so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Much of the minds of persons may be discovered, by the objects which awaken their attention and desires when they first enter a place. Some look after natural scenery. Some after curiosities. Some after kinds and modes of trades. Some after machinery, and buildings, and libraries. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the Spirit. Barnabas, as soon as he came to Antioch, looked about for displays and instances of divine agency; and when he saw the grace of God "he was glad." The sight would not have been pleasing to all. The enemy of souls would have been enraged at the prospect. The elder brother would not go in to share the joy of the father and the family and was offended at the Prodigal's return and reception. So are Pharisees now

"While the wide world esteems it strange,

Gaze and admire, and hate the change."

But salvation is "the pleasure of the Lord." Angels, in the presence of God, rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. And every convert may say with the Royal Penitent, "They that fear thee will rejoice when they see me, because I have hoped in thy truth"

Love to God made Barnabas rejoice. What is every sinner called by grace, but an accession to his subjects; an enemy turned into a friend; who shall show forth his praise by living to his glory, and by being a monument of his mercy and power? "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Benevolence made him glad. And Barnabas was a good man, as well as full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. What generous mind can see without feelings of pleasure, the hungry fed, the destitute clothed, the sick recovered, the captive loosened from his chains? But what is every other deliverance, compared with salvation from the evil of sin? What is every other acquisition, to the gain of that godliness which is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come? He prospers whose soul prospers and is in health. He is free indeed whom the Son makes free. He is rich who has the gold tried in the fire. And every subject of divine grace is not only blessed in himself, but is made a blessing to others. He is now become one of those who, by their prayers, example, and endeavours, are the greatest benefactors of the human race. They are a dew from the Lord; as showers upon the grass. "For them the wilderness and solitary place shall be made glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." When we see a sinner turned into the way of life, who can imagine what he may become? That persecutor now asking, Lord what wilt thou have me to do? may preach the faith that once he destroyed. That profane tinker now beginning to weep and pray, may become a writer, and, by his Pilgrim's Progress and Holy War, may charm and edify the Church to the end of time.

Barnabas rejoiced as a minister. Some enter the sacred calling, only looking after support, emolument, or fame. The salvation of souls is nothing to them. But with " a man of God" it is the end

of his office, the answer of his prayers, the reward of his labours, his best hire. Such a man has the spirit of his function; and among all his tribulations nothing comforts him like success in the conversion and edification of his hearers-he lives if they stand fast in the Lord.

But Barnabas, though a minister, had not been the means of producing the grace of God which he saw; yet he was glad when he saw it. Some cannot rejoice in the good done by others, especially by those who are not of their own community. They would confine the work of the Lord to the pale of their own denomination; and are grieved rather than pleased when they see another casting out devils in his name, because he walketh not with them. But a Barnabas can say, not only, "Let him alone," but, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." Let God employ and bless what instruments he pleases-Therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

JUNE 4.-"O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee."-Psalm xlii. 6.

AFFLICTIONS are often in the Scriptures called temptations and trials. The reason is, because they serve to prove and evince our principles, dispositions, and resources. It is natural, and almost unavoidable for men in difficulties and distresses, to repair to something that promises to afford deliverance, or at least to temper the bitterness of sorrow. And as every creature is insufficient to succour them, their applications are various and numerous, and none of them are available. Therefore, at last disappointed and confounded, they class the comforts with the crosses, and the good with the evil, and acknowledge, "all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

The believer has only one resource; but this is an adequate, and an infinite relief. And therefore instead of running up and down the earth, asking, "Who will show me any good?" he says, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." It is not improper, as a brother is born for adversity, to go to a dear and valued connexion, and pouring our tears into his bosom, say, O my friend, my soul is cast down within me-But it is better for the eye to pour out tears unto God! Far better to look upward and say, with David, "O my God, my soul is cast down within me".

David claims God as his God. And how desirable is it when we address him, especially in trouble, to be able to deal with him on the ground of assured interest in him. It is therefore promised: "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people : and they shall say, The Lord is my God."

Yet his claim does not hinder his complaint. Many are perplexed by what, if properly viewed, might rather encourage them. They exclaim, "If I am his, why am I thus ?" Not considering that they are thus because they are his. They are pruned because they are vines; they are put into the furnace because they are gold; they are chastened because they are sons-for what son is he whom the

father chasteneth not? They think their depressions are peculiarBut David was a man after God's own heart, and had more experimental religion than any individual before the coming of Christ; yet he was not only afflicted, but his distress broke through to his mind, and pressed it down to the ground-" My soul is cast down within me." While all is calm and vigour within, the pressure of outward calamity is easily borne. The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear ?-and who can cure? Only the God of all grace, and the God of all comfort. Let us, therefore, go to him. He alone can alter the state and frame of our minds who has access to them, and dominion over them. When a watch is disordered, to have it examined and rectified we naturally take it to the maker, who knows all its powers and movements: so God is the former of our spirits, and he can set them right again— Therefore," says David, "I will remember thee."

Such a resolution is not natural to us. God deserves indeed our remembrance, and is perpetually demanding it. He addresses us by his word; he speaks to us by conscience-but in vain. He endeavours to awaken our attention and regard by a profusion of benefits -but though the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, we do not know, or consider. He therefore tries a different expediency-"I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early." What we refused to see and hear we are made to feel. His captivity led Manasseh to pray to the God of his father. The famine made the prodigal think of his father's house. What brought so many to our Saviour in the days of his flesh but personal and relative trouble? It is the same now. He breaks up our earthly schemes, and then presents a better country to our pursuit. He removes the human arm on which we leaned, and then offering his own, says, There-take hold of my strength." He hedges up our way with thorns, and makes a wall, that we cannot find our paths while following after our lovers; so that we have only one passage open-and this is to go back-and back we must return-if we would find him whom we had forsaken-for he remains where he was and instead of rejecting us, cries, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings."

And thus the same method which brings God to our remembrance at first is useful in our after religious life for the same purpose. For we are not already perfect. Our affections are sometimes chilled, and our minds are often turned away from our portion by other things. And there is peculiar danger of this in easy and prosperous circumstances. It is when our gourd flourishes, and we sit under its shadow with delight, that we are ready to say, It is good for us to be here:" and so "to forget our resting-place." But God loves us too well to suffer us to take up with any thing short of himself. He does not stand in need of us; but he knows that without him we are miserable. He therefore brings us into conditions which show us the weakness and wretchedness of the creature; and induce us to inquire, "Where is God my maker that giveth songs in the night ?" Then we think of him-And whom can we think of so properly and efficiently in the hour of distress? When therefore our souls are cast down within us, let us remember him. Let us remember his power. Is any

thing too hard for the Lord? Let us remember his wisdom. He knows how to afflict; and he knows how to deliver. Let us remember his goodness. Our welfare is his aim in every dispensation however trying. He spared not his own Son. Let us remember his providence. He is always near us. He numbers the hairs of our head. Let us remember his holy covenant. What promises does it contain! It insures every thing we need. This was all David's salvation, and all his desire-This is my comfort in my affliction; thy word hath quickened me-And how many can say after him"Had not thy word been my delight, When earthly joys were fled;

My soul, oppressed with sorrow's weight,
Had sunk amongst the dead."

JUNE 5.-" Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day."-Deut. xxxii. 46.

"ALL these words" were the language which he had just ended, the histories which he had recapitulated, and the positive ordinances and moral injunctions which he had again laid before them. Now if Moses enjoined the Jews to attend cordially to a portion of Revelation comparatively small, how much more does God require us to pay this regard to the whole? See then that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven-And who is now saying, "Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day."

Set your hearts to HEAR all these words. When you are forbidden to be hearers only, it supposes that you are hearers really: and when you are admonished to take heed what you hear, and how you hear, the practice itself is enjoined in the very regulation of the mode. Hearing is not only a duty, but a privilege. And when we consider not only the adaptation there is in preaching to produce the effect, but the blessing of God that attends his own institution, we need not wonder that "faith cometh by hearing."

Set your hearts to READ all these words. We cannot be hearing always; and there are times when we cannot hear at all. In such cases, reading is a substitute for hearing; and in all others reading must accompany and follow hearing. We cannot dispense with it at the family altar, or in our private retirement, without injury and sin. Hale could say, in one of his letters to his children, “If I omit reading a portion of the Scriptures in the morning, nothing goes well with me through the day."

Set your hearts to UNDERSTAND all these words. "Let him that readeth understand"-Without this the perusal will be little more than a mere mechanical exercise. We should endeavour to obtain clear and consistent views of the subject that comes under our notice; we should pause, and reflect; we should consider the design of the writer in the paragraph; observe the strain of his language; compare one part of the contents with another; and pray for the Spirit that leads into all truth.

Set your hearts to REMEMBER all these words. "By which," says the Apostle, "ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I have

written unto you." Our memory should be like the ark in which were kept the golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the law. Nothing can affect us morally when it is out of the mind. Some, to excuse their recollecting so little of what they read and hear, complain of their memory. Yet they recollect a multitude of things without number-This shows the natural faculty is not wanting. "But we can remember some things so much easier than others." This adds to our censure. For what things are they which you do remember most easily? Are they not those with which you are most familiar? to which you are most attentive and attached? and which are most suitable to your taste? And should not this be the case with the things of God?· Can a woman forget her sucking child? Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire ?

Set your hearts to the PRACTICE of all these words. It cannot be imagined that they are written only to amuse curiosity, or inform the mind, or furnish materials for conversation and controversy— What are its warnings unless we are cautioned by them? or its promises unless we embrace them? In vain it shows unto us the way of salvation, unless we walk in it. It cannot profit us unless it be mixed with faith: and it works effectually in them that believe. "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." "Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it."

Set your hearts to RECOMMEND and DIFFUSE them. Begin at home. "Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Hold forth the word of life wisely in your discourse, accompanied with every holy and lovely temper. Furnish with a copy those who are destitute. Feel an anxiety that every human being may have a Bible. For this purpose, encourage and aid that glorious institution whose godlike and only aim is to spread the Scriptures at home and abroad, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the seas. Thus set your hearts unto all the words of this testimony. It is the command of God; and he who lives in the neglect of it is a rebel as much as a thief or a murderer. It is the command of the great God who is able to enforce it. It is the command of the good God, who has conferred so many benefits, and has so many claims upon you. It is the command of the only wise God, who knows what is good for you, and only demands what is a reasonable service. -All these words too are divine-All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. The very name of some authors would be enough to induce you to purchase and devour a publication. On the back of my Bible is inscribed, THE WORKS OF GOD.

Our

They are also all important. They are not a vain thing, but our life. They are our standard. Our rule. Our medicine. shield. Our sword. Our bread. Our water. Our sun. The charter of our everlasting privilege-Who can tell what it has done for numberless individuals? For communities? For nations?— Who can tell what it will do in the ages to come?