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warmth of the sun glowing in the skies? Do you praise him for spiritual blessings, for his holy word, a mercy seat, the means of grace, and the hope of glory, through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ? The love to God that has no hallelujah may well be doubted, and the hallelujah that has no love to the Lord is a shadow, a deception, a mockery. The grateful spirit will speak, and so long as there are pardoned sinners in the world, so long will ardent hallelujahs ascend to the skies.

There are different kinds of hallelujahs, from the loud and triumphant shout, "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth," to the lowest whispered praise. Nay, there are inaudible hallelujahs; unheard by the ears of man, but clear and intelligible to Him who receiveth the sighing of the prisoner, who knoweth the desires of the heart, and by whom a book of remembrance has been written for such as fear the Lord and

think upon his name. The lowest thanksgiving of the lowliest repentant sinner will be accepted at that heavenly throne,

"Where pure devotion meets with equal grace, Wrapp'd in the simple strains of human praise, Or bursting from the seraph's lip of fire."

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the

Lord, and to sing praises unto the name of the Most High. Day after day ascend psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to the heavenly throne, but the sabbath day gathers a harvest of hallelujahs into the garner of God. We cannot truly praise God without feeling that we have something to praise him for; nor can we know ourselves, without knowing that we have to praise him for everything.

Reader! the holy word of God tells us that the time is short; that there is but a step between us and death, and that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Man, dead in trespasses and sins, was lost, and none but an Almighty Saviour could have redeemed him. The sacrifice offered up on the cross demands not the services of the lip only, but the humble acknowledgment of the spirit ;—not the hecatombs of the altar, but the hallelujahs of the heart. Have you sorrowed for sin? Have you fled to the only sure Refuge from eternal wrath? If not, clouds and darkness are around you, and death, everlasting death, lies in your path. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, till the danger is past, the battle fought, and the victory obtained through Christ; for then will you indeed greatly rejoice, and then will you raise your hallelujah.

Hark! There are tidings of great joy. A ransom has been paid for sin; a Saviour has suffered for sinners. There is a crown of righteousness laid up for those who love the Lord. Are you a new creature in Christ? Has faith in his atoning blood been given you, and a holy determination to live in him, and in all things to do his holy will; and are you rejoicing in the hope of eternal life? Then the language of your lip and heart is, and will be, nay, it must be, Hallelujah! "Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord," Psa. cl. 1, 2, 6. Hallelujah!

Praise him for his mighty

THE LOSS OF CHILDREN.

THE loss of children is among the heaviest trials that parents have to endure. How many a one who held his head high, has been brought down to the very dust by the death of a child!

David, king of Israel, was a mighty man, and he had a heart often bold as a lion; but when the news reached him that his rebellious son Absalom was dead, he went up into his chamber and wept. We may judge by his language of the intensity of his grief. "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!" says he, "would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !"

When Jephthah found that his rash vow had doomed to death "his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter," how great was his affliction ! "And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes and said, Alas! my daughter! thou hast brought me very low."

"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her child

ren refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not," Jer. xxxi. 15. That must be no common grief that refuses consolation, and the strong, figurative description of it is very forcible. A mother carried away into reckless affliction, by her agonizing solicitude for her departed child, is an affecting picture. But why should we go back thousands of years? Is not death among us now? Is it not in the habitation of our neighbours? nay, in our own dwellings? Experience! tell us somewhat of the scenes thou hast witnessed. Memory! let thy scroll be unrolled, bestained as it may be with thy

tears.

We knew one who carried himself high, and thought much of titles and worldly distinctions : his estate would have lost its value, in his estimation, if he could not have transmitted it unimpaired to his son. High as he was, and wedded to family genealogy, yet was he kind and courteous to an extreme. How was he changed in a moment! His child died; his kindness and his courtesy forsook him; and when we paid him a visit of condolence, a bear robbed of her whelps could hardly have been more irascible. For a season he completely abandoned himself to his grief. Why should we thus rebel against God? "Behold, he taketh away, who

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