What heart can conceive the felicity of the redeemed, when all terrestrial things shall have passed away!

Lord, make me a tree of righteousness; and then I shall experience thy heavenly beams of love! Should the rough wind of persecution, or needful trials, shake my branches, or even tear away many valued comforts, yet may I under every bereavement repose on thy faithfulness and rejoice in thy love.

AS GOD IN CHRIST is the fountain of all felicity, infinitely happy in himself, and the source of true felicity to his creatures: so their blessedness is founded on his truth, secured by his oath, and sealed by his blood; for "God, being willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."

O! what rich discoveries are these, which are experimentally and practically made known to all who fear God! Such happy souls, may well join with the enraptured prophet, and say, "O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me."

"Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song: he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.'

Blessed Lord! reveal thy truth, so full of grace

and glory, to my heart in all its saving influence. Warm, yea, inflame my soul with the pure celestial fire of love. Illuminate my mind and transform me daily more and more into thy image, till awaking up after thy likeness, I shall be eternally satisfied with it.

Blessed Jesus, look upon me,

With a smile of heavenly love;
Draw my heart and fix it on thee,
Never let it thence remove.

Lord, I feel a sinful nature

Tending downwards to the earth;
Save a lost and ruin'd creature,
Save me through the second birth.

Come, thou great Eternal Spirit,

Pour thy influence o'er my soul;

Let me now thy peace inherit,

Make a wounded sinner whole.

Put thy holy fear within me,

Make thy gracious secrets known :
Daily may I know and love thee,
Daily all thy mercies own.

Jesus! plead my cause in heaven;
Be my advocate on high:
All the praise to thee be given,
Through a vast eternity.

XL. AGREEMENT NECESSARY TO COMMUNION.

THE question of Amos is of practical importance. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed ?"

There can be no real communion or pleasing intercourse without a similarity of views and dispo sition.

What can be more opposite than the carnal and the spiritual mind? A spiritually-minded man delights in heavenly things. He views the world through the sacred medium of divine revelation; and beholds it as the abode of sin; as a place of trial; as the valley of the shadow of death. Whilst therefore he blesses his heavenly Father for every undeserved mercy, and receives with gratitude the bounties of his providence; he longs for that glorious rest from sin and sorrow, which remaineth to the people of God. His treasure and heart are in heaven, where joy and happiness fill every ransomed soul in the beatific presence of God and the Lamb. Being born from above, he loves his heavenly Father; being united to Christ by faith, he derives all his strength from him; being under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit, he is led into all truth, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus.

As he loves God, so he loves all the children of God. He delights in the company, and sedulously cultivates the friendship, of genuine Christians. He can say with David, "I am a companion of them that fear thee." "My delight is in the excellent of the earth, and in such as excel in virtue."

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With expanded views and enlarged heart, he can love all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, though all may not agree with him on minor points of difference. All who follow Christ in simplicity of spirit, and adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, by the purity of their hearts and the holiness of their lives, are hailed by him as brethren, travelling to the heavenly Zion.

The unconverted man is the opposite of all this. He cannot endure to hear religion discoursed upon in his presence. By a frown, a sarcasm, or a significant silence, he soon manifests his displeasure. The people of God are offensive to him. Should some

unhappy characters, by their inconsistency or misconduct, dishonour the holy religion of Jesus; he ceases not to hold them up as patterns of the whole fraternity of professing Christians; thus putting the seal of hypocrisy upon all without exception. His manner evidences the exquisitely malignant pleasure which he finds in having so plausible an opportunity of traducing the Gospel, whose pure and self-denying principles his soul abhors.

To him the world is every thing. All his thoughts are exercised, either upon the best mode of acquiring wealth, or the most delightful way of spending it.

Is he a man of fortune? Much of his time is occupied in ornamenting his grounds or in the chase. The pleasures of the field, the intricate mazes of political events, the passing news of the day, or the still more uncertain nature of the weather, form his most edifying topics of discourse, except he have a taste for literature, and then men and books are occasionally canvassed and reviewed.

Is he a man of business? His conversation is filled with subjects connected with his calling; mixed up with all those little incidents of life which compose each passing day. And well would it be, if language awfully pernicious never stained his lips! But in these worldly circles of business and of pleasure, the value of the soul, the dying love of Jesus, the work grace upon the heart, all the rich and varied subjects of redemption are never heard, unless it be to bear the lash of ridicule or the laugh of scorn. How then can two such opposite characters walk cordially together? It is impossible. Hence arises the danger of real Christians associating with the people of the world.

of

Courtesy and kindness are Christian duties to be exercised towards all; but friendship with the

world is decidedly repugnant to the spirit of the Gospel.

In order to walk amicably together, that is, to enjoy each other's company in any tolerable degree, one party must give way to the other, at least to a certain extent.

The religious man, whose soul is supremely occupied with heavenly things, cannot help making occasional reflections on those topics which so deeply interest his heart.

The carnal man, who cannot bear such conversation, must either hear him patiently, and even with seeming complacency; or a disagreement must ensue, which would in a moment destroy all pleasing in

tercourse.

But as the men of the world are, in general, the most true to their master, they seldom fail to insinuate, that such reflections are unpleasant, and little better than preaching. They think it bearable, because customary, to hear them once a-week from the pulpit; but quite intolerable to have such sermons forced upon them in common conversation. Consequently they endeavour to turn the discourse to subjects more congenial with their taste and inclination.

Here the Christian must either give way, or go away as soon as decorum will permit; since he finds that either he must be in continual dispute, or else be continually making compliances to the injury of his soul.

If, then, it be evident, that two cannot walk comfortably and profitably together, except they be agreed on the most important of all subjects-the salvation of the soul through faith in a crucified Redeemer; what must we think of those professors of the Gospel, who are constantly mixing with the world, not so much from duty as from choice; not so much through necessity, as for pleasure? Are