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his frail vessel with destruction. At such seasons, it is only He who silenced the raging of the storm on the Lake of Gennesaret that can restore peace to his troubled soul.

God deals with his children as wise and loving parents do with their's. He chastens them, because he loves them; "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." So universal is this, that the Holy Ghost mentions it as a test of our being God's children; "If ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons." Another mark is, the spirit in which we receive the chastisement, and the effect it produces. The sons of God kiss the rod. The world chafe and roar like the lion entangled in the net of the hunter. The sons of God who are exercised hereby yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The world" revolt more and more."

Mariners, when navigating in dangerous seas, are wont carefully to examine their chart, and to make observations on the heavens; lest, they should suddenly be wrecked on some hidden rock, or deceitful shallow. So also the Christian should proceed no less warily amid the dangers to which he is exposed. The Bible is his chart, and the Spirit of God his compass, in the constant use of these he is only safe.

THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.

WHAT is that far and glimm'ring light

That shadows on the sea

Breaking the darkness of the night

With gentle radiancy?

There reef rocks thick the waters lave
Beneath yon breaking foam,

"Tis plac'd upon the dang'rous wave
To guide the sailor home.

Warn'd by that light full gallantly
Oft hath he onward bore

Past the dark perils of the sea
That binds his native shore.

Oft toilworn from the stormy main
Hath seen the sign of rest,

And hail'd those dear hills once again
Which rise on England's west.

But whence so true that beacon shines
Amid the waters shock?

Its deep inwrought foundation lines
Are grounded on a rock.

Hence through the tempest's fiereest height

And rolling raging spray

It still lifts up its lanthorn bright
To mark the vessel's way.

Thus, on the Rock of Ages, stand

Lights through this dark world's swell,

The messengers of Jesus' band

Despite the rage of Hell.

Give them O Lord full clear to shine

Upon that rougher sea,

Give them to point the faithful line

That leads to Heaven and Thee.

That through the waters, sav'd by grace,
Vessels of mercy still

May see with joy their Father's face

And Zion's holy hill.

L. N. N.

Rev. H. A. Simcoe, (Penheale-Press) Cornwall.

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SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

To look into the Signs of the Times in which we live, not indeed with the scoffing intent of the unbeliever, "where is the promise of his coming?" not with the profaneness of an almanack-maker, to wrest the prerogative of the Holy Jehovah out of his hand by foretelling what is to come; nor with the too daring boldness of many who busy themselves in things beyond their reach, as if by searching they could find out God; but to look into them soberly and seriously is the bounden duty of every one that names the name of Christ: and therefore a duty to which "The Cornish Visitor" is desirous to call the attention of his friends in the West. With the view, then, of awakening the careless sinner; of arousing the wise virgin from that pillow of too much case on which even she is apt to slumber; of rekindling the dying embers of zeal, love, and activity in the Lord's service, which, though they cannot be extinguished by the ashes of corruption, are often so far choked

D

up, that, like a

Cornish turf-fire, they give little appearance of light or feeling of heat; and also of strengthening the faith of many a trembling believer, by shewing him what cause he has to lift up his head with joy, amid the confusion of an ungodly world, knowing that his redemption draweth nigh. With this view, we earnestly pray for the blessing of that God that giveth the increase upon our attempt.

There are many solemn signs in the world. And first and foremost stands that awful one-the Cholera, Pestilence is one of those things our Lord himself speaks of as a sign of his coming, and of the end of the world, Matt. xxiv. 3, 6, 7; and David seems to mark it out as one of God's special messengers, where he gives as a reason for his choice of it, "Let us fall into the hands of God." It has slain its millions* in its course. It has at length reached our own shores; 4073 persons have been infected with it; 1227 have already died; and except God be pleased to withdraw it, we must expect to see this great executioner of God's will fulfilling his awful commission throughthe breadth and length of our long-favoured land. Awful fact! solemn prospect! What effect does this fact, this prospect, have amongst us? The Prophet Isaiah speaks of a two-fold effect of God's judgments; 1st a blessed effect, "When thy judgments are abroad in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness;" 2udly a hardening effect, "When thy hand is lifted up, they will not see." Of this the Prophet Amos complains; after counting up all the

* Since 1817, when the Cholera first shewed itself in India, up to May, 1831, it is calculated that fifty millions of our race have been earried off by it. Since May certainly not less than a million more. It has now reached London. Prepare!

judgments that God had sent to Israel, he closes with these affecting words, "Yet have ye not returned to me; therefore, prepare to meet thy God." One fearful sign of these our times is the awful security in which men still live-that they will not see the unlifted hand of God in these things. A it was in the days of Noah, of Lot, in the days of Jerusalem's destruction, security still marked them out till the very hour came, so it is now. We need not stay to prove this. The fact that in a Christian-called city, that awful scourge of God-the Cholera-was made the subject of mirth and derision in a play-housethe reader of the newspaper warned of the pestilence, and invited to the friendship of the world on the floor of a ball-room, in columns side by side-Sabbathbreaking, abounding iniquity; feasts accompanied with tabret and harp, and wine, and the operation of God's hand disregarded; wild-fire zeal in high, low, rich and poor, for reforming every body and every thing but themselves-these things too plainly speak that the judgments of God are far from teaching sinners to bow to the sceptre of the Saviour's grace, or of leading our national Jerusalem to see the things that belong to her peace, before they are hid from her eyes. We shall go no farther with this sign of the times, but try to improve it.

What says it to the careless sinner? to the man that amid the light of this yet favoured land, still lives without God, and treats his voice speaking in these signs with contempt and neglect?" Prepare to meet thy God." Now read these words in the 4th chap. of Amos, and mark their meaning. They are not words pointing out the necessity of being pre

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