tuary whilst he is living in the commission of the violation of the commandments of God. He may be called a Christian; but if he take not heed to his ways, to do that which is lawful and right, he cannot save his soul alive. His light will be put out, and his spark of fire vanish!

Let not a Christian suppose that there can be more than one God of his salvation, or that a man can be saved by the light of nature or his own particular profession of worship. "Thou shalt have none other gods but me." "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Let not the Christian imagine that he can set up an idolatrous fancy of perfection in his own mind, and teach virtue to his children's children which is not grounded upon the word of God. Let him not think that he can seek riches first and God afterwards; but let him seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all necessary riches shall be added unto him. Let not the blasphemer, the passionate man, who takes the Lord's name in vain, suppose that he can lay claim to be a Christian; for the word of our mouth and the meditation of our heart ought to be acceptable in His sight. The Christian cannot be a Sabbath breaker. The day of God's worship is to him a day of rest, reflection, and holy joy, in which his best duties are discharged, and in which he worships the God of his fathers with holy fear. A wicked man regards not the Sabbath, except it be to spend it in unprofitable idleness; and no young men do we see sooner cut off, sooner perish, or come to a more fearful end, than they who keep not God's Sabbath day holy!

A Christian honours and respects his parents; and though he loves God more than any earthly thing, yet as the love of God is the keeping of His commandments, and to honour thy father and thy mother is one of them, he may be assured that all disrespect towards them is a violation of Christian duty; and one to which a promise of long and a happy life being attached, if it be broken he may expect it to be shortened. No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. The adulterer is doomed to everlasting death, both in the Old and New Testament. The thief, though upon the cross forgiven upon his repentance, affords us no encouragement to steal or to tempt God until we perish. Oh, "let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may be a Christian and have to give to others in their need."

The Christian never bears false witness against his neighbour: he loves his neighbour as himself, and rejoices with him in his prosperity and mourns with him in his adversity.

The Christian is not a covetous man. Whatever men may think of the enormous speculations of the present day, men seeking everywhere to make money rapidly, I look upon all covetousness as idolatry; and, however apparently good in the eyes of men, the word of God does not admit the covetous man unto the kingdom of heaven; but says of all such, "They are cursed children who have gone astray, having a heart exercised with covetous practices; whohave forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness." "Ye, there

fore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." Beware lest your light be put out, and the spark of your fire should not shine! Oh, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and repent before Him; be ready to give yourselves to Him every day; improve every day; exercise your faith every day; consider God's loving kindness every day; cherish in your hearts holy thoughts of Christ and His great atonement, and be perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.

So shall your light shine, and the spark of your soul be fanned into a flame, and burn brightly as the stars in the firmament, to the honour and glory of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Believe me, your affectionate friend,

THE COMFORter.

ADDRESS XX.

ALMIGHTY GOD, to whom belongeth judgment and mercies, O, teach us to fear the visitation of thy wrath, that we, who justly deserve punishment for our sins, may, through our sincere repentance and faith in the everlasting merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, receive of thee pardon for the past and grace for the future to walk in thy sight by that Spirit in which we pray :-Our Father, &c.

Be ye afraid of the sword, for wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.-(Job xix. 29).

MY DEAR FRIENDS-The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; and to have a just sense of our sins before Him, and to abhor them, is but the necessary consequence of that just fear which all men ought to have of offending Him. God is a being so pure and holy, so great and powerful, so infinite and inexhaustible, that we can form but very poor conceptions either of His magnitude, attributes, or movements: indeed, we may think of Him in every thing we see, and yet have but the most imperfect sense of His majesty. I tremble when I think of His immensity, and behold His little creature man,

swelling in pride as if he were a self-created, selfexisting being, irresponsible to his Creator. Oh, did we but think of our God as we ought, and of ourselves likewise in comparison, we should burst forth with the exclamation, "Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him!"

We are lost in wonder and amazement at our insignificance, whenever we venture to think of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and know so well what wicked creatures we are-how sinful, how abhorred in His sight. If thou, Lord, art extreme to mark what is done amiss, who shall abide it? If God should visit any of us only as we deserve, what would be our doom? How soon should we be cast down-how soon cast into the burning fiery furnace, whence there could be no escape! Oh!" Be ye afraid of the sword, for wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment."

The sword, in Scripture is frequently used to designate the instrument of divine visitation; and, in the instance of our text, it is used by the pious Job in such a sense.

He had just previously delivered a declaration of the eternal Gospel! God, in the midst of his sorrows, had taught him a wisdom, the fulness of which we Christians, unless we have hearts of stone, ought to understand. He was so full of that doctrine which ought to comfort us upon our beds of death that he could not help emphatically exclaiming, "Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book!—that they were graven