[1] Satan doth his utmost, that sinners may not have any
serious thoughts of the miserable state they are in while
they are under his rule, or hear of anything from others
which might the least unsettle their minds from his
service. Consideration, he knows, is the first step to
repentance. He that doth not consider his ways what they
are, and whither they lead him, is not likely to change
them in haste. Israel stirred not until Moses came, and had
some discourse with them about their woful slavery and the
gracious thoughts of God towards them, and then they begin
to desire to be gone. Pharaoh soon bethought him what
consequence might follow upon him, and cunningly labours to
prevent it by doubling their task. "Ye are idle, ye are
idle, therefore ye say, Let us go, and do sacrifice unto
the Lord. Go therefore and work." Thus Satan is very
jealous of the sinner, afraid every Christian that speaks
to him, or ordinance that he hears, will inveigle him. By
his good-will he should come at neither; no, nor have a
thought of heaven or hell from one end of the week to the
other, and that he may have as few as may be, he keeps him
full-handed with work. The sinner grinds, and he is filling
the hopper that the mill may not stand still. Ah, poor
wretch! was ever slave so looked to? As long as the devil
can keep thee thus, thou art his own sure enough. The
prodigal "came to himself" before he came to his father. He
considered with himself what a starving condition he was
in; his husks were poor meat, and yet he had not enough of
them; and how easily he might mend his commons if he had
but grace to go home and humble himself to his father! Now,
and not till now, he goes.--_Gurnall,_ 1616-1679.
[2] The sand of life
Ebbs fastly to its finish. Yet a little,
And the last fleeting particle will fall
Silent, unseen, unnoticed, unlamented.
Come, then, sad thought, and let us meditate,
While meditate we may. We have now
But a small portion of what men call time
To hold communion.--_H. K. White._
[3] He sat within a silent cave, apart
From men, upon a chair of diamond stone;
Words he had not, companions he had none,
But steadfastly pursued his thoughtful art;
And as he mused he pulled a slender string
Which evermore within his hand he held;
And the dim curtain rose which had concealed
His thoughts, the city of the immortal king:
There, pictured in its solemn pomp, it lay
A glorious country stretching round about,
And through its golden gates passed in and out
Men of all nations, on their heavenly way.
On this he mused, and mused the whole day long,
Feeding his feeble faith till it grew strong.
--_George Craly._
[4] No man is in so much danger as he who thinks there is no
danger. Why, when the bell rings, when the watchman rends
the air with cries of "Fire! _Fire!_ FIRE!" when in every
direction there is the pattering of feet on the sidewalk,
and when the engines come rattling up to the burning house,
one after another the inmates are awakened, and they rush
out; and they are safest that are most terrified, and that
suffer most from a sense of danger. One only remains
behind. He hears the tumult, but it weaves itself into the
shape of dreams, and he seems to be listening to some
parade, and soon the sounds begin to be indistinct in his
ear, and at length they cease to make any impression upon
him. During all this time he is inhaling the deadly gas
with which his apartment has become filled, gradually his
senses are benumbed, and finally he is rendered unconscious
by suffocation. And, in the midst of peril, and the thunder
of excitement, that man who is the least awake, and the
least frightened, is the very man that is most likely to be
burned up.--_Beecher._