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CONCLUSION.

IN the course of the preceding illustrations and records of the duties of devotion, we have had occasion to observe a practical attention to them in the life of the Saviour-THE CHRISTIAN PATTERN; we have noticed Him observing the Sabbath, reading the Scriptures, attending public worship, engaging in prayer and praise, and at the morning and evening sacrifice performing the offices of piety. "Learn of me," is still his injunction to his followers, as it was to the thousands gathered around him in the wilderness of Judea: he teaches by his example; and, studying its holy and attractive character, we are instructed how to "behave wisely in a perfect way." The path of spiritual prosperity is not of difficult discovery. "Walk even as Christ also walked." The record of his life is a pillar of fire and cloud, conducting those who follow it to the "land of uprightness." If in any humble degree we "walk with God," as he did-if we love the habitation of his house, and prize the hour of devotional retirement-we shall not be "barren nor unfruitful," but "abound in every good word and work." The throne of grace will exercise a magnetic influence upon the seeking and waiting soul, detaching it from the vanities of earth, and directing

its desires and tendencies towards the sublime realities of heaven: association with God will produce conformity to "his own image," which will be confirmed and increased according to the constancy of the intercourse, and the degree of the intimacy.

It should be the grand aim of every Christian, to "set the Lord (Christ) always before him," and to seek the unction of the Holy One; "to purify himself even as he is pure." Parental care should also be early occupied in making the youthful mind acquainted with him, who, when a "child, grew in favour with God," and who, in the maturity of his days, expressly commanded a group of Jewish children to be brought unto him, that he might bless them. The duties of personal and family religion being thus observed, gracious principles will grow with our growth, and strengthen with our strength; life will advance in piety as it advances in duration; and if "grey hairs" are seen upon us, they will be " a crown of glory, being found in the paths of righteousness."

The duties of devotion are the most sublime occupations in which intelligent creatures can engage; for when melody is made with the heart unto the Lord,-when prayer is fervent and effectual,it is not "bodily exercise" that is offered: the creature sinks into nothingness, and the Creator is all in all; there is Divinity within us, holding communion with Divinity without us. If, as the Scriptures assert, God" worketh in us both to will and to do;" if he takes up his abode with us; if

the soul becomes his temple; then true prayer and praise are his interior movements, - God in action in the inner man, seeking God in gracious manifestation. It is a profound observation of Tholuck's, that "in those moments when the soul turns with deepest ardour to its original, it is not that which is human in man that rises God-ward, but the Divine Spirit in the human breast which seeks to meet God." He illustrates this sentiment by a reference to the Letters of Plato, preserved in Origen, who seems to have had some idea of the christian doctrine of the indwelling of the Deity. Intimations of this noble truth of divine revelation frequently appear in the writings of the close thinkers of eastern climes. Thus, at the opening of that extraordinary poem, The Methnewi, its author, Dschelaleddin Rumi, exclaims ::

"Now from the body's thraldom broke the spirit daringly:
Ha! 'tis the scent of Joseph's robe * I feel approaching nigh!"

Of a Mohammedan saint, Dakuki, he thus sings:

"O never think a prayer like this like other prayer; for know
It is not mortal man, but God, from whence the accents flow.
Behold, God prays! the lowly saint stands deep abashed the while;
And God who gave the humbled mind, upon his prayers will smile."

This is the sublime sentiment which the apostle discloses in the memorable passage: "the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered:" a fact which, whenever

The symbol of Deity.

D D

realized, may minister consolation to the pious mind, involving in it, as it does, the assurance, that all the high and important purposes of prayer are answered, even when nothing objective is attained by it. This is finely expressed in the Methnewi, in a passage which displays a profound acquaintance with Experimental theology.

"Allah! was all night long, the cry of one oppressed with care,

Till softened was his heart, and sweet became his lips with prayer.
Then near the subtle tempter stole, and spake, 'Fond babbler, cease,
For not one, Here am I, has God ere sent to give thee peace.'
With sorrow sank the suppliant's heart, and all his senses fled,
But, lo! at midnight, Chiser* came, and gently spake and said,
'What ails thee now, my child, and whence art thou afraid to pray !
And why thy former love dost thou repent, declare and say.'

Ah!' cries he, Never once to me, spake God, Here am I, son;
Cast off, methinks, I am, and warned far from his gracious throne.'
To whom, Elias, Hear, my son, the word from God I bear,

Go tell he said-yon mourner sunk in sorrow and despair,
Each Lord appear thy lips pronounce, contains my Here am I,
A special messenger of love I send, beneath thine every sigh.
Thy love is but a girdle of the love I bear to thee,

And sleeping in thy Come, O Lord, there lies, Here, Son, from me.""

"Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace," seeking "a right way for us, and our little ones;" for "the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him." If, in the spirit of faith, humility, and reverence, the means of grace, public and private, are used, they will be conduits of heavenly influence to the soul, communicating strength to its weakness, comfort to its sorrows, and peace to its fears; making it as a

* The name of Elias, whom the Easterns regard as the counsellor of

mankind.

well-watered garden, rich with the fruits and fragrant with the odours of holiness. The same word that promises the "dew unto Israel," declares that, as a consequence of its reception, "he shall grow as the lily, and spread forth his roots as Lebanon." Habits of devotion here will prepare for loftier engagements hereafter; Sabbath services will become heavenly preparations; the sanctuary below will be the portal to the sanctuary above; and ultimately, as one of old finely remarks, "our churches will be exchanged for thrones, and our chapels for seats placed before the Lamb, in the eternal temple of the celestial Jerusalem."

THE END.

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL.