broken but he was at liberty; no sooner did he approach his God with the confession "Father I have sinned," then the ring of espousal was put on his finger, the robes of righteousness enfolded him, and he entered the heavenly palaces, where angels rejoiced, and caught the gratulating sound, in which the church triumphant are addressed, "This, my son, was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found."

To you, my young friends, I would say, You have now a brother in heaven-your eldest, who has been chosen to draw your hearts to the spot where a treasure is. Ponder it deeply. He was young and blooming: length of days was before him, and often in his heart he said, "It will

yet be time to reflect and turn." Glory and blessing be to Him, who cut him not off in unbelief! but lay the stroke to heart, and see what the Lord could have done; and do not any of you defer the great business of coming to a throne of grace with a real surrender of yourselves to the Lord. Beseech Him to enable you to make this surrender in sincerity and truth. He is waiting to be gracious to you. He does nothing in vain, and he looks into

every separate heart among you, to see whether now he stands at the door, and knocks so awfully, whether you will really open to him. Your tears, your caresses, your redoubled assiduities will soothe your parents' grief it is true, but nothing will breathe such real solace to their souls, as seeing you diligent in seeking Him to whom it is their incessant desire to lead you.-Charlotte Elizabeth,—extracted from a Letter.

For his anger endureth but a moment, in his favour is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.—Psalm xxx. 5.

THIS is a most beautiful and affecting image of the sufferings and exaltation of Christ: of the sorrows and joys of a penitent; of the miseries of time, and the glories of eternity; of the night of death, and the morning of the resurrection.— Bishop Horne.

Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.-Rev. xiv. 13. WHAT admirable wisdom in the dispensations of the Almighty! He has sown the present life with tribulations, to make us more exquisitely

sensible of the ineffable joys of the life to come! In creating us immortal he has nevertheless taxed our immortality with death, but with only temporary death, a death which detains us only one moment under its dominion, that we may be affranchised from it immediately after for ever. No, there is no death for those who die in Christ, there is only sleep. For them death is the promised haven which affords them shelter from every storm. Can they, then, dread the arrival of that which for ever sets them free from sin and all its cruel snares ?-St. Ephraim.

Thy will be done.-Luke xi. 2.

THIS is the reality of the divine life and of all real peace, to have God so enthroned in the very centre of our hearts, that we may truly say,

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Thy will be done." Then there is calmness and resignation, humility, meekness, and contentment, for faith says, "He doeth all things well," and love rejoiceth to submit to what God does; but when our own will is unbroken, unsubdued, like an untamed colt, we toss, and

fret, and fume, and give ourselves much needless trouble and ineffectual agitation, until at last we learn that there is no liberty but in serving God, and no peace but in laying down our opposition against his will, and taking up arms against Satan and self, or rather against Satan as ruling in us by nature.-Bishop Shirley.

Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord · loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.-Heb. xii. 5, 6.

AFFLICTIONS are, in a Christian family, angels unawares. Give them hospitality, receive them as from God, and leading back to God again. In the pang that rends your heart, in the blow that falls with consuming weight, in the loss of your property, in the death of your babes, in the departure of all that man loves, and in the happening of all that man dreads, if you be a Christian there is not one drop of wrath, not one, it is the exponent of love-it is the evidence that God loves you: for he chastens

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And who does not know you that he never has so much of heaven in his heart as when he is in affliction? We do not like affliction, we do not like pain, that is natural: but there is not a Christian that cannot testify that it was just when he lost some near and dear child, that he saw the chasm left behind filled by Him who cheered his sad heart with joy, with confidence, with peace.-Dr. Cumming, from "Voices from the Dead."

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.-Rev. ii., 10.

LET death be premeditated, not only because he cometh uncertainly (I mean for the time, for else he is most certain,) but also because he helpeth much to the contempt of this world, out of which as nothing will go with thee, so nothing canst thou take with thee; because it helpeth to the mortifying of the flesh, which when thou feedest, thou dost nothing else but feed worms; because it helpeth to the well disposing and due ordering of the things thou hast in this life; because it helpeth to repent