burthen :-people who feel no burthen have no occasion to come to Christ. Not being troubled, they can do very well without Him. The time, however, will come, when they will discover, all at once and perhaps too late, the real offensiveness of sin, and the real burthen of their own sins of commission and of omisssion. If they have not found it out before Christ shuts too the door, by closing their account in preparation for his coming, they never will get rid of their burthen in all eternity, but must bear it for ever in outer darkness.

But ALL who feel the burthen of sin Jesus Christ invites to come to Him. He shews them the power of His atonement to remove the condemnation due to their sins, and so sprinkles the conscience with his blood: and he sends them the gift of His Holy Spirit, and thus enables them to resist the influence of sin. To such He gives REST. (Rom. v. 1; viii. 1. Heb. x. 22.)

COMPENDIUMS OF SERMONS, No. II.
TEXT-ACTS xi. 23.

It is a proverbial saying, that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions;" because many persons, whose hearts are set upon following a sinful course, deceive themselves by considering certain good intentions to reform, which they occasionally make, as evidence of better things which they set off against their sinful conduct; and thus their supposed good intentions become, as it were, a pavement to smooth their road to de

struction.

If good intentions may be called the pavement of the road to hell, good resolutions may often be said to be the mile-stones on that road; for many persons could mark the various divisions in their course along the "broad road," by the good resolutions which, from time to time, they have made, in order to quiet their consciences.

Resolutions stand in the same relation to intentions, as oaths do to simple promises. A resolution is an intention to which we solemnly pledge onrselves: being, however, ourselves the persons who take our own pledges.

As good resolutions are found by experience to be so often broken, many people think it better not to make any resolutions at all: but this opinion is neither wise nor reasonable; as will plainly appear if we apply the same to intentions.-Good intentions are found by experience to be so often, not only useless, but evil in their consequences, that it has become a proverb that the road to hell is paved with them: yet every Christian has good

intentions; and would be very wrong not to intend to do well, because self-deceived "fools turn intentions into evil. The difference is, that the Christian has good intentions in order to put them into practice, and bring them into use :—1 -the "fool" has good intentions, and is satisfied with having them, without using them. The one is like a rich man, who finds the benefit of his wealth by spending it properly:-the other is like a miser who starves while he has his wealth locked up in a chest. The one makes use of his good intentions to keep his conscience awake and watchful: the other keeps his good intentions for the purpose of keeping his conscience asleep and quiet under sin.

The same may be said, in a still stronger degree, of good resolutions; which are the means of pledging the conscience more decidedly to the right course: though they may be made the means of appeasing the conscience for a time, upon the occasion of sudden starts, only to put it more effectually to sleep afterwards.

Really good resolutions can only be formed under the teaching of the Holy Spirit; and can only be kept through a supply of His strength.

We may understand how to form good resolutions, by considering the exhoration of Barnabas in the Text. Having been sent by the Christians at Jerusalem to inquire and bring an account of the conversions which had taken place at Antioch; he found the state of the Church there such as made him greatly rejoice and before leaving them he exhorted them all to cleave unto the Lord with purpose of heart. Purpose here means, a settled determination ; an intention resolved upon; -a Resolution.

This Scripture exhortation to make a good resolution explains to us what a good resolution is; and shews us how to form such

a one.

It is not, 1st. A purpose of fear.

It often happens that sinners are checked in their course by something which gives them an opportunity of looking over the edge of the precipice on which they are constantly walking; and a glimpse into the state of things beyond the grave alarms them greatly. It may be a dangerous sickness; or (which is the same thing) a sickness thought to be dangerous by the sick man or it may be a very narrow escape from death by some accident: or it may be an awakened feeling under some earnest and arousing warning of God's word, or by God's Ministers. Under the alarm thus produced, many persons have made very good resolutions: but none ever keep resolutions which were only purposes of feur.

It is not, 2ndly, A purpose of mind.

Many persons, when not under the power of temptation, are very clearly

sense.

convinced of the evil of their besetting sins; and without any special impulse of fear, they deliberately make up their minds that a certain course is wrong; and they resolve that they will not continue in that course. This is an intellectual resolution, formed under the influence of plain common Satan is not unwilling to permit such resolutions to be made; because they increase the sinfulness of any sin, without in the least hindering indulgence in it. The impulse to sin does not take its rise in the mind :— sin is not a matter of argument with the sinner, but a matter of feeling; and, when a fitting temptation comes, a flood of feeling will overflow the mind readily, and will drown all the reasonable resolutions that had their birth there. Under the impulse the sin is indulged-the resolution is broken; and the remembrance of it is only a source of increased wretchedness to the sinner; and an humbling and provoking witness against himself.

But it is, 3dly, a purpose of heart.

The power of sin lies mainly in its possession of the will;-when the heart is with it, then it rules, and brings the wretched sinner into bondage. When the heart is not with it—when an alteration has taken place in the will, the intentions, the desires-then sin may and does attack us, but it is from without, and at a disadvantage. Through weakness-or through the secret treachery which very long remains" even in the regenerate"-sin does much damage, and gets many partial advantages, even after the heart has been given to the Lord. It is in such a case that making good resolutions may be considered like posting sentinels upon the walls of a fortress while the enemy is before it. A purpose of heart to resist any sin, the temptation to which is likely to be dangerous, must arise from a real hatred of the sin; a real desire after the opposite virtue; and a real sense of weakness. Such a purpose is a good resolution; and, being made in humble dependence on the Holy Spirit, His help to keep it may be sought, and will be granted.

The advantages of making such resolutions or purposes of heart are two-fold.

1st. It makes us define to ourselves the point of our danger from our besetting sins. These have great advantage over us from the difficulty which often exists of saying exactly what is the thing we ought to guard against. To make a resolution we must define this precisely, in order that we may resolve to avoid it.

2ndly. It adds the solemnity of a pledge to the serious intentions and desires of the heart which is really struggling against sin. Upon the same principle that God condescended to add an oath to his promise (Heb. vi. 16—18), a Christian may, with advantage, pledge himself, by a defined resolution, to fulfil his general intention of resisting sin.

The beginning of a New Year is a season well suited for the formation of such purposes of heart; especially upon those points, by watchful attention to which we may be enabled the more earnestly to "cleave unto the Lord."

The

way

30

TEXT PAPER, No. I.

to use time. (The close of the year.)

TEXT.-Psalm xc. 12.

Ths 90th Psalm was written by Moses. God had said that all the adult people should die in the wilderness, in the course of forty years, because of their murmuring and unbelief. This Psalm expresses the feelings under that sentence. Compare Numb. xiv. 22—39, with 1 Cor. x. 1—12.

At this season consider the Text in two ways.

I. As to the NUMBERING of our days.

1. We must he TAUGHT to number them.. Prov. xix. 20. Eccles. viii. 5. Psalm xxxix. 4.

2. What DAYS we are to number.

Not the future. Psalm xxxix. 5, 6. James iv. 13—15. Luke xii. 20.

The present. Eccles. ix, 10. Rom. xiii. 11. Eph. v. 16. II. As to the PURPOSE for which we are to number them.

1. To apply our HEARTS. Rom. x. 10.

Heb. iii. 15-19.

2. The WISDOM to which we must apply them.

Eccles. vi. 3, 4.

Not this world's wisdom. Matt vi. 19-21. 1 Cor. i.

19, 20. Rom. xii. 2. James. iii. 13-16.

The wisdom that is from above. Jas.iii, 17. Matt.vii.24-27.
Christ is Wisdom. 1 Cor. i. 30. Prov. viii.

QUESTIONS.-To what do I apply my heart?

Do I consider the shortness and uncertainty of time? Am I more prepared to stand before Christ at the end of this year, than I was at the beginning of it?

TEXT PAPER, No. II.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

TEXT.-1 Cor. xi. 23-25.

Our Lord, having appointed the Sacrament of His Supper on the evening before his death, thought it right to include the continuance of this ordinance in the instructions he gave miraculously to Paul, after his conversion. The LORD'S SUPPER must be considered,

I. As regards the LORD who appointed it.

1. It is HIS PLEDGE of a covenant.

Heb. viii. 6-10; ix. 11—15. 2. It is HIS COMMAND.

23, 24.

1 Cor. x. 16. Heb. vi. 18.

Mark xiv. 22-24. John xiv. 21,

II. As regards those who receive it.

1. It is an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that they deserve God's wrath. John xix. 37. Isaiah liii. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 24. Psalm li. 3, 16, 17. 2. It is a REMEMBRANCE of the atonement. Luke xxii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 26.

3. It is a RENEWAL of the covenant. Psalm cxvi. 12-14. John iii. 33. 1 Cor. x. 21. Psalm 1. 5, 14—22.

QUESTIONS.

For those who are not Communicants.

1. Why have I hitherto neglected to obey the Lord Jesus Christ in partaking of His Supper.

2. How can I excuse this neglect?

3. Is it reasonable to suppose, that if I refuse Christ's pledge, he will fulfil it to me?

4. Or, that if I disobey His command, He will consider me as His servant?

5. Will not the same state of mind that keeps me from the the Lord's Supper now, be likely to keep me from the Lord's presence hereafter?

For those who are Communicants.

1. In what frame of mind do I go to the Lord's Table ?

2. Do I discern His body as a pledge that He has borne the charge and punishment of my sins?

3. And as a pledge of His covenant to "create a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me?"

4. Do I put away all self-righteous thoughts, and heartily acknowledge my sins?

5. Have I a sincere intention of obedience when I renew my Vows?

7. Have I a charitable, kind, and forgiving disposition towards all men, without excepting my greatest enemy?

(The Proverb No. I, will appear in the next Number.)

THE PASTOR'S REMEMBRANCER.

The faithfulness of a minister is apparent in this, that he not only advances his Master's glory, but promotes with all his power, the benefit and safety of the people committed to him. This they do by watching over the flock; by distributing to them the food of their souls seasonably; by dispensing milk to babes, and strong meat to the more advanced; and, to sum up all in a word,