all faith and knowledge; swept of all that is good, pure, and holy; and garnished with all the depravities of an outwardly evil and sensual life! Here then is the climax of misery and desolation! for he "taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." (Luke xi. 26.) Here, the last state is described as being worse than the first, because, when the unclean spirit went out, it was in consequence of the truth entering: but if knowledge is not reduced to practice, the man returns to his former evil state, or house, with seven other spirits more wicked than himself; that is, with a fulness or sevenfold increase of his now acquired evils. These dwell with him; and a direful mingling of truths with falsities, and of real evil with seeming good, makes up that profanation of holy things, which can end in nothing but destruction and everlasting ruin.
Pause here, gentle reader! think right and act well! determine in the Lord's strength to use faithfully the truth thou hast received; so shall thy soul be cleansed from inward impurities, and rise to the enjoyments of the life divine.
April Twentp-sixth.
THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH.
"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord."—Rev. xiv. 13.
TO contemplate the death of a Christian, is any thing but painful or gloomy; on the contrary, it is, though solemn, both joyous and delightful.
