; pany here the God shines through the man: but the wilderness preceded the multitudes, and the darts of Satan the preaching of the gospel and healing of the sick. He who would teach the multitude, and reach the moral diseases of man through the truth, must know something of a wilderness path; must get his weapons not from books simply, but from the school of heavenly discipline and an exercised heart. Such an one will stand up, not to please the fancies of men, but to reach the conscience and feed them with spiritual substance he will speak with authority, as God's messenger, and not be easily kept out of the conscience; and stand firm in the midst of an admiring multitude, unspoiled by their caresses,-intent upon doing them good. True it is, such an one cannot, like Christ, open the blind eye or heal the sick, but he will do more, for his message, clothed with divine power, will open the dark understanding, uncover the wounds of sin, and pour in the healing balm which sanctifies and saves. It had been foretold of Christ, that He should bear the sicknesses of His people; and from the wilderness He comes forth to take up His burden; and how easily does He carry it! Reader, look at Him; He turns no case away. Art thou sensibly diseased? apply to Him and thou shalt be healed. Look at Him, saint, and love Him more: there He stands, in the midst of that diseased crowd, a centre of life and healing, a fine picture of what He is to the souls of men, and of what every saint should be in the midst of perishing men,-a centre of influence, elevating and pure, and directing to Him who alone can heal and save. May this be our happy destiny, reader; and then, however rugged our path, at the end of our journey we shall say, "the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage," and though the scroll of fame exhibits not our name, the good man's epitaph shall be ours, for truth, after our departure, will say of us, as of one of old, "he served his generation, and fell asleep." Greater honour we need not covet, and perhaps, greater cannot well be conferred. THE VISION OF HOPE. JANEWAY has given many affecting instances of the happy death of children; and many more have been supplied by periodicals since his day. These instances are very instructive to the church of Christ in general, and especially to that portion of it which is included under the title of christian parents; for if anything can convey a sure and certain hope to the minds of such parents, that their loved one is not lost, but gone before, it is the manifest stamp of a blissful immortality impressed upon the countenance of their child at the moment of its departure. Such consolation was reserved for the parents of a little boy of uncommon loveliness, who was lately called to realize the glories of an endless state of blissful enjoyment. These glories appear to have been ante-dated, before he entered upon them; for, with eyes beaming with delight and with outstretched hands, he seemed to have them already in view, just as the parting breath bid farewell to the cumbering clay it was about to leave behind. Earthly ties were already severed, and "thoughts that live, and thoughts that burn" were upon those lips which were about to close for ever to thoughts inspired by mortal sympathies of sorrow or of joy. What a theme for parental hope to dwell upon! Sorrow night, yea must be thine, but not unmixed with hope-the purest, the most exalted. These are the feelings of a heart, which, though wounded-sorely wounded-yet can magnify the mercy that hath both given and taken away so precious a child: A VOICE FROM HEAVEN. (Rev. vii.) Hark! 'tis the voice of him we love, No future pain to bear. The moan that told his tale of woe, A look from Him has chased that sigh, Where all His children rest. * Reuben Tucker, of Exeter. THE FATHER OF AN INFINITE ABOUT the time of the invention of the Telescope, another instrument was formed, which laid open a scene no less wonderful, and rewarded the inquisitive spirit of man. This was the Microscope. The one led me to see a system in every star; the other leads me to see a world in every atom. The one taught me that this mighty globe, with the whole burden of its people and its countries, is but a grain of sand on the high field of immensity; the other teaches me that every grain of sand may harbour within it the tribes and the families of a busy population. The one told me of the insignificance of the world I tread upon; the other redeems it from all its insignificance; for it tells me, that in the leaves of every forest, in the flowers of every garden, and in the waters of every rivulet, there are worlds teeming with life, and numberless as are the glories of the firmament. The one has suggested to me, that beyond and above all that is visible to man, there may be fields of creation which sweep immensely along, and carry the impress of the almighty's hand to the remotest scenes of the universe; the other suggests to me, that within and beneath all that minuteness which the aided eye of man has been able to explore, there may be a region of invisibles; and that could we draw aside the mysterious curtain which shrouds it from our senses, we might see a theatre of as many wonders as astronomy has unfolded, a universe within the compass of a point so small as to elude all the powers of the microscope; but where the wonder working God finds room for the exercise of all His attributes, there He can raise another mechanism of worlds, and fill and animate them all with the evidence of His glory.-Chalmers. THE DOXOLOGY. BISHOP KENN's well known doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," &c. is a masterpiece, at once of amplification and compression,-amplification on the burden, "praise God," repeated in each line; compression, by exhibiting God as the object of praise in every view in which we can imagine praise due to Him: -praise for all His blessings, yea, for all blessings, none coming from any other source; praise by every creature, specifically invoked "here below," and in "heaven above;" praise to Him in each of the characters wherein He has revealed Himself in His word-"Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Yet this comprehensive verse is sufficiently simple, that by it "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings praise might be perfected:" and it appears so easy, that one is tempted to think that hundreds of the sort might be made without trouble. The reader has only to try, and he will be quickly undeceived, though the longer he tries, the more difficult he will find the task to be.-Montgomery. THE SAVIOUR'S BEAMS. WHEN the Sidonians where once going to choose a king, they determined that their election should fall upon the man who should first see the sun on the fol-· lowing morning. All the candidates, towards the hour of sun-rise, eagerly looked towards the East, but one, who, to the astonishment of his countrymen, fixed his eyes pertinaciously on the opposite side of the horizon, where he saw the reflection of the sun's rays before the orb itself was seen by those looking towards the east. The choice instantly fell upon him who had seen the reflection of the sun; and by the same reasoning, the influence of religion on the heart is frequently perceptible in the conduct, even before a person has made direct profession of the principle by which he is actuated. "By their fruits ye shall know them." THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD. How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to sinners! How foolish is it to imagine any hiding-place from the incomprehensible God, who fills and contains all things, and is present in every point of the world. When men have shut the door, and made all darkness within, to meditate or commit a crime, they cannot, in the most intricate recesses, be sheltered from the presence of God. If they could separate themselves from their own shadows, they could not avoid His company, or be obscured from His sight. Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from Him; He is in the most secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust is secret, but the eye of God beholds this, and that, and the other. He is present with our hearts when we imagine, with our hands when we act. We may exclude the sun from peeping into our solitudes, but not the eyes of God from beholding our actions. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and good" (Prov. xv. 3). He lies in the depths of our souls, and sees afar off our designs before we have conceived them. He is in the greatest darkness as well as the clearest light; in the closest thought of the mind, as well as the openest expressions. Nothing can be hid from Him, no, not in the darkest cells or thickest walls. "He compasseth our path," wherever we are (Ps. cxxxix. (3), "and is acquainted with all our ways." He is as much present with wicked men to observe their sins, as He is to detest them. Where He is present in His essence, He is present in His attributes: His holiness to hate, and His justice to punish, if He please to speak the word. It is strange, men should not be mindful of this, when their very sins themselves might put them in mind of His presence. Whence hast thou the power to act? who preserves thy being, whereby thou art capable of committing that evil? Is it not His essential presence that sustains us, and His arm that supports us? and where can any man fly from His presence? Not the vast regions of heaven could shelter a sinning angel from His eye: how was Adam ferreted out of his hidingplaces in Paradise! Nor can we find the depths of the sea a sufficient covering to us. If we were with Jonah, closeted up in the belly of a whale; if we had "the wings of the morning," as quick a motion as the light at the dawning of the day, that doth in an instant surprise and overpower the regions of darkness, and could pass to the utmost parts of the earth or hell, there we should find Him, there His eye would be upon us, there would His hand lay hold of us, and lead us as a conqueror triumphing over a captive (Ps. cxxxix. 8-10). Nay, if we could leap out of the compass of heaven and earth, we should find as little reserves from Him: He is without the world in those infinite spaces which the mind of man can imagine. In regard of His immensity, nothing in being can be distant from Him, wheresoever it is. THE WISDOM OF GOD. THE wisdom we have by nature is like the weeds the earth brings forth without tillage. Our wisdom, since the fall, is the wisdom of the serpent, without the innocency of the dove: it flows from self-love, runs into self-interest. It is the wisdom of the flesh, and a prudence to manage means for the contenting our lusts. Our best wisdom is imperfect, a mere nothing and vanity, in comparison of the Divine, as our beings are in comparison of His essence. We must go to God for a holy and innocent wisdom, and fill our cisterns from a pure fountain. The wisdom that was the glory of Solomon, was the donation of the Most High. (James i. 5), "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The faculty of understanding is from God by nature; but a heavenly light to direct the understanding is from God by grace. Children have an understanding, but stand in need of wise masters to rectify it, and form judicious notions in it. "There is a spirit in man, but the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding" (Job xxxii. 8.) We must beg of God, wisdom. The gospel is the wisdom of God; the concerns of it great and mysterious, not to be known without a "new understanding" (1 John v. 20.) A new understanding is not to be had but from the Creator of the first.guage, however simple, to pour out his The Spirit of God is "the searcher of the deep things of God," the revealer of them to us, and the enlightener of our minds to apprehend them; and therefore called a "Spirit of wisdom and revelation" (Eph. i. 17.) Christ is made wisdom to us, as well as righteousness; not only by imputation, but effusion. Seek to God, therefore, for that wisdom which is like the sun, and not that worldly wisdom which is like a shadow: for that wisdom whose effects are not so outwardly glorious, but inwardly sweet; seek it from Him, and seek it in His word; that is, the transcript of Divine wisdom; through His " precepts, understanding is to be had" (Ps. cxix. 104.) As the wisdom of men appears in their laws, so doth the wisdom of God in His statutes. By this means we arrive to a heavenly sagacity. If these be rejected, what wisdom can there be in us? a dream and conceit only (Jer. viii.): "they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?" Who knows how to order any concerns as he ought, or any one faculty of his soul? Therefore, desire God's direction in outward concerns, in personal, family, in private, and public. He hath not only a wisdom for our salvation, but for our outward direction. He doth not only guide us in the one, and leave Satan to manage us in the other. Those that go with Saul to a witch of Endor, go to hell for craft, and prefer the wisdom of the hostile serpent before the holy counsel of a faithful Creator. If you want health in your body, you advise with a physician; if direction for your estate, you resort to a lawyer; if passage for a voyage, you address to a pilot; why not much more yourselves, your all, to a wise God? As Pliny said, concerning a wise man, "O, sir, how many Catos are there in that wise person!" how much more wisdom than men or angels possess, is infinitely centered in the wise God! PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT. Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, and not its hypocritical desire, and prayer consists in the faithful expression of its needs, wants, hopes and wishes, and blessed is the man who is able in lan soul unto God. Prayer is not confined to a particular and appointed form of words, but finds expression in the simple language of the heart, affected by the Holy Spirit. It sends out its supplications like the rose, brought to maturity by the warm sun, and the cooling rain, sends out its sweet scent, and seems to attract the notice and admiration of the bystander so the sweet-smelling savour of unctious supplication ascends, yea, infallibly attracts His benevolent and gracious notice, who is more ready to hear than we are to pray; for this reason, therefore, let every one that is godly cry unto thee, in the time, (every moment,) when thou mayest be found,-when the water floods of sorrow and grief, are ready to overwhelm. It is the privilege of the child of God, and of him only to speak with the unseen God, and to hold fellowship with Him, whom not having seen with the natural eye, He admires with the spiritual eye, and loves most truly and sincerely, because the language of his heart is Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Under a felt sense of his own unworthiness, and the Lord's boundless mercy, and unmerited kindness in visiting his soul with salvation, and causing his temporal cup to run over. When privileged with such a realization as this, the world is put beneath our feet, and all that earth calls good and great; things temporal are estimated according to their real value, the world's jewels lose their lustre, and the land of pure delight, is sweetly anticipated. Who can estimate the value of such communion, or put an earthly price upon such precious moments? more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. May we experience more of the true and real heart communion with our God, and may we abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost, and exhibit the graces and fruits of the Spirit, until we all come into that kingdom, where we shall exchange our prayers for praises, and make eternal melody in our hearts. to the Lord. SCRAPS FROM THE EDITOR'S TABLE. THERE is not any benefit so glorious in itself, but it may yet be exceedingly sweetened and improved by the manner of conferring it. The virtue, I know, rests in the intent; the profit, in the judicious application of the matter; but the beauty and ornament of an obligation lies in the manner of it.- Seneca. Trust him little who praises all, him less who censures all, and him least who is indifferent about all.-Lavater. As the rose-tree is composed of the sweetest flowers, and the sharpest thorns; as the heavens are sometimes fair and sometimes overcast, alternately tempestuous and serene; so is the life of man intermingled with hopes and fears, with joys and sorrows, with pleasures and with pains.—Burton. When once infidelity can persuade men that they shall die like beasts, they will soon be brought to live like beasts also. It is a secret known to few, yet of no small use in the conduct of life, that when you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him. George II having ordered his gardens at Kew and Richmond to be opened, for the public, during part of the summer, his gardener finding it troublesome to him, complained to the king that the people gathered the flowers. "What," said the monarch, "are my people fond of flowers? then plant some more.' Animals go rightly, according to the ends of their creation, when they are left to themselves; they follow their instinct and are safe: but it is otherwise with man; the ways of life are a labyrinth for him; his infancy does not stand more in need of a mother's care, than his moral and intellectual faculties require to be nursed and fostered: and when these are left to starve for want of nutriment, how infinitely more deplorable is his condition than that of the beasts who perish! Henry III of England used to say, that he would rather converse one hour with God in prayer, than hear others speak of Him for ten.-Echard. Advice, like snow, the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.-Coleridge. Pain itself is not without its alleviations. It may be violent and frequent, but it is seldom both violent and long continued ; and its pauses and intermissions become positive pleasures. It has the power of shedding a satisfaction over intervals of ease, which, I believe, few enjoyments exceed.-Paley. Coming hastily into a chamber, I had almost thrown down a crystal hourglass fear, lest I had, made me grieve, as if I had broken it: but, alas! how much precious time have I cast away without any regret! The hour-glass was but crystal,-each hour a pearl; that but like to be broken, this lost outright; that but casually, this done wilfully. A better hour-glass might be bought; but time, lost once, lost ever. Thus we grieve more for toys than for treasure. Lord, give me an hour-glass, not to be by me, but to be in me. me to number my days. An hour-glass to turn me, that I may turn my heart to wisdom.-Fuller. Teach A black cloud makes the traveller mend his pace, and mind his home; whereas a fair day and a pleasant way waste his time, and that stealeth away his affections in the prospect of the country. However others may think of it, yet I take it as a mercy, that now and then some clouds come between me and my sun, and many times some troubles do conceal my comforts; for I perceive, if I should find too much friendship in my inn, in my pilgrimage, I should soon forget my father's house, and my heritage.-Dr. Lucas. He that never changed any of his opinions, never corrected any of his mistakes; and he, who was never wise enough to find out any mistakes in himself, will not be charitable enough to excuse what he reckons mistakes in others.-Dr. Whichcote. The swelling of an outward fortune can |