love. When I reach the New Testament, I find myself launched into a sea of love. I am surrounded and impressed on every side with the mighty benevolence of the Deity. Every sound I hear is love; every leading character that moves before me is love, every event I witness, and every sentiment that falls on my ear, is love. Every thing here is both grand and beautiful. The tender and sublime are mingled, and make a world of harmony and bliss. I find myself at home here, lost in an element of love. Here I can live; here I can revel; my soul bathes itself in a world of extacies.

In the Gospel every benevolent wish is fostered, every gracious purpose is invigorated, every tender sentiment is excited, and called into action. My heart is softened and inspired with sympathy. I feel myself a new man. My ancient selfishness expires, and I am filled and animated with the spirit of love.

The Gospel has given me a distaste for every thing that does not savour of benevolence. I once was wrapped up in myself, but I thank God, it has created me anew. I feel myself a citizen of the world; and the friend of all mankind. I feel myself one of the whole human family, and there is not a man on earth that has not a hold upon my heart. My spirit rises as I see the race of mankind rising, and it sinks if the interests of mankind seem to be sinking.

My spirit sympathises with every intelligent and immortal being upon earth. Their sorrows are my sorrows; their joys are my joys; and my prayers and my labours shall be for their salvation. I feel as if I dare not be happy while so many are languishing in wretchedness. It is true I rejoice when I see men converted, and institutions rising up to spread the blessings of salvation through the earth. I cannot but rejoice when I see these things. There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and there should be joy on earth. Still so wide and frightful a wildnerness of sin and sorrow lies before me, that I rejoice with trembling. Oh, when will the world be converted! When Christians shall embrace the whole earth, and take within the arms of their charity every

child of man, I shall tremble no more. My spirit will burst the restraints on its joy, and I will sing as freely and as rapturously as the angels of heaven-"Glory to God in the Highest; on earth, peace; good will towards men."

ON PLEASING GOD.

1. GOD is infinite in wisdom and in love; and can wish for nothing but what is right and for our good. To live to please him, therefore, must be the perfection of reason, and the greatest good of man.

2. He is the author of our being, and the fountain of our joy. The mercies of His providence are more numerous than the moments of our existence; and the blessings of his grace are infinite in worth. The earth and air and skies are full of his goodness, and so is the deep and wide sea; and in the unseen regions of futurity are hid unbounded treasures,-the provisions of redeeming goodness for our everlasting joy. The least that we can do in gratitude for all this love, is to "do those things which are pleasing in his sight."

3. It is the joy and delight of the hosts of heaven to execute his will, and whether it is to minister to the good of his saints on earth, to work wonders among the elaments of nature, or to do his errands of mercy to other worlds, their ceaseless and cheerful endeavours are to PLEASE HIM.

4. All the commands of that sacred volume which we receive as the rule of our life, enjoin it, and all the doctrines and examples by which those commands are illustrated and enforced, urge it, as the first and greatest duty of our life, to PLEASE GOD.

5. The highest praise that Scripture bestows on the most favoured of the ancient worthies is, that "he walked with God," and that he had this testimony that "HE PLEASED GOD."

6. The Redeemer, while he wore the form of man, paid no regard to ease or earthly pleasures, but toiled and suffered as a "man of sorrows,❞— passed through mysterious agonies,-endured the most afflicting mockery, and shed his blood on Calvery, that he might please his Father.

7. We are taught both by the precepts and examples of the first disciples of Christ, that we should be willing to lose the good opinion of men, to forego the pleasures of time, to leave houses and land, and father and mother, and children and wife, and give up our life itself, rather than offend God.

8. God is our Father and we are his children; and as the loving child can have no higher joy than to please his father, so should it be our greatest joy to please our Father which is in heaven.

9. All things in nature please God, and have no other rule of motion than his will. From the sun to the centre, his pleasure is the rule of the universe; and beauty and glory and joy are the fruits of obedience to this law. Man only, of creatures visible, has opposed his Maker's pleasure, and he has reaped a woful recompense of pain and death. Those among his invisible creatures who have placed their wills against the will of their Creator, have lost their beauty and their glory,-have been expelled the homes of blessedness, and shut up in prisons of eternal night. To please God is the perfection of all creatures; and that which sets itself in fixed opposition to his will, must either cease to be, or be an everlasting blot in the creation.

10. To please God must therefore be the first and the chief part of our religion, the first and the great end of our being,--the well-spring of our pleasures while on earth, and the business and enjoyment of our souls in heaven, All things commend the will of God to man,-all things bind the Christian to consult his pleasure. All things, therefore, commend to us the care of the rising generation, and bind us to make it one great business of our life to bring them up in the fear and love of God, since this, of all others, is the work in which God is most interested, and with the success of which he is most pleased.

ARGUMENTS FOR TEE-TOTALISM.

Many have been reformed by tee-totalism, and have continued steady for many months, and some for several years; and not a few of the reclaimed have begun to attend places of worship, to unite with Christian churches, and to give good proofs of a true conversion.

Teetolism is therefore a security from one set of dangers to the souls of men, by which more Christians and ministers have been overtaken and undone than by any other dangers; and when we feel ourselves so weak, and know ourselves so insecure, even after all our efforts, and when we pray each day not to be led into temptation, it seems to be the wisest plan, as all must grant it is the safest, to abstain.

Abstinence from ale and wine is not like monkish or Pagan schemes of mortification, the tendency of which is to extinguish the human race, or to generate depravity of morals, or to render men useless to each other.

There are few who might not be instrumental in reclaiming drunkards, and in placing others out of serious dangers, by practising and advocating abstinence, and that without subtracting from their usefulness in other ways, if we are to judge from the experiments that have been made.

No man can tell to what extent he may do mischief, by countenancing the use of drinks which are so dangerous and mischievous to families, and churches, aud communities.

If moderate drinkers were to give over drinking, drunkenness would become more hateful, and drunkards would be shamed out of their sins by thousands

If all the moderate drinkers should become teetotalers, the ale houses and spirit shops would all be closed in less than eighteen months; the drinking trade, and all the temptations to drunkenness would disappear; drunkards would be forced to abstain; and the drinking system would altogether pass away. They are the moderate people that keep drunkards and drunkard makers in countenance, and find them with work and wages, as well as make each following race of drunkards as the old ones die.

If all moderate drinkers were to become teetotalers, the manufacture of drunkards would stop at once; for all the new drunkards, making at the present rate about a hundred thousand a year for our country, are made out of moderate drinkers.

If all were teetotalers, our country would save one hundred millions of pounds yearly, which would make about five pounds each for every man, woman, and child in Great Britain and Ire land, or from forty to fifty pounds a year to every poor family.

Published by I. DAVIS, 22, Grosvenor-street, Stalybridge; Bancks and Co., Exchange-street; Heywood, Oldham-street, Manchester; R. Groombridge, 6, Panyer Alley, Paternoster Row, London; and may be had of all Booksellers. [CAVE and SEVER, Printers, Manchester.]

EVANGELICAL REFORMER,

AND YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

BY JOSEPH

BARKER.

Published every Saturday.-Price One Penny, or in Monthly

Parts, price Five-pence.

No. 26.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1838.

VOL. I.

INDULGENCE AND ENJOYMENT.

MOST people seem to think, that the more they indulge themselves, the more enjoyment they will have; but this is a very great mistake. As far as my experience is concerned, it is just the contrary. At an earlier period of my life I indulged myself in almost all the usual gratifications of religious society; I attended parties, I feasted on dainties, I drank intoxicating drinks, and smoked tobacco. I took walks of pleasure, I visited fine halls and gardens, and took a trip upon the water; I consulted my taste, my fancy, and my flesh, in some measure; I was not severe upon myself either in meats or drinks, or artificial indulgences. And I thought these indulgences added something to my enjoyment of life, and I fancied that to give them up would be to relinquish so much real gratification. I have, however, found out that I was under a great mistake. For several years past I have been acting on another principle. Instead of adding indulgence to indulgence, I have been laying them one by one aside. I first renounced snuff; then I gave up the use of spirits, and a short time after I gave up ale and wine. About twelve months after I renounced tobacco; and then I gave up walks and trips of pleasure. I would not go to eating and drinking parties, nor visit the great houses of the aristocracy in the neighbourhood where I lived, nor go to see fine shows. I then took upon myself additional labour,

which took up all my leisure hours, and all my days of rest; and filled up all the spaces of my time with advocating temperance, reviewing books, and writing for temperance and religious publications. My next step was to use plainer food at home, and to wear coarser and less costly clothes. Then I gave up the use of tea and coffee, and took in their places, such food and drink as I had used in my younger days. In the course of five or six years I reduced my annual expenses full one-half, and increased my labours full two thirds. According to my old way of reckoning, I should have become a most joyless and melancholy man, wearied with labours and worn down with sorrow, until life had become a burden to me. But is it so? I thank God it is just the contrary. While my labours and my self-denial have been doubled or trebled, my happiness has increased tenfold.

When I was accustomed to indulge myself in eating and drinking, I was frequently meeting with disappointments and vexations. I should dine at a table of luxuries, and drink the strongest wines; and then at night, after preaching in a country village, I should have offered me a piece of the poor man's bread, and a mug full of buttermilk. Sometimes after a week spent in feasting at parties, I should have to spend another week among the colliers, or among the farmers, and pass from luxuries to a little bacon or fat mutton, and from the strongest and best flavoured tea and coffee, drunk from painted and gilded china, to tasteless and muddy drinks of the same names, served up in coarse and faded and broken ware. this used to be a vexation. One cannot long use luxuries, without liking them; and in proportion as one likes them is the vexation of not meeting with them. I know no such disappointments now. The things which I use at home are such things as I can meet with almost every where. Every kind of wholesome fare is welcome, and I can eat and drink with the poor man in his homely style, with greater pleasure than I can eat from the richest table that can be spread. I have also much better health than formerly. I used to be constantly unwell. Either I had the head-ache, or the heart-burn, or sickness, or de

And