On Truth's fubftantial rock, Hope takes her feat,
While waves tumultuous dash against her feet
The sky with blackness now becomes o'erfpread;
The tempeft threatens her devoted head:
Louder, and louder ftill, the thunders found;
The lightning flings its fearful glare around;
Creation trembles; but faft anchored there
Hope fits unfhaken, never in despair;

With eyes turned upward, whence her help defcends,
She waits expecting, till the tempeft ends.

HOPE is reprefented in the picture above as being feated upon a rock. Worldly hope has always fome fuppofed foundation on which it relies. But Chriftian hope has for a foundation the rock of truth, God's moft holy word. In the

midst of gathering ftorms, fhe is depicted looking upward; this expreffes her confidence in God. She leans upon an anchor; this denotes fteadfaftness and truft. Hope was compared to an anchor, by ancient writers. Thus Socrates expreffes himself: "To ground hope on a false fuppofition, is like trufting to a weak anchor."

The hope of heaven is represented by the apostle Paul, as the anchor of the foul. We fee the propriety of this figure when we confider that the world is like a tempeftuous sea, full of dangers. The course of the child of God, the voyage; heaven, the port, or harbour, which he expects and defires to gain. Sometimes when a fhip rides at anchor, dreadful storms arise, the wind blows with fury, the tempeft howls, and waves roar and beat against the veffel. But if the fhip be what is termed fea-worthy, that is, firm, ftrongly put together; if, at the fame time, the cable be strong, and the anchor bites, or ftrikes its fluke deep into good holding ground, all will be well. The ftorm may rage, rocks and quickfands may lie to leeward, threatening deAtruction, yet will fhe be secure. It is true, fhe will have to fend down her topmafts and yards, and keep anchor-watch, yet will she ride out the gale.

By this we may fee the proper use of hope to the Chriftian, which is, to keep the foul calm and secure in the day of adverfity. Hope does not remove trouble; it fuftains the foul in the time of trouble. The anchor does not difpel the

ftorm; it does not quiet the roaring waves, arrest the rolling thunder, nor bid the winds be ftill: but it enables the veffel to ride out the fury of the gale; it keeps her from being driven on the rocks of death. The most pious Christian does not find himself exempt from the cares and calamities of this life, or free from the conflicts and difficulties of the Chriftian life. He often finds himself "toff'd upon life's raging billows; but under these circumstances the hope of heaven, as the anchor of the foul, keeps him fteady. "Which hope we have," fays the apostle, " as an anchor to the foul, both fure and fteadfaft." This hope preferves him from being dashed to pieces against the rocks of temptation, deftruction, and defpair; it at the fame time imparts a delightful sense of security in the day of trial, a blessed sense of peace amid a fea of troubles. It infpires fortitude and boldness in the cause of God. "Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is fhed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.'

Among the Arabians, the water-melon is known by the name of "batech," which in the Hebrew language fignifies hope. The melon, by its tendrils, clings to whatever it can lay hold of. Juft fo, hope the Chriftian's hope clings to God, his promises, his faithfulness, his love. "The water-melon is cultivated on the banks of the river Nile," fays a traveller. "It ferves the Egyptians for meat, drink, and medicine. It is eaten in abundance by even the richer fort of

people, but the poor fcarcely eat any thing but these." This affords a good illustration. What, indeed, would life be without hope!

"Man never is, but always to be bleft."

Take away hope, and you take away the enjoyment of profperity; deprive man of hope, and you take away the only fupport and folace of adverfity. The most happy, the most profperous, without hope, would foon become the most wretched. The poor and afflicted, without it, would fink at once into the gulf of despair. To deprive man of hope, is to rob him of his dearest treafure. Extinguifh hope, and you extinguish life, for who could live without hope? It is the laft lingering light of the human breast. "It shines when every other is put out. Quench it, and the gloom of affliction becomes the very blacknefs of darkness-cheerless and impenetrable."

BROTHERLY KINDNESS.

Lo! the poor pilgrim bends beneath his load,
And travels wearily his length'ning road;
Contempt's vaft weight, back'd by afflictions fore,
Incline him now to give his journey o'er;
With groaning fick, with labour faint he ftops,
And on the pathway tottering, almost drops:
But ere he proftrate falls, relief is near,
Two brethren of the Chriftian band appear;
Their cheerful aid they speedily impart,
To eafe his burden, and relieve his heart;
His willing fhoulder each one runs to lend,
And on he travels to his journey's end,

Look at the poor pilgrim. Awhile ago he was bending beneath his burden, unaided, unpitied, and alone. Almoft preffed to the earth,