I will

The New Life

(CONTINUED.)

cause you to walk in my statutes, and keep my judg ments, and do them.-EZEKIEL XXXVI. 27.

THE predestination which I believe in, is that of Paul--"Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." To redeem us from the power, as well as punishment of iniquity, Jesus died. For this his precious blood was shed-for this the Spirit has descended. We are "called with a holy calling;"--called to pluck the love of sin from our hearts, to dethrone every idol that usurps the place of God; and having nailed to the cross the old man, with his affections and lusts, we we are called to be like Jesus. His meat and drink was to do his Father's will. He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." By this lofty end of a good's man's life, by the regard which you cherish to Christ, by the welfare of your soul, by the interest of other men's souls, you are called to beware of every thing which might blemish your profession, obscure the luster of your graces, and hinder you from walking in God's statutes, and keeping his judgments, and doing them. So far, therefore, as circumstances permit you, "depart from evil," and in the choice of your company and companions, follow the example of David, and remember the warning of his son, "I am a companion to all them that fear thee;"-"a companion of

fools shall be destroyed." Shun the place of infection, and-more than if they had plague or fever-the company of the infected. Avoid and abjure every scene, pleasure, pursuit, which experience has taught you tends to sin, dulls the fine set edge of conscience, unfits for religious duties or religious enjoyments, sends you prayerless to bed, or dull and drowsy to prayer. As the seaman does with surf-beaten reef or iron-bound shore, give these a wide berth; and passing on, hold away in your course straight for heaven.

Never fear to suffer; but Oh! fear to sin. Stand in awe of God, and in fear of temptation. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." It is not safe to bring gunpowder within reach even of a spark. Nor safe, however dexterous your driving, to shave with your wheels the edge of a beetling precipice. Nor safe in the best-built bark that ever rode the waves, to sail on the rim of a roaring whirlpool. The seed of the woman has, indeed, bruised the head of the serpent; yet beware! the reptile.is not dead. It is dangerous to handle an adder, or approach its poison fangs, if the creature is alive, even although its head be crushed.

Let me also warn you that such a holy life as the text enjoins, is impossible to all but those who are on their guard against the beginnings of evil. Take alarm at an evil thought, wish, desire. These are the germs of sin—the floating seeds which drop into the heart, and finding in our natural corruption a fat and favorable soil, spring up into actual transgressions. These, like the rattle of the snake, the hiss of the serpent, reveal the presence and near neighborhood of danger. The experience of all good men proves that sin is most easily crushed in the bud, and that it is

safer to flee from temptation than to fight it. Fight like a man when you can not avoid the battle, but rather flee than fight. Be afraid of it, avoid it, abhor it; let your answer, as you tear yourself from the encircling arms of the enchantress, and seek safety in flight, be that of Joseph's "Shall I do this great evil, and sin against God?"

True, religion, however, consists not in a passive but active piety. We are to walk in God's statutes, keep his judgments, and do them. Our pattern is not the man who wears a monkish cowl, and tells his beads, and keeps his vigils, and goes through the dull routine of prayers and fastings within the walls of a monastery; nor she who, having assumed the black vail and renounced the world, seeks safety from its contamination, or solace from its sorrows, within the cell and cloisters of a convent. The pattern of a Christian is that divine man, who—while he passed a brief period of probation in the lonely desert, and often spent whole nights on the mountain in- solitary communion with his God-walked the fields of Galilee, frequented the fishing villages on the shores of Tiberias, and was often to be met with in Judah's towns, and on Jerusalem's busy streets. Our exemplar is he, who, wherever he went, "went about doing good," earning for himself this noble opprobrium, "the friend of publicans and sinners."

Observe, that activity of Christian life is implied in the very terms of the text. Grant that we may thereby be exposed to hardships and temptations, from which a quiet and retiring piety might exempt us. Still, a life of active service will be best for others, and in the end also for ourselves. A candle set beneath a bushel is, no doubt, safe from wind and

weather; but of what use is it? On whose work does it shine? Whose path does it illumine? I would rather burn and waste on some lofty headland to guide the bark through night and storm to its desired haven. No light shineth for itself, and "no man liveth for himself." Besides, the very trials to which piety is exposed on the stormy heights of duty, will impart to it a robust and healthy character. The strongest trees grow not beneath the glass of a greenhouse, or in the protection of sheltered and shaded valleys. The stoutest timber stands on Norwegian rocks, where tempests rage, and long, hard winters reign. And is it not with the Christian as with the animal life also? Exercise gives health, and strength is the reward of activity. The muscles are seen fully developed in the brawny arm that plies the ringing hammer. Health blooms ruddiest on the cheek, and strength is most powerfully developed in the limbs of him, who—not nailed to a sedentary occupation, nor breathing the close atmosphere of heated chambers— but fearless of cold, a stranger to downy pillows and luxurious repose, rises with the day, sees the early worm rise in the dank meadow, and hears the morning lark high over head, and passing his hours in athletic exercises, increases his strength by spending it. Even so, the most vigorous and healthy piety is that which is the busiest, which has difficulties to battle. with, which has its hands full of good works, which has-I may say-neither time nor room for evil, but aiming at great things, both for God and man, promptly, summarily dismisses temptation, with Nehemiah's answer-"I have a great work to do, therefore I cannot come down."

This world-with so many living and dying in it

without God and hope, with the whole heathen world still unconverted, with thousands and tens of thousands at home sunk in the deepest ignorance, and slaves of the vilest sins, with members of our families or of friendly circles far from God, and between whom and us-terrible thought!-death would make an eternal separation-has much need that we were up and doing, and throwing ourselves into the cause of active Christianity. Our opportunities of good are many and multiform. A Christian man should feel like some strong swimmer, who has hundreds around him sinking, drowning, shrieking for help; the difficulty is to make selection, and on whose unhappy head first to lay a saving hand. Amid such scenes and calls, Oh, it is lamentable to think how much of our time has been frivolously and uselessly spent. "The time past of our lives has been more than sufficient to have wrought the will of the flesh;" to have enjoyed our own ease, made money, and secured for ourselves the comforts of life. To nobler ends be its remaining sands devoted! Take Christ for your copy. Run in God's statutes without wearying, and walk in them without fainting; and let the day on which some good has not been done to ourselves or others--some glory won for God, some progress made in the divine life--be a day mourned over, wept for, and this written down against it in the calendar of our life-"I have lost a day." Our Christianity is a name, a shadow, unless we resemble him who, being incarnate God, was incarnate goodness, and of whom, although he stood alone in that hall-without one kind or brave voice raised to speak for him-there were hundreds and thousands to bear this testimony, that he "went about doing good," and was the friend both of