CHRIST IS LEFT.

MRS. A. M. C. EDMOND.

LET the winds of sorrow blow
Roughly o'er this track of mine,
Let the fount of grief o'erflow,
Hope's sweet star forbear to shine.
Though of every comfort shorn,
Though of every joy bereft,
Weak, defenceless and forlorn,—
I am rich, if Christ is left.

Let the spoiler's ruthless blow
Sunder all my cherished ties,
Let affection bend in wo,

Where the last, the dearest lies;
Clinging to each shattered shrine,
Of its idol sweet bereft,
Never can my soul repine,

While it grieves, if Christ is left.

Earthly treasures, hopes and joys,
Ye may leave me if ye will;
'Mid the wrecks where time destroys,
I am rich in Jesus still.

E'en when death's keen pangs shall

This weak frame of life bereft, Joyful still my soul shall sing, All is mine, for Christ is left!

wring

I AM WEARY.

I am weary of straying oh fain would I rest
In the far distant land of the pure and the blest,
Where sin can no longer her blandishments spread,
And tears and temptations for ever are fled.

I am weary of hoping - where hope is untrue,
As fair, but as fleeting, as morning's bright dew;
I long for that land whose blest promise alone,
Is changeless and sure as eternity's throne.

I am weary of sighing o'er sorrows of earth,
O'er joy's glowing visions, that fade at their birth-
O'er the pangs of the loved, which we cannot assuage,
O'er the blightings of youth, and the weakness of age.

The sweetest, the dearest, alas, may not stay!
I long for that land where those partings are o'er,
And death and the tomb can divide hearts no more.

I am weary, my Saviour! of grieving thy love;
O when shall I rest in thy presence above!
I am weary-but oh, never let me repine,

While thy word, and thy love, and thy promise

are mine.

ANON.

SKETCHES OF MISSIONARY LIFE,

No. IV.-THE CLOUDY PILLAR.

EDITOR.

"Though dark be my way, since He is my guide, "Tis mine to obey, 'tis His to provide." Newton. "THOU shalt remember," said the God of Israel, to his chosen people, when their wanderings in the desert were almost ended "thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart; whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not." It was the design and the promise of Jehovah, to bring them to the land of Canaan; yet how strange, how entangled, how circuitous, the path through the wilderness, by which they passed from the land of their bondage to the land promised to their fathers! Now, we see them stand by the shores of that sea which has destroyed their enemies, and listen to their songs of exultation and of joy, "I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.". Again, we behold them travelling southward, in a direction

away from the promised land, tasting the bitter waters of Marah, gathering manna in the wilderness of Sin, fighting with Amalek at Rephidim, and trembling at the voice of the trumpet, waxing louder and louder, amidst the awful summits of Sinai. We follow them as they direct their course northward, to the very borders of the promised land, to Kadesh Barnea, where, after a journey of two years, which might have been accomplished in as many months, they send spies to view the land, which they expect so soon to enter. Again, we see them travelling southward, with their backs to the land of Canaan, sentenced, for their ingratitude and rebellion, to wander forty years in the wilderness, till at length,-their weary pilgrimage nearly ended, and the promised land in view,— they are addressed in the touching language we have cited, - "Thou shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee, these forty years in the wilderness."

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And how did Israel know when to journey and when to rest? how did they know what direction to pursue in their intricate wanderings through the waste howling wilderness?" The answer is furnished in the words of inspiration," The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way,

and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. *** And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed; and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. Whether it were two

days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not; but when it was taken up they journeyed."

What a beautiful emblem is this of the leadings of divine providence, guiding and directing the Christian pilgrim, in his wanderings through the wilderness of this world; leading him, as the " 'blind, by a way that he knows not," and making "darkness light before him, and crooked things straight." And what a striking analogy between the CLOUDY PILLAR, which guided Israel through all their wanderings, backward and forward, to the land which the Lord designed to give them for a possession, and that guiding hand which conducted the beloved Judsons, by a strange and intricate way, to Burmah, the land of which he designed they should be the apostles, and to which one of them should live to present the inestimable boon of his own precious Word!

It was necessary that they should be disciplined