brethren whose views on such subjects may be opposed to my own.

Humility, as well as charity, requires that we should tolerate the opinions of others; for we should recollect, that man is a fallen creature, and that on this side the grave his views are obscured, and his perceptions rendered inaccurate, by the influence of his alienation from God, and his natural bias to evil. He is not perfect; nor can we wonder, therefore, if his perverted judgment should frequently hurry him into error. Remembering our own weakness, and liability to misconception and prejudice, we should learn to retain our opinions with gentleness, though with firmness, and to combat what we conceive to be the prejudices of others, with decision as to our own views, but with a tender regard to the feelings of our brother.

Charity demands the exercise of love to those who differ from us. We must not look on them with a jealous eye; we must not be captiously disposed to question their sincerity; we must not blazen their follies, or hold up to ridicule their prejudices. We must go with them so far as we can tread on common and scriptural ground; and when our opinions diverge, supposing the divergency not to be of a fatal kind, we must still "wish them God speed;" assured that though in nonessentials we disagree, we have yet the same Saviour for our confidence, we are engaged in the service of the same Master, and hope to arrive at the same heaven hereafter. If our neighbour be a true Christian, we are bound to love him as such, by whatever name he may be named.

χώρος.

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CII. Psalın civ. 34.-My meditation of Him shall be sweet.

Of all the duties which become professed Christians, there is none more usually neglected among men

in general, than that of calm and deliberate reflection upon the concerns of religion. We observe persons constantly frequenting the house of God, and seeming for the moment to have some knowledge and enjoyment of those things which relate to their eternal peace, yet forgetting almost instantly what they have heard, and suffering the sacred impression to be effaced almost as soon as it was formed. While we pray that we may "read, mark, and learn" the holy Scriptures, we too often forget so in wardly to "digest" them that they may conduce to our spiritual nourishment, and strengthen us for our heavenly warfare. If we have any pretence to the name of Christian, the neglect of an outward duty, the omission of our customary devotions, or of attendance on public worship, the breach of the Divine command "to do good and to distribute," the indulgence of unhallowed tempers, or the stirring of worldly or sensual desire, will be followed by proper feelings of sorrow and repentance, accompanied with prayerto God for pardon and assistance; yet amidst all, perhaps, we neglect that especial means of grace which, in many cases, is one of the most useful of all for preventing a recurrence of the evil; we mean religious meditation. And assuredly if it be a sin not to read the Scriptures, and attend public worship, it is a sin also not to treasure up and revolve in our hearts those sacred truths which we have received; not to endeavour, by serious reflection, when in private, to turn them, by the blessing of God, to a practical account.

For the purpose of impressing upon our minds the duty under consideration, let us view

I. The proper objects of spiritual meditation.

11. The benefits resulting from it. III. The best method of promoting and conducting it.

I. The proper objects of spiritual meditation are the truths re

vealed in the word of God, the doctrines and precepts, the invitations and warnings, the promises and threatenings of the Gospel, in all their bearings and relations to the temporal and eternal concerns of mankind,and more especially with reference to our own spiritual state. The field is indeed 100 vast to admit, within the compass of a single sermon, of our going over all its boundaries. It may also be remarked, that in proportion as our knowledge of divine subjects increases, they will appear more and more interesting and comprehensive, so that the longest life devoted to the study of the Scriptures would be insufficient to exhaust their sacred stores. There are, however, particular topics which more peculiarly call for our daily meditation;-such as the holiness, justice, and goodness of God; his presence with, and inspection over us; our own guilt and misery as sinners in his sight; the means of salvation which he hath provided through the merits and sacrifice of Christ, and our personal need of the Holy Spirit's influence, to convert our hearts, and to make us meet for the kingdom of heaven. It should also be our daily employment carefully to examine ourselves, to search out our peculiar sins, negligences, and ignorances, and deeply to consider not only the way in which they may be pardoned, but the means by which we may be delivered from their prevalence. A person who never reflects in private, and as in the immediate presence of the Searcher of Hearts, upon these important concerns, cannot expect, whatever other means of information he may possess, that he shall come to a right knowledge of them. Meditation, indeed, if accompanied by earnest prayer, will be found to tend more, perhaps, than any thing else, to render the "hearing of the ear" powerful for the conversion of the heart, and is therefore often employed by the Holy Spirit to effect his Divine purposes of mercy

When a

upon the souls of men. sinner is once brought earnestly to reflect within himself on his state with respect to God, and, in the view of his guilt and danger, to inquire "What must I do to be saved?" a beam of hope rises upon his path, which, till that salutary meditation occurred, was covered with an awful darkness, and would have led him to eternal destruction, The Gospel now becomes to him a subject of the most anxious consideration, and proper objects for employing his thoughts will never be absent from his mind.

II. We are now to consider some of the benefits which will result from the practice we have recom mended. These are very numerous and important; for by duly reflecting upon what we already know, the knowledge which before only floated in the understanding begins to influence the heart. It is easy, for example, to repeat penitential confessions of our sinfulness and guilt; but they will never excite truly godly sorrow, till we begin anxiously to look into our inmost souls, in order to perceive how far we resemble the descriptions which are given of human nature in the word of God. The excellencies also of Christ Jesus, and the freedom of his salvation, will not much. affect us as mere truths, till we feel their suitability to our own case, and have reflected sufficiently upon ourselves to know our guilt and weakness, our impenitence and misery. It is impossible that the Saviour can be duly valued by those who do not think of him, and enter into the nature and excellence of his of fices as they respect their own spiritual wants. It is by reflecting often and earnestly upon holy things that the affections become excited, and the heart filled with a sense of their unspeakable importance. A few superficial speculations would never have prompted those ardent feelings of love, and joy, and gratitude, and devotion, which abound in the writings of the inspired pennen. They

considered frequently and habitually those things which we are too apt to suffer to glide from the memory almost as soon as they die away upon the ear. Religion was with them, and bhas been with good men, in every age, a concern of such importance, as to engross the heart in the hours of retirement, and by silently producing there the "peaceable fruits of righteousness," to render the deportment of its professors indicative of their holy vocation, and worthy of that sacred name by which they were called.

Meditation, in one view of it, may be regarded as conversing with God, and with our own hearts. Enlightened by his presence, and guided by his wisdom, we are enabled to understand more clearly our real condition, and to plead his cause with our own hearts; we learn to see the vanity of our false excuses and "refuges of lies;" and as the defects of our religious character become clearly unfolded to our view, we are incited to more urgent and unwearied supplications for the renewing influences of the Spirit of grace. While we trust to outward impressions, we are too often ready to deceive our own souls, and to mistake the mere stirring of natural affection, or what are merely social feelings in religion, for genuine piety; but the moment we begin to commune with ourselves, no eye seeing us but the eye of God, if our hearts be not right with him, and if they be not truly actuated by religious principle, we shall be likely to discover the defect in our character, and the consequent peril of our situation. We shall learn to value at its true rate of worthlessness whatever pleasure we may feel in discharging the public duties of religion, while our tempers and affections are not brought into subjection to the obedience of Christ. And on the other hand, where the heart is sincere, though the affections are languid, earnest meditation on heavenly things will kindle a brighter flame,

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 186.

and raise the mind to something of a right feeling of the unspeakable glories of the Gospel. Thus it appears that reflection and communion with our own hearts are of high importance to all descriptions of characters;-to the sinner, the hypocrite, the careless, and the uninformed, in order to bring them to the knowledge of their awful condition; and to the true Christian, in order to elevate his hopes and desires, to increase his spiritual knowledge, and not only to open new truths, but to make him enter with more interest into those which he already believes, but which he wishes to understand more fully, and to embrace with more ardour and affection. In circumstances especially of trial or temptation, a few moments' serious reflection, with earnest prayer to God, will oftentimes have an influence of the most beneficial kind in convincing us of the vanity of the world, and in leading us to Him who is the only refuge for sinners, and the only fountain of true comfort and repose. When the mind is most distressed, and the prospect, either for this world or the next, most gloomy and appalling, the Christian who can retire to his closet, and lift up his heart to his Father which seeth in secret, meditating upon the love of God, and the grace of Christ, breathing after the influences of the Holy Spirit, and pleading the promises of the Gospel, will have a source of Divine consolation far above all that earthly prosperity can bestow. Whether, therefore, we study our best solace and enjoyment, or our spirituality of mind and "growth in grace," we shall see the propriety of accustoming ourselves to meditate as well as pray, and to drink deeply in private into those important truths of which we do not, perhaps, neglect the public acknowledgment.

III. Spiritual meditation being thus shewn to possess so much importance, it becomes necessary to 3 B

inquire into the best method of promoting and conducting it. The duty is difficult on account of the absence of those various helps which assist us in the performance of many others. Where there is nothing to arrest the outward attention, it requires a much greater effort of the mind to make spiritual things appear truly forcible and impressive. The natural senses, far from assisting us in contemplating heavenly realities, serve only to draw us away, and to make us wander from the great objects of attention. Even in the most heavenly minded Christian, the wing that is spread towards heaven soon begins to flag: how much more, therefore, in the young, the ignorant, and the inexperienced! Yet there is no just reason why even these should not derive something of the benefit attached to the duty under consideration; and with a view to effect so desirable an end a few instructions may not be unimportant.

1. If, then, we would desire our meditations to be conducive to our spiritual welfare, they should be regular and frequent. As the body is not supported and kept in vigour by an occasional repast, but by daily nourishment, so the soul also requires a stated and frequent supply of holy meditation to keep it alive and active in Divine concerns. The time and mode of our religious contemplations must indeed differ according to our opportunities of serious leisure, and the ability which God may give us for this employment: but even in the youngest, the most illiterate, and the most engaged members of society, there is no adequate excuse for omitting the duty altogether. If we do not meditate, we cannot pray aright; a wider distance will be interposed between God and us; the Holy Spirit will be grieved, and our spirituality of mind will be greatly lessened, if not entirely lost. Our conversation and intercourse with the world cannot partake of the true spirit of the Go

spel, if we do not value and cherish that spirit in our moments of retirement. We should therefore avail ourselves of every favourable season for this delightful and profitable work. But more especially should we engage in it, when the mind is more than usually drawn towards heavenly objects, when the heart is softened by distress, and when we feel most our need of a Divine Saviour, and a celestial Comforter. Upon a sick bed those often learn to meditate upon eternal concerns, who never thought of them before; but the desire of the true Christian is, in the days of health and strength, to live "the life of faith," and to walk daily with his God, in order that when affliction arises he may know whi ther to resort, and may find his heavenly Parent a God "nigh at hand, and not afar off," a very present help in time of trouble."

2. To make our meditations profitable, we should pray and strive to be enabled to conduct them with holy and devout affections. The heart needs much purification to render it fit for heavenly contemplations: it requires to be emptied of the world, and of all objects that would pollute it by their presence. There should be a solemnity when we think upon heavenly things similar to that which we should feel were an angel from heaven, or rather, were the great Judge himself to visit us, and enter into converse with us respecting our everlasting welfare. We too often lose the benefits of sacred reflection by a levity of spirit which prevents our adequately feeling the importance of the subjects in which we are engaged. Yet what can be more interesting and awful than death and judgment, heaven and hell? And what more worthy of engrossing our secret thoughts and leading us to such reflections as may be the means, by God's blessing, of our eternal salvation?

3. With a view still farther to reader our meditation profitable,

we should cultivate all the powers of the spiritual understanding, and all the graces of the renewed heart. Here there is ample and infinite scope. Whatever faith receives, meditation should lay hold of, and bring into powerful action. No devout feeling, no heavenly affection, no symptom of life towards God, or of deadness to the world, should be suffered to languish and decay. Every thing should be brought nigh, and appear in all its real importance. It does not require enlarged powers of mind, but a regenerate heart, to enable us to enter into this duty; and perhaps no person more enjoys the blessings connected with it than the poor and unlearned Christian, whose hopes are exclusively in heaven, and to whom no subject is so congenial as that of the infinite grace of God unfolded in his revealed word. This remark appears necessary to obviate the objection, that meditation and self-communion are duties that apply only, or chiefly, to the higher orders of intellect, and are of too refined and abstracted a nature for the youthful or uneducated Christian.

In affliction especially, sacred contemplation is a happy privilege, which we may all enjoy. Let us then, at such times, commune with ourselves, and inquire, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul! and why art thou disquieted within me?" Let us ascertain the cause; let us trace the evil to its source, and thus gain that self-acquaintance which such an investigation, when humbly conducted, cannot fail to produce. Let us learn our sin, our infirmity, our guilt; feel more deeply our obligations to our Redeemer; cleave to him more firmly; mixing with our meditations devout prayer, which may give them a heavenly direction, and render them conducive to our happiness and spiritual advancement.

4. In order, lastly, to render our religious meditations not only profitable, but, as it is intimated in the

text, "sweet" and delightful, we should learn to reflect upon the blessings treasured in the Gospel in connection with our own wants, and should endeavour so to ascertain the reality of our religious character as to feel that we are not uninterested spectators, but real inheritors of all that we survey. Let us contemplate with the eye of faith all the glories of heaven, and the splendours of the unseen world; let us view a propitiated Creator in his infinite Majesty, and at his right hand his ever-blessed and co equal Son returned triumphantly from his conquest over sin and death, and opening the kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Let us behold him also as a "High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and who is not only efficaciously pleading in our behalf, but is employed in sending down his Holy Spirit to "guide us into all truth," to comfort and sanctify our hearts, and to direct us in "the way that leadeth to life everlasting." Thus contemplating, in holy meditation, Him who bore our curse, whose hands and feet were pierced for our sake, and whose voice of pity and forgiveness invites us to partake of his salvation; let us deeply reflect upon all his goodness and our own ingratitude--his long-suffering and our provocation,

till those devout affections arise in our souls which may make our meditation sweet, as well as salutary, and which, while they humble us in the very dust, raise him to the throne in our hearts, and render it as much our real delight, as it is our bounden duty to do his will. Spiritual meditation thus conducted will give birth to ardent desires after God and holiness; so that we shall learn, in some humble proportion at least, to adopt the words of the Psalmist, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in compȧrison of thee;" and shall arrive at the emphatic conclusion of the Apostle, that "to live is Christ, and