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returned to land, left the nautical profession, and in the course of years became a dissenting minister." This story of course drew tears of joy and sympathy from all who heard it, when first related; and the narrator closed (bowing to the chair) in these expressive words, "I, Sir, am Poor Jack."

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THE DERVISE.

A DERVISE, travelling through Tartary, being arrived at the town of Balk, went into the king's palace by mistake, as thinking it to be a public inn or caravansary. Having looked about for some time, he entered into a long gallery, where he laid down his wallet, and spread his carpet, in order to repose himself it after the manner of the eastern nations. He had not been long in this posture, before he was discovered by some of the guards, who asked him, what was his business in that place? The dervise told them he meant to take up his night's lodgings in that caravansary. The guards let him know, in a very angry manner, that the house he was in was not a caravansary, but the king's palace. It happened that the king himself passed through the gallery during the debate, and smiling at the mistake of the dervise, asked him how he could possibly be so dull as not to distinguish a palace from a caravansary. Sir," says the dervise,

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give me leave to ask your majesty a question or two. Who were the persons that lodged in this house when it was first built?" The king replied, "His ancestors." "And who," says the dervise," was the last person that lodged here?" The king replied, "His father." "And who is it," says the dervise," that lodges here at present?" The king told him, " That it was he himself." "And who," says the dervise, “will be here after you?" The king answered, "The young prince, his son." 66 Ah, Sir!" said the dervise, "a house that changes its inhabitants so often, and receives such a perpetual succession of guests, is not a palace but a

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caravansary.” In like manner, every dwelling-house is to be viewed as a caravansary; and those who inhabit it, whether great or small, rich or poor, are but "strangers and pilgrims, as all their fathers were."

A PRAYER.

FATHER of good, to whom belong
My morning vow, my evening song;
Again, with trembling joy, to thee,
A wayward child, I bend my knee.
Myriads of angels guard thy throne,
And I am little, I am one;

Yet all thy works thine eyes survey:
Then hear and help me while I pray.

Thy gifts my days with gladness crown ;
Sin, only sin, hath bowed me down.
Lord, touch my heart, and make me know
My Saviour's worth, my Saviour's woe.
Then shall my angry will be tame;
Then shall I learn and weep my shame;
The weight of wrath and judgment due
Shall feel, and feel thy mercy too.

Yet not for pardoning grace alone,
I breathe a suppliant sinner's groan:
Pardon and love are both divine;
Then give me both, and make me thine.
Thy pardoning grace my fears shall quell;
But love shall pride and sin expel;
While faith, in every danger nigh,
Gives strength, and peace, and liberty.

So, as I walk my earthly way,
Thy mercy, Lord, my steps shall stay;
Brighten with hope my saddest hours,
And strow the pilgrim's path with flowers.
And so, while life and breath are mine,
Shall every power in concert join,

IMPORTANCE OF HAVING GOD S FAVOUR.
To praise the God, to whom belong.
My morning vow and evening song.

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IMPORTANCE OF AN INTEREST IN GOD'S FAVOUR.

If God be the great ruler of the world, and governs it without interruption or control, of what infinite importance is his favour! If an earthly ruler be our friend, we reckon that all our civil interests are secure; but if God doth according to his pleasure, both in heaven and in earth, in this world and the next, "his favour must be life, and his loving-kindness must be even better than life." It must be of all things the most desirable, for it compre hends in it all things that are good. If his power could be controlled, if his will could be eluded, if his go vernment could be interrupted, if any interest of ours lay without the reach of his sceptre or his influence; we might then occasionally hesitate concerning the im portance of his favour, and deliberate whether, in this season or in that circumstance, we stood in need of it. But, at all seasons, and in all circumstances, being ab→ solutely in his hands; holding our lives and comforts at his pleasure; suffering only through his appointment, and prolonging our days in joy or in sorrow according to his will; capable, if he pleaseth, of immortal happiness, and liable, if he commands it, to everlasting destruction; unable to resist him, and unable to recommend ourselves to any who can maintain our interests against God; what is it that should be the first object of our anxiety-what is it that should be the constant subject of our concern, but that without which we must be wretched-possessed of which no enmity can hurt us, and no evil overwhelm or injure us? Would you that your friends should love you? Make a friend of God. Would you that their neglect, if they do neglect you, should be better to you than their love? Make a friend of God. Would you that your enemies should be at peace with you? Be ye reconciled to Hear

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Would you that their hatred should promote your

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IMPORTANCE OF HAVING GOD'S FAVOUR.

interest? Take care to have an interest in God. Would you prosper in the world? You cannot do it without God's help. Say not that your prosperity may be the result of the right and vigorous application of your own powers. Ask yourselves from whom those powers are derived, by whom those powers are continued to you, and who it is that forms the connections, and constitutes the conjunctures that are favourable to the right and successful application of your powers. Whatever are your views in life, you cannot attain them without God; and though he should assist you to attain them, yet still you cannot improve your real interests, you cannot enjoy them in unalloyed comfort, without God. Would you that your souls should prosper? It must be through his blessing. Are you weary of affliction? There is no aid but in the divine compassion. Are you burdened with a load of guilt? There is no hope for you but in the divine mercy. Is your heart sad? Your comfort must come from God. Is your soul rejoicing? God must prolong your joy, or, like the burning thorn, it will blaze and die. Does your inexperienced youth need to be directed? God must be your guide. Does your declining age need to be supported? God must be your strength. The vigour of your manly age will wither, if God does not nourish and defend it; and even prosperity is a curse, if God does not give a heart to relish and enjoy it. All hearts, all powers, are God's. "Seek ye then the Lord while he is to be found;" seek his favour with your whole souls; it is a blessing that will well reward all that you can sacrifice to purchase it; it is a blessing without which nothing else can bless you. His patience may perhaps, for a moment, suffer you to triumph; but do not thence conclude that you enjoy his favour. If a good conscience do not tell you so, believe no other witness; for all the pleasures that you boast are but like the pleasures of a bright morning, and a gaudy equipage to the malefactor going to his execution. Every moment you are in jeopardy, and every moment may put an end to your jollity, and transform your hopes and joys into desperate and helpless misery. It is but for God to leave you, and you are left by every thing you delight in, and abandoned to every

ALL THINGS ARE GOD'S.

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thing you fear. It is but for God to will it so, and this night your reason shall forsake you, your health shall fail you, your friends on whom you lean shall fall, and your comforts in which you are rejoicing shall prove your misery. It is but for God to will it so, and this moment shall begin a series of perplexities, and fears, and griefs, which in this world shall never end. It is but for God to will it so, and this night thy soul shall be ejected from its earthly tabernacle; this night thy last pulse shall beat, and thy last breath expire; and thine eyes, for ever closed on all thou lovest on earth, shall be opened on all thou dreadest in heaven. No, there is not a moment's safety but in peace with God; there is not a moment's solid comfort but in friendship with our Maker. In every season, and in every state of life, his favour is absolutely necessary to us. What infatuation, then, has seized the sons of reason and of foresight, that you seek first what you fondly wish for, whatever it is that your hearts desire; and propose, you propose at all, afterwards to seek for that favour which alone can fulfil the desires of your hearts, and without which their wishes never can be gratified?

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ALL THINGS ARE GOD's.

THOU art, O God, the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from thee;
Where'er we turn thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine.
When day with farewell beam delays,
Among the opening clouds of even,
And we can almost think we gaze
Through golden vistas into heaven,
Those hues that mark the sun's decline,
So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.

When night, with wings of stormy gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,

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