truth, embodied in the still clear whisper of conscience, will unfold our true condition.

One other obvious remark is, that retired meditation is directly and essentially connected with real advancement in piety. Have you declined in the strength of your piety?—Then, like Peter, in secret you can mourn your wanderings, and return to God. Have you been guilty of folly or sin?-In secret you can "take with you words," and return to God. Do you want peace and spirituality of mind? The fountain from which alone they can spring, is secret communion with yourself and God. Do you wish to be delivered from the power of sin ?In secret you must think of its dreadful nature, its devastating consequences, and pray for deliverance from its tremendous grasp. Do you wish for usefulness in the church of God?-In secret retirement you must gather strength for action, as Moses, by his forty years of solitary retirement in the land of Midian, became qualified to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage, and guide them through the perils of the wilderness. This duty is as necessary for conversion, as it as for every subsequent attainment in christianity. In the season of retired thoughtfulness, you can alone make " a covenant with God." When the prodigal began to consider with himself, there was hope of his returning to his father's house, but there was no hope before. So there is no hope of any wanderer from God seeking his favour, until he begins to "consider his ways" and to 66 mourn apart.

It may be objected to these remarks, that such seclusion from the world may be suitable to those who have leisure and opportunity, but to observe such a duty constantly is quite out of the power of those immersed in the anxieties of business and the cares of life. It might form a sufficient reply to such an objection, to point to the example of thousands, who, in the midst of the most multiplied business engagements, and the pressure of religious activities, have "kept their hearts with all diligence" -to such men as the late Fowell Buxton-or, going beyond them, to come to the Saviour, our example, whose practice it was to be frequently alone, and who certainly was encompassed with numerous and pressing duties. Let it suffice, however, to say, that if we consider eternity to be greater than time-the soul to be more precious than the world, then we shall find time to attend in so important a way to their paramount claims. It will be one great object with us, then, to be clear from that mark of folly and that source of guilt with which God charged Israel,"My people doth not consider."

Hemel Hempstead, Herts.

THE CHURCH IN THE UPPER ROOM.

No. 3.

BY THE REV. W. WALTERS.

Having already noticed the place in which the church is assembled, and the parties of which the church is composed, it now remains for us to consider THE EMPLOYMENT IN WHICH THE CHURCH IS ENGAGED. Why have those men and women met in that "upper room ?" Are they planning some scheme of priestly or political power? Or studying how they can best fill the coffers of the church, and invest her with worldly splendour? Or discussing some point of christian doctrine "hard to be understood ?" Oh, no! Theirs is a higher, a holier employ. One in which, if modern christians were oftener engaged, their piety would be more elevated, and their usefulness much greater. They continue with one accord in prayer and supplication. No doubt, religious conversation,

public discourse, social song, form part of their worship; but their chief business is to pray. They kneel as suppliants before the Divine throne. They present their petitions to the Hearer of prayer. They draw near to the mercy-seat. They obey the injunction which Jesus uttered while yet with them, "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." The exercise in which they engage has been appointed by the clemency of God, and is suited to the dependency and destitution of man. And just in proportion to our attendance upon it, will be our strength to perform, and patience to endure, our Master's will, and the experimental evidence of our interest in God's covenant love.

Their prayer is special. It regards a distinct blessing. They seek the fulfilment of a specific promise. Christ, when with them, promised that after his ascension he would send the Spirit, who would instruct, strengthen, comfort, and in every way qualify them for the great work to which they had been called. He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem till the fulfilment of this promise. They understood by this command (taking it in connexion with other portions of his instructions), that they were to wait in the exercise of persevering, believing prayer. And in that prayer they now engage. They ask for the promised blessing. Their conceptions of its nature are but imperfect. They believe it to be a gift of immense worth, and essentially necessary to the establishment and furtherance of their cause; but as to the mode of its bestowment, its external manifestations, its immediate results, or any other details of the matter, they are in profound ignorance. Still in obedience to Christ they wait.

They pray in the name of Christ. No longer can he say, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. They plead with the Father on the ground of the Son's work. They "enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated." They offer, for the first time, worship through a glorified Mediator. And as their prayers ascend, He mingles them with the incense of his own sacrifice, and presents them sweetly perfumed for his Father's acceptance. We must not overlook the unanimity which prevails. "With one accord." All ask for the same blessing. All ask in the same spirit. They have not forgotten the words of Him who said, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." The one object of their gathering fills every mind, influences every heart, guides every tongue. Every individual soul is an index to all the rest. They "dwell together in unity." Thought blends with thought. Affection fuses into affection. Desire weds desire. Theirs is "the fellowship of kindred souls," the communion of saints. Their prayer is one, and their expectation also.

We should not forget their perseverance. "These all continued." When they commenced they knew not how long they would have to remain. No period was specified by Christ in his parting address. He simply said, "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." They believe his word, and wait his time. The first day wore away, and the shades of evening gathered over that praying band. The sun arose in the east on the succeeding morn, and greeted them with his earliest smiles. Hour after hour spent itself, until in the west that sun set in glory, and still they were praying. And so day after day passed on, till "the fulness of the time was come." Then He who never yet closed his ear to prayer, and allowed his children to seek his face in vain, and withheld the resources of his grace from the needy and trusting, stretched forth his arm, and opened his hand, and scattered among them the gifts of Pentecost, which, valuable and profuse as they were, were only an

earnest of better things to follow. And when the promise was fulfilled, how their views of the character and resources of God must have been enlarged! How their confidence in the word of their Saviour must have been confirmed! How their faith in the power of prayer must have been strengthened! And how the last doubt as to the divinity of their cause, and fear as to its success, must have for every passed away! Such was the church in the upper room. Great is the need of such prayer again. It is needed to counteract the worldliness, and balance the efforts and gifts of professing christians,-to give them a higher-toned spirituality, to detach their hearts from railways and shops, farms and merchandise, furniture and dress, and to bring them under the influence of objects more in harmony with their high vocation, and more worthy of their pursuit and love. It must combine with all religious activity,sanctify all religious benevolence,-consolidate all religious institutions,else the triumph and glory of the gospel will be far distant. The church may give of her wealth to erect magnificent structures for her worship, to establish schools for the education of her up-growing race, to spread the truth at home and send it abroad; she may throw a splendour and a fascination around her solemn services; she may have superior talent and fervent piety ministering at her altars; but all, all will be useless, if her members continue not "with one accord in prayer and supplication.” The Spirit needed at first, is needed still; and the method appointed by God to secure the bestowment of his gracious influence, is the method we must use. If the church cast aside social prayer as a thing worn out and useless, days of darkness and dearth await her. Instead of being adorned with the verdure of Spring, and blooming in all the beauty of Paradise, she will be as the mountains of Gilboa, on which descended neither dew nor rain. Her immense machinery may continue, but the moving power will depart. The form may remain, but the spirit will take its flight, and there will be the most unsightly and loathsome of all spectacles a corpse hastening to putrefaction and decay. Brethren! you who know what prayer is, who believe in its power, who have witnessed its results, who have tasted its blessedness, suffer the word of exhortation! "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." "Pray without ceasing.", Preston.

CHRIST.

BY THE REV. D. THOMPSON.

Children speak with fondest recollections of the worthy deeds of revered parents. Progenitors recount, with untold joys, the splendid, signal acts of byegone ancestors. Citizens applaud, with lofty praise, the renowned exploits, the victorious conquests, of their own nobles and warriors. All are big with words when speaking of those they admire and love. And shall the christian in dumb silence sit, and refuse to speak of Him whose virtues and glories excel all comparison? Shall his tongue lie still, his lips be sealed, to the worthy honoured deeds of Him who came to save? Has he no words of commendation-no songs of praise no utterances of holy respect for Him who is possessed of

"Matchless dignity, honour and majesty:
The chief of ten thousand?"

Must Christ be thus slighted? God forbid. He is the love of the Father -the theme of angels-the song of the redeemed; and may He be our study and boast.

Speak we of his generation? He is after the order of Melchisedek,

ever."

“without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life." The First Begotten, the Ancient of Days, the Beginning of Creation, the Everlasting Father. Advert we to his nature? It is complex, mysterious, and wonderful. "Immanuel, God with us;” “of the seed of Abraham,” yet “God over all, blessed for “Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh." Discourse we on his attributes? They are natural and moral,-communicable and incommunicable. All the lofty titles of Jehovah are his. Like Him, he is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable; just, wise, holy, good, and merciful. Talk we of his works? Cast your eyes on high: these blazing stars are worlds. Review the vast expanse of nature, with its teeming millions; do not overlook the smallest matter, but gaze upon the microscopic globes, densely inhabited, and listen to the language of the Bible:-" All things were made by him, and without him was not any made that was made." "For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Tell we his incarnate love? He leaves the world of light and glory, the highest throne, to lie in a manger, to be tempted, to suffer, to be sorrowful, to weep, to be hungry, weary, and houseless; to agonize, and bleed, and die, and be buried, that sinners might sit on thrones, be delivered from temptation, suffering, sorrow, tears, hunger, death, and the grave. Recount we his fine characteristic figures? He is called the Shiloh, the Morning Star, the Stem of Jesse, the Righteous Branch, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, the Sun of Righteousness, the Treasure hid in a field, the Pearl of Great Price, the Bread of Life, the Rock, the Door, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Word, the Lamb slain, the Chief Corner Stone, and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Unfold we his present and future acts? Now he comes with dyed garments from Bozrah, travelling in the greatness of his strength, mighty to save. Now he intercedes within the veil, at God's right hand, "able to save to the very uttermost all that come to God by him." Now he rides his white horse, subduing men and nations to himself. But then, in the future, he will come in a threefold glory: his Father's, that of his own, and of holy angels, and every eye shall see him, to judge the quick and dead. Oh, what a man,-what a God, CHRIST!

Reader, What think you of Christ? Do you see in him no charms,— nothing to excite or allure? Is He in your estimation worthless, a root out of a dry ground, having neither form nor comeliness? If so, how blind your vision,-how vitiated your taste,-how wicked your conduct! Not admire Him who is the bright sun of heaven, the sweet song of angels, the admiring gaze of ransomed millions! Unequalled guilt. So to feel, to live, and die in such a state, is eternal ruin. Oh, unbelieving 'sinner, turn your thoughts to Jesus. Meditate on his attributes, virtue, and blessings. Look to his agonies in Gethsemane and on the hill of Calvary; and remember that he was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities; that the chastisement of your peace was laid upon him, and that it is by his stripes that you are healed: and can you withhold from him your heart, your affections, your all? HE IS WORTHY! Taste his sweetness. Believe on him; and you will at once exclaim,