glories of God would be too dazzling for us to bear. We are none of us clean; and no unclean thing shall touch the Mount of God. It is in His more immediate presence, which we shall enjoy in proportion as we are prepared for it, in the eternal world, that we shall taste pleasures never ending; such fulness of joy as it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive. O the unspeakable riches of the love of God!

BLEST is thy presence, Lord! while lowly bending,
Abas'd by sin, we humbly seek Thy face;

On children of the dust Thy love descending
Shall bid us rise and fill us with thy grace.

And as the glorious sun, from dark clouds breaking,
Dispels the sorrowing dewdrops of the night;
So in our hearts, Thy presence, Lord, awaking,
Chases our fears, and turns our gloom to light.

Hallow'd Thy presence, Lord! before Thee kneeling,
Pure thoughts and holy transports fill the soul;
Thy peace within our troubled spirits stealing,

Far off life's storms and ocean billows roll.

Heavenly Thy presence, Lord; while here before Thee
In faith we see the mansions of the just,
Enraptur'd join th' angelic hosts t'adore Thee,

And make Thee all our joy, our hope, our trust.

And let Thy blessed presence, Lord! attend us,
While struggling in the world with sin and care!

O may Thy everlasting shield defend us!

May all our hearts be Thine, our thoughts be prayer!

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PRAYER.

O BLESSED Father, may Thy holy presence be with all Thy church, in bright and sensible fulness, on this Sabbath which is dawning on us! Let it be a day of rest from all worldly cares and thoughts,-a foretaste of Heaven. Descend into our souls with all the richness of Thy grace, and fill them with Thy Holy Spirit. Irradiate all around with Thy glory, so that we may thankfully declare that a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. O Father, may I this day so taste the fulness of joy which is in Thy presence only, that henceforth all things may seem dead and cold to me in which there is no savour of it. While I love the world, and the things of it, may I love them only inasmuch as they are Thine, and thus go on my way rejoicing. But, O my Father, how often has Thy presence been hidden from me because I would not see it. often have I even striven to hide myself from it, because my heart was not with Thee? How many times have I shrunk from the touch of Thine hand, when it chastened me, instead of being thankful to feel it, however severe its stroke, and kissing it with humble childlike love? Father! Do Thou come with Thy Beloved Son, our Saviour, to make Thine abode in my inmost soul, so that no height, nor depth, nor any creature, no sin nor sorrow, no suffering nor death, may ever separate me from Thy love, now or for ever. Amen.

How

F

SUNDAY EVENING.

Revelation xxii., 1.—And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

HAT a glorious vision to comfort and encourage us in this lower world!

Here the water of life often runs in small, and hardly perceptible streams, with difficulty making its way along through all the roughnesses and hindrances of this vale of our

pilgrimage, sometimes almost lost amid quicksands and marshes. There it majestically rolls on its full tide in a river, overshadowed on either side by trees bearing their fresh, luxuriant fruit every month, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Here the stream of our life is often so tainted with many noxious things, that we can hardly recognise it as having proceeded from the all-holy Fountain; and as we look on these small, polluted streams, exhaling unwholesome vapours, we wonder if they can do any good to beast or even to herb; and it seems impossible to us that they should ever be purified. But the angel shews us the water

of life pure. How great a change must there be made in those other waters! How glorious a change will be made when all the waters of life shall be gathered into that large river!

The waters of life are here often very turbid; we cannot see clearly through them; we are not sure whether it is our vision which is imperfect,-beclouded with mists of self-love, of evil passions, or whether the water itself has so mixed with the clay of the valley that it cannot be separated from it. Let us patiently endure its dulness for the short time we are here, for there it will be clear as crystal, reflecting with dazzling lustre all the glorious objects in the heavenly city through which it flows.

The

Whence is this blessed river of the water of life? angel shows it to us proceeding "out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Therefore is it so large, so pure, so clear. Nothing that is limited can proceed from infinity; nothing that is impure can come forth from perfect purity, nothing that is dark can emanate from the Fountain of light.

We see here but in part; we understand but in part. When the perfect is come, this partial seeing, this partial knowing will be done away; that which is now only the vision of faith will be a glorious reality.

I bless Thee, O my God, that Thou dost sometimes give me these visions to help me through the vale. When I descend from the holy mount where they have shone around me, to continue my pilgrimage below, grant that their light may still be about me; and that I may go rejoicing on the way Thou hast pointed out for me!

DESCEND my spirit! Rest in humble peace

Where His kind hand hath placed thee, who best knows
Thy mortal frame, remembering thou art dust.
There faith shall whisper thee sweet words of trust,
That if thou steadfast pressest on the way
Of thy high calling; thy affections rise
To things above, nor centre here below;
If, while thou minglest with the cares of life,
Thou doest all to gain thy Father's love;
If, living in the world, mixing with men,
Thou treadest not in their unholy ways;-
Then shalt thou share a joy which human heart
Cannot conceive; then an immortal crown
Shall circle brows which here would dazzled shrink
From its pure brightness. As poor blighted flowers,
Or as the winter rose that scarce unfolds
Its sickly leaves to catch the mid-day sun,
Our feeble spirits sink before the blast,
Nor dare t' imbibe the strong meridian rays;
But there the mortal seeds, in weakness sown,
Shall rise in power and glory, heirs with Christ,
Glorious partakers with the sons of God!

PRAYER.

I BLESS Thee, O Father, that Thou dost sometimes give me the visions of glory to help me through the vale. When I descend from the holy mount where they have shone around me, to continue my pilgrimage below, grant that their light may still be about me; and that I may go rejoicing on the way thou hast pointed out to me. I thank