when speaking of Christ, and the hope of glory which he had through him. Perfect peace rested on his spirit, and his happy countenance, which wore a perpetual smile, betokened the serenity within. I was with him half-an-hour the day before he died, when he told me that he found strength failing, and had not therefore attempted to leave his bed for two days. He spoke of the privilege of prayer, and of his acquiescence in the Divine will. He then raised his head from his pillow, and said, with a cheerful voice, 'I have made up my mind to think, as Paul did, that it would be better to depart, and be with Christ.' He spoke as a dying man; and the next morning, without a struggle or a groan, fell asleep in Jesus." To the above testimony of Mr. Bevis much more might be added; and a good deal that is interesting and valuable To quench a glory lighted by the skies, 5, Gloster Street, Bristol. DO YOU ASK FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT? THERE is a remarkable passage of our Saviour's teaching, recorded in Luke xi. 1-13. It is on the subject of prayer. The subject is illustrated in this short passage by various methods, in the way of example and comparison, precept and promise. The comparisons which are designed to illustrate the encouragement to prayer, are taken from the well-known dispositions of a father and friend. And the comprehensive blessing to which our Lord would draw our attention in prayer, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? This is the conclusion of the argument. Who would disregard the importunity of his friend when he desired a favour? What father would turn to his child begging for bread, and give him a stone? No more is your Father in heaven disposed to refuse the Holy Spirit. The case is stronger still. You know the disposition of a friend and a father. Much more is your heavenly Father ready to bestow the precious gift of the Holy Spirit. Ask, and ye shall receive. Do you ask? There is danger of dishonouring and grieving the Holy Spirit. You would deem it a great impiety not to honour the Father with love, gratitude, and dependence. You think it the duty of all men to honour the Son even as they honour the Father. And you live upon Christ and his work as Redeemer and Intercessor, as the only ground of your hope of forgiveness and salvation. But do you practically honour the Holy Spirit? Many acknowledge in theory his personality and agency, without really living in dependence on his power, and waiting for his presence as a the great promise of the Father under the economy of the gospel. Many Christians are depressed and walking in darkness; the graces of religion are decayed; the love of many is become cold, and they are not far from a Laodicean state. At the same time many around you are dead in trespasses and sins, and remain under the sound of the gospel, and the teaching of the Sabbath-school, without being awakened and converted. Perhaps almost whole generation of the young, who are growing up without piety, are passing through the very crisis of their The influence of endless existence. Do you the Holy Spirit is needed. ask for this blessing? I do not inquire whether you have the form of a request for this blessing, when you pray, but whether you really ask for it, and seek it, as a blessing which you need and desire to enjoy ? Consider the offices of the Holy Spirit. He is called the Comforter, because he is the omnipresent counsellor, guide As such, he and friend of believers. The fruit communicates joy to them. He of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. creates holy love in the heart, and, with If you that, heavenly joy and peace. have any love to God, it is the production of the Holy Spirit; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. He imparts hope also-that hope which maketh not ashamed. Now the God of peace hope fill you with all joy and believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Hence those who have not the Spirit are said to be without God, and having in no hope in the world. He dwells in believers, to teach them, and show them the things of Christ, and guide them into all truth, to sanctify them and give them consolation and light, and an earnest of the promised inheritance. You are not wholly a stranger to this Comforter. "The world cannot receive bim, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, because he dwells in you." It may be a thing that is past, that you can say that you know him. Perhaps you have grieved him, and he does not now impart to you his consolations. It may be that you are like Israel, who rebelled and vexed the Holy Spirit, wherefore he was turned to be their enemy. You bemoan his withdrawing, and sigh for the return of his grace. Do you ask for it? And then how many there are perishing in their impenitence, for whom you ought to feel a deep and prayerful interest. It is the office of the Spirit to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment-Conviction of sin is his work. He is the author of the new birth. Unless his power is put forth, Paul may plant and Apollos may water, but there will be no harvest unto life eternal. You may not preach the gospel, but you have a great responsibility with regard to the success of preaching; for the gospel will not convert souls without the Spirit. And the Spirit is given in answer to prayer. Do you ask for the Holy Spirit? The Spirit is visiting some churches. The sound of his going forth may perhaps be heard in the distance in many places. Ask and ye shall receive. From the New York Independent. PROFESSOR THOLUCK'S "HOURS OF DEVOTION." ENDEAVOURS AT TRUTH. "I Too must be 'well pleased with Christ, as the heavenly Father avouched himself to be, from the opened heavens. To think that you have already attained the full truth as it is in Jesus, is to condemn yourself to an everlasting stand-still, if not to a fatal retrogradation in spiritual knowledge. "The possessed of evil spirits seemed to know Christ sooner than others not so far gone in mad disease. Why? Perhaps because being so intensely evil, they were more sensitive to the presence of the supremely good. "The person and character of Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Gospel history, is our only resource. "I have come to the conclusion that he who does not love the Gospel, hates it intensely. For nothing can be so hateful to a man as what is most unlike himself and most counter to his desires. There is no such thing as being on middle ground, between a friendly and hostile position to Christ. Nor can we escape the conclusion, too, that there is nothing that a bad mind so hates as Christianity, because it is so good as to stand at the apex of all moral perfection, their very moral antipodes. No thoughtful and honest mind can deny that there is a susceptibility in every human soul of sinking to the lowest conceivable point of moral de pression; a possibility conceivable of taking on the features or form of the worst conceivable being. How does any man know but what this possibility of his nature may be his own experience? If in our senses, we of course brace ourselves against it, and the thought must horrify us. But is any but the devout Christian really strong against it? And are not all others, ex necessitate rei, slowly gravitating towards that bottomlesss pit? Decided piety alone, faith in Christ alone, can prevent the evil tendencies inhabiting us, that point and drag downward eternally, from taking effect in us. Is it safe to think otherwise? THOUGHTS FOR TEMPTED SOULS. "The beauty of Christianity is this, that the whole stands sponsor for every part, and one part is linked on, vitally and indissolubly, with all the rest. At any point, therefore, lay hold with one faith, and you grasp the mighty tout ensemble. Catch hold of the skirts of God's eternal garment of truth at any point, even at the hem, and hold on, and you are safe. With any particle of the New Testament truth really in my hand, I cannot sink without dragging down with me the very pillars of the universe the very throne of eternal love and life must give way first. In the gospel God gives poor man a prop to lean upon, his own eternal thoughts,' and even himself. 'Children,' said father Luther, 'I do not leave behind to you riches, but a rich God.' If all the words of Jesus Christ are not reliable and trustworthy to the full extent of any possible soul pressure, then none are, and we have no ground whatever to stand upon as religious beings responsibly related to the eternal government of God. And if we cannot plead before God what we can understand of encouragement in the Scriptures, then we need not fear what we there understand of danger or woe to beings in our case. The ways of God with man are as various as the persons and cha racters of men. It may be necessary to lead one to heaven hanging over a precipice all the way, and that by a thread even on the point of breaking. No doubt all the saints will have a great many hair-breadth escapes from hell to speak of, or to remember hereafter. We must be kept awake somehow or another. The serpent's head in us must be bruised over again by us every day, or it will come to life again. Rather, it never dies until the flesh dies. And the pious man always feels that the rivers of sin, the enmity of the serpent, is in him; and I am disposed to think the less of the old Adam is left, the more lively and malignant this diminishing residuum is. Its wrath is roused as its time grows shorter. The element of good always stirs up the antagonist element of evil. Evil never shows itself very positively, except as good first draws its lines of light distinctly and boldly. All colours are alike in the dark. Be not cast down, then, if evil thoughts steam up* from your yet imperfect heart, fellow * Vide John Newton's Letters. disciple. Only be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, and all will be well. RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. THERE is scarcely anything more needed among the churches, at the present time and at all times, than faithful, free-hearted, affectionate conversation upon the themes of religion; the conversation of those who truly love Christ with one another, and the interchange among them, in familiar words, of their personal views; their respectful and affectionate conversation, too, whenever it is consented to, with those who confess no allegiance to the Saviour. Conversation 'falsely so called,' formal harangues on the relations of doctrine, which seem like selflaudatory descriptions of the supposed personal experience of God's gracethan these, almost nothing certainly can be more useless or offensive. And that these are sometimes indulged in under the flattering and self-deceptive title" religious conversation," the intelligent observer of movements around him will scarcely doubt. But the possible abuse of a good thing is surely no argument for its neglect. It is an argument, rather, for the more diligent use of it in the proper way. That a power is likely to be occasionally perverted, which may be made to contribute to the great advantage of souls and of Christ's kingdom, is only a reason why Christians should employ it more carefully and more zealously. And there is no power which they can employ, either more properly or more effectively, than that which they will find in religious conversation, if it be truly what it should be. It should be intelligent, of course, not rambling or meaningless. It should be definite in its aim, not discursive or without purpose. It should be kindly and calm; neither severe in tone nor violent in manner; but genial, earnest, and sympathetic. Above all it should be strictly, thoroughly, immutably HONEST; dealing in no exaggerations, speaking no more or other than the truth, and representing faithfully the state of the feelings. And it should be conducted, as far as possible, among those who are accustomed to converse on other subjects than religious, who are familiar with one another's purposes, views, and general mental and social state,-who are upon terms of equality and of general friendship; and even among such, it should be not formally introduced so much as naturally suggested, allowed to come up spontaneously, as excited by an incident or by some other subject; by au item of news, or a recollection of the past. Such conversation, so introduced and conducted, cannot fail to be useful It will be found surprisingly efficacious, in quickening the feelings of Christians, suggesting to them new purposes and thoughts, enlarging and clarifying their views, and uniting them to one another. It will often touch fountains of feelings in the heart of the unrenewed man, which the more formal and elaborate sermon has failed to reach. It will be able to follow that heart through its turnings and windings as it struggles from the truth, as the preacher cannot follow it. It will apply the truth to it, more closely and searchingly, and at the same time more sweetly and movingly, with a more pliant and winning power. It will be itself an EviDENCE of the reality of Christian prin ciple and Christian feeling, in those who introduce it; and will testify to those who join in it, as almost nothing else can do, the distinctness with which the enlightened mind perceives the truth, and the quickness and depth with which it feels it. Oh that we had such conversation in all our churches; giving wings to the truths proclaimed on the Sabbath; witnessing to their reality; making permanent their impression. The Spirit of God would then be with our churches again, as in that early day when the disciples who met each other were wont to say in greeting-"The Lord is RISEN!" or as at that earlier day when "they who feared the Lord spake often one to another!"—From the New York Independent. I HAVE DONE GIVING. A GENTLEMAN of high respectability, and a member of the church, made this remark the other day, when informed that an application was about to be made to him in behalf of some charitable object. "I have done giving," said he. When I heard of his remark it awakened in my mind a train of reflection, which I have thought it might not be amiss to communicate. "Done giving!" Why? has he given all? has he nothing left to give? Has this disciple done what his Master did? Was he rich, and has he become poor for the sake of others, that they, through his poverty, might be rich? Oh no! he is rich still. He has the greatest abundance-more than enough to support him in elegance, and to enable him to leave an ample inheritance to his children. What if he has given a great deal? He has not only not impoverished himself, but is probably richer now, through the favour of Providence, than he would have been had he never given anything. Now if, by honouring the Lord with his substance, his barns, instead of being emptied, have been filled with plenty, he had better continue this mode of honouring him. He should rather increase, than arrest his liberality. "Done giving!" Why? Is there no more need of giving? Is every want abundantly supplied? Is the whole population of our country furnished with the means of grace? Is the world evangelised? Have missionaries visited every shore? Is the Bible translated into every language and distributed in every land, a copy in every family, and every member of every family taught to read it? Are the accommodations for widows and orphans as ample as they should be? Is there a house of refuge for every class of the human family that needs one? Or have the poor ceased from the land? Oh no! There are no such good reasons as these for ceasing to give. Why then has he done giving? Is it because others do not give as they ought? But what is that to him? Will he make the practice of others his rule of conduct, rather than the precept of Jesus Christ? If others do not give, so much the more should he. Will he add another name to the list of niggards? Does he feel worse for having given away so much? Has it made him unhappy? Is his experience different from that of the Lord Jesus, who said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive?" Has he, who thinks he will give no more, been led to that conclusion by having found that what has been given hitherto has done no good? And is it so, that no good has been done by all |