there no voice, ere it be too late, to warn them of their peril? Is there no friendly guide to lead them to that Rock which is raised above the shaft of human calamity and danger? Is there no one who will seize their reluctant hand, and force them from the plain where the deluge of wrath is beginning already to fall?

Some hardened observers, indeed, can discern little of evil in the world to call for the peculiar and costly remedy of the Gospel. We cannot, however, doubt, that, to the eye of the great Physician of souls, this scene of earthly existence is little better than one great hospital of mental and moral disease. But let the Saviour of the world only pass along its wards, and bend over the couch of the sick, and administer the remedies of heaven, and death and disease shall flee before

с

Their "flesh" shall

66 come

him. again, as the flesh of a little child." Immortal youth shall succeed to decrepitude and anguish. The blind in spirit shall see; the deaf hear; the dumb speak. The man hitherto possessed by the evil spirits of worldliness, or self-will, or lust, or ambition, shall be found " sitting, and in his right mind," at the feet of his Redeemer.

O thou Father of mercies and God of all comfort! may we be found among the happy number, who, healed by thy hand, shall celebrate thy praises for ever! May the song be ours through eternity, Unto Him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to Him be glory Amen."

and dominion for ever.

THOU latest, but loveliest, beam of the day! Thou art weary of shining; thou hatest away : The city of Galilee sees thee decline;

But it turns to a brightness more lasting than thine.

It turns to a light the sun cannot bestow-
A light to arise in the midnight of woe;
To pierce to the deepest recesses within,
And purify e'en the dark dwellings of sin.

Ye wasted with suffering! I pity you not,
Oh, welcome the anguish that led to your lot,-
To be laid at the feet of your Saviour, to feel
His heavenly hand gently touching to heal!

Is he gone from the earth to his home in the skies?
Is he lost to our vision, and deaf to our cries?
We are weak, and disordered, and deeply dis-
tressed,

And the day of our sojourn sinks fast to its rest!

Oh! Faith can behold Him, tho' high be his seat;
And the Spirit can bear us afar to his feet;
And, though life's feeble ray be declining in
gloom,

The hour of full healing shall be in the tomb.

CHAP. III. VER. 5.

And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

'STRETCH forth my hand!' might this poor creature have exclaimed; how can I? Is not obedience impossible? 'How can I stretch forth a hand 'which is withered?' But he makes no such reply. In faith he endeavours to stretch forth his hand; " and it was restored whole as the other." And may not the lowly and honest servant of the Redeemer find the strongest consolation in the facts of this history?

The word of God, for instance,

commands us

66 to pray without ceasing." But some timid heart is tempted to reply, 'How can I? Prayer supposes a thousand qualities and desires which I do not possess.' Now the proper answer to such an objector appears to be the simple reiteration of the same command, " Pray." Strive, in dependence upon the infinite compassion of God, to bow down your heart, and pour out the honest wishes of your soul before him; and, in the effort, your difficulties will vanish; and that Spirit, who “ helpeth our infirmities," will both teach you what to ask, and how to ask it. Many are the examples of those who, though their "hearts were hot within them, have found, for a time, no words in which to give utterance to their feelings; but, in the lowly and obedient endeavour to draw near to God, the