hears his prayer. He has been tenderly watching him while in trackless mazes lost, and in His providence presents him with a BIBLE. He opens it-he reads. Wonderful Book! It tells him all about the darkness; of what it is made, and how it came to overspread the earth. It tells too, of a sun, a glorious sun, that can disperse the gloom: who he is, and how he becomes the light of the world. It points out to him more distinctly than he ever saw, the snares and pitfalls, and the way to escape them. Wherefore pain, and how to endure it. Why the desire of happiness is implanted in the human breast, and how it may be gratified. It makes known to him, what he is; what he ought to do; where he is going, and what he may become. It tells him of life, and how to enjoy it: of death, and how to strip it of its terrors.

verse.

It reveals to him a God, tremendous in power, glorious in holiness, accurate in justice, infinite in love. The Almighty Maker and Ruler of the UniIt prescribes the way in which He would be worshiped, through "Jesus Christ the Righteous." The sacrifices He would accept, "a broken and a contrite heart ;" this is more acceptable to Him than "Arabia sacrificed

And all her spicy mountains in a flame."

The Bible reveals to him Futurity. It raises the curtain of the hidden world. Here he beholds the tormenting flame, the parched tongue, the useless prayer; there, the glory of Paradise, the bliss of Heaven, the song of praise. It becomes to him just what he needs. He has found a way, a guide, a light, to happiness. Still, he understands its mighty truths but imperfectly, yet he reads on; scales fall from his eyes; he beholds men as trees walking. But the consolations of hope are his; he has found God; he

seeks for wisdom at its fount-for light at its source. "Open my eyes," he prays, "that I may behold the “ ་ wonders of thy Law." Light celestial shines upon the sacred page; he reads and understands enough for knowledge, enough for duty, and enough for happiness.

Now he is very

He sends his ser

One of these en

As soon as the honest inquirer after truth has discovered the right path, begins to walk in it, and lets his light shine, numerous false guides appear and proffer their services. While he was stumbling along in darkness and in ignorance, the devil gave himself no concern about him. much interested in his welfare. vants to put the poor man right. deavors to dissuade him from using the Bible, for, says he, "it is full of mystery; it is impossible to understand it. I, for one, will never believe what I can not understand. Follow reason, that is the surest guide." "Indeed, friend," replies the enlightened man, "it was by following reason that I was led into the possession of the Bible, and my Bible has led me to God. I acknowledge it is mysterious, wonderfully so; yet it has led me right hitherto, and I am determined to follow it. The nature of its secret influence over my soul, I can not tell. The nature of the power by which it guides aright, under all circumstances of life, I know not. Neither does the mariner understand the power by which the compass operates, so beneficially under all circumstances; of storm and calm, light and darkness, heat and cold. It is ever a sure guide. He believes in it; he follows it. Were the sailor no more to weigh anchor and spread the flowing sail, until he understands the mysteries of the compass, verily, he would have to learn another trade, for ships would rot in harbor, commerce would cease, and intercourse between na

tions come to an end. And what is worthy of remark, the common sailor boy understands just as much of the practical use of the compass, as the captain; cease then to persuade me further. The Bible is my compass, my sure guide, I will follow it."

Other false directors of different names, but all of them having the same end in view, viz: to make him distrust his guide, and turn him out of the way, of fer to him their services; some press the matter one way, and some another. His reply to all is, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, but by taking heed thereto according to thy word."

Thus he believes in it practically, follows its directions implicitly, and it guides him safely by every slough of despond, over every mountain of difficulty, through every strait of distress, and every storm of tribulation, and conducts him at last in triumph to the home of the blessed.

Take from the world the Bible, and you have taken the moral chart by which alone its population can be guided. Ignorant of the nature of God, and only guessing at their own immortality, the tens of thousands would be as mariners, tossed on a wide ocean, without a pole star and without a compass. The blue lights of the storm-fiend would burn ever in the shrouds; and when the tornado of death rushed across the waters, there would be heard nothing but the shriek of the terrified, and the groan of the despairing. It were to mantle the earth with a more than Egyptian darkness; it were to dry up the fountain of human happiness; it were to take the tides from our waters, and leave them stagnant, and the stars from our heavens, and leave them in sackcloth; and the verdure from our valleys, and leave them in barrenness; it were to make the present all recklessness, and the future all hopelessness; the maniac's revelry, and then the fiend's imprisonment; if you could annihilate the precious volume which tells us of God and of Christ, and unveils immortality, and instructs in duty, and woos to glory. Such is the Bible. Prize ye it, and study it more and more. Prize it, as ye are immortal beings, for it guides to the New Jerusalem. Prize it, as ye are intellectual beings, for it" giveth light to the simple."

Above all these things put on charity. Col. iii. 14. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Rom. xiii. 10. God is love. I. John, iv. 8.

CHARITY OR LOVE.

The seraph Charity from heaven descends,
And o'er the world on shining pinions bends;
Round mourning mortals tender as a dove,
She spreads her wing and soothes in tones of love;
Pours living balm into the wounded breast,
And aids the beggar though in tatters drest;
The orphan's plaint she heeds, and widow's sigh,

And smiles away the tear from sorrow's eye.
Like some fair fount that through the desert flows,
Fringed with the myrtle and the Persian rose,
She scatters blessings all along her track,
And hope and joy to want and woe brings back,
And when the last faint sob is heard no more,
Up to her native bowers again she'll soar.

Behold here a being of heavenly appearance. The light of love irradiates her brow; her eyes melt with tenderness; her countenance wears the aspect of benevolence; her heart bleeds with sympathy; her hands are strong to save; the commisserating Angel has come from a far distant part; on the wings of love and compassion she has come; she has left all to succor and to save the helpless, the wretched, and the lost.

See her at her Godlike work. In the foreground she is raising a miserable being in rags and tatters from a pit of mire and filth. With her right hand she is pouring the balm of life into the wounds of the dying. Look behind her; see the widow and the fatherless. They have come to bless her; with hearts gushing with grateful emotion they follow her with their praise; she has rescued them from the gripe of the oppressor; they were hungry and she fed them, naked and she clothed them, and their pray. ers like a cloud of incense go up to heaven in behalf of their compassionate friend. Before she leaves the district of pain, want and wretchedness, CHARITY, for that is her name, builds a house for the reception of the distressed; here she provides what is necessary, appoints her officers and attendants, leaves wholesome instructions, then amid the praises, thanksgivings and benedictions of those whom her love has blessed, she spreads again her wings and soars to her own abode, there to banquet on the remembrance of her deeds.