heinous than those of other men, that he is indeed the chief of sinners. There are many things, both mental and bodily, intimately connected with our ease and comfort, which are too personal to excite another's interest, too trivial for the sympathy of a brother or a friend, and yet too weighty for human effort to remove; but we can tell God of them, we can pour out our hearts before him. None but those who have done so in the spirit of adoption, and afterwards found their cause of trouble removed, can judge how such proofs that the Lord is touched with a feeling of our infirmities excite the Christian's tenderest affections, and fix them on his heavenly Father.

As time rolls on, presenting like the visible heavens an ever revolving scene, in which the positions of objects seem to change as we ourselves move onward, we should learn to look more constantly for direction to the immoveable pole-star of our hope. In every change of feeling wrought in us by outward or inward things, we have a fresh proof of the applicability of Scripture to the various circumstances of human life. Its various parts, like the sails of a ship, when set according to life's shifting winds, enable the vessel to bear steadily on its way, and to pass safely over the rough waves of time, while the helm is guided by the hand of celestial faith.

A considerate mind cannot pass the boundary line between childhood and youth without a pen

sive retrospect, an anxious foreboding; though the region it is entering be the fairest of mortality. More intense reflection and stronger powers of feeling render the exchange of youth for maturity still more painful. It is the departure of springtime, the end of life's morning; and though nobler objects lie before, it must be quitted with regret : thus the traveller entering upon the sublimities of alpine scenery, casts back a lingering look upon beautiful Italy. We cannot see the ruins of a castle, or even of a cottage unmoved. Melancholy blends with our admiration of the oak in its verdant decay. We cannot see the blanching hair and withering form of a friend, nay, of a stranger, without sorrow; therefore it is natural that we should acutely feel our own decline. The only effectual balm for this wound is the hope of a blessed resurrection, of immortal vigour and celestial beauty. And we may also think, that the accidents and infirmities which befal the body are not to be regarded as special indications of God's displeasure. When we look at the portraits of the reformers, and endeavour to read in their countenances, the faith and holiness of their hearts, a feeling of regret will often arise at the recollection, that those reverend forms and features were disfigured and destroyed by cruel flames. The earlier martyrs too, suffered every variety of torture which human ingenuity, sharpened by diabolical malice could invent. The body of Stephen

was bruised and crushed by stoning, and the noble head of Paul fell before the stroke of an execu

experienced the decay Yet the world was not

tioner; the beloved John and infirmities of old age. worthy of them, and God loved them with an everlasting love. The eclipse of suffering and death is passing away with time, and the bodies of the saints will soon transcend in lustre the sun in his glory.

In order to bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ, continual self-inspection and frequent self-examination are requisite. The Christian alone can look steadily into that den of iniquity, the heart, although he must behold there more numerous and frightful evils than an unenlightened man could discern, and he endeavours to see them all in their utmost deformity and guilt: for he knows and loves One, who is able to save to the uttermost, and to cleanse and sanctify even that polluted temple.

In the heart, the works of the flesh have their source; and here the fruits of the Spirit are first formed.

Here the great contest between sin and divine grace is carried on. By its effect upon the heart, and by that alone, every event of life should be judged prosperous or adverse.

The delusive expectation of a sensual paradise won kingdoms for Mahomet, rendering his soldiers fearless, and almost invincible. And shall not the

certainty of final success, the stedfast hope of inheriting God's promises, make the Christian, even in this life, a conqueror through Him that loved him?

We often try to rescue from oblivion some bright or beautiful conception of the mind by giving it the permanence of a written record. Let each of us aspire to make his own imperishable soul, to be himself the pillar on which all the bright registers of his spiritual history are indelibly engraven by the finger of God, to testify, not to many ages and their millions, but for ever, and to all, Emmanual's grace and glory. Then shall the discipline of providential circumstances accompanied by the influences of the Holy Spirit, by an operation certainly progressive, though it may apparently be tedious, gradually make us meet to stand everlasting monuments of mercy in the heavenly temple.

IV.-ON RETROSPECTION.

THE result of an enlightened judgment, formed upon practical experience, will ever be found in exact accordance with the precepts of Scripture. We may particularly prove this truth by noticing the Divine injunctions frequently laid upon us to remember the events of our past life, and by recalling the benefit which we have personally derived from their observance.

What is commonly termed knowledge of human nature, is indeed an intimate acquaintance with one's own heart, and a careful observation of its workings in one's own actions. This habit of watching ourselves leads us to trace back the actions of others likewise to the fountain head of motives; and the general answerableness of one human heart to another secures the man of selfknowledge from making egregious or frequent mistakes; though the peculiarities of individual character may sometimes deceive his judgment, or cause him to distrust its conclusions, when indeed they are correct: for to join the actuating motives