never forsake me. Oh, why should I mourn over the loss or the inconstancy of earthly friends, when my kind and sympathizing Saviour is ever with me?"

Reader, you cannot have advanced thus far in the experience of life, without having learned, like this aged pilgrim, that instability and uncertainty are associated with all human affections. You have doubtless mourned over those friends, whom time, or circumstances, or death, have parted from you; but have you also rejoiced in the assurance of Christ's perpetual and never-changing friendship? Ah, there are many who have been deceived and disappointed in the trust which they have reposed in their fellow-creatures, and who have also never sought that heavenly Friend, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning; there are many who have hewn out to themselves broken cisterns which could hold no water, who have yet refused to turn, when weary and dissatisfied, to the Fountain of living waters.

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"O Thou who dry'st the mourner's tear,

How dark this world would be,

If, when deceived and wounded here,
We could not fly to thee."

And it is dark to those who, in their hours of sorrow and desertion, have no confidence in the Saviour, no reliance on his love and

sympathy. The heart that has none on earth or in heaven, around whom to twine, must indeed be a desolate and drooping heart. God grant that it may never be ours! Nor can it, if we are united, by a simple and living faith to Christ, for we are then linked with those whom he graciously calls his "friends;" and are assured that we possess at all times, and under every circumstance, his tender and unwavering regard. How cheering and all-sustaining, amidst the separations, the imperfections, and the declensions, which mark the fairest of earthly friendships, is the consciousness that we have an unchanging and unfailing Friend who is always ready to impart to us his sympathy and his succour.

We would not undervalue the preciousness of earthly love. It is one of the choicest gifts which God bestows upon a fallen world. It is a relic of paradise, and a type of heaven. Yet still we are taught by experience how precarious is the tie which binds us to the dearest and most loved friend. It is impossible to help feeling-without the least inclination towards misanthropy-that our affections are sometimes misplaced, that our dependence is often productive of disappointment. Imperfection and uncertainty are stamped on all the objects and relationships of earth; for "this is not our rest;" we are destined for a better

country, the bright inhabitants of which are linked in pure and immortal friendship. And while we anticipate with gladness the period which shall unite us with that holy and happy brotherhood, we will remember our best Friend -the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and fearlessly anchor our troubled and unsatisfied hearts in his deep and changeless love. That resting place for the affections never has failed-never can fail. The circumstances which enfeeble, suspend, and terminate many of the friendships which are formed between man and man, possess no influence over the emotions which the Saviour feels towards his chosen friends; and are incapable of altering the position in which, if Christians, we stand with regard to Christ.

For instance, it frequently happens that the distance which intervenes between some friend. and ourselves diminishes, and at length, perhaps, closes our friendship. He does not intend, when separated, to forget us, but absence gradually lessens the strength of his attachment; his correspondence almost imperceptibly declines, or, through unavoidable circumstances, is hastily ended; and as time rolls on, he grows more and more indifferent towards us. Had he always remained near us and continued the personal intercourse which once subsisted between us, he might not have

changed; but in his removal he verifies the truth of the old adage, "Out of sight, out of mind." Our aged readers can, doubtless, confirm by their own experience the truth of this statement. They can recall to mind some, it may be several, of their early acquaintances, thus geographically divided from them, who have for many years been as strangers to them.

But the Saviour, although personally absent from his people, never for one moment forgets them. From the time when he departed from his disciples at Bethany, where a cloud received him out of their sight, he gave them the most indisputable and uninterrupted proofs of his unchanged affection. He ascended then as a triumphant conqueror to heaven, and was enthroned at the right hand of God; but the glory which, as the Mediator, was bestowed upon him, could not intercept from his view the few poor fishermen of Galilee; nor could the songs of angelic adoration which he received, hush the earnest supplications that rose from that little band who were assembled in an upper chamber at Jerusalem. No; his love was the same in heaven as it had been on earth; and the rich and abundant gifts which were poured forth upon his faithful disciples, were the immediate results of his exaltation and intercession. He consoled and

guided them by his Spirit, and strengthened them for the avowal and defence of his truth. In his remonstrance with the persecuting Saul, he distinctly identified himself with his people, estimating the injuries done to them as if inflicted upon himself "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"* and he manifested the same deep interest in their welfare by his gracious appearance to the apostle of the Gentiles, when He bade him, "Be of good cheer," and prepared him to advocate the cause of his Saviour in Rome.

But it is unnecessary to multiply proofs, either from the early or subsequent history of the church, of the unvarying character of that regard which the ascended Redeemer cherishes for all those who through grace have accepted his gracious overtures of friendship. We need only appeal to yourselves, dear readers, as witnesses to the cheering fact, that the love of Christ-that love which passeth knowledgeis unaffected by the withdrawal of his personal presence from amongst us. His continued intercessions on our behalf, his rich impartation to us of all needful grace, and his preparation of a place for us in his Father's house, are sure evidences of his perpetual and affectionate remembrance.

Again, one of the causes which renders

* Acts ix. 4.

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