CHRISTIAN LACONICS.

I.

SOULS to whom Christ has been made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, should never complain of poverty or neglect. They have that which worlds cannot purchase. They may be aged and destitute, solitary, having buried the friends of their youth, just ready to sink unmourned to the tomb, still let them rejoice. Shall not the traveller, though he be lonely and destitute, rejoice as he draws near his home, where the sweet voice of affection shall welcome him, and every want be fully supplied?

II.

You may have seen the forest in the leaflessness of winter, to which the rain-storm, freezing as it

fell, had given a transparent covering: when the clouds had rolled away, and the sun shone forth, you beheld it exhibiting all the glories of the rainbow-sparkling as if adorned by a thousand diamonds.

Similar is the scene which the world

presents to those who stand at its entrance, and thus cold, and unreal, and evanescent, will they find its promised joys.

III.

THAT proud and lofty independence of character which we hear so much praised, and see so often assumed, is inconsistent with true benevolence and a just appreciation of the responsibilities of life.

IV.

AGED sinner, have you performed the work for which life was given you? If not, there is no time to be lost. The shadows of the evening are gathering around you, and will soon deepen into everlasting night; and amid its darkness you must set sail on the shoreless ocean of eternity.

V.

THERE may be hopeful appearances; such as great awakenings, convictions of guilt, conscientious avoiding of sin, frequency of meditation and prayer, delight in religious conversation, without true conversion to God. We have seen this in others-why may it not be thus with ourselves?

VI.

WHEN We see an individual of strictly moral and attractive deportment, unconverted, yet respectful to piety, we are prone to forget the depravity of his heart, and to suppose that he needs but little to become a Christian. But, in truth, he needs a new creation-without it, he can no sooner enter heaven than the most hardened sinner that was ever spared to fill up the measure of his iniquity.

VII.

IF, what is by no means probable, the eye of a theatre-going woman should fall on these pages, to such an one I would say-would you like to go

from the theatre to the judgment seat?

Think of

this question when you next enter the theatre: think, as you gaze upon the crowd and scenery, that at the judgment day the crowd will be much greater and the scenery much more august and imposing.

VIII.

THERE is a difference between spiritual deadness and death.

The latter is the state of the wicked,

the former the disease of the renewed.

The pos

session of any of the true signs of spiritual life

warrants the indulgence of hope.

The infant may

be unable to converse, yet, if it breathe, that is a sure token of life.

IX.

SUPPOSE an individual traversing the mountain wild: he has to cross an awful chasm, through whose depths the torrent rushes in its fury; across this chasm a single tree is thrown-on it he must pass; a false step plunges him into the flood below. The day is far spent, a dark night is coming on, the sleety rain begins to descend, and

fierce winds roar in the distant valleys.

Now, in view of these dangers, might we not with propriety urge him to make no delay? We admit that, possibly, he may pass in safety amid the coming darkness; but the chances are numerous against him. Similar and no less dangerous is the condition of the sinner; he has to prepare for heaven or suffer hell; the dangers are thickening around him; we do not say that if he delays repentance he cannot repent at a future day, but that the chances are fearfully against him.

X.

OFTENTIMES some one sin keeps men from closing with Christ. Reader, is it so with you?

Its indulgence is no doubt for the moment pleasant, but will it compensate for eternal damnation?

XI.

IMPORTUNITY in prayer is but little practiced, yet Christ seems to intimate, that sometimes this alone has occasioned success; as in the parable respecting the borrowing of loaves, and of the unjust judge. There may be importunity that is not ex