me, when thou comest into thy kingdom." He was answered, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." How quickly the Gospel took effect, and became to that dying thief "the power of God unto salvation." His prayer evinced a proper temper towards Christ; and in an instant the whole energies of the divine scheme encircled him, and his salvation was affirmed by Him, who was then shedding his blood to procure it. Let us have the same temper, and substantially the same promise is ours to-day-this moment at all times-in life and in death. How proper it is, that we should always be in this moral state! Christ in worthy of it; it is the only state which can fit us for happiness in a heaven where he reigns. If then it be our state, it is no presumption for us to hope, to hope with confidence; not to hope is to do injustice to the Gospel and its promises. The certainty that it is ours, and the certainty of our salvation are always equal to each other.

In view of this train of thought, I ask you to consider the following reflections :

1. The difficulties which Christians and recent converts experience in regard to their hopes, depend upon one, or all of three causes. They may fail clearly to apprehend the nature of hope; they may not distinctly see that it is an exercise of their own minds coming into existence, in certain circumstances. If they in any way materialize the term, and then seek for hope, they will of course seek in vain; their very efforts will deepen their own obscurity, and what they seek will always elude their grasp. Hoping is purely a process of the mind, and when the facts are present, which authorize the process, then we are to put forth the exercise, i. e. mentally do the work. And if in the light of appropriate facts, the mind refuse to hope, then any labor expended beyond the region of facts to obtain a hope, must necessarily be labor lost. The mind is working at an enormous disadvantage, and the result to which it arrives is more likely to be an optical illusion, than the hope of a Christian, as provided for in the Scriptures. Again, they may fail to apprehend the proper data, or Bible grounds for the exercise of hope. These are to be found in the plan of salvation by Jesus Christ, and if the great features of this plan lie obscurely in the understanding, the mind is rendered proportionately incompetent to decide the question, whether it ought to hope or not. Feebleness of spiritual perception enfeebles all exercises, which in the order of nature are consequent thereupon. Strong and lifegiving views of Christ, as revealed in the economy of redemption, are essential to strong and powerful hope. He will be to us "the hope of glory" according to the fullness with which He dwells in

us.

If He dwell in our hearts by faith, if His word dwell in us "richly in all wisdom," if we attain the "riches of the full assurance of the understanding," then surely it cannot be difficult to give to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us. This high attainment of knowledge is the privilege of him only

who labors to comprehend Christ, as He is made known in the Scriptures. One reason why many Christians hope so feebly, is to be found in the fact, that they know so little of the blessed Savior; and this imperfect knowledge arises from the neglect of God's Holy Word. More study, more mental labor upon the field of revelation would make Christ more precious, by giving the soul a better knowledge of Him; it would increase the subjective intensity of all spiritual exercises, by giving a larger and clearer objective range to the mind. "The treasures of wisdom and knowledge," which are hid in Christ, are to us of no avail, unless our minds are put in communion with those treasures. They are majestic elements in Him, but efficient in us, only as transfered to our apprehensions. If we would hope with power in Christ, we must be filled with the knowledge of Him " in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." If we would have this knowledge, we must make the Bible the vade mecum of our lives. This book, properly used, will clarify the pious intelligence, make the heart glow with love, and faith, and hope; it will feed the soul with spiritual manna, and give power to every exercise of the "new man." Its neglect, sinful in itself, is an unconceivable loss in the department of Christian experience. Again, Christians may not treat in a proper manner the question, whether their piety be genuine. There is a wide difference betweena strenuous effort to serve Christ and thus be His, and an equally strenuous effort to determine that we are His. In the latter case we are likely to be selfish-in the former our motive is benevolent and Christian; in the one case we are looking mostly at ourselves-in the other we are contemplating the will of our Master, and seeking to do it; in the one we are not yielding the fruits of piety, but searching for them. -in the other we are yielding these fruits, and thus giving the best evidence that we are Christians, evidence most likely to be apparent to our own eyes. Deep and ardent piety carries with itself an incidental demonstration of its own existence; its nature is to be self-luminous; and, if it be the condition of hope, then the speediest way safely to hope is to develope the condition. Whether we are, or are not Christians is not the great question of our lives. He who makes it the chief point of thought, resolved to do nothing else until he settles this, will find it in experience the most difficult inquiry that ever engaged his powers. Let him take a wiser course, let his mind survey the requirements and privileges of the Gospel of Christ, let him address his heart with the utmost energy to the life of Christian holiness-this is not only the surest way to be a Christian, but also the surest route by which to discover the fact. It generates the evidential light of piety; it places this light at a point of easy observation; the spiritual eye naturally falls upon it, sees the fact without laborious search; the consciousness of attachment to Christ suggests the reality of union with Him, of safety in His hands, and sweetly unfolds the hope of glory. My brethren, be what you wish to discover, and the dis

covery will become a comparatively simple work; here spend your power, and God will give you light.

2. The characteristic, by which all false hopes may be known, is this, i. e. they are not preceded by the proper antecedents. This mistake may be committed in either of two ways.

In the first place, the mind in hoping, may build its hope on some other plan besides that of the Gospel. The Apostle assures us, that "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." This proposition excludes everything but Christ in the work of the soul's salvation. The religious experience of the Apostle was conformed to this idea; he counted all things loss for "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ;" he depended on nothing else, on no other being. If, therefore, in the exercise of hope, we place our dependence upon anything but Christ, our hope has a false antecedent, and is of no value. We may not trust in our own exercises; we have no authority for trusting in the general character of God; we must give up all and take Christ as our Divine Savior, or in omitting to do so, we lose the benefit of His salvation. It is enough to secure the condemnation of every other scheme, to know that it is not of God, and is condemned by that which is of God. Man may plan; Christ alone can save. Talk not, sinner, of the plausibility of your theory; it has no warrant beyond that which you, a worm of the dust, can give it; you must forsake it, or in keeping it, die with it. You cannot prove its safety in a single item, and the thought that the veto of God is upon it, ought to make you tremble and abandon it. What madness is it in man to put the worthless figments of a dream where God has put His well-beloved Son.

In the second place, men may profess to hope in virtue of the Gospel, without accepting and personally appropriating Christ by faith and love. As the Bible reveals but one Savior, so it reveals but one moral state, common to all who shall be saved by His blood. We must believe in Him, we must love Him, we must prove both our faith and love by obedience to his commandments; we must appropriate, according to the Gospel rule, the blessing He proposes to give. This a man cannot do, and remain a hardened sinner, or a mere religious formalist. There are exercises, exercises of the heart, in whose absence neither the amplitude, nor the power of the atonement will avail for our salvation. These exercises constitute a spiritual religion, accurately delineated in the word of God, having its seat and theatre of exhibition in the soul of man, elementary and essential in his preparation for the privileges and joys of the life to come. To secure these, it is appointed that the Gospel shall be preached, and Jehovah sends down the Holy Spirit to give it power in subduing and changing the hearts of men. The promises shine forth-the law thunders with convicting power-the terrible things of eternity are unveiled, that those, who are in controversy with God, may suspend their opposition, and yield to the claims of Christ. If they decline to do this,

then they will not be saved; and more than this, for "the wrath of God abideth on them," and they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power." Sinner, Christ rejected by you is not "Christ in you the hope of glory." He, whom you will not love and serve, to whom you will not commit your soul, for whom you will not forsake all things else, does not permit you to hope in Him. If you hope, while thus treating Him, you hope without His authorityagainst His warning voice; you hope without that state of heart, which is the appointed antecedent of such an exercise. Look then for a change of your moral posture, while you may; despair of all relief except in Christ. "If sinners entice thee, consent thou not ;" if the world allure thee, remember, it is to thy ruin. You can now gain what, when lost, you can never regain. Heaven, through Christ, is fairly within your reach. You have no reasons for losing the prize, which do not argue the deepest guilt. Since Christ has died, you need not die, and yet you may. Will you have " Christ in you the hope of glory?" Weighty question! Treat it, as you will wish to have done, when on trial at the bar of God.

MOTIVES TO EARLY PIETY.

Those that seek me early shall find me.-PROV. VIII. 17.

THE Church of Christ is deeply interested in the character of the rising generation. Its present members are gradually vanishing from the stage, and entering on the recompenses of reward.

Their places must be supplied by others, or the church will soon become extinct. To whom must she look for this supply? To those who are now advanced to manhood and old age? She has so long looked in vain, that she can indulge only a faint expectation of any considerable accession from their number. If, however, she was sure of such an accession-yet their heads also will soon be laid in the dust. But there is a generation coming after us, that will live when we are dead. Thirty years hence they will occupy our places on the stage of life, and regulate all the important concerns of man. If the church then exists, it will be composed of those who are now young. If the pure Gospel of Jesus is then preached in Christian or in heathen lands, they must furnish the heralds of salvation. If religion then flourishes, or in the generations which follow them, it will be because great numbers of them are now converted to God. How earnest then, ought to be the pray ers and the efforts of the church for the early conversion of the young! It is because I feel in some measure, the deep importance of this subject, as well as a peculiar interest in the salvation of the young in this congregation,that I have chosen this passage of Scripture as my text. It is, my young friends, a message from God addressed immediately to you. It encourages you to seek Him now, in the morning of life, and promises you that if you will, you shall certainly find Him.

I well know that all of you intend to seek Him before you die. Notone of you can endure the thought of going into eternity before you have secured your salvation.

Let me then ask your solemn attention while I urge upon you some of those motives which God has set before you in the Scriptures, to remember your Creator now in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh in which you will say you have no pleasure in them.

1. God has given you peculiar encouragements to seek Him while you are young.

The offers of salvation are indeed made to all men of all ages; yet God from a regard to His own honor, encourages men to embrace religion in the morning of life. To suppose otherwise, is to suppose that God is willing that men should spend life in dishonoring Him; in injuring His cause, and provoking His anger, and should refuse to love Him and serve Him, until their faculties are decayed, and they can do nothing in his service. Every page in