such a practical insult to the Saviour; let us dread incurring the condemnation of those who reject God's method of salvation, and who obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen, reader, to the gracious, the heartcheering invitation which resounds in your ears as you gaze upon the cross: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."* Weary sinner! weary with the unceasing and unsatisfying endeavour to work out your own righteousness, arise now and go to your Saviour, and find in him your wisdom, your righteousness, your sanctification, and your redemption. He who knew no sin was made sin for you, that you might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Believe this; and the peace of God which passeth all understanding will flow into your soul.

Aged believer! being justified by faith, this peace is already yours. Cherish it by continued and simple reliance on Christ. Trust to nothing in yourself, not even to the fruits of grace which he has himself implanted within you. Sanctification is not your title to heaven, but your fitness for it. All your hope, all your dependence must still rest upon the finished work of your Saviour. "Ye are complete in Him."t

Matt. xi. 28. + 2 Cor. v. 21.

Col. ii. 10.

THE LOSS OF MEMORY.

How impaired the memory becomes as we advance in years! We are constantly forgetting the little occurrences of every-day life: and our past history sometimes appears to us like an indistinct and troubled dream. The friends and associates of our youth fade from our recollection, and we are frequently unable to recall even the names which they bore. It is true that an aged person will sometimes manifest as clear and as tenacious a memory as is possessed by any one around him, but his case is a peculiar one, and does not warrant others to expect that they will be similarly favoured. For loss of memory is a common and natural infirmity of old age; and we must not be surprised, and we ought not to be impatient, at this indication, among many others, of our mortality.

The present world is not our rest, although we are too prone to live as if it were so, and our failing strength, and weakened faculties, are kind and necessary remembrancers of our actual position here. And not only do they

remind us that we have reached the evening of life, and should prepare for the dawn of immortality, but they tend to assist us in making that preparation, by withdrawing us from the arduous and engrossing occupations of the world, and by gradually weaning us from our natural attachment to this present state of existence. Our feeble powers, both of body and mind, unfit us for the busy engagements into which we once entered so heartily, and in our retirement from the active duties of life we have opportunity for meditation and reflection; while the privations and trials to which we are subjected, incline us to say with the afflicted patriarch "I would not live alway;" and thus make us willing to depart.

The failure of memory is, however, very trying and inconvenient; and it is a loss which cannot be repaired. My memory fails day by day," writes a Christian lady in her seventieth year to her sister, "I cannot remember where I put anything, no, not for an hour; and though the inconvenience might be prevented by having a place for everything, and being careful to put everything in its proper place-a rule good in every time of life-it is frustrated by my forgetting that I forget. No person can conceive the trial this is but they who have experienced it. It is equally distressing with regard to circumstances and dates. I must make a

memorandum of everything; and then I lose the memorandum, or mislay the book in which I note down things of importance. However I have mercies, great and numerous, to balance, and infinitely more than balance this; my life is hid with Christ in God; my Jesus is my surety that all will be well: he forgets not. All my concerns are in his hands he will manage all-perfect all—finish all.”

Oh, amidst the changes and the imperfections which are incidental to the present life, how full of comfort is the thought that Jesus forgets not! He ever remembers his people, and retains the liveliest interest in their minutest concerns. "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget; yet will I not forget thee."* No lapse of time can enfeeble or destroy his perfect and perpetual cognizance of our affairs.

And although our memories are rapidly failing, although they are unable now to fulfil the trust which we once reposed in them, they can still gratefully recall the Saviour's precious name, and ardently cherish the recollection of his unspeakable love.

The pious bishop Beveridge, when on his death-bed, was unable to recognise any of his relatives or friends. A clergyman with whom

Isa. xlix. 15.

he had been intimately acquainted, visited him, and when introduced into his room, said, “Bishop Beveridge, do you know me?" "Who are you?" said the aged prelate. Being told who the minister was, he shook his head, and said that he did not know him. Another friend addressed him in a similar manner, "Do you know me, bishop Beveridge ?" "Who are you?" he again inquired. Being told that it was one of his old friends, he replied that he did not recollect him. His wife then came to his bedside, and asked him if he knew her, but the good bishop had lost all remembrance even of his wife. At last some one present, said, “Well, bishop Beveridge, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ?" "Jesus Christ!" repeated he, as if the name had produced upon him the influence of a charm; "oh yes, I have known him these forty years; precious Saviour! He is my only hope."

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer's ear!"

Saviour! if we forget all besides, may we remember thee! May we look to thee-rest on thee-abide in thee-and wait for that happy period when we shall be for ever with thee.

And when we have reached heaven, we shall no longer have to complain of the imperfection