Would not also this contemplation break the furce of surprise?

"Familiar thoughts can slope the way to death."

-But if we think not of the subject, the event will be a sudden precipice.

The sum of human wisdom is, to keep us from surprise in any thing: the sum of divine wisdom is, to keep us from surprise in death. We know not how soon the event may come. Nor in what manner it may befall us. It may not wait the close of threescore years and ten. It may not announce its approach by the common warnings of sickness. If we have not learned this truth already from our observations of mortality, neither should we be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

JULY 13.-MORNING.

"I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them." EZEK. XXXVI. 37.

THAT is what he had been promising; and notwithstanding the freeness and certainty of the engagement. Such is the revealed "will" of God. And his will is law; and law from which there lies no appeal. Nothing, therefore, can dispense with the obligation of prayer. But let us look at this fact.

As we have no claims upon God, and all he does for us must be from pure mercy and grace, no one can deny that he has a right to determine the way in which his favours shall be conferred. Nor can it be questioned that he is the most competent judge in this case; for his understanding is infinite: he knows himself

and his relations: and he knows us and our welfare perfectly.

Yet let us not suppose that he acts arbitrarily, though he may act sovereignly. And let us remember, too, that his acting sovereignly does not consist in his acting without reasons, but in his being governed by reasons which are often far above out of our sight.

His wisdom and his goodness are to be seen here as plainly as his authority. Some vainly ask, Where is the propriety of prayer? Can prayer be necessary to inform a Being, perfect in knowledge? Or to excite a Being, always ready to do good? Or to induce a Being, with whom there is no variableness, to change his measures? But the question is beside the mark. What is not necessary as to God, may be necessary as to us. Religion is founded not in his wants, but in ours. Does not something of this kind obtain among all ranks and conditions of our fellowcreatures? All-parental as you are, do you always dispense with your child's asking for what he wants? As a master, though willing to forgive, do you not deem it needful to require the servant that offended you to confess his fault and implore pardon?

How many are the advantages arising from God's requiring us to ask, that we may have; and seek, that we may find! The exercise of prayer keeps alive a sense of our indigence and dependence. Every time I go to God in prayer, I am reminded that I am ignorant, and that he is wise; that I am weak, and that he is powerful; that I am guilty and miserable, and that he is merciful and gracious; that I am nothing, and that he is all in all.

Prayer, by bringing us into the presence of God,,

will impress us with his excellences; and the intercourse we have with him will lead us to admire, and fear, and love, and resemble him. For we soon catch the spirit, and take off the manners of those with whom we are intimate; especially if they are above us, and we much esteem them. It is said, that those who are about the court have an air and an address peculiar to themselves; and that it is difficult, if not impossible, for another to assume it. A man who is much at the throne of grace, will betray it in a manner of feeling, speaking, and acting, that a religious pretender can never entirely exemplify.

Hereby, too, the blessing is more endeared, and enhanced. We never much regard what we acquire without application or effort. The effort is a kind of price; and we judge of the commodity by the cost. That which blesses us, is what relieves our wants; fulfils our desire; accomplishes our hope; crowns our sacrifices. God's blessings are not bestowed upon those who are incapable of feeling their value: they would then yield neither pleasure to the receiver, nor praise to the giver. His way, therefore, is to make us sensible of our need; to shew us the importance and excellency of the favours; and to draw forth our souls after them. Then we are in his way. Then we can plead his promise. For blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.

JULY 13.-EVENING.

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upo the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment and they had on their heads crowns of gold." REV. iv. 4.

A THRONE is for royalty, and reminds us of a king The King here is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. He "hath established his throne in the hea vens, and his kingdom ruleth over all." He has in deed two thrones. The first we approach on earth. It is the throne of grace. This is the place of our sanctuary, and the source of all our relief. The way to it we know: and "we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." The second we approach in heaven. It is the throne of glory. This is too bright and dazzling for us to behold in this weak state of flesh and blood-for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." But there is a relation between these two thrones: and if we visit and value the one, and can now say, "It is good for me to draw near to God;" we shall soon be introduced to the other, and "be for ever with the Lord."

These four and twenty elders were representatives, not of the ministers, but of the whole Church: the number being made up of the twelve Patriarchs and the twelve Apostles; the former the emblems of the Jewish, and the latter of the Christian part of it.

We may observe the position of these favoured beings-Their seats "were round about the throne." God is the supreme good. With him is the fountain of life. He is therefore the centre of their attraction. Their happiness arises from their nearness to him. We see their posture-They were "sitting." John

also saw them "standing before the throne," and "falling down before the throne." All is necessary to do justice to the subject. Their standing is a posture of readiness for service: and they serve him day and night in his temple. Their falling down is a posture of self-abasement, reverence, and adoration. But sitting shews distinction, and privilege. Sitting in the presence of the king, especially when upon his throne, was limited to great favourites or near relations. "When therefore Bath-sheba went unto king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah, the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother." And the Lord Jesus not only calls his people his friends, but his kindred-"The same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Sitting is refreshment and rest-we sit when we come in from travelling or from toil. And they who die in the Lord "rest from their labours." It is also the posture of festive enjoyment-in allusion to which it is said, "Many shall come from the East and from the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."

We have also their apparel-They were "clothed in white raiment." They had complied with the Saviour's invitation, who had counselled them to buy of him white raiment, that they might be clothed : and we are informed what this was; "the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." This is twofold. It is their justifyiny righteousness, of which Paul speaks when he says, "That I may be found in him; not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is of faith." In this righteousness pelievers are not only absolved, but "exalted." They