GOING TO CHURCH.

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been in the church for many a year, yet still continue lifeless things. You, however, are rational men, nay, more, baptized Christians; you have ears to hear, and a heart to understand God's Word, and unless you use your ears and hearts, going to church will do you no good. Nay, on the great day of judgment, there will be many for whom it would have been better never to have had the opportunity of entering a church door, than to have frequently gone to it, but just as often returned from it without fruit or improvement. On that day, it will be more tolerable for those who did not know the Word of God, than for those who possessed it abundantly, and heard it often, but did not act according to it. Must the fig-tree which, in its natural state, bore no fruit, be hewn down? Then, surely, much more that which, after all the pains of the husbandman, remains unprofitable still. After they had set out, Gotthold sighed, and said: Oh! Lord Jesus, beloved Saviour, there are many churches upon the earth, but few hearts that are churches to Thee. Here, however, is my heart; here the hearts of all my family; take, and occupy them; sanctify them by Thy Spirit; sprinkle them with Thy righteousness; drive from them Satan and all wickedness; fill them with Thy grace; protect them by Thy power; refresh them with Thy consolations; uphold them unto salvation by Thy strength, and so make them, both in time and eternity, Thy sanctuary and dwelling-place.

1 Luke xiii. 7-9.

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THE NOTE-BOOK.

XXX.

The Note-Book.

AVING one day purchased a few note-books, Gotthold took occasion to say to a friend who was with him: This reminds me of the words of a great and enlightened statesman, who, being asked by a young gentleman what treatise on the art of government he could recommend as the best, replied: A book of white paper. Take such a book, journey with it through the world, carefully attend to every matter, whether political or not, which appears to you remarkable, note it for the information of yourself and others, and in this way you will make an excellent work, from which you may learn much. The sagacious man, it appears, preferred experience and observation to all other books. And why should not I entertain the same opinion on spiritual matters? I do believe, that were a person, from his earliest infancy, to note and register all the Divine blessings, and all the miracles of goodness and severity which, in the course of his life, he observed and experienced, he would compose an excellent and most useful book. Nothing could be more edifying than to be reminded, by its perusal, how wonderfully, and yet how graciously we had been led, and how effectually comforted by

God, and how various the ways, and abundant the measures, in which His fatherly love, truth, long-suffering, care, and goodness, had been manifested towards us! For my own part, were I circumstantially to record all the mercy which He has made to pass before me, the narrative would fill many volumes.

Well then, my God, I have learned from experience that my God Thou truly art. So numerous are the proofs I have had of Thy fatherly care and faithfulness, that were I to fail in reliance upon Thee, it would be the height of injustice.

XXXI.

The Post.

OTTHOLD happening to receive a letter brought by the post in a very few days from a somewhat distant place, a person who was present observed: How useful an institution the post is, by which we are enabled in so short a time to hear from, and hold intercourse with, our distant friends. Gotthold replied: It is a just remark. The posts are now everywhere well-appointed, and there are few places not provided with them. But what edi

fying thoughts are they fitted to suggest? There can be little doubt that covetousness and curiosity are the two steeds by which most of the mails are drawn. Of that, however, I shall say no more. Let us rather reflect on something which the world in general forgets, viz., that we may, if we please, have a mail to heaven, conveying in a moment intelligence of our condition and concerns, our wants and desires to our God and Father, and bringing back to us a gracious answer, with advice and comfort, protection and help. Blessed be the Father of Mercy, and the God of all consolation, who has not left us destitute of such a means of communication with Himself! Prayer is the swift courier, and sighs the winged messengers. Doves have been trained to fly from place to place, carrying letters in a little casket, fastened to their neck or foot. They are swift of flight, but our prayers and sighs are swifter, for they take but a moment to pass from earth to heaven, and bear the troubles of our heart to the heart of God. These messengers no hostile force can detain; they penetrate the clouds, never linger on the way, and never desist until the Most High attends. A tyrant may shut up a godly man in the deepest dungeon, immure him between massive walls, and forbid him all intercourse with his fellow-men, but these messengers he cannot restrain; in defiance of all obstacles, they report to the Omniscient the affliction of the victim, and bring back to him the Divine consolation.

O my Father! I thank Thee for having, despite the devil and the world, vouchsafed to us a channel of communication, and boldness to converse with Thyself. Grant unto me that I may at all times use my privilege with filial reverence and confidence: And by such a post as this, viz., my last sigh, breathed by the strength of Thy Spirit in the name of Jesus, may my soul at length perform its journey from earth to heaven!

XXXII.

The Sailors.

EING one day upon the banks of a river, Gotthold beheld a party of sailors impelling their vessel against the stream. Sometimes fastening their ropes to a tree or post, they towed it forward; at other times, going ashore and harnessing themselves to the ropes, they dragged it after them. Here, said he, I have an emblem of my own. voyage to heaven. The world is the mighty stream which sweeps multitudes away into the gulf of perdition. I must stem the torrent with my little bark, being commanded not to be conformed to the world, nor to love either it or its lusts.1 For this purpose,

1 Romans xii. 2; 1 John ii. 15.