"The most important and effectual guard,
Support, and ornament of Virtue's cause.

There stands the messenger of truth; there stands
The legate of the skies! His theme divine,
His office sacred, his credentials clear.

By him the violated law speaks out

In thunders, and by him in strains as sweet As angels use, the Gospel whispers peace," etc. This is the same broken-hearted man whom thousands have followed as they have sung"Oh for a closer walk with God,

A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb!"

And yet the sweet hymns of Cowper were all wrung out of him by anguish of spirit. They are the perfume of the crushed flower,-sweeter for being crushed. They are the sighs and the palpitations of a broken heart; and while the poor poet was himself tossed on the stormy waves, he was building life-boats for others.

And John Milton! With what touching words does he speak of his blindness! It almost makes you weep to hear him lament his loss.

"Seasons return, but not to me returns

Day, or the sweet approach of eve or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair
Presented with a universal blank

Of nature's works, to me expunged and rased,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out."

But when God closed up his eye in blindness,
He opened wide the eyes of the soul, and from

the chambers of that soul came the greatest poem in human language! How little did it seem as if to put out the eyes of a man would be the way to make him see,—or that to cut a man off from the world, and shut up his soul in a dark dungeon, would be the way to make him sing like the angels of heaven! Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. God can turn the very trials of men into blessings.

The greatest calamity ever made known to men is the ruin of our world by sin. You remember how, when the angel smote the firstborn in Egypt at midnight, a cry went up loud to heaven, because there was not a house in which was not one or more dead. What was true of Egypt is true of every house on earth. The angel does not smite all in one night, but sooner or later every house is smitten, and every child that is born must die. Sin dug every grave. Sin slew all that have died. And, oh! what wars, and murders, and cruelties, what prisons and dungeons, and what tears and sorrows, fill the earth! It is dreadful. But out of this eater comes forth meat.

If sin had not been permitted to come and destroy our world, we could never have known how much God loved it,-to send His only begotten Son to die to redeem it! We could never have known how much Christ pitied us,to be willing to hang in the agonies of the cross to redeem us! We could never have known

how much the Spirit of God loves us, to intercede for us, to come and plead with us, to make us like Christ in holiness for ever! We should never have known what that word mercy means. We should never have known that the holy angels loved us so that they would be willing to be ministering spirits to men, and even carry the soul of a poor beggar to heaven. We should never have known that there could be a Gospel so precious to the lost sinner, nor what the tears of the contrite sinner meant.

the song of God is seen by the

But now we sing the height and the depth, the length and the breadth, of the love of God in Christ Jesus! Now a multitude which no man can number will reach heaven. They will all have on white robes. They will all have a crown of life on the head. They will each have a golden harp. They will sing a new song,one never heard in heaven before, Moses and of the Lamb. redeemed to be such a Father as no other world has known. Ah! He can take the thief, and carry him up purified to the paradise of God. Christ can take the very heathen, and make them His reward, His jewels, and His glory. And He can take the very babe, and out of its lips perfect the praises of God. Death and the grave are the eater, but out of them shall come forth what is more precious than gold, and what is brighter than diamonds. Sin is the strong one, but even out of that shall come forth what is sweeter than honey,-the souls of the redeemed.

XII. THE GREAT CHANGE.

"We shall all be changed."-1 Cor. xv. 51.

Was there ever a little boy who did not in the warm, beautiful summer, wish that the autumn would come, when the fruits would all be ripe? When the autumn has come, does not this same boy wish for the winter, when the smooth ice will allow him to skate, and when the cold winds will freshen up his cheeks, and make him feel strong, and make him shout with the shouters ? And when the winter is come, how he longs for the spring, when the grass wlll grow green, and the flowers burst their buds and bloom out,— when the birds will return, and the trees will rustle with new leaves, and the whole world seem to rejoice! So the boy loves change.

Was there ever a little girl who did not long to exchange her old doll for a new one; to take the promised new dress in her hand; to pay a visit to that distant place, where she is to ride, and to see new things, and to get hold of the new book which she has heard so much about? So the little girl loves change.

And so do all men. The farmer hastens from one crop to another, and, as soon as he has done sowing, begins to look forward to his harvest. The sailor on the ocean longs to see the land and

enter the harbour; and when he has been on shore a few days, he longs to set out on a new voyage. The boy wants to be a youth, and the youth wants to be a man. God has so planned things, that we must have changes all the way through life. We are born, and our parents rejoice over us. We have sicknesses, and we have health. We change our homes, live in different houses, form friendships, have our friends die and leave us. At death, there will come a great change. We shall change worlds, and go from this to another. We shall change society, leaving those whom we know here, for new companions in eternity. We shall not walk, or talk, or hear, or see, or feel, just as we now do, for we shall go to the world of spirits. We shall become spirits.

What a multitude of changes do we see going on around us! Very great changes they are, too! The old man now bending on his staff, and shuffling in his walk as if his feet could not be lifted from the ground, was once a fresh, brighteyed boy, who could shout and run. But he went to school, and grew up and became a man. Then he had a young and beautiful wife; then a family of children; but he has lived to see his children die, and he has buried his wife, and sold his home, and his friends and acquaintances are almost all dead, and he feels alone. The thin hair on his head is white, and his eyes are dim, and his ears are dull, and he has seen many, many changes.