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VARIETIES.

THE SWEAT OF THE BROW.-God hath sent no greater evil into the world, than that "in the sweat of our brows we shall eat our bread; and in the difficulty and agony, in the sorrows and contentions of our souls, we shall "work out our salvation." But see how, in the first of these God hath outdone his own anger, and defeated the purpose of his wrath, by the inundation of his mercy: for this labour and sweat of our brows is so far from being a curse, that without it our very bread would not be so great a blessing. Is it not labour that makes the garlic and the pulse, the sycamore and the cresses, the cheese of the goats and the butter of the sheep, to be savoury and pleasant as the flesh of the roebuck, or the milk of the kine, the marrow of oxen, or the thighs of birds? If it were not for labour, men neither could eat so much, nor relish so pleasantly, nor sleep so soundly, nor be so healthful nor so useful, so strong nor so patient, so noble nor so untempted. And as God hath made us beholden to labour for the purchase of many good things, so the thing itself owes to labour many degrees of its worth and value, and therefore I need not reckon, that besides these advantages, the mercies of God have found out proper and natural remedies for labour; nights to cure the sweat of the day, sleep to ease our watchfulness, rest to alleviate our burdens, and days of religion to procure our rest: and things are so ordered, that labour is become a duty, an act of many virtues, and is not so apt to turn into sin as its contrary; and is therefore necessary, not only because we need it for making provisions for our life, but even to ease the labour of our rest; there being no greater tediousness of spirit in the world than want of employment, and an inactive life; and the lazy man is not only unprofitable, but also accursed, and groans under the load of his time; which yet passes over the active man

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like a dream, or the feathers of a bird, while the disemployed is a disease, and like a long sleepless night to himself, and a load unto his country.--Bp. Jeremy Taylor.

THE ONLY WAY TO MEET THe Creator.—Faith in the divine Saviour is the only, but effectual, qualification to meet our Creator. All other modes of preparation must be for ever inefficacious. There is no other way of coming before an infinitely Holy Being, with hope of acceptance, except this " new and living way," which his beloved Son hath opened through "the blood of his cross. There is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved, "except that of Jesus Christ and him crucified." This is that fountain which our God, of his infinite mercy, hath opened to wash away sin and uncleanness of every kind; this is that ransom which he has graciously provided for guilty, condemned souls; this is that way of access which he has himself devised and appointed, by which we are invited "to draw near with confidence," in the full assurance that whosoever cometh in the name of Jesus shall in no wise be cast out."-Rev. W. F. Vance.

SIN. It is said that a company of officers belonging to an invading army were once hospitably entertained at a monastery; the principal person or abbot, after dining with his guests, and sitting some time and drinking wine with them, at length arose and thus addressed his astonished auditors: "Gentlemen, if you have any worldly affairs to settle, you had better embrace the present moment, for in two hours we shall all be in eternity; we have for this last hour been drinking deadly poison !" Now, what a change in their feelings must this annoucement have made: when they felt that the intoxicating cup was the poisoned chalice! But more horrible will be the feelings of those who, on entering eternity, first learn

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the soul-ruining qualities of sin. It was sweet in the gilded cup in the revel, the song, the dance; in the riot of sensual emotion, and the gratification of it; but oh; how bitter in its "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth!" and (solemn thought!) the former was but for a moment, but the latter is for ever, even for ever and ever. "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread, eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell." Pleasure, earth-born, hell-tending pleasure

"She wove the winding sheet of souls,

And laid them in the arm of everlasting death."

IMPORTANT HINTS.-He who cannot find time to consult his Bible, will find one day that he has time to be sick; he who has no time to pray, must find time to die; he who can find no time to reflect, is most likely to find time to sin; he who cannot find time for repentance, will find an eternity in which repentance will be of no avail. Mrs. H. More.

A FRUIT-BEARING REPENTANCE.-Many things doth a tree bring forth, and divers of them as fore-runners to the fruit, as boughs, and leaves, and buds, and blossoms.

Saint John mentions none of them; passeth by them all; stays at none, till he come to the fruits.-That is it, the tree was planted for: not to make materials, not to give shadow; not for the green boughs, nor the gay blossoms, nor for anything but for the fruit. The tree is for the fruit, and, but for the fruit, there had been no tree. Fruit it was, for which it was first set, and for which it is let grow and when there is no longer hope of bringing forth fruit, down with it (saith the Lord of the soil) why troubles it the ground any longer? And then comes the axe, lays it to the root, and down it goes, and into the fire it is cast; and seeing it will not serve for fruit, it may

serve for fuel,-the end of all unfruitful trees. Mark it well, this. It is the fruit of repentance, not repentance itself, but the fruit it is, is sought for. That is all in all. So not only a bearing, but a fruit-bearing repentance.Bishop Andrewes.

POETRY.

66 BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN."

O! deem not they are blest alone
Whose lives a peaceful tenor keep;
The Power who pities man has shewn
A blessing for the eyes that weep.

The light of smiles shall fill again
The lids that overflow with tears;
And weary hours of woe, and pain,
Are promises of happier years.

There is a day of sunny rest

For every dark and troubled night;
And grief may bide, an evening guest,-
But joy shall come with early light.

And thou, who, o'er thy friend's low bier.
Sheddest the bitter drops like rain,

Hope that a brighter, better sphere,
Will give him to thine arms again.

Nor let the gcod man's trust depart,
Though life its common gifts deny,-
Though with a pierced, and broken heart,
And spurn'd of men, he goes to die.

For God has mark'd each sorrowing day,
And number'd every secret tear,
And heaven's long age of bliss shall pay,
For all His children suffer here.

THE

COTTAGE MAGAZINE;

OR,

Plain Christian's Library.

JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL. Gen. xxxii. 24-32.

(Continued from page 26.)

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Jacob now, if not before, began to know who his antagonist was. He is therefore unwilling to separate without a blessing. He looks for a blessing from one that had opposed him, struggled with him, and disjointed his thigh. So must we turn to him that smiteth" us, and from the very hand that wounds seek all our relief and deliverance. "Come," says the Church, "and let us return to the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." The blessing of the Lord maketh rich. It can do all things for us. Creatures can only wish us a blessing, but he commands and imparts it: and when he blesses none can reverse it.

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Jacob uses no ceremony, but in reply to the demand, 'Let me go," abruptly says, "I will not-except thou

bless me." Was this a fit answer for a servant to his Lord and Master? When we have a promise which gives us a hold on him, we are to put him in remembrance, to plead with him, and to refuse to take any denial. There is nothing more pleasing to him than this holy violence he loves to see us, while trusting in his faithful word, disregarding the discouragements of his MARCH, 1845. VOL. XXXIV.

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