hin thy gates, O
Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:
whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of
Israel, to give thanks unto the Lord" (Psa. cxxii. 1-4).

I was led to reflect upon the various blessings connected with the
establishment of public worship. "How many immortal souls are now
gathering together, to perform the all-important work of prayer and
praise--to hear the Word of God--to feed upon the Bread of Life! They
are leaving their respective dwellings, and will soon be united together
in the house of prayer. How beautifully does this represent the effect
produced by the voice of 'the Good Shepherd,' calling his sheep from
every part of the wilderness into his fold! As these fields, hills, and
lanes are now covered with men, women, and children, in various
directions, drawing near to each other, and to the object of their
journey's end: even so, many 'shall come from the east, and from the
west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the
kingdom of God'" (Luke xiii. 29).

Who can rightly appreciate the value of such hours as these?--hours spent
in learning the ways of holy pleasantness and the paths of heavenly
peace--hours devoted to the service of God and of souls; in warning the
sinner to flee from the wrath to come; in teaching the ignorant how to
live and die; in preaching the Gospel to the poor; in healing the broken-
hearted; in declaring "deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind." "Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound;
they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name
shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be
exalted."

My thoughts then pursued a train of reflection on the importance of the
ministerial office, as connected in the purposes of God with the
salvation of sinners. I inwardly prayed that those many individuals whom
He had given me to instruct, might not, through my neglect or error, be
as sheep having no shepherd, nor as the blind led by the blind; but
rather that I might, in season and out of season, faithfully proclaim the
simple and undisguised truths of the Gospel, to the glory of God and the
prosperity of his Church.

At that instant, near the bottom of the inclosed lane which led to the
churchyard, I observed a friend, whom, at such a distance from his own
home, I little expected to meet. It was the venerable