This historic book may have numerous typos or missing text. Not indexed. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1858. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... SUNSHINE. The people who in darkness lay. In sin and error's deadly shade, Have seen a glorious gospel day, In Jesu's lovely face displayed. C. Westey. Sunshine: how precious in itself! How delightful after a lonely and darksome night or a dismal and heavy storm! What hilarity it creates within us; what beauty it imparts to the landscapes around us! Touched by its plastic hand, the lakes become mirrors, the flowers exbale their fragrance, the ees yield delicious fruits, the birds chant gleesome carols, and universal nature smiles and sings. "Truly, the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." "I marvel not, 0 Sun! that unto thee In adoration, Man should bow the knee, And pour the prayer of mingled awe and love; For like a God thou art, and on thy way Of glory sheddest with benignant ray, Beauty, and life, and joyance from above." Not less precious and soul-elating is the sunshine of God's favour; indeed, the one is but faintly emblematic of the other. When God lifts up "the light of His countenance upon us;" when, after days and weeks of bitter repentance and religious struggle, the penitent sees "light in God's light," or the Church, after long watching and hard toiling, hears a Divine voice say--"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee;" when, within the believer and around the Church, the "true light shineth," oh, what a Heaven the earth becomes! Duty, otherwise irksome and heavy, is pleasant; Christian fellowship reviving, and Christian worship inspiring; every day becomes a Sabbath, every place a sanctuary, and every work a worship; in fine, the earth is transformed into the vestibule of Heaven. 0 great is the era which awaits the Church, when the rapt prophecy of Isaiah shal...