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If he heard one cursing and swearing, or given to too much vain and foolish talk, "That man has lost his bridle," he would say. Without a bridle, the tongue, though a little member, "boasteth great things." It is " 'an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." Put a bridle on, and it is one of the best servants the body and soul can have. "I will keep my mouth with a bridle," said King David; and who can do better than follow his example?

When my grandfather saw a man drinking and carousing, or a boy spending all his money for cakes and candy, "Poor fellow," he would say, "he's left off his bridle." The appetite needs reining; let it loose, and it will run to gluttony, drunkenness, and all sorts of disorders. Be sure and keep a bridle on your appetite; don't let it be master. And don't neglect to have one for your passions. They go mad if they get unmanageable, driving you down a blind and headlong course to ruin. Keep the check-rein tight; don't let it slip; hold it steady. Never go without your bridle, boys. This was the bridle my grandfather meant-the bridle of selfgovernment. Parents try to restrain and check their children, and you can generally tell by their behaviour what children have such wise and faithful parents. But parents cannot do everything. And some children have no parents to care for them. Every boy must have his own bridle, and every girl must have hers; they must learn to check and govern themselves. Self-government is the most difficult and

the most important government in the world. It becomes easier every day, if you practice it with steady and resolute will. It is the fountain of excellence. It is the cutting and pruning which makes the noble and vigorous tree of character.

ness.

PARENTAL EXAMPLE. EXAMPLE is a living lesson. The life speaks. Every action has a tongue. Words are but articulated breath. Deeds are the fac-similes of the soul; they proclaim what is within. The child notices the life. It should be in harmony with goodKeen is the vision of youth; every mask is transparent. If a word is thrown into one balance, a deed is thrown into the other. Nothing is more important than that parents should be consistent. A sincere word is never lost; but advice counter to example is always suspected. Both cannot be trueone is false. Example is like statuary. It is sculptured into form. It is reality. The eye dwells upon it; the memory recalls it; the imagination broods over it. Its influence enters the soul. Parental example becomes incorporated with the child's understanding. He cannot forget it if he would. If it is good, it blesses; if it is bad, it tyrannizes. The parent may die; his example cannot. Let life, then, be an unblemished picture, a consistent whole.

"MOTHER."

DOES the word soften your heart when you think of that feverish

and the principles I possessed, through the restraining grace of God, I was kept from flagrant and outward sins, yet my heart was in love with sin. "The imagination of my heart was evil, and that continually;" it indeed proved to be "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," and my conduct was too often opposed to the better dictates of my judgment. I had ever possessed a sentimental love for religion, and a strong degree of attachment to the doctrines of the gospel, and an interest in hearing them enforced or discussed; but reading, reflection, and increasing knowledge conspired to teach me that there was a one thing needful," of which I was not possessed.

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As a serious concern on this subject appears to have been gradual and varying, I cannot say when or by what means it was first produced; but I trust I am an instance of the great advantage derived from living constantly under the means of grace, and have to bless God that the sacred truths of the gospel were so repeatedly and continually presented to me. Whilst under the impressions which they made, I was constantly making new endeavours, attended to secret prayer, aimed after good thoughts, and read pious books, and, for a while, thought I was become a Christian; and if this lasted for some considerable time, felt as though I were now secure and should never be moved; but though I knew the doctrine, I had not experimentally learnt my own weakness, nor been taught the vanity of building on a self-righteous

foundation. This I experienced again and again, even after sincere and earnest prayer to be taught aright, and after giving myself up to God, acknowledging my own insufficiency, and feeling comfort and some continuing satisfaction. But ́still, time after time, all passed away as the early dew; till, within these few years, it became a subject of repeated unhappiness. I viewed myself an unconverted sinner; saw, amidst all my resolutions and endeavours, I was making no advances; and sometimes felt as though I would try no more, and if God meant to convert me, he would do it in his own way, and therefore I might leave it.

Thus I continued for months: the

Sabbath, the pious conversation of others, produced renewed desires, resolutions, and new prayers; again becoming fresh sources of grief;till, in October, 1813, one Sabbath evening, on retiring to rest, I seemed overcome with a sense of my weak and helpless state before God; was led in earnest prayer, and in deep humiliation of soul, to deplore my condition; I felt myself as nothing, and cast myself entirely on the full, rich, and free grace of a Saviour; ardently longed for the communications of his love, and for holiness, and complete conformity to his will. But for a considerable period after this, I felt a painful despondency, and feared that this would prove like my former emotions, but temporary, and that I should again become as careless as ever; but from this time, I trust, I had new impulses of purpose and desire, and it now became the subject of my eager

and anxious inquiries. I heard the word of God as I had not heard before, and read experimental books with an ardour I was before a stranger to; anything that illustrated or described Christian experience, and the way in which a sinner was brought to God, was the object of my eager attention. But it was long before I enjoyed hope. I had distressing fears and doubts, my mind seemed to be ingenious in forming and applying objections to its own state, and a thousand perplexing thoughts harassed me respecting the nature of repentance, of faith, and the evidences of the work of grace on the heart; and a thousand foreboding thoughts as to my future standing, and being enabled to hold on to the end. But the promises sustained me; I was enabled, amidst all, to feel something like reliance on these words, "Ye shall know if ye follow on to know the Lord;" and, "My grace shall be sufficient for thee." I felt a stay here, when I could draw comfort from no other considerations.

In mentioning some of the reasons which induce me to believe that I am a Christian, I pray I may not deceive myself in thinking that I perceive the evidences of an undoubted change, in my principles, motives, and affections, my heart and character,-and that I have a right to hope that I have passed from death unto life. My judgment is, I trust, not only led to know and acknowledge that I am a sinner, lost and ruined in the fall, justly exposed, with all mankind, to the wrath of a holy God, and liable to condemnation, and that Christ is

the only way of acceptance; but the Spirit of God has so enlightened my mind and influenced my heart, as to convince my conscience that I have sinned in thought, word, and deed, to produce in my soul a painful sense of the vileness of my heart, of the evil of my transgressions against God, of the deep-rooted rebellion of my nature, in sinning against resolutions, privileges, and duties, and to show me my state, as a condemned sinner, before a holy and righteous law.

Whilst finding that, even though grieved, and desiring to be pardoned and delivered from sin, I could not stand in my own strength, or free myself from the bonds that held me, I have been led to the cross of Christ, enabled to cast myself entirely into his hands, relying solely upon the rich and unmerited grace of an Almighty Saviour. I trust I can say, I find Jesus precious to my soul; have been enabled to rejoice in God, as my reconciled Father in Christ; to find a rich delight and satisfaction in relying upon the promises; and to depend upon the grace of God for all I need for pardon and sanctification. Thus my affections have been, at times, drawn out in lively exercise towards the Saviour. He, I trust, is the object on which they are most steadily fixed. This love influences my desires, motives, and conduct; leads me to hate sin, and earnestly to long to be delivered from its power. I find remaining corruption, and the force of indwelling sin, to be a continual source of grief, the heaviest burden I have to bear; under it I am frequently constrained, with the

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apostle, to cry out, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

This leads me to the throne of grace, in earnest supplication and prayer. Once I regarded it only as a duty, a requirement, with which I ought to comply; still I think it such, but now it is become my privilege also. Feeling my wants and miseries, my desires go out in this exercise, I can unbosom all my complaints to my heavenly Father, go to him for guidance, consolation, and support, believing that he careth for me, and pleading his promises, wrestle with him for fresh supplies from the fulness of his grace. In communion with God, my strength is renewed, and my soul inspired with fresh vigour, whilst going on my way, Zion-ward. Amidst various frames and feelings, in scenes of heaviness, doubt, and distress, when assaulted by temptations, and grieved by the wanderings and coldness of my heart, prayer is my support, and though not always with equal delight, yet my soul here returns unto my rest.

I love the house and ordinances of God. Here I have often found his presence delightful; here has my burdened heart been relieved, and my waiting soul rejoiced in the goodness of the Lord. Often it has been, I trust, to me, Bethel and the house of mercy. I still desire to hear the word for instruction, for reproof, and for correction in right

eousness.

I love the Sabbath, because it is the day in which I enjoy most of this privilege, the day peculiarly blessed by the manifestations of my heaven

ly Father's love; then I can withdraw from the world, and my thoughts and employments be more especially in the worship and service of God. It is the day of feasting to the soul, when my spiritual desires are most gratified, by gaining "this day the food of seven." From week to week, I hail the return of the Sabbath, and though I have often to lament at the close of it, that it has been so little improved and enjoyed, yet, still I find it to be the best day.

I hope I love the word of God, find it has a preciousness, a value, which no other book has-see a rich beauty in the sacred page, and in all its parts,-precepts to direct and govern me, inform my judgment, and influence my heartpromises to animate and console, to awaken my gratitude and encourage my faith.

I love the people of God; they are my best friends-my kindred. Once I loved them as my earthly connexions, my associates, and as forming the circle in which I moved; but now I feel a oneness of interest, a unity of spirit, a similarity of views, feelings, objects of pursuit, and desires of attainment. I recognize the same joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, in my experience, as they describe in theirs. I esteem them as the excellent of the earth, those in whom my soul delights. I love their conversation and their employments. I trust I am a fellowtraveller with them, and am looking forward to the same home.

It is because I feel a decided preference and love to these subjectsfind my greatest happiness in medi

tating upon and enjoying them— and in looking forward to higher degrees of attainment in the knowledge and possession of them, that I conclude that I am a Christian. Whilst remembering my past condition, and marking the way by which the Lord has led me, I feel convinced that it is all of grace, that I am what I am. It is because of the progress of my views and feelings, and the present bias of my soul, that I am led to indulge a "hope which maketh not ashamed."

PERSEVERANCE IN

PRAYER.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."-LUKE xviii. 1.

PRAYER is the application of the soul to God for any needful favour to be granted to us. The Eternal is a great King, who requires and encourages his subjects to apply to his throne of grace for the rich and precious blessings he has to give. He is a great Giver, and he has vast blessings to bestow upon praying souls. His glorious gospel invites the penitent, the afflicted, and the tempted, to approach his throne, and to present, with filial confidence, their petitions to him. All his subjects are welcome to do this; and if their petitions are presented in the name of his dear Son, they will find in him a kind Father, who delighteth in mercy.

This great

King is a bountiful Benefactor, who invites all the guilty, the poor, and the needy, to come to his inexhaustible stores of grace, where they

may find ample supply for all their wants. His door of mercy is always open to all who apply in faith in the merits of his Son, the promises of his word, and in his ability and willingness to hear their prayer. His door has been open for ages, and it is open now, and open to

YOU.

This application implies a sense of need, of dependence, and of the importance of the blessings sought. It is the expression of faith in God, of desire for his mercy, and hope of success. The great Teacher in the text encourages us to persevere in prayer. He knew the character of his Father, our dangers and wants, and all the encouragement he gives us is worthy of our full and abiding confidence. He was sent by God to teach us our duty, to encourage us to seek his mercy, and to make a way for our access into his merciful presence. The parable before' us is full of instruction and encouragement on the subject of prayer. The Saviour here teaches us the certain success of importunate prayer.

Now, what is importunate prayer? The importunate are not silenced by the first refusal. This is seen in the case of wrestling Jacob, the woman of Canaan, and the widow referred to in this parable. The beggar in great need comes to your door, and is importunate for relief. The criminal under sentence of death is importunate in his application to his sovereign for deliverance. The child is importunate in seeking some favour from his parent. And so must the suppliant be at the door of Divine mercy. He

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