Paul says, "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." And Peter says, "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity"--and finally says, if ye do these things ye shall never fall, for so an abundant entrance shall be ministered unto you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And John says, speaking of the Christian's hope, "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure;" then the impure may flatter themselves, and presume upon the favor of God without "purifying their souls in obeying the truth," but they are without hope in the world. And again he says, "Little children let no man deceive you, he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." So all the writers and teachers of the New Testament, with one consent, proclaim the necessity of obeying the commandments of the gospel. What a vain whim it is to think that sorrow and mere intention without reformation of life will admit you into heaven. This golden dream of heaven has sent thousands out of this world unpardoned and unsaved. A great many persons satisfy themselves with a mere confession and acknowledgement of their sins. They seem to think they have done enough, if to confession of sins they add some sorrow for it. They think all is well if, when their fit of sinning is past and they are returned to themselves, the sting remains, breeding some remorse of conscience, some complaints against their wickedness and folly for having done so, and some intentions to forsake it, though never carried into effect. There are many persons in the churches of our country who seem to think the church is a stage, whereon they must play their parts, who make a profession every day of confessing their sins with humble hearts, and yet, after having spent twenty, thirty or forty years in this manner, their hearts are as stubborn as ever, and they as impenitent and disobedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If giving thanks to God for the blessing received at his hands is performed with words only, with simple hosannas, and hallelujahs, and "_gloria patris_," and psalms, and hymns, then I presume it is done very efficiently, (?) though our lives are provoking to his majesty. _It is not the office of a friend (?) to bewail a friend with vain lamentation._ To be thankful to God is not to say God be praised, or God be thanked, but it is to remember what he desires and execute what he commands. A dying Roman once said, "It is not the office of a friend to bewail a dead friend with vain lamentations, but to remember what he desires and execute his commands. It is the office of the friends of Christ to remember his desires and carry out his instructions. If we do so we are thankful, and if we do