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Pray in Christ's name.

them: you are losing those great principles which make character good, great, and stable, and you are losing opportunities which are passing away rapidly, and whose misimprovement will hereafter bring down great anguish upon you.

(4.) Offer your prayers in the name of Jesus Christ.

He is the only Mediator between God and man. He it is who sits with the golden censer in his right hand, and who ever lives to intercede for us. He is a great and a merciful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. We have no righteousness of our own; we can have no confidence in offering prayer in our own names. But he who has most of the spirit of Christ; who comes near to him in his contemplations and devotions; who has the most exalted views of the Redeemer, and the most abased views of himself,—will enjoy most at the throne of grace. Your prayers will be cold unless they go from a heart warmed by his love. Your petitions will not be fervent unless you feel your need of an almighty Saviour. The songs which are the loudest and sweetest in heaven, we are told, are kindled by the exhibitions which he has made, of what he has done for us.

(5.) Ask the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

When God directs us to pray, it is not that he may sit at a distance, and, in the coldness of a sovereign

Ask for the Holy Spirit.

monarch, hear our prayers, and receive our homage; but it is, that we may draw ourselves near to him, as one in a boat, with a boat-hook, would not draw the shore to the boat, but the boat to the shore. His promise of the Holy Spirit to those who ask him, was sincere; and no gift can be compared to this. All that is done for man in the way of calling his attention to eternal things, sanctifying the heart, and preparing the soul for the service of God here and hereafter, is done by the Holy Spirit as the agent. Solemn warnings are given in the Bible lest we should abuse this last, best gift of Heaven. He is the Sanctifier to purify your heart, the Comforter to sustain and cheer in life and in death. Ask his assistance, and you will be shielded from temptation, trained for usefulness here, enlightened in your views, expansive in your feelings, pure in your aims, contented in your circumstances, peaceful in your death, and glorious in immortality beyond the grave.

CHAPTER X.

THE OBJECT OF LIFE.

How many imaginary

How many beautiful visions pass before the mind in a single day, when the reins are thrown loose, and fancy feels no restraints! How curious, interesting and instructive would be the history of the workings of a single mind for a day! joys, how many airy castles, pass before it, which a single jostle of this rough world at once destroys! Who is there of my readers who has not imagined a summer fairer than ever bloomed,-scenery in nature more perfect than was ever combined by the pencil,— abodes more beautiful than were ever reared,honors more distinguished than were ever bestowed,homes more peaceful than were ever enjoyed,-companions more angelic than ever walked this earth,and bliss more complete, and joys more thrilling than were ever allotted to man? You may call these the dreams of the imagination, but they are common to the student. To the man who lives for this world alone, these visions of bliss, poor as they are, are all that ever come. But good men have their anticipations-not the paintings of fancy, but the realities I which faith discovers. Good men have the most

Our visions a test of character.

Visions of good men.

vivid conceptions. Witness those of old. As they look down the vale of time, they see a star arise,— the everlasting hills do bow, the valleys are raised, and the moon puts on the brightness of the sun. The deserts and the dry places gush with waters. Nature pauses. The serpent forgets his fangs; the lion and the lamb sleep side by side, and the hand of the child is on the mane of the tiger. Nations gaze till they forget the murderous work of war, and the garments rolled in blood. The whole earth is enlightened, and the star shines on till it brings in everlasting day. Here are glowing conceptions, but they are not the work of a depraved imagination. They will all be realized. Sin and death will long walk hand in hand on this earth, and their footsteps will not be entirely blotted out till the fires of the last day have melted the globe. But the head of the one is already bruised, and the sting is already taken from the other. They may long roar, but they walk in chains, and the eye of faith sees the hand that holds the chains.

But we have visions still brighter. We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. No sin will be there to mar the beauty, no sorrow to diminish a joy, no anxiety to corrode the heart, or cloud the brow. Our characters may be tested, in part, by our anticipations. If our thoughts and feelings are running in the channel of time, and dancing from one earthly bubble to

The youth returning from a whaling voyage.

another, though our hopes may come in angel-robes, it is a sad proof that our hearts are here also.

Is there any thing of weakness in these hopes of good men? Are we not continually seeking rest for the soul? A few years ago, a youth went up to the mast-head of a large whale-ship, and there sat down to think. He was the only child of his mother, and she a widow. He had left her against her wishes and remonstrances, her prayers and tears. He had for many years been roaming over the seas, and was now returning home. He was thinking of the scenes of his childhood, all the anxious hours which he had cost that mother, all the disobedience on his part, and that love on hers which no waters could quench. Would she be sleeping in the grave when he once more came to her door? Does his home still look as it used to? -the tree, the brook, the pond, the fields, the grove,

-are they all as he left them? And his mother,— would she receive him to her heart, or would she be sleeping in death? Would she recognize her longabsent boy, and forgive all his past ingratitude, and still love him with the unquenchable love of a mother? And may he again have a home, and no more wander among strangers? The pressure of these thoughts was too much. He wept at the remembrance of his undutifulness. Troubles and hardships did not break his spirit, did not subdue his proud heart; but the thoughts of home, of rest, of going

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