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can scarcely be needful to reply, that this is not th lesson to be conveyed. Gloom and sorrow indeed, occasionally overwhelm the mind in th dying world; and the "house of mourning is bette than the house of mirth;" yet melancholy is fa from being the feeling natural to a good ma Cheerfulness and serenity in the diligent discharg of the duties of life, characterise the true Christian But our moral is this, that wisdom consists in bein habitually influenced by those considerations which are more powerfully suggested on particular occa sions. If we feel in the chamber of sickness, and by the side of the grave, that life is uncertain, death inevitable, and that heaven or hell must be our certain destination; let us ever after act upon that conviction. And let it be thus with every other impression that we know to be just. If our hearts have melted at the occasional sight of poverty and misery, let us not go away and forget that the destitute and the miserable are still suffering: "the poor ye have always with you;" let us then always remember them.

Consider what a happy state of energy and diligence, of zeal and of charity, we should maintain, if the accumulated force of every motive, of every impression we have received, were constantly pressing upon our minds-the same sense of the value of life-the same motives to diligence and activity, to affection, and to benevolence, to the improvement of time, to the preparation for eternity.

And then remember, that these inducements are, in themselves, every moment as strong, and the

things to which they relate as true as if this were the case. We could not, indeed, constantly sustain so powerful a stimulus; but it is in our power always to recollect it. This is the use we should make of impressions.

Let

New-year's day is now past: but is it therefore less important to redeem the time, and put our good resolutions in practice, than it was on that day? It is rather more so, because the year is now shortened by one considerable division of it. us then, conscious of the weakness and the volatility of our hearts, and of the frailty of resolutions made in our own strength, look up to Him who, "to them who have no might," has promised to increase strength; who will, if implored, confirm our wavering minds, and establish our weak resolutions. Finally, may we be permitted to ask, has the perusal of this paper produced any impression? it, dear reader, called to your remembrance any seasons of seriousness and diligence, that have since passed away "like the early dew?" If so, endeavour and pray that it may not be so in this instance; resolve that this, at least, shall be a permanent IMPRESSION.

Has

VI.

"HER WAYS ARE WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS. PROV. iii. 17

THIS beautiful passage of Scripture sounds very familiarly to us. It is one of those texts so frequently quoted, and so often referred to, that much of its effect is lost upon us unless we meditate upon it closely, and take pains to enter into its meaning. Let us endeavour to do so on the present occasion; by considering the passage-first, as the declaration of God himself; secondly, as that of Solomon.

First-This is a declaration of the word of God; and all his words are true. Now we shall do well to regard it in this light, when we are tempted to consider the ways of religion, to which the passage refers, as any thing rather than what they are here described to be. That "her paths are peace," we are perhaps, at all times ready to admit: we know and feel, even the youngest of us, that there is no true peace-no peace of mind and of conscience, but in the paths of holiness. But pleasant is a term we are wont to apply to things of a very different nature.— We meet agreeable and entertaining company, and call them pleasant people: those who have been spending some hours in the gay amusements of this world, will tell you they have had a pleasant evening:-but do we say with the same emphasis and feeling of God's house and ordinances, and of the

society of his people, that they are pleasant? Are there not many, on the contrary, who, if they spoke the language of their hearts, would use a term directly opposite in describing them? although they might allow that these things are right, safe, expedient, and even necessary. On such then-should there be any of our readers, who may, in their secret thoughts, entertain these ideas of the good ways of religion, we would earnestly press the words of the text, as the words of God. He says "her ways are ways of pleasantness." And let us remember, that this expression is addressed to us as we are. It is not spoken to angels, nor to "the spirits of the just made perfect;" but to us in our present state; and more especially to the young, with all their earthly tastes, fascinating pleasures, and ardent pursuits. And He who asserts it is no stranger to the human heart; he knows, intimately, its passions and propensities, and in what things it is prone to seek satisfaction. Nor let us imagine that He who so exactly estimates the true value of all things, in any degree underrates the worth of earthly good.

We are delighted with many things in this world : and He who gives us all things richly to enjoy, is fully aware of the pleasure they are calculated to produce. He is also perfectly acquainted with the averseness and distaste we are prone to feel towards himself and his ways: but still he says of them that they are ways of pleasantness. How then are we to reconcile this unqualified declaration of God, with the secret persuasion of so many, perhaps of our own hearts also, that they are not so? What con

clusion inust be drawn but this-even that it is-it them be as God has said; and that, whoever may deny or doubt it, his ways are ways of pleasantness. They who think otherwise, only prove that they have never made a fair trial of them; have never set out in earnest in the way to Zion; have only viewed the road from an obscure distance, from whence they may discover the hills of difficulty, but could perceive neither the fruits nor flowers that adorn it. While they who are indeed travelling that road, unite with one heart and voice in corroborating the divine declaration. And this brings us to the second view we proposed to take of the subject, as the assurance and the experience of King Solomon.

ness.

Now, as he himself elsewhere remarks, there could not possibly be a person selected from all the kingdoms and ages of the world, so well qualified to decide upon the truth of this statement as himself; because he had made trial more than any man before or after him, of every other kind of pleasantRead his own account of the matter in that rare description of worldly prosperity which he has left upon record in the 2d chapter of Ecclesiastes; and which is afterwards summed up in these memorable words "So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour; and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on the works that