bear, will, on their near approach, be found not insupportable. Our imagination always magnifies calamity, and our self-love is ever encreasing our sufferings. But every man's life is equally in the hands of God, and all the events of it are appointed by him.-To one he gives life-to another death." Let him do what seemeth good to him, for he is the Lord."

9. This subject farther treated under the title of

ABSOLUTE RESIGNATION.

1. There are few precepts more strongly enforced in the Gospel, than that of conforming ourselves to the will of God, and the example of Jesus Christ, who, we are told, was in all things submissive to his heavenly Father. All virtue consists in our will and intentions, and the regula

tion of them according to the influence of divine grace. Our Saviour meant this when he told his disciples, "the kingdom of God is within you." We need not possess great talents, or perform brilliant actions in this life, to secure the happiness of the life to come: to love God, and to obey Him, is sufficient to ensure our everlasting felicity. Different situations and emergencies, call for the practice of different virtues ; but a pure intention of mind is equally applicable to all occasions, and all times. To desire, then, for ourselves, nothing but that which God pleases to send us, and to submit ourselves in all events to God, is indeed to have the kingdom of God within us; for thus we fulfil the petition of that divine prayer which is taught us by our blessed Lord

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven:" leave, therefore, to your gracious God, all your cares, and all your desires. It is not just that you should use your will against your Maker, to

whom you belong. God has endued you with free will, only that it may be your own choice to give up that will to him; and that if you counteract his beneficent intentions towards you, you may be without excuse for so doing.

2. A mere desire to obey the laws of God, without unconditional and unreserved submission, is not the service which God requires of us. Establish, therefore, this one truth in your mind, and let it not be in the power of any worldly occurrence to shake it-That there is nothing of such essential consequence to your happiness here, and hereafter, as this unconditional submission, and meek surrender of yourself to the disposal of God. Our Saviour's gentle rebuke to Martha is here very applicable, when she complained to him that her sister Mary had left all her domestic occupations to attend to the instructions which our blessed Lord was delivering to those about him;

"Martha, Martha, (said he) thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful."-We are not, however, to understand these divine words in too literal a sense, or to suppose that Christ condemned, or forbade all concern for the things of this world; for as long as we remain in this life, we cannot prosper, nor even exist, without some care for the body; but we must learn to submit at all times, the event of all our endeavours and undertakings, of every kind, to our merciful Father, and receive whatever issue he may appoint to them, with acquiescence in it, holding fast our obedience and submission to his will, as the one thing needful. Until you have attained this frame of mind, you will be always a slave to the reverses of life, dissatisfied with yourself and others, and full of suspicion and reserve in your commerce with the world. Your good intentions will avail you but little, and your piety (however sincere) will only reproach and torment you, unless God is the rock'

of your confidence, and the resting-place of your hopes. If you will but indulge the virtuous inclinations with which God inspires you, you will resign yourself entirely to the guidance of Him, who has loved you so tenderly, that he has given his only Son to die for you. Indeed, God's love towards you is a thousand times more tender than that of your earthly parents: he follows you every where, even while you stray far from him. As the good shepherd seeks his wandering flock, he seeks and invites you to his fold again. Nay, even while you persist in wandering, he does not leave you; he renews his gracious call, and rejoices when you will hear it. Shall we then refuse to hearken to this voice of mercy, which offers consolation to all our sorrows, and pardon to all our sins, and says to us, (if we will but return to him,) “ go lin peace and sin no more.”

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3. Let us but make ourselves indifferent to the world and its allurements, and our