that there wanted a right estimation of his character. Many sins are suffered to pass, to be punIshed hereafter: but God sometimes breaks out, and strikes an offender dead in vindication of his own glory.

REMEMBER always to mix good sense with good things, or they will become disgusting.

THINGS are not to be done by the effort of the moment, but by the preparation of past moments.

IF there is any person to whom you feel dislike that is the person of whom you ought never to speak!

IRRITABILITY urges us to take a step as much too soon, as sloth does too late.

WHEN we read the Bible we must always remember, that, like the holy waters seen by Ezekiel,* it is in some places, up to the ancles; in others, up to the knees; in others, up to the loins; and, in some a river too deep to be fathomed, and that cannot be passed over. There is light enough to guide the humble and teachable to heaven, and obscurity enough to confound the unbeliever.

1

TRUE religion, as revealed in the Scriptures, may be compared to a plum on the tree, covered with its bloom. Men gather the plum, and handle it, and turn and twist it about, till it is deprived of all its native bloom and beauty: the fairest hand would as much rob the plum of its bloom, as any other. Now all that little party-spirit, which so much prevails among men, and which leads them to say I

* Ezek. oh. xlvii.

am of Paul and I of Apollɔs—is but handling the plum till it loses its bloom.

THERE are but two classes of the wise:-the men who serve God, because they have found him: and the men who seek him, because they have found him not. All others may say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

PHILOSOPHY is a proud, sullen detecter of the poverty and misery of man. It may turn him from the world with a proud, sturdy contempt: but it cannot come forward, and say "Here are restgrace-peace-strength-consolation!"

WE hear much of a DECENT pride-a BECOMING pride a NOBLE pride-a LAUDABLE pride! Can that be DECENT, of which we ought to be ashamed?

-Can that be BECOMING, of which God has set forth the deformity? Can that be NOBLE, which God resists, and is determined to debase?-Can that be LAUDABLE, which God calls abominable?

MANY things are spoken of, in the Scriptures, as good: but there is not one thing emphatically called GOOD, which does not relate to Christ or his coming.

SAY the strongest things you can, with candor and kindness, to a man's face; and make the best excuse you can for him, with truth and justice, behind his back.

MANY people labor to make the narrow way wider. They may dig a path into the broad way; but the way to life must remain a narrow way to the end.

ALL extremes are error. The reverse of error is not truth, but error. Truth lies between these

extremes.

I HAVE no doubt, but that there are persons of every description, under every possible circumstance, in every lawful calling among Christians, who will go to heaven-that all the world may see, that neither their circumstances nor calling revented their being among the number of the lessed.

GOD has given us four books:-the Book of Grace; he Book of Nature; the Book of the World; and he Book of Providence. Every occurrence is a eaf in one of these books: it does not become us to be negligent in the use of any of them.

ELOQUENCE is vehement simplicity.

GOD is omniscient as well as omnipotent: and omniscience may see reason to withhold what omnipotence could bestow.

ATTEND to the presence of God: this will dignify a small congregation, and annihilate a large one.

HAVING some business to transact with a gentleman in the city, I called one day at his counting house: he begged I would call again, as I had so much more time to spare than he had, who was a man of business. "An hour is nothing to you,' said he "An hour nothing to a clergyman!" said I: "you seem little to understand the nature of our profession. One hour of a Clergyman's time rightly employed, Sir, is worth more to him than all the gains of your merchandize.”

IF a man has a quarrelsome temper, let him alone. The world will soon find him employment. He will soon meet with some one stronger than himself, who will repay him better than you can. man may fight duels all his life, if he is disposed to quarrel.

A

ONE day I got off my horse to kill a rat, which I found on the road only half killed. I am shocked at the thoughtless cruelty of many people, yet I did a thing soon after, that has given me considerable uneasiness, and for which I reproach myself bitterly. As I was riding homeward, I saw a waggon standing at a door, with three horses: the two foremost were eating their corn from bags at their noses; but I observed the third had dropt his on the ground, and could not stoop to get any food. However I rode on, in absence, without assisting him. But when I had got nearly home, I remembered what I had observed in my absence of mind, and felt extremely hurt at my neglect; and would have ridden back had I not thought the waggoner might have come out of the house and relieved the horse. A man could not have had a better demand for getting off his horse, than for such an act of humanity. It is by absence of mind, that we omit many duties.

A WICKED man is a candidate for nothing but hell! However he may live, if his conscience were awake he would turn pale at this question, What shall I do in the end thereof?

THERE is a great defect in Gray's Elegy. You cannot read it without feeling a melancholy: there is no sunshine-no hope after death: it shews the dark side only of mortality. But a man refined as he was, and speculating on the bankruptcy of human nature, if he brought not evangelical views into the estimate, COULD describe human nature

only as HOPELESS and FORLORN: whereas what HE felt a subject of melancholy, is with me included in the calculation. I know it MUST be so, and, according to my views, should be disappointed if it were not so. My kingdom, said our Lord, is not of this world.

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REVELATION never staggers me. There may be a tertium quid, though we are not yet in possession of it, which would put an end to all our present doubts and questions. I was one day riding with a friend: we were discussing a subject, and I expressed myself surprised that such a measure was not adopted. "If I were to tell you one thing,' said he, "it would make all clear." I gave him credit that there did exist something, which would entirely dispel my objections. Now if this be the case, in many instances, between man and man, is, it an unreasonable conclusion, that all the unaccountable points, which we may observe in the providence and government of God, should be all perfection in the Divine mind? Take the growth of a seed-I cannot possibly say what first produces the progress of growth in the grain. Take voluntary motion-I cannot possibly say where action begins and thought ends. The proportion between a fly's mind and a man's is no adequate illustration of the state of man with respect to God; because there is some proportion between the minds or faculties of two finite creatures, but there can be none between finite man and the Infinite God.

ONE little preacher will endeavor to prove, with a great deal of warmth, the truth of Calvinistic principles: and another little preacher will clearly, demonstrate the truth of the Arminian scheme. Good sense will go between them, and say, "There are certain things written on these subjects-Thus