hearts are a mystery; a sad mystery of guilt and horror, on which they dare not turn their eyes; the examination of which they dare not attempt, and on which their reflections never rest. To fly from their own accusing hearts, they plunge into the ambition, the crimes, and the vain amusements of this world. To such were addressed those words of our blessed Lord, "If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" Miserable sinners! they dare not look into their own hearts; how shall they be able to look upon God!-Let me behold thy works, O Lord! for all else is but vanity and vexation of spirit !-Let me, through Jesus, thy beloved Son, have my part in Thee, and in that blessed inheritance which passeth not away. Oh, wretched world! the Light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehends it not. He who knows not God, passeth his days in a lethargic dream, ignorant

of the high design of his creation, and more miserable than if he had never existed : for, better were it never to exist, than without Thee, O Lord God Almighty !-Awake !--arise, O man! know thy great end; assert thy glorious privileges, and aspire to immortality-immortality of joy and happiness; trample under thy feet the pleasures of this sublunary scene, as far as they are at variance with thy high destination ; call to mind, continually, that the great, the terrible day of the Lord will come, when the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken ;-when the astonished earth shall behold the Son of Man, the Redeemer of mankind, coming in the clouds of heaven, 'with power and great glory, to judge.the world, and to reward or punish its inhabitants for ever. Tremble at the thought of these dreadful words, “ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Tremble at

the fate of the unprofitable servant, who will be cast into outer darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; whose anguish and torments shall endure for ever, in that fire which shall not be quenched. Oh, remember, blind and insensate mortal, that thou canst not escape from death ; and that our Saviour's lips have told us, “ after death, the judgment!” Remember that the Son of God hath said, “ Heaven and earth shall

pass away, but my words shall not pass away, " till every tittle of them be fulfilled. Nor let us imagine that the serious consideration of this awful and terrible scene may be put off, till years or sickness more plainly shew us the grave. How can we say

that we shall live till to-morrow, or even till the next hour? Let us remember, that our blessed Lord hath declared, that this great and terrible day shall come as a thief in the night, and as a snare shall it be to all them who dwell on the face of the earth; and that “ of that day

and hour knoweth no man, not even the angels of heaven, but God only.”

Let us, then, awake to conviction, and to the knowledge of our God, that we may, in that hour, be found “

among those who believe, to the saving of our souls.”

ON PRAYER, AND THE HOLY SACRA-
MENT.

1. THE excellency of Prayer consists
neither in a set form, nor in a multitude
of words; for God knoweth what things
we have need of, and understandeth our
thoughts before they are uttered, or even
conceived by us. Prayer is an acknow-
ledgement of our dependance upon God;
it is also an act of desire: therefore Prayer
must come from the heart; for with this
only we can desire. But to be
But to be accepta-
ble to God, our prayers must be offered
up for such things as we are sure he will
approve of. Without this qualification,
were we to pass the whole day in repeat-
ing prayers, or in reciting pious senti-
ments, they can avail us nothing. Our