316 THE IVY. 



men. These are the storms and the tempests to 

 which my brethren stand exposed in the defeiice- 

 lessness of individual weakness. Their clnldren 

 cry for food ; and that we may provide for ihem : 

 they sliiver beneath the wintry blast, they shrink 

 from the piercing frost; and we may clolhe their 

 limbs and rekindle their fires, from our own com- 

 parative abundance — but the parents' heart, thoutrh 

 by grace it may be so humbled as not to reject a 

 gift, painful for the educated niind, wd! yet secret- 

 ly quake under the anticipated horror of that from 

 which loe cannot interpose to rescue iheni. The 

 step of the midnight incendiary, of the sworn as- 

 sassin, blessed to the deed of butchery by her 

 ■who has so oft been drunk with the blood of the 

 eainls, will be fancied in every breeze that rustles 

 among the branches: and the closer we examine 

 the picture, the darker do its shades become — the 

 more appalling those perils, in the midst of which 

 our brethren are set for the defence of the gospel. 

 The Gospel — precious word ! It is the power 

 of Him who says, " The Lord hath anointed me 

 to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath 

 sent me to bind up the broken-hearted ; to com- 

 fort all that mourn ; to appoint unto them that 

 mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for 

 ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of 

 praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that they might 

 be called trees of lighleousness, the planting of 



..A'i 



