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men.

vernment of men and angels has ever rested, and where it will ever continue to rest. Isaiah, ix. 6. Such parents may leave the events of future years, and all the changes connected with their children's lives, to him who bids us commit our ways unto him, and promises to direct all our paths. Prov. iii. 6. He, indeed, is surrounded by the songs and hallelujahs of heaven; but still, he regards with unceasing and tender care, the frail and needy children of His compassionate and unequalled consideration of our infirmities, has led him repeatedly to warn us against distressing ourselves with anxious thoughts and unavailing fears and sorrows about the morrow: first, because we know not what the morrow may bring forth; and, secondly, because he has, himself promised to sustain us under every load, when we cast our cares and distresses on him. Psalm lv. 22. It is his mere mercy that has drawn the veil over our eyes, and will not permit us to see afar off, lest the knowledge and view of distant evils should embitter the few comforts which we now enjoy.

Could many a parent read the history of only twenty coming years, and learn what dangers, what difficulties and snares, these years would bring upon their children: or could the children see, as in a glass, the same sad train of im

pending and approaching evils, the view would often weigh both parents and children down in the bitterness of sorrow, and crush them to the grave. Hence we can perceive in what compassion

"Heav'n from all creatures hides the book of fate, All but the page prescrib'd, their present state; From brutes what men, from men what spirits know, Or who would suffer being here below?

The lamb our riot dooms to bleed to-day,

Had he our reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flow'ry food,
And licks the hand just rais'd to shed his blood.
O blindness to the future, kindly giv'n,

That each may fill the circle mark'd by heav'n."

One straight and simple path of duty is marked out for ministers, and masters, and parents, and that is, to work while it is called today; to lay ourselves out according to our stations and abilities; to live for the edification and good of all within our reach; to instruct, to rebuke, to exhort, with all long-suffering and patience; "to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know our labour is not in vain in the Lord." Then, however separated by death or different vocations, or the untold calamities and providences of life, our separation will be but - for a time. Some souls, over whom we have

watched and prayed, will meet us before the throne of God and the Lamb,

"Where all the tempestuous blast
Of bitter affliction is o'er,

Where partings are ended and past,
And sorrow and pain are no more ;
Where snares and temptations are gone,
And trials are all at an end,

Where hence we shall cease to bemoan

The loss of a child or a friend."

No. IV.

THE PRESS-GANG.

"ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD." Rom. viii. 28.

AMONG the many evils which war brings with it in every country, that of separating men from their own homes and kindred, and compelling them to go forth to battle against their own will, is certainly none of the least. The conscription in France, and the militia and impress services of this and other countries, have thus been the fruitful sources of vast evil and sorrow, in tearing asunder many of the nearest and dearest friends on earth. It is not the writer's intention to enter on the discussion of the lawfulness and expediency, or the unlawfulness and inexpediency of these measures, or of the wars that lead to their adoption. The evil still exists, and is extensively and severely felt; and this is enough for his purpose. Allowing, however, for a moment, that sometimes the public good and safety of the country may call for these harsh measures; yet, when we

think of the brutality and hardened feelings of those who compose our press-gangs, and of the fears and sorrows which their presence bring into the domestic circle of many a family, one cannot but anxiously desire the arrival of that day when war shall be learned no more. To a person not entirely dead to all the sympathies of nature, it is, and ever must be, a most distressing sight, to behold the husband torn from his distracted wife and shrieking children; and the son wrested, by violence, from the arms of his fond parents, and brothers and sisters, to see them, in all probability, no more, at least to go from them he knows not whither, and to return to them he knows not when. The last look that these separating friends take of each other is full of all the reality of distress; nor is it matter of much surprise, if both those who are so hurried to the wars, and those who remain to weep. and lament over their bereavement, are tempted to conclude, that the Lord Jehovah has ceased to rule and reign over the affairs of men; or that his tender mercies are withdrawn from their land, or at least from their household, especially when they call to mind how many of those husbands, and fathers, and sons fall every year beneath the innumerable destructions of war, and return to their relatives and their homes no more. Yet, gloomy as this picture is, it has its

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