agony. He is himself a wilderness of sin and barren. ness; and the contemplation of a world of beauty aggravates his sense of his own wretchedness. A contrast is forced upon his attention, between the world he looks upon, and the wild and dismal regions to which he is journeying. There are no green fields, nor lovely flowers, nor singing birds, nor streams, nor showers, nor pleasant breezes in the world to which he is travelling. All is barren there, and bleak, and horrible. The clouds drop fire; the streams are pitch and sulphur; and the fields are burning sands. It is a universe of death, a world of night and fears, and horror and despair.

If the sinner look upon the beautiful and rich provisions of the universe, as the bounteous gifts of God, his heart must smite him for his ingratitude to his gracious benefactor. If he look on them as the random productions of unthinking nature, he can feel no more when gazing on them, than a staring wonder. If he look on them without thinking on their origin and Author, and without considering their use, his pleasure is but the irrational and wretched gratification of a brute. The world will not impart its pleasures to the sinner. Its fountains of delight and extacy are sealed up. The universe is dead to him; its beauties and its blessings are secretly blighted and withered; their soul is fled and while he fancies himself grasping at pleasures, he lays hold of vanity and vexation of spirit.

Not so with the Christian. He looks on all things with purer eyes and feelings, and all things seem forward and glad to empty into his soul their richest satisfactions. His mind is tuned to harmonize with all that is great and lovely; his spirit is prepared to welcome every sight of beauty, and to drink in every sound of harmony. He sees in every object marks of the Deity, he hears in every sound the voice of his heavenly Father. Whether he

looks at the uplifted hills, or throws his eyes over the spreading vale, he every where beholds the footsteps of his God. All things lead him to his Maker, and the thoughts of his Maker clothe all objects with more than natural loveliness. The universe is one grand volume

in which he reads his Father's glory; all things on earth and all the hosts of heaven are ministers, which silently preach to him of his Father's love and majesty. He walks over rocks, they tell him of his Father's eternity; he watches the clouds,-they are his Father's chariot. The lightnings fly abroad, they image to his mind the quickness of his Father's eye: the thunder follows, it impresses his soul with the majesty of his Father's voice. He traces the crooked pathway of the river, now climbing to its source among the hills, then wandering through the fruitful valleys to the place where all its waters roll into the sea; and through all his course he sees the working of his Father's hand. The cattle which graze on the sides of the mountains, or rest in the open plain; the birds that sing among the branches, and the insects that play on the breeze, all seem joyful in his Father's smile. The trees of the wood, the herbs of the field, the swelling buds, the opening leaves, the grass, the flowers, the blossoms and the fruit, all seem rich in his Father's bounty, and come as witnesses of his Father's love.

And it is not only when the summer sun rolls through the earth its floods of light and life, that the Christian gazes on the universe with pleasure. He sees the working of God's power, and discovers the manifestations of his love, in every season of the year. The turbulence and storms of winter awaken delight in the heart of the Christian. The darkness, the tempest, the howling winds, the drifting snow, the biting and all conquering frost, the headlong flood, the naked earth, the troubled sky, the horrid front of lofty mountains, and the waste and desolate appearance of the woods and fields, not only awaken in the mind feelings of awe and wonder, but feelings of solemn joy. How many millions of living things through the cold and stormy season, sleep in the hand of God, wrapt in heaven-spun garments, and covered from the force and fury of the elements! And this same frost, which seems to bind the earth in chains, is in truth loosening and making it richer for the coming year. Those loud and rushing winds bring blessings with them. And those floods, and hurricanes, and days of darkness,

are the pioneers of good. It is amidst this darkness and those storms that God, by his unseen Spirit, diffused through all things, regenerates the fruitful powers of nature, and prepares for man the blessings of another spring.

And while the Christian sees how in the dark and threatening seasons of the year, the goodness and the wisdom of the Deity are still at work, controlling and directing all things for the welfare of his creatures; he learns to place more confidence in Providence amidst the dark and gloomy days of life. He sees the hand which guides the winds, and rules the sea, arranging his earthly lot; he hears the voice which upholds the spheres, and gives life to every living thing, saying, amidst the afflictive dispensations of time, "Fear not, I am thy God." He cannot always see through the mysteries of his lot, no more than he can see through all the mysteries of nature; but as he sees that the dark events of winter bring forth blessings to the earth, so does he expect that the sorrows and seeming disasters of his passage through life, will all be made to work together for his good.

Thus, to whatever part of nature's scenery the godly man directs his attention, his spirit is refreshed and comforted. He feels himself every where in the presence of his Father; he sees himself every where surrounded with tokens of his love. The world in which he lives is his Father's world; and the earth and the heavens are full of the provisions of his Father's bounty. The flowers are more beautiful, because his Father painted them; the fruits have a richer flavour, because his Father formed them. He sees a beauty in the earth and a glory in the skies, which none but a child of God can see and he tastes a sweetness in all earthly blessings, which none but a Christian soul can taste. He sees the things of earth in connexion with the things of heaven; he sees the things that are made in their connexion with their invisible Creator; and the pleasures which are given him on earth, he regards as a pledge and a foretaste of richer pleasures in heaven. He looks on earth, but he looks not on earth alone; he carries his views farther and he lifts his eyes higher, till the visions of glory appear be

fore him. He rejoices in the bounties of Providence, but he does not think them his all; he looks for a better and more enduring portion. The buds and the blossoms of spring please him, and when the leaves are faded, and the trees are bare, he is not troubled, for he knows that spring will return again. So is he pleased with the bloom and the freshness of youth, but he does not tremble at the weakness of age, or the ruins of death; for he knows that the faded forms of humanity shall come forth from the dust, renewed and clothed with the beauty and glory of heaven. He rejoices in the service of his God, and he looks forward to heaven with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

THOUGHTS.

THE word thought has a very different meaning in the Bible from what it has in common conversation. In common conversation it means any idea or fancy that may enter the mind about any thing; a mere thinking about any thing. In the Bible it almost always means some settled purpose to do a thing, or some strong and abiding principle of action. If the idea of a battle or a

friend, of a benefit or an injury, of a sin or a gracious deed, come into our mind, we call it a thought in common conversation. But it is almost always something more that is signified by the word thought in the Bible.

In the following passages, thought means purposed. When Joseph is speaking to his brethren respecting their conduct towards him, he says, "As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to save much people alive." Gen. 1, 20. "The Lord repented him of the evil which he thought to do." Exod. xxxii, 14. So in Numbers xiv, 11, Balak says unto Balaam, " I thought to promote thee to great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour." So in Num. xxxiii, 55, 56, “ If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass that I shall do unto you as I thought to do unto them." "If a false witness shall rise up against any man, ye shall do

unto him as he had thought to do unto his brother."' Deut. xix, 19. "The men of Gibeah (says the Levite, Judges xx, 5,) thought to have slain me." Saul thought to make David fall by the Philistines. 1. Sam. xviii, 25. Ishbi-benob thought to have slain David. 2. Sam.xxi,16. Rehoboam thought to make Abija king. 2. Chron. xi, 22. Nehemiah says of Sanballat and Geshem, They sent unto me, saying, come, let us meet together in one of the villages but they thought to do me mischief." Neh. v. 2. "As I have thought, saith the Lord, so shall it come to pass." Isai. xiv, 24. "If that nation, against which I have pronounced evil, turn from their evil ways, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them, saith the Lord." Jer. xviii, 8. "Like as the Lord thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us." Zech. i, 6. Thus saith the Lord; as I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear ye not." Zech. xiv, 15.

So in the following passages, thought means purpose. "The thought of foolishness, (that is, the purpose to act wickedly,) is sin." Prov. xxiv. 9. "And thou shalt think an evil thought, and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages, to take spoil." Ezek. xxxviii, 10, 11. Simon Magus thought (intended) to buy and sell the gifts of the Spirit; and Peter exhorts him," Repent of this thy wickedness, and pray God that the thought of thine heart be forgiven thee." Acts viii, 22. The Gospel is to bring into captivity every thought to Christ." 2. Cor. x, 15. That is, it is to bring men to aim in all things at pleasing God, and doing good, instead of aiming at their own pleasure and advantage.

When it is said of the sinners of the Old World, that "the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually," the meaning is, that their plans and purposes were all wicked. To "halt between two thoughts," (1. Kings xviii, 21,) is to be unresolved. "I know your thoughts," says Job," and the devices which ye imagine