Christian church, in the Acts of the Apostles. Various epistles, or letters, written by them to the churches newly formed, or to private Christians, follow; and it closes with the prophetic history of the church, in the Book of Revelations, to the end of the world.

There is in the bible the greatest variety, in the narrowest possible compass. In one volume we have the history of all ages, the most interesting lives of the best of men; the most beautiful strains of poetry and imagination; the most touching letters; the clearest display of our duties to the one living and true God, and to all our fellow-creatures; and the full discovery of the way of redemption from all our present sorrows, and of the path to endless life and glory. The veil that hangs over futurity is rent by his hand, who has all futurity in his direction; and we read in plain and simple language all those events which are to happen that it most concerns us to know. What a book is the bible! Study it incessantly.

Meditation.

Almighty Father! how can I enough admire thy loving-kindness and condescension in thyself providing such a book for me! Oh what darkness would have covered the earth, and would have covered my soul, but for this book! Without it I should not have known how I came here, or where I was going, or who thou art, or how I can please thee, and escape misery, or be happy for ever. But all this is made plain to me now. And how can I praise thee enough for the precious volume! Oh give me a sacred thirst

after its blessed truths! May they be very sweet to my taste, and the very joy of my heart!

3. THE BIBLE SHEWS US WHAT IS TO TAKE PLACE.

Does the Bible shew us things to come? It does indeed; and God has given us the greatest proof that all that he has foretold, as yet to come, will take place, by having already brought to pass very many things which he also foretold. Such are—the state of all the world in the account of the three sons of Noah, the fall of the city of Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews over the world, the rise of four great monarchies, or universal empires. These things have been fulfilled in the sight of all men long since they were predicted; and we are thus assured that all that God has foretold respecting things to come will also be fulfilled.

What has he, then, foretold as yet to take place? To us INDIVIDUALLY there is much that is most important.

See what he says respecting DEATH:- -The dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God who gave it. Eccles. xii. 7. The body put in the grave is not the end of man; it is the beginning of another state of existence; it is our going alone by ourselves before the great God who made us. you thought of this? are you prepared for it?

Have

Then JUDGMENT is to take place. It is thus foretold: God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil: every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Has this too been much in your mind? Has your great aim been this, that you may be accepted of the

Lord in that day, and have confidence and boldness in the day of judgment? 1 John iv. 17.

Then comes HELL for the wicked.

The wicked shall

be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. There the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Have you ever thought duly of the horrors of God's wrath, and everlasting punishment, and dwelling for ever with the wicked? Are you flying from the wrath to come?

There is also THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM, in all its boundless bliss and unutterable glories, for the righteous; there nothing that defiles, or works abomination, or makes a lie, shall ever enter; are you thirsting after these glories, and seeking them first of all? To the WHOLE WORLD there is much also of vast importance.

The FALLING AWAY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, and the punishment of those who have fallen away (to take place at the coming of Christ), are clearly foretold, 2 Thess. i. ii., the epistle of Jude, and the 2nd epistle of Peter, and Revelations xvii. xviii. xix.

The CONVERSION and the restoration of the Jews to their own land, and the blessed effect of this on the whole earth, are foretold in very many passages of God's word. See for instance Jer. xxxii. and xxxiii. Ezek. xxxvi. and xxxvii., and Romans xi.

The COMING AGAIN OF CHRIST, in power and great glory, is also plainly foretold, Acts i. 11. Matt. xxv. 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. 2 Peter iii. 3-14; and many other places. No one can tell how soon this may take place; but there is great danger in saying, and acting on the idea, My Lord delayeth his coming, (Matt. xxiv. 48. 2 Peter iii. 3.) and a very great duty and blessedness to be waiting, watching, and ready

for his return (see Matt. xxiv. and xxv. Luke xvii· and xxi.); for his coming will take the world quite by surprise, as when a thief comes at night. Persons who are living together in the same occupation and the same house, and even sleeping in the same bed, shall then be separated as wide as the outer darkness and the everlasting glory. Oh, be you ready, for, in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

The RESURRECTION of the dead saints, and the change of the living saints, at the coming of Christ, are again and again foretold; see 1 Cor. xv. 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. Luke xiv. 14. Phil. iii. 11.

Our Lord Christ will also establish his GLORIOUS KINGDOM, and Satan shall be bound for a thousand years. Rev. xx. For the coming of this kingdom we daily pray, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This has yet also to take place; and oh how blessed for our world that day, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Rev. xi. 15. See Dan. ii. 44; vii. 13, 14. In this kingdom his saints shall reign with him. Dan. vii. 18, 27. Rev. v. 10, and xx. Luke xix. 11-27. 2 Tim. ii. 12.

The future loosing of Satan, and the final and general judgment of all the dead, with the everlasting punishment of the wicked in the lake of fire, and the everlasting glory of the blessed in the new heavens and the new earth, closes the wonderful accounts of what God has foretold as still to be done in our world.

Meditation.

O my soul, what great things has God foreshewn me as yet to take place,—things in which I have the

deepest personal interest, and which call for my direct and immediate attention! These are things which should controul every thought I think, every word I speak, and every act I do. Am I to pass through all these scenes, and can I now escape God's wrath and attain his glory? Oh may his Spirit shew me things to come, that my soul may be strengthened to resist the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead.

4. HOW THE BIBLE IS TO BE READ.

The Bible is a large book, and consists of many parts. You may ask, where should I begin, and how should I carry it on?

It is not necessary to read the whole Bible in a limited time. There are some people on the earth that have not got the whole Bible. Some have only got the New Testament, some only one of the gospels, and some only one or two of the other books of Scripture; but a very small part of God's word may be blessed to our everlasting good. Through God's mercy the whole Bible is printed in our language. It is read in every parish church in our country every Sunday in the year, and a great deal of scriptural knowledge has been diffused over our country, so that very few need be altogether ignorant of the Bible.

But we will suppose that you have never read it in private before, and I will explain what may be the best way of beginning. There are some books so very profitable and instructive, and so full of the