in kindness and love. Some seem to be in a peculiar manner born for strife-birds of the storm, whose chosen elements are the swelling surge and the roaring wind. To them, every occasion becomes a subject of quarrel; their anger is easily excited, and, if not actually hurried to acts of violence, their tongue becomes voluble with abuse.

We cannot conceive it to be possible, that persons thus characterized should be subjects of divine grace. Religion may consist with infirmities of temper; but not, we conceive, with a contentious spirit habitually indulged. The Holy Spirit flies from the scenes of noise and strife. If it is not consistent with personal piety, which implies self-control, neither can there be family religion where there are continual family bickerings; nor spirituality in a church, whose members contend with each other in the spirit of the world. He that would cultivate intimate communion with God, will rather suffer unjustly than contend.

Beside the domestic discord which is unhappily so common, the world is full of strife and litigation. Thousands are slaughtered by their fellows on the field of battle; and even when disputes are not settled in a manner so inhuman, we find men, on the most trivial occasions, avenging their injuries by summoning each other before the civil tribunals. All the multifarious provisions of human laws have become necessary, through the prevalence of this disputatious temper; and for its suppression, our Lord directed his disciples to cultivate forbearance and meekness—“ I say unto you, that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if a man will sue thee at the law,

and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain."

While we cannot be too earnest in dissuading men from personal strifes, or a too eager defence of themselves and property from slight injuries, we have no right to place the interests of God's truth and kingdom in the same category with our own personal rights. The latter may be waived and sacrificed for the sake of peace, but not the former. We are to contend earnestly, though not violently, for the faith once delivered to the saints, and we are to do it in the spirit of saints. It is possible for persons, under pretext of zeal for the glory of God, to indulge their own unhallowed passions. To contend for the faith is, on all suitable occasions, to manifest a firm adherence to the truth, engage in its defence, and cheerfully to suffer persecution, rather than by unwarrantable compliance and compromise, to sacrifice it. We insult God, if we suppose the safety of his cause requires the manifestation of an angry temper, or the use of reproachful language. Controversialists, even where they are in the right, as to the subject matter in dispute, may do infinite mischief to the cause of truth, by mingling their own unsanctified tempers in its defence; or by contending merely for victory, or in other words, for their own glorification. Let it be remembered, that a kind regard for the welfare of an adversary, may well consist with an unflinching opposition to his errors.

My soul, dost thou appreciate the divine rule to "follow peace with all men," and impose a restraint upon thyself, lest thou shouldst be involved in the

angry strifes of men? Be not too jealous of thy dignity, as if it would suffer by innocent compliance. Strife cannot exist without parties to supply the fire with fuel; take heed that thou be not one of the parties. Under provocation, let thy tongue be restrained, and let the law of kindness be in thy heart. The more perfectly thou art sanctified, the less disposition will there be to contend; and as thou art a follower of the Prince of Peace, let the whole frame of thy temper evince this holy alliance. Did not thy Saviour leave his peace with thee? and wilt thou let it be disturbed by the petty broils of earth? Be a peacemaker, and strive to live in an atmosphere undisturbed by the storms of strife. If thou art called to contend for God's truth, do it faithfully, do it at a self-sacrifice, but without the intermingling of bad passions. There is one strife, my soul, in which thou mayest engage with feelings of implacable revenge against thy adversaries; it is the strife with thine own lusts. Here there should be no friendship, no compromise, no truce, nought but exterminating war. Thou must fight the fight of faith, or lose thy reward. One other strife awaits thee, it will be the last. Death is to be encountered; the struggle may be fierce and painful, but be not affrighted; thy Lord has conquered and ascended, and through him thou also shalt triumph, and be enabled to exclaim, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

GUILTY APPREHENSIONS.

THE wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous
are bold as a lion.

THE richest inheritance on earth is "a conscience void of offence towards God and man," and the most terrible, the apprehension arising from a consciousness of guilt. It was a satisfaction to the holy apostle, that he could say, "we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man ;" and with equal explicitness, "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." It is true, he had through "ignorance and unbelief" once been a persecutor of the truth; but he could acquit himself of intentional crime. This was no pharisaical boast; he did not pride himself in his goodness, or look to it as a ground of justification; on the contrary, he esteemed all that he had done as loss for Christ's sake, and renouncing self, he gloried only in the cross. Still it was to him, as it would be to every other good man, a subject of gratulation and pleasing reflection, that he had uniformly aimed to maintain a good conscience. The saints redeemed and sanctified as they are, enjoy a still sweeter tranquillity, if, in their unregenerate state, they were restrained from flagrant sins. Even in them joy receives a check if accompanied by recollections of heinous sins against God and their fellow-men.

How painful, on the other hand, is a guilty conscience

which has never been purged by the blood of atonement! If the remembrance of the past only brings scenes of transgression before us, and the images of those we have grievously injured rise up to haunt us, how can we enjoy peace of mind? How torturing, for instance, is the apprehension of one conscious of having committed a fraud, the detection of which would blast his reputation and make him an outcast from society! And how timid, shrinking, affrighted, the conscience which has upon it the guilt of murder ! Suicide is often preferred, as an alternative, to such intolerable apprehension.

If guilt fears detection in this world, and unmans the spirit, how much heavier its burden, when the sinner is brought to realize his accountability to God, the righteous and terrible Judge, who will by no means clear the guilty! The impenitent sinner may, in the days of health, assume an air of indifference and defiance; but when the stern messenger of death approaches, what scorpion-lashes does conscience often inflict, what terrors hover over his dying pillow, and with what dismay does he look forward to the dread eternity into which he is soon to be hurried! Did he possess worlds, these worlds would be eagerly exchanged for a release from his guilty apprehensions. Surely not only the end, but the way of the transgressor is hard.

My soul, if thou hast been so far restrained in the years of thy impenitence, as to have escaped the grosser vices, for this thou shouldst be thankful; and still more so, if by the blood of sprinkling, conscience has been purged and its accusations silenced. Hast thou peace? See to it, that it is one which neither death nor judgment can disturb. Daily go to the