EXPOSTULATION.

POOR OOR perishing clay, that so much pains must be taken for thee, which soon must be food for worms. How is the freedom of the spirit abused and kept in chains by thee, thou clod of earth? How many things must be provided for thy convenience? How much precious time spent in decorating thy fragile frame, brittle as the spider-woven web? How much labour spent to gratify thy insatiable appetites, which, like the tyrant that consumes thee at last, never says, enough ?" Do I not wish to be freed from thee, who art only the loathsome, darksome dungeon of the heaven-born immortal soul, breathed into thee from the mouth of infinite purity and perfection, and in whom alone she can find that ineffable delight and plenitude of joy, to satisfy the demands of infinite desires?

"It is

HE who marks the evolutions of Divine Providence,

and pursues them by the light of grace, will, like the wise men of the east, be guided by the illuminating star of heavenly wisdom, to the source of all blessed

ness.

"Those who come unto me, I will in no wise cast out."

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings!" How welcome the shelter that houses us from the menacing storm! How grateful the return of Spring, after the ravages of dreary Winter! And how sweet are the blandishments of friendship, in the hour of danger and distress! But infinitely more precious is this heavenly cordial, administered by the hand of the Divine Physician, who heals with a word, and changes the grisly king of terrors into a smiling messenger of life and peace. Feed on this endearing promise, my soul, as the "fruit that is sweet to thy taste, while sitting under the banners of his love"let it be thy solace by day, and thy quieting potion by night, thy antidote for despondence and temptation; the efficient elixir, to enable thee in the last solemn hour, when the world and the flesh shall fail thee, cheerfully and joyfully to yield thyself up into his hands, who has graciously declared, he "will not cast thee out."

WHITE may be changed into black, but to change

black into white defies the skill of man. We know by woeful experience, that though human nature is capable of a total declension from all that is great and

good, yet it has no power in itself to resume its primeval purity, and to shine again in its pristine splendour and glory, but through the unsearchable riches of the goodness of God, who in infinite mercy and wisdom, devised a way, even by the gift of his dear Son, in and through whose righteousness, atonement, and intercessions, we are more than restored to all lost privileges; not only restored, but unalterably secured in the immutability of him in whom they are vested. Seeing then, that in our great federal Head, there is "neither variableness nor shadow of turning, let us press on with increasing ardour and renewed strength towards the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord, blessed for ever."

YESTERDAY, on the mount of Ordinance, taking

a view of the promised Land, rejoicing in hope, sitting under his shadow, as of a great rock in a weary land, eating his fruit with great delight, and fondly indulging in the security of subdued corruption shrinking from the view, under the more lively exercises of faith and love; to-day compelled to exclaim with the apostle, "Wretched creature that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death!" How deceitful is the human heart? Who can fathom its depth of wickedness? Who can say, I know myself? or to any passion too remissly opposed, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther?" How many ways has pride (the damning sin of angels) to draw the mind from the

source of all perfection, into the miry paths of death and destruction. It is the prolific parent of every false way; its poisonous breath ever obnoxious to the spirit of truth and grace, causes him to leave the heart where it is perseveringly cherished, to its own crooked and self-destroying operations. Deliver me, oh! my God, from vanity and lies. May I be emptied of self, hateful self, and humbly come to Jesus Christ, "in whom it hath pleased thee all fulness should dwell;" that I may receive grace for grace, and henceforth be cloathed with humility as with a garment.

IF

we could see the Omnipotent searcher of hearts, seeing every thought as it passes in the mind, I presume, we would retain but few that now claims from habit unlimited indulgence. By not realizing his omniscience, we throw the reins of desire on the neck of carnality, and thus thoughtlessly "rush on the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler."

CONSCIENCE, the only prerogative of the soul,

preserved from the ruins of the fall, cannot be too fondly cherished, being a natural notice of God and his law, which reason makes plain, judgment confirms, and religion enlightens and sanctifies.

THE coincidence of a promise, with the fulfilment, is a sufficient evidence of its authenticity, and also of the veracity and faithfulness of the promiser. Who that has had an experimental knowledge of the difference between the enfranchising yoke of the Redeemer, and the galling chains of sin and satan, that will not cordially acquiesce in the declaration, "My yoke is easy?" Who that has groaned under the bur den of sin, weighing the soul as it were into the depths of perdition, when delivered from this heavy pressure, and adopted into all the privileges of the children of the gospel, while tasting the sweetness of ordinances, and rejoicing in the government of the angel of the new covenant, will not involuntarily declare, “Thy burden is light" indeed? Who that, wandering in darkness that might be felt, and stumbling on the misty mountains of error, pursuing phantoms that elude the grasp, or like the glittering bubble on the flood, when obtained, leave no evidence of existence but the sting, if led by the Divine Spirit into the regions of grace, while he drinks at the fountains of life, and solaces in the light of that countenance that sheds a celestial radiance on every thing around, will not exultingly exclaim, in the exuberance of peace and joy, " Truly I have found rest to my soul?"

66

G