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seem! What is more, what a wide and sacred field of profitable experience and instruction would become familiar to us! And when, from pain or infirmity, we ourselves are weary of this anxious, toilsome life, instead of fearing to yield it up, because we have not seen what lieth in store for us, we should joyfully exclaim "Our course is ended, let us lay down our ashes with those of our fathers, that we may follow their spirits to life and glory everlasting!"*

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To those who entertain these Christian views, what does it matter at what period we walk and when we quit this earth?

* "In no case of permanent illness can I conceive this idea [of our departure, and entrance upon another life] to be otherwise than familiar, under one aspect or another; so familiar, as that it is astonishing to us that we can obtain so little conversation upon it as a reality—a certainty in full view. To us this seems more extraordinary than it would be if the friends of Parry, and Franklin, or Back, were, as the season for a Polar expedition drew nigh, to talk to them about every thing else, but be constrained and shy on that. I say more extraordinary,' because it is not every body that is bound, sooner or later, to the North Pole, but only a few crews; whereas all have an interest in the passage of that other, that 'narrow sea,' and in the 'better country' which is its further shore." - Life in the Sick Room.

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"Those that three thousand years ago died unwillingly, and stopped death two days or a week, what is their gain? where is that week?" The fact of existence this, this is the all-important thing. "He has lived" -how much is implied in these few words! He was alive, he trod the earth, he filled up one vacancy in society: in the mind of the Christian, how many delightful anticipations are inseparably bound up with these simple statements! Such an one has lived, is to him as much as to say, he will live again, he will live for ever. If he lived here, he will live also hereafter; if he were an inhabitant of the present world, he will be an inhabitant likewise of the eternal regions; if he filled up one vacancy in the society of earth, there is one vacancy for him in the society of heaven. Thus how immeasurably more important is the fact of life, than the age in which we were born, the generation to which we belong, the period in which we sink into our rest!

Methinks I hear from some poor, sorrowing pilgrims, "What you have said is per

fectly true, and very encouraging, but it is a most difficult thing for us to feel as we ought; we are so weak and so low-spirited." And we would be the last not to make allowance for such. Who is there, knowing anything of life, who has not felt the difficulty, and will not sympathize with them from the heart? who that is acquainted with bodily infirmities, has not frequently, with trembling, exclaimed, "Lord, help thou mine unbelief?" Did not Christ himself experience a similar feeling, when, in the garden of Gethsemane, he struggled and prayed, and great drops as it were of blood fell from him, and when, in the agony of his apprehensions, he implored of his Father, that if it were possible, this cup of bitterness might pass from him? But, though there was the same feeling, it was never allowed to obtain the mastery; there was the "if it be possible," showing that the power within was not overcome; and there was the noble conclusion, "nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done," evincing that he had won the victory; and then descended

an angel from heaven with congratulations and comfort. Such conflicts are natural; they are the hardships; sickness, affliction, were nothing without them, but it is rising up with our burden on our backs, that proves our strength. We cannot, however, suddenly become men in spirit; we must grow up to our full stature by exercise and deprivations and prayer. Our answer, therefore, to those whose hearts are sinking within them, is, "Be not discouraged, resolve yet to overcome every outward feeling,· you have numberless aids within your reach, you are sure to succeed, if you will only have patience and perseverance. * Will you, for a moment, admit that your Father in heaven, who tempers the blast to

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* "If the sickness be but continued long enough, — if the struggle be not broken off before it is fairly exhausted, victory will declare itself on the side of peace. We may be long in passing through the experience of weakness, humiliation and submission; but up, through acquiescence we must rise, sooner or later, -true things separating themselves infallibly from the transient, and all that is important revealing itself in its due proportions, till our vision is cleared and our hearts are at rest."-Life in the Sick Room, p. 210.

the shorn lamb, would render your powers of endurance and your sufferings, disproportionate? Rise, then, immortal spirit, that hast so much within thee, rise from thy low estate; thou wilt continually rise higher, and grow calmer and stronger, thou wilt still be hailed by the saints of light, as one who hath conquered sin and the grave!"

In conclusion, we would set forth a few plain rules, whereby we believe our sick friends are most likely to make the disposition we have been recommending, their

own.

1. Always treat and speak of sickness and death, as they are represented by Christianity. Follow no customs that prevailed at and are suited only to a time when life and immortality had yet to be brought to light. Let your faith in a glorious hereafter appear not only in your creeds, and in your services in the sanctuary, but also in your occupations in the world, and in your conduct in your homes.

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2. Regulate well your habits of reading, reflection, and prayer. You may not be

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