have gone to their graves sorrowing over the seeming unprofitableness of their labours, will discover, in the day when the golden sickle shall be thrust in for the great harvest of souls, that not a seed has been cast into the soil in vain.

OH! if there be cast o'er the joys of a parent One feeling that shades the bright hopes of her breast,

As she looks on the brow, so serene and transparent,

Of the child of her heart gently sinking to rest.

'Tis the fear that this brow may be clouded with

sorrow;

These weak, trembling hands be uplifted to sin; That the hopes of to-day may be quenched on the morrow,

By trials without, or by passions within.

In that hour, when her form is forgotten who bare him,

And the arm which first clasped him is cold in

the grave,

Her spirit may hover in tenderness o'er him, And see him, alas! but not warn him, nor save!

Is there none, then, to care for the desolate stranger,

Who goes, all unheeding, unarmed, on his way? No Spirit of might to walk near him in danger, And scatter the foes who would make him their prey?

Oh yes! there is One, and beside Him no other! The Redeemer, the Ruler, whose throne is on

high!

From the glories of heaven He beholds thee, sad mother;

'Midst the songs of the angels, He catches thy

sigh.

Go, take thy sweet babe, and to Jesus confide

him :

He has dwelt in our flesh, He can feel for our

fears!

Take this lamb to the Shepherd, who safely shall guide him

Through the desert of perils, the valley of tears.

CHAP. VIII. VER. 24.

And he looked up, and said, I see men, as trees, walking.

THE eye of the body may be absolutely closed, and yet the blind man be enabled, by the inward light of the Holy Spirit, to discover the true character of the God and Saviour of the world, his own lost condition, the peculiar suitableness of the Gospel to his wants, and the pleasant though narrow path to the mansions of purity and joy. In other words, physical blindness does not necessarily exclude us from any part of that knowledge which is essential to our present peace and everlasting happiness.-There is a blindness, however, of which the

effects are far more fatal-that of the soul-the blindness of those wretched persons of whom it may be said, in common with the idols of old, " eyes have they, but they see not." To such persons the "wisdom of God" is

foolishness;" the splendour of the invisible world, gloom and obscurity; the path of love and holiness, a path of thorns; and He who is "the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person," is a worm, and no man."

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But what an unspeakable happiness is it, that, however there may be cases of physical blindness which baffle all the resources of medicine, no case of mental darkness is too difficult for the Great Physician! He who, in the history before us, gave eyes to the blind, can also enlighten those who are involved in the thickest

shades of moral obscurity. The Son of God is said to be that "true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." But when this

Teacher of teachers and Light and Lord of angels' first visits the soul of the man thus mentally blind, how descriptive are the words before us of the awakening of the soul, and of its subsequent discoveries! For a time, it is probable that the person thus enlightened from on high "sees men, as trees, walking." He sees, perhaps, every truth in religion indistinctly. He mistakes fancies for facts; words for things; noise for zeal; mere animal excitement, for devout affection; high pretences, for substantial worth. He often needs, in the early stage of his spiritual progress, discernment, patience, sobriety, enlargement of soul, a sense of his own weakness, and