of coming in another's dress, the wedding garment being the Righteousness of Christ, though, to speak truth, this garment is not a borrowed one, but a present to those who are not ashamed to wear it, for it is freely given to them that are not too proud to ask for it; and God' knows it is much wanted to cover the nakedness and rags of the very goodliest raiment that any man hath of his own. "Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," says the prophet Isaiah; if that then be the case, surely we must not come to the marriage of the Lamb without blemish and without spot in such a dress as this, but in one which He alone can provide for us. Secondly, persons will not come to this marriage, because they feel that if they have on the wedding garment, they must behave as becomes the wearers of such splendid attire. Holiness, heavenly-mindedness, peace, and love, must mark the behaviour of such persons, and so they will not come properly dressed, though they are no wise unwilling to be thought to be of the proper sort of company. The entrance of the King will, however, display their rags to every one. They will be made speechless by the public proclamation of their nakedness. To utter darkness, the place of weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, will they be cast, bound hand and foot, so that they can never escape. But do you, my dear family, take the advice given by your King, Jesus Christ the Righteous, to the Church of the Laodiceans: “I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear ;" and further*, " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh" (for mark you, he that weareth the wedding garment must overcome sin), "I will grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." A LAYMAN.

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3 Rev. iii. 18.

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ver. 20, 21.

MOSES ASCENDING MOUNT NEBO.

WE behold Moses climbing the sides of Mount Nebo with all the vigour of his earlier days. How lightly does the burden of 120 years press upon him! "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." In this Moses was a type of every Christian. There is a buoyancy in faith which neither time nor toil can impair. "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." In old age the powers of the intellect decay, and the passions of the mind lose their force; and those who have been animated simply by these principles, becoming bereft of their sustaining and impelling forces, grow unfit for their former labours, and lose their relish for their former delights-like vessels, which rode gallantly once, but which are now deserted by the winds and the waves, and lie stranded on some sandy shore, and can be seen no more on the highway of the ocean. But with the Christian it is not so. The principle that sustains and animates him is an immortal one: neither length of years nor variety of labours can wear it out. As the shadows of age thicken around him, this inner lamp burns but the more brightly. Nature decays, yet this principle asserts its heavenly birth by waxing stronger and stronger. In the evening of life the believer is as strong as ever, nay, sometimes far more so, to labour or to suffer, as the case may require, in the cause of his Master, and as ready as ever to do battle with his spiritual foes. He has but gathered strength from the conflicts he has waged and the labours he has performed. And instead of having his vision. bounded and shut in, like that of other men, by the dark clouds which hang near the region of the grave, he can pierce the gloom, and descry from afar the triumphs which await the Church of God; and his eye kindles with all its former brilliancy as he surveys the glorious prospect. At last he ascends the mount of Nebo to die, but his 66 eye" is not dim, nor his natural force

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abated." He lifts up the eye of his faith and surveys the⚫ land before he enters upon it; its shores, where no tempest ever rages; its skies, where the sun never goes down; its palm-trees, from which an everlasting peace breathes upon its inhabitants; and its plains clothed with an immortal beauty, and refreshed by the rivers of the waters of life. How did the faith of David wax stronger, as he drew nigh the valley of the shadow of death; "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption; thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. Nor was the eye of Paul dim, when, from the depth of his dungeon, he could look upward and descry the glory of that crown he was so soon to wear: "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 unto me at that day."-From "Scenes from the Bible," by the Rev. J. A. Wylie.

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VERSES BY DR. PETER HEYLIN.

MR. EDITOR,-I send you some verses which I found in a newspaper, and which have pleased me greatly, and I should think would also please some of your readers. Being written about two hundred years ago, they have the spelling and the manner of that age. Peter Heylin was a learned and acute writer, his works were chiefly on the side of Church and King in the sad days of Charles I., to whom Heylin was chaplain.-A Constant Reader.

THESE BY PETER HEYLIN, GIVEN WITH A BIBLE.
"Could this outside beholden bee

To cost and cunning equally;
Or were it such as might suffice
The luxurie of curious eyes:
Yet would I have my dearest look
Not on the cover, but the booke.
"If thou art merie, here are aires;

If melancholie, here are prayers;
If studious, here are those things writt
Which may deserve thy ablest wit;
If hungry, here is food divine;
If thirsty, nectar, heavenly wine.
VOL. XXVIII.

L

"Read then; but first thyself prepare

To read with zeale, and marke with care,
And when thou read'st what here is writt,
Let thy best practice second it:

So twice each precept read shall bee,
First in the booke, and next in thee.
"Much reading may thy spirits wrong,
Refresh them, therefore, with a song;
And that thy musicke praise may merite
Sing David's Psalms with David's spirit;
That as thy voice doth pierce men's ears
So shall thy prayers and vows the spheres.
"Thus read, thus sing, and then to thee
The very earth a heaven shall bee,
If thus thou readest, thou shalt find
A private heaven within thy minde.
And singing thus before thou die

Thou sing'st thy part to those on high."

SUNDAY VISITING.

FARMER Williams is one of those men whom the providence of God has blessed with many earthly blessings, but who have no respect or love for the Giver of them all, and no portion, or desire, beyond this life.

It is his practice, several times in the course of the year, to drive over his wife and daughters to visit some relatives, who reside about seven miles from his own house; and the day fixed upon for these visits is always Sunday.

Farmer Williams, perhaps, thinks that he is keeping God's commandment, because he gives his labouring men little or no work on a Sunday, and that, in other respects, he may do as he pleases: but, does he not see that the words, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy," forbid idleness, and finding our own pleasure, and speaking our own words, as plainly as they forbid us to follow our daily business and labour?

And when he says, "Surely, there can be no harm in visiting our friends," he wholly forgets the purpose for which the Sabbath was appointed. It was, that, laying aside our common occupations, we might have some quiet, uninterrupted time for examining the state of our souls, and drawing near to God in meditation and prayer. He does not reflect that the trifling conversa

tion in which his Sundays are so often spent, does much more to draw the soul away from God, than all the labour in which his week days are employed.

He thinks it, however, unreasonable, that, after working hard during the six days, he may not seek rest and recreation on the Sunday. Alas! he does not know that the best relief to a wearied mind or body is a Sabbathday spent in the fear of God; he does not know, by happy experience, that, as heaven is sweeter than earth, so to delight ourselves in the Lord is better than all the pleasures of the world.

Farmer Williams is very often heard angrily to say, that he wishes the poor were more honest, and civil, and industrious than they are; but, wretched man! he does not consider that the villagers who see him despising the Sabbath-day will, by this evil example, be hardened in ungodliness. He forgets that the children who hear the stillness of the Sunday morning broken by the merriment of his gay and thoughtless party, will learn to dislike the restraints of their parents and teachers; and, that thus, treading in his steps, their blood, and that of generations yet unborn, will, if he does not repent, be laid to his charge.

Now if, instead of scornfully trifling with the Lord's hallowed and blessed day, Farmer Williams were to be seen devoutly worshipping in the house of God, in the morning and afternoon; if he were to engage himself for some time in privately reading the Scriptures and in prayer; if he were to spend an hour or two in teaching the children of the Sunday-school; and if, in the evening, he employed himself in going about among his labouring men, reading a portion of Scripture to those who cannot do it for themselves, or putting them in the way to learn, and warning or conversing seriously with those who can; he would enjoy a happiness to which he is, at present, a stranger; he would pass through life with the favour of God and the love of his fellow creatures; he would go down to his grave among the tears of his generation, and his memory would be blessed. And if, as no doubt is the case, for him to do all this, would imply such a change in him that makes

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