failing octogenarian-to the younger, though bedridden invalid, the change is last perceptible; it is merely the going out of a low, blue-burning lightthe dispersion of thistle-down by the wind-the drifting with the tide of a becalmed vessel behind a headland that hides it from sight, it may be into a port. Nor is death a startling change in the case of a soldier, cut short in his glory, for he of all other men lives in the midst of death; or in the case of the adventurous traveller who goes to look at death every day at the poles, or between the tropics; or in the case of the devoted sister of charity, who, even while alive, dresses herself in a pall and a winding sheet, to show her business is with the dying, and that she has taken leave of life forever. But make the circumstances en

tirely other than these

imagine a proud beauty at

or some man or men,

the zenity of her triumphs, beckoned away by death from the midst of a festival some great man, who has grown into a world-wide name in art, science, literature, or kingly rule, obliged to drop all his schemes and honors at the silent moving of the same fleshless finger, and then death becomes in truth, the most awful condition of our existence. Our short life is to most of us like a Lapland summer. The hours of night come, but we heed them not; they wrap up other millions and invest them with impenetrable darkness; but all is light in our own limited horizon, and the sun which goes quite under to others seems to us to "set into sunrise." Nor are we altogether to blame for the feeling that

"All men think all men mortal but themselves,"

for the feeling itself is one of Nature's instincts, has its full sway, perhaps, in the purest and most healthy

minds."

When we hear of the work of some terrible disease, like the yellow fever, in a distant Southern city, we see how variously different minds are affected by the reports of its progress northward. Some are calm, and read the reports without a thought of fear. Others are filled with alarm, and daily apprehend its nearer and nearer presence. And while one class think of the dying and the afflicted with kindness and compassion, and send them aid and succor, another class can but think of the sins of the stricken, and grow dark and morose in the reflection that God is vengeful, and has visited them with a scourge.

Now, a man of broad Christian views, cannot see that the thousands who have within so short a time fallen before the heated scythe of Death, in Portsmouth and Norfolk, are any more the victims of vengeance, than those who have gone from other towns and cities one by one into the land of shades. And thinking men, though they have not hitherto entertained the most benevolent and most comprehensive ideas of God's government and providence, when they see how strong is human love, how deep is human pity, where sickness and death so rapidly multiply, their victims soon conclude, that he whose heart is the source of all kindness and compassion, will not forsake his own - will not neglect to minister to their souls.

You have read of the mortality of the city of New

Orleans, in 1832 and in 1833. In the midst of all the terrors of those years, there was but one Protestant clergyman who remained faithful at his post. The Roman Catholic priests continued in their places fearlessly. "One of this order among us at that time, (says the Rev. Mr. Clapp, in a letter to a northern minister,) I was intimately acquainted with. A better man I have never known. We constantly met in the streets and cemeteries. One day I observed, that it must be impossible for him to administer the consolations of religion to all who applied for them. He replied, I have a service of my own, dictated by the condition and circumstances of the sufferers around me. I propound one question only to the departing sinner. I ask him if he believes in Almighty God, his Creator. I then say, may that Creator forgive and conduct you finally to those immortal joys which Jesus - has procured for man in the world eternal.”

Man cannot be better he cannot be so good as God. God is Love; and his mercy and justice are alike the attributes of Love. He is forever the same. I behold his benevolence in all the manifestations of his Providence. I know that he as kindly guides me in the darkest hours as in the brightest. In the light of the Saviour's teachings, I see that he "from seeming evil educes good." What though many of his af flictions are overburdening? What though we cannot precisely tell the purpose of earthquakes, or deadly plagues? We have been taught by his beloved Son, who is "the likeness of the Father's glory, and the ex

press image of his person,' that he is infinitely wise and good; and we can therefore but conclude that from all his works and dispensations, good will evolve.

Our duty is but to live well, and trust in God. "If men take heed to live well," says the writer in Blackwood, whom I have before quoted, "they may generally leave their dying well in higher hands; for although we cannot help living to die, we die, after all, in order that we may live."

15*

DISCOURSE XXXIV.

HOW WE MAY SEE THE SAVIOUR.

JOHN XII. 20, 21.

AND THERE WERE CERTAIN GREEKS AMONG THEM THAT CAME UP TO WORSHIP AT THE FEAST. THE SAME CAME THEREFORE TO PHILIP, WHICH WAS OF BETHSAIDA OF GALILEE, AND DESIRED HIM, SAYING, SIR, WE WOULD SEE JESUS.

These "certain Greeks," it seems, were moved by an unusual curiosity to seek for an interview with the Saviour. They had heard of his wonderful teachings and miracles, and so their anxiety became very great to see him. We are not at all surprised at this. We can easily imagine how they felt when the word came to them that they were so near him-how they wished instantly to get a sight of him, to hear him speak, and to witness his marvellous works. Were he upon the earth now proclaiming his doctrines, healing the sick, and raising the dead, how earnestly we should solicit the privilege to behold him, or to become acquainted with him. All classes of our race would be eager to notice and honor him.

But is not the Saviour on the earth now? May we not behold him near us now? Yes, though not in