you is this-Are you seeking, before every thing else in the world, to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ?

Such language as this may not seem very suitable to your case. That there are sinners in the world, who need to be reconciled to God, you will not gainsay; but you may be a thoughtless young man, with many accomplishments, and very well thought of and respected by your friends and acquaintance. Or, you may be a lively young lady, well-educated, and what is considered amiable, the very life and joy, perhaps, of all your relations and friends. Or, perhaps, you are the father of a family, a man of business, industrious, provident, hospitable, and respected by all the country round; or, a kind and careful wife, rising up early and looking well to the ways of your household, praised and beloved by all who know you; or, an old man or woman, with grey hairs on your head, and wrinkles in your forehead, yet blithely and smilingly sailing down the stream of time, and heedless of the coming crisis; or, if a shadowy thought arise, looking back upon a long life, and seeking comfort from the vain boast that you have never done your neighbour any harm.

Now, in any of these cases, such language as this may seem very unsuitable to you; but, reader, consider your not feeling yourself a sinner

makes no difference as to the fearful truth that you are one. If you have not felt "the blood of sprinkling" applied to your conscience, the purging away of "the old man," and the renewing of your heart and life by the working of the Holy Spirit, it is certain, from the word of God, that you belong to the generation that is "pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness." You may not feel yourself a sinner now, but you must feel it one day, either clinging to the cross of Christ, or calling to the rocks and mountains to fall on you, and hide you from the wrath of God.

"The day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, and all that do wickedly," (now all are proud in heart naturally, and all have done wickedly, therefore all who are not reconciled to God)" shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts," Mal. iv. 1.

Take it not for granted that you are reconciled to God, because you are in a Christian land, where the sabbath bell is heard on the sabbath morn; because you attend God's house, and read your Bible, and say your prayers. If you are not humbled to feel yourself a lost and helpless sinner, if you are not looking solely to the Lord Jesus Christ, as your only ground of acceptance, and

hope of salvation, trusting entirely to his merits and his mercy, your "heart is not right in the sight of God," you are yet "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity."

"The day cometh that shall burn as an oven." O reader, there is not a moment to lose! Consider your riches as dust in comparison with Divine grace; seek to be reconciled to God. Are you poor? Forget the bread that perisheth, and seek to be reconciled to God. Are you high? Bow down to the earth, and seek to be reconciled to God. Are you lowly? Rise up from the dust, and seek to be reconciled to God. Sleep not, rest not, day nor night, till you have sought to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.

"The day cometh that shall burn as an oven." What shall it profit you in that day, that your name was extolled from the north to the south, and inscribed on marble and on brass, if it be not found in the Lamb's book of life? What shall it profit you in that day, that the whole universe consisted of your friends, if God be found to be your enemy If God be against you, who shall be for you? And if you die before you are reconciled to Him, in that day he will be against you.

?

Though you live to the age of Methuselah, life soon passeth away; and "what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own

Ꮓ

soul?" If you do with all your heart and life seek reconciliation with God in the prevailing name of his Son, pardon is yours, Christ is yours, heaven is yours; but if you will not be reconciled to God in time, he will justly punish you to all eternity; it will assuredly be said to you, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." I would press this subject home to you; for again I say, the maniac is not more an object of pity than you, if you can live happy, and look happy, without seeking to be reconciled to God through the atonement of Christ.

There are many kinds of madness in the world; but no madness can be greater than yours, if, with heaven and hell before you, you are not seeking reconciliation with God.

"The day cometh that shall burn as an oven." Make haste, there is not a moment to lose; for a moment may call you out of this world! Go, and before you seek bread to eat, seek to be reconciled and accepted with God, through his Son Jesus Christ. His own word is an allsufficient encouragement. "Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out," John vi. 37.

If you are seeking this great salvation, the wisest philosopher excels you not in wisdom; if you are neglecting to seek this, the wildest maniac surpasses you not in madness and folly.

ON HEART SEARCHING.

I Do not know whether your path through life has most resembled a bog or a bowling-green; a thorny brake, or a well-rolled gravel-walk; but as the Father of mercies has appointed for our good in this world, that sunshine and shade, pleasure and pain, should be mingled; inasmuch as it hath pleased Him, I say, that men should be born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward, so, I suppose, of trouble you have had your share.

Not that it very much matters whether we journey through the sultry desert, or lie down in green pastures, gently strolling beside the still waters, so that we have the presence of God with us. Bound as Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego were, and unwonted as the heat of the fiery furnace was, into which they were cast, they had neither cause nor inclination to complain, for there was one seen walking with them in the midst of the fire, in form like unto the Son of God. If you have been walking in the same company, whether