top is an insignificant exaltation, and the circuit of a hundred fields too narrow for his ken! A lark to be shut in, where, literally, he had not space to stretch his aching wings, and where no enlivening sunbeam, no gush of pleasant air, could reach him; where the windings of a dirty lane bounded his prospects, and the discordant din of annoying sounds alone fell on his ear. Poor bird! where in this world shall I find a suitable comparison for thee? Perhaps in him, who, having once felt that he was originally created to inhabit a higher sphere, and that his true field of enjoyment. lies far, far beyond the wretched vanities of earth, is yet so tied and bound with the chain of his sins, that he cannot break away. He has tried it in his own strength, and has been cast down wounded. He looks at the children of God in the world, and sees that they have a sunbeam shed upon them which never visits him: they can rise towards heaven, and pour wide the songs of praise which his heavy heart refuses to utter. He feels himself a captive-he longs to be free-he gazes upwards, and stands, as it were, prepared to start away; but still he moves not a step towards the accomplishment of his desire; for his prison-door is fast, and open it he cannot by any skill or power of his own. He hates his dungeon; he hates all that surrounds him of sight and sound, so uncongenial to the new nature that he begins to feel. His soul is prepared for liberty, but it is yet heavy within him; and his secret ery is,—“ I am so fast in prison, I cannot get loose." THE INFLUENCES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. IT is in the affections of the heart, and in the conduct of the life, that the effects of the Spirit's influences display themselves in the loveliest forms, and in their highest glory. Antecedently to the operations of that mighty Agent upon the soul, the breast was the seat of carnal, depraved, and malignant passions, which, at the slightest degree of irritation, were ever ready to burst into a flame. The first fruit of the Spirit is love-love towards God. Like a mass of ice melting before the warm beams of the sun, the heart-which in the state of nature is frozen into enmity against God-touched by the softening influences of the Spirit, dissolves into pure and genuine affection; the carnal mind, laying aside its hatred and dislike of his character, and its determined stubbornness of opposition to his law, is converted into a spiritual mind, which delights in the contemplation of his perfections, glows with gratitude for his kindness, and enters with alacrity into the whole plan of his government-a mind which derives the chief source of its enjoyment from the experience of his favouring presence, and draws the motives of its obedience from the fountain of redeeming love. It is also love to man. The same subordinating power which slew the enmity against God, and kindled in its stead the flame of ardent affection towards him, has also expanded, into a free exercise of every benevolent and disinterested emotion, the heart, which, under every blast of unkindress, was ready to be contracted into selfishness, or hardened into insensibility. The mind that was ever prone to regard rather with feelings of jealousy than with sincere delight the happiness and the superior advantages of others-that deemed every instance of ill treatment a justifiable ground of hatred and of ill treatment in return, and every instance of ingratitude a sufficient reason for withholding kindness-has now become generous in its principles, tender and amiable in its sympathies, and patient of injuries and persecutions. Not unconcerned for the temporal welfare of mankind, and not backward to contribute, to the utmost extent of its means, towards the promotion of their present happiness-its chief anxiety it will consider as justly due to their eternal interests. Viewing them as creatures made for immortality, its most earnest and persevering efforts will be devoted to the still more important purposes of securing (so far as its endeavours may succeed) their well-being in a world to come. Necessarily associated with this exercise of universal love, will be the other virtues, graces, and endowments of the Christian characterall blending into a soft and harmonious combination, and all flowing forth as so many streams from that spring of living waters which the Divine Spirit has opened in the heart. There joy, mingled with gratitude and elevated by hope, arising in part from the consideration of miseries escaped, and in part from the anticipation of felicities to be enjoyed-from a sense of the privileges now possessed, and of the blessedness still in reserve-triumphs as in its natural element. There peace, meek, gentle, and serene, resulting from the subjugation of the appetites and passions, from the banishment of vain and irregular desires, from a soothing persuasion of being in a state of reconciliation with God through the death and Happy mourner! escape is nigh. No fellow of thine, no created being, is permitted to loose the bonds that enchain thee; but the pitifulness of His great mercy, who has purchased thee at the price of his own blood, and whose property, therefore, thou art, will surely do so. It is He, who has directed thine upturned gaze to those regions after which thou pantest; and He, ere long, will stretch the liberating hand, and withdraw the mysterious bolt, and make thee free indeed. Then, up and away to the loftiest heights of unfettered contemplation, where the eye of carnal reason cannot pursue thee, and bid the concave echo to thy song. And then again, like the descending lark, shut close thy pinions to thy breast in shrinking self-righteousness of his Son, diffuses a calm and delightful abasement, and fall, low as the dust of the earth, to wonder at the height thou hast attained. Nestle among kindred sods of the field, until the Sun of Righteousness, casting another of his glowing beams upon thy soul, shall once more call thee heavenward, to rise, and rejoice, and make melody, in an atmosphere all thine own. composure through all the powers of the soul. There forbearance under every species of provocation, resignation to the Divine will under the most trying dispensations of Providence, and amidst the most afflicting scenes of human life, will check the first risings of anger, and silence the voice of complaint. There faith, in all the variety of its operations, will act with energy and vigour, reposing an unhesitating trust in all the declarations of Jehovah-confiding with unshaken reliance in the meritorious life and atoning death of the Redeemer as the sole and allsufficient ground of its hope of salvation-looking forward with a realising eye to the glories of a future world amid the clouds and darkness of present sufferings, and directing as a primary power the whole movements of the conduct. There the flame of devotion burns, prayer delights to make known its request, praise to offer up its incense of thanksgiving, holy contemplation to unfold its pinions, and to soar amidst scenes yet remote. There, also, the duties of temperance and self-denial, the rigid restraint within their due and appropriate bounds of the several faculties and affections of the soul, will meet with the requisite share of attention. There, in short, goodness in all its constituent principles, whether it regards God or man, whether it relates to the understanding, the heart, or the life, to the habits of the mind, or the regulation of the conduct, proves its existence, vindicates its character, and evinces its celestial origin.* THE WEANED CHILD: A Sermon, BY THE REV. WILLIAM HANCOCK, M.A. Minister of St. Paul's Chapel, Kilburn. PSALM CXXXI. 2, 3. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever." THE soul of man was created in the image of God, and was created for the knowledge, service, and enjoyment of God. Hence it was endowed with immortality, with noble and exalted faculties, and especially with cast desires, because the object of those desires was the infinite God. But in consequence of that deplorable and mysterious event, the fall, man's soul is so changed and ruined as to be entirely turned away from its right object. Its faculties are very much weakened; but its desires remain as vast as ever. Through the darkness, therefore, that has fallen upon it, it turns aside from God, and seeks enjoyment and satisfaction in things not only empty, but poisonous and destructive. According to the striking language of Scrip ture, fallen man commits two evils: he forsakes the all-sufficient God, "the fountain of living waters, and hews out to himself cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. He calls evil good, and good evil; puts darkness for light, and light for darkness; bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." The world, and the things of the world, yea, even the pleasures of sin, are the sources from whence he expects happiness, and SELF is the idol of his worship. Self-will is his only law, and self-gratification his being's end and aim. Yea, and even in his notions of religion, if he admits any, he looks not beyond SELF either as the means or the end. From the Influences of the Holy Spirit considered with special reference to the circumstances of the present times. By the Rev. J. Davies. His own virtues are to be his saviours; and the only object he has in view, the only idea. he has of salvation, is, an escape from the torments of hell, after having enjoyed as much of the world and sin as he could consistently with salvation. This is the picture of the natural man generally, however it may vary as to some parti-. culars in different characters, some turning to the right hand, and some to the left; some going more astray, and others less; but (as the Scripture saith) all turning aside, every one to his own way. It is from this state, therefore, that man must be delivered, in order either to his happiness here, or to his salvation hereafter. And this deliverance is very aptly compared by the Holy Spirit to the process of weaning a child from the mother's breast, in order that it may learn to relish that food which is appointed for its nourishment in maturer years. Take the image, therefore, of a babe at the mother's breast, as representing the soul trying to comfort and satisfy itself with the world and the things of the world. Now, we all know, that when the proper period arrives, the child must be weaned. It is a regular thing, an indispensable measure, a measure irrevocably fixed. The necessary steps, therefore, are taken, and a very trying time it is to the poor babe. He finds himself suddenly and most unaccountably cut off from that which constituted not only his nourishment but his consolation. He is banished from his mother's bosom. He sees her turned from a tender parent almost into an unkind enemy. He cries, he moans, he pines; and his poor little heart is filled with anguish to the very extent of its capacity. But is the mother the less tender? Is her conduct at all dictated by caprice in this matter? We know it dom and love to take those steps which are is not. She is directed by her maternal wisabsolutely necessary; and she is immovably settled in her purpose in spite of all the cries and tears of her beloved infant; beand therefore she perseveres, till the end is cause she knows that it is for the child's good, gained; and the child, although at first so terribly distressed, and rebelling and struggling against his hard lot, to the utmost of his puny powers of resistance, abates by degrees his violent anguish; finds it vain to resist, seeing his mother is inflexible; is compelled to submit ; and so ceases to pine after what he cannot recover, and accommodates himself to the new discipline and new diet which a superior power has appointed. Instead of milk, he now acquires a relish for strong meat; and in the strength of that meat he grows up from infancy to youth, and from youth to manhood. See here, then, O man! the spiritual discipline to which thou must be subject, and to which thou must yield, if thou art indeed a child of God and an heir of salvation. Thou must be weaned from sin, from the world, from the creature, from SELF-in order that thou mayest be brought to trust in the Lord, and in him only. Thy haughty heart must be humbled, and the loftiness of thy looks must be brought down, in order that the Lord alone may be exalted. Yes, it is to the children of God that this subject especially applies—even to them who have an interest in the promised blessings of the covenant of grace; among which blessings, parental discipline and correction hold a large and conspicuous place; as it is written: "I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten;" and so in other passages too numerous for quoting. son, or in the persons of those dear to thee as thine own self? Or is he stripping thee of thy property, and from competence and independence reducing thee to dependence and penury? Or has he been leaving thee awhile to thyself, and suffering thee to commit some folly or sin, the bitter fruits whereof thou wilt probably have to eat to the end of thy days? Is he marring all the fair designs which thou hadst formed for thine own ease and comfort, and plunging thee again into cares, and anxieties, and difficulties, from which thou hadst fondly thought thyself clean escaped? Or, while all appears fair and prosperous to the outward eye, is he secretly pouring into thy full cup some drop of such extreme bitterness as spoils the whole draught that draught which otherwise would be so very sweet? Or is he laying his hand upon thy soul, allowing the enemy to prevail, with clouds of infernal gloom cast over all thy comforts, and with such views of thine own vileness and sinfulness as at times are well nigh driving thee to despair? In whichever of these ways he may be visiting thee; or even if he were heaping all these trials on thy head at once-endeavour, O child of God, to acknowledge and kiss the parental hand. Pray for grace that thou mayest understand the process that is going on. "Consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." Thy heavenly Father is weaning thee-weaning thee from earth and SELF, in order that thou mayest be brought closer to him, to know him more, serve him better, and enjoy him better. This, then, is the purport of the trial. Acquiesce in it, O child of God! it is mad to rebel against an Almighty hand; it is vain to wish and wish things were otherwise; it is vain to quarrel with second causes-"it is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good." The process of weaning is painful and distressing; but it is indispensably ne The children of God, although born again of the Spirit, and made partakers of a divine nature, have still within them a large remnant of original corruption; and this infection of nature makes them cleave too close to earth and SELF. Although professing to have their best treasures above, they are still too rach tempted to seek for minor treasures here below; and although heaven is their home, they would fain make up a nest for a time on earth; and although desiring generally to be conformed to God's will, they still have a lurking will of their own, and are very fond of planning, carving, and contriving according to their own notions; and although pretty well convinced of their own folly and depravity, they are still very far from knowing the extent of it; and, consequently, are not yet humbled to the degree that is needful in order to qualify them for a place among the company of the redeemed in glory, and for rightly estimating the exceeding precious-cessary. It must be gone through; and the Dess of Christ. To the tried and afflicted child of God, then, would I desire to speak as one that has seen affliction: and O for "the tongue of the learned, that I might know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary!" Lord will not slacken, nor turn his hand, nor alter his purpose, to suit thy foolish fancy : "He is in one mind, and who can turn him?" He intends far better blessings for thee than any that he is taking away or withholding: уса, far better and richer than any thou couldest have wished for or thought of. Learn, then, thy duty and thy wisdom from the words and example of the Psalmist, What is the dispensation, my brother, or my sister, through which the Lord is leading thee? Is he taking from thee thy best-beloved objects, stroke after stroke? Is he dis-"Surely I have behaved and quieted my appointing all the hopes which thou hadst formed concerning this or that fallen creature; so that where thou didst expect kindness, thou meetest with unkindness, and those to whom thou hast looked for comfort have proved thy sorest plagues? Or is he visiting thee with pain and sickness in thine own per soul, like a child that is weaned of its mother: my soul is even as a weaned child." O the blessedness of him who can really and truly say this of himself! and O how blessed will be the result when completed? when idols are utterly abolished! when creatures are no longer trusted in, or looked to, as sources of happiness! when SELF is thoroughly crucified, | self-will thoroughly swallowed up in God's will! every mortal interest entirely given up, and all expectations of earthly bliss totally and cheerfully renounced, and CHRIST become ALL IN ALL-Christ, the source of happiness-Christ, the supreme disposer of every thing belonging to us-his glory the only object desired to live for, and his service the best enjoyment! What is this but heaven itself? What is this but the very mind that was in Christ Jesus? And O how beautifully it was exemplified in him! He pleased not himself. He came down from heaven, not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent him. His meat was to do it, and to finish his work. "O, my Father, if this cup may not pass from me except I drink it, thy will be done!" Pray, then, O disciple of Jesus, that this same mind may be in thee, as was also in thy Divine Master; for he has given us an example, that we should follow his steps; and he has said, "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me:" and he, who has enjoined this, is able to work it in us by his Spirit, which he gives freely to all who ask it. 66 My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." And now let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, in the concluding words of the Psalm: "Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever;" i. e. trust him, even when thou canst not trace him; remembering his gracious words, "What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." "I know the thoughts that I think towards thee: thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give thee an expected end." Say, then, "My soul, wait thou only on the Lord, for my expectation is from him." With him is no disappointment. "Humble thyself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt thee in due time-casting all thy care upon him, for he careth for thee. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he will give thee the desire of thine heart." He will cause all things to work together for good to thy soul; and if but the soul be saved, no matter what else is lost. THE DRUNKARD. "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Romans, v. 20. IN the town of there resided twelve young men, who were accustomed, early in life, to meet together for the indulgence of their appetites, by drinking and other excesses. In the course of time, some of them engaged in business; but their evil habits of intemperance were so entwined, so interwoven with their very existence, that, as might naturally have been expected, they became bankrupts or insolvents. Eight of them died under the age of forty, the victims of intemperance without a single hope beyond the grave of finding pardon from an offended God. Three others are still living in the most abject poverty; two of these had formerly moved in very respectable circumstances of life; but now they are in the most degraded state of poverty and disgrace. One man, the last of the twelve, and the worst of all, remains to be accounted for. He was a sort of ringleader - the life of the company, as it is termed - and, being engaged in the wine and spirit trade, his business was to take the head of the table at convivial parties, and to sit up whole nights, drinking to excess himself, and inducing others to do the same. He was a confirmed infidel, and a blasphemer. He had imbibed the principles of Tom Paine. He derided every thing that referred to religion; and his moral conduct, as a natural consequence, was depraved in the extreme. And yet he was, at the same time, ready to perform acts of kindness; he was generally regarded as good-natured--what the world would probably esteem a jolly and merry fellow-the enemy of nobody but himself. The world, it is to be feared, abounds with such characters; and none are more dangerous; for they too often gain an influence over the young and inexperienced. Their natural kindness tends to increase this influence. They are, in fact, the moral pests of the neighbourhood in which they dwell; and to the unhappy influence gained over his mind by persons of this description, many a wretched and ruined profligate may trace his rapid progress along the downward path of vice. This man quitted the town, and went to reside at a distance, where, for a season, he relinquished his depraved habits. He married, and, for a time, all went on prosperously; but instead of being thankful to God for his present deliverance, and praying and watching against his besetting sin, he gave way to his former propensity, and plunged his family and friends into the deepest distress. One dark night, being in the neighbourhood of Dudley, he had been drinking to excess, and in a state of intoxication he wandered out of the house, and staggered amongst the coal-pits, which are in many places left open and exposed. These he passed in safety; but the road he took went over a canal: he missed the bridge, and rolled over the bank to the edge of the water. God, who was rich in mercy, spared him in this the apparently last hour of his mortal existence; one turn more, and he would have been plunged into the water, and his disembodied spirit been ushered into the presence of the Judge of all. The arm of mercy, however, interposed his senses returned for a moment; he saw the water beneath him; he crawled back again into the road; there he was picked up, and lodged in a public-house for the night. This miraculous escape, it might have been thought would have made a deep and lasting impression upon his mind; but, no-it was viewed simply as a lucky escape; and he continued to pursue his career of sin as ardently as before. After an indulgence in drinking for some days, having come to his senses, he began to reason with himself upon his guilt and folly. His abuse of the many unmerited blessings which God had bestowed upon him, and his ingratitude for his deliverance from the jaws of death, affected his mind; but he only gave utterance to the language of despondency-"Oh, it's no use for me to repent; my sins are too great to be forgiven." He had no sooner uttered these words, however, than a voice seemed to say, most audibly, and with strong emphasis, "If thou wilt forsake thy sins, thou shalt be forgiven." He started at what he believed to be a real sound; but seeing no one, he exclaimed-.“ Surely I am going mad; I have been drinking till I am going mad; but that I heard that voice, no man shall ever dissuade me." Amazed and paralysed, not knowing what to think, he was relieved by a flood of tears; and then cried out, “ This is the voice of mercy once more calling me to repentance." He fell on his knees, and exclaimed, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" The wretched man now became broken-hearted. The malignity of sin now appeared before him in its true colours. That sin which had so long beset, nay, conquered him, and reduced him lower than the beasts that perish, must in turn be conquered, or he felt that his soul would be lost for ever. The alternative was tremendous. He began to search the Bible; that book which had so often formed the subject of his profane raillery. Here he saw that a way of escape was opened for guilty man; that a plan of mercy was accomplished, whereby a holy and just God might retain his justice unimpaired, and yet be the justifier of the sinner that believeth in Jesus. He beheld the rich display of grace and compassion which shine in every page of the word of life; and he read with feelings of transport that blessed promise, “ the blood of Christ cleanse th from all sin." He refrained from his intemperance; he commenced family prayer. For a season all went on well; hope of ultimate victory revived; but the enemy, though scared, was not vanguished. The adversary was not to be overcome by one prosperous attack: he again prevailed; and the wretched individual once more became the prey of this foul fiend. And now his feelings were dreadful in the extreme. His sin rose up before him more hideous than ever. He regarded himself as beyond the reach of mercy; as doomed to everlasting woe; as a wretch to whom the Almighty could not shew compassion; and in a moment of agony, when about to shave himself, he meditated the act of self-destruction-that very act by which the sensualist and the drunkard have often rushed into the presence of God. Again the mercy of God interposed, and the razor fell from his hand. Still the enemy pursued him, and too often gained the victory. He gave way at different times to intemperance; his constitution was undermined; his health was rapidly giving way; he was reduced to a state of great weakness, and death appeared to be very near. Not a moment was to be lost: he again cast himself at the footstool of his offended Creator, and with the most intense agony cried out, "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; Lord, be thou my helper." That prayer was heard; and a voice from heaven seemed to reply, "I will help thee; I have seen thy struggles; and I will now say to thine enemy, A phy 'Hitherto thou hast come, but no further.'" sician was consulted as to the probability or possibility of medicine being rendered effectual to stop the disposition to intemperance. The poor man would have suffered the amputation of all his limbs, could so severe a method have freed him from his deadly habit, which, like a vulture, had fastened upon his very vitals. The physician boldly declared, that if he would strictly adhere to his prescription, not only the practice, but the very inclination for strong drink would subside in a few months. At this declaration of the physician, the countenance of the poor man was visibly affected; and, grasping his adviser by the arm, he exclaimed, "O, sir, be careful how you open that door of hope; for if it should be closed upon me, I am lost for ever!" The physician pledged his credit, that if his prescription were punctually followed, the happiest results would follow also. The remedy was a preparation of steel; and eagerly was the antidote to misery swallowed, while earnest prayer was offered to the Almighty for his blessing on the means employed. He commenced taking this medicine in the first week of March 1816, and continued till the latter end of September following; and to the honour and glory of the Lord God Almighty, who sent his angel to whisper in the poor man's ear, "I will help thee;" for the glory of God be it spoken, that from the latter end of September 1816, to the present hour, not so much as a spoonful of spirituous liquor, or wine of any description, has ever passed the surface of that oncewretched man's tongue. The life once dedicated to the indulgence of depraved appetites, is now spent in seeking to further the glory of God, and the temporal and eternal welfare of man. The individual has written a tract, of which upwards of one hundred thousand copies have been sold, the design of which is to call sinners to repentance; and while he adores that unmerited grace which pitied him in his low and lost estate, he seeks to warn his fellow-sinners to flee from the wrath to come, and, in this, the day of grace and merciful visitation, to turn to that God who will have mercy upon them, and, notwithstanding their manifold transgressions, will, through the merits of the Lord Jesus, "abundantly pardon." The above most affecting narrative is calculated to convey much most important instruction. It speaks in language of solemn warning; it depicts in the strongest colours the agonies of a wounded spirit; it testifies the truth of the declaration, that the way of transgressors is hard but it holds forth most gracious encouragement to all who will betake themselves to God in the hour of calamity, and cast their care upon him"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." It will be said, perhaps, that the medicine prescribed by the physician produced the desired effect of restoring the tone of the invalid's system, and would have done so without the blessing of God being implored at all; but could any thing, we may ask, short of the transforming grace of God, have wrought the change in the man's disposition, or enabled him to persevere in the course on which he had set out? It appears, in fact, to be an instance of the mighty efficacy of prayer. The cry for deliverance entered the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, the |