When a ship is wrecked, there is sometimes hope of escape; some friendly sail may opportunely heave in sight; the broken hull, dismantled and dismasted, may yet bear up against the storm; or the crew in the crisis of their danger, some by swimming, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, may get safe to land; but the wreck of a soul is nothing less than helpless, endless, irrevocable ruin. No wreck, where angry Ocean's billows roll, It was long before I left the beach, and when I did so, the ocean waves were still dashing against the stranded hull of the broken vessel, fastened, as it was, to the shore with a chain cable. Sobered and solemnized by the mournful spectacle, I walked away in musing meditation. "What is man unless preserved by his Almighty Maker? At sea and on land he is in equal danger. Be thou my stay, O Lord, in every storm, that my faith may not suffer shipwreck. Give me grace so to love and trust thee, That my soul in her need when the tempest is nigh, May escape to the Rock that is higher than I.'” THE HEATH-FLOWER. AND dost thou ask me why I wear Dim and distant is now the hour And it breathes of other things to me; Of tower and tree by lightning riven; And there be deeper thoughts that dwell Yes! there are bygone thoughts that dress That cluster round its purple crest, And bind it to my aching breast. Come loveliest flower that glads the plain, Oh, there is a joy of the bosom given, Blooming and blossoming through them all. And there is a desolate state on earth There may be one upon earth like me, To him it tells of a distant day, Of dreams that were, and have passed away; That rushes through my heart of care, Be near my heart, thou little flower, What time these eyes, in slumber deep, For I may not mingle, when death is given, A heath-flower withering on my breast, WHAT ARE YOUR POINTS? IT has been said that every man has a "strong corner," the meaning of which expression is, that every man has a particular point or quality which in some degree distinguishes him from others; or that he has a hidden strength which circumstances alone make manifest. Whether this be true or not generally, it certainly is occasionally so in individual cases. The different points, or prominent qualities among mankind are well worthy of our best attention, that we may emulate the good and avoid the evil. The humble and teachable pick up many a lesson, that the proud and opinionated pass by, or despise. One man has faith, so that he looks up to his heavenly Father with such unbroken and un shaken trust, that come what will, he is never stricken down. Others are stopped in their course by molehills, but he removes mountains of difficulty, and never so much as doubts the attainment of his object. He seems to take as his motto the text, "The Lord God will help |