--One is persecuted for righteousness' sake; the man who hates the truth appears anxious to "chase him up to heaven." But even then, the ear of faith can hear Him whom the world hated yet more, pronouncing a blessing over all who suffer in the paths of godliness. One has had to follow child after child, or brother after brother, to the tomb; but has he not been told, perhaps at the edge of the grave, of Him who is the resurrection of the body and the life of the soul; and that them who sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him from the dead? One has neither father nor mother, nor friend on earth to lean on--he is absolutely and utterly an orphan; but is he not told, "When father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up?" Is it not added, "I will not leave you orphans?" VICISSITUDES. One has cherished dreams of happiness on earth--he is expecting here what God declares we can never, never find. Well, He came, and proved that his declaration was true; in mercy and in love he came, though the lacerated heart felt that the stroke was sore. The gourd withered. The frail reed broke. The shadow flitted away. The Word of God was verified, and the happiness of earth appeared rather like the lightning flash, than the steady shining of a summer day. But did not He who wounded heal? If that soul had godliness, was it not made apparent that the sovereign Lord of all had something in store for it better than it was choosing for itself? One is tottering very near the grave. However he may cling to life, he cannot now be blind to the fact that the last resting-place of man must soon be a resting-place to him. But just then, just there, if that soul be godly, a light appears. It irradiates the tomb. It illumines the vast unknown beyond it; and almost in the language of a hosanna, such souls have passed away exclaiming, "To me to die is gain."