place where there is no hope, “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched," Mark ix. 44, etc.

The wicked will feel a privation of celestial happiness, and this will constitute one part of their sufferings. Should they catch a glimpse of heaven and its glories, it will only be to increase their regret and double their anguish. But who can tell what will be their actual torments? Doubtless something very dreadful is implied in the emblems made use of to represent these awful sufferings-darkness, blackness of darkness, thirst, fire, a lake burning with fire and brimstone. These metaphors imply such a degree of pain and agony, and show that suffering is carried to such an extreme, that the miserable creatures who endure these torments would esteem as invaluable one drop of water to cool their tongues, Luke xvi. 24.

Oh let the unconverted sinner think of these things. Let him, without one day's delay, consider his present state, temper, and disposition, and infer from it, where his eternal abode is likely to be. Had Adam lived till now in this world, and had he, for his transgression, passed all his time on a rack, or in a fire, how dreadful would have been his condition! At what price would any man deliberately expose himself to similar sufferings? Yet all this would be as nothing in comparison with those torments which the ungodly must eternally endure. When they shall have suffered millions of ages, they will have to exclaim, "All this is but an atom of our misery; again and again we must pass through these amazing periods; again endure the same and increasing torments; again and for ever go the same rounds, and dwell in everlasting burnings."

Reader, have you considered these things? Have you believed them? Have you felt them, and considered well their importance? Remember, every moment life is wasting; the taper comes nearer the socket; while you read these lines, eternity is approaching, and you are hastening to it as fast as the wings of time can carry you. If you be in an unconverted state, you are unfit for death and judgment, and yet you cannot avoid either. What, then, is your condition? If conscience says, "It is bad," what then do you intend to do? Some are pressing into the kingdom of God, and the door of mercy is still open. "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” 2 Cor. vi. 2. Is Jesus your Mediator, your trust, your foundation, your Friend and Saviour, your life, your "all in all?" If you can say, “ He is," then, what reason have you to rejoice! You may be poor, may be tempted and cast down, but you "shall never perish.' Eternal life is yours; Christ is yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's, 1 Cor. iii. 23.

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OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. UPON THE SIGHT OF GRAPES.

MARK the difference of these grapes: there you see a cluster, whose grapes touch one another, well ripened; here you see some stragglers, which grow almost solitarily, green, and hard. It is thus with us, Christian society helpeth our progress; and, woe to him that is alone. He is well that is the better for others, but he is happy by whom others are better.

HIS SIN.

I CANNOT but magnify the justice of God, but withal I must praise his mercy. It were woe with any of us all, if God should take us at advantages. Alas! which of us hath not committed sins worthy of a present revenge? Had we been also surprised in those acts, where had we been? O God, it is more than thou owest us, that thou hast waited for our repentance. It is no more than thou owest us, that thou plaguest our offences. The wages of sin is death, and it is but justice to pay due wages. Blessed be thy justice that hast made others examples to me: blessed be thy mercy that hast not made me an example unto others.

TRACT MAG., THIRD SERIES, No. 106, OCT. 1842. L

UPON A BEECH TREE FULL OF NUTS.

How is this tree overladen with mast this year! It was not so the last; neither will it, I warrant you, be so the next. It is the nature of these free trees so to pour out themselves into fruit at once, that they seem afterwards either sterile or niggardly. So have I seen pregnant wits [clever minds], not discreetly governed, overspend themselves in some one master piece so lavishly that they have proved either barren, or poor and flat in all other subjects. True wisdom, as it serves to gather due sap both for nourishment and fructification, so it guides the seasonable and moderate bestowing of it in such manner as that one season may not be a glutton, whilst others famish. I would be glad to attain to that measure and temper that upon all occasions I might always have enough, never too much. Bp. Hall.

THE PROSPECT.

A PLEASANT prospect is a delightful thing, and a great recommendation to a house. The cottage that commands a pleasant view would be, to most of us, a more desirable habitation than the proud mansion surrounded with dungeon-like walls.

A pleasant prospect lights up the eye and animates the heart. How freely we breathe the balmy air! With what elasticity we tread the earth, and how exultingly we gaze around! If we are thus affected by the prospects that surround us in creation, we are still more so by the prospects of the mind.

Whether, reader, you are poor, or whether your lines are fallen in pleasant places and you have a goodly heritage, the question is important, what is your prospect? The prince and the peasant, the proud and the lowly, the learned and unlettered, the believer and the infidel, have all a three-fold prospect-the past, the present, and the future. Is yours fair and lightsome, or unsightly and shrouded with gloom?

The past should be often gazed upon by us all. What is your prospect of years gone by? Were you brought up in the fear of the Lord, or have you lived without the knowledge of God? Was the garden of your heart cultivated

with care, or allowed to run to waste, overgrown with the weeds of evil? Have your days been wisely improved, or your years been passed in folly? Do you look back on your life with thankfulness and joy, or regard it with bitterness and sorrow?

Is your present prospect fair? Have you the sunshine of God's presence? The green pastures and still waters of his precious promises? Or is it otherwise? Do you see thistles of your own sowing, thorns of your own planting? Have any acorn sins become trees, striking down their roots and spreading upwards and around their branches? These are sad objects to gaze on; but if it be so, arise from your lethargy. Call upon the Lord for strength. Gird your loins for an effort; clear away the brambles; hew down the unsightly trees with a strong hand; labour hard. Spare not; and even yet the wilderness shall rejoice, and the desert shall blossom as the rose.

And now, what is your future prospect? Is it barren and desolate, or fair and fruitful? Is it brightened with hope, or darkened with doubt and despondency? Are the valleys of humiliation before you, or the hills whence cometh your help? However this may be, if heaven be the object of your hope, the word of the Lord your guide, and the Saviour of sinners your only trust, then shall your prospect become glorious, then shall you be a branch of the Lord's right hand planting, and become a goodly cedar in the paradise of God.

THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.
ROMANS i. 20.

SUCH was Paul's testimony against the heathens. They had no Bibles, no preachers, no gospel ordinances; but they had the light of nature, which proclaimed the existence, greatness, and glory of God, so clearly, that in worshipping their idols they were inexcusable. But if the heathens are inexcusable, how much more must you be so! You have sinned. You have sinned grievously, repeatedly, openly; and there can be no excuse for sin. God has prohibited sin in his law. He has said, "Thou shalt not give thy heart, thy mind, thy talents, to another; thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength; and thy neighbour as thyself." He has threatened sin with death

-eternal death.

Ezek. xviii. 4.

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die," "Why will ye die?" Why will ye persevere in sin; why provoke the Lord to anger; why perish in everlasting flames? God often visits sin now with marks of his displeasure, and partially executes his word. No one is forced to sin. Sin is the voluntary breach of the law; the voluntary expression of opposition to God; the voluntary declaration of man's hatred to God's law, will, and nature. The liar is not forced to lie; he does it willingly. The drunkard is not forced to become intoxicated; he does so deliberately. So every sin is the declaration of hostility to God, the voluntary expression of the mind of man against God.

This being the case, there is no excuse for a sinner: if it was only weakness, there might be; but it is deliberate opposition to God. It is crime. Not only so, but God has provided means for man's deliverance from his sinful state; but he prefers remaining in it. Therefore he slights, neglects, and despises those means. God has furnished motives, but they are disregarded. The Lord appeals to our fears, and tells us that his wrath is "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," Rom. i. 18; that Jesus Christ will be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who obey not the gospel of our Lord and Saviour, 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. But these solemn warnings are disregarded. He has appealed to our hopes, and has promised pardon, peace, acceptance, life, and eternal glory to all who submit to his righteousness, believe in his Son, and seek his face. But these gracious promises are treated as though they were but idle words. He has promised his Holy Spirit unto all who ask him, and has in the most tender and affecting strains besought us to be reconciled unto him. From week to week, and from year to year, his word is sounded in the ears of sinners, and they remain careless, indifferent, yea, enemies to God. Must they not, therefore, be without excuse? Sinner, you have heard the word, you have trifled, and therefore you especially are without excuse. To you God has spoken in his word, by his providence, and by his servants; to you he has offered his Holy Spirit, saying, "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you," Prov. i. 23. To you he has sent his servants, warning you to flee from the wrath to come. You have his word, you