Extract from a Sermon on the Love of God. 539

Let us, then, thus commune with ourselves,-Whose power and will first called us into being? Whose hand supported us when we could not support ourselves? Who is it that daily produces food for our subsistence? Who guards us from harm by night and by day? Whose goodness provides us with affectionate friends and kind relatives? Whose bounty gives us every good thing we possess? Whose power alone is sustaining us at this very moment? Whose help can alone support us in the hour of sorrow? On whom can we call at the last awful hour? And to whom shall we look, as our Mediator, our Saviour, and Judge, but to that one almighty, ever-present, everlasting Being, who is our Creator, is our Preserver, is our Redeemer?

Perhaps you will ask, "when this love is excited in our minds, what will be the effect of it on our lives?" Before answering the question, let me put another to you. "When you feel warmly attached to any one of your fellow-creatures, how does it affect your conduct towards such a person?" Are you perfectly indifferent whether you please that person or not? Or do you not rather endeavour to discover what he approves, and what he dislikes, that you may practise the former, and avoid the latter? Such, then, will be the effect of your love to God; and this will, in truth, be the test of the sincerity of your love. You will take great delight in his word, devoutly reading therein by day, and meditating by night; joyfully will you enter his courts on that day, which he has honoured by calling it his own; and, when his dying institution is offered to you, you will not turn your back on that sacrament, of which he has said, "Do this in remembrance of me."

Like David, in the morning, and in the evening, and at noon-day," you will give praise to God, thanking him for his mercies, and begging for his blessings,-in trouble, calling upon him, and receiving consolation from making known your griefs to him. No murmur will escape your lips, no discontented thoughts arise in your mind; one feeling will swallow up every evil

passion, the knowledge and constant recollection, that our gracious and good Maker, and Preserver, is always watching over us, that he knows our most secret thoughts and inward workings, hears every word, and observes every action; that to him "all hearts are open, all desires known, and from him no secrets can be hid."

And, surely, the firm assurance that God is ever present with us, will greatly encourage us to persevere in the course which we know to be pleasing to him;— and when we are tempted to sin, our powers to resist it will be strengthened; and, like Joseph, we shall say, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Yes, my brethren, be assured, that, to the upright man, there is no greater blessing than the consciousness that there is above, one Being, who, in sickness and in health, in sorrow, or in joy, by sea, and by land, marks our footsteps, and that not even a sparrow falleth to the ground without His knowledge. And shall we, then, esteem it a hardship to love such a Being? Shall we not rather rejoice in the privilege which he gives to those who really love him, of calling him "Father," of being his "children," of being "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ;" and finally, "partakers in his glory." S. H.

PARAPHRASE OF A PORTION OF THE 107th PSALM.

I.

CHORUS.

O PRAISE the Lord! To God above,
The author of eternal love,

Eternal praises sing:

Sing with your hearts his boundless praise,
With loud applause your voices raise,

To praise th' Eternal King.

Paraphrase of a portion of the 107th Psalm. 541

II.

SEMI-CHORUS.

Oh! ye redeemed of the Lord,
Speak ye his praise with full accord,
To sin no longer sold;
Now guided by his gracious hand,
Now led from ev'ry distant land,
And brought within his fold.

III.

SEMI-CHORUS.

The weary wand'rer in the way,
The prisoner denied the day,

O Lord, shall wait on thee;
'Tis thine the weary to restore,
He hungers and he thirsts no more,
The captive exile's free.

IV.

FULL CHORUS.

Exalt his name, "declare" his praise,
His knowledge and his wondrous ways;
And of his " mercy" tell :
Yes! sons of men, by day, by night,
Extol his wisdom, goodness, might :-
The pealing anthem swell!

V.

SEMI-CHORUS.

Ye who in winged ships abide,
Which on the boiling billows ride,
And o'er the ocean sweep;
Speak; for ye see, each passing hour,
The glorious workings of his power,
"His wonders in the deep."

VI.

SEMI-CHORUS.

"He speaks the word,”—the winds arise,
Th' uplifted waves assault the skies,

Obedient to his will.

"He speaks the word;"-the foaming tide,
The winds, at his rebuke, subside,

The raging waves are still.

VII.

FULL CHORUS REPEATED.

O laud his name, " declare" his praise,
His knowledge and his wondrous ways;
And of "6
his mercy” tell;

Ye sons of men, by day, by night,
Extol his wisdom, goodness, might;
The "pealing anthem swell."

J. H. C.

ON THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

LET those who have read the article on Death (in the Cottager's Visitor for September) now consider with me the different manner in which the good and the bad conduct themselves in their last hours.

The true Christian character shines forth in all its brightness at the approach of death, when the soul is ready to return to the God who made it. The man who has ever held fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which has been given him in his Saviour Jesus Christ*, and has, through his help, endeavoured to walk in the commandments of the Lord, looks upon death with calmness, and even longs, like St. Paul, to be with Christ. But let us enter into the cottage of a dying Christian and judge for ourselves, whether we wish our "last end to be like his." The chamber of a dying Christian is full of instruction. When we behold his resigned countenance, lighted up in the intervals of pain, with the hopes that sustain him, we also feel that we have an immortal soul, and that to the true servant of Christ, " to die is gain." He knows, from sad experience, that, if judged by the perfect law of God, he is a transgressor; but he also knows, that

* Second Collect for Advent.

On the Death of the Righteous.

543

he has laid hold of the hope of pardon set forth in the Gospel. And he feels assured that his repentance has been accepted through the atoning blood of his Saviour. He collects his family round him, and endeavours to comfort them with the hope, that in a better world they shall meet again. He exhorts them "to set their affections on things above," and "to be kindly affectioned one to another." He has settled his worldly affairs, and bequeathed to his family the little his industry has collected. Having brought up his children in the fear of the Lord, and taught them " to remember their Creator in the days of their youth," he leaves them far richer, in this knowledge of their God and Saviour, than if he had given them all the treasures in the world. He can feel the comfort of repeating to them these blessed words of our Saviour, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Having with the eye of faith seen the joys prepared for him in heaven, he dies exclaiming, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!"

Such is the end of the pious; and you see that the happiness of the death of the righteous does not consist in any freedom from pain, but in the well-grounded hope, that his Saviour hath purchased for him a crown of glory that fadeth not away. We learn, in the chamber of the dying Christian, that though the righteous may suffer quite as much as the wicked during their lifetime, yet, at their death, they will be filled with comfort at the thoughts of the blessedness which awaits them.

Do not then lose a day or an hour in preparing for that blessed state,-for, "now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation ;" and if you neglect this necessary work now, you may hereafter, like Esau, "find no place for repentance, though you seek it with tears." Pray to Him, therefore, who says, "I am the