their wealth or pleasures must abide the consequence. The cultivation of the soul is the only labour worthy a reasonable being; the toil of the body in cultivating the earth was entailed on man as a curse for his disobedience; but the primitive state of man was of a higher order; the garden spontaneously supplied his wants, and the dressing and keeping of it in order was an exercise congenial to his health, and a pleasant employment; the high occupation of his soul must have been with him, whose delights were with the sons of men. bring that living and immortal spirit within us into action, and to cultivate its extensive range of faculties, is a labour of the highest order. To Common is the saying, that old age is a second childhood, and too often we see it verified; but if we examine narrowly, it will be most frequently found true in those who have never accustomed their souls to active exertion, who have gone through the dull routine of life without seriously thinking of their souls being dead, unless raised to life in Christ Jesus; the body without exercise and proper care soon generates disease; and the soul, unless it be constantly brought into action, neither acquires vigour nor life; it may exist in the body in a torpid state, and if allowed to remain so to the verge of the grave, it must be in a state of imbecility; for the physical powers of the man are gone to decay, and his spiritual faculties have never ac quired one principle of action. To see men who have only been accustomed to calculate the profits of their merchandize or farm, and whose conversation only related to the things of this life, seized with imbecility in old age, need not astonish us; for then imagination and the powers of active exertion are gone to decay, and not one action in their lives, nor one word in their conversation, ever connected them with the vital life that is in Christ Jesus. If we wish to live and flourish in old age, we must look beyond the present state of things, to the Fountain of Life. In the day Adam ate the forbidden fruit he really died; he sunk from the first principle of life. Merely to eat, drink, and sleep, in common with the beasts of the field, is a small part of the exalted life of man; his primitive state was in a loftier sphere; what is the animal substance that is breathing to-day and cold in the clay tomorrow, that scarcely can be termed life! It is the immortal spirit that is the true life of man, and that spirit is dead until it again be united to God through the merits of our Saviour. Regarding the world and its concerns, old age must produce a certain degree of imbecility, because memory fails, the sight becomes dim, and the hearing dull; but the life of faith depends not on these, it is a well of living water springing up to eternal life; the supplies from its fountain flow immediately on the soul without the external sense, and they who have L been accustomed to drink at this living fountain, and daily to cleanse themselves in its stream, need not fear its drying up in the time of old age. It will make them renew their youth as the eagle; and as their bodily frame decays, their spiritual will rise to all its vigour and power of perfection in Christ. Our father is gone, we shall go to him, but he will not return to us; his life bore evidence of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; his was a continued flow of soul to his Father in the heavens; in all things he gave thanks; I never witnessed him taking even a drink of cold water without thanking Him who made it flow. Instead of weeping over his grave let us up and be doing, that we obtain a like crown of glory. May his death be to us a message from heaven calling us to prepare for our departure; may a double portion of his spirit rest on us, and may his prayers be answered. Amen. LETTER XXVII.. I would not have a slave to till my ground, COWPER. Edinburgh, 24th July, 1823 SLAVERY, horrific name! torn from kindred and country, forced by violence from all the fond endearments of early friends, seized perhaps in the moment of gayety when they least expected the destroyer of their peace; fettered in irons as the vilest criminal, and sold to the West Indian planters as the beasts of the field, and for what crime? None; their simple ignorance laid them open to the oppressors' snare. Horrid thirst of gold! it dries every feeling of humanity, violates the laws of Jehovah, and renders the object of its sway an outcast for ever. Can it be possible for those men who trample upon the native rights and privileges of mankind ever to dream of being admitted to enjoy the bliss of heaven unless they repent and turn from their ways? God is free. He breathed on man his likeness, and the freedom of the thought of man claims kindred to its origin. Jehovah, by an audible voice from Sinai, gave laws to prevent man from violating his authority, and trampling on the rights of his fellows. He is the only umpire over the consciences and actions of men, and his authority he delegates to none. From generations immemorial, it has been the lot of the weak to fall under the dominion of the strong. What are the triumphs of the conqueror but a display to the world that some weak state has lost its liberty? What is the origin of war but a wish to tyrannize over the liberties of mankind ? Avarice and ambition sway the minds of all classes of mankind so powerfully, that the strong hand of power is necessary to prevent them from infringing the right of their neighbour. Sweet is freedom to the soul of man, though he may have to endure hardships of every description, still if he can call the little in his possession his own, it gives a charm that no slave can taste; he looks around on his wife |