rious causes detain-you must endure what you have to suffer alone. Now the child of God has never to complain thus with respect to the consolations of God, for they are ever with him, they are accessible at all times. The word of God, the throne of grace, the Comforter, are ever near: In the multitude of our thoughts within us, his comforts delight our souls: Psa. xlii. 8; cxliii. 8. God? Rich and abundant as they are in themselves, is your experience of them very limited and unfrequent? Does day after day pass, and week after week, without your enjoying a sense of the divine presence, and delighting yourselves in that abundance of peace which we have shown, is provided for, and accessable at all times to the true believer? The means of grace: : have you but little comfort and enjoyment in these? And when you are tried and perplexed, and circumstances of a painful nature transpire, and your heart is heavy with grief, and is almost overwhelmed within you, are the consolations of God small with you then? Do you experience little, if any relief at such times, from a consideration of what God is in himself, and of what he is to you, and to all that trust in him,-from a consideration of the exceeding great and precious promises he has given us, and of the rich inheritance that is in reversion for you, and for all his redeemed children? Do these topics seldom occur to you, or if they do, do they fail to inspire any hope or comfort, any consolation or joy, in your sorrowful spirit? They are abiding.-All earthly comforts must, and will, sooner or later fail us. They are all destined, at some period, to wither and decay. They cannot be depended on as though they were permanent, fixed, and unchangeable. They are fickle and fleeting; and however much we may prize them now, we must surrender them; and then we suffer, it may be, as much of pain in their loss, as we experienced joy in their possession. Job is an affecting instance of this. But though the things themselves which once afforded us comfort may remain, they may become so changed in their nature, or in their relation to us, that they may give us as much pain, as they formerly did pleasure. Thus it was with Job's friends. They remained, but how greatly were they altered; so that instead of alleviating his affliction, their behaviour towards him was the most bitter ingredient of all, in his cup of sorrows: chap. vi. 15. So may it be with you. But the consolations of God undergo no such change, they are abiding. There no mixture of human infirmity and frailty in these. No time impairs their worth, or lessens their efficacy. They are a constant and uninterrupted stream, which glides by our side all the while we journey in the wilderness, till we enter the land that floweth with milk and honey. They are like manna which descends morning and evening from heaven, and lies round about our dwelling, and never ceases until our pilgrimage is ended, and we enter our What then is the cause why the conFather's house, and sit down with Abra-solations of God are so small with us? ham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the king- We apprehend, that the cause why the dom of God. consolations of God are small with many, is either their defective views of Christ, or their weak faith in him. In vain shall we seek consolation in ourselves. There is nothing in ourselves to afford us consolation. We are all ignorance, We notice the question which is proposed in reference to them-Are the consolations of God small with thee? Are they so in reality? Do you enjoy little, if at all, of the consolations of This question of fact being settled, the next we are bound to entertain, relates to the cause,-Why are the consolations of God small with thee my fellow-christian? they have not always been so. You have known seasons of spiritual joy and refreshment, spiritual light and comfort. Whence then the change? You cannot attribute it to any change in the things themselves, whence you have derived such comfort. They are precisely the same as they were, and fully as capable now as at any former period, to fill you with joy and consolation. You must not attribute it to God, that would be the heighth of impiety. He is as much the God of consolation and grace, as ever he was, and as willing to impart these, and all the other precious gifts of his love to you. all weakness, all wretchedness and guilt. Nor can we expect to enjoy in any There is in ourselves therefore every large measure, the consolations of God, element of sorrow and discomforture. if we resign ourselves over to a worldly It is only by looking out of ourselves spirit, and are at no pains to cultivate to God and Christ, and keeping the eye that state of mind which is susceptible of our faith steadily fixed on Jesus, that of their enjoyment. The consolations we can enjoy solid and lasting consola- of God, it is to be observed, are of a tion. How God, and how Christ are spiritual and elevated character; and a our consolation, we have already shown. mind in some measure purged from the But it is necessary to have these truths dross of earthly affections, and refined constantly in view, that believing in in its tastes and tendencies, is required them we may rejoice with joy unspeak- to their enjoyment. To be carnally able, and full of glory. We must appro- minded is death it is death to all true priate God continually as our God, and enjoyment of God; but, to be spiritually Christ as our Christ! we must seek to minded is life and peace. realize our interest in the divine love, As the consolations of God cannot and to have enlarged views of the riches subsist in a soul that is surrendered to and freeness of divine grace. We must the carnalizing influence of the world, see how these inestimable treasures are neither do they comport with the habiall made over to the poor, contrite, tual and allowed prevalence of an untrembling soul, and how Christ is made christian, unlovely temper and behaof God unto us, wisdom and righteous-viour. If we would enjoy the consolaness, and sanctification and redemption. tion of God, we must keep a watch over Let us be filled with humiliating thoughts our tongue, our temper, and the general of ourselves, but let us be filled with disposition of our minds. We must rehigh and adoring thoughts of Christ,- duce to practice the exhortation of the of his person and work, of his blood and apostle : Eph. iv, 31, 32. Are the conrighteousness, and we shall not want solations of God small with thee? Then for divine consolation. examine into your conduct, temper, disBut there may be other causes besides. position, and behaviour, and see if there If we are living in the indulgence of any is not a cause. Is there no secret thing known sin, or the neglect of any known with thee? duty, we cannot expect to be favored Spiritual sloth, and self-indulgence with the divine consolations. Sin is is another hindrance to the enjoyment the greatest enemy to our happiness of the divine consolations. There is that exists. It robs the believer of a nearer connection between spiritual all the peace and happiness he once activity and spiritual peace and happipossessed, and until it is truly repented ness than many suppose. I went by the of, and forsaken, renders him incapable field of the slothful, says Solomon, and of deriving consolation from the divine by the vineyard of the man void of unpromises. It fills his soul with dark-derstanding; and, lo, it was all grown ness and deadness, and leaves him the over with thorns, and nettles had covered mere wreck of what he was in the days the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof of his spiritual peace and prosperity. was broken down. What a picture of It reduces him to spiritual beggary, and distress as well as of poverty and degraleaves him in a state of misery and dation is here! and it is a just represenwretchedness, from which there is no tation of the soul of the slothful servant. escape, but by a hearty return to God On the contrary, the soul of the active through Jesus Christ. Let us then be- and devoted christian is like a wellware of receiving this sacrilegious rob- watered garden, where all is verdant, ber into our souls, and O, let us pray to flourishing, and fruitful; and the birds God, if we have suffered from his depre- sing among the thick branches. Moredations, that he would restore our cap-over the slothful person is represented tivity. Then shall we rejoice as those by Solomon as being eaten up with that dream,—then under his gracious groundless and imaginary fears.—The influence we shall revive as the corn, and slothful man saith, There is a lion withgrom as the vine, and the scent thereof out, I shall be slain in the streets. Would shall be as Lebanon. you then be happy in God, happy in Christ, free from those groundless and imaginary fears respecting your safety with which some are perpetually haunted -engage at once in some work of faith and labor of love. Watch and pray,labor and strive,-visit the sick,-relieve their necessities,-instruct the young, warn, admonish, and intreat the unconverted to be reconciled to God. Be not weary in well doing, for in due season shall reap, if ye faint not. ye Awake, my zeal! awake, my love Let every flying hour confess I gain thy gospel fresh renown; May I possess the promised crown. appointed for their communication to our waiting souls. It is one thing to lament the absence of a blessing, it is another thing to have our hearts so set on its attainment or its recovery when lost, as to make use of all the means proper to the end. There is reason to fear that this is the case with many as it regards the divine consolation. They deplore their present state, they cry out, My leanness! my leanness! but they are not found using with commendable diligence those means which God has prescribed to cure the evil they deplore. The fountain of divine consolation is open, and the waters are flowing plenteously, but they will not be at the pains to come and draw. It is as if the consolations of God were of so little value But again,-"Are the consolations of as not to repay a little fervour and perGod small with thee? i. e., in thy esti- severence in prayer, a little effort to raise mation. Dost thou account little of our thoughts to God, and cultivate a them? Are they of little importance in greater familiarity with him, a little thy view? Art thou indifferent as to more regularity and diligence in waiting whether thou dost enjoy them or art upon him in the sanctuary and the clodeprived of them? Are you disposed to set! Is it not evident that such underregard them with a kind of incredulity, value the consolations of God? Do they as if thou couldst do without them, or not set light by that which he counts as if they were rather imaginative than very highly of, and with respect to which real? Then your case is still more de- he is very chary in the bestowment? Is plorable. That a child of God should there any secret thing with thee? Hast lose, to a great extent, those divine con- thou found a way of being happy withsolations which he once enjoyed, we can out the divine consolations? Hast thou easily imagine; but that having lost the discovered some grand secret by which divine consolations which he once en- thou art rendered independent of them? joyed, he should be content with his If thou hast, then thou hast a plausible present situation, and have no desire to excuse for neglecting them and setting recover the lost treasure that there light by them. But if thou hast not, should be no disposition to lament his and if there is nothing in the universe loss, and be no desire to attain to a hap- that can afford thee true peace and solid pier state-that there should be no consolation besides that which God has lamentations on account of an absent provided, it is as unwise as it is crimiGod, and no ardent longings for his re-nal, it is as injurious to thyself as it is turn, this we can scarcely reconcile with dishonoring to God. Let us, then, a state of regeneracy. No; if we are the shake off dull sloth, let us begin to thirst children of God, and if God hath, to after God as the hart panteth after the mark his displeasure, put us at a distance water-brooks; let us seek to recover all, from him, we shall earnestly desire to and more than all, the divine consolabe restored to him, and shall not cease tion, joy, and peace which have characterized the most favored portion of our lives. Then, indeed it shall be well with us. Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day; and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: Isa. lviii. 10, 11. to cry "Turn us, O God, thy love restore, We shall be saved to sin no more." Again, the consolations of God are of small estimation with us, not only if we maintain a state of indifferency to these, but also if we fail diligently to make use of those means which God has But it may be that some may glance over this page who know not, nor desire the consolations of God. You treat all that can be said to you on the subject with indifference, if not with contempt. You say, in effect, to God, Depart from us, &c., Who is the Lord that we should serve him? &c. All joy, except worldly and sensual joy, you deride. You are as confident as if your happiness were at your disposal, and as if you could be happy in spite of God, and set him at defiance. But, alas! how empty is this boast! how vain are these imaginations! How will you prove their emptiness and vanity in the hour of trial-in the time of sickness-in the immediate prospect of death, judgment, and eternity? Perhaps you have already in some measure proved the insufficiency of worldly happiness. Perhaps you have in frequent instances found creatures to be no better than broken cisterns, which can hold no water! and under these trying circumstances, overwhelmed with sorrow, and destitute of any effectual succour and relief, you may have been ready to sink. How then will you feel in those more solemn trials which yet await you. If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? Beware, then, my fellow sinner, how you despise the consolations of God! Beware, lest by rejecting the full cup of salvation which is now proposed for your acceptance in the gospel, you should expose yourself to the vengeance of eternal fire, and supplicate in vain for a drop of water to cool your parched tongue! Flee from the wrath to come! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acquaint thyself now with God, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. R. W. O. CHRISTIAN EARNESTNESS. FEW qualities in true religion are of more importance than earnestness, and without it, very little progress can be made in the christian life. The high value of the objects presented to us in religion, shews the necessity of life and vigor in all our exercises, inward and outward. The salvation of the soul, the enjoyment of spiritual comfort, the imitation of the life of Christ, the extension of his kingdom in the world, preparation for an active, holy life, in heaven,—these objects require a real, hearty devotedness. Vigor and untiring activity are necessary to success in any important affair of a secular kind, and can be supported only by a deep interest and strong attachment. This is matter of fact continually presented to our notice, and confirmed by our own experience. But the remark applies with increased force to our religious affairs. Every christian exercise and religious effort should be marked strongly with the true signs of the active, living spirit-the life of God in the soul. When this life in the soul breathes and moves in the scriptural and simple forms of our worship, we shall be happy and successful too; but not before. Strong in God, we shall be powerful in our testimony for God. Having life within our words, as the natural expression of it, will be forcible, and our conduct, as the embodiment of it, will have a touching power, a freshness, an attraction to others, impossible without it. It is this which I long to see in our churches; and if my brethren will allow me without offence to speak freely, I will say that this is THE ONE THING which we want just now, what nothing can be a substitute for, and to obtain which, may all our minds be set on, for ardent prayer to God, and humble, energetic action upon each others mind, till we feel our need, and arise and take hold on God. I have no faith whatever in any spasmodic, feverish excitement; and what I mean, is far from any such thing. The men who are looked upon as the fathers of our churches in this country, seem to have possessed more heavenly fire, steady, but burning zeal, and oneness of aim to spread the truth of God, than we do generally. No doubt, many things have both separately, and in various combinations, operated to produce leanness, lower our inward life, and weaken us in the way; loose ways of teaching, slack and neglected discipline, too near approach to the manners of our respectable, but worldly neighbours, as the price of their attendance at, and support of places of worship, and our religious institutions, the long-continued depression of trade, godly simplicity. Much depends on the through which, many among us, once spirit in which all christian duties are in a state of worldly comfort, are now in done, and especially such as we have now poverty, and others, to keep free from named. Before the church can put on embarrassment, are obliged to tax body her beautiful garments, she must shake and mind beyond what is good for either, herself from the dust she is polluted and must be injurious to both: these are with, and thus will require a happy among the causes of the evil we deplore. combination of vigor and meekness, deWhile some of these causes are at present termination to do right, and gentleness beyond our reach by ordinary means, in doing it. I am afraid that there are the strong infusion of sound enlightened not a few families among us who have earnestness, would go far towards hin- no regular family service, and that in dering their effect, and soon do some other families it is made too tedious and thing in the way of a gradual correction. formal, to be interesting and instructive. A small band of holy, praying persons In either case, religion's power must be in each church, loving each other fer-law, and in the former, rather a name vently, agreed in belief, strong in pur- than a reality. Such families are a pose, simple-hearted in their object, and drag on the church, and a cruel pressure warm in the love of the truth they on the spirits of a minister, whether understand and profess, would be one of generally present at public worship, or the most hopeful signs of better days. often absent, which is a common case. At one time, the churches increased in Happy is the minister who has to preach numbers somewhat rapidly, and a want on the Lord's-day to those who have of such increase now is the most com- prayed at home all the week. They mon complaint; but we must alter our must be profited, and he rewarded. subject of commentation, and turn our Many a minister of moderate talents, attention to something more important, but true living piety, has been made a and more in agreement with our chris- powerful preacher, by a band of praying tian principles, which recognize the fact, families, though but a small one. Dear that the times and measure of conver- brethren, if you would have us preach sions, real conversions, are regulated by well, pray for us and yourselves, ardivine purpose, that not a single chosen dently and regularly, at home; for and redeemed soul has been, or can be, prayer will move a preacher, as well as lost, nor the time of its conversion de- reach the throne of God, and move layed. It is the health and action of the heaven. THOMAS OWEN. church, next to the glory of God, that Cranfield. we should be most desirous of. Numbers we have had; but our numbers have not been our strength, but rather our weakness. In some churches, perhaps many, it is very difficult, except for gross immorality, to exclude any one, however important to gospel order, through the fear of losing one from the number on the books. The laws of Christ may require it, and without it the health and comfort of the body must be injured; but we cannot afford to lose one. Perhaps, also, in some cases, we may have been afraid of losing some subscriptions, and weakening our congregations, by acting up to our convictions of duty. These fears and feelings must have a deadening effect, and if we are to return to a vigorous state of spiritual life, they must be overcome, and the sooner they are opposed, the better, so that it be in a spirit of self-denial and JESUS AND HIS SHEEP. ALL the truths of the gospel, like the stones of an arch, are intimately connected, afford each other mutual support, forming one united and harmonious whole; but if taken separately and alone, their beauty is gone, their union broken, and their strength destroyed. It is very desirable to have a comprehensive view of divine truth. The word of God must be studied as a whole. We must consider the relation of one doctrine to another, and attend to the scope of the writer. The two verses before us, contain various sentiments of a very interesting and important nature. Jesus says: My sheep. This implies their personal |