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satisfy the heart, as he is worthy to occupy the mind. It is good to be laid upon a sick bed (if he bless it)—to see the vanity of even the world's best and fairest! What is poetry to the languid ear? What are pictures to the aching eye? or praise, or music, or gaiety, to the sick and sinking heart? Where is the mind itself, with all its boasted resources?Yet, when the thoughts are confused, and the fancy fevered; the judgment weakened, and the memory faithless-even then, the words which God speaks in his gospel, are spirit and life. Just where the world leaves. us, He takes us up. Look at the images under which he is figured, and think whether they will apply to any other object in the universe?-A "Strong-hold in the day of trouble"-a "Light to them that sit in darkness"-a "Refuge from the storm❞—

for them; for religion has refined my mind, and made it susceptible of impressions from the sublime and beautiful. O how religion secures the heightened enjoyment of those pleasures which keep so many from God, by their becoming a source of pride!"-HENRY MARTYN.

a "Shadow from the heat"-" Strength" in weakness-"Wisdom" in perplexity-a "Comforter" in affliction :-a Sun, a Shield, a Fortress, a Deliverer, a Portion, a Father, a Friend, a Saviour-in all a GOD! Oh! it is base ingratitude to forget this Being, "who daily loadeth us with benefits," until he remove some of those benefits! to put off thinking of Him who is worthy of the highest powers of the highest mind, till we can think of nothing to any purpose! It is not enough that to the world's blinded vision, our temper, conduct, and character, seem fair and free from blemish; God regards the heart far more than the action; his eye pierces through motives, thoughts, and desires; and estimates them solely as they have regard to Himself, his glory, and his will. It is sufficient condemnation if we forget God. I give you the fourth and fifth verses of the hundred and sixth Psalm, as a daily prayer.

May the blessing of God be upon you, and may he teach you as none other can.

I leave much unsaid, but I know you read his word; and I know that if you ask him, he will give you the hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart.

My dear friend, farewell.

E

LETTER VII.

MY DEAR

WE will not lose any time in preface and preliminaries, but come at once to the consideration of those points which have struck me as most important.

You will not, I hope, be disappointed, if I write to you in a less amusing, and more serious strain, than I might have done in time past; for I will not conceal from you, that my own views and feelings are, on one all-important subject, greatly changed. A bed of sickness has, I hope, been a bed of blessing; and by revealing to me the awfulness of death, has shewn to me the true value of life. Allow me then, my dear

with an earnestness prompted by real regard, to explain wherein I conceive its true value. consists; and when, to the best of my ability, I have done so, you will readily draw the proper inferences for yourself.

Life, even at the longest, is short; at the happiest, is full of vexation; in its prosperity, it is transitory; at its best estate, vanity:-"One generation cometh, and another goeth:"-the things we enjoy are passing, and we are passing who enjoy them. The scriptures seem at a loss how to express its frailty with sufficient force-" a vapour” that vanisheth away-a flower flourishing and fading in a day "a handbreadth""a watch in the night"-" a sleep when one awaketh"-" a dream"-" a sound." Yet upon this fleeting, changing life; upon the portion of its three-score years and ten allotted to us, depends eternity!-endless duration!-everlasting existence! It is the sword hanging by a single quivering hair. The heathen king was wisely reminded that he was mortal; let us, more wisely still, remember that we are immortal: not only that we

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