The design of this essay is to contemplate the Christian's journey through the wilderness of this world to a better land, even the Heavenly Canaan– to point out, briefly, the way by which the Captain of our Salvation leads his followers to glory. It has been the grand object of the author to make the reader feel that he is a stranger and a pilgrim on earth– to make him realize the solemn truth, that a man's life is vanity; that his days are as a shadow which passes away; that mutability and dissolution are the characteristics of all sublunary objects; that, "All, on earth, is shadow; all beyond is substance." When we look at the brevity and vanity of human life, we may well exclaim, in the beautiful and touching reflection of Edmund Burke, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" And in the similar impressive language of Patrick Henry, "l am but a poor worm of the dust, as fleeting and unsubstantial as the shadow of the cloud that flies over the fields, and is remembered no more!" Or we may rather open the pages of Holy Writ, and say, with the wisest of men, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity;" and with other inspired penmen, "As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field so he flourishes; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more." "For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away." Amid the excitement and bustle of a busy world, it is to be feared that the Christian too often forgets his true character as a pilgrim, journeying to mansions of glory in the skies. Too apt is he to place his affections upon those terrestrial objects by which he is surrounded in his pilgrimage. How often is this the case with the young Christian, over whom the world, with its delusive pleasures, exercises such a fascinating power. The author would earnestly and affectionately entreat the young reader to pause with this solemn reflection, 'I am but a traveler here.' Remember that you are passing rapidly through a scene of shadows and death to a state of eternal realities. O, then, we beseech you to live, as God's dear children, above the world, with your eye directed to that blessed home in your Heavenly Father's House, where the wicked shall cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. Should the few plain words here written be the means of inducing any to pass the time of their sojourning here in the fear of God- of persuading them to live and walk by faith in Christ– to rely, entirely, on his atoning blood for salvation– the author will desire no other reward than the happiness of knowing that he has been an humble instrument in the hand of God, for doing good. This essay is now cast, as a mite into the treasury of Biblical literature, and commended to the blessing of Heaven. May it cheer the Christian pilgrim as he journeys through this world of sin and sorrow, and lead him to strive more earnestly for the glory, honor, and immortality of heaven– to cleave more closely to Jesus, and to labor more zealously in his cause, so that, when he comes to pass the valley of life he may enter the abodes of immortal glory, and receive the Savior's plaudit and welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" "Then the King will say to those on the right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" Matthew 25:34