we look back on them, they appear but as a shadow or dream; and if they be so to us, how much more short are they in the sight of God! So says David here: When I look on thee and thy eternity, mine age is as nothing before thee. What is our life, being compared to God, before whom a thousand years are but as one day! And it is less-like yesterday when it is past, and that is but a thought! The whole duration of the world is but a point in respect to eternity; and how small a point is the life of man, even in comparison with that?

The brevity of our life is a very useful consideration. From it we may learn patience under all our crosses and troubles; they may be shorter than life, but they can be no longer. There are few whom an affliction hath lain on all the days of their life; but though that were the case, yet a little time, and how quickly is it done! While thou art asleep, there is a cessation of thy trouble; and when awake, bemoaning and weeping for it, and for sin that is the cause of it, in the mean time it is sliding away. In all the bitter blasts that blow on thy face, thou who art a Christian indeed, mayst comfort thyself in the thought of the good lodging that is before thee. To others it were the greatest comfort, that their afflictions in this life were lengthened out to eternity.

Likewise, this may teach us temperance in those things that are called the good things of this world. Though a man had a lease of all the fine things the world can afford for his whole life, (which yet never any man that I know of had,) what is it? A feigned dream of an hour long. None of those things that it now takes so much delight in, will accompany the cold lump of clay to the grave. Within a little while, those that are married and rejoice, shall be as if they rejoiced not, as if they had never done it; and since they shall be so quickly, a wise man makes little difference, in these things, between their presence and their ab

sence.

This thought should also teach us diligence in our business. We have a short day, and much to do; it were fit to be up early; to remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. And ye that are come to riper years, be advised to lay hold on what remains; ye know not how little it is.

the

The more you fill yourselves with the things of this life, less desire you will have after those rivers of pleasure that are

at God's right hand. These shall never run dry, but all those other things shall be dried up within a little space; at the furthest, when old age and death come, if not sooner. And on the other side, the more we deny ourselves the sensual enjoyments of the present world, we grow the liker to that Divine estate, and are made the surer of it. And I am sure, all will grant that this is a very gainful exchange.

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.-2 Peter iii. 12.

To be weary of the body upon the pure account and reason of our hatred to sin, and longing desires after Jesus Christ, argues strongly grace in truth, and grace in strength; it is both the test of our sincerity, and measure of our attainment and maturity of grace, and upon both accounts highly desirable by all the people of God.

It is so great an evidence of the truth of grace, that the Scriptures have made it the descriptive periphrasis of a Christian: so we find it in 2 Tim. iv. 8; the crown of life is there promised to all them that love the appearing of Christ, that is, those that love to think of it, that delight to steep their thoughts in subjects belonging to the other world, and cast many a yearning look that way and they are described in the text, to be such as are "looking for and hasting to the coming of the day of God." Their earnest expectations and longings do not only put them upon making all the haste they can to be with Christ, but it makes the interposing time seem so tedious and slow, that with their utmost vehement wishes and desires, they do what they can to accelerate and hasten it. As in Rev. xxii.: "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." Lovers' hours, saith the proverb, are full of eternity. "O," said Mr. Rutherford, "that Christ would make long strides! O that he would fold up the heavens as a cloak, and shovel time and days out of the way!" Such desires as these can spring from none but gracious and renewed souls; for nature is wholly disaffected to a removal hence, upon such motives and considerations as these: if others wish at any time for death, it is but in a pet, a present passion, provoked by some intolerable anguish, or great distress of nature: but to look and

long, and hasten to the other world, out of a weariness of sin, abhorring it more than death itself, the greatest of natural evils, and a real sight of things invisible by the eye of faith, without which it is impossible any man's heart should be thus framed and tempered-this belongs to those who are new creatures in Christ Jesus.

And as it evidenceth the truth, so also the strength and maturity of grace; for alas, how many thousands of gracious souls that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, are to be found quite below this temper of mind! O it is but here and there one among the Lord's own people, that have reached this height and eminence of faith and love! It is with the fruits of the Spirit, just as it is with the fruits of the earth; some are green and raw, others are ripe and mellow: the first stick fast on the branches, you may shake and shake again, and not one will drop; or as those fruits that grow in hedges, with their coats and integuments enwrapping them, such as nuts, you may try your strength upon them, and sooner break your nails, than disclose or separate them: so fast and close do their husks stick on them: but when time and the influences of heaven hath ripened them and brought to perfection, the apples drop into your hands without the least touch, and the nut falls out of its case of its own accord. So much more doth the soul part from its body, when matured, and come to its strength and vigor.

"Rivers to the ocean run,

Nor stay in all their course;
Fire ascending seeks the sun;

Both speed them to their source:

So a soul that's born of God

Pants to view his glorious face,

Upward tends to his abode,

To rest in his embrace."

JANUARY 3.

CHRYSOSTOM.

And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.-Deut. vi. 6, 7.

ONE thing, it is necessary for us to bid and entreat, that parents be not only diligent to hearken to the words of God

themselves, but that also when you are at home, you converse man with wife, and father with son, concerning these matters. And say somewhat of yourselves, and require somewhat in return from them; and so all contribute to this excellent banquet.

For let no one tell me that our children ought not to be occupied with these things; they ought not only to be occupied with them, but to be zealous about them only. And although on account of your infirmity I do not assert this, nor take them away from their worldly learning, just as I do not draw you either from your civil business; yet of these seven days I claim that you dedicate one to the common Lord of us all. For is it not a strange thing that we should bid our domestics slave for us all their time, and ourselves apportion not even a little of our leisure to God; and this too when all our service adds nothing to him, (for the Godhead is incapable of want,) but turns out to our own advantage? And yet when you take your children into the theatres, you allege neither their mathematical lessons, nor any thing of the kind; but if it be required to gain or collect any thing spiritual, you call the matter a waste of time. And how shall you not anger God, if you find leisure and assign a season for every thing else, and yet think it a troublesome and unseasonable thing for your children to take in hand what relates to him?

Do not so, brethren, do not so. It is this very age that most of all needs the hearing these things; for from its tenderness it readily stores up what is said; and what children hear is impressed as a seal on the wax of their minds. Besides, it is then that their life begins to incline to vice or virtue; and if from the very gates and portals one lead them away from iniquity, and guide them by the hand to the best road, he will fix them for the time to come in a sort of habit and nature, and they will not, even if they be willing, easily change for the worse, since this force of custom draws them to the performance of good actions. So that we shall see them become more worthy of respect than those who have grown old, and they will be more useful in civil matters, displaying in youth the qualities of the aged.

For, it cannot be that they who enjoy the hearing of these Divine words, and who are in the constant company of the apostles, should fail to receive some great and remarkable advantage, be it man, woman, or youth, that partakes of this table. If we

train by words the animals which we have, and so tame them, how much more shall we effect this with men by this spiritual teaching, when there is a wide difference between the remedy in each case, and the subject healed, as well. For neither is there so much fierceness in us as in the brutes, since theirs is from nature, ours from choice; nor is the power of the words the same, for the power of the first is that of the human intellect, the power of the second is that of the might and grace of the Spirit. Let then the man who despairs of himself consider the tame animals, and he shall no longer be thus affected; let him come continually to this house of healing, let him hear at all times the laws of the Spirit, and on retiring home let him write in his mind the things which he has heard, and diligently communicate them to his children; so shall his hopes be good and his confidence great, as he feels his own progress by experience, and that of his children he perceives by observation. For when the devil sees the law of God written in the soul, and the heart become tablets to write it on, he will not approach any more. Since wherever the king's writing is, not engraved on a pillar of brass, but stamped by the Holy Ghost on a mind loving God, and bright with abundant grace, that evil one will not be able even to look at it, but from afar will turn his back upon us. For nothing is so terrible to him, and to the thoughts which are suggested by him, as a mind careful about Divine matters, and a soul which ever hangs over this fountain. Such an one can nothing present annoy, even though it be displeasing; nothing puff up or make proud, even though it be favorable; but amidst all this storm and surge it will ever enjoy a great calm.

For confusion arises within us, not from the nature of circumstances, but from the infirmity of our minds; for if we were thus affected by reason of what befalls us, then, as we all sail the same sea, and it is impossible to escape waves and spray,— all men must needs be troubled; but if there are some who stand beyond the influence of the storm and the raging sea, then it is clear that it is not circumstances which make the storm, but the condition of our own mind. If, therefore, we so order the mind that it may bear all things contentedly, we shall have no storm nor even a ripple, but always a clear calm.

"Come, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

To whom we for our children cry,