our Father, we ought not to distrust him; so that we may be confident, whatever he does is intended for good; and whatever happens that we interpret otherwise, yet we can get nothing by repining, nor save any thing by resisting.

ANONYMOUS.

WHY should we not speak of our pious, departed friends as having gone to heaven? Why should we not associate with their absence the bright glories of paradise, instead of the gloom of the grave? When a friend who resides at a distance from us has left us for his home, and has had a painful and perilous journey thither, when we know of his safe arrival among the objects of his affections, we do not, in our imaginations, dwell upon the perils of the way, but upon the joys he has reached.

DR. CHALMERS.

THERE may be audible music in heaven; but its chief delight will be in the music of principles in full and consenting harmony with the laws of eternal rectitude. There may be visions of loveliness there; but it will be the loveliness of virtue, as seen in God, and reflected back in family likeness from all his children.

SAURIN.

WHETHER God afflict us in love or strike us in wrath, whether he afflict us for instruction or chasten

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us for correction, our first duty under the rod is to acknowledge the equity of his hand.

KRUMMACHER.

AFFLICTION is a thorn, but still it is from God, and by it he pierces through the leaves of pride. Many trees grow better in the shade than in the sunshine. O, if God only be with us, then the furnace is changed into a fire of joy, a prison into a pleasure ground, an earthquake into a cheerful dance. Even the rod of his anger, like Aaron's rod, blossoms and bears almonds; or, like the staff of Jonathan, brings honey on its point.

GOD often lets his people reach the shore as on the planks of a shipwrecked vessel. He deprives us of the cisterns in order to make us drink out of the fountain of waters. He frequently takes away our supports, not that we may fall to the ground, but that he may himself become our rod and our staff.

It is not one and the same to say, "God consoles me," and "God is my consolation." If the Lord console me, then my heart is light, clear, and cheerful, and into the sorrow of my soul flows the feeling of joy. Is God himself my consolation? then my heart may be torn, parched, and dark. I fear not, but am of good courage, and stand over my heart, and walk upon the waves, and am still. I have it not in feelings, but I have it in naked faith in that God who has

sworn to be my God; I have it in that faith which hath and possesses that which I neither see, nor taste, nor feel. Faith in Jesus is the grave of sorrow.

JOHN BUNYAN.

IF thou canst hear, and bear the rod of affliction which God shalt lay upon thee, remember this lesson: thou art beaten that thou mayst be better. The Lord useth his flail of tribulation to separate the chaff from the wheat.

THE School of the cross is the school of light; it discovers the world's vanity, baseness, and wickedness, and lets us see more of God's mind. Out of dark affliction comes a spiritual light. In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God.

DID we heartily renounce the pleasures of this world, we should be very little troubled for our af flictions; that which renders an afflicted state so insupportable to many, is because they are too much addicted to the pleasures of this life, and so cannot endure that which makes a separation between them.

YOUNG.

DEATH is the crown of life:

Were death denied, poor man would live in vain. Death wounds to cure; we fall, we rise, we reign;

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Spring from our fetters, fasten to the skies, Where blooming Eden withers from our sight. This king of terrors is the prince of peace.

MILLMAN.

IT matters little at what hour of the day
The righteous fall asleep. Death cannot come
To him untimely who is fit to die;

The less of this cold world, the more of heaven :
The briefer life, the earlier immortality.

BROWNING.

GOD keeps a niche

In heaven to hold our idols! and albeit
He break them to our faces, and denied
That our close kisses should impair their white,
I know we shall behold them raised, complete,-
The dust shook from their beauty,- glorified
New Memnons singing in the great God-light.

WORDSWORTH.

THOU takest not away, O Death!
Thou strik'st-and absence perisheth,
Indifference is no more;

The future brightens on our sight;

For on the past hath fallen a light
That tempts us to adore.

SHEWELL.

AFFLICTIONS are the ministers of love,

By Heaven appointed:-happy if they serve
To bring us nearer home! - to wean our hearts
From toys and trifles; and to fix them there,
Where only lasting happiness is found!

RESIGNATION.

BISHOP KEN.

PERMIT me, Father, like thy dearest Son,
To cry, Not mine, but thy sole will be done;
Not mine, for I am blind, and what to choose,

What to desire, I know not, or refuse:

I ill may good, and bitter sweet, may think;
Mistake my antidote, and poison drink.

But thine be done - for thou omniscient art

To know the wants and soundings of my heart.

FRIENDS, even in heaven, one happiness would

miss,

Should they not know each other when in bliss.

MRS. HEMANS.

YE left me! and earth's flowers were dim

With records of the past;

And stars poured down another light

Than o'er my youth they cast: