path of duty appointed for man to tread, concerning which
the Almighty has not expressed his will in terms so plain that the
sincere inquirer may always hear a voice behind him saying, "This is the
way, walk ye in it;" nor are there any relations of life, nor any human
affections which he has not constituted, and bestowed, nor any
disappointment of those affections for which he has not manifested a
sympathy so sincere, that the desolate and heart-stricken may always
say, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."

Yet, it is something difficult for us to realize in our hours of
darkness and despondency, that toward us personally and individually,
the great heart of Infinite Love yearns with tenderness and pity. Even
if we can say, "Though clouds and darkness are round about him, justice
and judgment are the habitation of his throne," and can acquiesce meekly
in all his dispensations, and believe sincerely that they will work for
our good, yet we often fail of the blessedness which might be ours, if
we could be equally assured that, "_As a father pitieth his children, so
doth the Lord pity them that fear him._" This assurance only the
faithful student of the Bible can feel, as the great truth gleams forth
upon him from time to time, illuming "dark afflictions midnight gloom"
with rays celestial, and furnishing balm for every wound, the balm of
sympathy and love.

We often hear it said, by those who even profess themselves Christians,
and devout lovers of the sacred oracles, "How can you read the book of
Leviticus? What can you find in the dry details of the ceremonial law to
detain you months in its study and call forth such expressions of
interest?" Such will probably pass by this article when they find
themselves invited again to Horeb. Turn back, friends. You are not the
only ones who have excused themselves from a _feast_. And we--we will
extend our invitation to others. On the by-ways and lanes they can be
found; in every corner of this wide-spread earth are some for whom our
table is prepared. We leave the prosperous, the gay, the happy, and
speak to the desolate--the widowed.

Dearly beloved, you can look back to a day in your history over which no
cloud lowered, when you wore the bridal wreath, and stood at the sacred
altar, and laid your hand in a hand faithful and true, and pledged vows
of love, and when hope smiled on all your future path; but who have
lived to see all you then deemed most precious, lai