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 untoward 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

* 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 blast to 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.

2. Regulate well your habits of reading, reflection, and prayer. You may not be able to read much. Let a portion at least of what you read be calculated to familiarize you with trial, with the example of Jesus and of good men, with God's love and with heaven. How delightful and appropriate are some of the Psalms, and parts of the Gospels and Epistles! Valuable selections, moreover, may be made from our own best authors.

Sickness must always, and necessarily, give rise to reflection. Let therefore the thoughts flow in a suitable channel. Instead of murmuring within yourselves, "How much worse off are we than our fellow-creatures," indulge in a loftier, holier strain, "God calls us forth to suffering, we will go through it bravely,-we know not what the issue may be, but God knows, for He appoints it,—at some time we must bend our way to that bourn, whence no traveller returneth, but God will lead us, and then shall we be admitted

to joys and privileges, which our imaginations cannot yet conceive."

And most sustaining at such a season is prayer. Let nothing prevent your holding frequent, heartfelt communion with the Father of your spirits. You cannot go up to the house of prayer with the multitude on the Lord's Day, you cannot kneel down at the family altar, but He condescends to come down into the smallest chamber, when a pure and contrite heart is there; your feeblest strains not less certainly reach His ear than do the acclamations of united millions.

3. Above all, let us impress upon you the necessity of resolving in all circumstances to fit your souls for life or death by cultivating that practical goodness, which is the sum and substance of all Religion. By goodness, of course we do not mean the cold, calculating morality of the schools—we include our whole Christian duty; our duty to God, as our Father, requiring love and obedience; to mankind,

any comfort,

as our brethren, asking for our affection. and sympathy; and to ourselves, as heirs of immortality, needing purity of heart, and continual stedfastness in well-doing. Such a goodness as Sir Walter Scott spoke of, when, just before he quitted his tenement of clay, he called his son-in-law, Mr. Lockhart, to him, and said, "Lockhart, I may have but a minute to speak to you. My dear, be a good man-be virtuous-be religious-be a good man. Nothing else will give you when you come to lie here." ness as the immortal Locke had in view, when he penned that letter to a friend, to be delivered after his decease, in which he writes, "This life is a scene of vanity, that soon passes away, and affords no solid satisfaction, but in the consciousness of doing well, and in the hope of another life. This is what I can say upon experience, and what you will find to be true, when you come to make up your account." And such a goodness as an aged minister

Such a good