through men's own false dislike the very mention of it often provokes them. It comes to relieve us from despondency and to prevent desperation, which of all other ills that afflict mankind are the greatest and the most dangerous. Let all the counsel your religious friends give you, be considered as a balm, not as an irritation, as a soothing remedy in the end to all your inward sores; and then you will welcome them as you ought, and no more make excuses for absenting yourselves from God, because you "have trouble enough already." EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS. E. UNANSWERED PRAYER.-So kind and gracious is our dear Saviour that He crosses our wills and denies our request when contrary to our spiritual interest. Thus in love He answers our prayers: He withholds what we ask, and gives what He knows is best for us. If disciples ask what is unfit to receive, or unlawful to beg, shall we complain of God's love if He denies? Granting is not always the effect of love. If so, Paul had been less loved than Satan. Satan asked but once concerning Job, and his request was granted. Paul besought the Lord thrice that the messenger of Satan might depart, yet was denied in that. Yea, the blessed Jesus thrice prayed his Father that the cup might pass from Him; but that could not be. The Lord delights in the prosperity of his people, therefore withholds no good thing from them. Not our judgment, but his wisdom must determine this. We pray to be in the height of comfort, and on the pinncacle of joy. But love answers by keeping us in the safe vale of humility and self-abasement. Lord, what proud aspiring creatures are we! Enable us to obey Thee, and humble us under the mighty hand of God.-Mason. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST OUR ONLY HOPE. -Several things brought upon me a sense of my lost state without Christ; especially such sayings as these: "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."-" By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."-" When ye have done all these things, say, we are unprofitable;" with many more such like. From whence I began to reason with myself thus: If all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags; if by the deeds of the law no man can be justified; and if, when we have done all, we are yet unprofitable, then it is but folly to think of heaven by the law.-Bunyan. ALL OUR RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE FILTHY RAGS.If there be not a bitter root in my heart, whence such bitter fruit in my life and conversation? Alas! I can neither set my head or heart about any thing, but I still show myself to be the sinful child of sinful parents, by being the sinful parent of a sinful offspring. Nay, I do not only betray the inward venom of my heart by poisoning my common actions, but even my most religious performances also, with sin. I cannot pray but I sin; I cannot hear or preach a sermon but I sin; I cannot give an alms, or receive the sacrament but I sin; nay, I cannot so much as confess my sins, but my very confessions are still aggravations of them; my repentance needs to be repented of; my tears want washing; and the very washing of my tears needs to be washed over again in the blood of my REDEEMER.-Bp. Beveridge. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS OUR RUIN.-Sir James Thornhill was the person who painted the inside of the cupola of St. Paul's, London. After having finished one of the compartments, he stepped back gradually, to see how it would look at a distance. He receded so far (still keeping his eye intently fixed on the painting), that he was got almost to the very edge of the scaffolding without perceiving it. Had he continued to retreat, half a minute more would have completed his destruction, and he must have fallen to the pavement underneath. A person present, who saw the danger the great artist was in, had the presence of mind to suddenly snatch up one of the brushes, and spoil the painting by rubbing it over. Sir James, transported with rage, sprung forward to save the remainder of the piece; but his rage was soon turned into thanks, when the person told him, "Sir, by spoiling the painting I have saved the life of the painter. You had advanced to the extremity of the scaffold without knowing it; had I called out to you, to apprize you of your danger, you would naturally have turned to look behind you, and the surprise at finding yourself in such a dreadful situation, would have made you fall indeed. I had therefore no other method of rescuing you, than by acting as I did." And such (if I may so speak) is the method of God's dealing with his people. We are all naturally fond of our own legal performances; we admire them to our ruin, unless the Holy Spirit rescue us from our folly. This He does by marring (as it were) our best works; that is, by showing us their insufficiency to justify us before God. When we are truly taught of Him, we thank Him for his grace, instead of being angry at having our idols defaced. The only way by which we are saved from everlasting destruction, is by being made to see, that "by the deeds of the law no flesh living shall be justified."-Toplady. "BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT."-The word blessed means happy. St. Luke says simply, "Blessed are the poor." It has been argued whether Christ meant the poor, in reference to the things of this life, or the humble. The Gospel is said to be preached to the poor'. It was predicted that the Messiah should preach to the poor. It is said that they have peculiar facilities for being saved. The state of such persons is therefore comparatively blessed or happy. Riches produce care, anxiety, and dangers; and not the least is the danger of losing heaven by them. To be poor in spirit is to have humble opinion of ourselves; to be sensible that we are sinners, and have no righteousness of our own; to be willing to be saved only by the rich grace and mercy of God; to be willing to be where God places us, to bear what He lays on us, to go where He bids us, and to die when He commands; to be willing to be in His hands, and to feel that we deserve no favour from Him. It is opposed to pride, and vanity, and ambition. Such are a 1 Luke iv. 18. Matt. xi. 5. 3 Matt. xix. 23. Luke xviii. 24. 2 Isa. lxi. 1. happy: 1st, Because there is more real enjoyment in thinking of ourselves as we are, than in being filled with pride and vanity. 2nd, Because such Jesus chooses to bless, and on them He confers His favours here. 3rd, Because theirs will be the kingdom of heaven hereafter. It is remarkable that Jesus began His ministry in this manner, so unlike all others. Other teachers had taught that happiness was to be found in honour, or riches, or splendour, or sensual pleasure. Jesus overlooked all those things, and fixed his eye on the poor and the humble, and said that happiness was to be found in the lowly vale of poverty, more than in the pomp and splendours of life. "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" that is, either they have peculiar facilities for entering the kingdom of heaven, and of becoming Christians here, or they shall enter heaven hereafter. Both these ideas are probably included. A state of poverty a state where we are despised or unhonoured by men-is a state where men are most ready to seek the comforts of religion here, or a home in the heavens hereafter.-Barnes. THE CORRECTION OF CHILDREN. From "A Warning about the Children," by the Rev. A. Dallas. WHEN God sends a child into the world, He provides two people who are to have the particular charge of it. To induce them to take this charge, He furnishes their hearts with a new impulse directed towards this particular object; and He has made this new object a source of very great pleasure. Nothing can be more delightful than a father's and a mother's affection for their child; and it never comes till the child comes that needs it'. God means this for some use, and He will require an account of the way in which it has been used. Besides this natural feeling, God has given great power to parents by his Word. When He spoke the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, He commanded all children to "honour their father and mother," and promised that they should not be cut off in their youth 1 Ps. ciii. 13; Isaiah xlix. 15; 1 Kings iii. 26. if they did so. He confirmed this under the Gospel'. Read these passages, and you will find that God has placed very great power in the hands of parents over their children. Do you think that God has given them this power for no end? Do you not think He will require an account of how it has been used? Most assuredly He will; and if it has been neglected, or has been employed for our own pleasure, and not for the purpose for which it was given, it will be a dreadful day when He calls for the account. What was the purpose for which this affection and this power were given? To understand this purpose, you must call to mind the important truth, which you so often profess to believe, that we are born in sin, and are children of wrath'. Our children follow us in the same state. Children from their earliest infancy strive to have their own way. Their own way, though seemingly a small matter at first, is the broad way, and leads to destruction in the end. The habit of having their own way when young, confirms them in rebellion against God in after age. The habit of submitting their own wills, and being subject to their parents, prepares them for submitting themselves to God, when by his grace they shall know his will afterwards. The purpose for which this great power is given, is to produce this habit of obedience in the children; and the purpose for which this delightful affection is given is to induce parents to persevere in a kind, but firm use of the power. Both are greatly wanted; for it is a difficult thing to subdue the will of a child, and without such power it could not be attempted; and it is a long and tedious work, and without such affection nobody would continue to use the power. There are a great many texts in Scripture which teach parents how to use this power and this affection. Take, for instance, what is said in Proverbs xix. 18, "Chasten 2 Exod. xx. 12; Lev. xix. 3; Deut. xxvii. 16. 5 Job xiv. 4; Prov. xxii. 15. 6 Rom. iii. 10-18; viii. 7; Isa. liii. 6. VOL. XXVIII. P |