'father to the fatherless,-an husband to the 'widow,—and now, Lord, what wait I for? truly my hope is only in thee'.-Thou canft. give me in thine house, a place, and a name better than of fons and of daughters, even an everlafting name which shall not be cut off3 ;— and, therefore, though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, &c. • &c.—yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the GOD OF MY SALVATI'ON'.' Once more, let us endeavour at such seasons as these to recognize a gracious MONITOR.He that can fill every void, here illuminates the darkest.-Whenever the Lord ftrikes, he Speaks.-Let us liften at fuch a time as this with humble attention, yet with holy confidence, for it is the voice of a Friend,--a wonderful Counsellor.-Let us with the Prophet refolve to afcend the tower of observation, and fee what He will fay unto us, and what we shall • Pf. Ixviii. 5. Pf. xxxix. 7. Ifa, Ivi. 5. anfwer ナ anfwer when we are reproved. If with him we thus watch our difpenfation, at the end, like his, it fhall fpeak". God is continually raising up witnesses, and fending them in his name to found the alarm in Zion-He charges them to admonish the wife, as well as the foolish Virgin, to beware of flumbering, fince the bridegroom is at hand :-and when one is called away, to cry to those that remain, be ye alfo ready, for • in fuch an hour as ye think not, the Son of man • cometh".'-Some indeed, like the fons of Lot, defperately fcorn the admonition, and treat it as the fear of dotage*.-Some, like those in the Acts, ure in doubt, faying one to another, 'what meaneth this?—and others mocking reply these men are full of new wine".'But TRUTH, like a furiously affaulted but unfhaken Rock, remains to scorn its scorners: and while the witneffes continue to bear a faithful and confiftent teftimony, God foon or late appears in vindication of their integrity and his own word. Entering a careless family he fmites the first born; and, as one that will be heard, calls aloud Awake thou ' that fleepeft;—arife from the dead, and Chrift 'fhall give thee light".' And is it not, my Afflicted Friend, an infinite mercy, if, by any means, God will enter with fuch a light,-that he will roufe fuch Sleeper?-that by his minifter Death he will arreft the attention of him who has flighted every other minister ?-What patience! what long fuffering! to take fuch an one apart ;-bring him from noife and occupation into the secret and filent chamber; fpeak to his heart; and feal the most important truths on it, by the most affecting impreffions?-Is it not saying • How fhall I give thee up Ephraim? how shall • I make thee as Admaha ? &c. &c.-Certain it is, that questions which before only reached the ear, often now, like barbed arrows, remain fixed in the confcience ;-confcience no longer 2 Eph. v. 14. a Hofea xi. 8. ftifled ftifled or amufed, difcovers the CONTENDER, and trembling before him, cries Thou haft chaftifed me, and I was chaftifed as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, turn thou me, and I fhall be turned, for thou art the Lord my • God.' This I fay is often the cafe, and fhould it be realized in yours, as it has been in that of your present Visitor, and many others;—if instead of flying for relief to every object but Him, you are brought humbly to his feet with patient fubmiffion, ferious enquiry, fervent prayer, holy refolution, and firm reliance:—if, in a word, by the feverest stroke, the enchantment is also broken,—your foul escaped as a bird out of the fnare of the fowler, and returned to its proper REST; what reafon will you have to fay Those we call wretched are a chofen band.-- Stand this the foremost,—' That my heart has bled.”— For All I bless Thee ;-Moft, for the fevere; Her death,-my own at hand ⚫ Jer. xxxi. 18. • Pf. cxxiv. 7. B 3 But But death at hand (as an old writer expreffes it,) fhould be death in view, and lead us to confider next OUR PROSPECTS from this House of Sorrow, as the inhabitants of a present and future world.-Many suppose that they can best contemplate the prefent, by crowding the house of mirth; their whole deportment, however, fhews that it makes them much too giddy for serious obfervation.-Having eyes they fee note. Look at the deceafed, and contemplate present things. His days an hand breadth;-his beauty, confumed like the mothfretten garment-his cares and pleasures, a dream;—his attainments, as the grass, which flourisheth in the morning, and in the evening is cut down and withereth ;-his years, a tale; -his strength, labour and forrow. So foon is the whole cut off, and fled, that we cannot help repeating with the Pfalmift, Verily-every man-at his best estate-is altogether—VANI a Eccl. vii. 4. • Mark viii. 18. TY, |