WE WOULD SEE JESUS.....A FRAGMENT.

I WOULD see Jesus in prosperity, that her fascinating light may not lead me to a dreadful precipice; but, that his good Spirit may whisper to my heart the noble inducements Christians have to devise liberal things; that I may ever be saying, "What am I, O Lord, that thou shouldest put into my heart to do these things, when the earth is thine and the fulness thereof? It is but thine own which I return unto thee."

I would see Jesus in adversity, because he is a friend born for such a state; because, when all the fallacious props of happiness give way, his single name alone supports the building. I would see Jesus in adversity, that I might order my cause before him, for he has all power in heaven and on earth, and easily can arrange future events, so as to throw lustre on the darkest circumstances.

I would see Jesus in health, that I may turn at his gen. tlest reproof; that I may not be full and forget God, but be devoted, body as well as soul, to his praise.

I would see Jesus in sickness, because he healeth all my diseases; he alone dispenses the balm of Gilead; he alone is the Physician there.

I would see Jesus in ordinances; forwhat are ordinances destitute of him? As the body without the spirit is dead, so are ordinances without Christ. He shews himself through the lattices, he appears in his beauty, he is as the dew unto Israel, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; his people sit under his shade with great delight; his fruit is pleasant to their taste. They say con. tinually in ordinances, "Make haste, O my beloved; be thou like a young hart upon the mountains."

I would see Jesus in social intercourse.

For what are

the charms of friendship? What the refinements of taste? What the pleasures of conversation? Are they not all unsatisfying and delusive, unless sanctified by the grace of this Redeemer?

I would see Jesus in my own heart, as Lord of its af. fections, of its purposes, of its pleasures; as the grand mover of its hopes and fears; the author of its existence and happiness.

I would see Jesus in death, as the Sun of Righteousness, whose beams, in the darkest moments, can spread light and healing. I would listen to his voice, saying, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life." "Fear not, I have the keys of hell and death." Arise, O thou wearied follower of thy crucified Lord, and enter into thy rest.

I would see Jesus in glory; for, what is heaven itself without him? But when we shall see him as he is, then shall we be like him, and be for ever happy in his

presence,

DR. GUISE.

DR. G. lost his eyesight in the pulpit during the prayer before sermon; and was thereby incapacitated from making use of his notes. After service, as he was led out, bitterly bewailing his loss, a good old lady overhearing him, cried, "God be praised, your sight is gone! I never heard you preach such a sermon in my life. I wish the Lord had taken it away twenty years ago!" Thus the Lord often makes the deprivation of our personal comforts advanta geous to our fellow Christians.

DR. GILL.

THIS learned divine once preaching on human inability a gentleman present was much offended, and took him to task for degrading human nature. "Pray, sir," said the doctor, "what do you think men can contribute to their own conversion?" He enumerated a variety of particulars. "And have you done all this?" said the doctor. "Why, no; I can't say I have yet; but I hope I shall begin soon." "If you have these things in your power, and have not done them, you deserve to be doubly damned; and are but ill qualified to be an advocate for free will, which has done you so little good."

THE JOURNEY OF LIFE.

A VISION.

As I was lately travelling in a waste howling wilderness, where every step was attended with difficulty and danger, I retired to a shady covert to seek that repose which the fatigues of my journey had rendered desirable; and no sooner had sleep, with its refreshing influences, closed my eyes, than fancy, ever on the wing, again conducted me to the scenes in which I had so lately toiled.

Methought I saw two travellers, both in the full glow of youth and vigor, just entering upon a vast desert, in which three several paths presented themselves to their choice. For a time, they kept company together, and each of them was busily employed in communicating to the other the projects he had formed respecting the progress, the success, and final end of the journey. It was not long, however, before their views and desires began considerably

to vary; and, finding themselves unsuitable companions, they mutually agreed to separate, and severally to follow that path which appeared to each most likely to lead to the object of their pursuit, viz. happiness.

The first took a winding path, which was every where adorned with the most beautiful flowers, at once charming the eye with the variety of their tints, and regaling the smell with the richness of their perfume. Here he was at no loss for companions; a prodigious multitude of people being collected, who were all walking in the same path, and engaged in the same pursuits. At one time, they amused themselves by forming nosegays of the finest flowers to decorate their bosoms, or adorn their brows; at another, they lay reclined in the enchanting arbors, which art had formed; and, in all the indulgence of the most effeminate indolence, listened to the warblings of the birds, who carolled in the surrounding trees. Here you might see a party of nymphs and swains, who danced in concert to the softest music; and there a group, who were pampering their appetites with all the delicacies they could invent. I could not, however, help observing, that our traveller and his gay friends were frequently surprised in the midst of their delights, with an unexpected misfortune; sometimes, while they were encircling their temples with chaplets of the finest roses, the thorns which environed them would pierce their flesh, and occasion the most agonizing smart; at others, dangerous serpents, who lay concealed among the flowery meadows, would fix their envenomed stings in the most vital parts, and cause excruciating tortures, and, sometimes, instant death.

These disastrous events at length made our adventurer grow weary of scenes which exposed him to such painful

accidents; and he turned aside, about the middle of the desert, into another path, which, though not so pleasant as that he had forsaken, was nearly as much thronged with passengers as the former; but they appeared, in general, farther advanced in years, and of a graver cast than his late associates. Here he employed himself, in common with his new friends, in collecting together immense quantities of shining dust, or curious pebbles; and, strange to tell, each seemed to value himself in proportion to the load of these encumbering trifles which he carried with him; though, as their strength continually decreased as they advanced towards the end of their journey, they were often ready to sink under the weight of their burdens. ceived too, that this path was every where covered with two noxious weeds called Care and Suspicion, which spread a pestilential vapor through the air, and soon injured the strongest constitution.

I per

Here I left him for a while, and turned to take a view of the youth with whom he at first set out. I observed, that he was walking in a very narrow path, which he had entered by a small gate, which, though at intervals it presented a few flowers, was so overrun with briars and thorns, that his progress was rendered extremely difficult and inconve nient; there were likewise several bogs and sloughs, into which he was in great danger of falling; dark clouds often intercepted the rays of the sun, so as to occasion almost total darkness; and the distress and perplexity occasioned by all these circumstances, received no small addition from the scorn and contemptuous usage of those who were walking in the pleasant paths before described; who,being within sight and hearing, would frequently ridicule him in the most cruel and insulting terms, for what they called his