Let these reflections reconcile me to that situation of life in which the Lord hath placed me, and may I be daily proving to myself and others, by a holy life and conversation, that I am of the seed of Abraham by faith, and an heir according to the promise. Gal. iii. 29.

Art has now laid aside her implements. The ponderous hammer, raised by the nervous arm of the smith, is heard no more on the anvil Business has laid by his pen, and left many an account unclosed; and the well frequented shop is shut: As it is with the seller, so it is with the buyer. All are gone to rest; and the taker of usury, and the giver of usury, are alike rich in sleep: And so shall they be in the grave.

Think on this, ye worldlings, and let the thoughts of it moderate your affection to the things of earth; knowing that in a very little, your poorest neighbours shall be as wealthy as you. In order to induce you to this, ye whose coffers are now full, and acres, perhaps, almost innumerable, consider what a

great account you will have to make for the wealth you are entrusted with, and how small a portion of land you must occupy at last.

The accounts which are not closed this evening, may be settled to-morrow; but at death the accounts which are not closed betwixt the soul and God, must lie open for ever; for as the tree falleth, so it shall lie.. True, indeed, they will be looked over, in the morning of the resurrection, by the eye of unerring justice; but not the smallest alteration will be made. The insolvent debtor shall be condemned to the prison of hell till he shall have paid the uttermost farthing to law and justice, which can never be the case. O that I from this may take warning to have my accounts with God all cleared in Christ, before a dying hour! seeing that after death there is no more work,

What grave harmonious sound is this which I hear, broken by discordant pauses ? Methinks it proceedeth from yonder cot: Let me approach the homely edifice, and learn the meaning.

O, now I perceive it is a poor man at worship with his family, reading each line before it be sung. Happy were it for the world, if all those who have families were thus employed evening and morning: but, alas! this is not the case; the generality neglect this reasonable service, and thereby show themselves more brutish than the brutes themselves; for the "ox ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his "master's crib." Isa. i. 3.

If the love and goodness of God will not engage men in this grateful service, methinks that dreadful imprecation uttered by the prophet should alarm their consciences: "Pour

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out thy fury upon the heathen that know “thee not, and upon the families that call "not on thy name." Jer. x. 25. And is it not awful to think, that many who bear the Christian name, notwithstanding the solemn engagements they come under to perform this duty, when they are receiving the ordinance of baptism for their children, should trifle with their vows? Such I would address in the language of an inspired writer, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked,"

Gal. vi. 7; one day you will have to account. for all the engagements you have come under to the Lord. Think then what ing will be.

your reckon

But there are others who dare not neglect this important duty altogether, yet do it only by halves such are those who in the morning, when their spirits are most vigorous and lively, begin the day with the pursuits of the world, and only close it with God when they have nothing else to do. When the family, fatigued by labour, recline their weary heads in the prayer; and sometimes asleep, and sometimes awake, and sometimes properly neither, imagine they hear distinctly the pithless words which fall from the listless tongue of their yawning, drowsy, parent or master, which afterwards trying to recollect, they find all was deception, and they remember no more of them than the idea of a forgotten dream: nor know they often when he faulters out, Amen, till he himself, or some other, surprised by the silence, start from his knees, and jog up the rest of his sleepy companions.

Is this any thing else than an offering of the torn and lame to God? But "cursed "be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a "male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the "Lord a corrupt thing." Mai. i. 14. And can you read this who follow such practices, and not see your own doom? But though this service be not always gone about in the evening with such languor as has been described, yet those who give the vigour of their spirits in the morning to the world, and reserve only the dregs of the evening for God, I am afraid will come under this curse: the best you can make of it is only half service. Now, if a farmer pay the one half-year's rent ever sa punctually, if he still continue to neglect the other, will his landlord be satisfied with his conduct? And think ye God will be well pleased with such a partial service?

The omission of family-duty is often followed with the neglect of secret prayer, whereas the performance of the one is a strong indication of the observance of the other. The worship of God is a duty founded, not only on revelation, but even in nature itself; wit