tions misconstrued by the ignorance or malevolence of their fellow-creatures.

At all times, however, and in all seasons, the sublime idea of an everpresent God is fraught with hope and joy to such as seek his favour and protection. Let us pity the callous heart of him who could without emotion read the address of the Hebrew bard, in contemplating this elevating subject.

"O Lord, thou hast searched me "and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; "thou understandest my thoughts "afar off. Thou compassest my path, "and art acquainted with all my ways; for there is not a word in "" my tongue, but lo! thou knowest "it altogether. Thou has beset me "behind and before, and laid thine "hand upon me. Such knowledge is "too wonderful for me; I cannot

"attain

" attain unto it. Whither shall I go "from thy spirit? or whither shall I

flee from thy presence? If I as"scend up into heaven, thou art "there: if I make my bed in hell, "thou art there. If I take the wings "of the morning, and dwell in the "uttermost parts of the sea, even "there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."

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Delightful is the consciousness of being thus upheld by almighty power, and wrapt as it were in the arms of Omnipotence! When we cast our eyes upon the wonders of creation, and behold in the heavens, which are the work of his hands, the innumerable worlds which are placed near enough to be seen, and yet at such immense distance as to be but barely seen; when we learn the real magnitude of any one of these stupendous orbs, and compare it with

the

the seeming size, and reflect what an effort of human intellect it required to gain some feeble glimmerings of knowledge concerning the laws which guide it in its course, into what insignificance do we sink! And yet, my beloved child, we are assured by Him, by whom all these worlds were called into existence, that our souls are precious in his sight; and that though these worlds shall perish, our souls shall never perish, but that they shall be happy or miserable through all the ages of eternity.

God has not left it in our power to choose whether we shall exist or not. We may, by self-murder, change the state of our existence, and cut ourselves off from that chance of happiness, which, while there is opportunity of repentance, is allowed to even the worst of sinners; but though we may destroy the body, we

VOL. I.

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cannot

cannot shorten the duration of the soul.

We can no more alter any of the laws which God has established for the government of the moral and intellectual world, by any imagination we may entertain concerning them, than we can alter the laws of the material world by our foolish fancies. Suppose a person, who likes to lie in bed all day, and takes special care to have all his windows well secured from the intrusion of any ray of light, should, while he rejoices in darkness, take it into his head to imagine that the sun had forgotten to rise, and was never again to shine upon the world, should we not think him very absurd? How much more so should we consider him if he proceeded to act upon this foolish supposition, and to order all his affairs as if the world was thenceforth to be involved in perpetual

petual night; and this on no better grounds than because he could not through his massy shutters see the sun!

And yet on no better foundation than this do thousands, and tens of thousands, order the affairs that are of the last importance to their eternal happiness. Loving to live in mental darkness, they foolishly encourage themselves in cherishing a a belief that there is no light, and continue to persuade themselves, that since they think so, it must be so, till that awful period arrives, when the fabric of their dwelling is dissolved, and the unwelcome sun of truth bursts on their astonished souls!

Never, oh! never may any of the children so dear to my affections be in the number of this self-deluded multitude! May they never forget that God has endowed them with reasonable

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