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-Oh!' replied the lady, is that all? But in the mean time how do you manage for this world;'- My God,' cried the poor man, ' supplies all my need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. I am instructed both to be full, and to be hungry : both to abound, and to suffer need.' When my worldly stock is reduced low, and I have neither scrip, nor bread, nor money in the purse ;' I make use of bank-notes.'-Bank-notes!' exclaimed the lady. Yes, madam,' he answered,

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here is a book full of them; taking up a Bible which lay upon the bed, and opening it;

and oftentimes I find many folded up together in the same place to which I open. Look here, madam,' he continued; see, here is a promise suited to every poor man's case. When the poor and needy seek for water, and there is none, and their tongues faileth for thirst: I the LORD will hear them. I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high-places, and fountains in the midst of val lies*.' And the high value of those promises, is that they are sure and certain. Faith draws up→ on the Almighty Banker, and his is all prompt payment.' While the poor sick man said this, Isaiah xii. 17, 18

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he opened the Bible to another part, and he exclaimed again, See madam, here is another promise to a soul under doubts and fears. "I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye*. And thus, madam, in every stat and every circumstance of life, in this blessed book are assurances exactly suited to the wants both of my body and soul. Promises of provision for the way; deliverances under danger; preservation in seasons of affliction; support under trouble; direction in times of difficulty; and the Lord's assured presence in every time of need. Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousnesst.'

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The lady, without adding any thing, put a piece of money into the poor man's hand, and withdrew. What her sentiments were, I know not. But, as soon as she was departed, my companion addressed the sick man. 'I am much delighted,' he said, 'to see you, my friend, so cheerful. It is a pleasing consideration, that your sickness is sanctified.-But are

* Psalm xxxii. 8.

Isaiah xli. 10.

you enabled always thus to rejoice in the promises?'

'Oh! dear Sir,' the poor man answered, 'no. Very frequently, through unbelief, I am tempted to exclaim, with the church of old, 'my hope i perished from the Lord*. I have seasons of darkness, and times of temptation: notwithstanding I can and do say, through grace strengthening me sometimes under both, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; for though I fall, I shot arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto met.' Yes, in my haste, I cry out, all are liars. But blessed be the Lord under all, my God is faithful. He is better to me than all my fears.'

At the poor man's request, my friend and I sat down, and we had a most refreshing season. I could truly say, It is good to be here!

We parted not till we had spent a few miAnd in the conclusion, the nutes in prayer. paralytic broke out in a faint and trembling voice,

My willing soul would stay

In such a frame as this;
And sit, and sing itself away

To everlasting bliss.'

*Lam. iii. 18.

† Mich. vii. 8.

Our departure from the sick-room was affecting. We parted as those who were to meet no more on this side the grave.

At our return to the inn, our intention was to tarry only for the moment, just to settle with the host, and be gone. But an event took place, which not only retarded that intention, but finally set it aside. How short sighted is man! What a perilous path he is walking!

We were returned to the inn and while my friend left me to discharge the expenses which we had incurred there, he visited, as his manner was, the stables; in order to drop a word on the best things among that class of people who inhabit those places, and who are not in the way of hearing it elsewhere.

He used to say, that in his opinion, no order of beings whatever, stood in a situation more pitiable. Formed, as their society is, for the most part, of the children of the poor, they are introduced from their earliest days into this path of life, without the smallest education, or the least idea of its usefulness. And as they advance in years, though advancing at the same time in all the phraseology and corrupted manners of the stable, they remain totally destitute of any apprehension of divine truths. Perhaps without a breach of charity it may be said, that

very few of the whole body of this order, whether considered as postillions, chaise-drivers, stage-coachmen, or ostlers, have any more consciousness of 'the things which accompany salvation,' than the cattle with whom they herd.

What a vast body of such characters, (could the imagination form the group,) do the various inns of the kingdom contain! And what a .mass of corrupt communication is perpetually produced in their daily intercourse with one another, without a single sentiment flowing from the lips of any to the use of edifying,” so as 'to minister grace unto the hearers! And what tends to make the evil greater, as if the contagion of the stable, in the corruption of manners, had not sufficient scope for exercise during the six days labour of the week, there is no remission to this unhappy class of beings on the Lord's day. The warning bell of the church, which kindly calls all ranks without discrimination to the house of prayer, calls in vain to them. Unaccustomed to any means of grace, and unacquainted with either the morning prayer or the evening worship, they who among them find no immediate employment, lounge their time in the stable; while by far the greater part are engaged as drivers of stages, and diligences, and chaises, to conduct,

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