Upon his knees he heav'n itself assails,
That she might see how faith with God prevails;
He then parades, and eyes Jehovah's hand,
To watch and pray is a divine command.

God never bade his servants seek in vain,
He craves a soul departed back again;
God hears his cry, the soul returns to prison,
The joyful mother sees a Saviour risen.

She now believes what Sadducees deny'd,
The glorious truth which Deists now deride;
She's well confirm'd that God can raise the dead,
He's rais'd her son, and rais'd her drooping head.

Her hope prolific teems with joys to come,
She sends her thoughts to meet the genʼral doom;
In hope divine my flesh to dust shall go,
God rais'd my son, he'll raise the mother too.'

A

LETTER TO MR. SANGSTER.

DEAR SIR,

IF

my heart was as steady in its motions as the husband of the Shunamite, who could trust every event till the new moon or sabbath day, I had deferred sending this present till the beginning of months, or new-year's-day, at which season presents and compliments are much in fashion; then it might have served for a newyear's gift; but our blessed Apostle lays no stone on a springing well, nor fetters the tongue that is seasoned with grace, though it be as full of motion as the hand of a ready writer. He tells us to be always abounding in the work of the Lord, and to be instant in season and out of season; and I believe entertaining the minds of God's people, and keeping their thoughts employed about heavenly things, is a work of the Lord.

If the Paschal lamb was too big for an Iraelitish family, the master was to invite his neighbour, as there were to be no fragments left for the next day; the morrow was to take thought for the things of itself. Job seems to observe the former rule; he eat not his morsel alone. If I find a

cluster with a blessing in it, or get among the pleasant fruits that our beloved has laid up at our gates, I cannot sleep till I have imprisoned them on a bit of paper, nor rest satisfied till they are packed up and sent off to somebody, though I know I shall shortly be obliged to beg for more. Whatever be found under the priest's hand, of sacred things, it is lawful to give it to those of the houshold, even to the shew-bread; for if the shewbread prefigured the Saviour, we are to hold him forth in the word of life. If it prefigured the believer, we are to hold him up to God in prayer. A Christian can never be too busy. He that is sluggish in his profession is sent to the ant to learn her ways, and be wise; whose wisdom lies in viding her food in the summer: I will not say that by instinct she is instructed to know there is a winter, but it is clear that the beams of the sun draw her forth to labour; and her industry is equal to that of the husbandman, who makes hay while the sun shines. Nor is she a whit behind him, seeing she "provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest."

pro

God has furnished his children with a multitude of teachers, if we could but observe them: a gospel day is our summer and harvest, in which the Sun of Righteousness shines in our horizon; life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel, which, if cordially received, is meat indeed. This wonderful lesson is taught us by the instinct of the ant.

The saving knowledge of God, and the invaluable worth of the gospel, is taught us by the instinct of the ox and the ass; "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know [either his God or his word] my people doth not consider."

The visitations of God in a preached gospel, and the certainty of that gospel being removed from us, or we removed from that to judgment by death, is taught us by the instinct of the stork, the turtle, the crane, and the swallow; "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord," Jer. viii. 7.

The danger that a soul is exposed to while out of Christ, the only rock of help; the necessity of flying from the wrath to come; and the safety of those that fly for shelter to the cleft of that Rock, is taught us by the instinct of the coney; "The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks," Prov. xxx. 26.

The nauseous pharisaical hypocrite, that creeps into the church of God, and yet dares to hatch the cockatrice egg of free will, and weave the spider's web of self-righteousness, while he sits under the gospel, is pointed out by the bold and subtle instinct of the spider; "The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces."

To be short; the Christian is taught to be bold by the lion; to be swift by the greyhound; to be

comely in his walk by the he-goat; to be wise by the serpent; to be industrious by the ant; to cleave to the Rock of Salvation by the coney; to be heavenly minded and quick sighted by the eagle; to be harmless by the dove; to know his Lord by the ox; to cleave to the Lord's word by the ass; to follow the light and heat of the gospel by the swallow; and to shun every rock of error by the skilful mariner, lest he make shipwreck of faith.

I am, Dear Sir, yours, &c.

W. H.