A thousand ages in thy fight,
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night,

Before the rifing fun.

The bufy tribes of flesh and blood,

With all their lives and cares, Are carried downward by the flood, And loft in following years.

WATTS. "Which

"For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things."Ром. хі. 36. "Time is short."-1 Cor. vii. 29. is, and which was, and which is to come."-REV. i. 8.

Beneath-around-a dark and boundless sea;
Above, thick clouds wrap all in mystery.
The Ocean wears the shore on every fide,
As Time decreases 'neath the Eternal tide,
Yet one-deluded man! strives much to reach
The shells and pebbles on the crumbling beach';
The waves dash on-another pondering stands,
And fees destruction come with folded hands.
Not so the third-he turns his longing eyes,
And views a chain descending from the skies,
The Providential chain with links of love,
Watched by an eye that never fleeps above;
He grafps the chain-from all his fears it saves,
While his companions perish 'neath the waves.

In the engraving is seen a representation of the all-feeing eye. It is placed above every thing else, to show that the eye of God's Providence watches over all creation, taking notice of every event throughout all time and space. Though to human vision there may be clouds and darkness about the throne of the Eternal, yet to his all-feeing eye, darkness is as noon-day. All things are before him, and nothing is too minute for his inspection. He sees the rife and fall of empires, and with equal attention fees the sparrow fall to the ground, for in a certain sense nothing is great or small before him. Throughout all time and space, the eye of Providence penetrates; yea more, it reaches further; eternity itself, to the human mind dark, fathomless, boundless, endless, is penetrated and comprehended.

A chain is seen descending from above, of which we can neither fee the beginning or the ending; but as far as we can discover, is but a small part of a mighty whole. It is true a man may fee a few of the links of the chain before him, and their connection with each other, but how far they may extend above or below his vision, he has no knowledge. This shows us that the great chain of God's Providential difpensations in the universe is but partially seen or comprehended. It is true, while on these mortal shores we may see a few of the connecting links of this chain, but to what heights it reaches, or to what depths it penetrates, we have no adequate conception.

"In what manner, indeed," says a celebrated writer, "Providence interposes in human affairs, by what means it influences the thoughts and counsels of men, and, notwithstanding the influence it exerts, leaves to them the freedom of choice, are subjects of a dark and mysterious nature, and which have given occafion to many an intricate controversy. Let us remember that the manner in which God influences the motion of all the heavenly bodies, the nature of that secret power by which he is ever directing the fun and the moon, the planets, stars, and comets, in their course through the heavens, while they appear to move themselves in a free course, are matters no less inexplicable to us, than the manner in which he influences the counsels of men. But though the mode of divine operation remains unknown, the fact of an over-ruling influence is equally certain, in the moral, as it is in the natural world."

"In cafes where the fact is clearly authenticated, we are not at liberty to call its truth in question, merely because we understand not the manner in which it is brought about. Nothing can be more clear, from the teftimony of Scripture, than that God takes part in all that happens among mankind, directing and overruling the whole course of events, so as to make every one of them answer the designs of his wife and righteous government."

"We cannot, indeed, conceive God acting as the Governor of the world at all, unless his government were to extend to all the events that can happen. It is upon the supposition of a particular providence, that our worship and prayers to him are founded. All his perfections would be utterly infignificant to us, if they were not exercised on every occafion, according as the circumstances of his creatures required. The Almighty would then be no more than an unconcerned spectator of the behaviour of his subjects, regarding the obedient and the rebellious with an equal eye."

In the lower part of the engraving is seen a little spot of earth in the vast ocean by which it is furrounded, on which is seen three persons, This small place may represent Time, which has arisen out of the eternity of the past. Though now visible, it is destined foon to fink into oblivion in the midst of the mighty waters. One