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Begin the year with pious and personal dedication -and say, with David, "Lord, I am thine; save me." Through Him, who is the way, yield yourselves unto God. It is your reasonable service. He has infinite claims to you. You will never be truly your own till you are his.

Begin the year with relative religion; and if the worship of God has never been established in your family, now commence it—and say, with Joshua," As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord." A family without prayer, is like a house without a roof. It is uncovered and exposed: and we know who has threatened to pour out his fury upon the families that call not upon his Name.

Begin the year with fresh concern to be usefuland ask, with Saul of Tarsus, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Let me look at my condition; my resources; my opportunities. How can I glorify God and promote the welfare of my fellow-creatures? Is there not a Bible to spread? Are there not Missionaries to support? Are there none perishing for lack of knowledge that I can instruct? Have I no irreligious neighbours to reclaim? Are there no poor to relieve? No widows and fatherless to visit?

Begin the year with more conduct in the arrangement of your affairs-and resemble Ezra and his brethren, who "did according to the custom, as the duty of every day required." God has said, let every thing be done decently, and in order. Much of your comfort will arise from regularity in your meals, in your devotions, in your callings; and your piety will be aided by it. Have a place to receive every thing; an end to simplify it; a rule to arrange it. Leave nothing for the morrow that ought to be discharged to-day: sufficient for each period will be its own claims; and your mind ought to be always at liberty to attend to fresh engagements.

Finally. Time, this short, this uncertain, this allimportant time, upon every instant of which eternity depends, will not allow of our trifling away any of

its moments. Resolve therefore to redeem it. Gather up its fragments, that nothing be lost. Especially rescue it from needless sleep; and if you have hitherto accustomed yourself to the shameful indulgence of lying late in bed, begin the new year with the habit of early rising; by which you will promote your health, and improvement of every kind, and live much longer than others in the same number of days-and say, with David, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up."

And if this be your determination, the season will be the date of your happiness; and God himself says, "From this day will I bless you."

JAN. 2.-" I will surely do thee good."

Gen. xxxii. 12.

THIS is a blessed assurance with which to enter a new year, not knowing what a day may bring forth. But what have we to do with this promise? It was indeed given immediately to Jacob; but it equally belongs to every Israelite indeed; for He never said to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me, in vain. Promises made on particular occasions are intended for general use and advantage. Paul, referring to the words with which God had encouraged Joshua, applies them to the believing Hebrews: "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." And Hosea, alluding to God's intercourse with Jacob even at Bethel, says, "And there He talked with us."

The very brevity of the promise is a recommendation. We complain of our memories; but surely

we can retain these six golden words, " I WILL SURELY DO THEE GOOD." It is also the better for being indefinite. Some promises ensure an individual blessing: but we are a mass of wants; and this assurance is a comforter that meets every fear, every anxiety, every wish. It sets the mind completely at rest with regard to any possible contingencies. It tells us to be "careful for nothing." It enjoins us to "cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us." But though, specifying nothing in particular, the promise leaves our hope to range at large-yet it is to keep within the compass of our real welfare. They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. "I will surely do thee good."

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Now the meaning of this assurance must be understood, or else we shall find it impossible to harmonize it with experience. The people of the world have often reproached those who profess to be the blessed of the Lord, with their poverty and distress; and have asked, "Where is now your God?" And they themselves have sometimes been perplexed and dismayed. Gideon said, "If God be with us, why then is all this evil befallen us?" And Jacob said, "All these things are against me." In an agreeable mansion, and enjoying all the comforts of life, no difficulty may be felt from the language of God: but what is Joseph in prison? what is Job among the ashes? what is he who says, all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning? what is he to make of the promise-" I will surely do thee good?" We must confide in the judgment of God, and distrust our own.

We are short-sighted; and easily imposed upon by appearances; and know not what is good for us in this vain life, which we spend as a shadow. But He cannot be mistaken. A wise father will choose far better for his infant, than the infant can choose for himself. We must always distinguish between what is pleasing and what is profitable. Correction is not agreeable to the child; yet it is so good for him, that he who

spareth the rod, hateth his son. Medicine is unpalatable; but it is good for the patient, and renewed health will more than reconcile him even to the expence of it. The vine-dresser does the tree good, not by suffering the wanton shoots to grow on, draining the sap, but by pruning it, that it may bring forth more fruit. What said David? "It is good for me"-that I have prospered? that I have risen from obscurity? that I conquered Goliath? that I got such a victory in the Valley of Salt? No: but, It is good for me-that Doeg impeached me, that Saul hunted me like a partridge on the mountains, that Absalom drove me from my palace, that Shimei cursed me on the hill, that sickness brought down my life to the ground: "it is good for me that I have been afflicted."-We must also look to the conclusion of events. Things good in themselves, with regard to us, may result in evil: and things evil in themselves, may issue in good. Abraham spake according to our present estimations, when he said to the rich man, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus evil things." But had we known them both before death, and been assured that so soon would the one have been comforted, and the other tormented, we should have judged the poverty and distresses of Lazarus to have been the "good things," and the wealth and luxury of the rich man the "evil things." All is ill that ends ill: and all is well that ends well.

But let us believe the truth of this declaration. There are four steps by which we may reach the conclusion. The first regards his sufficiency. He is able to do us good. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. There is no enemy but he can conquer; no exigency but he can relieve. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. The second regards his inclination. He is disposed to do us good. His love is not only real, but passes knowledge. He feels towards us as his jewels, his friends, his children, his bride.

He rests in his love, and joys over us with singing.-The third regards his engagement. He is bound to do us good. We have not only his word, but his oath ; an oath sworn by himself, because he could swear by no greater; and confirmed by the blood of an infinite sacrifice.-The fourth regards his conduct. He has done us good. We have had complaints enough to make of others; but of Him, we are compelled to say, "Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord." His goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our lives. How often has he turned the shadow of death into the morning!

But when I look at the cross, I see that he has done already far more than remains to be done. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

JAN. 3.-" And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." Jos. v. 12.

THIS cessation of the manna is one of the several remarkable occurrences at the crossing of the river Jordan. God is every thing to his people. In the wilderness they had no path-way; but he led them in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. They were in danger; but he was their defence. They had no abode; but he was their dwelling-place. They had no water; but he gave them streams in the desert. They had no provision; but he rained down manna around their tents. So that what nature refused, Providence furnished; and what could not be derived from the ground came from the clouds.

When the supplies they brought with them from Egypt were spent, they feared they were going to

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