the righteous is open to his reception. So that it is the sinner only who can put away the thought of God; and speak, and live, and feel as though his being were but a cunningly devised fable. The heart of such a man is a blank, as re spects the sensible presence of the Almighty: there is no throne prepared for his reception, there is no anxiety to invite his influences. God is not in all his thoughts.

Among the ideas which the words of the text appear to suggest, as connected with this subject, we may inquire,

First, into the causes of such a state of mind:

Secondly, into the evils resulting therefrom; and

Thirdly, into the method of over coming this unhappy state of cha

racter.

I. The causes of such a state of mind penetrate much deeper than may at first sight appear. When we consider mankind as he came from the hands of his Maker-in the likeness of God; perfect in soul and body; with a heart fixed in love, and gratitude, and admiration upon the great Author of all his blessings; with whom, as well as with the whole celestial world, he held daily and hourly communion-we must confess that it could be no slight cause that has effected so complete a change. To pass from constant and delightful intercourse to total forgetfulness and indifference, surely could not have happened without some marked and important step to point out the first defection. And this we find to have been in fact the case. It is nothing temporary or accidental that causes the forgetfulness of which the Psalmist complains: the evil is general and radical. It has its source in our original apostacy; it extends to us all by nature; no man is free from its influence. From the moment in which Adam plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree, a desire to avoid the presence of God entered his

soul; and a similar desire has ever since characterised his posterity. Thus we are said to live "without God in the world." We are so deeply altered and depraved, that He who is the First and the Last, the great and glorious Being who inhabiteth the praises of eternity, no longer dwells by nature in the contaminated regions of our hearts. Other gods have had dominion over us. Our lusts and passions, our evil tempers and unholy pleasures, absorb those thoughts which ought to be devoted to the Most High. The fall of man has destroyed that image in which we were created: the understanding, darkened and perplexed, no longer comprehends the Divine nature; the affections, alienated and depraved, no longer love it; the judgment no longer sets it up as the great pattern and model for our imitation. In a word, though God is ever present to us, though every thing around us testifies his power and his mercy, though in Him we live and nove and have our being, yet, such is our character and condition since the entrance of sin into the world, that we are dead to his perfections and in, sensible of his presence. We do not perceive him, because we do not love to do so. The spiritual ear is deaf, and the spiritual eye blind; the heart is cold, and the perceptions are deadened.

Thus, in a general point of view, may we trace the thoughtlessness of mankind with respect to God to the depraved state of our nature, as one of the unhappy consequences of the Fall. But subordinate to this primary and leading cause there are individual causes, which, though but results of the former, become in their turn new and fruitful causes of the same effect. The constant pressure of worldly concerns, even when lawful, tends to banish God from our thoughts. The objects that surround us, though small and of little moment in themselves, yet by their nearness

our thoughts in all his love and mercy, as exhibited in the Cross of Christ; and to feel our souls duly impressed with a sense of his inestimable Gift; is the most powerful dissuasive from sin. To the absence, therefore, or the infrequency, of these affecting considerations, or to the want of bringing them home to the conscience and rendering them practical, must be ascribed the great and universal prevalence of iniquity, Would there be so much practical unbelief in the world, if men seriously reflected on the nature and attributes of God? Would there be so much impiety, and evil passion, and falsehood, and blasphemy, if they duly reverenced Him who "is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity?" The contemplation of his wisdom and goodness, his justice and mercy, his power and glory, if sincere and habitual, would greatly tend to excite adoration, to awaken a holy fear, to strengthen our faith, and to increase our love and gratitude. The want of this consideration produces the contrary effects. We become careless and impenitent; we neglect prayer; we feel little awe of God; and hence we are easily seduced into open and gross iniquity. In fact, we are not safe an instant longer than our souls are possessed with elevated, and reverential, and admiring views of God. The first inattention to the duty of "remembering our Creator in the days of our youth" leads to "hardness of heart, and contempt of his word and command. ment;" till at length this culpable inattention-or rather this studious exclusion becomes so confirmed that not all the promises or warnings, the mercies or judgments of God, can awaken the heart to holy impressions. As the cares and avocations of the world thicken around us, the evil advances; till at length sickness and death arrive, and plunge the sinner into the immediate presence of Him whom it has been the main object of life

to forget. The result of such an entrance into eternity cannot be described or conceived; but the merited and appropriate punishment for such a life will then appear in those awful words, "I know ye not-depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" As the sinner would not retain God in his thoughts while upon earth, so his just punishment will consist in being for ever disowned and banished from the presence of God in heaven.

III. We are, thirdly, to consider the method of overcoming this unhappy state of character. In order to do so, it is necessary to feel it important to exert ourselves for this purpose. The larger part of mankind do not conceive it an object of any moment to think upon God; they are not impressed with a sense of their own interest in the subject. But where there is really a desire to perform the duty, it may not be unwelcome to suggest some of those points by the observation of which we are likely to become most interested with the topic.

1. In the first place, then, let us learn to contemplate the Almighty in the magnitude of his terrors.— There is a vague, general, indifferent, and almost unmeaning way, in which we are accustomed to think and speak of God. This rather lowers than heightens our conceptions respecting him. We ought, on the contrary, to endea. vour to realize his presence, by prominently setting before ourselves his attributes and perfections; by dwelling upon that power, that justice, that omniscience, one glance at which must necessarily engross the attention and affect the heart. A criminal feels no difficulty in keeping before his eyes the person and character of his judge, or an obedient courtier that of his prince. In like manner, we, if we thus contemplated the Almighty, should not find that the

theme was incapable of awakening and commanding attention. On the contrary, every faculty would be absorbed with fear and admiration. Seriously to view ourselves in our true light, as frail, sinful, and impotent creatures; and then to revert to that holy character of God, which is utterly opposed to all our ways and threatens our eternal punishment, could not but excite thought and inquiry. Thus viewed, the contemplation of God becomes supremely interest ing. It is not a neutral subject; it is one calculated most forcibly to arrest the mind of mar, to stop the sinner in his heedless course, and to fix itself upon the conscience by the most powerful associations. The only wonder is, that God should exist, and that we should believe in his existence and in all those awful attributes which render him "a consuming fire," and yet that we should be able to expel him for a moment from our thoughts,

2. But, in the second place, let us view God in the abundance of his love. It is true, that the former aspect is calculated to excite interest and attention; but it is by no means one that calms the heart, and renders the contemplation of the Godhead as inviting and welcome as it is salutary and important. Indeed, it is on this very account, namely, by reason of the uneasiness excited by this view of the Almighty, that men fail to reflect upon him. But in this new and equally appropriate aspect, He becomes an object on which we may look without terror; His perfections and attributes are rendered as attractive as they are majes"God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," is, of all possible themes, that which is best calculated to soothe and tranquillize the heart of a conscious sinner, who is anxious for pardon and mercy. Here the spiritual eye may repose, without be

ing dazzled by the awful glories of the Godhead. Thus we learn to unite our own interest with the contemplation of God. We behold Him as exhibited in the face of Jesus Christ; who, by assuming our na ture, and becoming a High Priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, has rendered the Godhead capable of being viewed through a medium which we can understand; and has so united the beams of mercy with the attributes of justice, that we learn to contemplate the Almighty as a reconciled Father and an all-gracious Friend. Let us, then, cultivate those affections towards God which may render our reflections upon him grateful and interesting. If we learn thus to connect our own personal salvation, our happiness here and hereafter, with the character of the Almighty, we shall not desire to be freed from his presence, but rather shall keep him ever in our thoughts, in all the endearing relations in which he has been pleased to reveal himself to man. We shall thus advance in love to him; and this love will lead to new and more endearing contemplations. We shall also be increasingly conform ed to his image; we shall grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; till at length, having made God the great object of our meditations and delight upon earth, we shall be translated into his kingdom in heaven, where we shall become perfect in knowledge, and see and know even as we are seen and known.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I HAVE been sometimes tempted to think, that the notices given us in Scripture of the heavenly state are too few and scanty, and that, if we had more complete information, we might find much advantage resulting therefrom. Upon further consideration, however, I am content with what has been dis

closed. If it had been good for us to have known more, more would doubtless have been revealed. There are many reasons against a full disclosure upon earth. "If ye believe not earthly things," said our Lord," how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" "Such knowledge is too wonderful for us:" our senses could not apprehend it, and our frames, perhaps, could not support it: we could not see God and live. Hence the descriptions of the heavenly 'city in the Apocalypse address our minds through the medium of our senses. But though our information be so limited, enough is revealed to enable us to arrive at some accurate judgment. I propose, therefore, to view a few of those aspects under which heaven is described to us in the Scriptures.

First; it is spoken of as a state of exemption from sin.Moral defilement is more or less mixing with and poisoning the most perfect condition of man upon earth; but in heaven it will be said, "These are they that have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb: therefore are they before the throne." The work of sanctification, begun and carried on in this life, will then be completed. It is expressly said, we shall see Christ as he is, and that we shall be like him; which, to one who feels the intolerable burden of sin, and its in-dwelling power, makes the very essence of the felicity of heaven.

Heaven, again, is described as deliverance from sorrow. "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." "In the world, ve shall have tribulation." The Christian has sources of sorrow be yond worldly men. His own corTuptions are a constant cause of uneasiness; and God often visits him, in mercy, with temporal afflictions beyond what others experience, who, "because they have no changes, therefore fear not God." Burnet says, that "multitudes are miserable through too quick a CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 198.

sense of a constant infelicity;" and Dr. Young, and a thousand other moralists, have said so much upon human misery, that they have left nothing to be added. But we need not travel beyond our own experience for the truth of the posi tion that "man is born to trouble;" and, if Christians, we shall readily allow that there is no person who is really happy, except in proportion as he is holy. Heaven, therefore, is the consummation of bliss, not so much because it abstractedly removes sorrow, as that it essentially perfects holiness, and assimilates us to the nature of God. Still, it is no mean part of the description of heaven that "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. The curse of sin, and its consequences, as felt in pain, sorrow, and death, will then be for ever extinguished. "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

Heaven is further described as honoured with the presence of God. "He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people; and God himself shall be with them:" they shall see him "face to face." This is a chief source of the heavenly blessedness; for "in his presence there is fulness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore."

Heaven is described as a place in which the means of grace are exchanged for eternal glory.—“I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Those instruments and assistances, so necessary upon earth, are there laid aside as useless: the manna ceases when the wilderness is passed; the scanty streams that watered the desert are absorbed in that ocean of 3 B