And more; a young man, the only son, the only child of his mother. No condition can make it other than grievous for a well-natured mother to part with her own child; yet surely having others is some mitigation of loss. Amongst many children, one may be more easily missed; for still we hope the surviving may supply the comforts of the dead: but when all our hopes and joys must either live or die in one, the loss of that one admits of no consolation. When God would describe the most passionate expression of sorrow that can fall unto the miserable, he "O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in the ashes; make lamentation and bitter mourning, as for thine only son.' Such was the loss, such was the sorrow, of this disconsolate mother. Neither words nor tears can suffice to discover it.

says,

Yet more a good husband may make amends for the loss of a son. Had the root been left to her entire, she might better have spared the branch: now both are cut up, all the stay of her life is gone, and she seems abandoned to complete misery.

And now, when she gave herself up for a forlorn mourner, past all capacity of redress, the God of comfort meets her, pities her, relieves her. While we have to do with the Father of mercies, our afflictions are the most powerful suitors. No tears, no prayers can move him so much as his own commiseration. Blessed Lord, none of our secret sorrows can be hid from thine eyes, or kept from thy heart: and when we are past all our hopes, all possibilities of help, then art thou nearest to us for deliverance.

All united to mercy. The heart had compassion; the mouth said, "Weep not ;" the feet went to the bier; the hand touched the coffin; the power of the Deity raised the dead. That with the counsel of not weeping she might see cause of not weeping, his hand seconds his tongue. He arrests the bier, and frees the prisoner: "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." The Lord of life and death speaks with command. No finite power could have said so without presumption, or with success. That is the voice which shall one day call up our vanished bodies from those elements into which they are resolved, and raise them out of their dust. Neither sea, nor death, nor hell, can offer to detain their dead, when Christ charges them to be delivered. Incre

dulous nature! what! dost thou shrink at the possibility of a resurrection, when the God of nature undertakes it? It is no more hard for that Almighty word, which gave being unto all things, to say, "Let them be repaired," than, "Let them be made."

We do not see our Saviour stretching himself on the dead corpse, as Elijah and Elisha on the sons of the Shunamite and Sareptan; nor kneeling down and praying by the bier, as Peter did to Dorcas; but we hear him speaking to the dead as if he were alive; and so speaking to the dead, that by the word he makes him alive: "I say unto thee, Arise."

Death hath no power to bid that man lie still, whom the Son of God bids arise. Immediately "he that was dead sat up." So, at the sound of the last trumpet, by the power of the same voice, we shall arise out of the dust, and stand up glorious: "This mortal shall put on immortality; this corruptible, incorruption." This body shall not be buried, but sown; and at our day shall therefore spring up with a plentiful increase of glory. How comfortless, how desperate would be our lying down, if it were not for this assurance of rising! And now, behold, lest our weak faith should stagger at the assent to so great a difficulty, he hath already, by what he hath done, given us tastes of what he will do. The power that can raise one man, can raise a thousand, a million, a world: no power can raise one man but that which is infinite; and that which is infinite admits of no limitation.

It was the mother whom our Saviour pitied in this act, not the son; who, now forced from his quiet rest, must twice pass through the gates of death. As for her sake therefore he was raised, so to her hands was he delivered, that she might acknowledge that soul given to her, not to the possessor. Who cannot feel the amazement and extasy of joy that was in this revived mother, when her son now salutes her from out of another world, and both receives and gives gratulations of his new life?

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How gladly did every tongue celebrate both the work and the Author! A great prophet is raised up amongst us, and God hath visited his people." A prophet was the highest name they could find for him, whom they saw like themselves in shape, above themselves in power. They

were not yet acquainted with God manifested in the flesh. This miracle might well have assured them of more than a prophet: but he that raised the dead man from the bier, would not suddenly raise these dead hearts from the grave of infidelity. They shall see reason enough to know that the Prophet who was raised up to them was the God that now visited them; and at last should do as much for them as he had done for the young man, raise them from death to life, from dust to glory. BP. HALL.

THE SOLEMN DUTY OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD. TRUE christians would do well more habitually to cherish the thought, that every individual member of the human family possesses an immortal and invaluable soul, and that each must shortly be arraigned at the tribunal of God, to receive at his hands, according to the deeds done in the body, eternal happiness or endless anguish. But christians must do more. Consider that for the most part mankind are rapidly ripening for an awful doom, and that not a few are daily entering upon it, beyond hope or rescue for ever. And mark; such we daily meet, and have intercourse with them in the common walks of life; but, alas! how few, how very few do we warn of their danger, exhort to repentance, or direct to the Lord Jesus Christ! O how seldom, how very seldom, do we treat our fellow men as though we fully thought that they are candidates for an eternity of bliss or woe. Do not many professing godliness rather act, uniformly act, as though man had not a soul, as though there were no God, neither any coming day when He will judge the world, and bring every one to an account?

But many excuse themselves by saying (and where there is a work to do, and an unwillingness to do it, some will excuse themselves,) that sinners may hear the gospel preached, that they have the scriptures, and know all this. Well, but seeing that they are habitually disregarding all the means of grace, might you not, and under these circumstances is not "necessity laid upon you," as opportunity serves, to warn every man, and teach every man, as you see that day approaching?" Oh! say, might you not he useful in dropping a word of admonition and instruction to those around you, by plainly and affectionately telling them

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what they must do to be saved? And who can foresee the important consequences which may be developed in the eternal world, as immediately resulting from the Divine: blessing thereon ?

Surely it would promote the cause of God on earth, if his people would generally hold themselves in readiness for such services; if they would devote themselves to the good of perishing sinners. And that not only to relatives and neighbours, but also to strangers and occasional visitors, to such as we may have seldom seen, and possibly may never again meet. But after all, my fellow christians, should you imagine that you have not sufficient courage or ability to speak as you could wish, let me tell you that you are nevertheless -left without excuse, if you attempt nothing for God and souls. Means and opportunities of usefulness offer on every hand; and among others within your reach, think of the abundance and variety of religious tracts which come in to your aid, which contain the truths of the everlasting gospel, and are adapted equally to the careless sinner and the weeping penitent, the formal professor and the trembling believer. Keep such tracts by you. Carry them where you go. Be liberal in their circulation, and recommend them to others; and, moreover, by a godly life and conversation, be increasingly concerned to give testimony to their holy and practical tendency. Freely ye have received, freely give, not indeed as unto men, but unto God.

E. R.

AWAKE, THOU THAT SLEEPEST! WHAT numbers sleep over their concerns, both spiritual and temporal! We will first consider those who are sleeping in their temporal duties, because we do not so often find that those who are spiritually awake need to be reminded of these.

WIVES! are you not asleep in respect to your husbands ? Do you yield them obedience as your masters in the flesh? Do you make their homes comfortable? Do you bear with their infirmities? Do you encourage them by your own cheerfulness and industry, your temperance and sobriety?

MOTHERS! are you awake to the importance of keeping your children from evil companions? of watching over their

words and actions, their employments and pursuits? Do you suffer them to remain in the streets? Are you training them up to industrious habits? Do you see that they regard the sabbath, by making it a day of rest from worldly business? And are you careful that they should be found in the courts of the Lord's house, and in the way of religious instruction? Do you see that they daily pray unto the Lord, and seek to lead them to the feet of Christ?

HUSBANDS! do you love your wives, and do you treat them with kindness? Are you careful to repay their industry and attention to your wants by kind actions and consideration, and by not wasting your earnings at the alehouse? Do you lay out your little store with judgment and discretion, to supply the necessary wants and conveniences of your family?

FATHERS! are you careful not to provoke your children to wrath? Are you awake to the duty of setting them a good example of industry and sobriety, and of seizing every opportunity to give them all the instruction in your power?

CHILDREN! are you obedient to your parents? Are you respectful, attentive, industrious? Do you assist your parents? Are you kind to your brothers and sisters, and living in peace and unity one with another? Do you who are the oldest set good examples to the youngest? And you who are younger, do you pay due respect unto the elder? If not, you are indeed asleep! and how dreadful it will be to awake to eternal punishment!

SERVANTS! are you awake to the interests of your masters and mistresses? Are you serving them for God, and not with eye service? Do you avoid all cheating and deceiving of them? Are you careful not to waste their property? Do you regard them as having your true interest at heart, when they reprove you for ill-doing? Do you take even undeserved reproaches with patience and meekness, not answering again, but receiving rebukes respectfully?

NEIGHBOURS! are you awake to the duty of not speaking evil one of another, of not envying one another, of assisting one another by little acts of kindness, and promoting each other's interests ?

INNKEEPERS! are you awake to the sin of encouraging scenes of riot and drunkenness ? Oh, think how great