and leave a track behind them that no one will have need to be ashamed of. When I first came to this village, and it is now more than forty winters ago, old Crowder lived in one of the cottages by the bankside. What a track did he leave behind him! Every body knew him to be a poacher, and every one had too much reason to believe he was a thief. The sabbath and the week day were alike to him; for he seemed neither to fear God, nor to regard man. It is written in the Holy Scriptures, "Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil;" and sure enough this was the case with old Crowder. All night long he was up and as lively as a bird, but if you ever met him when the blessed light of the sun was shining abroad, his hat was pulled over his brows. Ugly things have been said of him, and among them that his hand was not guiltless of blood, but He only knows who can see in the black night as well as the bright day, whether there be any truth in the report. He was at last sent across the seas for a burglary, where he died. But was there no trace of old Crowder after he left the village? O yes! He left a track behind him, and a black one too; for his children, and his children's children are walking in his evil ways. He brought them up to love idleness, and folly, and sin, and from that day to this, disgrace, and punishment, and remorse have clung to them. Such are the ways of the wicked, and "so are the paths of all that forget God." It is a great affliction for a child to have ungodly parents, and as great a mercy for him to have such as fear the Lord and walk in his ways. What strength is there in a father's good example! What a defence is there in a mother's prayer! We ought to pray more often than we do to the Father of mercies for ourselves and all belonging to us. "Show us thy ways, O Lord, teach us thy paths! Lead us in the paths of righteousness for thy name's sake." Andrew Forbes was a different man to old Crowder, and a very different track did he leave behind him. To be sure he had been brought up better, and that is a great matter. Andrew was a Bible reader, a sabbath keeper, a man of prayer, and of a tender conscience. No wonder that he brought up his children as he had been brought up himself. Many marvelled that one who read little else but his Bible, should be so wise a man as he was; but it is a gracious thing to be well read in God's holy book; for "the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Andrew, simple as he was, was made wise even unto salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ. Who was it that allowed the widow Slater a shilling a week in her old age till she wanted it no longer, being called from earth to heaven? Who was it that took poor Ben Free into his cottage, when he came back from the sea, almost as thin as a herring, and as ragged as a beggar? and who clothed poor Nancy Taylor from head to foot when she was left an orphan, and got her her first place of service at the Tan-house? Who was it that taught his neighbour's children at the Sunday school? Every body who knows any thing about the matter knows that it was Andrew Forbes. He left a track behind him in words and his deeds, for he lived respected, and he died lamented, rejoicing in the hope set before him in the gospel of Christ, even the hope of eternal life through the merits and sacrifice of the Son of God. Yes! he left a track behind him; "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Andrew's daughter married and lives creditably in a neighbouring parish, but his son dwells in the white cottage still, with an industrious and pious helpmate, bringing up their children as pious people ought to do. Let any stranger come into the village on a sabbath day, and look at the wretched grandchildren of old Crowder without shoes and stockings, and in rags, idling about, or squatting down on the heap of rubbish near their father's door; and then let him step into the neat cot of William Forbes, and see the group gathered together there just before they set off to the Sunday-school and the house of God, and he will see whether it is not a truth that old Crowder and Andrew Forbes have left a track behind them. The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Yes! yes! nothing can be plainer! We are all leaving a track behind us, whether we are old or young, rich or poor; and well for us will it be if we are saying in our hearts, Teach us, O Lord, to walk in thy ways and in the paths of thy commandments." 66 As old Jacob Saunders finished the last sentence, he came to the high stile that leads into the turnpike road where we were to part, after knocking and scraping his shoes against the lower bars of the stile to free thein from the snow, he turned to me and said, " MIND WHAT TRACK YOU LEAVE BEHIND You," and then silently and thoughtfully pursued his walk. MARTHA AND MARY; OR. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LUKE X. 38-42. MARTHA and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus, were as different in the character of their religion as in their natural dispositions. Martha was naturally warm-hearted, of lively 1 When the feelings, and therefore often eager and anxious. Saviour visited her, she was more desirous to prepare an entertainment for him, than to prepare her heart to receive his instructions. Though her character awakens our interest, and the principle which guided her demands our praise, she as yet knew little of heart religion; outward service attracted her more than inward self-devotion; she knew that Jesus was the Son of God, but her attention was chiefly directed to his human nature. In her sincere, though unenlightened zeal, she blamed her sister for not seconding her undue eagerness, and thus addressed the Saviour: Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." 66 We have no doubt that Martha was really a child of God; but in the passage before us, her natural propensities and feelings appeared to have hindered and concealed the gracious principle implanted within, and rendered her an emblem of those individuals whose religion affects their feelings, rather than their hearts and lives. Such are those who act as if it were impossible to worship God acceptably without observing certain outward circumstances, which often tend to interrupt rather than promote communion with God, who has declared in Scripture that he " dwelleth not in temples made with hands," and that "they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." The same state of mind will induce another class to listen readily to the truths of Scripture, the guilt and misery of man, the way of redemption provided for us, our own inability to perform good works, and the nature of the Holy Spirit's work upon the soul, when these doctrines are set before them in a pleasing style; though they would reject them if preached in plain language, or in any way not suited to their taste. This proves that they seek not the truth, but the garb in which it sometimes appears; and that they are more anxious for their own gratification than to hear the gospel. Others, who have more acquaintance with real religion, give way to their feelings in a different manner. They long for strong impressions and warm emotions; they desire sensible raptures, extraordinary joy. They are not satisfied with faith, hope, love, obedience; they act as if piety consisted in religious excitement, and the moment they lose the comforts produced by a sense of the presence of God, and are no longer permitted to soar heavenwards on the wings of Christian hope, they are discouraged and cast down, they know not what to do, and in complaining and lamentation lose much time which might be profitably employed. "We walk by faith, not by sight;" the promises of God are th grounds of our confidence; and though the Sun of righteousness may be hid from us by thick clouds, we know that he still exists, and warms and enlightens us by his rays though we perceive him not. Great enjoyment is not generally good for the soul: God sometimes bestows it on his people, it is true; but this gift must be used with caution. If we are not watchful, it will make us proud; we may wish for these happy moments, but we ought not to desire them too earnestly, still less to look upon them as essential to our progress in religion. A friend who tenderly loves another, does not incessantly require strong marks of affection; so the Christian who truly loves his God, and knows himself to be the object of the Divine love, goes forward, relying on the promises of Scripture, and grateful for the degree of comfort afforded him, through the path of self-denial, the narrow road clearly marked out in the gospel. 66 Another error into which this class of Christians fall is, thinking only of the privileges of religion, forgetting that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." Undoubtedly religion is the way of happiness, but if we seek for peace without holiness, and for the glory of heaven without conformity to the image of Christ, we are lamentably mistaken. God gave his Son to die "that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." This is the will of God, even our sanctification," Tit. ii. 14. 1 Thess. iv. 3. Then how mistaken are those who expect to be happy while their tempers, inclinations, characters, and conduct remain unrenewed; for if any who can talk of their Christian experience, and the pleasure they find in communion with God, are, at the same time, the slaves of pride or impatience, of selfishness or levity, and manifest a desire to substitute warm feelings for the daily duties and sacrifices of the Christian life, do they not resemble those who are described as “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ?" Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," 2 Tim. iii. 5, 7. There is no communion between light and darkness, no concord between Christ and Belial, 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. Where the grace of God really dwells, it will influence the heart and lead to Christian love, the putting off the old man, and growth in holiness. 66 To the excitement of feeling we must also attribute the formation of those projects, in which we think we are following the Divine will, but which, as we afterwards find, have sprung from our own corrupt inclinations. Some Christians have an inclination to seek after the marvellous in the history of their experience. They labour to discover continual interpositions of Divine Providence; they are always speaking of striking answers to their prayers, and referring the commonest events of life to the Lord's hands. We know that "in him we live, and move, and have our being," and that, not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father, but the tendency of which we are speaking, often arises from a want of taste for the established yet ever new truths of Scripture-for the simplicity of the gospel which never wearies the souls that hunger and thirst after righteousness, and they spend the activity of their minds upon new subjects, the creatures of their own fancy. I shall only mention one other class; those who are “like Martha, careful and troubled about many things," yet their diligence is faithless, because unaccompanied by perseverance or reflection. There is much bustle, much talking, many plans and projects among these characters, but very little real usefulness. Often their activity is spent upon things of no real value, which are found to be mere vanity when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. They do not avail towards the one thing needful, the salvation of souls; for it is not enough to employ our time in things pertaining to God, we must be employed according to the will of God, if we desire that our fruit should remain; for "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting,” Gal. vi. 8. It is scarcely necessary to point out the danger of those who rest satisfied with religious feelings, such as have been described. But we may notice that they are a stumblingblock to the world around, and one cause why so many reject the gospel. This sort of piety is also injurious to its possessors, stopping their progress in the knowledge of the truth, leading them to attend to "many things," and neglect “ the one thing needful," and, when they might hear and profit by the words of Jesus, they let slip the opportunity, and derive no advantage from it. It is difficult to make such persons sensible of their real state; they say, I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, and know not that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." When their warm feelings have passed away with the circumstances that occasioned them, what will remain if their religion went no deeper than their feelings? If those who tread in the steps of Mary, choose like her "that good part which shall not be taken away," on the other hand those who imitate Martha in that line of conduct which called forth a tender rebuke from the Saviour, are choosing a part which can be taken from them. Let us, like Mary, sit at the feet of Jesus to hear his word, attentive, thoughtful, |