that their characters are by proper means reclaimable.

But while we shun all intimacy with those whose contact, we fear, may defile us, it is a matter of religious prudence no less than of rational enjoyment, to supply the place of worldly and dangerous friendships by drawing nearer to those of whom the lives and examples are likely to benefit us, who may supply by their stronger prayers the weakness and unworthiness of our own; whose spirits, like guardian angels, may plead our cause, and watch over our safety, and whose society, as it has been on earth our protection, may be a portion of our reward in Heaven.

And, wherever our intimacies are already formed, whether among the enemies or the friends of God, it is a duty which we owe to them, to our Maker, and to ourselves, to employ our best endeavours to correct whatever is amiss in their principles or conduct, and to confirm and strengthen them in the paths which lead to salvation. For this purpose a double watch should be kept over the doors of our lips, lest we ourselves say any thing, or assent to any thing said by others which may encourage them in sin, or slacken their exertions in the cause of God and goodness. I do not mean to recommend an affected solemnity of manner, or that, when we are ourselves converted, we should give our intimates occasion to suspect that we have cast off all affection for them. On the contrary, we have an additional reason for avoiding all pe

culiarities which may make religion offensive or ridiculous, and for being more anxious than ever, by kindness, by courtesy, by compliance in things lawful or indifferent, and by postponing, where we safely may, our pleasures and tastes to theirs, to prove to them that our love is not changed but sublimed and purified, and that religion is so far from chilling the natural affections that it must needs, when sincere, make men better kindred, and better neighbours, and better friends. But in the mean time we should not for a moment lose sight of the truth, that there is nothing by which our influence over the minds of others is so much weakened as by inconsistency and irresolution; that to cast ourselves away can be to our erring friends no possible advantage; and that, whether they repent or perish, it behoves us, at least, to escape with our lives and not to look behind us. And to maintain our friendships in this wise and happy temperament, I know no better course than that of devoting them to God by the diligent practice of what is, in itself, the most essential duty of a friend, a frequent intercession in the behalf of our friends at the throne of grace and mercy. Nor can we, as I conceive, be seriously impressed with either the value of a friend, or the powerful efficacy of prayer to preserve that friend to our love and draw down on him the blessing of our common Father, without sometimes recollecting his name in those moments when our hearts are most warmed by their nearer approach to the source of all love and ho

liness, and uniting an earnest wish for his salvation to those entreaties which we offer for our own.

We have, indeed, no reason for hoping that our tardy devotions can open the gates of Heaven for a sinner whose day of grace is faded into darkness, and who has gone to his account in unbelief and final impenitence; but of those who yet live, it is hard to decide who have absolutely "sinned unto death,” and we are still less able to determine how often the devotions of the faithful have obtained for those, whose case was most to be despaired of, a fresh and efficacious visit from the Spirit of Grace and Comfort, and a little further respite to recover their strength before they departed hence and were

no more seen.

It was a memorable saying of Ambrose to the mother of Augustin, when she lamented to him the indisposition which her son at that time displayed to all religious feeling: "I have never known the son allowed to perish for whose soul so many prayers and holy tears interceded." Nor when we hear, in like manner, complaints from parents and teachers, of education of example and of entreaty thrown away on the levity and stubbornness of those whose hearts they have desired to soften and ameliorate, can we avoid sometimes suspecting that their pains might have had a happier effect if His help had been duly sought for who only giveth the increase either to the earthly or spiritual husband

man.

Nor need we fear that, while thus interceding

of

for our brethren, we shall presume too far on the mercy and patience of God, or that we shall neglect our own interests while we are earnest on behalf of others. To the intercession which I recommend we are induced by those numerous passages Scripture which not only encourage but command us to offer prayers, as for all men generally, so especially for those to whom we most owe love and reverence. To such an intercession we are encouraged by the successful example of those worthies of ancient time whose devotions could snatch men from shipwreck, from disease, from death, and from sin; and who had power, by their supplications, to change the course of nature, and to bring rain and fruitfulness on those lands which the sins of the inhabitants had rendered barren. To such an intercession we are emboldened, above all, by that example which we are in all things at humble distance bound to follow, the example of Him who came down on earth that His blameless obedience might withdraw the curse from His creation, and who, even now, at His Father's right hand, is occupied as the advocate of His brethren! And be sure that all they who in their secret thoughts display such real anxiety for the happiness of their fellow-creatures, have an intercessor in Christ who will never cease to care for them; that "with the same measure which they employ it shall be measured to them again," and that the mercy and the spiritual help which they implore God to grant to their neighbours shall be, with a

larger and more bounteous hand, returned into their own bosoms1!

It is the duty then, or, to speak more properly, it is the blessed and glorious privilege of every Christian to be busied in prayer for all whom he loves or pities. But, while we thus call down on their heads all temporal and spiritual benefits, and while we pray for ourselves that our example may be such as to become, through God's grace, the source to them of blessing and salvation, let us always conclude with the request that, however strong our earthly regards may be, they may never overpower the love which we owe to our God, our Maker, and Redeemer!

He is, after all, the great and only Friend on whose love, under all possible circumstances, our hope may surely rely; whom no slander can deceive, no vain resentment sever from us; whose favours are abundant beyond our boldest desires, and who, when most justly offended, is more ready to forgive than we to ask forgiveness. The time must shortly arrive when all earthly friendships will become less than nothing in comparison with His favour; and when we shall find, if we have not ourselves cast it away, that "no height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord 2."

When we are tossed by the storms which our