the next; his favour must be life, and his loving-kindness must be even better than life. It must be of all things the most desirable; for it comprehends in it all things that are good. If his power could be controlled, if his will could be eluded, if his government could be interrupted, if any interest of ours lay without the reach of his sceptre or his influence; we might then occasionally hesitate concerning the importance of his favour, and deliberate whether, in this season, or in that circumstance, we stood in need of it: but at all seasons, and in all circumstances, being absolutely in his hands; holding our lives and comforts at his pleasure; suffering only through his appointment, and prolonging our days in joy or in sorrow according to his will; capable, if he pleaseth, of immortal happiness, and liable, if he commands it, to everlasting destruction; unable to resist him, and unable to recommend ourselves to any who can maintain our interest against God; what is it that should be the first object of our anxiety-what is it that should be the constant subject of our concern, but that without which we must be wretched; possessed of which no enmity can hurt us, and no evil overwhelm or injure us? Would you that your friends should love you?-Make a friend of God. Would you that their neglect, if they do neglect you, should be better to you than their love?-Make a friend of God. Would that you enemies should be at peace with you? Be ye reconciled to Heaven. Would you that their hatred should promote your interest?-Take care to have an interest in God. Would you prosper in the world?--You cannot do it without God's help. Say not that your prosperity may be the result of the right and vigorous application of your own powers. Ask yourselves from whom those powers are derived, by whom those powers are continued to you, and who it is that forms the connections, and constitutes the conjunctures, that are favourable to the right and successful application of your abilities? Whatever are your views in life, you cannot attain them without God: and though he should assist you to attain them, yet still you cannot improve your real interests, you cannot enjoy them in unalloyed comfort--without God. Would you that your souls should prosper?-It must be through his blessing. Are you weary of affliction?—There is no aid but in the divine compassion. Are you burdened with a load of guilt?- your There is no hope for you but in the divine mercy. Is your heart sad?—Your comfort must come from God. Is your soul rejoicing?-God must prolong your joy; or, like the burning thorn, it will blaze and die. Does your inexperienced youth need to be directed?-God must be your guide. Does your declining age need to be supported? -God must be your strength. The vigour of your manly age will wither, if God does not nourish and defend it; and even prosperity is a curse, if God does not give a heart to relish and enjoy it. All hearts, all powers-are God's. Seek ye, then, the Lord while he is to be found; seek his favour with your whole souls. It is a blessing that will well reward you for all that you can sacrifice to purchase it; it is a blessing without which nothing else can bless you. His patience may, perhaps, for a moment suffer you to triumph; but do not thence conclude, that you enjoy his favour. If a good conscience do not tell you so, believe no other witness; for all the pleasures that you boast are but like the pleasures of a bright morning, and a gaudy equipage, to the malefactor, going to his execution. Every moment you are in jeopardy; and every moment may put an end to your jollity, and transform your hopes and joys into desperate and helpless misery. It is but for God to leave you, and you are left by every thing you delight in, and abandoned to every thing you fear. It is but for God to will it so, and this night your reason shall forsake you, your health shall fail you, your friends on whom you lean shall fall, and your comforts on which you are rejoicing shall distress you. It is but for God to will it so, and this moment shall begin a series of perplexities, and fears, and griefs, which in this world. shall never end. It is but for God to will it so, and this night thy soul shall be ejected from its earthly tabernacle; this night thy last pulse shall beat, and thy last breath expire; and thine eyes, for ever closed on all thou lovedst on earth, shall be opened on all thou dreadest in heaven. No, my brethren, there is not a moment's safety, but in peace with God; there is not a moment's solid comfort, but in friendship with our Maker. In every season, and in every state of life, his favour is absolutely necessary to us. What infatuation, then, has seized the sons of reason and of foresight, that you seek first what you fondly wish for, whatever it is that your hearts desire; and propose, if you propose at all, afterwards to seek for that favour which can alone fulfil the desires of your hearts, and without which their wishes never can be gratified! Cappe. The Miseries of War. WHAT a scene must a field of battle present, where thousands are left without assistance, and without pity, with their wounds exposed to the piercing air, while the blood, freezing as it flows, binds them to the earth, amidst the trampling of horses, and the insults of an enraged foe! If they are spared by the humanity of the enemy, and carried from the field, it is but a prolongation of torment. Conveyed in uneasy vehicles, often to a remote distance, through roads almost impassable, they are lodged in ill-prepared receptacles for the wounded and the sick, where the variety of distress baffles all the efforts of humanity and skill, and renders it impossible to give to each the attention he demands. Far from their native home, no tender assiduities of friendship, no wellknown voice, no wife, or mother, or sister, is near to soothe their sorrows, relieve their thirst, or close their eyes in death! Unhappy man!—and must you be swept into the grave unnoticed and unnumbered, and no friendly tear be shed for your sufferings, or mingled with your dust. We have hitherto adverted only to the sufferings of those who are engaged in the profession of arms, without taking into our account the situation of the countries which are the scene of hostilities. How dreadful to hold every thing at the mercy of an enemy, and to receive life itself as a boon dependent on the sword! How boundless the fears which such a situation must inspire, where the issues of life and death are determined by no known laws, principles, or customs, and no conjecture can be formed of our destiny, except as far as it is dimly deciphered in characters of blood, in the dictates of revenge, and the caprices of power! Conceive but for a moment, the consternation which the approach of an invading army would impress on the peaceful villages in our own neighbourhood. When you have placed yourselves for an instant in that situation, you will learn to sympathise with those unhappy countries which have sustained the ravages of arms. But how is it possible to give you an idea of these horrors? Here, you behold rich harvests, the bounty of heaven and the reward of industry, consumed in a moment or trampled under foot, while famine and pestilence follow the steps of desolation. There, the cottages of peasants given up to the flames -mothers expiring through fear, not for themselves but their infants-the inhabitants flying with their helpless babes in all directions, miserable fugitives on their native soil! In another part, you witness opulent cities taken by storm; the streets, where no sounds were heard but those of peaceful industry, filled on a sudden with slaughter and blood, resounding with the cries of the pursuing and the pursued; the palaces of nobles demolished, the houses of the rich pillaged, and every age, sex, and rank, mingled in promiscuous massacre and ruin! Rev. Robert Hall. Religion, the Distinguishing Quality of our Nature. RELIGION is the distinguishing quality of our nature, and is one of the strongest features that marks the human character. As it is our distinguishing quality, so it possesses such extensive influence, that, however overlooked by superficial inquirers, it has given rise to more revolutions in human society, and to more changes in human manners, than any one cause whatever. View mankind in every situation, from the earliest state of barbarity, down through all the successive periods of civilization, till they degenerate to barbarity again; and you will find them. influenced strongly by the awe of superior spirits, or the dread of infernal fiends. In the heathen world-where mankind had no divine revelation, but followed the impulse of nature alone-religion was often the basis of the civil government. Among all classes of men, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, and the worship of the gods, were held in the highest reverence. Judge what a strong hold religion must have taken of the human heart, when, instigated by horror of conscience, the blinded wretch has submitted to torture his own flesh before the shrine of the incensed deity; and the fond father has been driven to offer up with his own hands his first-born for his transgression,-the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul. It is possible to shake off the reverence, but not the dread of a Deity. Amid the gay circle of his companions-in the hour of riot and dissipation—the fool may say in his heart, that there is no God; but his conscience will meet him when he is alone, and tell him that he is a liar. Heaven will avenge its quarrel on his head. Judge, then, my brethren, how miserable it must be for a being made after the image of God, thus to have his glory turned into shame. How dismal must the situation be for a subject of the divine government, to consider himself as acting upon a plan to counteract the decrees of God, to defeat the designs of eternal Providence, to deface in himself the image and the lineaments of heaven, to maintain a state of enmity and war with his Creator, and to associate with the infernal spirits. whose abode is darkness, and whose portion is despair! Reflections upon such a state will give its full measure to the cup of trembling. Was not Belshazzar, the impious king of Babylon, a striking instance of what I am now saying? This monarch made a feast to a thousand of his lords; and assembled his princes, his concubines, and his wives. In order to increase the festivity, he sent for the consecrated vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple of Jerusalem; and, in these vessels which were holy to the Lord, he made libations to his vain idols, and, in his heart, bade defiance to the God of Israel. But, whilst thus he defied the living God-forth came the fingers of a man's hand, and, on the wall which had lately resounded with joy, wrote the sentence of his fate! In a moment, his countenance was changed, his whole frame shook, and his knees smote one against another; whilst the prophet, in awful accents, denounced his doom: “O man, thy kingdom is departed from thee!" Logan. ་་ On the Internal Proofs of the Christian Religion. THE New Testament consists of histories and epistles. The historical books, namely, the Gospels and the Acts, are a continued narrative, embracing many years, and professing to give the history of the rise and progress of K |