candle

nay, the sun of his soul.

The very

heritage of thy people is described by the same emblém, being called "the inheritance of the saints in light,”* for which they are meetened by walking with thee, O Lord, as "children of the light;" and the same beautiful imagery is employed to represent the final state of thy redeemed and triumphant church, to whom it is said, "The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." O light of my soul, and light of thy church, when wilt thou say of the last of thy promises, "It is finished " | ?

Shine forth, shine forth, ETERnal Light!
And penetrate the heavy night

That presses down the soul;

The mysteries of thy grace unseal,

Thine own all-glorious self reveal,
And Satan's power control.

Shine forth, shine forth, ETERNAL DAY!
O, chase the shades of hell away,

* Col. i. 12.

t1 Thess. v. 5.

Isa. lx. 19.

Where'er those shades prevail ;
Again on Sion's hill arise,
And thence, from over Gentile skies,

Rend superstition's veil.

“Shine forth, shine forth, ETERNAL TRUTH!” On hoary age

:- on blooming youth Thy heavenly unction send; On us, on all, arise and bring Salvation on thy healing wing,

And bid our sorrows end.

Ah! what a flood of glory waits
The opening of thy Sion's gates,

To burst upon the world !
Then earth's long-captive tribes shall rise,
And Satan, blasted from the skies,

To deepest hell be hurled.

Light of the world! O hear the prayer
Of millions sinking in despair,

Around each idol shrine ;
Send down thy Spirit from above,
Assist thy people's toil of

And prove the cause is thine.

LIFE.

"With thee is the

MY SAVIOUR is LIFE. fountain of life."* All existence has its origin and maintenance in him. He is eminently the source and support of that wonderful principle of life which we know to be diffused through the vegetable, the animal, and the spiritual world. Life, in its highest sense, is a capacity to know, to love, to serve, and to enjoy God. The forfeiture of this life was the penalty of Adam's fall. Christ bought it back, by pouring out his soul unto death for his people; and it now emanates to them from him. He is the true tree of life, to which every believer may stretch out the hand of faith, and eat, and live forever. My Saviour presents himself to me as "the bread of life." The grace he gives is "the water of life." His very words are life.§ He is "the

* Ps. xxxvi. 9.

+ John vi. 35.

Rev. xxii. 17.

§ John vi. 63.

Prince of life," * who voluntarily submitted to die, that he might become the resurrection and the life of souls “ dead in trespasses and sins.”

When my soul was lying in the wilderness, like an exposed infant, ready to perish,f my Saviour beheld and pitied me, and said, “ Live.” As at the first he “ breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living soul,” $ so the Lord imparted his quickening Spirit to my soul, and gave me a new principle of life, which he still sustains by the same Spirit, whereby 1 live unto him. - For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” S My natural life is exposed to ten thousand contingencies, the least of which may destroy it as soon as my foot crushes the moth, or as the breeze breaks the bubble. That I live, as it regards the life of nature, is a constant miracle of Providence. That I live spiritually, is a greater miracle of grace, for which I am indebted to Him who is himself my life. Was that new life, which he hath given me, vested in myself, it would soon perish ; but

in him it is far beyond the reach of violence or accident.

• He that hath the Son, hath life.” * I have the Son, if he is my Saviour; and he is my Saviour, if, by faith, I have put my soul into his hands for salvation. The life he imparts by his Spirit - the life which I possess by my vital union with him — is the earnest of eternal life. If its infant movements are productive of so much joy to myself, and of such glory to God, what will be its full and undeclining maturity in the world to come? What will be the everflowing, ever-widening, ever-deepening of that river, whose fountain is now so bright, and the source of so much happiness? If, “to me, to live,” even on earth, “is Christ,” what will be the “ gain ” of death, when he shall be my whole life forever and ever! +

Dead to this world and all its joys,

I live, my God, to thee:
A brighter world my thought employs,