in the peasant's cot as in the building set apart for his service; but as we come to the sanctuary as the peculiar scene of our sacred engagements, it becomes us to do so with the deepest reverence. In the same spirit, likewise, we should leave it. Too many recross its threshold as if released from a state of painful bondage: the last intonations of the preacher's voice are the most welcome sounds that fall upon their ears during the service; and hardly are these waited for before preparation to depart begins. A council held at Agde, a city in France, A.D. 506, ordered, in one of its canons, that laymen should remain in church until the blessing was pronounced. Cæsarius, bishop of Arles, who presided at this council, observing some persons going out after the devotional services were over, to avoid hearing his sermon, cried out, "What are you about, my children? Where are you going? Stay for the good of your souls-at the day of judgment it will be too late to exhort you."

The spirit of gratitude it also becomes us to cherish in all our approaches to God: feelings of ardent thankfulness and sacred joy should pervade the heart; for the very fact that he condescends to hold intercourse with us is a pledge that he is disposed to bestow upon us all good gifts. "As for me," says the Psalmist, "I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy;" sensibly alive to the favours received from the Divine occupant, and to the blessings he is present there to impart.

"Praise Jehovah, all the world,

Serve Jehovah with joy!

Come into his presence with rejoicing,
Confess that Jehovah is God.

He has made us, and we are his,

His people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

His courts with songs of praise.

Bless him, praise his name!

For Jehovah is good, his mercy is everlasting,

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And his faithfulness from generation to generation."*

Attention to the word read or published should mark our behaviour in the house of God: the authority of the speaker, the importance of the subject upon which he treats, should banish listlessness, and rouse the intellectual faculty to a vigorous exertion of its powers. It is the "glorious gospel of the blessed God" that we hear: the miracles wrought to confirm it, the infinite value of the blood shed to procure its blessings, together with the fact that upon its reception our eternal welfare depends, combine to illustrate its powerful claims upon our notice. When worldly cares invade, when a train of thought of a foreign and extraneous nature is suggested, there should be instantaneous resistance to the intrusion: by careful discipline, that most precious gift, the power of fixing the attention continuously upon one topic may be attained; and he who would profit by his hearing, must seek and cultivate the acquirement. The bearing which the word has upon our individual character should be carefully examined; and when

Psalm c.

received as a message from God addressed to us personally, it will prove an axe" laid to the root of our corruptions, a "fire" purifying us from sinful passion, and a "hammer" breaking down our obduracy and pride. That these gracious effects may be accomplished by its instrumentality, prayer for the Divine blessing upon the ministry of the truth should be made; then, though a Paul may not plant, nor an Apollos water, but one "slow of speech," and "not eloquent," the "increase" will be given; and how little matters it by whose hand the seed is dispensed, if it germinates in the heart, and brings forth its appointed fruit!

Keep thy feet," says Solomon, "when thou goest to the house of God;" and he might have added, for the direction is equally important, "when thou leavest it," likewise. Much of the benefit which would accrue from the public services of religion, is lost by neglecting to follow them up with prayer and reflection. When vain and frivolous conversation, when the affairs of the world, succeed the ordinances of the sanctuary, it may be said that "then Satan cometh and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." The seed should be diligently imbedded in our bosoms, after it has been received; it should not be left naked to the cupidity of "every unclean and hateful bird," but be carefully guarded as a treasure too valuable to be lost, too precious to suffer the slightest spoliation.

"That," observes Lactantius, the christian Cicero,

"is not true religion which is left at the church. The holy and heavenly principles enforced or exercised there, should be carefully nourished to influence the life."

"Ahab was a king, and his treasures of gold and silver were too numerous to be counted; but possessing not the gift of prayer, he went about to seek Elias, a man who had scarce a pillow on which to rest his head, whose only garment was a squalid sheepskin."

"What prodigy is this? Inform me. Thou that inheritest mountains of gold, seekest thou the poor, the contemned Elias? 'I do,' saith he, 'for what benefit can I derive from my treasured store, while this man shutteth up the windows of heaven, and rendereth Nature's gifts unfruitful?'"

"And now, my brethren, do not we understand how much more abundantly this man was gifted than the other? As long as he continued silent, the monarch and his army were a prey to want. Oh! wondrous sight! He possessed nothing upon earth, yet his influence extended to the skies. For this reason he could bar the portals of heaven, because he had nothing upon earth. His poverty was here, his treasure there. Opening his lips alone he caused unnumbered blessings to descend. O voice commanding the springs of rain! O tongue unloosing the fetters of the cloud! O mouth distilling with the dews of heaven!"—Chrysostom, Orat. 6. On the Incomprehensible, delivered at Antioch, against the Anomaans, A.D. 387.