there would be a clear, unmistaken Scriptural view of God. And hence the pointed condemnation we everywhere meet with in God's word against error and infidelity, as being not only the consequence of guilt, but in itself guilt. So whenever any soul departs from the truth, we shall find the beginning of such departure in the neglect of that Divine Spirit, and in human prejudice and pride. A man flatters self instead of consulting God, submitting to God, and thence comes a perverted judgment, a crooked sight, a partial, prejudiced view of things; and a very little declination from the truth, followed on, will lead the soul fearfully astray, after long following. And then a man dreams that his very errors are marks of originality, independence, and intellectual greatness. Just as if a man with strabismus should fancy that he has a more perfect eye than all his neighbours, because he sees crosswise, while they see only straightforward. All religious error, that involves the soul in a conflict against the God and the piety of the Scriptures, is sinful, and leads to sin. There are indifferent points, in regard to which it may be said, Neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. And there may be errors in judgment, even with the best intentions; although, if man were not a fallen being, it may be doubted whether there would ever have been any error, even in that. But a loving, humble heart, that comes to God in his word for light, God will never-Cheever. suffer to go seriously astray. And indeed a loving, humble heart not only has the light of God's word to go by, but possesses also the Interpreter of God's word dwelling in the soul, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but who will guard the soul from error, and lead it into all truth. Without this, the soul's speculations are presumption: ATHEISM. THE creed of the Atheist reads thus: "There is no God, and matter is God; and it is no matter whether there is any God or not." He must be a wise man! Whence did he acquire so much knowledge? Did he always exist? No. Did he create himself? No. Did he come into being by his own choice? No. Do his lungs heave, or his heart "And while she dotes, and dreams that beat, at his own bidding? No. Can she believes, he even prolong his life at his own She mocks her Maker, and herself de- pleasure? No. Does the pestilence ceives; Her utmost reach, historical assent, walking in darkness, or the destruction wasting at noon-day, come and The doctrines warp'd to what they go at his will? No, none of these never meant. The truth itself is in her head as dull things. Can he bring the day and A trick upon the canvass, painted flame." bring the snow, or the hail, or rain of a distinguished continental university, with a face beaming with delight, and informed him that the long and fondly cherished desire of his heart was at length fulfilled, his parents having given their consent to his studying the profession of the law. As the university presided over by his friend was a distinguished one, he had repaired to its law school, and was resolved to spare no labour or expense in getting through his studies as quickly and ably as possible. In this strain he continued for some time, and when he paused, the old man, who had been listening to him with great patience and kind you have finished your career of study, what do you mean to do then?" "Then I shall take my out of his treasury? Does the sea roar at his word, or by his command lie still? Does the sun send forth his light and heat, or do the planets revolve in obedience to his mandate? Does he give us fruitful seasons, and provide food for men and beasts? Does he hear the young ravens cry, or do the young lions ask their meat from him? No; not one of all these things are done at his nod. And yet HE KNOWS there is no God! Amazing knowledge! How did he attain it? "The fool hath said in his heart, No God." Yes, a fool truly, to belie his senses, and dethrone his reason! And all for what? To drown the voice of con-ness, gently said, "Well! and when science and calm his fears, while he indulges in transient pleasures, and wallows in the filth of sin. When shall he awake from his dream, and degree," answered the young man. know as he is known? Eternity" And then?" asked his venerable shall dissipate the delusion; reason friend. "And then," continued the shall resume her throne; and con- youth, "I shall have a number of science, with ten thousand stings, difficult and knotty cases to manage ; shall upbraid his folly. Miserable shall attract notice by my eloquence, man! Once he could deify chance, and wit, and acuteness, and win a sport with death, and say there is no great reputation." "And then?" God. repeated the holy man. "And then?" replied the youth, "why then there cannot be a question I shall be promoted to some high office in the state, and I shall become rich." "And then?" "And then," pursued the young lawyer, “then I shall live comfortably and honourably in wealth and respect, and look forward to a quiet and happy old age." "And then?" repeated the old man. "And then," said the youth, "and then-and then-and then I shall die." Here his venerable listener lifted up his voice and again asked with solemnity and em If chance could make the worlds, place them in their order, and put them in motion; if chance could create intelligent beings, endow them with moral powers, and prolong their existence for a period of years, why may not chance make the spirit immortal, and according to its deeds make it happy or miserable throughout endless duration? "AND THEN?" A young man, whom I had known as a boy, came to an aged professor phasis, "And then?" Whereupon man. I watch him as I do a star in the aspiring student made no answer, heaven; clouds may be before him, but cast down his head, and in silence but we know that his light is behind and thoughtfulness retired. This them, and will beam again; the last "And then?" had pierced his blaze of others' popularity may outheart like a sword, had darted like a shine him, but we know that, though flash of lightning into his soul, and unseen, he illuminates his own true he could not dislodge the impression. sphere. He resists temptation, not The result was the entire change of without a struggle, for that is not his mind and the course of his life. virtue, but he does resist, and conAbandoning the study of the law, quers; he bears the sarcasm of the he entered upon that of divinity, and profligate, and it stings him, for that expended the remainder of his days is a trait of virtue, but heals with in the labours of a minister of his own pure touch. He heeds not Christ.—From "No Condemnation," the watchword of fashions if it leads by Dr. Winslow. to sin; the atheist, who says not only in his heart, but with his lips, "There is no God!" controls him not; he sees the hand of a creating God, and rejoices in it. YOUNG MEN. THERE is no moral object so beautiful to me as a conscientious young Che Fragment Basket. THE SPIRIT OF CHRIS- : The spirit is the reality of our Christianity the reality of pardon and salvation is the soul re-entering the body, God returning to his forsaken temple. So long as we find in our hearts (I will not say hatred, although I might say it, for hatred and love, according to the world, readily meet at the same hearth) so long as we find in our hearts only good instincts, good habits, yet always instincts and habits, so long as we do not distinctly recognize the Spirit in our affections, we may well say, that with gentle manners, an easy character, benevolent inclinations, a delicate sensibility, a natural generosity, a disposition to tenderness, we have only a deceitful and derisory image of life, we have not life; for eternal life alone deserves the name of life, and none of those things are eternal.-Vinet. THE CHURCH AND THE different in spirit, conversation, and interest TRUST IN GOD. To hope in God, is to expect help from God; to trust in God, is to rely or rest upon God for help; to wait on him, is to continue and abide in this expectation. Mark the words in Isaiah xxvi. 3; the Lord himself engages to give peace unto those that stay on him, though they have not yet attained to the faith of assurance, so as to be able to say, "I know that my sin is pardoned, and that Christ is mine;"yet if they can but stay themselves upon God, the Lord doth hereby engage himself to give peace unto them; they have the faith of reliance.-Bridge. COUNSEL OF MEANS TO A BLESSED END. 1. By reading, hearing, and reflection, see your great need of spiritual and eternal blessings. Eph. i. 18. 2. Hunger and thirst after them with longing desire. Matt. v. 6. 3. Believe that they are all in, through, by, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Col. i. 16. 4. Seek those blessings by sincere, earnest, and persevering prayer. Ezek. xxxvi. 37; Matt. vii. 11. 5. Trust the power, grace, and faithfulness of God in the promises, which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. 2 Cor. i. 20. 6. Act consistently in all things, with deep sorrow of heart for all short comings. Luke xvii. 10. The Spirit makes these matters known, And thus the blessings are your own. indulged in a strain which betrayed licentiousness and infidelity, seemed hurt that no one either agreed or disputed with him. "Well," he exclaimed, as a funeral procession slowly passed the coach," there is the end of all." "No!" replied the voice of a person directly opposite to him; "No! for AFTER death is the judgment." The words produced a good end at the time, for they silenced the speaker, and perhaps they were, by God's grace, ingrafted in his heart. FAITH. Faith is a lively dependence on Christ for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Faith is the gift of God, and generally comes through hearing and reading the word of God; it is obtained by of God; its fruit is that peace of prayer; its subject is the promises God which passeth all understanding: Its effect is a hatred of all sin, an increasing degree of holiness inward and outward, regarding chiefly the eye of God, and greatly disrewith this life, for then it is swallowed It ends garding the eye of man. up in the possession and enjoyment of all its glorious objects.-Bickersteth. FEAR AND LOVE. God so constitutes things in his dispensations towards his own people, that when their love decays, and THE JOURNEY OF LIFE. the exercise of it becomes weak, We talk of human life as a jour-restrain them from sin, to excite fear arises. They need fear then to ney, but how variously is that journey performed! There are some who come forth girt, and shod, and mantled, to walk on velvet lawns and smooth terraces, where every gale is arrested, and every beam is tempered. There are others who walk on the Alpine paths of life, against driving misery, and through stormy sorrows, over sharp afflictions, walk with bare feet, and naked breast, jaded, mangled, and chilled.-Rev. Sydney Smith. A WORD FITLY SPOKEN. A man of desperate opinions, travelling in a stage-coach, who had them to care for the good of their souls, and so to stir them up to watchfulness and diligence in religion. But God hath so ordered, that when love rises, and is in vigorous exercise, then fear vanishes, for then they need it not, having a higher and more excellent principle in exercise to restrain them from sin, and stir them up to duty. A SCOTTISH SUNDAY IN It was on a Sunday that I passed by here and stopped at the posthouse for refreshment, but could THE LOVE OF GOD. Blessed be God, he loves not ac have nothing but an egg or two, with some wine or thick Scots ale, it being a custom through many parts of Scotland to eat only an egg, if any-cording to our desert, but according thing, for dinner, and to have a hot supper at night; for their seeming strictness in religion will not let them do any labour, even so much as dressing a dinner for themselves or travellers, although they have fowls and other meat in their house, till night, when Sunday is over. A CHRISTIAN WISH FOR A . to our necessity! It is not written, ATHEISM. Swift says that he will no more believe that the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, than that the accidental jumbling of the letters of the alphabet could fall by chance into an ingenious and learned treatise of philosophy. CALMNESS IN COMMOTION. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be thy God, thy friend, and thy portion for ever. May his wisdom guide thee, his power defend thee, and his grace supply thine every want. Under all the ills of life, may the tokens of his love be Robert Hall said of John Wesley: the comfort of thy heart. May his "The most extraordinary thing about presence dispel all fear of evil when him was, that while he set all in mopassing through the valley of the tion, he was himself perfectly calm shadow of death, his blessing bless and phlegmatic; he was the quithee in the great day, and his king-escence of turbulence." dom be thy happy home and ever-A THOUGHT FOR TEACHlasting abode. SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINES. As those wines which flow from the first treading of the grape are sweeter and better than those forced out by the press, which gives them the roughness of the husk and the stone, so are the doctrines best and sweetest which flow from a gentle crush of the Scriptures, and are not wrung into controversies and common-places.-Chalmers. ERS. Rightly to train a single youth is a greater exploit than the taking of Troy.-Melancthon. DEATH. He who does not foresee death, cannot be provided for it.-Whitefoot. HAPPINESS. Our own happiness is secured just so far as the Lord's glory is our aim. Poetry. THE TWO HOUSES. "Upon a rock-upon the sand."-MATT. vii. 24-27. THE deepest truths are often taught Christ now was drawing to a close |