This dreadful history ought not to excite despondency in trembling saints. Ministerial anxieties are principally excited by a presumptuous state of mind. It is not the timid, the diffident, the cautious, that awaken apprehensions, but the forward, the fearless, the bold. That solicitude which agitates the pious mind, is an effectual antidote against the evil it dreads, while that confidence which possesses the hypocrite, prevents the good it anticipates. The one obtains through fear, the other loses through presumption. The one is victorious, by maintaining a constant petty warfare with all his corruptions; the other is over-thrown through rushing fearlessly forward, and falling into the ambuscade which Satan has prepared for him. Hypocrisy is contriving, full of artifice, and arrogant--sincerity is quite the reverse, aiming to be right--fearing mistake--avoiding even trifling deviations and slight compliances-- "sitting at the feet of Jesus"--"clothed with humility,"--and in a "right mind!" Let us adore the grace which has hitherto prevented our falling, and humbly depend upon it for future preservation. Conscious of our infantine weakness, let us lean upon the arm of Omnipotence. Under the conduct of him who directed the march of ancient Israel by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, wo may hope to be upheld, protected, and guided in our journey to Canaan. Hail, happy hour, which shall put us in possession of our rest! Hail, celestial morning, whose bright beams shall disperse the shadows of death, and diffuse the splendours of immortal day upon our inheritance! In the account of the crime by which Ananias and Sapphira have acquired such an awful celebrity, the agency of SATAN is distinctly marked--"Why," said Peter, hath _Satan_ filled thine heart?--This a subject so seldom treated, and yet of such great importance, that it seems proper to avail ourselves of this statement, in order to examine it with some attention, and to suggest some consolatory reflections to the timid Christian.