tions to obedience on their part. Gratitude for The claim of God upon his people, then, is that the privilege conferred, and love to the Being who has manifested such unparalleled generosity and condescension, could not fail to impel to whatever surrender of themselves or their property he might be pleased to require. But men, being naturally insensible to the value of the privilege, are dead to those emotions of gratitude and love, which it is fitted to inspire. God in conferring it, however, has made arrangements for such a change in the hearts of sinners, as leads them to prize this privilege above life itself, to seck its enjoyment as their proper happiness, and to shrink from whatever would impair or disturb it. When they are thus changed in the spirit of their minds, the amazing condescension and grace of God soften and subdue their hearts. They surrender themselves entirely to him; soul, body, and spirit, are dedicated, without reserve, to the obedience of his will, and the advancement of his honour. They feel this, not to be a hard, but a reasonable service; and the subject of regret with them is, not that too much is required, but that the requital which they render, is so utterly insufficient and poor. These are the feelings and views of all who are renewed, and admitted into covenant with God. But in the present state, believers often fall away from their first love; the fervour of they should do whatever he has been pleased to enjoin. His statutes and judgments include his whole revealed will; both the laws which we are to obey, and the institutions which we are to observe. His will must give a commanding sacredness to all his word. It announces both what we are to believe, and what we are to do; and the truths which it reveals, as well as the precepts which it enjoins, must be regarded with supreme reverence and confidence by us. No words should so solemnize and impress as these, thus saith the Lord.' Seeing we are so unspeakably indebted to him, and stand in a relation so dear, our obedience should flow like a warm and gushing stream from the heart. It should not only be a uniform but a willing service; not only willing but delightful. We should be ready to say, 'His commandments are not grievous; or still more emphatically, 'His yoke is easy, and his burden light.' We should exclaim with David, 'O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!' SEVENTEENTH DAY.-EVENING. their feelings subsides, the energy of their resolu-Turn away mine eyes from beholding canity: tions decays; and though at one period bound up to all the sublimity and perils of the spiritual life, yet at another their affections are cold, their views indistinct, and their zeal languid. When such seasons occur, surely the remembrance of the endearing relation which God bears to them, is powerfully fitted to rekindle their zeal, excite their affections, and stimulate to obedience. All other sanctions and obligations may be said to be summed up in this,-Is the Lord their God? Then how ardently they should love, how reverentially honour, and how diligently obey him? Most reasonably may he, who has condescended to bear this relation to them, require them to 'walk in his statutes and to keep his judgments, and do them.' These statutes and judgments are most reasonable and righteous in themselves. They are such as, independent of all claim on the part of him who enjoins them, are worthy to be honoured and obeyed; but as proceeding from him who has conferred such honour on them, distinguished them so largely by his grace, and afforded them assurance of all that is most needful and precious, they rise into an importance and urgency, which it were the very extreme of obduracy to resist, and of ingratitude to neglect. and quicken thou me in thy way,' Psal.cxix. 37. VANITY is stamped upon all earthly things Many of them look most beautiful and inviting but they fail to satisfy, and even when most fully possessed and enjoyed, leave a void in the heart, which is painful and oppressive. Me are eager in the pursuit of them from day to day, straining every nerve, and putting forth every energy that they may secure a certain amount of them, which they consider to be suited to their desires. Society is, in fact, a vast field of competition, where, on the right hand and on the left, these things are sought afte with an ardour which knows no abatement, one crowd of competitors succeeding to another, 80 that the noise and the stir never cease. Yet the confession of the wise man is, more or less, sooner or later, that of all, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.' How much need, then, have we to utter the prayer of the text! These things, vain unsatisfying as they are, too easily awaken interest in our hearts. They are congenial to our corrupt nature,-of the earth. earthy;-and even believers, living under the power of the Spirit, and, by his teaching, in some measure enlightened to estimate things It pretends to lift up to high aims, to suggest according to their real value, often find their maxims of prudence for the right regulation of desires wandering in search of these things, and the conduct, to point out excesses to be shunned, seeking happiness in them. We need divine joys and distinctions to be sought after; but even help that we may refrain from looking at them. when it has been most implicitly followed, what It is foolish, it is criminal, to set our hearts upon is the issue? Disappointment and shame. This them, and the pursuit of them is sure to involve boasted wisdom, after all, is folly-consummate us in disappointment and shame; but the grace folly. It 'sows the wind and reaps the whirlof God alone can enable us to turn from them, | wind.' to seek after things spiritual and enduring, and to cherish the pure thoughts which these things awaken. The habit of looking at vain things is a great hindrance to our advancement in holiness. They divide attention; they weaken the influence of evangelical motives; they indispose us for spiritual exercises, and render us sluggish and dull in the use of means. We cannot both fix our eyes on vanity, and be diligent in duty. The Psalmist, therefore, properly connects the turning of the eye away from vanity with quickening in the way of the Lord. That way has been pointed out by the divine law, which is holy, just, and good. There is no other rule of life but the law which God has given us; but that law both proceeds from a Being of infinite love, and is in itself most reasonable. Its claims upon us are absolute and supreme. Whatever else may interest or occupy, this law must control; so that, not only must nothing be done contrary to it, but every thing must be done in accordance with its spirit. As the light colours all things, so must this law, sending forth its pure influence over the whole life. It is directly opposed to the wisdom of the world. The world knows not God, and in its maxims, customs, and pleasures, seeks not his honour. On the contrary, though it professes to be friendly to religion, and does not openly and directly deny its authority, it cherishes a secret and deadly hostility to it. It puts the creature and the thing created in the place of God. It strives to banish every thought of God and of his claims from the mind. It surrounds its slaves with associations and circumstances, unfavourable to all serious feelings. It sanctions many things which the word of God condemns, and, even when it is most virtuous, fears not to touch on the borders of vice. What it terms, and boasts of as its wisdom, its gravest and most deliberate decisions, is limited to the things and interests of the present fleeting life. It grovels on its own surface, and among its own perishing things; and it shrinks from the vast sphere of eternity, as a region whose very light turns its possessions into mockery and dust. This wisdom, in its most boasted forms, is vanity. It is indispensable to our peace, then, that we should learn to look upon the world in its true light, to estimate its objects according to their real value, and to give ourselves wholly to the obedience which the divine law requires. We greatly need to be quickened, but we cannot quicken ourselves. The agency of God's Spirit is necessary for this end. He alone reveals the vanity of the world, and inclines the heart to the ways of holiness and peace. He alone awakens the desire for a better portion than the world can give, and makes the sinner bow to the authority and claims of that God, whom the world knows not, and seeks not to honour. But such is the hold of the world upon us, that it is very apt when we have voluntarily renounced it, and turned to God, to recover some measure of its influence, to hinder us in our duty, to chill our zeal, relax our diligence, and obscure our views. There is at times a severe conflict in endeavouring to shut it out. There is no little stir in the heart in consequence of its temptations. The Spirit must therefore continue to quicken, reviving us with fresh power, recalling us to correct spiritual views, and casting the world down into its native meanness. Daily must the prayer of the text be offered, Turn our eyes away from viewing vanity, and quicken us in thy way.' 'Let us not be deceived and misled by the world. Let us not imagine that its objects are what they seem to be, or that there is any truth in its professions, any wisdom in its counsels. But let us cleave to the path of duty; regard God's service as alone truly profitable; and wait for divine grace, that we may continually advance in the performance of duty.' EIGHTEENTH DAY.-MORNING. Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons,' Deut. iv. 9. How true it is of us that our 'goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. We are powerfully impressed with the truths of religion for a time. We are roused to the solemn consideration of our obligations and dangers. We are surrounded, as it were, with the realities of eternity: and then we rise to a vigour of purpose, before which difficulties and disappointments vanish like mist. But ah! how easily we descend. Before we are aware, the vision has fled; not a trace of its splendour remains; and we seem to have fallen into a lower region, where we are surrounded with objects which are gross and perishing. There is great necessity, then, for taking heed to ourselves, that we do not fall away from the elevation of privilege and enjoyment, to which, by divine grace, we have been raised. If we leave ourselves to the influence of passing events and circumstances, and are hurried on without consideration, we may be involved in fearful delusion. We may lose the idea of our spiritual state, and be betrayed into sins from which, a short period before, we would have instinctively shrunk. There is great diligence required in the right keeping of the soul. Worldly things must often be shut out. Delusive opinions must be condemned; and the glorious realities of faith kept before the mind in all their magnitude and brightness. There is a perpetual obligation to watch what thoughts enter the mind, as well as what thoughts are cherished there; and the remembrance of the divine goodness in past times, as well as of the warnings with which we have been favoured, should often be referred to, that we may be excited to diligence, and rendered more fervent in prayer. The things seen by the ancient Israelites were no doubt wonderful; miracle on miracle had passed before them, revealing at once the power and the mercy of God; and one would have supposed it impossible that these could ever be forgotten. But they were forgotten; forgotten so completely, that the very people who seemed borne down to the earth with awe, in a few days were found rioting in idolatrous rites, and surrendering themselves to the gross abominations of the heathen. And if the Israelites forgot even the marvellous things which they saw, need we be surprised if Christians lose sight of the lofty views of divine truth which at times have cheered and comforted them, of the passages of happy experience which have given them assurance that they are indeed in Christ, and of the aspirations after heavenly blessedness, which, succeeding to seasons of high privilege, seemed to bear them on, as on eagles' wings, in the path of duty? There is evidently a close connection between taking heed to ourselves and teaching our chil dren. There can be no doubt, that the habit of teaching the young is eminently fitted to promote the knowledge, and the improvement of Christians. In any science, any department of human knowledge, the mere effort to impress its principles upon the minds of others, is eminently useful. Indeed, though it may seem a paradox, we may say that the best mode of learning any science, is to teach it. The advantage of teaching is, that it brings principles before you. It never allows you to escape from them. It presses them upon you, not only in general, but in their details; so that if they should fail to impress when stated in a broad and expansive form, they are likely to be carried home in some of those more minute and incidental relations, which, in the process of teaching, we are frequently called upon to state. With respect to religion, this is most important; for owing to our dislike of its spiritual truths, we require 'line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little.' We are reluctant scholars,-slow to learn, and swift to forget. It is not by one, but by many lessons, that the truth is to be impressed on the heart. And there is no teaching so effectual as that which has for its object the instruction of our children. Their claims upon us, the interest which we feel in them, the familiarity of the circumstances in which instruction is imparted to them, all combine to give to our efforts to teach them a peculiar character of earnestness and simplicity. This is most profitable to the parent. It keeps divine truth before him in all its grandeur. It connects it directly with its practical influence. It presents the truth in such a variety of lights, as well as surrounds it with such a multitude of associations, that it can scarcely fail to become incorporated with the whole frame of thought and feeling. Intimate and important, however, as the connection is between teaching our children the truths of religion, and taking heed to ourselves, it is nevertheless necessary we should earnestly pray for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Unless, he writes the divine law upon our heart, the best impressions produced otherwise will be very transient and superficial. He must soften the heart by his renovating power to receive right impressions. He must impart knowledge, so that the impressions made may be accurate and distinct. He must sanctify more and more, so that the truth may continue to be relished and enjoyed. We must daily say with the Psalmist, 'Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes.' EIGHTEENTH DAY.-EVENING. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine PRAYER for divine teaching must be accompanied It is generally true, that an opinion or rule, in order to have any permanent or powerful influence on the conduct, must be often in the mind. It must frequently form the subject of reflection, and be so familiar as readily to recur with vividness and force. With a view to secure this, men have sometimes resorted to the practice of inscribing valuable maxims in prominent places, where the eye was likely often to fall upon them, and the mind to be led in the direction of the trains of thought, which they were fitted to suggest. The Jews, in like manner, were enjoined to inscribe portions of the divine law upon the posts of their houses, and on their brow, and on the hand. The meaning of all this gates; nay, to wear them as ornaments on the clearly was, that the divine law should be frequently thought of; that besides those special occasions, when it was made the subject of serious meditation, or of formal instruction, it should be brought before them even amidst the business and engagements of life; and thus that even the brief intervals of leisure, which are ever recurring in the lives of the busiest men, should be turned to profitable account, by fixing the mind upon important spiritual truth. This language is figurative as respects Christians, but it is very significant. It means that the divine law is to be frequently in the mind, to be remembered not merely at stated seasons to be fixed on for that end, but even when we go forth on business or relaxation, and to be connected with all that we see and do. It is entitled to this attention, as coming from God, who is infinitely wise, just, and good. It is entitled to it, as given us for great ends, being designed to purify, to guide, to comfort; being, in fact, in its comprehensive sense, the grand instrument by which the Holy Spirit enlightens, converts, renovates, and sanctifies the soul. That it may have a suitable influence on the mind, it must be often in it as a subject of thought, and that it may be often in it, means must be used for that end. It is the more necessary to use these means with earnestness and care, from the strong tendency of the mind to yield itself to the delusive influence of merely secular things. How easily the world acquires an undue ascendancy! and when its objects and interests are once allowed to possess the mind, how difficult it is to shut them out, to withdraw the thoughts from them, and to turn the mind towards spiritual things! The things of this life, as to a certain extent necessary and important, must often be attended to; and it is no small part of the believer's discipline to keep them in their subordinate places, to narrow the sphere of their influence, and to prevent them from throwing into the shade the things which are unseen and eternal. We must labour, therefore, to keep the truth of God before the mind. It must be as the atmosphere which we breathe, and as the food which we eat. We should carry it with us, wherever we go. We should multiply the associations by which it is likely to be made interesting, and to be easily recalled. When we go forth from our houses, it should be within us, and around us, shedding fragrance on all we say and do. When we are in the world, it should be, as it were, written on our hand, so that when we stretch it forth or raise it, it should meet the eye as a witness for God. When we return from our engagements, we should behold it in inscription on our gates, calling us away from the influence of the world, and awakening us to the claims and the glory of Jehovah. Thus means being accompanied with prayer, we may reasonably expect, in some measure, to live under the influence, and enjoy the comforts of the truth. God will fulfil his covenant with us; 'After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts: and will be their God, and they shall be my people.' Happy, honoured state! in which we are enabled to exclaim with the Psalmist, 'O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.' were embodied. When they were travelling through the wilderness, their peculiar economy was fully revealed and established. The law was written on tables of stone, and read in their hearing. A variety of ceremonial observances and remarkable typical institutions was enjoined; and the whole was sanctioned and enforced by promises and threatenings,—the former powerfully fitted to encourage, the latter to solemnize and restrain. In the possession of their peculiar economy, the Jews were distinguished above all other nations. Among them alone the knowledge of the true God was spread. As when felt darkness was upon the land of Egypt, there was light in Goshen; so when spiritual ignorance prevailed among all other people, there was spiritual knowledge among the descendants of Abraham. They alone enjoyed a revelation of the divine will; they alone offered spiritual worship; they alone were cheered by the hope of the great Deliverer, promised after the fall. Some of the nations around them rose to high distinction in war, science, literature, and the useful arts; so that, in many of these respects, the chosen people were greatly inferior. Even Egypt, at an early period, was the scene of civilization and learning; and at a later period, Assyria, Chaldea, Persia, and Media were remarkable for their conquests, luxury, and refinement; not to speak of Greece and Rome, which became the fountains of philosophy and elegant literature, from which all other nations received supplies. But Judea was the only seat of true religion on the face of the earth. There, men not only knew the true God, but knew how to please him. There, a light shone from heaven to guide into the ways of peace and truth. What elsewhere, on the subject of duty, was doubtful, uncertain, or altogether unknown, was to the Jews a clear, definite, and authoritative rule, made familiar from childhood by parental instruction, and in the more advanced stages of life, kept vivid and distinct, by public ordinances and national rites. GOD conferred a high distinction on the Jewish nation in giving them a revelation of his will. From the brief occasional notices of scripture on the subject, and also from the history of the heathen nations of antiquity, it appears that, at a very early period, all knowledge of spiritual truth was, in a great measure, lost. Men did not like to retain God in their knowledge,' and though they had idols and a form of worship, yet this was merely a proof that religion was an essential part of their nature; while the extreme corruption mixed up with religious observances, indicated the most profound ignorance of the real character and claims of God. Thus before the flood, which happened little more than 1500 years after the creation of man, the power of sin, in darkening the mind and corrupting the heart, had been fearfully shown; and after that appall-instrument by which the Spirit operates in coning catastrophe, a few hundred years only elapsed, till we find the earth, with scarcely any exception, overspread with spiritual ignorance and heinous sin. The truth was preserved in the family of Abraham, and when his descendants grew into a nation in Egypt, they already stood alone upon the earth, distinguished from all other people by opinions, customs, and hopes, in which, more or less, some of the leading truths of religion It is an high privilege to possess the knowledge of the divine will. Even when our own will is opposed to it, this knowledge is the grand vincing and renewing the soul. When the soul is renewed, this knowledge is its food, by which it is nourished and strengthened. He who values it aright, is a happy and honoured man. He may be without the distinctions which the world idolises, ignorant of the wonders of science, and incapable of enjoying the beauties of literature; but he possesses a treasure beyond the gold of east or west, compared with which science in its |