God, is the language of the Spirit addressed to the innermost part of our being that we may receive the spiritual truths of the Bible, must we not have a capacity for them?

Unless the state of our mind and heart in some degree correspond with that spiritual state to which divine truths are addressed, shall we be capable of understanding, or improving them? (1 Cor. ii. 14.)

If we suffer the truths we read in the Bible, to reach no farther than our outward, mental, faculties, can they perform their proper office?

Is not the life and spirit of divine truth intended to reach our inward being?

In order that the Scriptures may produce the right effect, we must have the hearing ear, the understanding heart, we must seek the illuminating and sanctifying influences of the Spirit of God; we must continually pray that the Spirit will inhabit, as its temple, the centre of our being—that our own spirit, heart, and mind, may be pervaded by its celestial influence.

If the spiritual understanding has been opened, if the inward feeling has been awakened, let not their operations be repressed; let them be sedulously encouraged, let them be practically followed in our daily life.

CUP.

What is this called?

By whose agency was it brought into its present state?

What form has it? Is every part of it round?

Has it sides? Has it corners ?

Where?

How is it meant to stand? Which is the thickest part?

Has the inside the same form as the outside? Do you know the two names, by which we designate the rising, and the hollow side of a circular form?

Shew me the convex of the cup. Shew me the concave.

Can you think of any thing which has a convex, but no concave ?-[Ball.]

Tell me all you can further observe about the cup.-Is it opaque-transparent-semitransparent?

Has it weight-hardness-colour-polish? What is common to all cups ?-Are they not hollow?

What do you observe enamelled on the outside of the cup?-Of whom are these the work? Tell me what is necessary; what is useful; what is ornamental, in the cup.

For what is this cup chiefly used? Are there cups made of any other substance?

The cup, we have said, is round. Can we discern this by any other sense than that of sight? By what sense?

What is the place of the cup, at this moment? Can it of itself change its place?

Is it animate, inanimate, or dead?

Of what materials was the cup formed? By what means was it formed? Who is the agent in shaping the cup?

Were hands alone required to shape it?

What was necessary to direct the hands? Were the hands and the mind of only one person employed?

Let us inquire a little into the process of making a cup.-Is every kind of earth fit for making it? [The earths chiefly employed, are those called alumina, or pure clay, and silica, or flint.]

Is the earthy matter fit without preparation? Is there nothing in it to be removed?

Must it not be refined?

May it be sufficiently soft? Must it not be in a state to yield easily to the hand of the potter?

The clay is first beaten in water; the coarse parts sink to the bottom of the vessel, the fine parts unite with the water. The liquid thus formed, is again purified by passing through sieves; after this, there is added to it a mixture composed of the powder of ground flint. The substance is then dried, and beaten to a proper consistency; thus prepared, it is brought to the

potter-has it yet any form? How do you think it receives its various shapes?

The substance is put upon a circular piece of wood, which is turned round horizontally in the potter's lathe; during its revolution, the potter gives it the particular shape, which he designs, and afterwards forms every part of the cup. Is skill required in the potter?

Does the clay act, or is it acted upon? Does it form itself, or is it formed?

Does it offer resistance to the action of the potter?

What do we call that state, in which a thing is the subject of action, but not an agent? The cup then is passive:-who is active? You say the cup has hardness, polish or glaze, and figures :—we will first inquire how it receives its hardness.

What hardens things? Does the sun harden? How?

Is there an artificial means of hardening? What?

Is it necessary to regulate the heat of the fire? Has the cup any polish while it is under the potter's hands?

How does it receive its polish?

The cup is dipped in a composition, which, when exposed to the action of the fire, produces a glaze, or polish. To be polished, the cup is a second time put into the furnace.

You observed figures upon the cup, and that the painting is of a different kind from that

which you see on paper or canvass :—do you know how the figures are fixed in the cup?

The cup passes a third time through the fire. We have noticed but a few of the operations the cup undergoes; there is much labour at first in bruising and refining the earth and in forming, hardening, glazing, painting, and finishing the cup, many hands are employed, and many minds in directing the hands.

What instruction, with respect to ourselves, may we derive from some of the above considerations? What may the process of making a cup bring to our mind?

Did you ever hear that God forms us to be vessels for His glory?

In what state are we, when God first begins His work of grace upon our hearts?

Had you never been told of the fact, would you have supposed that clay might be formed into beautiful cups? And could you behold, as it really is, the natural, unconverted state of man, still less would you think we could be made vessels for the glory of God.

We have seen that the clay goes through many operations; we also must have much done for us, and must go through various processes, before we can be vessels for God's glory. The clay is bruised to make it soft and yielding; -God employs affliction of mind and body, in order to subdue and break down our proud, inflexible spirit. There is much to be separated