practical and thorough philosophy. We may rest assured that it is the simplest and sublimest of all wisdom to surrender every thing at His discretion; - to feel ourselves that we have no will but that which is given us from Him, and which is discoverable in all our circumstances, and in every condition in which we may be brought to do the present thing well, and trust to Him for the results. O, eternity! eternity! How little are all the fleeting things of time, put in such a comparison as this! Be willing to die—to be flayed alive — or to drag out the most miserable existence that can be inflicted upon man, if so be the Divine Will—if it be necessary to exalt us in the heavenly state. And let us remember that some of the best souls are tried in this way, to make them still more perfect. And many escape, because it is foreseen that such trial would be useless. There are many who are so thoroughly natural, so in love with self and the world, that such sufferings, instead of humbling and softening them, would only make them more irritable and rebellious. The same fire that softens the wax, hardens the brick. Therefore they are treated in another way, are permitted to have wealth, and honors, and aggrandizement, here in the world, to keep them in that best state, which may only be the lowest natural, which they are capable of attaining. Like fretful and uneasy children, they are allowed these playthings to keep them still. But there are others who can not only endure, but will be highly exalted and spiritualized by sufferings. Our Lord himself was only perfected in his natural humanity by means of suffering; and if there is a capacity in any one which cannot be improved and brought out but by these severer methods, then the Divine Mercy will not shrink from the work, and the Divine Wisdom has all means at command, to carry it forward to its utmost completion. And the sooner we surrender the better. We delay the work, and protract the suffering, many times, by this resistance on our part. It is the will that the Lord is after. Give him that. Place your right hand in his, for Him to lead you as a little child, and the suffer

ing will be diminished a thousand-fold, nay, perhaps brought to a speedy termination; for it is the whole object of it to subdue and break down this evil life of nature, and make that spiritual which before was only natural; or rather, to make it spiritualnatural, —to bring the whole man in conformity to divine order, and thus to confer upon us an eternal blessing. When this is accomplished, there is no further need of any suffering or conflict. The way is dark, and long too, frequently, because our wills are evil. We can shorten it immensely by immediate surrender. The paths are devious and perplexing because we are yet in the wilderness. But as we perfect and regenerate, and attain more to the state of the angels, the paths will not appear so dubious and uncertain, but become manifestly the plain way of the Father's will. This is clearly taught in these words of the Lord. "I will make darkness light before thee, and crooked things straight." Our whole mind will be illuminated by the Divine Truth, and the crooked, zigzag road of the evil of ignorance will give place to that which leads straightway to the heavenly city. Thus it is written of the journey of the Israelites. "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh! that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men." (Psalm, 107: 4-8.)

Such, then, is the issue of the journey. It is a mystical, spiritual journey, which every pilgrim to the heavenly Canaan is taking, and countless foes and hindrances exist by the way. The prayer should ever be with the Psalmist; "Lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies,"-invisible, spiritual enemies, direst foes to the soul's peace.

How great will be the surprise, when we stand upon the hills and plains of the immortal country, to look back with our

fellow travellers, and see how variously we have been led! One has come up through a world of tribulation, amid temptations and anguish enough to have almost sunk him in despair; another, through scenes of turmoil and difficulty, and bodily discomforts all his life long; another, through spiritual trials which have almost broken his nature, nay, quite broken the perverted nature of his own unregenerate heart; another, through more prosperous circumstances, so far as the earth-life is concerned, but has not, perhaps, attained so high a place in the celestial kingdom; another, by the very means of his wealth, by the good he has done with it, has come to inherit those riches which are imperishable and ever-increasing; and all-all conducted through paths of mystery and ways unknown to them, till the blindness has clearly gone from their eyes, and the light of eternity shines over all the past, and covers them with glory, and assures them for eternal ages to come. Well-pray God that it may be so. And what, now, are all the sufferings of time? What are all our repinings and murmurings by the way? The Lord has numbered all our sorrows, and counted every tear, and precious, far more precious than the heaps of gold which others have been suffered to accumulate, He has enriched our spiritual nature with every necessary good, and there, in the land of eternity, spread a heaven of glory and magnificence around us. We shall there look back upon this whole track of time, and see that there was no other path through which we could have been so safely led. And through that-winding and circuitous, and dark and uncertain and painful as it was, the poor blind man was led, and saved from a thousand pitfalls by Him only who could see. At last the prayer "Lord, that I may receive my sight:" and lo! He makes darkness light before us, and crooked things straight. Now we may progress forever and ever, with an assured and enlightened footstep. For we have but begun the journey here. We have passed through the wilderness. We have entered the heavenly Canaan; and there still, but not in

conflict, not in darkness, the Lord is ever with us to conduct us through the heavenly mansions, and abroad through the vast stretching fields and glories of eternity, forever perfecting, forever increasing in love, and purity, and happiness,-pursuing still those paths of immortality which lead forever upward, to holier visions and diviner joys.

CHAPTER X.

VIEW FROM MOUNT PISGAH.

"On Pisgah's height the aged prophet stood,
And viewed the extended scene. Fair Canaan's land,
Judah and Gilead, to the utmost sea,
Outstretching unto Zoar, in richness and

In beauty filled the eye, but not to him

Was promise of the blessing. He should see,
But not inherit. So to man, proud man,
Perched high upon an eminence of faith,
Gleaming afar in visioned intellect,

Ray out the unspoken glories; rapt he stands,
Admires, exults, and spies the heaven beyond,
Then sinks into himself, and weaves his shroud
For blindness and for death."- Landerf.

THERE is one elevation of so peculiar a character in our regenerate experience, as to demand particular attention. It is an elevation of a purely mental nature, and so entrancing and glorious, and withal so deceptive, that we must not fail to comprehend it thoroughly. And this too is graphically described in the Divine Word. It is found in the experience of Moses. It is familiar knowledge with every student of the Bible, that this distinguished lawgiver and leader of Israel, who was at the head of all their hosts, who led them forth from Egypt amid many wonders and miracles, and was with them in the wilderness, leading, guiding, instructing, was not himself permitted to enter into Canaan. But the interior, spiritual lesson intended to be conveyed by this, has not yet fully dawned upon the understandings of many. So particular, indeed, is the Divine Providence in the lesson conveyed by this