A REVIVER. I HAVE just had a reviver from my zealous friend Gideon, in the following words:-" What manner of men ought we to be, Humphrey, who are running the race set before us, full of the hope of the gospel of Christ, and abounding in the consolations of the promises of God! What an exalted standard ought we to attain to! How fresh and alive should we be in serving our Lord and Master! How dead and buried to the world! To what a vast height should we soar in our de votion! To what a profound depth should we descend in our humiliation! "Well may we ask, who is sufficient for these things? and happy for us if we can answer, 'Our sufficiency is of God,' 2 Cor. iii. 5. Are you not frightened by the words, 'Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven?' Matt. v. 20. Why, if we had not the Friend of sinners for our Friend; if he were not our guard and guide, our sword and shield, our hope and our joy, our grace and our glory; if he were not our all in all, our sacrifice, our justification, our sanctification, and our redemption, we should have enough to sink us into the slough of despondency for ever. "Up, and be doing, Humphrey. Let us be no longer children, but acquit ourselves like men. The sons and daughters of a king should be kingly in their thoughts. The heirs of heaven should be heavenly in their desires. Let us press on, well knowing that, amid all our infirmities, more are those that are with us, than those that are against us. Let us be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord,' 1 Cor. xv. 58." ON UNREASONABLENESS. SURELY man is the most unreasonable of all God's creatures! Feed the birds of the air, or the beasts of the field, and they will be satisfied; but the more is given to man, the more he requires. If he have riches, he will hug his bags of gold, and carry out his plans to increase them. If he have estates, he will join house to house, field to field, and vineyard to vineyard; give him a county, or a kingdom, and he will crave for more. When we rise in the morning, we expect to pass through the day prosperously. If we lie down to rest at night, we expect to enjoy refreshing slumber. If we propose a journey, we expect to perform it unmolested and uninjured. If we pass through one birthday, we expect to arrive at another in good health; to eat and to drink, to ride and to walk, to wake and to sleep, in peace, without considering that these things cannot take place unless God, of his infinite mercy, keeps us from a thousand temptations, and delivers us from ten thousand dangers. So continually are we partaking of God's blessings, that we look on them as things of course the seed we sow must, in our apprehension, spring up abundantly; our tables must be provided for, and the mercies of yesterday must be supplied to-day, and those of this year continued to us through the next. How seldom do we offer up the prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," Matt. vi. 11, with a full consciousness of our entire dependence on our heavenly Father for our earthly supplies! And how frequently do we feel more gratitude to our fellow-worms, for a passing act of kindness, than to the Lord of life and glory, for his permanent and unmerited mercies! We bow and cringe to a fellow-sinner, to obtain at his hands the empty baubles of an hour, while the love of the Redeemer of the world, the means of grace, and the hope of eternal glory, are sought for with indifference. Let us look more on our common mercies as the gifts of God. Let our health and our strength, |