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I will fear no evil for Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me,” Psa. xxiii. 4.

See there, the old man has just come to the edge of the broken ground. I felt sure that he would make a pause; he is now standing on the Ridgy Point almost as motionless as if made of stone, with his eyes fixed on the churchyard. How I should like to know what is passing through his mind.

Though we can only guess at the old man's thoughts, we know well what are our own. The churchyard is before us as well as before him ; what, then, do we think of our latter end? Are we so living that we may die the death of the righteous? Are we in time truly preparing for eternity?

THE MISER.

Art thou a miser, clutching hard
What God has freely given to thee
And are the destitute debarr'd

Thy charity?

What though on wealth thy soul is set, The sordid grasp that saves thy gold Shall cost thee more than thou shalt get A thousandfold.

The generous deed, the friendly part, Compassion's kind and grateful glow, And mercy's alchymy, thy heart

Shall never know.

There falls no sunbeam on thy ways;
A shadow dark rests on thy door;
A curse is on thy nights and days
'Mid all thy store.

What fiercer lightning could be hurl'd, What blacker thunder round thee roll, Than this-" Go on, and gain the world, But lose thy soul."

HALLELUJAH!

THERE are some words that require others to make them intelligible; some are perfect in themselves. Some have but little force and meaning when they are understood: others are full of power and significancy-of this latter kind is the word Hallelujah! or, Praise ye the Lord!

Hallelujah is not only a word, but a sentence and a song. Does the lowliest sinner, melted with a sense of the grace and mercy of his redeeming Lord, attempt to give utterance to the thankfulness of his heart? his language is, Hallelujah. Does the highest archangel desire to magnify the name of Him that sitteth on the throne of heaven? a Hallelujah bursts from his lips, resounding through the mansions of the skies. Hallelujah is the language of sinners and saints, men and angels, earth and heaven. "Praise ye the Lord. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever," Psa. cvi. 1.

Hallelujah is thanksgiving, praise, and exultation. Fill the heart with Hallelujahs, and it

will give glory to God in the highest, and manifest good-will to men. It has been said that it would be no bad method to find out the lawfulness or unlawfulness of our pleasures, and the spiritual or worldly state of our affections, were we to ask ourselves this question in the midst of every enjoyment, "Can we put up a

hearty hallelujah at the end of it?"

When we regard ourselves and our Almighty Maker-when we look at our lowliness and his loftiness, our weakness and his power, our folly and his wisdom, our exceeding sinfulness and his unsullied holiness, well may we lie down in the dust; and when from the dust he lifts us up, when from the dunghill he raises us to be princes, can we do less than offer him our reiterated hallelujahs?

Let earth and heaven his righteous praise resound, And endless hallelujahs echo round.

The young should praise the Lord for their youth, and for the hopeful prospect that is before them of health and length of days. The old should praise the Lord for their years, and for all the benefits bestowed on them in their

past pilgrimage. Those who have neglected

to call on the Lord have cause to thank him for his forbearance in allowing them time for

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repentance. And such as have been taught that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, even to the pardoning of their sins, being justified through faith in the Son of God, and sanctified by his Spirit, should be loud in their thanksgiving; so that the young and the old, the awakened and the unconverted, have reason to mingle together their hallelujahs.

Hallelujah is the aspiration of a spirit longing to manifest its grateful emotions, and to glorify the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. The incense of praise is an acceptable offering to him, and Christians should be ready at all times to raise a real "Non nobis," a true and hearty "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." When the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord, praise will be the universal language. The people will rejoice in thanksgiving,

And countless millions join the sacred song,
And hallelujahs burst from every tongue.

Do you love the Lord? Where, then, are your hallelujahs? Do you praise him for your common mercies, for the faculties of your body, soul, and spirit, renewed as they are day by day for air, food, water, and the light and

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