Notes by the Way: Section II

O’er life’s rough ocean wave

Fast was I going, By threat’ning tempests driven, and billow tost,

Anil surges deep of woe

My soul o’erflowing! Oh, all seemed lost without thee — lost, all lost.*

Yes, all seemed dark and sad,

So lone and dreary, For scarce a kindling ray my pathway crost;

Thick darkness gathered round

My soul so weary. Without thee all was lost — in night-shade lost.

My star of earthly bliss

Set in deep sorrow — One glimpse from thee had all its lustre cost,

And not one gleam of light

Could it e’er borrow, For in thy lucent beams it all was lost — all lost.

At another lime, about a year subsequent to the period just alluded to, the Lord again

* Originally suggested from seeing the device on a seal of a man guiding a small boat, with his eye fixed on a star, and this motto, “If I lose thee I am lost.”

greatly comforted her soul during the night season. She had again, as on the former occasion, been for a long time wrestling earnestly with God, till nature had become wearied; when on falling asleep, she dreamed that she was standing without. The canopy of a beautiful midnight sky was spread out above her; the firmament was cloudless, and the full moon was silently walking the heavens. A stillness, that seemed hallowed to something unusual reigned, but her eye was intently fixed, and her mind all absorbed by the attraction of a bright star. Presently it begaiv to enlarge and widen its circle, wider and yet wider, when (as she still continued lo keep her eye fixed on the point where it first began lo rest) the form of the infant Saviour was presented, and these words were proclaimed,” For unto us a child

is born, unto us a Son is given And

his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

In the meantime, while these words were being proclaimed, the circle had continued rapidly to widen, until the whole heavens had become encircled in one glow of glory.

The happy experience of succeeding years, when, by keeping her eye steadily fixed upon the day-star fronn on high, her spiritual horizon had become enlightened, and as she had continued to gaze, had rapidly taken in yet wider and still wider circles of glory, until the whole firmament of her soul had become radiant with its blissful beams, assured her that this communication was intended to convey a greater infinitude of meaning than her feeble capacities comprehended at the time.

It was not until she had received Jesus as her full Saviour, and her spiritual heavens had been lighted up by the revelation of Christ to her soul as the Wonderful Counsellor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, that she was enabled to have any thing like .proper perceptions of the infinite condescension of God in this communication. It was then that she exultingly sang —

My faith hath caught the gaze,
I now behold thee;

And now let tempests wing their chilling frost, ]

Thy mildly melting ray

Beams sweetly o’er me — Bat without thee I’m lost — in darkness lost.

Oh, yes, thou hast arisen

In beauteous splendor, Thy radiance pure still rests my path across;

And homage at thy shrine

I’ll ever render, Till in thy light I’m lost — forever lost.

Yet, though this was in a measure blest to her soul, at the tiaie when given, and tended to assure her heart more confidently of the gracious designs of Infinite Love toward her, yet the impression soon passed away and she relapsed into her former habits of reasoning and unbelief.