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What can I wish for more? Suppose men reproach? Since I have been precious in Thy sight, I have been honourable; and Thou hast loved me. Let them curse; but bless Thou. One smile of Thine is better than life; and will more than balance a universe of frowns.

Let my portion, and the portion of mine, be"The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush."

SEPT. 13.-" And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it ?"

Gen. xv. 8.

WHY had not God that very moment promised it? And was not his word sufficient ?

They, surely, have never made the trial, who imagine that it is an easy thing to believe. To confide in a Being invisible, and whom we have so deeply offended, and to hang our everlasting hope upon his naked truth; requires the exertion of the power that raised up Christ from the dead. Who never feels in him the working of an evil heart of unbelief? Our Lord upbraided his own Apostles with their unbelief. And even the father of the faithful desires something more than God's engagement to give him the land of Canaan-Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

Yet God pardoned his servant in this thing; and stooped to his weakness; and yielded him what he required. And Abraham was satisfied with the sign and the seal.

There is a better country, even a heavenly. The possession of it is an object worthy of all our concern. And they who love it, and seek it supremely, cannot leave their claim undecided and uncertain: and therefore their language will be," Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation"-"Give me a token for

good"-" Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" Why you have the promise of God, who cannot lie! Yes: and this infallibly insures it, to all those to whom it belongs-But who are the heirs of promise? Away with dreams, and visions, and sounds in the air, and impulses, and accidental occurrences of passages of Scripture. We have surer evidence. We have unerring proofs, furnished by God himself. Search his Word with diligence and prayer. There you will find, not the names, indeed, of the heirs of eternal life; but their characters-their qualitiestheir taste their choice-their way-their aim.

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Let me fix on one of these vouchers, only-It is a preparation for it. Where this is found, the title can never be absent. The Apostle therefore gives "thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." In another place he says, "He hath wrought us for the self-same thing." And He does nothing in vain. If he has, by the agency of his Holy Spirit, fitted you, in the temper of your soul, for the world of glory, you may be assured that he designs you for it. If you bear the image of the heavenly, you will partake of their condition. If you have the dawn of that blessed state, you will have the day. Grace is of the same nature with glory-they differ only in the degree. Is heaven not only the high, but the holy place, into which entereth nothing that defileth? And do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? Does the blessedness consist in adoring the Lamb, that was slain; and in being like him; and in seeing him as he is? And are you now glorying only in his Cross; and following him in the regeneration; and praying that you may know him in the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings?-Will the distinctions in life, now allowable and necessary, be done away; and only those remain which arise from character? And are you valuing persons, not according to their outward

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circumstances, but their real, their moral, their spiritual worth?-As no enquiry will be made there, where we have worshipped; but how: nor to what denomination we pertained; but whether we were Jews inwardly -can you now pray, from the heart, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity?" Can you now say, "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother?" Then heaven is already begun; and therefore insured: for we are confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If you can take the representations of the employments and enjoyments of heaven given us in the Scripture; and can desire these things; and hope for these things; and find your liberty and happiness in them; you have the earnest of the inheritance, and are sealed, by the Holy Spirit of God, unto the day of redemption. Let me not, then, O my soul! be faithless, but believing; and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

"When I can read my title clear

"To mansions in the skies,
"I bid farewell to every fear,
"And wipe my weeping eyes."

ing."

SEPT. 14.-"Lean not unto thine own understand-
Prov. iii. 5.

THE understanding is a natural faculty, by which man is distinguished from inanimate creatures, and also from the animal world. The sun, and moon, and sea, and rivers, are impressed by laws, of which they know nothing; and follow their destiny, wholly unconscious of the operations they perform. The

beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, have an instinct which often surprises us. But, while it is exact as far as it goes, it is exceedingly limited: it admits of no variety or progression. These beings are no wiser now than when they went to Noah for shelter, and to Adam for names-But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding. By means of this endowment, he can look backward and forward. He can examine and judge. He can survey principles in their abstraction; and duties in their circumstances; and actions in their moral bearings. He

refuse the evil, and choose the good, against present feelings, and imposing appearances.

This faculty, from the lowest degree of reason to the highest reach of intellect, is the gift of God, the Father of lights; and should be cultivated by us, as men and as Christians. We should rejoice that we live in a country and in an age so favourable to all kinds of information. It is a sad reproach to many, that, in the midst of knowledge, they are found so ignorant as they are-it must be the result of dissipation or sloth.

But though we are to prize, and improve, and make use of our understanding, we are not to lean to it. Yet, if we were not prone to this, the caution would be needless. There is nothing of which men are so proud as their knowledge. There are more than a few who would rather be charged with a want of principle than a want of understanding; and would rather pass for knaves than fools. This regard seems, indeed, to be a kind of equalizer of the human race: and the only thing with which all are satisfied, and in which they feel an ineffable complacency, is their own understanding. They lean to their own understanding, in preference to the understanding of others; whom yet, if asked, they would consider as very superior to themselves, both in capacity and experience. They may, indeed, consult

with an adviser; but it is in hope of finding a confirmation of their own opinion: and should his judgment differ from their conclusion, they would feel little difficulty in resolving by which to abide. We frepuently see this in those who are just entering the world, and so much need a guide, to escape those early mistakes that may affect the whole of their future life. Whatever quickness of perception they may possess, they must surely be destitute of that practical wisdom that grows out of observation and trial-Yet how little do "the younger submit themselves to the elder!"-Men carry this disposition even into the things of God. They regard their own reason more than his word; and are reluctant to believe what they cannot comprehend. We are told that Alphonsus, the royal astronomer, having apprehended some seeming irregularities among the heavenly bodies, was daring enough to say, "Had I been by the Creator when he made the world, I could have given him some good advice." We justly shudder at his profaneness-and yet, who has not fallen into a similar error? Who has not found fault with God, in his manner of governing the world, the Church, the family, the individual? Who has not been ready to direct the Spirit of the Lord; and, being his counsellor, to teach him?

To preserve us from this tendency, Let us remember how limited our own understanding is; how many subjects there are entirely beyond its reach; and that there is nothing with which it is perfectly acquainted. Let us also reflect, how much we are impressed by appearances; and how different these often are from the realities of things. "Who knoweth what is good for a man in this life; all the days of his vain life, which he spendeth as a shadow?" What should we have been at this hour, if things had always accorded with our mind and wishes? Let us look back, and see how frequently we have erred, both in our hopes and fears. We now clearly see, that what we

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