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Sometimes we are grievously hindered by the things behind us drawing us back; and sometimes we are sadly frightened by the things before us driving us back. When a lion is in the way, we forget that God is able to deliver us from the lion; and when the wilderness is spread before us, we remember not that He who sent the cloudy pillar and pillar of fire to direct his people of old, is our God, and will be our Guide unto death. "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward," said the Lord unto Moses, even when the sea was before them, and Pharaoh and his host behind them. Look to the same Almighty hand, pilgrim, to strengthen thee.

Though death and hell in dread array
Thy heavenly course withstand,
Go forward, pilgrim, on thy way,

And gain the promised land.

The third is, the finishing our pilgrimage with joy, and finding the end to be eternal life; and this is an important point indeed. What trifles, what trumpery are the gewgaws of the world, in comparison with heaven! Ought we not to be ashamed to desire them, when we know that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,"

1 Cor. ii. 9.

Pilgrim, be not satisfied with husks

that the swine do eat, but sit down to the fatted

calf at thy Father's table.

Let all thy heart and all thy soul,
Amidst thy joys and pains,
Be set on that eternal goal,
Where Christ thy Saviour reigns.

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I AM very

ON

THE LILAC TREE.

fond of a sketch; let me give you one lately drawn by me of the lilac tree.

The sun was throwing his declining beams from the western sky, and the evening breeze was sweetly breathing around with balmy breath, when, walking to the window of the room in which I had been sitting, my eyes fell on the lovely lilac tree, that, in full bloom, was gently waving to and fro within reach of my hand. Sometimes the heart is more alive than at other seasons to admire the beauty of God's creation; a buoyant emotion rushes through the bosom; the hands are half uplifted; and the eye brims with a grateful tear before we are aware; it was just in such a moment as this that the lilac tree burst upon me in all its glory. I observed its beautiful pyramidic blossoms, pointing to the sky. I noticed its green leaves, that gave an additional loveliness to its flowers. I remarked the decayed and blackened blossoms of the last year, that still mingled with the fresher buds. I gazed on the

bees that hummed amid its branches, and the butterflies that, now and then, alighted on its wilderness of sweets; and I breathed the delicious odour that its freshness and its fragrance exhaled. Oh! thought I, may it be with me as it is with the lilac tree! May my desires, like its blossoms, ever point towards the skies! May I be adorned with kind affections, and holy aspirations, more abidingly lovely than its greenest leaves! May I, like it, breathe a grateful influence around me! May multitudes derive more pleasure and profit from my example, than the bees and butterflies do from its fairest flowers! and may age find me, like the year's blossoms of the lilac tree, surrounded with youthful kindred, ready to occupy my place with renovated lustre ; beaming forth the beauty of holiness, and casting around them the fragrance of a well-spent life!

A REVIVER.

I HAVE just had a reviver from my zealous friend Gideon, in the following words :-"What manner of men ought we to be, Humphrey, who are running the race set before us, full of the hope of the gospel of Christ, and abounding in the consolations of the promises of God! What an ex

alted standard ought we to attain to! How fresh and alive should we be in serving our Lord and Master! How dead and buried to the world! To what a vast height should we soar in our devotion! To what a profound depth should we descend in our humiliation!

"Well may we ask, Who is sufficient for these things? and happy for us if we can answer, ‘Our sufficiency is of God,' 2 Cor. iii. 5. Are you not frightened by the words, ' Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven?' Matt. v. 20. Why, if we had not the Friend of sinners for our Friend; if he were not our guard and guide, our sword and shield, our hope and our joy, our grace and our

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