sweetly respond to the tidings of his approach, "Even so,

come, Lord Jesus." Then shall we welcome death,

and truly love the appearing of Christ. He says, 66 Surely, I come quickly." But a very little while have

we to be in this state of conflict and unrest; quickly the day of our redemption draws near-the longed-for day, the expected, the welcome day. Can we say sincerely, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, either by death or by judgment; welcome to me will be thy coming. I shall be satisfied when I awake up after thy likeness'"?

"Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings,
Thy better portion trace;
Rise from transitory things,

Towards heaven, thy native place.

Sun, and moon, and stars decay,

Time shall soon this earth remove;

Rise, my soul, and haste away
To seats prepared above.

"Rivers to the ocean run,

Nor stay in all their course;
Fire ascending seeks the sun,
Both speed them to their source.
So a soul new-born of God

Pants to see his glorious face;
Upwards tends to his abode,
To rest in his embrace.

"Cease, ye pilgrims, cease to mourn,

Press onward to the prize;

Soon the Saviour will return
Triumphant in the skies.
Yet a season, and you know
Happy entrance will be given,
All our sorrows left below,

And earth exchanged for heaven."

TO AN AGED CHRISTIAN.

"HEAVEN bless thee, aged pilgrim,
And speed thee on thy way,
Beam brightly on the closing
Of thy dedicated day!

The shades of eve are lengthening,
But clear those shadows fall:
No cloud in thy horizon,

No darkness to appal.

"Thou hast nobly borne the burden
In the vineyard of thy Lord;
And the new wine of the kingdom
Shall be soon thy rich reward.
Thy seat of earthly pilgrimage
A ruined heap shall be;
But above are many mansions,
And there is one for thee.

"Then faint not, aged pilgrim,
Still upward glance thine eye,
And read, through beauteous vistas,
Thy title to the sky.

But these are feeble glimpses

Unworthy to compare

With the bright unbounded fulness

That shall beam around thee there.

"All heaven shall ring with jubilee,
The whole celestial choir
Exultingly, triumphantly,
Shall strike the golden lyre!
And angel to archangel

Shall with melody respond
To greet thy saintly spirit,

When it bursts the mortal bond.”

t

"My cares, and my labours, my sickness, and pain, My sorrows are now at an end;

The summit of bliss I shall speedily gain,
The heights of perfection ascend.

"The vale of affliction my footsteps have trod
With trembling, with griefs, and with tears,
I joyfully quit for the mountain of God!
There! there! its bright summit appears.

"Thou torturing seat of diseases and pain,
Adieu, my dissolving abode;

Till I shall behold and possess thee again,
A beautiful building of God.

"No lurking temptation, defilement, or fear,
Again shall disquiet my breast;

In Jesus' fair image I soon shall appear,
For ever ineffably blest.

"My Sabbaths below that have been my delight, And thou the blest Volume Divine,

You have guided my footsteps like stars during night

Adieu, my conductors benign.

"The sun that illumines the regions of light Now shines on my eyes from above;

But, oh! how transcendently glorious the sight,
My soul is all wonder and love!

“Come, come, my Redeemer, and sweetly release
The soul thou hast bought with thy blood!
And bid me ascend the fair regions of peace,
To feast on the smiles of my God."

"HIMSELF HATH DONE IT."
ISAIAH XXXVIII. 15.

"HIMSELF hath done it' all.-O how those words Should hush to silence every murmuring thought!

'Himself hath done it'—He who loves me best, He who my soul with his own blood hath bought.

"Himself hath done it.'-Can it then be aught

Than full of wisdom, full of tenderest love?

Not one unheeded sorrow will He send,

To teach this wandering heart no more to rove.