through the forbearance of justice, I was still in the land of prayer, and within the reach of mercy; and thence he took occasion to open before me such a view of Divine mercy, and of all that Christ has done for lost mankind, that he caused a new light to shine on my dark mind, and new hope to break on my distressed soul; insomuch so, that although my sins are as scarlet, I trust that they will be made white as snow, and though red like crimson, yet that they shall be as wool.

"Thus have I been snatched as a brand plucked from the fire, and that mercy is allowed to me which I refused to my unhappy fellow-servant; on that mercy, therefore, I cast myself, pleading the merits of my Saviour, and humbly acknowledging, that had I been cut off in the midst of my sins, and been cast into everlasting fire, I should have been justly dealt by; for he that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall be suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy.'" Prov. xxix. 1.

THE DAY OF LIFE.

THE morning hours of cheerful light
Of all the day are best;

But as they speed their hasty flight,
If every hour is spent aright,
We sweetly sink to sleep at night,
And pleasant is our rest.

And life is like a summer's day,
It seems so quickly past:
Youth is the morning bright and gay,
And if 'tis spent in wisdom's way,
We meet old age without dismay,
And death is sweet at last

END OF PROCRASTINATION.

THE MOURNING QUEEN.

THE

MOURNING QUEEN.

Some

"I DO confidently believe," says Bishop Hall, "that all the particular national churches, throughout the whole Christian world, are no other than sisters; daughters of the same father-GOD; of the same motherthe spiritual Jerusalem, which is from above. of them are elder sisters, others younger; some more tall and large-spread, others of less stature; some fairer in respect of holiness of life and orthodoxy of judgment, others fouler in respect of corruptions both of doctrine and manners; still sisters."

This passage in the writings of Bishop Hall entirely agrees with the typical language of Scripture, wherein the universal church is frequently described as a wife or bride, of whom the spouse is Christ the Lord; and the inferior churches are represented as daughters of these glorious parents. These scriptural allusions being borne in mind, I doubt not that what follows will be easily understood.

The time was, and is not long past, when I should have said, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Rev. xviii. 7. I was then accounted fairest of my mother's children, and the best beloved in the sight of my parents; whereas I am now as "a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, which has been refused." Isa. liv. 6. I am the daughter of Him whose name is incommunicable; of Him to whom all the worship is due of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and the spiritual Zion is my mother. My Father made me to hope and rejoice while I yet hung upon my mother's breast; he washed me in water, and anointed me with oil; he clothed me with broidered work, and shod me