160 ANALYTICAL ILLUSTRATION.
familiarise yourself with his wonderful works, and enter into the sacred mysteries of nature and providence. Implore the Deity to aid you in all your undertakings, to shed a light over your mind whereby you may walk in the path of his divine will, and to enlarge your understanding for the reception of all his mighty designs; do this, and the wisdom of God's works, the consistency of nature's laws, and the undeviating rectitude of the dispensations of Providence, shall grow manifest to your vision. Then shall you be able to see what it is you ought to seek, and what to avoid; then shall you be able to comprehend how men bring woes upon themselves, and invite their own sufferings,—hapless wretches, who see not the good placed within their reach, while they strain after that which causes their deepest, darkest, and most painful afflictions. Like cylinders, they roll along unconscious of their destiny, till they become ingulfed in evils;—falsehood, detraction, contentions of every kind, and woes unnumbered, hem them round on every side, and render their life one unbroken scene of tumult and of misery.
Oh, eternal Father! it is thine to release men from the evils. of this life, or to teach them what spirit they ought to cultivate, and what path to pursue, in order that they may attain to everlasting life. But let us have confidence, remembering that man has a divine origin, and that nature with a kindly hand points to us the way which leads to unfading day, and endless repose. Move on in the direction I have here prescribed for you; use the lessons I have given you; and, though evils may come, you shall nevertheless, preserve your soul from harm, and troubles shall vanish from your path. Dis-
