the world, than you do on Christ, heaven, and your immortal souls ?Why do you then neglect your duty towards God, to get the world?— Why do you then so eagerly pursue after the world, and remain so cold in your pursuit after God, Christ, and holiness? Why then are your hearts so exceedingly raised, when the world comes in, and smiles upon you; and so much dejected and cast down, when the world frowns upon you, and with Jonah's gourd, withers before you.

Rem. 3. Consider the uncertainty, mutability, and inconstancy, of all things under the sun. Man himself is but the dream of a dream, the generation of a fancy, an empty vanity, and a poor, feeble, dying flash. All temporals are as transitory as a hasty torrent, a shadow, a ship, a bird, an arrow, a post that passeth by; Why shouldest thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?' saith Solomon. And saith the apostle, The fashion of this world passeth away. Heaven only hath a foundation, earth hath none, but is hung upon nothing,' as Job speaks. The apostle willed Timothy, to Charge rich men that they be not highminded, nor put their trust in uncertain riches.'t They are like bad servants, whose shoes are made of running leather, and who will never tarry long with one master; as a bird hoppeth from tree to tree, so do the honors and riches of this world pass from man to man; let Job and Nebuchadnezzar testify this truth, who fell from great wealth to great want. No man can promise himself to be wealthy till night; one storm at sea, one coal of fire, one false friend, one unadvised word, one false witness, may make thee a beggar and a prisoner all at once. All the riches and glory of this world are but as smoke and chaff, that vanisheth; As a dream and vision in the night, that tarrieth not. As if a hungry man dream, and think that he eateth, and when he awakes, his soul is empty; and like a thirsty man which thinketh he drinketh, and behold when he is awaked, his soul is faint, as the prophet Isaiah saith. Where is the glory of Solomon? The sumptuous buildings of Nebuchadnezzar? The nine hundred chariots of Sisera? The power of Alexander? The authority of Augustus, that commanded the whole world to be taxed?— Those that have been the most glorious, in what men generally account glorious and excellent, have had inglorious ends; as Sampson for strength; Absalom for beauty; Ahitophel for policy; Haman for favor; Asael for swiftness; Alexander for great conquest, and yet after twelve years was poisoned; you may see the same in the four mighty kingdoms, the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, how soon were they gone and forgotten! Now rich, now poor; now full, now empty; now honorable, now despised; now health, now sickness; now strength, now weakness.|| Oh! let not these uncertain things keep thee from those holy services, and heavenly employments, in which you may be happy here, and in which thy soul may be eternally blessed, when all these transitory things shall bid it an everlasting fårewell.

* Riches were never true to any that trusted in them; they have deceived men, as Job's brook did the poor traveller, in the summer season, Job xi. 15.

+ 1 Cor. vii. 31. intimateth, "That there is nothing of any firmness, nor solid consistence in the creature."

The most renowned Frederick lost all, and sued to be made but sexton of the church that himself had built.

I have read of a poor fisherman, who, while his nets were a drying, slept upon the rock, and dreamed that he was made a king, on a sudden he starts up, and leaping for joy, fell down from the rock, and in the place of his imaginary felicities, loses his little portion of pleasures.

The pomp of this world John compareth to the moon, which "increaseth and decreaseth," Rev. xii. 1.

Rem. 4. Seriously consider, that the great things of this world are very hurtful and dangerous to the outward and inward man, through the corruptions that are in the hearts of men. Oh! the rest, peace, comfort, and content that the things of this world deprive many men of. Oh the fears, cares, envy, malice, dangers, and mischiefs, that they subject men to.* They oftentimes make men carnally confident, "The rich man's riches are a strong tower in his imagination. I said in my prosperity I should never be moved.' They often swell the heart with pride, and make men forget and neglect God, and despise the rock of their salvation.t When Jeshurum waxed fat, and was grown thick, and covered with fatness, then he forgot, and forsook God that made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation,' as Moses spake. Ah! the times, the thoughts, the spirits, that the things of the world consume and spend. Oh! how do they hinder the actings of faith upon God? Interrupt our sweet communion with him! Abate our love to his people, cool our love to the things of God, and induce us to act like those that are most unlike him? Oh! the deadness and barrenness that attend men under great outward mercies. Oh! how the riches of the world choke the word; so that men live under the most soul-searching, and soul-enriching means, with lean souls. They have full purses, but their hearts are empty of grace. In Gen. xiii. 2, it is said, that Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.' According to the Hebrew, it is, Abraham was very heavy;' to shew, that riches are a heavy burden, and a hinderance many times to heaven and happiness.§

King Henry the fourth asked the Duke of Alva, If he had observed the great eclipse of the sun which had lately happened?' 'No, (said the duke) I have so much to do on earth, that I have no leisure to look up to heaven.' Ah! that this were not true of most professors in these days; it is sad to think, that their hearts and times are so much taken up with earthly things, that they have scarce any leisure to look up to heaven, or after Christ, and the things that belong to their everlasting peace.

Riches, though well got, yet are but like manna, those that gathered little had no want, and those that gathered more, it was of no use to them. The world is troublesome, and yet it is loved; what would it be, if it were peaceable? You embrace it, though filthy; what would you do if it were beautiful? You cannot keep your hands from the thorns; how earnest would you be then in gathering the flowers? The world may be fitly likened to the serpent Scytale, whereof it is reported, that when she cannot overtake the flying passengers, she doth with her beautiful colors so astonish and amaze them, that they have no power to pass away, till she has stung them. Ah! how many thousands are there now on earth, that have found this true by experience; they have spun a fair thread to strangle themselves, both temporally and eternally, being bewitched by the beauty and glory of this enticing world.

* Henry the second hearing Mentz, his chief city, was taken, used this blasphemous speech, "I shall never," said he, "love God any more, that suffered a city so dear to me. to be taken from me.'

When one presented Antipater, king of Macedonia, with a book treating of happiness, his answer was, "I have no leisure."

That four good mothers begat four bad daughters; great familiarity begets contempt, truth hatred, virtue envy, riches ignorance. A French proverb.

Policrates bestowed five talents for a gift upon one Anacreon, who for two nights after was so troubled with care how to keep them, and how to bestow them, that he carried them back again to Policrates, saying, "They were not worth the pains he had already taken for them."

Sicily is so full of sweet flowers that dogs cannot hunt there: and what do all the sweet contents of this world, but make us lose the scent of heaven.

Rem. 5. Consider, that all the felicity of this world is mixed: our light is mixed with darkness, our joy with sorrow, our pleasures with pain, &c. If our light be spiritual, clear, and quick, we may see in the felicity of this world, our wine mixed with water, our honey with gall, our sugar with wormwood, and our roses with thorns. Sorrow attends worldly joy, danger, worldly safety; loss, worldly labors; tears, worldly purposes. As to these things men's hopes are vain, their sorrow certain, and their joy feigned. The apostle calls this world, 'A sea of glass; a sea for the trouble of it, and glass for the brittleness and bitterness of it. The honors, profits, pleasures, and delights of this world, are true gardens of Adonis, where we can gather nothing but trivial flowers, surrounded with many briars.'

Rem. 6. Get better acquaintance, and assurance of more blessed and glorious things.* That which raised up their spirits, Heb. x. and xi. t> trample upon all the beauty and glory of the world, was the acquaintance with and assurance of better and more durable things; they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves, that they had in heaven a better and a more enduring substance. They looked for a house that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God: and they looked for another country, even an heavenly. They saw him that was invisible, and had an eye to the recompence of reward.'t And this made them count all the glory and bravery of this world, too poor and contemptible for them to set their hearts upon. The main reason why men dote upon the world, and damn their souls to get it, is, because they are not acquainted with a greater glory. Men ate acorns, till they were acquainted with the use of wheat. Ah! were men more acquainted with what union and communion with God means; what it is to have a new name, and a new stone, that none knows, but he that hath it;' did they but taste more of heaven, and live more in heaven, and had more glorious hopes of going to heaven, how easily would they have the moon under their feet?

6

It was an excellent saying of Lewis of Bavaria, emperor of Germany, 'Such goods are worth getting and owning, as will not sink, nor wash away, if a shipwreck happen, but will wade and swim out with us.' It is recorded of Lazarus, that after his resurrection from the dead, he was never seen to laugh, his thoughts and affections were so fixed in heaven, though his body were on earth; and therefore he could not but slight temporal things, his heart was so bent and set upon eternals.'— There are goods of the throne of grace, as God, Christ, the Spirit, adoption, justification, remission of sin, peace with God, and peace with conscience; and there are goods of the foot-stool, as honors, riches, the favors of creatures, and other comforts and accommodations of this life. Now he that hath acquaintance with, and assurance of the goods of the throne, will easily trample upon the goods of the foot-stool Ah that you would make it your business and work, to mind and make more sure to your own souls, the great things of eternity, that will yield you joy in life, peace in death, and a crown of righteousness in the day of Christ's

* Let heaven be a man's object, and earth will soon be his abject.

+ Luther being at one time in some wants, it happened that a good sum of money was unexpectedly sent him by a nobleman of Germany, at which being something amazed, he said, "I fear that God will give me my reward here, but I protest I will not be so satisfied."

When Basil was tempted with money and preferment, saith he, "Give me money that may last for ever, and glory that may eternally flourish; for the fashion of this world passeth away, as the waters of a river that run by a city."

appearing; that will lift up your souls above all the beauty and bravery of this bewitching world, and raise your feet above other men's heads. When a man comes to be assured of a crown, a sceptre, the royal robes, &c. he then begins to have low, mean and contemptible thoughts of those things that before he highly prized; so will assurance of more great and glorious things, raise in the soul a holy scorn and contempt of all these poor trifling things, which the soul before valued above God, Christ, heaven, &c.

Rem. 7. Seriously consider, that true happiness and satisfaction is not to be had in the enjoyment of any worldly good. True happiness is too big and glorious a thing to be found in any thing that is below that God that is a Christian's chieftest good.* The blessed angels, those glittering courtiers, have all felicity and blessedness; and yet they have neither gold nor silver, jewels, nor any of the beauty and glory of this world; certainly, if happiness were to be found in these things, the Lord Jesus, who is the right and royal heir of all things, would have exchanged his cradle for his crown, his birth-chamber (a stable) for a royal palace; his poverty for plenty; his despised followers for shining courtiers; and his mean provisions for the choicest delicacies, &c. Certainly happiness lies not in those things that a man may enjoy, and yet be miserable for ever.' Now a man may be great, and graceless, with Pharoah; honorable, and damnable, with Saul; rich, and miserable, with Dives,' &c. therefore happiness lies not in these things. Certainly happiness lies not in those things that cannot comfort a man upon a dying bed: is it honors, riches, or friends,‡ &c. that can comfort thee when thou comest to die? Or is it not rather faith in the blood of Christ, the witness of his Spirit, the sense and feeling of his love and favor, and the hopes of eternally reigning with him? Can happiness lie in those things that cannot give us health, strength, or ease, a good night's rest, an hour's sleep, or a good appetite? Why, all the honors, riches and delights of this world cannot give us these poor things; therefore, certainly happiness lies not in the enjoyment of them, &c. And surely happiness is not to be found in these things that cannot satisfy the souls of men: now none of these things can satisfy the soul. He that loveth silver, shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase ; this is also vanity,' said the wise man.§ The barren womb, the horseleech's daughter, hell and the grave, will as soon be satisfied, as the soul of man will by the enjoyment of any worldly good. Some one thing or other will be for ever wanting to that soul that hath nothing but outward good to live upon. You may as soon fill a bag with wisdom, a chest with virtue, or a circle with a triangle, as the heart of man with any thing here below. A man may have enough of the world to sink him, but he can never have enough to satisfy him, &c.

Rem. 8. Solemnly consider the dignity of the soul. Oh, the soul of man is of more worth than a thousand worlds; we cannot abase it more than by letting it dote upon a little shining earth, a little painted beauty

* True happiness lies only in our enjoyment of a "suitable good, a pure good, a total good, and an eternal good; and God is only such a good, and such a good can only satisfy the soul of man.'

+ Philosophers could say, “That he was never a happy man, that might afterwards become miserable."

Gregory the great used to say, "He is poor whose soul is void of grace, not whose coffers are empty of money."

The reasonable soul may be busied about other things, but it cannot be filled with them.

and fading glory, when it is capable of union with Christ, communion with God, and of enjoying the eternal vision.

Seneca could say, I am too great, and born to greater things, than that I should be a slave to my body.' Oh, do you say, my soul is too great, and born to greater things than that I should confine it to the heap of white and yellow earth.

I have been longer upon the remedies that may help us against this dangerous device of Satan, because he doth usually more hurt to the souls of men by this, than by all other devices. For a close, I wish, as once Chrysostom did, that that sentence, Eccl. ii. 11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun,' were engraven on the door-posts into which you enter, on the tables where you sit, on the dishes out of which you eat, on the cups out of which you drink, on the bedsteads where you lie, on the walls of the house where you dwell, on the garments which you wear, on the heads of the horses on which you ride, and on the foreheads of all them whom you meet, that your souls may not, by the beauty and glory of the world, be kept from those holy and heavenly services, in which you may be blessed while you live, and happy when you die; that you may breathe out your last into his bosom who lives for ever, and who will make them happy for ever that prefer Christ's spirituals and eter nals, above all temporal, transitory things.

(To be continued.)

ART. VI. The General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. This Judicatory met in this city on Wednesday, the 6th ult. We extract the following from a report of their proceedings in the Christian Intelligencer:

The Committee appointed at the last Synod to open a correspondence with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, reported a plan for maintaining this correspondence which had received the sanction of the Synod of that Church, and being read by paragraphs, it was adopted by the General Synod of the Dutch Church. The following is the plan:

I. The Synod of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and the General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, shall each appoint a minister with an alternate, to sit in the highest judicatory respectively, with the privilege of deliberating on all subjects coming before them, and of making suggestions on matters affecting the interests of both bodies mutually or pertaining to the general interests of religion-but not of voting.

II. There shall be fraternal intercourse between ministers of each body; and private members shall be received by each church, from the other, on proper credentials: subject to the rules which govern each, in the admission of members.

The two bodies respectively shall honor each others acts of discipline, reserving, however, to themselves, the right of reviewing all such

cases.

A report was received from the Delegates appointed to attend the meeting of the last General Assembly, stating that in consequence of the division which has taken place in that body, they did not produce